Muir Woods →

Published March 8, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 8

And yet →

Published March 7, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 7  ·  

And yet. The indescribable reward of taking a bunch of ink on paper from the shelf at Chappell of Bond Street. Tubing it home, setting the score, pencil, coffee and ashtray on the piano and emerging a few days, weeks or months later able to perform something that some mad, genius, lunatic of a composer 300 years ago heard in his head while out of his mind with grief or love or syphilis.

~ James Rhodes from, “Find What You Love and Let It Kill You”

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Know what I love most about having my own blog? Being able to pull-quote really random-ass stuff like this just because I liked it.

And yet I don’t play the piano. Never played as a kid, but did mess around with it—including having a real piano teacher—around 30, got to advanced beginner and then ran out of time to practice when I finally had a house that would actually have been the first time I had room for a real piano. Sorry, I digress.

And yet for some random-ass reason I completely feel as if I understand what this apparently bat-shit crazy concert pianist is talking about. …maybe it’s the parallel of piano keys and computer keyboard keys? …maybe it’s the parallel of pouring countless hours—I paused here and started actually trying to estimate how many hours, straight-up paniced at how large the number was getting to be and decided to just move along—into tapping away at computers creating something that was, is and always will be, “just” good enough? Seriously I am not an artist. I certainly don’t think of myself as an artist. I always felt like an engineer sorting out, and building, systems of various forms.

And yet

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Stoicism, with a capital ‘S’ →

Published March 6, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 6

Ancient Stoics were all about living in the moment, a goal achieved by cultivating self-control and self-awareness through meditative practices, though not necessarily of the om-chanting variety. They “thought about thinking” by considering their emotions from a rational perspective, reflecting on the ethics of their decisions, and constantly reminding themselves that while they had no power over what happened in life, they did have power over their responses to it. 

~ Chiara Sulprizio from, Why Stoicism Is Having a Cultural Moment

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“Ancient Stoics,” as in, people who lived in antiquity who were Stoics. Stoicism is ancient, in the sense that it predates the modern religions, (that is, all those you can name.) But it’s distinctly modern in the sense that it’s prefectly suited to today.

If you take one thing from this little missive of mine, let it be that being “stoic” in the common English usage, (stoic: n., one who is seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain,) has nothing to do with Stoicism, as a philosophy. And a great one for your daily life at that.

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Been there. Done that. →

Published March 5, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 5

Which I guess is what the paradox resolves into: a devaluing of superficial pleasures and a greater appreciation for simple, authentic ones. I don’t really enjoy the presents at Christmas anymore, the fireworks at Fourth of July, or even the parties on New Year’s Eve. I’ve seen bigger parties, been to more beautiful places, and already own everything I’ll ever want in this life. But unlike before, I appreciate every day spent with those who mean a lot to me. A quiet beer on a patio. Watching a basketball game together. Going to a birthday party or a barbecue. These are the events I look forward to now and get excited about, days and weeks ahead of time… And that’s probably the way it should be.

~ Mark Manson from, The Simple Joys Are the Most Meaningful

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I really have seen bigger parties, been to more beautiful places, and already own everything I’ll ever want in this life.

The comparison I’m making is not with you. The sentence above does not contain the phrase, “than you have.”

The comparison I am making is to this moment… to this experience. There’s a reason I choose to share this moment with you. Not this exact moment as you’re reading; we’re not sharing this moment as you’re reading. I’m taking about moments in real life that we experience together, if any. There’s a reason I’m choosing to experience those moments.

Enough about me. How do you choose— …actually, wait…

Do you choose how to spend your moments?

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Tyson Cecka | NERDYmade →

Published March 4, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 4

On Castbox.fm — Tyson Cecka | NERDYmade

How can the design and construction of Parkour obstacles and spaces influence training, creativity, and safety?

Designing Parkour spaces involves balancing permanence with adaptability to maximize creative potential and safety.

[… What] makes it really tricky with Parkour obstacles is that we adapt to the spaces that we’re in. We adapt really well to the spaces that we’re in. And so you don’t necessarily know what’s missing, or what might change when that space changes or improves in some way. I feel that you really need to continually challenge yourself in coming up with new ideas or trying out new things. Because you will be extremely surprised sometimes by how much potential that offers up.

~ Tyson Cecka (11:10)

The conversation explores the intricate process of designing and building Parkour obstacles and spaces, emphasizing the role of adaptability, safety, and creativity. There is a focus on how portable obstacles can evolve over time, providing a dynamic and ever-changing training environment. This contrasts with permanent structures that, while durable, may limit creative exploration once their design becomes familiar.

A key point of discussion is the importance of fastening and securing materials like plywood to ensure the structural integrity of obstacles. Tyson highlights how beginners often overlook these details, leading to potential failures or unstable equipment. The dialogue also touches on the value of fostering a community of builders who can share experiences, troubleshoot problems, and inspire new designs through collaborative learning.

Takeaways

Portable obstacles — Enable evolving and adaptable training environments that keep athletes engaged.

