scorching desert sun
high noon — 9 AM
Super Pawn
NOW OPEN!
fronting
Extra Space Storage
paucity and excess
Warm Springs west
䷶䷬
starlight
day bright
folded arm
alright
-
A sapphire vessel plied the turquoise skies, bisecting an enormous gossamer bird of paradise.
-
“I only like to speak English now.”
he found an apple on the dining table.
Daddy, you picked a big apple!妈妈! 爸爸 picked 了一个很大的苹果!
(Mama! Daddy picked a big apple!)(Actually, Mama picked it)
~
妈妈! 我要跟一个人玩. 但是不是你和爸爸!
(Mama! I want to play with one person. But not you or Daddy!)你要跟姐姐玩,就好好问她.
(If you want to play with your sister, just ask her nicely.)~
弟弟,给爸爸抱抱!
(Come hug Daddy!)NEVER!
big grin.䷺䷅
disperse
foam
coalesce
foam -
Search for the monster who fears the moon.
they turn off the lights
tell me to jump out with clawsRAWR!
they emerge from their fort
clang sticks against metal lidsRAWR!
they scream, giggle, race back to safety
sneak out with a flashlightRAWR!
they tell me that I’m scared of the light
I shrink away in fearrawr?
the moon monster
waits in a dark bathroom䷫䷱
wrap a melon
willow leaves
lunar mana -
Kinky kangaroos kneaded kaleidoscopic kraken at Kevin’s knockin’ Kitty Klub.
My sister and I toyed with this PortaSound PSS-460 as kids.
The kids now dance to the drum kit (max volume!)In between, it sat in our empty house;
While we stayed with parents when he was born.A squatter took over one Thanksgiving —
A young blond woman with a ponytail.She quietly left with her black backpack.
I found the keyboard on a dresser, plugged in.I occasionally wonder about her,
Plinking tunes on this toy Yamaha over a cold, dark holiday.~
This memory of everyday magic was sparked by a beautiful poem and rendition by Nadia Gerassimenko.
-
OPM.47 Another Biennium
It’s the last day of (fiscal year) 2023! Pop the bubbly!
One of the perks of working for the State is regaining seasonality in my professional life (as opposed to the relentless race of private practice). We live on an artificially smooth planet, where seasonal rhythms are dampened in air conditioned boxes and food is always fresh with the magic of global logistics.
Of course I can’t fully escape the zeitgeist, my seasonality is not based on nature. I work under the overlay of a legal calendar.
Nevada’s legislature meets every two years, and they just completed the 2023 session, approving another slate of new projects. We’re off to the races, setting up projects, interviewing consultants, starting design.
In a few months our projects will be humming along and we’ll start due diligence on the next slate of Agency project requests. The Spring of even numbered years is our the busiest season, as we run between facilities, meeting with agency staff, discussing their needs, and estimating costs.
Once the budgeting is over, we get a slight breather to merely manage projects. Before you know it, the next election will have concluded, the new Legislature will start their new session at the beginning of each odd numbered year, and we wait for another wave of new projects at the start of the next fiscal year.
A fond goodbye to FY23, it was too busy! Unfortunately, FY24 looks to be only more hectic.
Hmmm, I just realized I have nine more bienniums in my career. Let’s make this one count!
~
Some Links
Taegan MacLean started a series of monthly One Word documentary videos mixing his contemplations on life as a father and the early passage of his own father paired with interviews with interesting folks around Toronto. One of the privileges of the internet is watching the start of amazing projects!
I have no idea how Sam Kahn has the ability to range so widely and deeply, but Castalia is a one-man intellectual journal publishing deep provocative essays every other day.
On Saturday Mornings, Charlene Storey hosts a community post of “Everyday Magic” that have been a highlight of my weekends. Her Haver & Sparrow letters are gentle reminders to work diligently in the face of difficulty. She dances beautifully on that delicate line of being kind to oneself while avoiding self-indulgence.
~
Workmen painting a welcome archway, Sydney, 1925, Samuel J. Hood ~
Thanks for reading!
Justus Pang, RA -
Gudetama, An Eggcellent Adventure, Motonori Sakakibara, 2022
What a strange little kid’s show.
The characters aren’t particularly likable, but they aren’t hate-able either.
The chick is kind of cute, but the egg is kind of gross.
They are memorable — overeager and lazy.
And it’s fun to watch the humans overact.
Their journey covers a lot of ground.
An amusing (and certainly distorted) peek into another culture.
We’ll watch season 2, if we still have Netflix when it comes out.
Oh and shoutout to the 1000 year old eggs!
-
Ultra Flex Steel Nib, Fountain Pen Revolution
After reading a post by Ashlyn, I purchased a pen from Fountain Pen Revolution.
Here are a couple before-after images.
The “K” was drawn with a Pelikan 14k Medium nib
The “L” was drawn with the FPR Steel Ultra Flex.
This “L” doesn’t take advantage of the power of the flexy-flex, but the The nib pops when I’m doodling hard, as I did below.
(The top two alphabets are the flex nib, the third one is the Pelikan Medium nib.)
Understandably, the steel isn’t silky smooth like the gold nib, but it’s a great value at $30 (half for the body and half for the nib). Plus I’m willing to push a $15 nib to the limit, while I doubt I would have the courage to do that with one that costs 10x).
Time to start practicing if I want to wield its power and breath life into my lines.
-
Wreck-It Ralph, Rich Moore, 2012 & Ralph Breaks the Internet, Johnston & Moore, 2018
She spent half an hour going through the Disney catalog.
She was intrigued by the princesses in the sequel.We started with this one.
We watched it a few years ago but forgot the story.
The bugs are scary.
The 8-bit breaks up the monotony of CGI.A thrill a minute.
A simple fable with the usual Disney lessons.Why isn’t it better known?
Why isn’t it lauded as a modern classic?Great fun for the kids,
Great love letter to the parents’ childhoods.Is it the lack of princesses?
Is it missing a surreal song and dance routine?
Ralph Breaks the Internet:
The internet is a big place, so it makes sense that the movie felt less focused than the first one.
Still, it was a fun time with the kids.
The cameos of the Disney Princesses were great, but they also need that little extra to keep interest in the story.
The boy is always taciturn at the end of a movie, but this time he announced
“姐姐 (Sister) I hate the gigantic Wreck-it-Ralph!”Most importantly, I’m happy to report they had a song and dance routine this time.
Plus the Eeyore cameo might convince the kids to watch Winnie the Pooh!
-
It’s hard to admit you’re wrong; harder to say why.
He jumped on her chair,
Pushed her off.She offered to share
He punched her.I demanded he apologize.
He grinned, shook his head.姐姐自己念书.
(Sister can read her own book then.)Ten minutes later,
He wants her to play.你先道歉!
(You first apologize!)He cried on the floor,
As Mama cooked french toast.Grabbed paper and
Purple crayon.sor
ry
Shoved the sheet
In her face.Play!
Now!你做错了什么?
(What did you do wrong?)
Another tantrum.
䷕䷹peach
toy
zappy
