GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Notes

  • Editing my notes on the Gita—with AI

    With the recent talk about AI, I threw Wednesday’s post into ChatGPT to see what it would suggest. I had tried to craft a decent newsletter, but still felt there was room for improvement on this one.

    ,

    I spent the month of April 2021 reading and listening to all the books in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about doing a series of separate posts, but I’m not sure I have that much to say, so listicle time!

    In April 2021, I dedicated the month to reading and listening to every book in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about writing a series of separate posts, but I wasn’t sure I had enough to say, so here’s a listicle instead!

    I’m toying with a cheeky tone. AI made it blandly cheery.

    ,

    Let’s start with a free copy, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. As with all public domain books, the language is dated, but nothing beyond the King James Version of the Bible. It doesn’t come with commentaries, which are essential for understanding what’s going on—especially for us from the West where Hinduism is an exotic oriental religion, but the price is right for a decent introduction to the Gita.

    Let’s start with a free version, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. Like all public domain books, the language is somewhat dated, but it’s no more difficult than the King James Bible. This version doesn’t include commentaries, which are essential for understanding the Gita—especially for those of us from the West, where Hinduism often feels like an exotic, mysterious tradition. Still, for a decent introduction, the price (free) can’t be beat.

    Interesting that AI replaced “oriental” with “mysterious”—PC-ness run amok. The use of this inflammatory term was specifically chosen for contrast.

    Also, adding “(free)” to the last sentence was just blunt force trauma on the point.

    ,

    I listened to Jack Hawley’s Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners which is a translation where the commentary is mixed into the writing, resulting in a version that is three times as long as the original poem. It’s an interesting concept that reminds me of the Living Bible paraphrase of the Bible published in the 1970’s. But I was reading the original at the same time as listening to this book, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parentheticals inserted into the flow of the text. And it was unsettling to never be sure what was textual and what was explanatory. I don’t think it’s a horrible idea, but I prefer the streamlined punch of the original.

    I also listened to Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley. This translation includes commentary woven directly into the text, making it three times as long as the original. While it’s an interesting approach, it reminded me of the Living Bible paraphrase from the 1970s. I read the original at the same time, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parenthetical explanations inserted into the flow of the text. It was often unclear which parts were textual and which were commentary. While I don’t think this format is terrible, I prefer the streamlined power of the original Gita.

    I’ll give it to AI, “woven” is better than “mixed”. I’ll also respect its valiant attempts to avoid starting sentences with conjunctions. I don’t like it myself, but ridding the conjunctions requires structural renovations, not mere massaging. This is not a great paragraph, but AI didn’t make it better.

    ,

    I also listened to Ram Dass’s book Paths to God which takes the opposite tack from Jack Hawley. This is a series of lectures nominally around the Gita, but really about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first came across Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace (as part of a double header with Winged Migration in a movie theater that was about to be demolished). I’ve always been skeptical about white dudes who are into eastern spirituality, but I could sense a good spirit in the film. One interesting aspect of this book is that Ram Dass effortlessly utilizes the language of the 60’s (freak, trip, etc) in a way that makes one understand how that vocabulary came about. Of course it has become a caricature through the intervening decades, but the body of language met a need that was lacking in standard English. In all, I really liked this book.

    Next, I listened to Paths to God by Ram Dass, which takes the opposite approach from Hawley. Rather than focusing directly on the Gita, it’s a series of lectures about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first encountered Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace, which I saw as part of a double feature with Winged Migration in a theater set to be demolished. I’ve always been skeptical of white people exploring Eastern spirituality, but I could sense a genuine spirit in his teachings. One notable aspect of Paths to God is how effortlessly Ram Dass uses 1960s vernacular (terms like “freak” and “trip”), giving insight into how that language came about. While these terms have become caricatures over time, they filled a linguistic gap in standard English. I really enjoyed the book overall.

    Another mediocre paragraph that wasn’t vastly improved by AI. I find it annoying that they polish away the personality by smoothing out the language, such as “dudes” into “people”.

    Even though some of the suggested revisions are decent, the ultimate weakness of this paragraph is its blandness, and AI only pushes towards further blandness. For example, I should have leaned into the 60’s terminology by closing with “I really dug this book”, not turned “liked” into “enjoyed”.

    Many times, it seems that AI is paid by the syllable.

    ,

    The library has a straight audiobook reading of the Gita translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller. The reader, Jacob Needleman, has a copy of the audio posted on his own website. The free version online is of inferior audio quality to the version on Overdrive, but it is free.

    The library also has an audiobook of the Gita, translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller, read by Jacob Needleman. Needleman also has a version available on his website. The free online version has inferior audio quality compared to the Overdrive version, but it’s still free.

    Eknath Easwaran has a popular translation, but he relies a bit too much on sanskrit terms which makes it hard to follow at times.

    Eknath Easwaran’s popular translation is another option, though I found it hard to follow at times due to his heavy reliance on Sanskrit terms.

    I could take or leave the edits on these two short paragraphs.

    ,

    When Love Comes to Light, by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor is a two part book, with an extended ten chapter commentary of the Gita followed by a translation of the book in the second part. Having read and listened to a few books about the Gita, I’m at that point where I’m no longer a complete stranger to the work, but I am still such a novice I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. Nothing seems out of line with what other people say about the Gita. One nice feature about this commentary is that it generally follows the flow of the Gita. While the essays don’t shy from pulling quotes from the entire book, the flow of the ten chapters covers the themes in the order that they were presented in the original. As such, it may be a good introduction to the Gita.

    When Love Comes to Light by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor is a two-part book, with a lengthy ten-chapter commentary on the Gita followed by a translation of the text. Having read and listened to several books on the Gita, I now feel like I’m not a complete stranger to it. But I’m still a novice, so I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. It generally seems in line with what others say about the Gita. One nice feature of this commentary is that it follows the flow of the original text, covering the themes in the same order. As such, it might be a good introduction to the Gita for beginners.

