{"id":46161,"date":"2026-05-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46161"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:14:15","slug":"whats-in-my-now-gordon-tebo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/whats-in-my-now-gordon-tebo\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s in my NOW? \u2014 Gordon Tebo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"313\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon1.jpg 250w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon1-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/f9c7f5ec-0ae1-4f94-b265-32a1ec4eb9ef?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gordon Tebo<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;is a singer\/songwriter living outside of Chicago. He recently released his new album, \u201cExotic Fears\u201d, which served as a sort of exorcism of anxiety and grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon2-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46163\" width=\"840\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2026\/05\/wimb-gordon2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>PHYSICAL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/70fa2996-ccfe-416a-96fa-d9595d0ec72a?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">An acoustic piano<\/a><\/strong>. Not a digital piano. Nothing you have to switch on: it\u2019s always on\u2014that\u2019s the feature! It doesn\u2019t even have to be a piano. A guitar works great, too. Even if you don\u2019t know how to play an instrument, it doesn\u2019t matter. The presence of the instrument in your apartment, house, life, is enough. A friend comes over, sits down and plays a song. Kids come by and noodle mindlessly. It\u2019s a piece of furniture, and it\u2019s not going anywhere. It\u2019s not a liability: it\u2019s a major organ in the living organism you call home. Get one, used. Play it first before you buy it. Get the one that feels right. It will change your life.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/38e850e8-61c9-4a9b-ad28-e64fbc62390a?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L<\/a><\/strong>. Good backpack design is like conceptual origami. How did they seemingly include every conceivable useful feature, spanning functionality, security, and accessibility, into a package that looks sleek and feels great? It\u2019s masterful. I just went to Philly on a 3 night trip and it was overkill. I could travel for a week in this thing comfortably. I want to travel even more than I already do because it makes travel fun and freeing. Thoughtfulness, resourcefulness, and thoroughness: it\u2019s what makes things great.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/ad841205-28de-4d5a-bc4c-33390ada5fdc?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My beater 2014 Toyota Highlander<\/a><\/strong>. I had been contemplating buying a newer car on the grounds that this car is now over 100k miles, has taken some hits, doesn\u2019t have the best gas mileage, the tech is ancient, the turning radius is terrible, and the back hatch takes forever to actually open on its automatic mode. But then I got thinking: I drove my family across the country on a move. I took my aging and sick dog on its final car ride. I drove my second newborn home from the hospital in it. I can bang it up and it doesn\u2019t care. I don\u2019t stress about this car. No one probably wants to steal it. No one even notices it. In fact, someone drove into it at full speed because they didn\u2019t see it (they were on their phone). I thought it was totaled but it came back to life and I swear it drives better now, and maybe even loves me back at times.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>DIGITAL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/c0e720b7-49f8-4b77-9e64-c40bf79c4478?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bear (notes app)<\/a><\/strong>. Here\u2019s where I do all of my writing. Lyrics, random thoughts, poems, beliefs, dreams, recipes, drafts, everything. It\u2019s nothing special, but it works. It works because it\u2019s not trying to be anything more than a good notes app. It\u2019s minimal yet not lacking features. It\u2019s sleek yet it\u2019s not trendy. Everything I\u2019ve done that took a little bit of planning and turned out great in the past 5 years started right here in Bear.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/410aa442-7aaf-4f93-b138-fc3f47c247cb?j=eyJ1IjoiMXhmZzB6In0.4ieSFe4rvvESx3-YSOApdZUV-VKuM1Arc6QBuHWifaY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Infinite Loops podcast<\/a><\/strong>. Like all podcasts, you kind of have to forgive the host. They don\u2019t know who\u2019s listening, or how many times they\u2019ve listened to one of their episodes. They often repeat the same things every episode, tell the same stories, and you know what they\u2019re about to say before they start talking. But that\u2019s not what makes a podcast. The guests make it or break it, and Infinite Loops has great guests that span all sorts of disciplines and offer all manner of thoughtful opinions and measured ideas. Their heads are screwed on tight but they still provoke deep and useful thought. And the host is pretty good, too.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4><strong>INVISIBLE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A sense of humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cHumor and self-righteousness are mutually exclusive\u201d \u2026 a classic Alan Watts observation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This quote is a useful tool for being alive right now. I can get mad that things aren\u2019t going my way or the world is spinning out of control more than yesterday, and my feelings are valid, of course. But one has to balance out those feelings with awareness. And the funniest thing a person can say is what they firmly believe to be true. That\u2019s the funniest damn thing! Try it sometime with someone you trust and love. Once you out it, you pop the bubble in your mind that was holding it all together and you realize you don\u2019t actually know anything other than how you feel inside right now. And that always makes me feel better. Laughing feels great too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsinmynow.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sign up here<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0to get\u00a0What\u2019s in my NOW?\u00a0a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>issue #255<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2303],"tags":[1553],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46164,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46161\/revisions\/46164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}