diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2063957..0c99178 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ being an ambient activity feed for tilde.town
 
 ## development plan
 
+TODO: when I wake up, reevaluate the `~/.bustle.spool` file idea to see if I can avoid a bunch of
+coding / socket programming
+
 - [ ] skeletal server
 - [ ] skeletal client
 - [ ] manually created proof of concept spool files for a few users
@@ -80,6 +83,15 @@ events, listening for shouts, and ready to receive API hooks.
 - for shouts and bot integration, every user gets a file in /town/bustle/spool/. bustled does a select over every file. a scheduled task adds and removes spool files based on who exists on the system.
 - for file activity, some kind of inotify watcher.
 
+#### pre-bed thought
+
+I'm going through the trouble of setting up inotify. For every user. Instead of doing a socket
+connection, how about:
+
+- .bustle.spool in each user's directory
+- the `bustle` command just writes to it
+- i notice those updates by filename and handle them specially
+
 ### How should user clients work?
 
 when you run `bustle`, it enters a loop. at some interval, messages print. should a connection be