    I needed to take a chainsaw to the original paragraph. AI didn’t go far enough in condensing the text, but it did better than me.

    ,

    The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, by Stephen Cope is a self help book based around the Gita. Like any self help book it is digested in to four digestible “pillars”:

    1. Look to your Dharma
    2. Do it Full Out!
    3. Let Go of the Fruits
    4. Turn it Over to God.

    I enjoyed being introduced to the biographies of the great individuals who were discussed in the book, but the criticism on Amazon that the author never dealt with the the conundrum of familial obligations is absolutely on point. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if one has only one single overarching dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for us normies. I understand why Cope streamlined the biographies to focus on their pursuits of their dharma, but this reduced applicability of these stories for our messy lives. I get that the greats are great because they are different, but if the author doesn’t draw a connection between their lives and our reality, then their biographies become irrelevant. As such, the book is simultaneously too long and too short.

    The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope is a self-help book based on the Gita. Like any self-help book, it’s broken down into four digestible “pillars”:

    • Look to your Dharma
    • Do it Full Out!
    • Let Go of the Fruits
    • Turn it Over to God

    I enjoyed the biographies of the great individuals discussed in the book. However, an Amazon review’s criticism about Cope’s failure to address the conundrum of familial obligations is spot on. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if you have a single, clear dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for people who don’t have a singular calling. While I understand why Cope focused on the great figures’ pursuit of their dharma, he doesn’t draw meaningful connections to our more complex, everyday lives. As a result, the book feels both too long and too short.

    Another long paragraph that AI slightly tightened when it needed drastic cuts. I’m gonna call this a draw because it misread one of my points. Then again, that’s my fault cause it wasn’t written clearly.

    ,

    I read the Stephen Mitchell translation, which is in Modern English. Unfortunately I can’t remember anything about this translation. Stephen Mitchell has translated so many different texts, I’m always a little worried about whether he has the expertise to do it right whenever it comes to a specific book.

    I also read Stephen Mitchell’s modern English translation, though I can’t remember much about it. Mitchell has translated so many texts that I sometimes question whether he has the depth of expertise required for specific works like the Gita.

    AI was straight up better, but I noticed that my voice is missing. If keeping my voice is important, then I need to tighten up my writing myself.

    ,

    I’ve ultimately settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I enjoy her tight structure, capturing a poetic pithiness of the original that the other translations don’t. I read this after my initial explorations, so having some of the concepts telegraphed is not a problem.

    Ultimately, I’ve settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I appreciate how she captures the original’s poetic essence with tight, concise language that other translations lack. By the time I read this version, I had already explored the Gita’s concepts, so the occasional telegraphing of ideas didn’t bother me.

    AI polished too much again. There are slight awkwardness in some of my wording, but nothing I would change in favor of AI. In a shorter paragraph, a little awkwardness is fine.

    ,

    Given that I’ve read more about this text than any other text from the last twenty years you could say I dig the book. Its appeal to duty resonates with the cultural Confucianism of my upbringing and my intellect is tickled by the exotic foreign spirituality in the rest of the book.

    Given that I’ve studied this text more than any other over the past twenty years, you could say I’m a big fan. The Gita’s emphasis on duty resonates deeply with the Confucian values of my upbringing, while its spiritual insights continue to intrigue my intellect.

    AI nuked “exotic” and “foreign“. It really hates toying with otherness.

    ,

    Naturally, the Gita has ended up in the top tier of wisdom literature that I would like to revisit for the rest of my life, along with the Daodejing, Analects, Havamal, Zhuangzi, and the book of Ecclesiastes.

    Naturally, the Gita has become one of the top texts I’d like to revisit throughout my life, alongside the Daodejing, Analects, Hávamál, Zhuangzi, and the Book of Ecclesiastes.

    Hey, AI got the accents for the Havamal!

    ,

    In 2023, I briefly messed with ChatGPT. I was underwhelmed. The hallucinations made it useless for research and it short circuited my process when I used it for synonyms (as opposed to using an online thesaurus).

    Two years later, I have been stunned at its search improvements (or Google SEO’d blog posts have become that much worse). But this exercise shows that AI isn’t ready as a writing assistant (unless you’re just pushing bland-ass corporate bullshit).

    Revisiting ChatGPT after a few years, I was amazed at how much it has improved for research—though I can’t help but wonder if Google SEO-optimized blog posts have just gotten that much worse. However, this exercise demonstrates that AI still isn’t quite ready to be a go-to writing assistant—unless, of course, you’re aiming to produce generic corporate content.

    Editing isn’t always fun. Especially on the Nth pass through a piece that you desperately need to get out of your life. But hard editing forges a piece that is uniquely yours. AI is no shortcut. Indeed, it’s a detriment, fostering complacency that will further drown your voice in the hurricane of content.

    In a couple of years, FOMO will grab me again and I’ll check it out. Until then, the shortcut to better editing remains just taking a damn nap.

    .

  • old 52’s (five-pack seven+Bhagavad Gita)

    Catching up with old Inktober52 challenges from 2024.

    ,

    1/20 Inktober 52 (2024), week 22

    duck
    paddling
    into
    murky
    secrets

    ducks
    paddle
    over
    dark
    secrets

    I uploaded the one on top, but was not happy with how it looked. I messed around a little in GIMP, adding a duo-tone background and then changing the opacity to multiply. Now I’m really happy with both versions!

    ,

    1/23 Inktober 52 (2024), week 27

    free to pluck the
    stars

    This was inspired by Ann Collin’s post with collage artist Duane Toops, a beautiful pairing of poetry and collage. Check it out!

    Their collaboration was bouncing in my head as I tried to fall back asleep while also mentally imaging the Inktober52 prompt “free”. This line slid into my half asleep mind and I snapped awake.

    The original graph was black ink on white paper. In the computer, I inverted the color, pulled “stars” way up into the sky, and added a little brown to emphasize the earthiness of the starting line.

