2009.07.06: One more thing...

 

 

2009.06.03: New "Blog" at Tumblr

Well after three full years, I'm discontinuing Orcrist Jump Pad, and moving to Tumblr. You can find me now at http://playitbackward.tumblr.com/.

You know what's weird? Measuring time in years. When I was a kid, a year was the longest time imaginable. Saying something happened a year ago meant it was an eternity away. But I've gradually begun realizing that years are meaning less and less to me. Things that seem recent actually happened years ago, and are still relevant. For me, that is the most concrete, disconcerting sign that no matter what I do, I can't be a kid anymore.

I'll miss some things about googlepages. One thing I liked about this website is that I could write things here that I'd like to tell people, but only if they wanted to come here and read it. And then I wouldn't know they had read it. It was all very guilt-free.

Tumblr is really fun, but it's not really like that -- I have to consider what I put there. It's a little less flexible, but it's also faster to use. It's more of a social network than a blogging platform though, so someday I'll have to find a new place on the internet to have a diary.

2008.12.25: Christmas

So today I found out that for years, apparently, my mother has been hiding all the gameboys my brother and I have ever "lost" to prepare for the specific contingency of not having enough time to go shopping for Christmas one year. Some of these have been missing since elementary school. I always thought I was terrible at hanging on to things, and my brother always blamed Amelia, who used to clean for us. But in reality they were never lost, just hidden away...

I think our reactions alone made it a worthwhile enterprise on her part. Today I got back the gameboy pocket I had in elementary school, the gameboy color I had in middle school, and the gameboy sp I had in high school, all of which I thought were lost forever. Thanks? :P

2008.12.15-19: INSANE EXAM WEEK AS IT HAPPENS!

There was something here that did not belong on the internet.

2008.12.09: The Devil's in the Details!

It's that time of year again and I'm swamped with work, but it always pays to take some time off and discover awesome videos. Thank you Ryan North of dinosaur comics and Jeph Jacques of qc!

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2008.11.30: Umm...

It's been a really long time since I wrote something here. Anyway. I'm already feeling self-conscious about posting this here. I'm probably going to take it down and pretend it never happened when I feel bad enough about it, but anyway. I wrote lyrics to a song! They're terrible, but that's a start I suppose...

(Too Late, They're gone. That really didn't last very long... ugh, stop rhyming)

2008.10.17: Freaking Scary Unconscious Choosing Music.

I was wondering what music to play, and I heard Hurricane Jane by The Black Kids in my mind (first I heard the music, then I figured out what band/song it was) and I had the urge to play it. Then I heard the words in the chorus, "It's Friday night and I ain't got nobody." Creepy. I was feeling kind of lonely. Then I read the lyrics on the internet. Creepier! Freud, wtf?

2008.09.25: Stuff I find on my computer part 2: American Materialism

This is the kind of thing where I felt compelled to write something out for no special reason and save it somewhere so it's not like it never happened. The funny thing is we're having this kind of discussion right now in my International Relations course.

How do the two sets of value systems reflect the same values?


Problem with american materialism -- we're able to buy so much because things are undervalued -- we live as parasites off the misery of the people who produce our $20 shirts overseas in deplorable conditions. There is always a need for manual labor - I think a lot of people in america forget this, because its out of sight.

If Things were justly priced, and if they were more expensive due to people with RIGHTS and FREEDOMS making them. People would be able to afford less. We wouldn't be able to continue buying buying buying, spending spending spending to be happy -- we'd have to look places other than materialism for our happiness - friendships, activities, live music, art, reading, discussion, community, helping others. And to add to that, people around the world wouldn't be oppressed by the demands of multinational corporations.

Is it natural to assume that this situation is in our future? How, why, and when will it be achieved?

2008.07.02: Poem from Wintery Times, or alternatively, Snow in July.

Today I found a poem I had written on the cover of my notebook, one day after coming home from school. It really captures a moment in time for me. I hope you like it.

It's snowing

No one notices what doesn't stick

Driving Away from me, warm & indifferent

Smoke exhaust tails receding from what is real

(who is the slave to whom?)

But I do not envy them their comfort --

  what I have is real:

  My air, frosty, harsh, exciting

  My blood warm, My hands cold

  I'm going over to Susan's house,

  I can't be alone tonight.

This snow is real

That's the magic of it.

2008.06.02: Dream Clock

I had a dream where this grandfather clock stopped working -- no matter what I did it kept chiming. I took it off the wall, pressed the off switch, turned it upside down, and shook it as it made appropriate "clock under duress" sounds but it just wouldn't turn off. And then I realized it was morning outside in real life and my laptop's default alarm clock had been running for 10 minutes. Whoops.

2008.05.29: Calculus in the Summer

2008.05.26: Mac vs. Windows

long thing was long, and not very interesting so it's macdows now.

2008.05.10: Cooking

I've learned how to make some pretty tasty fruit smoothies in the blender, but on a larger scale, I don't know how anyone cooks - here's why:

I was unloading the dishwasher and accidentally hit one of the pan lids so that it started ringing, and it was just such a cool sound, I couldn't do anything else for 5 minutes except try different ways of hitting it, waving it around in the air to get a wahwah sound, etc.

After I finally finished that, I was taking out the other pan lid, and would you guess, it was a minor third below the first one! But the lower pitch had a really nice deep sound, so I started playing with that for awhile. And now I'm writing about it. How can you get anything done?

I'm about to go see what both of them together sound like. 

