Grizzly Pear – written snapshots

GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

slow down, push yourself (five pack 23+kahoot+word+ai)
I’ve been paranoid about AI slop music, but I’ve given up when it comes to other languages. I worry that this most human art has been stolen by the box, but maybe that was lost with the first recording.

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July 2025

slow down
push yourself

I was curious why Edward Johnston devoted much of his late career exploring Gothicized Italics so I started practicing it. Pretty much throughout the second half of this year. I can’t speak for the master, but for me, it’s the points, and the deep ***spring*** points. Though it makes me awfully close to graffiti. Maybe that’s where this was heading all along.

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July 2025

mistake
mental
math
moose
month

More playing with Gothicized Italics, with a ruling pen.

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September 2025

The administration’s attempt to push out Jimmy Kimmel pushed me to finally donate to FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. We’ve been in some rough waters these past few years and I appreciate a group that focuses on one mission and practices in a way to earn bipartisan ire.

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September 2025

While convelescing at home after my week at the hospital in September, I powered through the 2025 Inktober prompts. AVOCADO was a warmup word from their year long Inktober 52 challenge before I started marching through the list.

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May 2025

I made collect in May, while practicing the pop-ups as well as Fraktur script. I have a bunch of other pop-ups that may or may not be shared. We’ll see if I ever feel like editing those photos, or if they will stay on the hard drive as I chase other pursuits.

Cya next time!

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PS—Kahoot

My daughter had been using this online quiz app with her online distance education. The goal is to answer questions both correctly and fast, so she gets quite frustrated when her Chromebook is too slow to let her answer the question in the allotted time. She’s a competitive one, even though I remind her it’s only a game.

For the past few weeks she wanted to try making a Kahoot. We finally had a moment on Halloween so we hit the website found their free personal account. We played around a little together, and then she ran off on her own, making her own Kahoots. We asked how she knew that someone could create their own quizzes.

She didn’t know, just had a hunch.

There are lot of negatives to growing up in this online world. But maybe she’ll come out of this zeitgeist with an open-ended perspective of possibility. Not as users but as makers.

Long ago, we started a blog with the girl. Even though it’s been dormant for years, it showed that websites can be easily made by us. Or the time playing with Scratch, proving we can program games.

We made this online world, let’s make sure we shape it more than it molds us.

—November 2021

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PPS—Wordle Algorithm

We’ve been playing quite a bit of Wordle, going through those five letters over breakfast. After a while we’ve settled on an opening algorithm.
Start with AUDIO

If there is a green letter or multiple yellow letters then start deciphering ad hoc

If only one yellow letter, then
- SHARE
- USHER
- SHRED
- SHIRE
- SHORE
If there are no letters, then go with SHYER
If we have one yellow letter, we can test SHER while catching all the vowels by the second word.

And if we have no letters, we can also test almost-vowel Y.

After the second word, it’s just free play, though we tend to play on “hard mode” where we are locked in with the clues that are known. I wouldn’t enjoy playing this game by myself, but we have fun together.

—February 2022

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PPPS—AI Art Destabilization

Surfing on Bandcamp, I stumbled across Mille Morceau which has a surreal, architectural album cover. As I stared at it, I suddenly felt destabilized. Is this AI? The ground fell out from under me. It was a physical reaction even though I was just lying in bed. I need to explore this further.

—May 2023

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PPPPS—Practice

June 2025

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PPPPPS—Practice

June 2025

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17 March 2026
echo

It took many tries to get the two tone brush to work. I don’t recall being happy with any of the results, even after the edits in the computer. Another month later, I’m really happy with this one.

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they piled stuffies on the chair and called me to the room

I stood behind the chair and held up my hand

she grabbed a plastic tube
set it down,
dropped a quarter,
and pushed the joystick

zzt zzzt zzzzt
BOOP!

the hand descended
grabbed Bear-Bear and George

they slipped out,
try again!

this time, Peppa

and again!

a Boggle set
and Unicorn

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a few weeks later at Primm

in front of a claw machine.

I had only one dollar

we got a Pikachu!

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—August 2023

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10 March 2026
ruling pens and pop-ups(five pack 22+trusted advisor+crapwork+small town industries)

I’m editing this post while listening to Quincy Jones’ album You’ve Got it Bad Girl, by way of Phacyde’s “Passin’ Me By” which featured a sample from “Summertime in the City“.

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July 2025

Two years ago, I bought a brilliant Magma red from Birmingham Pens which I used on this Earth. I love their inks but it’s frustrating that they cycle through their catalog.

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May 2025

I used a special brush used for painting grass. I gravitate towards large widths that force me to indulge in my tendency to fill the entire page—even to the point of abbreviating the letters in fast.