    Even though I don’t prefer relying upon the computer, I do it when it makes sense. At the very least, rightsizing the white space around conventional pieces. And sometimes it’s nice to envision a piece and hit it out of the box.

    ,

    1/28 Inktober 52 (2023), week 42

    plump
    witches
    prefer
    organic
    children

    This one turned out to be wicked hard. Even though I envisioned both of these concepts fairly easily, they both took multiple attempts and I’m not happy with any of them.

    Sometimes you just throw your hands up and say “this is all I got with today’s skillz!” And move on.

    ,

     

    1/29 Inktober 52 (2023), week 51

     

    the
    elf
    sang
    soft
    slow

    I’m still figuring out how to use that music nib. This was inspired by a glorious piece by totemspoems on Instagram.

    ,

    2/3 Inktober 52 (2021), week 30

     

     

    ink
    more
    black
    than
    bile

    A lot of times I’m using greys, washes, or watercolor. It was fun to just use a pure black india ink.

    ,

    At the start of February, I showed my wife some awesome calligraphraphers on Instagram. She was reasonably nice about my work too =).

    But we agreed that the borders was limiting the punch on the 5WPs.

    So they’re gone.

    As an architect, there are some perks to being married to another architect.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS-Bhagavad Gita

    I spent the month of April 2021 reading and listening to all the books in the library about the Bhagavad Gita. I thought about doing a series of separate posts, but I’m not sure I have that much to say, so listicle time!

    Let’s start with a free copy, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. As with all public domain books, the language is dated, but nothing beyond the King James Version of the Bible. It doesn’t come with commentaries, which are essential for understanding what’s going on—especially for us from the West where Hinduism is an exotic oriental religion, but the price is right for a decent introduction to the Gita.

    I listened to Jack Hawley’s Bhagavad Gita, A Walkthrough for Westerners which is a translation where the commentary is mixed into the writing, resulting in a version that is three times as long as the original poem. It’s an interesting concept that reminds me of the Living Bible paraphrase of the Bible published in the 1970’s. But I was reading the original at the same time as listening to this book, so it felt strange to have Hawley’s parentheticals inserted into the flow of the text. And it was unsettling to never be sure what was textual and what was explanatory. I don’t think it’s a horrible idea, but I prefer the streamlined punch of the original.

    I also listened to Ram Dass’s book Paths to God which takes the opposite tack from Jack Hawley. This is a series of lectures nominally around the Gita, but really about Hinduism and spirituality in general. I first came across Ram Dass in the documentary Fierce Grace (as part of a double header with Winged Migration in a movie theater that was about to be demolished). I’ve always been skeptical about white dudes who are into eastern spirituality, but I could sense a good spirit in the film. One interesting aspect of this book is that Ram Dass effortlessly utilizes the language of the 60’s (freak, trip, etc) in a way that makes one understand how that vocabulary came about. Of course it has become a caricature through the intervening decades, but the body of language met a need that was lacking in standard English. In all, I really liked this book.

    The library has a straight audiobook reading of the Gita translated by Barbara Stoler-Miller. The reader, Jacob Needleman, has a copy of the audio posted on his own website. The free version online is of inferior audio quality to the version on Overdrive, but it is free.

    Eknath Easwaran has a popular translation, but he relies a bit too much on sanskrit terms which makes it hard to follow at times.

    When Love Comes to Light, by Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor is a two part book, with an extended ten chapter commentary of the Gita followed by a translation of the book in the second part. Having read and listened to a few books about the Gita, I’m at that point where I’m no longer a complete stranger to the work, but I am still such a novice I can’t really judge the quality of the commentary. Nothing seems out of line with what other people say about the Gita. One nice feature about this commentary is that it generally follows the flow of the Gita. While the essays don’t shy from pulling quotes from the entire book, the flow of the ten chapters covers the themes in the order that they were presented in the original. As such, it may be a good introduction to the Gita.

    The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, by Stephen Cope is a self help book based around the Gita. Like any self help book it is digested in to four digestible “pillars”:

    1. Look to your Dharma
    2. Do it Full Out!
    3. Let Go of the Fruits
    4. Turn it Over to God.

    I enjoyed being introduced to the biographies of the great individuals who were discussed in the book, but the criticism on Amazon that the author never dealt with the the conundrum of familial obligations is absolutely on point. The Gita is all about following your duty, which is an easy concept if one has only one single overarching dharma. But what if you have multiple obligations? This book falls short for us normies. I understand why Cope streamlined the biographies to focus on their pursuits of their dharma, but this reduced applicability of these stories for our messy lives. I get that the greats are great because they are different, but if the author doesn’t draw a connection between their lives and our reality, then their biographies become irrelevant. As such, the book is simultaneously too long and too short.

    I read the Stephen Mitchell translation, which is in Modern English. Unfortunately I can’t remember anything about this translation. Stephen Mitchell has translated so many different texts, I’m always a little worried about whether he has the expertise to do it right whenever it comes to a specific book.

    I’ve ultimately settled on Laurie Patton’s translation. I enjoy her tight structure, capturing a poetic pithiness of the original that the other translations don’t. I read this after my initial explorations, so having some of the concepts telegraphed is not a problem.

    Given that I’ve read more about this text than any other text from the last twenty years you could say I dig the book. Its appeal to duty resonates with the cultural Confucianism of my upbringing and my intellect is tickled by the exotic foreign spirituality in the rest of the book.

    Naturally, the Gita has ended up in the top tier of wisdom literature that I would like to revisit for the rest of my life, along with the Daodejing, Analects, Havamal, Zhuangzi, and the book of Ecclesiastes.

    ,

    PPS-Practice

    1/22

    .

  • 52ing into 2025 (five-pack six+Books that Matter: The Analects+Confucius: And the World He Created)

    Here are the last couple of Inktober 52’s from 2024 and the first three for the new year.

    ,

    12/23 Inktober 52, week 51

    realities
    wrapped
    in
    the
    enigma

    I tried going with a square for this is play on “enigma wrapped in a riddle”. The corners felt awkward so I went to the old standby—a big circle.

