A connection won’t just give it to you.
But just knowing about an opportunity.
And maybe one day’s head start.
That might be all you need.
If you’re ready to capitalize on it.
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Grateful
Sometimes you want to write something deep and profound for a big occasion.
But maybe it’s best to just sit back and be grateful.
I’m pretty sure I’ve had something to do with my luck, but still I’ve had a fair share of good fortune.
The funny thing is that stress and “first world problems” still strike viscerally. But step back a bit and I realize that life has been kind to me and it would be uncouth to take it for granted.
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On a cover!
A fellow Berkeley alum had a project was on the cover of Architect magazine!
Unfortunately with kids, life, and work I still haven’t had a chance to read it.
But I did at least congratulate her this morning.
We all be growed up different now, it’s a long way from kicking it in front of Wurster Hall.
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Tao Te Ching, Laozi
As you may have noticed, I’ve been dabbling with reading the Tao Te Ching, borrowing all the copies available at the library and reading the liner notes and introduction.
After all, the Tao Te Ching is somewhat impenetrable.
And then I had this sudden inspiration, let’s start buying copies of this book! I’ll start a collection!
Old habits die hard.
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Calculords
I stayed up till midnight playing this new-to-me iOS/Android game Calculords.
It’s a cheeky digital CCG where the main mechanic is adding up number cards in your number hand to play out cards in your unit hand, but I digress.
With my current life, I don’t stay up late much, and certainly not gaming.
This morning I woke up in an odd mood.
I suspect it’s a mix of the lovely weather out, mixed with the feeling the grogginess from gaming late into the night. A gaming hangover.
Strangely familiar, a bit of deja vu, but not in my current setting, not this current life.
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the walking Y
As he’s learned how to walk over the past month, he picked up the habit of walking with arms outstretched, like an uppercase Y.
Usually with a big grin, quite self satisfied with this new skill.
If you weren’t paying attention you might just see a couple hands (and some hair) pass through your lower peripheral vision.
Yesterday, I saw him walking with his hands by his stomach.
I guess this phase is now waning.
It was very cute, we’ll miss it.
On to the next.
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On the swings
The kids were playing and laughing on the swings and the slides at the playground.
Honestly, I think they were having just as much fun as if they were at an amusement park.
Going on vacation is not cheap, but it is easy.
The harder endeavor is finding such joy at home, day to day.
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Me at Disneyland, twenty years later
It has been at least two decades since visiting Disneyland. I came before there even was a “California Adventure”, when this extravaganza was just an asphalt sea of parking.
With two decades of architecture under my belt, the biggest change is the understanding that there were humans behind every bit of this manufactured world. Nothing is to be taken for granted, neither the initial execution nor the continued maintenance of this idyllic universe.
When you come as a kid, it just is. When you come as an architect, it became.
Yes, you notice the seams and the people behind the magick, but it is all the more impressive this way.
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A short chat
Last week, I had my first conversation with my boy. He said “ba ba ba” and I responded “di di di”. to which he responded “爸爸爸” (daddy!) and I respond “对!弟弟弟!” (correct! little brother!).
We repeated this a few more times.
Both of us seemed very self satisfied after the exchange.
At least we both had big grins on our faces.
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Fireworks
After arriving at night, and then spending the first day at California Adventure, we spent our third night in Anaheim and finally were inside the park enjoying the fireworks show at Disneyland.
My daughter and I were outside of “it’s a small workload after all” watching the light show on the facade and listening to the music.
After a big burst (enough to be a finale anywhere else), they pulled up Let it Go and burst out the fake snow machine as the show kept going.
She went wild.
When they call it the Magic Kingdom, they aren’t messing around. For all the insanity that comes with the park, these are the moments which you pay for.