Thoughts - On Space and Community and Race

Thoughts - On Space and Community and Race

I was thinking about a conversation I had like two weeks ago.

With an old friend, I hadn't talked to in a month or two.

We were talking about the internet and space, and how people form communities and communicate.

It came from a conversation about d&d, having to learn the skills to communicate and express oneself online and to form communities with other people having those skills.

And how there are no hard rules around things like that, they are all learned social interactions.

And she said something about that, about how she doesn't like those spaces because she doesn't want to interact in them, and doesn't need to. So she doesn't have that skill set. She doesn't like communicating that way. She doesn't need to if it isn't part of work.

And I talked about how with a two-year pandemic if I didn't have them, these spaces, this way of communicating, I wouldn't have any friends or anyone to talk to.

And I think I just realized tonight how angry that made me.

Thoughts - Profit

Thoughts - Profit

For what is a person profited, if they shall gain the world, and lose their own soul?

I've been thinking a lot about this statement lately. I've been thinking about it because it is deeply representative of the argument I find myself utilizing in the face of those who support Trump based on a perceived Fiscal idea. There are a lot of people I know who are... "give him a chance" about Trump because they are seeing positive effects in the marketplace. They are seeing stock markets rise, bullish investments, lowering rates on interest.

But what is it to profit, to get a better investment rate of return, to make another five thousand dollars at the end of the fiscal year...if it is to turn your back on society. To turn your back on scruples. To profit at the sake of another, and maybe not just another, but every other.

Will you tell me that it is just fair play?

Will it still be fair play when you are the one being made profit of?

Drabbles - Fish and Robots

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. Build a robot to fish; do all men eat or do all men starve?

Thoughts - Statistical Death

Thoughts - Statistical Death

I'm deeply uncomfortable with comparison discussions about tragedy and death. I'm uncomfortable because a person compares a tragedy in Kenya of 142 dead and implies that it is more tragic than a death of 129 in Paris. I'm uncomfortable because the discussion becomes a statistic then. Lives become numbers, names are no longer victims, but the tallies of bodies on a sheet. I'm uncomfortable because I don't want to have a discussion on the state of the world with people whom I have either no respect for, or have no interest in impressing.

The debate is cyclical in nature, and no one is listening. But those people are dead, and all anyone seems to care about are the numbers.

Not the names.

Thoughts - Neon City

Thoughts - Neon City

I like exploring places I shouldn't go. In the neon glow of Richmond and accompanied by the sounds of falling rain on concrete, I climb up steel barricades and hop down the other side. Wandering the darkness of iron and sleek chrome cars that pass me by unerring on their journey to meaningless destinations.

Usually I have music, but tonight the silence is company well enough. She's the best kind, the kind that doesn't ask me if I'm alright, or if I feel okay. She stays true her namesake, and dances around me, mirthless. Save the wind, the rain, and far away some other voices in another language.

I think that the nighttime glow of Richmond reminds me of the Ninsei City. Of Chrome and grime, the smells of humans and the feeling of dying dreams. I think it reminds me of a time and a place I'll never see, but long for as though it were home.

Zen - Chop Wood, Carry Water

Zen - Chop Wood, Carry Water


A common misconception in following a spiritual life is the belief that in order to follow the practice that one must live in a cave, wear a saffron robe and beg for alms. This picture of a monk with a shaved head living in the mountains leads one to believe a spiritual practice is not possible unless one practices asceticism. This commitment level and practice is too much for some so they refrain completely from practicing a spiritual life. This all or nothing mentality creates a missing in a person’s life. It IS possible to have a spiritual existence without a shaved head and bamboo cup.


Many masters in India as well as spiritual practitioners across the globe live a regular life with a family, and a job. How is such a life possible?The essence of living a spiritual life is contained in the Zen quote “when hungry eat, when tired sleep.” Now before your mind reacts and you say to yourself….’Gee thanks for that incredibly obvious piece of wisdom.’ Look at this quote more closely, along with the initial passage above ‘before enlightenment chop wood, carry water…after enlightenment chop wood, carry water.’ Break life down into the simplicity of the present moment.