    ,

    12/30 Inktober 52, week 52

    zombies cross the finish line

    Always a little scary to give up control, letting gravity have a say.

    I’m not sure if outlining was better or worse. It makes it a bit cartoonish, less bloody.

    ,

    1/4 Inktober 52, week 1

    quiet
    sunrise
    quells
    murky
    shades

    The pointed brush and copperplate cursive came together in “sunrise”. I’m unhappy with my dip pen copperplate—it needs a ton more practice to look good for these 5WP’s. But all that December work set me up for pretty good cursive with the pointed brush.

    So it worked out after all. Shouldn’t plan too much for these these creative meanderings. Just peek far enough to keep doing.

    ,

    1/12 Inktober 52, week 2

    perky
    shrimp
    pound
    pearly
    xylophones

    After finding the big concept, one must still wrestle with a bunch of little decisions. It turned out the last slant was best.

    ,

    1/18 Inktober 52, week 3

    tick tock
    yesterday
    transforms
    tomorrow

    I finally learned how to properly spell “tomorrow”.

    ,

    I can’t believe we’re 8% through the year!

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS—Books that Matter: The Analects of Confucius, Robert Andre LaFleur, Great Courses, 2018

    This excellent audio course covered the Analects and its outgrowth in Chinese history. It provides a conceptual framework for reading the text as a series of conversations between the teacher and his students. LaFleur then covers key themes, such as filial piety and remonstrance, and finally closes with a discussion of Confucius’s long legacy in China and East Asia.

    After four years, it might be time to revisit this course. Like most Westerners, I have an affinity with quirky individualism of Daoism as a reaction against fundamentalist Christianity. However the ideas centering social relationships and mutual bonds as discussed in this lecture series are attractive, especially as our nation continues to rattle itself apart with irresponsible leaders and citizens.

    Beyond these lectures, just finding this course is a reminder of how much info is just out there. Here’s a free 12 hour lecture series! what else is hiding on Overdrive? And the library’s physical stacks? Add Kanopy.com and the publisher’s own streaming service? Finally podcasts and YouTube!

    I wonder what Confucius would say about drowning ourselves with information.

    ,

    PPS-Confucius: And the World He Created, Dan Schulman, 2015

    This book was a good rejoinder to the Great Courses lecture series, which had taken a positive spin on the philosophy. This book focused on the real-world history of Confucianism, which was quite detrimental by the end of China’s imperial age.

    Such is the fate of any philosophy that becomes calcified. American Christianity’s obsession with being right has created an political religion that has forsaken Jesus’ true core of love. The ineffable concept of the dao became a collection of wild superstitions in religious Taoism. And the vision of a well ordered society metastasized into a harsh top-down hierarchy that perpetuated stagnation and cruelty.

    These loose philosophies started out kindly enough but lost their heart as they became systematized. Certainty killed the animating force that gave them life.

    An organized religion builds a magnificent intellectual edifice by losing the point. One must always be free to pick what works today and ignores that which is irrelevant to the moment.

    For that reason, I suspect Confucianism is making a comeback. With the destruction of the formal, governing, imperial ideology, the writings of Confucius and Mencius are available for a fresh rereading. It took two centuries of chaos in Asia to exorcise the old ghost of Confucianism. Master Kong is free to ascend again.

    Schulman notes in his epilogue that we are at a crossroads where Confucius can be used to help form an orderly rich society. Or maybe it becomes the bedrock for a new authoritarianism. Let’s just hope we don’t screw it up as badly as last time.

    ,

    PPPS-Practice, red to salmon

    1/15

  • More #52’s (five-pack five+Analects of Confucius, translated by Robert Eno, 2015+Make More Art Flow Chart)

    Some more 5WP’s inspired by Inktober 52 prompts.

    ,

    12/16 Inktober 52, week 50

    gingerbread
    home
    chicken
    running
    feet

    After the initial post, I thought it might be better with the gingerbread home inverted. But it just looks like a piece of toast.

    In the past few months, I’ve gone native with GIMP. Its UI is not as intuitive as what I remember from Photoshop, but I’m able to produce quickly on the program, at least for the limited work that I do with it. I presume going back to Adobe would now involve an uncomfortable learning curve.

    And yes, this piece is a reference to Baba Yega’s lovely home.

    ,

    12/18 Inktober 52, week 32

    fang
    sour rain
    eerie sea

    This was partly inspired by the Fender logo, but it took a bit of finagling to get something that felt properly fangy. Even then, I had to add a bit of splatter to lock in the effect.

    ,

    12/20 Inktober 52, week 30

    O
    blessed
    and
    cursed
    mutation

    There is a slight color shift in the four words because I was playing with the gradient effect by touching two Pilot Pens. Maybe I’ll spend a month really playing with that effect. Or maybe I just use watercolors.

    ,

    12/21 Inktober 52, week 29

    summoned
    Hellboy
    to
    wash
    dishes

    Tried a couple versions of this poem but went with the mental image of Hellboy carefully soaping porcelain teacups. It was fun to learn how to draw an ellipse!

    ,

    12/22 Inktober 52, week 25

    little
    folk
    abduct
    farm
    animals

    After the time cutting out a pile of A B U D C and T’s from mailers and brochures, I had to show off all five attempts.

    ,

    I’m trying to write these in advance, but it’s hard to keep up with the calendar. Time marches inexorably forward.

    And commitments invariably multiply.

    The doc just prescribed a half hour of aerobics, 5 days a week. It’s going to take every self-help hack I’ve collected over forty-five years to develop a positive mindset about this new 150 minute weekly time suck.

    But I’ve been warned that heart drugs mean no more eating grapefruits.

    So I must run and jump.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS—Analects of Confucius, translated by Robert Eno, 2015

    The internet is a wonderful place.

    When the pandemic hit, I finally started reading eastern philosophy. I can’t remember why I started with the Analects, but Robert Eno of the University of Indiana made it easy by freely sharing his translation of Confucius.

