GRIZZLY PEAR
I’ve been a bit stressed at the office because I have a few irons burning at the same time.
But last night, I realized…at least I don’t got a pair of teeth cutting through my gums right now.
Everybody is working through something, snapshots seem static, but life sure isn’t.
Doesn’t happen much in the valley. My wife thinks the last time it snowed such that something would stick to the lawn was about a decade ago.
If it was just us, I’m certain we would have taken a couple selfies outside and called it a night.
But the five year old had her own plans, and we played outside in the dark for about an hour, even making a little snowman.
Meanwhile the in-laws were busily doing their usual routine inside the house.
Maybe being old is just a function of not having someone force you to do something you wouldn’t do otherwise.
In spite of what’s written on the state flag, Nevada’s official state motto is “All for Country”.
Coincidentally, I’ve been practicing the Ba Duan Jin, which was invented by Marshall Yue Fei, who had a tattoo 盡忠報國 (jin zhong bao guo, utmost loyalty serve the country).
Such devotion to the nation state is a foreign concept in this cynical age, and I’m wrapping my head around it. Being a patriot is good, and it’s certainly an awe inspiring motto (cue the marching bands and fighter jet flyovers), but I’m just not sold on it.
However, if not that, then what is a better motto for oneself?
During a road trip throughout the southwest, I stayed in a hostel in Albuquerque.
That evening I met a guy from Alaska who pulled out his banjo and played a few songs on the porch while we sat around and chatted the night away.
Given my fondness for bluegrass, maybe I would have picked up my own banjo eventually, but I’m certain I needed a catalyst to that leap.
Even though I haven’t done a ton with the instrument over the years, those moments I’ve had with the instrument can be attributed to that one night.
My daughter found a bottle of shaving cream in my friend’s luggage.
She was so curious about it, we decided to give her a demonstration.
It took half an hour, but for the first time since my cousin’s wedding a decade ago, I had lost my whiskers.
You should have seen the smile on her face the whole time!
I was recently asked the career question “What do you wish you knew before that you know now?”, which turned out to be a difficult question, in large part because I’ve been lucky as hell with my recent gig. However, I do think I made two tangible career “mistakes”.
First, I didn’t learn autoCAD at Berkeley so I was relatively unemployable when I came out of undergrad. However, because of this oversight, I worked as a landscape laborer moving dirt for the most influential six month stretch in my career. That was then followed up with a good run as a hand draftsman — there aren’t many people in my generation that has gone the full technology arc from lead holder through CAD to BIM.
Second, I let myself be pressured into quickly accepting the first job offer that came along after grad school, locking me into a low rate for the next three years. However, I correctly guessed that this job would teach me a lot, both in residential and commercial. Furthermore, they hired me as an hourly worker so when I had my hours cut during the recession I was given the free time to got my licence without too much pain. A more corporate firm may have cut my salary by 25% but expected that I maintain 50 hour weeks to keep the job.
I’ve always found “no-regrets guy” to be a little obnoxious, but right now I’m fat and happy. Maybe I’ll have a better response and a more jaundiced view of the career after the next recession.
Yesterday, the boy decided to have separation anxiety from mama.
Maybe he’s coming down with a cold.
Maybe it’s a new phase.
Or maybe just a blip on the radar.
I suspect mama is a little gratified by it, but hopes it’s that last one. Too much clinginess can be a handful, even if you know it will end all too soon.
It’s not an original thought, but it keeps crossing my mind while playing with the kids as they are endlessly fascinated with inexplicable things.
I wonder what higher order creatures think of us.
The must find us adults quite amusing watching our sophisticated TV shows and lusting after our grown up toys.
And I’m certain they really find us quite amusing when we throw our big tantrums.
And yet it’s all 100% real to us.
I wonder if there’s any way for us to detach and temporarily become such creatures, so we can get out of our own heads for just a moment.
Tai Chi
Kung Fu
Piano
Harmonica
Dance
Drawing
Photography
Mahjong
Xiangqi
Respect
Effort
Craft
Creativity
Self Confidence
Happiness
Curiosity
Wisdom
Dreams
As an architect I’ve always been picky about my writing tools.
As a draftsman, I started using 2H lead, but learned a lighter touch and transitioned to H lead for my line work. For my lettering I always used HB lead, which Staedtler Mars discontinued during that stint and caused a minor panic, but we bought enough to last me thorugh to leaving for graduate school. And yes Staedtler Mars was a better lead than Alvin.
I also have picked up a few fancy fountain pens over the years, but ultimately they were too scratchy and have not been used.
I appreciate the fine points of rollerball pens, but I don’t like the fact they can get cloggy.
And the micro fine points of razors are nice for about half a day until they get frayed under my heavy hand, at which point they are not at all pleasant to use.
But my tool of choice is the Papermate Flair pen. It’s a finely crafted writing tool that is cheap enough I can have copies all over the place and feel no pain when it runs out of ink or when one is lost. With a plethora of colors, I can make multiple layers of notes on a single sheet of paper. The felt tip runs smoothly on any type of paper. The point is fine enough to make good notes, but blunt enough to degrade gracefully. It is in short, my perfect pen.