Rob Spence's Blog
February 7, 2021
Clockwork [Working Title] – Work in Progress
"Just peachy, Cap. Visuals bugged out on me for a moment again there. Had to wait for the service to restart."
"Jeez, again? Your replacement surrogate will have an improved optics system, so hopefully..."
"Hopefully I'll get it before I retire."
"We put a rush on it. Best we can do on our end. You know things have slowed to a crawl since the spike."
"There's always a spike."
"Be grateful you've still got somethin’ to retire from. A lotta folks..."
"Always."
Carl let ...
December 20, 2020
2020 Top Fives
I’m positive I’m not the only person writing that 2020 wasn’t the year they expected it to be, but yeah, it certainly wasn’t, and though I will not be doing any deep reflection in this post, many of 2020s… surprises had me staying at home in my Brooklyn apartment a lot more than usual. Beyond diving into journaling again, and getting (very) into stationery, I gave playing video games another shot and had much more… time to dive into some fantastic books, records, and podcasts. Below are my 2020 ...
November 1, 2020
Starshine
Stranded, out in the cosmos, all I hear is static.
White noise where there had once been chatter.
My face is itchy.
I can see its reflection in my visor,
superimposed over an ocean of stars.
Stars, planets, and my ship.
My ship. No more than twelve feet away.
May as well be twelve miles out here.
I’m alone, but I don’t feel it. Not yet.
Just my face. I wish I could scratch it.
I wish I could feel the recycled air from the vent in my cabin.
I wish I could hear its hum,
the whir...
SONGBIRD SHORT: (This is) the Dream of Jonah and Caroline [PREVIEW]
PART ONE: JONAH
Saturday arrived to the tune of my bedside console’s alarm firing perfect three-point shots into my eardrums.
I’d become so used to waking up ahead of schedule that I hadn’t spent much time internally debating whether or not I should have an alarm set at all. Last I’d so much as entertained the thought, I’d concluded that the benefits of not missing work often outweighed the annoyance. I don’t believe this was one of those times, though, and this morning’s guest certainly share...
February 7, 2020
“Well… Welcome to Adulthood, Captain!”
I’ve never really considered myself a poet, a writer, or other any kind of “artist”…
That remains the case to this day, but, as far back as I can remember, I’ve always carried some kind of notebook on me, and I’ve always filled it with something. Be it poems, bizarre (and loooong) journal entries, short stories, drawings, comics, I’ve always loved having something to pour my imagination into.
By High School, I had reached a point where I’d believed I had refined this personal practice, di...
"Well… Welcome to Adulthood, Captain!"
I’ve never really considered myself a poet, a writer, or other any kind of“artist”…
That remains the case to this day, but, as far back as I can remember, I’ve always carriedsomekind of notebook on me, and I’ve always filled it with something. Be it poems, bizarre (andloooong) journal entries, short stories, drawings, comics, I’ve always loved having something to pour my imagination into.
By High School, I had reached a point where I’d believed I had refined this personal practice,...
January 3, 2020
2019 Top Fives & Tens
This post is a bit overdue this time around, for which I apologize. December 2019 was a very busy month. Busy in a good way though!
2019 was an incredible year for records, books, and podcasts, which made putting these lists together even more of a challenge than the last. Definitely not a bad thing! Like many lists before, these top fives and tens aren’t in any order, and there are so much more I loved over the year that I would love to share, so please feel free to reach out if you’d like...
September 12, 2019
An Update, and a Thank You
I posted this to social media yesterday, but I wanted to put it up here as well.
I’ve been meaning to make a post like this for a while, and there have been numerous occasions where I’ve written something out only to decide to discard it.
From the first time I felt that things were “getting better”, I’d been really worried that declaring that, in any form, both to myself and to others, would be premature.
I was so worried that once I said “things are better”, that I could be dealt some other...
January 8, 2019
Relax, Get Cool
Over a decade ago, I found this little treasure stuffed in the netting behind a seat on Southern California’s Pacific Surfliner.
I used to fly out west, at least once a year, taking that train up and down the coast, visiting incredible friends all along the way.
This adorable itinerary, complete with illustrations, detailed someone’s adventure to the zoo. Many of the hand-drawn boxes had been left unchecked, but I’ve always imagined they managed to have a spectacular time and made some neat...
December 28, 2018
2018 Top Fives & Tens
Back when I lived in Florida, both Ft. Lauderdale and Gainesville, I would, without fail, share out a bunch of end-of-the-year top 5s and 10s. It’s hard to put a reason into words, but I’ve always been a huge fan of lists (perhaps it’s why I instantly fell in love with Bullet/Dot Journaling after being exposed to it). Going through an entire year’s worth of things I enjoyed to make this particular type of list had always been a wonderful short-term happy nostalgia trip with the added bonus of...