    The Analects are a mix of history and proverbs, and Eno greatly aids the reader with a two column format that runs the commentary directly adjacent to the text It’s a brilliant layout to insert to add historical context and explain pithy sayings without interrupting the flow of the original.

    I also enjoyed that Eno chose not to translate key words, such as ren, junzi, li, and dao. The transliteration allows these words to accrete their own meaning, separate from imperfect English analogues. Over time, these sounds become “real words” as you internalize this technical vocabulary.

    In terms of thought, I’m temperamentally conservative so I naturally get along with this book even if the philosophy eventually calcified into an oppressive ideology of empire.

    Confucius was merely trying to restore order in a dissolving society. These Analects are a collection of lively sayings, not a systematic philosophy. The flow is accessible, almost haphazard. This was a practical school, exploring the role of ritual, morality, and power in governance. As a bureaucrat, I feel an odd camaraderie with his students, through two and a half millennia from bamboo slats onto a printed PDF.

    Even if you’re not a government drone, it’s worth a read. Daoism is more popular in the West, but one’s appreciation of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu will be enriched by better having a conversation with their stuffier sibling, Master Kong.

    ,

    PPS—I doubt Confucius was into flow charts, but I think he’d dig this, courtesy of Miep, who shared a flowchart which I loved. I tweaked my version to utilize the shapes that are used at my government job.

    • Rectangle = Process
    • Squiggly = Document
    • Diamond = Decision
    • Oval = Start/End/Conclusion
    1/5

    .

  • A couple from the boy (five-pack four+Magic Puzzle Company)

    Some 5WP’s from that came from here and out there.

    ,

    12/15

    floor
    slug
    clapping
    his
    feet

    When we eat, the boy wanders around the house. I wrote this after watching him mop the floor with his back and clapping his feet in the middle of dinner. The girl has always been well behaved at meals so I’m gonna chalk it up to genetics.

    ,

    12/13

    dreamland
    dusk
    seeking
    the
    girl

    An early morning poem after waking up from a dream.

    ,

    12/16

    metal
    tail
    chubby
    sky
    shark

    Next to the airport is a big shopping center. I’m always tickled by the tail fins gliding in the background by as jets prepare for takeoff while I’m parking the car to pick up oranges.

    ,

    12/31/2024

    poetry
    pokes
    thru
    imperfect
    precision

    It started with the phrase “poetry is precision” but it felt too pat and wasn’t five words.

    I have no business making pronouncements on the nature of poetry. If I keep this up maybe this will feel prescient. Or just cringe. Tomorrow’s problem!

    ,

    1/2/2025

    do dreams teach you stuff?

    A couple of weeks ago, the boy walked up as I was typing on the computer and asked an innocent question.

    Unfortunately my first attempt had a mistake. But it’s prettier.

    ,

    I’ve been focusing on using a straight brush for this month.

    I’m not using a “real” standalone brush, but Pentel refillable brush pen. The price fluctuates wildly, but I’ve gotten them at around $8 for a pen (with two black cartridges). I refill the empty cartridges with whatever color I want. I’ve got three at home and one at the office.

    We also picked up a straight brush from Blick for Christmas. Maybe I’ll pull it out and have something deep to say about straight brush calligraphy by the end of the month. Ha!

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS–Magic Puzzle Company

    In spite of my fatherly brainwashing, my kids just aren’t into boardgames.

    But they did go through a jigsaw puzzle phase. A couple of years ago I found a puzzle at Goodwill priced at $12.99, when I’ve never seen a puzzle go for more than $2.99.

    That price sparked my curiosity so I looked it up on Amazon. It had good reviews, the box felt sturdy, and the art was undeniably cute. I bought it for the girl’s birthday.

    Bingo!

    I bought another one for my son’s birthday (this time new).

    Bingo, again!

    These offerings by Magic Puzzle Company are spectacular. Thick pieces, intricate art, creative cuts, damn near magical. Heads and tails better than Ravensburger puzzles (which are already significantly better than other brands normally found in thrift shops).

    So I’m giving it the highest possible recommendation. In a world where I can keep buying used puzzles at the library and thrift stores for two bucks a pop, I’ve purchased the entire Magic Puzzle Company catalog at $23 a piece.

    To add a slight literary valence (and to avoid being a complete shill) I’ll also recommend that y’all check out George Perec’s Life a User’s Manual. I often think about the puzzle maker in that novel while playing these puzzles. It’s high time that I revisit that epic.

    ,

    PPS—Heal

    1/3

    are you going to heal the sink?
    yes, we need to fix it next week.
    I like to say heal—it’s like a person.

    From a conversation last year with the boy soon after we moved into this house.

    .

  • Catching up December (five-pack three+Ties*2)

    With the holidays, I’ve fallen behind on these compilations. We’ll see if I catch up or if life will keep me busy so that production just falls off in this new year. It’s gonna be a busy year at work, without adding any burdens from a self-imposed hobby schedule.

    ,

    12/7 Inktober 52, week 49

    krampus
    tracks
    you
    year
    round

    I tried to create claustrophobia with Krampus spying through the caps in the words. Turns out that half-hiding the four words along the top was more effective.

    ,

    12/11 Inktober 52, week 35

    loft nest of cruel fairies

    Made a loft out of “loft”. Unfortunately, I’ve totally forgotten how I created that creepy effect with “fairies”, maybe with a ruling pen?

    ,

    12/12 Inktober 52, week 34

    ride clouds with 72 transformations

    Another homage to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. I used to believe that I didn’t have a favorite didn’t have a superhero. When the boy was old enough to get into the Sun Wukong cartoons, I realized I did had one all along, decades after my mom read these stories to me as a boy. Soon after, I read the Journey to the West and fell in love with that crazy monkey even more.

    ,

    12/14 Inktober 52, week 33

    pink dreams in a stormtrooper

    pink stormtrooper in a dream

    Stormtrooper was the word, but it played out in two different ways.

