I'm doing 34 things
Untitled
1 day ago
I’m starting to have mixed feelings about this goal. There is so much more of the world I would like to see, but I don’t want to be in a position of ticking countries off some list just to make it to 100…
augustgarage's Life List
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1. value the experiential over the material
1 entry . 54 cheers3 people -
2. learn piano
1 entry . 23 cheers794 people -
3. learn flute
2 entries . 8 cheers30 people -
4. learn bass clarinet
10 cheers2 people -
5. master the guitar
1 entry . 26 cheers394 people -
6. improve my drumming
17 cheers58 people -
7. get fit
3 entries . 6 cheers2,178 people -
8. learn music theory
28 cheers203 people -
9. become a better poet
23 cheers18 people -
10. take more and better pictures
1 entry . 20 cheers172 people -
11. be better at math
10 cheers160 people -
12. reconsider modernism
15 cheers2 people -
13. Learn Spanish
11 cheers12,560 people -
14. improve my wardrobe
1 entry . 8 cheers293 people -
15. create a beautiful living space
1 entry . 37 cheers46 people -
16. Read Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century
11 entries . 24 cheers491 people -
17. Walk the Camino de Santiago
14 cheers139 people -
18. Hike the Pacific Crest Trail
12 cheers238 people -
19. Leave Los Angeles
5 cheers7 people -
20. learn french
16 cheers8,317 people -
21. Read Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
13 cheers82 people -
22. help build a strawbale house
19 cheers5 people -
23. take a photo-portrait of every person who visits my apartment
1 entry . 36 cheers2 people -
24. Move back to Portland, Oregon
15 cheers6 people -
25. luge
7 cheers7 people -
26. grow mushrooms again
20 cheers2 people -
27. Learn to program synthesizers
1 entry . 8 cheers6 people -
28. travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway
25 cheers151 people -
29. Volunteer
29 cheers3,834 people -
30. get my Microsoft Office certification
1 cheer2 people -
31. learn to program
1 entry . 3 cheers292 people -
32. Learn to solder
10 cheers23 people -
33. learn electronics
9 cheers84 people -
34. Travel in a freighter
1 entry . 6 cheers5 people
Recent entries
Bleeding edge updates were interesting during the wildfires in San Diego last year, so I can imagine scenarios where Twitter could be useful to some people (tornado/flood updates, election results, live sports updates, daily haiku(?), etc).
On the other hand, I’ve found most feeds to be disappointing – the MarsPhoenix feed, for example, is surprisingly insipid – but then, this may be the nature of the medium.
Much like text messaging, I don’t like the way Twitter tends to degrade language and truncate thought. As my friends move from mail to e-mail, e-mail to IM, IM to social networks, social networks to Twitter/Pownce/Jaiku, I hear from them with increased frequency but with diminished (depth of and care for) content.
I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing about the “maturation of micromedia,” and how these services make great “business and networking tools.” Just what the world needs, yet another (viral, invasive) tool in the corporate marketing arsenal. No thanks.
Midnight's Children
2 months ago
I had a mixed reaction to Rushdie’s first novel (and the first of his I’ve read). I know little of the history of India/Pakistan/Kashmir/Bangladesh, so the story of the ancient region’s new infancy and adolesence was captivating.
The “magical” elements are interesting to me as well, because I’m not sure how to react to their presence. Might Saleem’s powers, his prophecies, his conspiracies all be delusions of grandeur and guilt? Even if that were so, it seems that his environment fostered his fatalism – surrounded on all sides and through all time by a generous plurality of fanaticism, folklore, domestic sorcery, petty intrigue, gossip, superstition, etc.
I never did quite adjust to the narration, the story-teller interrogating himself in a long-winded and frequently repetitive verbal marathon. While I suppose it is impressive to fuse Dickens with 1,001 Nights, this everything-but the kitchen sink style of writing can inspire fatigue. With its myriad digressions and circumlocutions, this is far from a tidy tale. Then again, India is not a tidy country, but one of teeming multiplicity, crowded with stories.
