Please visit the main collection page here:→ Proof of life (continued...)← to experience proper world building as it is meant to exist.
🎥Documented video footage of Dutch unwrapping gifts on 12.25.2022 in an attempt to cheer his grandmother (Nana) up on what would be her final chance to experience a little holiday cheer.🎥
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🎹Music produced by: Dutchyyy
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⏰ Track 1 [00:00-04:54]
🔊"Still Wonderful" (f/ Howie Wonder)
⬇ Listen / Backstory
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💽https://beta.catalog.works/dutchyyy/still-wonderful-f-howie-wonder💽
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⏰ Track 2 [04:55-07:22]
🔊"The HobbyShop Holidays" (Sincerely, Dutch -2010)
⬇ Listen / Backstory
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🎵https://www.sound.xyz/dutchyyy/the-hobbyshop-holidays-sincerely-dutch-2010🎵
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📖Backstory:
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I haven't regularly celebrated holidays since the mid/late nineties with a few exceptions here and there over the years. Majority of my holidays have been spent alone, away from family/friends. So at least for the past decade, my best friend I've known since the mid eighties is usually the only one who sends me gifts. 🎁 He is very intentional, thoughtful and puts a lot of carefully tailored curated love behind this process. He also knows me better than anyone else, so i'm always blown away by the relics he sends me each year, like he is trying to level up and outdo himself each year that passes. Me usually being alone during the holidays, while also being a lifelong collector of tangible artifacts. I can't properly articulate the level of gratitude and appreciation I have for this ritual he's created and has continued for so long. An assortment of refined intel into my love of music, video games and nerd culture in general.
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In July of 2020, I was asked to move in with my 90+ year old grandmother who wasn't adjusting well to living alone during the Pandemic after losing both her daughter on 8.19.16 (My Mom) & her husband on 8.1.19 (My Grandpa) since they all lived in this apartment together for over a decade.
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She was always the saddest during the holidays and refused to celebrate them after I moved in. Which I wasn't expecting, but didn't phase me since I was already used to not treating holidays like every other day.
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If you're familiar with me, my artistic career and what was ultimately the catalyst to hard pivoting to documenting my legacy via blockchain, you likely know my own personal health has been rapidly declining, which seemed to expedite shortly after moving into this 10x12 room in this tiny apartment. Why is this important context? because as someone who has spent 3 decades documenting and collecting creative expression through art and music naturally and consistently, there's no better catalyst than the fear of realistically sooner than most would expect approaching mortality during a turbulently evolving / ever changing technological time & the fear of your life's work and legacy being erased after you're gone to greatly enhance that already inherit love and desire to document moments, memory, music, proof of life.
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So with both of our health being really bad, we would often joke about who would pass away first, 90+ year old Nana or 40+ year old Dutch... Light hearted humor in the face of very difficult times is tried and true effective coping mechanism =)
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Last December (2022) my grandmother was very low on hope, cheer, happiness and my patience for respecting her desire to pretend the holidays don't exist was greatly over powered by my desire to make sure she and I didn't leave this earth without creating at least one last "happy holidays" memory. So, I grabbed all mothers xmas decorations from my storage, set everything up while she was out and made sure I saved a few presents my best friend sent me early December to open on xmas morning, while she sat and watched me in hopes it would lift her spirits. (Foreshadowing Reference in the video context: My best friend always sends me unique snacks, hard to find ramen, spices along with these packages. I did not have the patience to hold off until xmas to open those and eat them. I did get myself sick because of this (my body doesn't react normally or well to food these days) so when I opened the card labeled [🚫NFT] It was like he saw into the future haha, Like I said, my dear friend Eric knows me too well.
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Filming this process was not something I would usually do, I only did so to send the video to my friend since he never gets to see how excited I am opening his gifts. This isn't something I would usually document on chain, being so niche & personal, but my efforts were not in vain, since that experience seemed to really life my Nana's spirits up and brought us a lot closer. My instinct to document that moment in time for the reason I did was sadly also on point because that was the last time my grandmother would have a chance to celebrate the holidays.. 🤶 💔 She passed away recently, on November 3rd, 2023. [94 years old]
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I was very reluctant and hesitant as a 40+ year old man, who's passion and favorite pastime is creating music, exploring nature and sharing memories with friends to self isolate myself to a tiny apartment in a city I keep trying to leave behind me for many reasons, and while it's true this choice came with a lot of serious downsides that added to my health declining worse. Through these past few years, I was able to break through my grandma's very thick emotional walls and connect and bond. She never understood or respected why after 3 decades of releasing music and it not providing the monetary value for the time I dedicated to it. That always stung, if I'm being honest but after living with her and her getting the chance to see first hand how much time, effort, hard work and love into creative expression and then seeing letters, emails, messages from the people that creative expression has deeply impacted. She was super proud of me, was amazed and interested in seeing how I edit and sequence visuals w/ music the most. She, along with most of my friends, have zero understanding of blockchain technology, but thanks to the amazing humans I've met through collecting my work. They absolutely appreciated and cheered me on seeing it having a tangible impact on improving my quality of life during a time when I was isolated in this 10x12 room I am writing this backstory from.
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I will forever be grateful for the positive and impactful moments I got to share with my grandmother in her last days and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who helped play a part in showing her that time spent on documenting creative expression is valuable and the farthest thing on earth from a waste of time.
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Heavy Backstory I know, but intentional transparent world building is something this carefully curated and crafted virtual landscape we all are collectively immersed in feels important. It may feel heavy at times but this life we are blessed with is "Still Wonderful"
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Happy Holidays... Sincerely, Dutch - 12.25.2023