    ,

    12/19 Inktober 52, week 31

    It’s just one tiny bean

    “Stormtrooper” and “Bean” are both unapologetically inspired by this essay by Michele Banks about the work of Christopher Wool. It’s is well worth a read.

    The variations (among several more that aren’t published) show that there is a whole world of additional decisions that follow the initial concept. Details upon details, all the way down.

    ,

    After all the decisions, there is the final execution. Which is always a thrill and terror.

    Every time I get frustrated at a piece, I re-center by reminding myself that it’s a huge privilege to work on these drawings. I should savor these multiple bites at this apple. Is there any better use of time than making art?

    Here’s to more 5WP’s in ’25.

    Cya next time!

    ,

    PS–Ties

    Architects have a weird relationship with ties. We’re artsy professionals.

    Look at the photos of any architecture website—we don’t wear ties. I never wore one in private practice. We’ll rock a sports coats for big meetings and some architects make a statement with a bow tie. But no ties.

    But things were a bit more formal in the State. As the low guy on the totem pole, it’s best to be overdressed for government meetings. So I kept a coat in a car (with two ties, to match whatever shirt I might be wearing).

    How about meetings where I’m not the low guy? In such a case, I like to signal west-coast casualness to keep folks at ease, but I’m still a government official. Last year, I finally solved the conundrum. I can just wear the tie, without the coat! With a tie, I’m taking the meeting seriously, but not I’m not full of myself.

    A good example would be consultant selection interviews. I don’t want to outshine the interviewees, but I want to acknowledge that this is a big deal for them.

    If I know I’m going to wear a tie that day, I’ll wear a long sleeved shirt, but in a pinch, a short sleeved shirt with a tie has a nice 50’s vibe to it. But wait! There’s more—the badge lanyard. At the State our employee ID card was functionally useless. So I never wore it except for meetings in other State buildings. In such a case I’m signaling that I’m “one of you” (versus the outside consultants or contractors).

    ,

    PPS-Airport Dress Update

    With airport security, the badge lanyard went from bonus to required. Even then, which lanyard? These things are all branded! Currently I’ve settled for a LAS lanyard that was passed out at an all-hands meeting. I’d prefer a thinner lighter lanyard, but until I splurge on a UC Berkeley lanyard, it’s best to rep for the employer.

    More complicated is how to dress. For most folks that’s not a problem. Almost all of the airport dresses pretty much as we did at the State. But my boss comes from the East Coast. He’s always well dressed. Invariably better dressed than the top directors of this place! It’s a balancing act. As his subordinate, I don’t want to underdress my boss, but it feels weird to be overdressed to his bosses.

    Currently my compromise is that while I’m in the office I dress as I’ve always done (button down and slacks). But whenever I hit the terminals I tuck the shirt in and wear a sports coat. If I’m in a big meeting, I’ll wear a tie. Definitely when I’m meeting the public or when elected officials, and I’m still figuring out how to play it out when it comes to our internal leadership.

    So to that end, I finally bought a couple ties. First time in decades! I got tired of the old hand-me-downs with bland patterns and got a pair of simple navy blue ties (representing the color the new Harry Reid logo). With a sports coat in the car and another in the cubicle, I’m always ready to look formal.

    Of course, I’m is totally overthinking things, nobody else is wasting brain space on such questions. But overthinking is what architects do. So Walmart is $20 richer, and I’m the proud owner of two blue strips of cloth.

    ,

    PPS-Blick Paper Play

    For Christmas we bought a ream of sulfite paper from Blick. I took a moment to compare it against an existing ream that we already have. The texture is the same so the only difference is a very subtle beige tint on the Blick paper that might have been washed out in the post processing.

    Still, it’s always fun to play with all the tools on one sheet.

    .

  • Anaheim and Big Bear, Summer 2024

    Notes from our Disneyland + Big Bear run (trying to escape the Las Vegas heat before school starts).

    0) The day before we left, we battled a pantry bug infestation. After decades of bulk purchases it was finally our turn. Better that they showed up before we left, but it made for a hectic run up to the vacation. From now on, everything bulk goes into the freezer for a week. And no more stocking up.

    1) Our boy is not good with mountains nor traffic and certainly not both—he’s thrown up a couple of times on the Cajon Pass between Victorville and San Bernardino.  If your kiddo has a similar issue, Coyote Canyon Park is a lifesaver.  It sits right after the pass with restrooms and a shaded playground. As a city park, the restrooms might be closed after dark, but they were open both times we’ve visited. Our future Vegas to SoCal runs will plan on hitting the Clyde V. Kane Rest Stop and then this park as we glide into the megacity.

    2) The kids felt they liked Legoland almost as much as Disney.  If so, there’s more stuff to do a short drive away, the weather more pleasant, Legoland a bit cheaper, and the park is well suited for younger kids. San Diego FTW. That said, this is Disneyland!  

    3) We refused to pay the extra $35 per head per day for Lightning Passes but still got plenty of rides by skipping the popular roller coasters (Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Star Wars, Cars). That said, keep an eye out for the virtual queue program.  It was being used to control crowds at the Haunted Mansion Ride (and I suspect offered as a free taste for their Lightning Pass system).

    4) We stayed at the Anaheim Islander Inn and Suites (which we used for our last visit five years ago).  A totally no frills motel with bananas and costco danishes for “breakfast”.  The place was clean, walking distance to the park, and the price was right.

    5) The design manager at my office with a bit more Disneyland experience recommends the Candy Cane Inn.  It’s a little pricier but looks a lot nicer (it was on our route to the park).  We would have considered this place if we were visiting with our parents since they have a shuttle to the park.

    6) Bring a stroller. This is the last time our boy can ride it and it was nice to throw wheels under him for the half mile march home. Even so, we’ll bring it next time since it was a great provisions cart to supply these day long marathons.

