GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Artifacts

  • Happy Year of the Rabbit!

  • Work at Office, Week 1

    Day 1, Back in the Office!

    …and my first meeting is on Microsoft Teams, even though the three of us are within fifty feet of each other.

    (screen sharing > face to face!)

    Work at Office, Day 2

    Sure is nice chatting in person after almost three years apart. I’m very blessed to enjoy the company of my colleagues.

    At the end of the day, I realized that I’ve forgotten where the light switches are scattered around the building.

    The delighted squeals of the kids when I came back home was a nice bonus.

    Word of the Day 3

    Solutioning.

    This meeting is only for updates, we will address solutioning at future meetings.

  • 9 Coins

    an ignoramus tips the Tarot

    Black ink (Flair Pen) drawing on a yellow steno pad. Colored in Pixlr. Collaboration with the kids. She did some of the coloring this time.

    A black ink sketch on lined paper with a pile of nine gold coins with square holes. The coins are marked with a yellow house, an invisible face, a strange oval thing, green icing, and a peachy "DADDY BAD!" warning. Around the stash float two grey locks, two pink hearts, two smiling faces, two purple something-randoms, a blue-red spike ball, three purple hats, four windows, and a tomato-tomato head. This time, coloring didn't last beyond the weekend...then again we didn't go up to Mount Charleston to play in the snow this week.
    A black ink sketch on lined paper with a pile of nine gold coins with square holes. The coins are marked with a yellow house, an invisible face, a strange oval thing, green icing, and a peachy “DADDY BAD!” warning. Around the stash float two grey locks, two pink hearts, two smiling faces, two purple something-randoms, a blue-red spike ball, three purple hats, four windows, and a tomato-tomato head. This time, coloring didn’t last beyond the weekend…then again we didn’t go up to Mount Charleston to play in the snow this week.
  • Parking Garage Apartment Parks

    15 years ago, I presented my thesis project, so let’s relive the past!

    It started in the Spring of 2007 when I was studying abroad in Rice’s Paris exchange program. For thesis prep, I explored the idea of increasing density in Southern California which suffers a simultaneous lack of housing and paucity of public parks. Looking back, I suspect my brain was a mix of wonder at living in a real metropolis and a nostalgia for home.

    I focused on the suburban city of Alhambra when I visited my grandfather that summer. I sited the project on a parking lot in front of Ralph’s Supermarket, proposing a big new structure along the street. I added new shops at grade level, moved all retail parking below-ground, and built a multi-story suburban landscape of apartments on the upper floors of the parking garage (the gimmick is that you get to park next to your apartment!). The remainder of the old asphalt parking lot was converted into a large public park, daylighting the buried storm culvert and connecting the adjacent school and church.

    I’ve always been a luddite as an architect, so I finally learned Rhino and rendering for this project, only to never use these skills again. This was also the last time I made a physical model in my career. And as with most other architecture students, this thesis got me a degree and hasn’t seen the light of day outside of the occasional job interview.

    There are more images and the thesis book for download on my online portfolio.

    A series of diagrams showing the relationship of the project to the site. In the 00's Rem Koolhaas was king and Rice was more of a diagram factory than a design school.
    A series of diagrams showing the relationship of the project to the site. In the 00’s Rem Koolhaas was king and Rice was more of a diagram factory than a design school.

    PS. After writing this, I texted some old classmates who I haven’t contacted in years, it was fun catching up!

  • 10 Cups

    an ignoramus tickles the Tarot

    Black ink (Flair Pen) drawing in a yellow steno pad. Collaboration with with the kids. Colored in Pixlr.

    A black ink sketch on lined paper with a rainbow of ten goblets with a green girl square monster, cyan space star, pink donut, and a blue red spike ball. Blue clouds float above with a red warning “Daddy Bad” with a mushroom house and random shapes from the future. Under the rainbow is a vase with space flowers, a square daisy, two gold clouds, and an alien puppy with five legs, two tails, and a pair of antennae.
  • We re-shape our lives for a pink rubber unicorn with a pastel yellow horn.

    Chasing her brother,
    she slipped on the tile,
    and chipped her tooth.
    She came home with a tiny unicorn eraser.

    The boy asked about the “vet”.
    He threatened to brush his teeth —
    Badly!
    He wants to visit the dentist.

    ䷥䷁

    honest
    non-action
    hidden effort
    no end

  • 6 Swords

    Alt text: A black ink sketch on lined paper with an purple six armed sharp thingy with a central donut hole rimmed with golden trim.  Colorful peanuts and pecans accompany the beast, interspersed with little yellow pennants and brown squiggles.  A light blue swirl floats on the eastern border while a squadron of red marshmallows marches south on the west side.

    Black ink (Flair Pen) drawing in a yellow steno pad. Collaboration with with the kids. Colored in Pixlr.

    I’ve got a few too many projects in my mind, and one of them is to draw my own tarot deck as part of the #weekendweirdness hashtag on Post (someone else started it, but I’m the lone torchbearer at the moment).

  • Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl, 1970, & Wes Anderson, 2009

    She enjoyed the trailer and this is one of her favorites from the Roald Dahl book set. We gave it a whirl on New Year’s Eve.

    The girl closed 2022 by learning the hard truth that adaptations distort beloved stories. She expressed her dismay throughout the viewing. Expecting fidelity is a surefire path to disappointment.

    I hadn’t read the book, so I thought it was fine. It was a welcome respite from the current Pixar aesthetic. The story and characters had a delightful edge (which Disney studiously avoids). I haven’t watched Wes Anderson before, but I now grok his reputation. I’d watch him again.

    After the kids went to bed, I read the book. It’s a fun, quiet story. I get why my daughter felt let down.

    We discussed it further on New Year’s Day —

    The director added all that stuff to fill a 90 minute movie.

    But why did he make these changes?

    Those are plot devices to manufacture tension.

    Were they necessary? The book was better.

    I agree, but the mass market demands more excitement in their movies.

    As a father, it hurts to feel her sense of betrayal. Then again, she’s embarking upon lifetime of disappointing movie adaptations.

    Best that we got the initial shock out of the way, last year.

    ䷲䷚

    last night
    she reread

    still prefers
    the source

  • Happy New Year!

    Kids are off to bed and I’m enjoying a quiet pre-midnight indulgence.

    Not sure I’ll make it to the big 0:00.

    Here’s to next year!

    a photograph of wood table with a thin can San Pellegrino Limonata flavored sparkling drink,  Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Square wrapper, and an iPhone playing Waltz for Debby by the Bill Evans Trio.  “Happy 2023” is written in magenta on the left side of the image
  • I didn’t even get a hug before he left.

    Mamma called out bedtime.
    He rushed into our bedroom to say goodnight.

    He picked up the bright red foam roller,
    Tipped it onto one end,
    Stood on his tippy toes,
    Rested his forehead top of the new column.
    And circumambulated around this monument a few times.

    He sauntered out to play with his sister.

    avoid forest deep
    prince and princess
    stone pillar at home