2008.04.27: Soundpool

I saw this picture and a caption that said "sounds less like My Bloody Valentine and more like Mama Cass and Lou Reed sharing magic mushrooms and a bottle of domestic sparkling wine in a big, grassy field." Nice! Apparently they were at "galaxy hut" on "saturday."

I checked them out and I'm glad I did. If you like shoegaze, you may like Soundpool also. Their album(s?) are fully streamable on their website. Yes!

2008.04.09: More than a bike...

Well the unexpected but perhaps not completely unthinkable happened. Stepped outside today ready to bike to MC, and my bike was gone.

It's not that my bike was perfect... far from it. But I took care of it, and it took me where I wanted to go. Whenever it broke, I would fix it. Over time, I replaced the breaks, tires, inner tubes, handlebar grips, and the front wheel. I added lights, toe clips, and kept a plastic bag with it to cover the seat when it rained. When the front derailleur broke, I knew it would be difficult to find a new one that worked with this age-old friction-shifting system, so I rode without engaging the upper two front gears. It was still better than most bikes.

It was a great bike. I went so many places with it; it never let me down. I have great memories connected to it; it wasn't generic or interchangeable, it was unique. It was my grandfather's bicycle. I probably won't see it again. But after all, it was just a material thing -- no possession is permanent -- no possession can bring true happiness. That came from trusting it, riding it everywhere, and taking such good care of it. I will miss having it.

It's a shame, and definitely an inconvenience to lose it. But by losing it, I am reminded how lucky I was to have it in the first place. And I still have what's most important to me.

2008.04.05: Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?

I came up with this idea 5 minutes ago, I hope it's original. The recording is certainly unrehearsed

The title is completely arbitrary. First thing I thought of.

dave.mp3 (edit: no longer clickable because I listened to it and it doesn't really sound good)

2008.03.31: Sparks.

Riding my bike home today, in the rain, on an unlit street, my headlight shining on the raindrops as they fall. I'm starting down a deep hill; the wheels spin faster and faster, they start flinging up raindrops from the wet pavement. Coming up from the wheel, flying left or right, seeming, at times, to hang motionless at the top of their arcs, and shining, in the utter blackness, in an almost pale-golden color. They look just like sparks, coming up off my tire.

I turn a corner, the effect is lost.

Insert Buddhist statement about the impermanence of life and beauty.
Insert Christian statement about the beauty of God's creation.
Insert Daoist statement about living for the moment.

2008.03.30: Cars.

Is it kind of sad that I don't want a car to drive places as much as I want a car to listen to music with people as I drive places?

2008.03.28: "Day Two" mandolin thing from ages ago.

This is really long: mandolinday2.mp3

2008.03.05: I love music!

Don't you just love it when you're listening to music on headphones somewhere and an ambient sound makes your music better?

I'm in the rockville library reading Jung, listening to the Besnard Lakes "Agent 13," and the library bar code scanner from downstairs starts chirping, and it's a perfect octave! And it's repeating just a little out of phase from the music, but that just makes it more interesting... Ok back to work.

2008.02.02. There is Funny Everywhere!

I was studying at a table in the library when a guy started studying across from me. Later a girl met him there, and he helped her with some music theory homework. She thought they should form a study group so she could help him with math. Watching them flirt was so funny, I got so distracted.

Her: "So, are you Chinese? Where are you from?"

Him: "No, I'm not Chinese, I'm Thai."

Her: "Ah, I see that..."

...awkward silence...

Her: "We're Neighbors!"

Both: "Ahahahahaha!"

I had to leave because I didn't want to start laughing and embarrass them

2008.01.23: Mandolin days two and three

Day two: was a really long file, but it sounded kinda cool at times.

Day three: mandolinday3.mp3, shortmandolinthing.mp3

2008.01.17: Mandolin, day one.

Use the open strings to drone!

Version One -- Version Two

Not knowing how to play this instrument is both frustrating and fun.

-- 41 6d 20 49 20 75 6e 68 61 70 70 79 20 62 65 63 61 75 73 65 20 49 20 64 6f 6e 27 74 20 62 65 6c 69 65 76 65 3f 20 4f 72 20 61 6d 20 49 20 6a 75 73 74 20 75 6e 68 61 70 70 79 3f 20 2d 2d 46 65 62 20 32 38

2008.01.16: 4 a.m. realization.

I spent more time thinking about how to begin working than I spent working (zero time spent working). I read an interesting book for hours and then rationalized that it was too late to begin working, hence I should just try sleep, perhaps with the aim of waking up when people normally do.

Then I came up with an idea for a novel or something, where

• science knows everything about yourself, your body your mind
• nobody makes mistakes anymore since info is so widespread
  
• people are gradually replaced by robots
• culture stagnates, becomes mechanical, with people living subsistence lives.

(How did the culture become like this, what is its history?)

Something happens!

1. One random person is different for mystical reason
   
2. Happy accident(s) produce a singular case
3. Ancient discovery reintroduces change

Dillema! What to do about scientific knowledge?

1. Destroy it all? no
2. Engineer new challenge to stress humanity? Hmm, might be interesting
3. Reinvent the meaning of life, transcend subsistence living?

Maybe reverse the change that caused society to become like this?

"I try my hand at music, writing, science, love,
meta-poetry sighs the dubious lord above."

And then everything is sullied, by the realization that all of this was directly caused by procrastination. Maybe that's my only inspiration.

You can find old messages on this site, but only if you really want to.