when you find the perfect quote or song you are very lucky indeed… it isn’t hard to find something that is nearly what you are looking for, but exactly… that is a true gem. of course, there are ways to approach this precision by accretion [for example, in making a compilation cd you can choose 15 or 20 songs which say many things that when taken together and shared with the right person (from the right person and at the right time - wow…) begin to speak the complexity of feelings and thoughts that are specific to the moment] or by contextual proximity [as, when coupled with shared memories and personal references, a single quote from a movie or from a text may be able to do… it may express something approaching that perfect communication]

i guess you may expect me to impart one of these gems to you here; that would be a good climax and explain why i am thinking about things like this… but i don’t have one to share… i am thinking about this in reference to the work i am doing.

the thought i had, which surfaced around the time of my critique on friday [or thereabout] is one of tolerance… my work [and i may have been misguided in thinking it was otherwise] has been about recognizing the point at which a struggle for precision and the inevitable failure to achieve it at a certain level is regarded as a failing of the process [and a novel moment to be explored and refined in an ever advancing drive toward perfection] or as that without which the work is soul-less…

i’m not sure where this idea will take me… or how to address it in the immediate future, but i think it is worth holding onto. i have always felt distanced from the argument that it is ‘improper’ or ‘sacrilegious’ to strive for perfection… i feel a kinship with those who seek it and have always felt a little uneasy patting myself on the back for those ‘happy accidents’ that seem to make things unique and beautiful… this is not to say that i don’t recognize the beauty and revolutions of thought that can [and do] come from those same accidents… and i am [as i have recently been told] a connoisseur of ambiguity and there is a wonderful beauty in the unspoken, implied, …

the architecture department, actually two people from the architecture department, puts on a chair design show annually and tonight we had a meeting to finalize the schedule. the show will be called Holy Sit! which is kind of funny and irreverent which i like, but also kind of silly which i’m not too sure about… anyways, i don’t have strong feeling either way. it’s a group show and it will be what it will be… which i think will be pretty quality.

the chair i am contemplating is, assuming i can afford the parts and learn what needs to be learned which is a lot as usual, basically a low-rider hydraulic style piece… i have a few ideas about how to configure this that are very undeveloped, but you should basically be able to raise and lower all four corners individually or in unison… the frame will be powder coated steel [thinking about pipe but probably have to go with angle iron] and the seat should probably be apholstered with vinyl or leather… but might end up being something less fabricy… since i have limited skills in that area too… oops… phone call. time to go.

forgot about the television part there… i’ve taken to [well it’s been quite some time running now] acquiring copies of currently airing television programs and watching them on my computer… partly because i can’t/couldn’t always get to a tv when they aired [and you can’t miss one episode of say 24 and be able to follow the overarching plot] and partly so that i could watch them without commercials at my leisure…

but, i think i am easily distracted by these things and i don’t know how i feel about some of the shows i am addicted to… it’s an odd feeling. the shows i am currently following has shrunk dramatically since coming back to school, because of time constraints, to include 24, alias, and carnivale [i would also include spooks which i love, but i seem to have missed the airing schedule and can’t find the third season in all the usual places]

side note… i still find it interesting that we refer to websites, newsgroups, and similar databases and archives as places or sites or use other names connotating a physical location to describe them and our process of looking at them [go to www.insertfavoriteurl.com, i went to this great site, etc.]… it is comforting and yet, as with most technologies that are integrated into our lives, glossed over without thought by most people… i have a feeling that, like the plot lines of 24, those words are an attempt [i wonder about the history of the terminology… mental note to research this] to make things that we should question and understand [but not necessarily fear or worry about] like something that we are comfortable with… there seems to be a fine line between making someone comfortable with some thing or concept or course-of-action and actually helping them understand that thing, concept or course-of-action… i hope that in my work i can do the later… for myself as well as for others.

but back to my stories… my prime time, cable, and bbc addictions… i have [and i mean this like a true addict] have to watch the latest episodes of 24 and carnivale tonight… but work beckons first… so off to it.

off making bricks… we had the gallery opening [actually the reception was a closing… but don’t worry about the technicalities] for a show called ‘dive into repetition.’ this was a collaboration between some architecture students and some ceramics students. it was a success! even if ben and i barely finished hanging our piece before the guests showed up… [typical]

anyways, i am still working on the project because i have a crit friday and will be presenting this work… hopefully with some more quantity and understanding… however i have been slacking a little lately… played 4 hours of pool last night and never went back to studio…

now i must work hard.

i was talking to a friend of my the other day who is uncomfortable about displaying his identity online… now, while i don’t exactly think the reasoning behind this conversation has any real grounding in a concern for privacy [probably shouldn’t get into that one… i might be discovered since this blog isn’t hiding my identity very well] or even much of an understanding of what it would entail to protect one’s identity online generally, it did start me thinking about my online identity…

it has also prompted me to compile a list of where i appear online… not that i intend to publish that here… but maybe… i have to think about that one.