    7) The three weekday tickets were the best deal we could find. Ideally, we’d live in Southern California and visit once a month for a season, but that’s not an option for Nevadans. Three days in a row was plenty; we were getting frayed by the last day. Even our girl acknowledged that she would have had her fill after four days (two at each park).

    8) I strongly prefer Disneyland over California Adventure. Disneyland feels more authentic in its simulacrum, partly because much of it was built before disability standards. California Adventure is the outdoor mall version of Disneyland—the girl commented that it felt a bit like a casino. But they preferred the thrill rides at California Adventure.

    9) We planned on exploring other parts of LA, but it was too friggin hot. Coming from Vegas, I thought we could handle the heat, but outdoor all day under a humid 83 is a lot. So we went up to Big Bear instead. Along the way, we got gas in San Bernardino. It was 105. I have no idea why anyone would live there instead of Vegas.

    10) Yes, the boy threw up twice on the way up the mountain.

    11) We stayed up there for two full days to decompress from Disney before heading home.  We hit up the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum with a few old buildings and plenty of exhibits, well worth the entry fee of $5 per adult. The Big Bear Alpine Zoo was a bit more expensive ($54 for the family) and the animals were hiding from the heat.  The San Diego or Los Angeles Zoos would be better deals…but we weren’t in SD nor LA, and LV don’t got no zoos.  Both places were good for 90 minutes each if you savor the strolls. 

    12) I suspect there are plenty of nature things to do as well, but we used up all our walking energy in Anaheim. Our AirBNB had Disney+ so we caught up on Bluey. YouTube noticed and fed us the single Bluey episode that the Mouse refuses to stream on their service. Fortunately the Australian Broadcasting Company has now uploaded Dad Baby for everyone to watch. It’s hilarious. Go check it out.

    13) We also watched Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, and Dumbo. They’re all great, but Dumbo was amazing. 5 minutes of story as an excuse to produce 85 minutes of badass animation. If you haven’t watched Dumbo lately, do yourself a favor and check it out after you watch Dad Baby.

    14) The ride home was uneventful. Unlike the route up from LA, the road down to Vegas was gentle, on par with a Mount Charleston run.  Along the way, we hit up the EddieWorld gas station north of Barstow.  It was meh—what you’d expect from any wannabe tourist trap (like the Terrible’s at Jean). 

    15) We skipped the claw machine at Prizm Mall at Primm this time, but it’s a way better stop with all the massive murals inside and outside of the dead mall. I wonder how long that building will stay open since it only has one shop operating in that place. Five years ago we hit up the old Barstow Outlet Mall (the old one set back from the freeway). At the time it was almost empty but still well maintained with green lawns. That place is now fenced off and totally brown inside.

    16) I brought a bunch of books but I didn’t get much reading in. But I did get some good progress on The Conference of the Birds (Darbandi & Davis translation). I dig it. I don’t grok the Sufi obsession with “love” in a Islamic context but I’m only halfway through. At least I’m now in sync with the masnavi meter. Last year, I tried to read Rumi’s Masnavi but I couldn’t get past the rhyming structure. Now I think I can flow with it.

    update: 17). I completely forgot to mention the highlight of our Zoo trip. While at the gray wolf exhibit, the three wolves settled up against the glass. They were on a raised platform so our faces were less than an inch away from these majestic beasts. Mama was so moved that she let the kids buy a wolf stuffy at the gift shop even though she’s sick of the proliferation of soft toys in our house. This afternoon my daughter looked the zoo website and found out that these wolves were rescued from the illegal pet trade. They arrived malnourished and with severe mange. Humans are so callously cruel, and yet, this zoo shows that we can also emend our faults.

  • Hilda, Bluey, Waffles+Mochi

    Hilda, Seasons 1 and 2, Luke Pearson

    In 2020, we discovered Hilda on Netflix and devoured the series. Our girl was so charmed, she read all the graphic novels and books, even though the stories had already been retold in the TV show.

    Hilda works because the world is constrained and limitless. The geography is tight, but anything can happen. And even if we’re missing a bunch of Scandinavian mythology, there’s a lots to enjoy.

    A young spunky protagonist.
    Strange creatures.
    The supernatural.
    Thrills.
    Lots of trolls.
    Hilda’s friends.

    And my favorite, the woodman. He’s a total ass, but he likes jazz and lives in a stylish modern home from the 70’s. I wish I could be as imperturbable as him.

    Suitable for children but interesting for adults. Thrilling but not scary.

    Here’s to the next season!

    ,

    I wrote this in 2021 and Season 3 came out last year…but we are no longer on Netflix. At some point we’ll resubscribe. Maybe after the kids grow out of their Pokemon obsession.

    ,

    Bluey, Seasons 1 to 3, Joe Brumm

    The dog family y’all wish you had—
    playing parents,
    giggling kids,
    house atop of the hill,
    and a verdant lawn.

    ,

    This is how you know it’s great — Disney Plus was compelled to license this Australian Broadcasting Company show. Hard recommend.

    ,

    Waffles + Mochi, Season 1, Thormahlen and Konner.

    We loved it—the girl, the boy, and me— but mama found it a too saccharine.

    I normally avoid food shows because it’s an exercise of remote envy. This show certainly brings a lot of envy, but it moved briskly and covered fun topics. And how can you deny a power anthem to the lowly egg?

    But was it prudent to feature Mrs. Obama in the show? The Obama fit my type, so I enjoyed her presence. Maybe they would have had a wider reach with a non-political figure. Then again, in this rabidly interconnected age, the mere involvement of the production company might have turned off Republican viewers anyways. Their loss.

    I wonder what GOP tinged productions am I missing out on?

    That aside, I enjoyed all ten episodes. It might be too saccharine for you, but at least check out their fine with the first episode.

    ,

    Another show to add to the Netflix cue, along with Arcane Season 2 and Pui Pui Molcar Season 2.

    ,

    Speaking of Arcane, I just realized that I never wrote about Season 1, by Linke and Yee.

