Ritual is important to me— the practice of applying focus to a moment, of giving it as much careful attention as I can muster. I need ritual to prevent rhythm from becoming continuous motion: it gives me a tool to change the rhythm, to live more by varying the tempo. I love getting lost in the rhythm, sometimes… but ritual helps me to find myself again.

I wear a specific shirt on each day of the week so that when the days inevitably begin to blur, I can look down and note their passage— when all else is different, my shirt isn’t.

On Fridays, I wear a necklace. On Sundays, I wear a different one.

I have a particular drawing that I never work on but for Sunday nights at a particular bookstore café in Lisboa, when and where they’ve been hosting ‘jazz jams’ for several years. I began it there, and decided to ‘keep it there’.

In Hawaii, I talk to myself while walking to keep me present.

In London, I rise with the sun.

In Lisboa, I rise with the moon.

At home, I refuse to turn the lights on unless I want to read something— the darkness forces familiar things to the foreground.