Plywood fastening — Essential for ensuring the stability and longevity of Parkour structures, often overlooked by beginners.

Community collaboration — A supportive builder community accelerates learning and design innovation.

Dynamic design — Spaces that shift and change encourage creativity and long-term engagement.

Beginner considerations — Well-built, stable obstacles enhance confidence and facilitate smoother progression for newcomers.

Resources

Tyson Cecka’s @tysoncecka

Sturdy Made (Facebook Group) — Online community for Parkour builders to share ideas, projects, and plans.

Art of Retreat — Annual Parkour leadership and education event where the conversation took place.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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There is no trick →

Published March 4, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 4

Stop searching for magic tricks. Roll up your sleeves and get to work. The fool will find this idea depressing. The wise person will find this liberating. So it goes.

~ Hugh Macleod

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No.

But I do still agree with Hugh.

You see, it’s really a paradox: Understanding that the trick is that there is no trick enables you to see the trick.

Only after you truly believe there is no trick, and you truly roll up your sleeves and get to work—and not just work for a day or a week or a year, but instead truly pour your entire self into something…

Only after you truly believe there is no trick, and you truly roll up your sleeves and get to work, can you understand what the trick really is.

Reading this now, you either know the trick—congratulations, honestly and I’m sorry you had to suffer along the way but look what you’ve learned…

Reading this now, you either know the trick, or you need to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

What? …you thought I was going to tell you the trick? But, I just did.

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Your model of the world →

Published March 3, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 3  ·  ,

Reading and experience train your model of the world. And even if you forget the experience or what you read, its effect on your model of the world persists. Your mind is like a compiled program you’ve lost the source of. It works, but you don’t know why.

~ Paul Graham from, How You Know

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I deeply love the concept of having a “model” of the world. I’m also deeply interested in having a correct model of the world. The model enables me to understand the world, to move through it, and to create the changes I wish.

I used to try to carefully create my model; for each question I encountered, I would try to learn everything that was important to determine the best answer. But that is an endless fool’s errand. The whole world become an endless field of rabbit holes. Each rabbit hole is wonderfully interesting, and it is immediately clear that exploring even a significant number of them is hopeless in one lifetime.

Instead, I learned to follow my curiosity—which is the recipe for rabbit-holes ad nauseum—but to stop when I’m no longer curious. Piece by piece a model of the world is assembled. Want to build a great model? …don’t focus on building the best model. Instead focus on this next piece of the model—the next thing you read, the next person you interact with, the next thing you do, the next thing you explore.

You have a model too, and you use it constantly. What are you doing to build your model?

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That which in old days moved Earth and Heaven →

Published March 2, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 2  ·  

Hilbert had no patience with mathematical lectures which filled the students with facts but did not teach them how to frame a problem and solve it. He often used to tell them that “a perfect formulation of a problem is already half its solution.”

~ Constance Reid, via Paul Graham from, How You Know

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Today is a three-for-one; two attributions for the quote and a hat tip for my title, which I hope you recognize as being lifted from Ulysses.

I’ve been thinking recently about wisdom. I have countless aphorisms that hint, with a wink, at how it differs from knowledge. I’m certain I don’t know exactly what wisdom is, but I am certain I know what it rhymes with. Today I listened to an entire album, the way the artist hoped I would. Today I provided a bit of help to some people who are starting out in something that I happen to know about. Today I ate peanut butter and jelly using the same spoon in both jars while nibbling at the bread. Today I read journal entries I had written 6, 3 and 1 years ago. Today I spent time with a few people important to me. Today I sat in the sun. Today I played and ran and jumped on some stuff. Today, aside from the people I interacted with, I did not leave, (nor attempt to leave,) my mark in the world.

In a non-judging way, meant only to spur you on, I ask: What did you do today?

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No one will notice →

Published March 1, 2020  ·  All posts on Mar 1  ·  

No one asked you to write. And no one will care if you stop. If you succeed, no one will notice. It’s a rough, heartless business.

~ George Higgins

I’m not “in the business” [of writing for money] thank-you-very-much. However this terrific little aphorism is also perfectly true of writing for personal reasons on a blog. I often remind myself of that first bit; no one asked me to write.

But write none the less do I.

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When it’s permanent →

Published February 29, 2020  ·  All posts on Feb 29

Anyone who must in some sense bet on ideas rather than merely commenting on them has similar incentives. Which means anyone who wants such incentives can have them, by turning their comments into bets: if you write about a topic in some fairly durable and public form, you’ll find you worry much more about getting things right than most people would in a casual conversation.

~ Paul Graham from, How to Be an Expert in a Changing World

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I’ve previously talked about several reasons why I blog, but this article by Graham reminds me of another: An incentive to be honest.

What I write here is going to hang around for a while. (At least, that’s my plan.) I’m enticed to think a tad more deeply about things before I share them, select a quote or add my commentary. I’m only writing for myself, sure, but I’d like to look back years hence and find on balance that what I wrote was reasonable and useful.

How about you?

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