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July 2025

Cancer, from Inktober 52’s astrological series last year.

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May 2025

The curves felt appropriate with the word noisy.

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July 2025

I suspect Finish was a reminder to self, I have a projects that need to be closed out.

Cya next time!

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PS—Trusted Advisor

Ego leads to commodity,
Empathy leads to Trust.

The role of the Architect is to be the guide —
Obi-Wan, not Luke.

The User is the Hero!
They rarely get a seat at this table.

—August 2021

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PPS—The crapwork in your job

I was torn about Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open a few years ago. We all have crapwork, but we’re not forced to perform such drudgery in front of the world.

Then again, we also don’t have FU money, so we do it.

The Grand Slam organizers seemed heavy handed in their response when she declared that she wasn’t gonna participate. But I would be equally heavy handed if one of my consultants skipped out on one of their duties, even if it was ancillary to their core deliverables.

It’s a tough situation, but she does have FU money and the French Open doesn’t need any specific single individual, so worked out for both parties.

Ultimately, I’m happy she chose her sanity over chasing another grand slam title. After grabbing four of them, I suspect she realized all that glory is temporary. Either way, she’ll have to get up and train for the next one. Like many of us, maybe she just needed a break.

—June 2022

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PPPS—Las Vegas Small Town Stuff

I was in a meeting with my Deputy Administrator and her former boss in private practice to discuss structural questions on a renovation.

As Deputy Administrator, she was the highest ranking person in the room, while the structural engineer would be the lowest ranking person in the room, since he was a sub consultant to the architect who worked for me.

Work doesn’t happen on an org chart, things are done in the realm of humans. It was fun to watch her dip into old habits, bantering with her old boss, questioning his decisions.

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A few years ago, I hosted a college student from UC Berkeley to show what architects do on a daily basis.

Coincidentally, my mother-in-law used to work with her mother, and my daughter had just been to a party at their house a week before she visited my job.

That college student now has a job in city government, as a colleague with my best friend from Rice.

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An agency project manager suddenly submitted their resignation.

Less than a day later, my architect on my college project mentioned that she met the new project manager on her other project for a theater.

Yup.

And that theater project had an opening because their owner’s PM left to become a VP at the college of my project.

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A former coworker recommended me for a job.

His former manager had recommended my coworker for that job. This manager eventually became the administrator who hired one of my former interns based on me and my coworker’s recommendations.

When things went sideways, guess who helped my old coworker find a gig at my new place.

—May 2023

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PPPS—Practice

May 2025

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03 March 2026
delta

Just a simple attempt with foundational hand, albeit with the ascenders slightly short.

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Reinhard Staupe designed this little, brilliant memory game, Sherlock: go around a circle of eight cards and name them before flipping them up. If you land on a card that you previously remembered, grab the card, refill the slot, and flip the other cards back down for the next player’s turn.

As an adult with too much on my mind, my daughter absolutely destroys me. The boy can play too. He doesn’t play well, but he understands the rules.

The joy is in watching the kids play together. They find certain cards hilarious for no obvious reason. Especially the sock, which is absolutely, gut wrenchingly funny.

Not the drawing, it’s just a green calf-length sock. The illustrator wasn’t trying to be funny. The publisher told Oliver Freudenreich to draw a sock, which he did.

But don’t tell that to the kids—that sock taps into the raw, mystical connection developed over four years of fighting, crying, and laughing.

—February 2022

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24 February 2026
CNY! (five pack 21+on two seats+wedding greetings+dude)

It’s fun to have two New Years, plus my sister is in town this year!

As always, I must remind everyone about this series of schmalzy Petronas CNY ads. It’s the least that oil barons could do for the culture.

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6/22/2025

Fish and hook. As a fan of asymmetry, offset folds are exciting.

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6/23/2025

With my love of asymmetry, angled popups should have been an obvious progression, but I could never get them to work. At this point I also gave up on pairing the pop-up and the words as I raced through the exercises in the book.

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6/24/2025

Not exactly pop-ups, but I had fun exploring the splashy, bendy motif, and they played great with the big text.

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6/26/25

This stunt has an Art Deco feel to it.

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6/28/25

thank you!

This was a thank you card for the Administrative Specialists in our division.

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Cya next time!

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PS—Chinese New Years

The Lunar year is bit awkward. It’s nice to have a second calendar to enjoy, especially gastronomically, but these moments don’t fit great around the American workweek.

It’s a more noticeable now, since my in-laws celebrate these festivities more than my parents. Before the pandemic, we would celebrate on weekends (a 2/7 chance of happening) while squeezing in eating the appropriate foods on the proper day.

Just like celebrating birthdays!