    It’s a visual treat, but I can’t get excited by teenagers dealing with their issues, even if they are trying to save/ruin the world. I noted in an aside last year “Arcane—a fun show that doesn’t reach the stratosphere of top-line classics.”

    Check out this scene. Stylish and visceral. Damn.

    ,

    cartoons
    all
    deluged
    pokemon
    gotta
    watch
    them
    all!

    .

  • Baron in the Trees, Calvino (1957), The Jerusalem Windows, Chagall (1962), Genie’s Banquet, Eifuku & Takada (2016) Dorfromantik, Palm & Zach (2023)

    Baron in the Trees, only took me forever to read this.

    • Like many foreign films, the novel is fun and quirky until but the real world intrudes.
    • Indeed, this impending sense of doom is why it took me months to finish.
    • But it was edifying. A brilliant display of sparse deep storytelling.

    Jerusalem Windows, a killer $2 find at the library.

    • As with many mid-century monographs, it comes with a hagiography of the great artist. I kind of enjoy it, in a nostalgic way.
    • The colors are stunning, and it’s awesome to watch the process from sketches to finished window and detail.
    • But the allegory in the images are hard to grok, even for a kid who grew up as a hardcore Christian. I need to reread this book. Slower.

    Genie’s Banquet, a filler with the kids.

    • A fine example of a sharp little Japanese card game, common in the 2010’s.
    • As a cooperative game, this it’s a perfect fit at this moment.
    • There are some translation glitches in the rules, but the joy of boardgaming is that you can make up the rules when you’re unsure. We made it work.

    Dorfromantik, for my wife’s fake birthday, but really for the boy.

    • Charming and idyllic is exactly correct in describing this game. Normally I want a game to have an edge, but it’s the lack such an edge that makes this game. The SDJ is well earned.
    • This board game successfully imports the ubiquitous constant-unlock dynamic of the mobile gaming. However, I appreciate that this is non-destructive process (unlike the Legacy series). Most importantly, thank god, there’s no pay to win model with this thing.
    • I wonder if I should toughen the boy up by playing competitive games (winning, losing, manhood, and all that). In the meantime I’ll enjoy these team games with him. Who knows when he will phase out—they change so fast!

    ,

    Having finished my calligraphy notebook last week, I started on our girl’s composition book from first grade. Might as well use up all the paper we got. It’s fun to add my practice with her old studies, and this means I’ll finish another notebook sooner rather than later!

    (and yes…that should have been “hungry”, but sometimes you just roll with it.)

    .

  • Book Notes, April, May 2024

    Now that we’ve finally put our books up on shelves after a decade in the garage, I pull random old books to enjoy before bedtime. The bedroom is getting crowded with a pile that needs to go back downstairs.

    Here are some notes before sending them back into the stacks.

    Staying by the bed

    Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino—I’m still slowly working through this book. I paused to read Cosmicomics and might get distracted by T-zero but I want to finish it sooner rather than later.

    Letter on Ethics, Seneca—I enjoyed listening to the selected letters audiobook by Penguin so I picked up the complete letters translated by Margaret Graver last year. I finally started reading them; I’m enchanted by their brevity even though (spoiler warning) the later letters seem to run long.

    The Unbroken Web, Richard Adams—This collection of stories has that pan-religious vibe from the 70/80’s. I most likely would have sent this back onto the shelves but I wrapped it up as a self-birthday present so I might as well give it a solid try in June.

    Carlo Scarpa, The Complete Works—I borrowed this volum many times in college so I finally bought it as a birthday treat. In the past, I only looked at the images, but after spending 100 euros, I’m for damn sure reading the essays. Good lord, that’s some turgid writing. Architecture criticism at its finest.

    Going back up

    Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino—I’ve tried reading this many times over the years and finally broke through. It’s a tender collection of short stories based on scientific principles. I wonder if aging and kids have given me an appreciation for love stories.

    Zhuangzi (Burton) & Lieh-tzu (Graham)—Always good to revisit two of the key texts of Daoism.

    Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess—The boy was curious about chess so we played a few times. I pulled this book of the shelves because I find chess utterly impenetrable. I’ve never been good at with spatial games, much less a perfect information abstract. I slogged through a couple exercises before giving up even though I’m still enchanted by the structure of this book.

    The 26 Letters, Oscar Ogg—Delightfully of its time though I wonder how it holds up with the historical scholarship over the past sixty years.

    40 days dans le desert B, Moebius—Absolute classic. Trippy as fuck.

    The Ode Less Travelled, Stephen Fry—I borrowed this book from the library when I thought I’d take my poetry experiments more seriously. Instead, work took over my life. In stressful times, the pursuit of quality may have the paradoxical side effect of stifling production. Time to send it back to the public library.

    Under the Jaguar Sun, Italo Calvino—I was searching for something to calm the mind, but this was a bit too intense. Turned out that my subconscious was close, since the correct answer was Cosmicomics.

    Journey to the West (Yu)—Always good for a romp Great Sage Under Heaven. Plus a little poetry.

    Charles M. Russell—Nice overview of the artist’s work. Holy hell, the wild west was indeed wild. Life of all types was cheap back then.

    Signal to Noise, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean—The art holds up. The writing is what you’d expect from a 30 year old writing about a protagonist twice his age. I loved Gaiman, but I’ve soured over the past few years. One day I’ll revisit Sandman, but I’m dreading the potential realization that I’ve outgrown this as well.

    Giovanni Battista Piranesi—A collection of his prints. If drawn accurately, the scale of the ruins are unimaginable, towering over the inglorious lives conducted under these decaying edifices. Quite unsafe to stay in those shadows, though I guess you’ll take what you can get in the heat of summer. Beyond antiquity though, his renderings are sick. Beyond rad.

    Carlo Scarpa—In college, I picked up this Taschen survey on the (relative) cheap. It’s a passable intro to his work, though with the obnoxious style repeating text with multiple languages on each page. Then again, it reminded me of the greatness of Scarpa which lead to my big birthday purchase (noted above).