Stuff you LOVE, baby

[Thought]

The last weekend in August my wife an I went camping. It was a good drive away, which meant that it was also very far away from cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and other such places that provide light pollution. While some of the other campers at the site were lame, with their gas generators, TVs, and area lights, eventually everyone went to sleep and turned off their tech. Then, my wife and I went out of our tent and spent a while looking up at the stars. It has been several years since I've had that view of the night sky, and it was magnificent. One of the great aesthetic crimes of the modern world is that city-dwellers are unable really see the sky.

[tushantin]

Then, my wife and I went out of our tent and spent a while looking up at the stars. It has been several years since I've had that view of the night sky, and it was magnificent. One of the great aesthetic crimes of the modern world is that city-dwellers are unable really see the sky.

One of the great aesthetic crimes of the modern world is that city-dwellers intentionally miss out on the sheer beauty of nature/universe.  It's like losing your eyes just so someone else can carry you all the way. I'm glad you guys could see it.


God exists! Oh boy, God exists!

  I got my Wacom tablet! I searched the ends of the city, every nook and corner for a replacement pen for my working Genius tablet but ran out of luck, thinking I'd have to buy an expensive Wacom (yes, even Bamboo is expensive), and thought about collecting money for it. Unfortunately, with all the expenses lately I couldn't gather enough, knowing the cheapest to be somewhere around six grand, but I simply thought to try my luck at asking the rates (just asking the rates -- NOT buying, since I had no cash), in case my boss could tell him to make it cheaper.

...But I had no idea it would be this cheap!

I struggled through my finance and work, seeing no end before me especially with the eProjects emerging, but like a ray of light it came: a product from Bamboo that is conveniently cheaper than the cheapest I thought, and apparently it's only sold in India and China, where poor folks like me actually need it. It was Bamboo One!

I looked at the dealer puzzled, thinking he was selling me obsolete technology as being a thorough researcher I never heard of the product, but I purchased on his faith (he vowed to take it back if I didn't like it). When I looked up, I flinched at the product on the website that I swear wasn't there before! And what's weird is that the product I purchased was manufactured at July this year. It's like I kept praying to nobody in particular and someone divine heard me, because my boss told me I could pay him whatever I have gathered + deduct the remaining balance from my salary, and I could afford it!.

It's a miracle, mate, it's a miracle! And at a good time too -- it's Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrating the God of prosperity and wisdom! I swear, for this, I'd gladly believe in this God, pray to him, worship him, and distribute prashad to the poor. Well, this year anyway; not sure about the rest of the years, though I'd still be paying my respects to this stone idol for eternity. 

Hell, I was so happy that I bought several plates of Dhokla to celebrate! (Yes, we Indians like to party at every happy moment -- we make every good memory count, and this makes us the happiest in the world; it's a tradition, and it's a beautiful tradition)

Okay, now no more excuses for me: I got what I need, now full speed ahead to finish my work! Pardon me if I don't step in for a while (then again, you guys are gonna be happy if I'm away, because obviously my hands are better than my mouth  You know it). I'll promise to bring in splendid things in return.

[Thought]

Almost a year ago I had a student in one of the classes I taught request to be my friend on facebook. It was a nice gesture, but I waited until she moved on to accept it. Since then she's kept in contact and now she invited me to her going away party. Even though grad school didn't work out, it is really encouraging to know that I made a connection with at least some students.

[Sajainta]

I'm still here.  Doctors said five years maximum a year ago, but I'm still here, I'm still breathing, I'm still writing, and I'm still here.  My heart is a stubborn son of a bitch who won't give up easily.  "Do not go gentle into that good night" and all that.  Good on ya, heart.

[tushantin]

 

That's good news! It seems your heart's in full steam with SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! Hang in there, coz there's a lot of love to feel, babe! There's a lotta love to feel!

I see what you've been throughout your life, and I hope our world evolves enough to make sure no man or woman goes through the same thing you did. However, you have something we don't -- you live like there's no tomorrow, and that is something that we ought to learn from you. That's something about you that inspires me.

So yeah. Thank you, Saj, for being an awesome person. *hugs*

Today's love:

I conversed with an orphan today.

....

><  

Only 14 years old, and she seemed to have a perfect clarity on life, seeing reality from several interesting facets that even our polished minds can't ever comprehend. Her thought were different from any of us, different even from my own. I know not many would want to read through that boring conversation, but I can tell you this: she was a better person than a lot of people I know. She seemed to look at me as if I was someone great, wise fellow, but I could see it in her eyes that she saw things I could never see. She was a better individual than Lord J, a better dreamer than ZeaLitY, wiser than FaustWolf, more sensible than Lennis, more honest and sincere than Syna, more varied than Mr Bekkler, more curious and rational than Thought, and certainly not a mook. She was anything but a mook. We might all be mooks here, but she isn't.

And despite the fact that she had no parents, no guardian, no religion, no education -- nothing but a slightly broken idol of Lord Ganesh.

Our conversation brought tears to my eyes, and I heard her speak of things I've never thought. I sympathize with her, but at the same time I wish to stand tall and salute her for who she is. This girl was a mere seedling, waiting to bloom as the one true Springtime Of Youth!

I mused and pondered on how many children like her exist in the world, uncared for, many of whom drowning in the noise of deluded individuals, greedy corporate and blind consumers, and whatever shit exists in our world. No one stays to hear them out. No one looks at them and tells them that everything will be fine.