For a few years, work from home alleviated the complexity. We could visit the in-laws and with our laptops. I worked during the day, the girl did her distance education in the evening, and we celebrated during the breaks.

Not ideal, as some Algerians once told me in Paris, an immigrant lives with their ass on two seats.

—February 2022

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PPS—Wedding Greetings

Because of the pandemic, my mother-in-law did not return to China for her nephew’s wedding. Instead, we recorded a greeting for the event.

Our first attempts included the kids, but that quickly proved impossible so they were shuffled into the bedroom to watch TV. We adults then tried to look happy (but not silly) in front of an iPad as my mother-in-law wished all the best for the happy couple.

Good lord. It still took multiple takes, several of which were ruined by laughter.

Now I know why actors earn their fortunes. Pretending is a real, difficult skill. I see why traditional cultures view frown upon this vocation. If you can fake it on stage, can you be trusted at all?

Of course, being a great actor is well rewarded in today’s modern world, a nice problem for a star! But I wonder if the traditional had it right—a professional fake must pay a heavy psychic tax.

—February 2022, and congrats to the happy couple who welcomed their first kiddo last year!

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PPPS—Dude

Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling

I saw this comic strip on an office door in a community college. Now that I have finally found it again, I need to put it somewhere semi-permanent.

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PPPPS—Practice

5/6/2025

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17 February 2026
charlie

It’s only been a few months since I made this piece and I’m not sure if I could do it again (it took so attempts to even get to this one!)

Looking at it with fresh eyes, I also wonder if the h should have tied into the flourish of the C. Such combinations rarely work, but it hits every once in a while. One reason I take so many shots.

The ink is a Noodlers Red-Black that was super dark, but watered down to this lovely burgundy.

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I wandered into a game store and asked the salesman for suggestions now that kids have preferences that I can describe.

I walked out with a couple of games that will be put in a big box of games that I’ve bought for the kids, to be slowly shared over birthdays and holidays.

While driving home, I realized that we only got six more with her. Ten with him, before the nest is empty.

They grow up so fast, hopefully that box will be empty by 2036.

—January 2026

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10 February 2026
Cats and Coffee (five pack 20+Sushi Go!+Dream Cakes+Cardline Animals)

I’m writing this on the last day of the 2025, and I hope things are going well 35 days into the new year. The week between holidays are always a bit weird, but the world spins back to life with the coming Monday and it’s off to the chaos of another twelve months.

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5/5/25

forest pool eight stone wisps
fly lumber today beyond genes
fire chore smoke lake curfew

The italics looks a little rough. I normally prefer going big, but small can also highlight areas for improvement.

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6/15/25

Cat on the balcony!

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6/16/25

We had fun floating a few Vikings in a pan.

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It was fun shaping the numeral one with the letters. I gave this to a friend to celebrate his kid’s first birthday.

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6/21/25

Both figurative and architectural. Feels like this could be an entry into a real coffee shop, except that the door handle would slam into pedestrians walking past the store.

Serves the right.

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We just made some 3-2-1 cookies. They had a ton of fun shaping these butterballs in the molds.

Washing all the stuff was a little less fun. But they were tasty.

Cya next time!

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PS—Sushi Go!, Phil Walker-Harding, 2013

Move over Dominion, this is my daughter’s new favorite game. Skip the buying, straight into drafting. Plus cute art!

We’ve played this two player, though I suspect it’s better with more. Coincidentally, I’ve been playing Magic The Gathering online in their Arena program. One of the main ways to play that game is also drafting.

Funny how card games are just a bundle of numbers and mechanics. Strip out the art and they all rhyme.

Daddy’s favorite game is Magic. My favorite game is SUSHI GO!!!!

—October 2021
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PPS—Dream Cakes, Ravensburger, 2014

When my daughter was younger, she would turn anything (non-stuffy) into cakes, so my sister gave us this game for Christmas.

At first, the girl didn’t want to play the game competitively, but she quickly realized this game is all just luck. She still gets annoyed if her baby brother does well.

Maybe this will be the gateway to teaching her to become a good loser. I’m not a competitive guy. Maybe it’s because I fear failure so much that I suppress myself. Avoiding goals sidesteps disappointment!

Then again, I have simple goals. I always prefer slow and steady strategies. I’d rather lock up 2nd place than risk everything for a win. I enjoy being part of a well played game. I applaud a competitor’s brilliance, and I chuckle when lady luck stabs me in the spleen.

There are many ways to game—maybe she’ll settle on just playing cooperative games. But the real world doesn’t always let you turn something into a “team game” when you’re behind. Sometimes you will lose, however small the stakes.

If this boardgame starts that process where she can handle losing, then its a good start.

—January 2022, Update: it turns out it was the boy who really hates competitive games. Aside from Snorta and Chess, he exclusively plays cooperative, often to the boredom of his sister.