at any rate, petty quibbles seem to be the pet peeve of the day… my own and those of others… i will have to work on that. i guess it’s true that what you are most critical of in others is what you are most dissatisfied with in yourself. hmmm… food for thought.

so… as i am putting this up here i happen to glance at another blog and lo and behold… you beat me to the punch… but here it is anyways…

from The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche

295

Brief habits. – I love brief habits and consider them invaluable means for getting to know many things and states down to the bottom of their sweetnesses and bitternesses; my nature is designed entirely for brief habits, even in the needs of its physcical health and generally as far as I can see at all, from the lowest to the hightest. I always believe this will give me lasting satisfaction – even brief habits have this faith of passion, this faith in eternity – and that I am to be envied for having found and recognized it, and now it nourishes me at noon and in the evening and spreads a deep contentment around itself and into me, so that I desire nothing else, without having to compare, despise, or hate. And one day its time is up; the good thing parts from me, not as something that now disgusts me but peacefully and sated with me, as I with it, and as if we ought to be grateful to each other and so shake hands to say farewell. And already the new waits at the door along with my faith – the indestructible fool and sage! – that this new thing will be the right thing, the last right thing. This happens to me with dishes, thoughts, cities, poems, music, doctrines, daily schedules, and ways of living. Enduring habits, however, I hate, and feel as if a tyrant has come near me and the air around me is thickening when events take a shape that seems inevitably to produce enduring habits – for instance, owing to an official position, constant relations with the same people, a permanent residence, or uniquely good health. Yes, at the very bottom of my soul I am grateful to all my misery and illnesses and whatever is imperfect in me because they provide a hundred back doors through which I can escape enduring habits. To me the most intolerable, the truly terrible, would of course be a life entirely without habits, a life that continually demanded improvisation – that would be my exile and my Siberia.

well… that’s all i have for the moment… but stay posted. i am on my way to make bricks…

so… the gps search continues… now i am looking at the Holux GM-210 which i have heard to be cheaper and perhaps smaller… i will have to research a little more…

and doesn’t it always happen this way… my previous gps [eTrex Legend] was giving me such a headache trying to communicate with my powerbook that i decided to sell it on ebay [maybe i mentioned this earlier] and buy a new puck style gps like the holux above… well, my friend just sent me a links explaining how to make this work!! so… if you are doing the same thing… try this.

and another thing… my listing ends in less than an hour and the school internet is going to be down for some kind of service, uh, well… in about 4 min…. so i have to wait until tomorrow to see what it sold for!! aaarrrggghhhh!!!

ah, well… i should be working anyways.

back to it.

i love getting new books… and today i got three….

• Knoppix Hacks (O’Reilly)
• Wireless Hacks (O’Reilly)
• The Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant - translated by J.H. Bernard [i don’t know if this is the preferred translation, but it was the cheapest…]

i also ‘reviewed’ a couple reference books that a friend recommended…

• The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate
• The Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinarily Literate

both by Eugene Erlich… very good, but i couldn’t force myself to spend the money for something that would, unfortunately, not be used much… i find that i use the internet and it’s various search engines and wikis a much more readily available resource… and as i discovered not too long ago trillian [my IM client of choice for PC lately - see fire for mac] links directly to wikipedia for almost all the things you type into it… very nice…

i also finished [at least i hope i have finished… much work needs to be done after this part] coating my cardboard forms with epoxy resin… now i just have to figure out how to clean up the mess… ugh.

i am on a quest for the perfect [for me] gps solution… i decided the other day that the garmin eTrex legend i currently have isn’t the one. actually i decided that awhile ago, but i just listed it on eBayyesterday. it’s great, but not enough compatibility. needs to work with my mac and my pda … i am looking at a puck style receiver to use with a software mapping solution. any ideas?? i am looking at the earthmate currently… a little cheaper than the handheld type, but still not cheap enough. hopefully the popularity of it will help me in the long run… more apps, support, compatibility…

i have also been looking at personal tracking devices that use gps like Wherify but i don’t know a whole lot about them… more research… more digging… testing… hopefully toward something interesting…

it’s 6:15 in the morning… no sleep… not much work done… i really need to rethink this perpetual internet distraction…

so, i’ve decided that i need a personal blog… i’ve become more interested in blogging of late and we’ve set up some student blogs for the department, but i think i need something a little more freeform and personal to really get going on this. so, this will be where it all happens… or at least where it’s concocted.

obviously this is a boring template… but since my web design skills are lacking at the moment i am stuck with this. perhaps i will finally sit down and learn a little and be able to customize this and add it to a full site.

btw… i am a grad student at an art school in michigan. i am 30. i study architecture and most things techie and design oriented…

…more to come