><

I want to reach out to them. I want to care for them. They have potential to be great, to be what we working-class/rich-blokes can ever be, and I want to nurture that. Nobody deserves to be left behind. Nobody deserves to be swallowed into the unknown!

...but my hands are too small.  


EDIT: I know, you guys might say that I'm taking things too much to heart, but I say that what Thought said about me... was true. Yes, I am the hoarder of the obscure, and I find things of value in the debris and ruins lost in time. This will be the code to live by, simply because nobody else does. I will reach out to the things and people when no one else does. I will be the one to offer the lost angels another chance to fly. I vow in the name of Springtime of Youth that I will save at least one such angel.

[FaustWolf]

Moments spent with people like that are precious -- I felt the same way when I had a few quality minutes to spend with a Palestinian immigrant a couple years back. Really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

They have potential to be great, to be what we working-class/rich-blokes can ever be, and I want to nurture that. Nobody deserves to be left behind. Nobody deserves to be swallowed into the unknown!

...but my hands are too small.

I imagine you can give people like this a Voice through your art. And when you have money to spare some day, ah -- you might even be able to give them Agency.

[tushantin]

I imagine you can give people like this a Voice through your art. And when you have money to spare some day, ah -- you might even be able to give them Agency.

Thank you.  That sounds like the best place to start.

A question: What is this Agency? I'm confused.

[Lord J Esq]

I'm still here.  Doctors said five years maximum a year ago, but I'm still here, I'm still breathing, I'm still writing, and I'm still here.  My heart is a stubborn son of a bitch who won't give up easily.  "Do not go gentle into that good night" and all that.  Good on ya, heart.

And you lived to see every Harry Potter, and acquire a ferret! I'm glad. Life goes on and I hope, as I do for everyone, that you can draw as much out of it as possible.

[FaustWolf]

A question: What is this Agency? I'm confused.

The concept of "agency" is something I've become rather consumed with over the last year. The way I prefer to summarize it is the capacity to achieve one's dreams. I capitalize it because I've begun to see it as particularly precious, and the lack of it among the impoverished and the unemployed/underemployed as one of the great issues of our time. Just as wealth and power are unevenly distributed across society, so is Agency. And that is the most unhealthy, corrupting thing of all, IMO.

[tushantin]

So Agency = Freedom of decision, though influenced and/or restricted by external forces? I think I see what you mean there. Almost. I'm still confused. 

Tell me if I picture this wrong: Several cogs in a device, and every cog is precious to keep the device moving (element/Agent), and the cog's own decision on "which way to move" will determine how the devise moves -- thus, the cogs have Agency but the device lacks it. Remove just one cog, and the cog can't change anything, and the device ceases to work. However, the device now can determine on its own what needs to be done, without being influenced by the cogs. In this case, the device has Agency, but not the cogs.

[Lord J Esq]

A question: What is this Agency? I'm confused.

The concept of "agency" is something I've become rather consumed with over the last year. The way I prefer to summarize it is the capacity to achieve one's dreams. I capitalize it because I've begun to see it as particularly precious, and the lack of it among the impoverished and the unemployed/underemployed as one of the great issues of our time. Just as wealth and power are unevenly distributed across society, so is Agency. And that is the most unhealthy, corrupting thing of all, IMO.

Agency is key. I've never capitalized it in my philosophy, but there is so much to it. We'll have more discussion on this, for sure. For now I just want to childishly add "Me too!" to your sentiment.

[FaustWolf]

Yeah, I look forward to your observations on this subject sometime. I haven't had a chance to explore it nearly as much as I would like; I know only that I'm extremely drawn to it as a unifying concept for my own philosophy. I think I'll have to explore it in fiction to get to the bottom of it!

Tell me if I picture this wrong: Several cogs in a device, and every cog is precious to keep the device moving (element/Agent), and the cog's own decision on "which way to move" will determine how the devise moves -- thus, the cogs have Agency but the device lacks it. Remove just one cog, and the cog can't change anything, and the device ceases to work. However, the device now can determine on its own what needs to be done, without being influenced by the cogs. In this case, the device has Agency, but not the cogs.

In the case of the smoothly functioning device, I would propose that you look to the cog that's connected directly to the motor; there you'll find all the Agency that exists in the system, with the rest of the cogs having none. The device merely follows whatever direction is set by the cog directly connected to the power source.

But what would happen if a little motor were connected to every cog that wanted to participate in making the device run? I don't have an answer for that yet. Presumably the cogs would have to draw up an arrangement they could all agree to -- maybe they'd agree to it on the condition that they'd all get to keep their little motors.

So Agency = Freedom of decision, though influenced and/or restricted by external forces?

I think the Wikipedia article basically implies this. But I have a more stringent definition in mind. A terrorist who explodes on a street corner or barges into a classroom is not exercising Agency as I prefer to think about it; those people are merely crying out in the dark, having been warped precisely by their lack of it.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

[youtube]EDyonn3mQj8[/youtube]

I LOVE IT. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ALBUM FOR OVER THREE YEARS.

Edit: Faustwolf, you may like this, seeing as you liked Hot Chip...

[ZeaLitY]

Those are some sexy synths.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Zeality, I highly recommend this band. I know you're a fan of synthpop and synth music in general but I didn't know if you liked the newer stuff as well, so I never bothered to make any recommendations...