anamnesis

I've been planning to explore another country. I've taken some reconnaissance trips and enjoyed what I've seen. I think I'll be commuting soon. I'm not talking about Ecuador. Although sometimes the outer reflects the inner. And vice-versa. Nope. I'm talking about a place inside. Or at least, it feels like I'm going inside to get there. I suspect it might connect to outside in some strange ways but dividing experience into inside and outside is problematic anyway. Once in this place, awareness of the body starts to fade. I may forget what position my arm or leg is in. I feel a sort of "condensation" or focus of my awareness from a little outside my head, behind me. And I repeat a mantra I learned long ago: "mind awake, body asleep" and the body starts to fall more and more away. My vision is only of blackness at first. I start thinking of scenes in a loose way, things I like to see. Nature, space, forms, colors. Not in any specific ...

was reading an article about choosing a "theme" for the new year instead of a set of resolutions, and also watching an Udemy course exploring Ben Franklin's thought that instead of doing the 30 days to make a new habit stuff, take a path requiring minimal will by picking 13 virtues, one per week to focus on, which cycles 4 times during the year. I liked parts of both of these and derived the following... Weekly missions of focus on one thing, but without much planning in advance. So I have the day to day of my own routines and following my established goals (like the 12 projects) , but each week will also have a particular in-depth focus that's completely independent of routines and long term goals...this beats both the superficial scattering or the long boring lock-in in favor of something completed in a week. It will be the most interesting dive I can think of doing in that span. And without predicting, week to week, what this will be, I'm having fun already ...

I decided to write some mobile applications. And publish them (to introduce a certain rigor.) I plan to write 12. An arbitrary number, but one that feels right, para aprender, in order to learn. I chose to use Corona, so I could jump right in and start making stuff. I like the idea of just a canvas, a set of apis and a minimalist language (Lua, which is awesome.) It has limitations, but it also has a pretty wide swathe of a sweet spot; of things it can do well, cross platform, and these things involve interesting conceptual spaces: graphics, ai, game mechanics, physics engines, particle systems. I couldn't write a very decent business app with it, but I can work some other mojo. That’s the hypothesis. The 12 apps are both the curriculum and metrics of progress. I finished the first app this week and rolled it out to both google/android and apple play stores (an education in its own right.) It may never get more than a dozen downloads and dire reviews but I that wasn’t the p...

Sonic is on the road! On the way to visit Mew + other adventures. He created a special travel blog here ... looks like he's off to a good start!

Got back after midnight last night. Bone tired. Great trip! We left early for the conference to give us time to stop by Bryce canyon. A surreal experience. The rock formations at Bryce have an interesting legend (click the picture to zoom.) Bright-eyes and I invented stories about them coming to life on the night of a full moon and dancing in the valley. They allow night hikes through the canyon, which got us both thinking about another trip timed to check this out. After Bryce we left for Las Vegas, drove through the Dixie National Forest and at the top of a summit pass, standing on the edge of the mountain, you could hear the wind blowing in the valleys below. This is the music I'd like to capture in my flute. We kind of waffled our way through Las Vegas and found our hotel. I went to conferences for a few days and bright-eyes wandered around unsupervised but seemed to stay out of trouble. Mostly. We rendezvoused for lunches and hit the town on the evenings. Lots of glitter. And ...