Forty-Two (#89)

The meaning of life: art and math. Or, 42 good things and sources of inspiration from 2023.

The number 42 possesses cult status, thanks to a sci-fi writer with a successful series that I have never read (but have seen the movie and remember being mildly amused by it - all credit to Alan Rickman, there). It’s not a neat and tidy number, like a 5 or a 10, that we like to base milestones on. No one hosts a 42nd anniversary party, although they should; why not party every chance one gets, in whatever flavour of festive that means?

But the number 42 has infiltrated enough of the mainstream culture that I still know it to be the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, posed to supercomputer Deep Thought. The number did cause a lot of excitement in math circles when a fellow harnessed their own stable of supercomputers to solve the “sum of three cubes” puzzle for 42 (aka the Diophantine Equation: x³+y³+z³=k).¹

What purpose does solving that equation serve? Nothing that I know of. Maybe it will someday; a “higher” purpose, just waiting to be discovered. Or maybe it has no noble purpose, other than to provide joy to a math nerd (and I say that with utmost affection and respect, being of that ilk).

And isn’t joy a noble purpose, regardless of scope of impact? Maybe like a beautiful piece of art, it simply exists, just like us.

Alas, these are the thoughts we have when 42 gets personal.

Speaking of my own 42 turns around the sun tomorrow, here’s 42 things that delighted or inspired me this past year. No math equations, though - just words and art and song.

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Seven Substack Reads

I’m fortunate to read a host of wonderful things on this app. To pick only a sampling of writing that delighted me this year was hard, but here are seven snippets that particularly resonated with me.

1. “Somehow, I was alone inside a building where 1500 people work, but when I was out on the trail, I was never alone.” come for a walk with me (Subject Headings)

2. “…creating a place somewhere for just being and hanging out — it struck me primarily as a means of regaining time. And in regaining time, having the freedom to be in time in a new, maybe even scarily liberating, way.” Hanging out with artists in The Ark (Technocomplex)

3. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise of how life will continue to flourish for all of my thousands of ghosts, though.” A Thousand Little Ghosts of Me (Adult-ish)

4. “what was supposed to inspire me, left me feeling creatively drained and not good enough…over-consumption has stripped me of my uniqueness.” i’ve killed my creativity (komorebi season)

5. “…death is ultimately a reinvention. It will release my energy into the natural world and undergo a transformation into a new shape or form. This makes me think perhaps I will be good at dying because during my life I have reinvented myself many times.” Reinvention stories (How To Be Old)

6. “Her pants were powder blue, blouse flowered and jewelry gaudy — a widow in full bloom.” She Called Me Bougie (Future Thief)

7. “I should have known when I first felt your fingers worming between the grass roots and under the sheet of moss…I should have known you’d want a conversation.” Now is a time of abundance (That Trans Friend You Didn't Know You Needed)

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Seven Outdoor Adventures

An exercise in gratitude when you have too many to choose from. I hope to make this next year as plentiful. Clockwise from top-left: Ashburn Lake; South Branch Oromocto Falls via the Kirkpatrick Family Trail; Split Rock Trail; Québec City selfie; La Belle Cabane outdoor nature spa selfie; learning to count salmon redds (nests) for Hammond River Angling Association; and, navigating the Caughey-Taylor Nature Preserve.

A selection of outdoor adventures from 2023.

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Seven Tunes

I’ve made a playlist for the occasion with more songs than this, but here’s seven tunes I particularly liked this year, and for no particular reason.

1. Wildfires by SAULT

2. What a Day That Was (Live) by Talking Heads

3. new body rhumba by LCD Soundsystem

4. Beyond the Vale by The Smashing Pumpkins

5. Chaise Longue by Wet Leg

6. Wolf by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. What Have I Done to Deserve This by Pet Shop Boys w. Dusty Springfield

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Seven Art Adventures

A lot of my art was birding photography and crochet work - the temperature blanket nears completion! - but here’s a sampler of other artworks: pencil drawings, acrylic paintings, and the odd ink sketch. (I’m really happy with the two middle portraits and the volumetric lighting behind the squid.)

Seven examples of art I’ve made in 2023

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Seven Books

Almost finished book 51 (!), which might be my highest year since the library Summer Reading Club days in my youth. The first four are just ones I found at random, the fifth is from my book club, and the last two are poetry books I reviewed for The Miramichi Reader.

1. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman

2. Still Waters: The Secret World of Lakes by Curt Stager (“…powdered bones of long-vanished mountains...” that SENTENCE.)

3. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

4. The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

5. Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams

6. Casting Out by Rocco di Giacomo

7. You Break It You Buy It by Lynn Tait

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Seven Artworks from Others

To finish, I want to share others’ visual art I saw and enjoyed this year. Clockwise from top-left: #selfportrait (Nasim Makaremi Nia, 2022); Forest City Playground mural (Meghan Claire Kehoe, 2020); Mockingbirds’ Call (Julie Himel, date unknown); The Great Illusion (Abigail Reinhart x Craig Gower, 2023); Doubles cercles concentriques entrelacés (Félix Varini, 2023); graffiti at Fort Dufferin (n.d.); untitled Area506 mural (I AM EELCO, 2022).

Sampling of artworks I saw in 2923

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And on those 42 notes, that’s it for 2023, my lovely readers. I’ll be taking a break over the holidays, and returning on Thursday, January 4th. Wishing you all a happy and restful holiday, and all the best for 2024.

Thank you so much for reading Campfire Notebook this year - I truly appreciate your readership. ❤️ If you have comments, questions, or ideas you’re interested in hearing more about in this newsletter, drop me a line or leave a comment.

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1. In case you need it for your next trivia night, the first solution to x³+y³+z³=42: (-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3