As human beings we do not live in the present moment. We carry our past forward with us, we yearn for something in the future and all the time we miss what is in front of us at all times. Life is beautiful right in front of us at every moment. Focusing on this moment right now removes the mind from drifting to wants, needs, desires….all driven by the mind in search of attachment. With attachment comes suffering.


When I am in the mind-set of when hungry eat, when tired sleep I am fully present to the simple needs I actually have to survive and I am present to life AS it is happening. I can see a child’s smile across the park. I can see the bird in the tree. I can smell the lilac tree as I run by. I can feel the rain on my skin and the presence of the divine in every moment.


In the early days of the Zen monasteries, the number of monks grew to the point that it was necessary to split up tasks, chores throughout the day to keep the place running. It was impractical to have all sit in meditation all day as there was upkeep and food needed. The practice of meditation while awake and doing chores was brought into practice. This practice was a supplement to the actual sitting meditation with the intent to find PRESENCE at all times throughout the day. Do not let your mind wander. Bring it forth to the present moment be it listening to another, focusing on a task, or going for a walk.


The simplicity of a spiritual life is available for anyone, no shaved heads required. It involves staying present, getting the mind under control, practicing love and compassion. Clear your mind….Chop wood, Carry Water.

Thoughts - Justice

Thoughts - Justice

We do not just defend the meek, the weak, or the disenfranchised.  We should strive to empower them that they might discern right from wrong, rise up and defend themselves from bullies, and take a controlling interest in their own destinies.

If we are forever defending, and not educating, are they not just trading one slavemaster for another?

Quotes - Martha Graham

Quotes - Martha Graham

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others. 

 - Martha Graham

Thoughts - Design vs Art in Video Games

Thoughts - Design vs Art in Video Games

I've been thinking and writing a lot about design and art.  Not in a particularly adversarial way either, but in the tail end of my degree now, I cannot help but think of the two as being somewhat opposed.  Design, as I have often seen it can encompass some art, but the main focus of design is to create function.  Design is always purposeful, it's usually related to interpreting function, it is premeditated (or should be at least), it has a sense of intention.

Thoughts - Alone in the Universe

Thoughts - Alone in the Universe

I think...the thought that humanity is the only thing in the universe, that we are completely alone out there is one of the most terrifying things.

What why?  Why do you think it's terrifying to be alone?

Comics - Camp Weedonwancha

Comics - Camp Weedonwancha

I'm not really sure why, but the newest Camp Weedonwancha comic for yesterday really struck a chord with me.  I was thinking about it for a while all day today, even tweeted creator Katie Rice about it and expressed my admiration.

You can see it here.

http://www.campcomic.com/comic/55

It took me a little bit, but I think I understand why now.  It's a laugh, a poop joke, and then something serene and beautiful to balance it all out.

Maybe that's a metaphor for our lives.

Thoughts - On Attractiveness

Thoughts - On Attractiveness

RsonW wrote this, a simple contemplation on attractiveness, and gendered stereotypes.

Life - Sonder

Life - Sonder

"sonder
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk."

#TheDictionaryofObscureSorrows

Life - Michael Moore on Walking

Life - Michael Moore on Walking

Thoughts - Casual Racism

Thoughts - Casual Racism

I grew up in Calgary, which we affectionately call the 'Texas of the North'.  Truth is that I grew up a Chinese Canadian, a son to immigrant parents and for a long time didn't speak (and still don't read) Mandarin.  I had to bridge two cultural worlds, Chinese which I always felt I disinherited until I had left home, and being a Canadian.

It wasn't until I was in grade school that I became aware of race.  It first began to prevade into my life in terms of limitations.  In that way that schoolchildren will bully and ridicule, being Chinese meant I couldn't do some things.  Being Canadian meant I couldn't do some Chinese things.  It was as though race and culture were at cross-purposes to the things I wanted in life.

Life - Fear

What do you fear?

Death?

Dying?

Loneliness?