On this day

December 19th

By any measure, indeed

December 19, 2022

By any measure, David Bowie was a superstar. He first rose to fame in the nineteen-seventies, a process galvanized by his creation and assumption of the rocker-from-Mars persona Ziggy Stardust. In the following decade came Let’s Dance, on the back of which he sold out stadiums and dominated the still-new MTV. Yet through it all, and indeed up until his death in 2016, he kept at least one foot outside the mainstream. It was in the nineties, after his aesthetically cleansing stint with guitar-rock outfit Tin Machine, that Bowie made use of his stardom to explore his full spectrum of interests, which ranged from the basic to the bizarre, the mundane to the macabre.

~ Colin Marshall from, When David Bowie & Brian Eno Made a Twin Peaks-Inspired Album, Outside (1995)

slip:4uoewe1.

Somehow I just missed being really into David Bowie when I was in high school. He was definitely big, and popular, and part of the music I heard. To my detriment, it wasn’t until after he died that I started listening to more of his music from his wider catalog, and then watching a documentary, etc. It’s always inspiring to discover a creator who gets more interesting the more you learn.

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What shall 2022 be?

December 19, 2021

I’ve begun pondering what shall be 2022’s touchstone phrase, or word. 2021’s “festina lente” has served me well. I’ll miss it, but it’s been worn smooth after a year.

I was flipping through my notes. First my notes about previous years’ phrases, but then wandering through the slipbox. I wandered into the section audaciously labeled, Mastery Projects, and then swung a left into the aisle labeled, On Learning Itself. There’s a stack of slips in there, many of which are notes from a book. This captured quotation held my interest:

If writing is the medium of research and studying nothing else than research, then there is no reason not to work as if nothing else counts than writing.

~ Sönke Ahrens from, How to Take Smart Notes

Perhaps something chosen to remind me to write? …or why I want to write? “Seize the pen?” I feel I’m too far off in the weeds . . .

The next aisle is labeled, Fitness & Health and I swing in there. There’s a slip in there about one’s “first body” versus one’s “second body”, which I noted in 2017 based on a podcast with Jerzy Gregorek. That reminds of something else Gregorek said. I had to go elsewhere in the slipbox—via his name, and then into the huge section on Analects, to find his comments about, “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.“

“Choices” then, perhaps?

cerne sapienter?

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45 minute meetings

December 19, 2019

Meetings always expand to fill the available time. Therefore, first be sure that the meeting has a goal and when the goal is achieved, the meeting is done. Second, things often go faster and better when there is a known deadline. To this end we almost always set an end time when scheduling a meeting.

But we usually pick one hour for a meeting’s duration. Then we try to schedule back-to-back meetings and are surprised when everything turns into a flurry of rushing to the next meeting… that meeting that starts at 4, right after the meeting that ended at 4. This never works.

Schedule all your meetings to be 45 minutes. Magic happens.

Everything gets done in the 45 minutes—or if doesn’t, you had far too much packed into your usual one-hour meeting—and you have time for the rest of your life between the meetings.

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Brandee Laird | Intuitive Instruction

December 19, 2018

On Castbox.fm — Brandee Laird | Intuitive Instruction

What role does intuition play in effectively teaching and engaging with learners?

Intuition transforms raw knowledge into meaningful teaching experiences.

Information on its own is just… raw data. It’s a what. Experience gives us the why and the how.

~ Brandee Laird (4:00)

The conversation explores the concept of using intuition to improve teaching effectiveness, particularly in the context of Parkour instruction. Brandee Laird highlights how intuition, often dismissed as abstract, is rooted in mindfulness and the ability to notice and interpret subtle cues. She emphasizes that a teacher’s adaptability, based on observations of students’ physical and emotional readiness, outweighs rigid adherence to pre-planned lessons.

The discussion also delves into the balance between knowledge and experience, pointing out that knowledge provides raw data, while experience transforms it into actionable insights. Key practices for fostering intuition, such as meditation and being open to unpredictability, are discussed as critical tools for becoming a more effective instructor.

Takeaways

Mindfulness — A calm and observant mind is essential for noticing subtle cues in students.

Adaptability — Teaching plans should remain flexible to match the needs of learners in real time.

Observation skills — Teachers must focus on facial expressions, body language, and energy levels to gauge readiness and engagement.

Experience vs. knowledge — Information alone is insufficient; lived experiences provide the context and meaning required for effective teaching.

Intuition development — Regularly practicing mindfulness and reflection helps turn observations into automatic, intuitive responses.

Soft skills in instruction — Intuition and empathy are critical for creating impactful learning experiences.

Resources

Parkour Visions — Organization where Brandee Laird has taught for over a decade, fostering innovative approaches to Parkour instruction.

Art of Retreat

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Spontaneity, creativity and the ability to connect

December 19, 2018

… A lot of it is relaxation. I ran into, the acting guru from the actors studio once, in an airport, and we just chatted. And he said, “you know what the actors in the movies in the 40s had, that was helpful to them? They knew how to make themselves relax on camera.” Because most of them were not experienced or trained actors, and they had to be comfortable. That’s why you constantly saw them lighting a cigarette or sitting on the edge of a desk. Anything to help them relax. And in that relaxation, which you can get other ways if you learn, comes spontaneity, creativity, the ability to connect with the other person, because you’re not worried about yourself. You’re not thinking ‘how am I doing, am I too fat…’

~ Alan Alda from, «https://art19.com/shows/clear-vivid-with-alan-alda/episodes/4a35b668-2adc-4aa3-83b0-25ef831568d2»

Theirs was a wide-ranging and very interesting conversation about the healing power of music. Around this part, they were talking about how some people seem to be natural-born communicators. In particular, how some people just seem to “fill up a space”—in a good way.

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slip:4c2co3f4.

One step at a time

December 19, 2015

(Part 9 of 36 in series, 10,000 Reps Project)

Last night I thought there was no way. But I didn’t want to push things back a day. The 24th would then be another push-back (there’s no time to train on the 24h.) So I just got started… dress, start the fitbit tracking, saw some firewood, finish warming-up and start hauling my ass up and down…

60 minutes from start to finish (including the warmup). Pullups were 12×5,4,4,4,4,3… I was at 40 reps of pullups and thought I’d never make it to 75. I just kept saying, “anything over 40 doesn’t dig a hole. Just do one more set of pullups.” The plan was to do 75, and I had it in the back of my head (I don’t know why) that I needed +6 sprinkled in over a few weeks; So instead of 12×5,4,4,4,3 for exactly 75, I made the last set a 4, and then an extra set of 3. The last rep was a stall and kip/struggle. I could not have done a fourth rep in that last set.

BAM!

Seventy. Nine. pullups . . .
…and then updating the spreadsheet back at my desk I see that on Monday, if I do a tidy 80 — ie, NO INCREASE :)))) – the 80th rep will be number 2,000!

So here’s next week planned out. It’s a four training days week, and it’ll be interesting to just do the same number of reps of everything on each workout. The 24th is a “rest” day involving 2 two-hour drives, and 3 (THREE!?) separate stops for Tracy/Stacy’s birthdays. So I’ll be trying to remind myself to keep the eating under control so I can get the workout in on the morning of the 25th.

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