This is an archived page. (current posts)

Monday, October 31  

Hoo Ha

If you want something to be true, it probably isn't.

Thursday, October 27  

Tricksey

Don't believe the datestamps!

Wednesday, October 26  

I Do

I used to wonder about the virtues of a Zen(ish) approach to life; one where Being was as or more important than Doing. It's probably a simplistic breakdown, but my undergrad education left me with the idea that western philosophy is all about getting stuff done, while eastern philosophy focused on being or becoming or just eliminating desire altogether. I say "used to" because it's clear that I've thrown in with the Doers.

My friend Dan has been exploring the idea of "meta-narrative" - the worldview or overarching story you create to place your life experience in context. Thus far, mine seems to have evolved to something like "line 'em up and knock 'em down".* Huh... a personal mythology and life justification based around work... I'm not sure how I really feel about that. No, wait. It's not just work - it's other things too, things that are harder to classify. If the choice of Be/Do philosophy revolves around generating satisfaction and reducing suffering, then the experiences that feed my choice the most are the times when I'm in the zone, exploring the edge of some new idea, fully engaged with a purpose that, even if just for a moment, I can really believe in.

It can be writing, it can be making pots. Sometimes it's digging into a page of markup code to internalize it's logic and bend it according to a fuzzy mastery of overlapping rules and concepts. Often it's contained within a few moments of focused conversation, where ideas get threaded together in interesting ways or authentic communication about something important happens. Conversely, I can also find it in solitary puttering about the studio or yard or barn; putting expectations aside for a while to explore things and places like I was able to do so easily as a kid.

Ah, but now the false dichotomy appears (sorry; I've been reading the New Yorker). What makes some of those times so great, so self-fulfilling, is being enthralled in action while at the same time freezing or distilling my self and ego down into something more simple, more "containable". That is, to find myself just Being in a moment of Doing.

* Or more cynically, something like a death march: one foot in front of the other until you fall over.

Compare with: "After bread has been secured, leisure is the supreme aim."
~ Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread
(apparently, I'm the only person to ever quote this on the web. any chance I've remembered it wrong?) a previous related post

Tuesday, October 25  

Gray

How does David Gray rock so hard with just his voice and a guitar? It's the same old folk song, but yet so new and so good. Me likey.

Monday, October 24  

I See A Pattern

Being tired and jacked up on caffiene are a somewhat dangerous combination.

Tuesday, October 18  

Foozball Nirvana

That Monday Night game was dreamy; the Colts dug out of a huge hole to go from down 17 in the 1st quarter to up 17 at the end. Lots of scoring, an emerging young defense that creates turnovers*, a new all-time NFL record that by all rights should have never been broken again, and the hometown team pulling it out to go 6-0. Whew... if they keep this up, I'm not sure I can take the rest of the season.

Upcoming are the f*ing Patriots, the Bengals, Steelers, Seahawks, two chances to humiliate the Texans (in which I'm genuinely afraid that the Colts D-line will kill David Carr), and a couple of those are on MNF too. If they get a 1st round bye in the Playoffs and home field to stay in the domes, isn't it reasonable to believe they could really win it all this year?

* You can just start to imagine who will be the new versions of Brooks, Sapp, Lynch etc. in Tony Dungy's scheme. As I plan to be living in Indiana several years from now, that's going to be really fun to watch week in and week out. Freeny is a freaking monster, Cato June leads the league in picks as a linebacker (and has a great name to boot), and Cory Simon is like two guys in one pair of pants... what a free agent pickup!

Monday, October 17  

Status Report

I've been neglecting the blog love lately, but not out of sheer laziness; in fact, there are so many things going at once that I've just been too occupied to write about any of them.

e.g.:

This weekend I made some tracks on my soda kiln. Got the frame and roof finished on Sat and a first attempt at setting the arch on Sun. (I'll take it down and redo it with some futzing to get it more tight and true). It's looking good, starting very slowly to seem real... I'll believe it when I actually stack it up with pots and see cone 10 drop. As with the entire project, I really can't estimate how much time the rest of it will take, but I hope to do the first firing around the start of November.

Also around the studio, I'm squeezing in some work on insulating for winter in the evenings or when my brain's too numb to do kilnbuilding problem solving. It's a hell of a lot tighter and warmer in there already, thanks to the tyvek housewrap, added layer of siding, replaced doors and windows and attic soffits. And the newly turbocharged wood stove - my Dad and I added a blower - is awesome. A small part of me (and here I mean a very small part) is actually anxious for the cold to come just so I can see what it's capable of on full blast. Hopefully, I'll not be disappointed.

I'm also back to exploring digital video, trying to learn how to make a decent disc in DVD Studio Pro, re-learning some of my small bundle of Final Cut Pro chops, and shooting a bit around the homestead (for archival posterity and to have some new footage to work with). It's really interesting and amazingly deep, but takes a lot of concentration and protracted patience, which are always in short supply.

My friend Dan and I have been having coffee-fueled discussions about post-modernism; what it means and where civilization is going and such -- unambitious chit chat, really. But fun. Man, can we get on a role of free-associative blah blah! I like threading the same ideas through multiple conversations over a couple weeks, where we come back around to the same concepts but from different avenues.

So that's me. You?

Friday, October 7  

Top 10 Tunes

What are the top 10 most played tracks in your iTunes library? Here's mine, for better or worse, from my office computer. Kind of surprising... clearly I've been listening the shit out of the new Coldplay and Weezer albums!

Track ~ Artist (Count)
---------------------------
Alameda ~ Elliott Smith (21)
Freak Me Out ~ Weezer (14)
Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st) ~ Ryan Adams (13)
Square One ~ Coldplay (10)
This Is Such a Pity ~ Weezer (10)
Peace ~ Weezer (10 )
Ending in Tragedy ~ A New Found Glory (9)
Talk ~ Coldplay (9)
Omaha Beach ~ John Williams (9 )
Powerhouse at the Foot of the Mountain ~ Peter Gabriel (9)

Monday, October 3  

Not Funny

Most blogs are decidedly not funny - for example The Negentropic Blog - but I really enjoy those that are. I just found Etch-A-Sketch Attention Span, which is no Izzlepfaff!, but still quite good.

 

Regress

How cynical is "too cynical"?