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PPPS—Cardline Animals, Info, year

This isn’t a game, just a deck of cards with great art and an interesting concept.

To be fair, publisher doesn’t pretend there is much of a game. It’s just placing animals in order of weight, length, or life expectancy. And it’s as compelling an experience as as it sounds on paper.

But we’ve played with the cards a lot, and spent one afternoon placing all the cards against a long tape measure to see the real length of these animals.

Except for the whale. They’re too long.

—September 2021

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PPPPS—Practice

4/29/25

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04 February 2026
The Beatitudes

And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:3-12

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I was just short on room to scribe it on a single one page, so this was stitched at the line break above “Rejoice…”. Fortunately, a light table and a computer made for an easy pairing. It also let me relocate the citation and signature to a better location. And take a second shot on the last those last four lines to correct a couple of mistakes.

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31 January 2026
bravo

Even a 9×12 sheet can’t fit a 3″ brush without ligatures and a pile of failures.

At this point, it’s only remarkable when I’m satisfied after a few attempts.

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Years ago, we bought a toy bird for the girl that records and repeats short snippets. The boy is now well past her age then, but two fresh batteries and it squawks again. They’re upstairs, talking, singing. and laughing at distorted tweets.

In the other ear, Mama is on the phone, searching nutrition labels for high protein, high calorie foods to stem Grandpa’s weight loss. My mind searches for anything to thread these competing conversations across electronics, but I come up empty.

Life isn’t tidy.

—16 November 2025

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27 January 2026
OPM.66 Not Young
Having worked in small firms, I’ve always been the young guy. Even that time I went corporate, I ended up being the junior staff member on a major project.

That’s fine. I learn more from the experienced folks.

So it was a bit odd turning Owner and suddenly becoming an old guy. In the few cases where I’m younger, it was by a year or two, not decades.

Middle age is odd. They say architects don’t blossom till they are fifty. That was forever away, now just three years out.

I’ve gone through the stereotypical “now what” moment, but I’m also comfortably confident in my skills. There’s still plenty to explore, but I have much to share with the next generation.

Maybe this OPM letter was a my way to share some notes along this journey.

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Some Links

Over the past few years I’ve fallen hard for calligraphy. It’s why this letter took a long hiatus. You can graph with the most simple of materials, but here are some things that stand out.

The Pilot Parallel was my introduction to calligraphy. As a lefty, I had long thought it impossible, but once I got my hands on one of these pens, I just had to try (with the help of YouTube). It’s an inexpensive pen with none of the hassle of dip pens. If you’re not sure what size to get, go big with the 6.0mm.

What to graph on? Anything will do, but normal printer paper will bleed, as will binder paper. The best value I found was acid-free sulfite paper from Blicks, which is usable on both sides.

If you get deeper into the hobby, then splurge with the Brody Neuenschwander Handwritmic Ruling pen. I also enjoy the Dreaming Dogs ruling pens (especially for alternative shapes), but the Handwritmic has the best build quality with a nib that can handle a variety of scripts.

LED light tables are super cheap now. Mine is just a non-name brand from Amazon. Print out guidelines on paper and now you won’t have to rule your sheets all the time.

And finally books, books and more books.
- Any edition of the Speedball Textbook is a good start (I’ve got 12, 16, and 20-25).
- I’m fond of Arthur Baker’s Foundational Calligraphy Manual because he elucidates a technique of twisting the nib, which feels really weird until it’s natural. At this point I’ve picked up all of his books.
- For good clear overview of scripts over history check out Julian Chazal’s Calligraphy a Complete Guide and David Harris’s Art of Calligraphy.
- I also love Harris’s early book Calligraphy: Modern Masters, a survey of contemporary work around 1991.
- A wild card, out-of-the-box gem is Scott Kim’s mind twisting Inversions.
- And no list of books would be complete without grand matron Sheila Water’s epic Foundations of Calligraphy. I find this one intimidating—high standards are great, but for a hobby, fun comes first. But when you get serious, it’s a must-have.
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Christmas Party at Amalgamated Wireless, Ashfield, New South Wales, 1937, Sam Hood

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Goodbye

Now it’s time to close out this project.

If I was feeling frisky, I’d do a post mortem report of the OPM Letter with my four questions:
1. Was the objective clear?
2. What went wrong, how do we avoid it in the future?
3. What went well, how do we keep it going?
4. Did we miss any opportunities?
But life isn’t always work, so I’ll let these questions linger. Instead, here is a parting gift, a collection of calligraphy, 100 Words on Design.

Thanks again for reading this on-and-off newsletter.

Please shoot me an email, I’d love to catch up.

Cheers!
Justus
23 January 2026