The Final Daily Blog

Good morning. Rare words to come from my fingers but yes, I write to you this morning for a reason.

But before I get there, I have some thoughts to spill out. It’s 7:45am. I am currently sitting in a Laundromat in the middle of Charlottesville, Virginia, with an embedded 26 minute timer on the blog — as I do not want to sit another second in this over air-conditioned laundry detergent smelling place with my back hunched over too-low a table.

Couple things about this laundromat that bother me:

1. The machines are preprogrammed for 45 lb loads and the store attendant seems to be totally nonchalant about it. My small bag cost $7.24 to wash!

2. Opened at 7:00am and there were 0 machines available. I think the people that are here on average took up 5 machines. I’m rather surprised they defaulted to paying the overcharge given their implied income level

One more thing before the important topic

Last night I attended a performance by a Grateful Dead Cover band in town. At the bar after, I told a rando that there was more Body Odor in that crowd than expected, and his response was “yeah that’s not surprising.”

I knew the Dead Heads of Charlottesville would be a ton of long haired tie-died people dancing like characters in a video-game, but the strong stench of deodorant resisters was totally unexpected. Now I know…

What’s happening

77 Days ago on May 4th I published my first of 77 blogs of this series. I was amidst hilarious days (to me) in Brooklyn recounting the trials and tribulations that went into making videos about food. As you’ve witnessed over the past 2+ months, while my time deviated a way from this initial origin, I never stopped writing to you. On a personal level, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I don’t know what that “it” was, but I just kept saying… don’t stop.

After a ton of time reflecting on long car rides and ultimately a 2 hour walk around my old university last night, where my mind felt abnormally clear, I feel it is time to close Chapter 2 of the Daily Blog.

For those new here, Chapter 1 was a 50 Day Blog covering my olive oil journey throughout Europe in 2022.

It’s been quite amazing writing to you for the past few months. To always have that outlet, to know someone is listening and getting impacted by your stories is such a great feeling. If I’ve inspired even 1 person to start writing daily I would be thrilled.

However, what’s most important here is the fact that you’ve spent your late evenings, early workday mornings, commutes, Saturday mornings, or whatever it may be reading these words I published to you. And that truly means so much to me.

I think you deserve to know this stat:

We are averaging 200 openers of these emails. Of those 200 people, maybe 150 of you take the time to read or skim this?

That’s incredible to me. In a world of social media, it always feels like you can get more. 10k readers, 100k readers — seeing what the greats do. But think about it, 150 of you are reading my posts daily.

And the best part about it: I have no clue who you are!

So please. If you happen to have read to here, can you reply to me and let me know you read these! And even further, if you’ve been positively or negatively impacted by my writing over the past few months, I want to hear from you. It matters more to me than you’d realize!

What’s next

I have about 2 weeks left on my road trip. Headed towards Atlanta over the next few days then making my way back to Long Island, NY.

You may hear from me tomorrow, or in 2 weeks from now. The only thing I’m committing to is stepping away from the daily activity of needing to write and instead fostering an environment of choosing to write.

There are still many questions unanswered in my own life, career, etc. — but if I were to predict the future, I move to NYC this fall and embark on a new journey. I’m excited to fill you in with the details as they come.

But for now, thank you again for the read and have a great rest of your weekend.

-Jack

PS As I was reading this over (26 timer hit), some super generous guy swiped his card for my dryer machine. I couldn’t figure out how to work it, and I promise you the $5 it cost him to do was significant to him. Just know there are good people in this world!