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Good Apollo

2022-10-08

3 minute read

Had a good catchup with Giles, still impressed with his journal, inspired by his 10minute exertions. Today, in the interest of using the morning on a few things, I'm going to try to keep this entry short.

Toms slide deck

I had a look at Tom's slide deck he's doing, it needs a design refresh to be honest. It's short, I'm tempted to mock it up myself. Or find a template for him to use. I think working in design for so long made me think all these design conventions were common-place, but there was a lot of basic stuff he had missed.

plant area, time space

I took down the plant shelf and tidied up the landing. I need to trim some leaves, and eventually repot, but I'm happy to have the first part done. It took me less than an hour, which is worth noting down somewhere. I think that's what I really want visibility on: How long do things take. That way I can make better predictions going forwards, as well as improve on some times. I think timewarrior still works for this, I need a naming convention or system to to organise and review my times. Despite the threat of seeing my life as a series of commercial time slots, I think measuring even more of my activities could be useful. Further, the systems I live in see my life as commercial time slots, and define my life accordingly, so my self-perception is more vanity than application.

a black and white image of two ribbed bowl chairs in the sun, some plants on a table, a childs drawing of a crab

On posting online

Read this piece recently: rundog.art/poetry/on-posting-online/.

I would like to read it again. Notes of:

Running Dog publish some very good work.

Connecting

I've been thinking about something Alex said: (heavily paraphrased and put into my own wording, at the risk of changing his intention)

Connection is the only reason to exist

I was initially dismissive, thinking along the lines of "oh yes, its a possible reason, should we need one". I have changed my mind since then. I will attempt to put it into bullet points, and then in time expand on it.

  1. Connection as a fundamental property of existence - a body in the world as part of the world
  2. Connection with the non-human - a body in the world as part of the ecosystem
  3. Implicit connection - by birth, by circumstance, by necesity
  4. Mediated connection - human -> media technology -> human
  5. Explicit connection - friends, other

connection with the non-human

For point two, I will refer to a line from this poem The Herdsman by Fernando Pessoa

I'm herdsman of a flock.
The sheep are my thoughts
And my thoughts are all sensations.
I think with my eyes and my ears
And my hands and feet
And nostrils and mouth.

To think a flower is to see and smell it.
To eat a fruit is to sense its savor.

And that is why, when I feel sad,
In a day of heat, because of so much joy
And lay me down in the grass to rest
And close my sun-warmed eyes,
I feel my whole body relaxed in reality
And know the whole truth and am happy.

O Guardador de Rebanhos Alberto Caeiro (Fernando Pessoa)

Sou um guardador de rebanhos.
O rebanho é os meus pensamentos
E os meus pensamentos são todos sensações.
Penso com os olhos e com os ouvidos
E com as mãos e os pés
E com o nariz e a boca.

Pensar uma flor é vê-la e cheirá-la
E comer um fruto é saber-lhe o sentido.

Por isso quando num dia de calor
Me sinto triste de gozá-lo tanto,
E me deito ao comprido na erva,
E fecho os olhos quentes,
Sinto todo o meu corpo deitado na realidade,
Sei a verdade e sou feliz.

The second line of the second stanza, specifically, which has another translation (I think by Richard Zenith)

"And to eat a fruit is to know its meaning."

Which I found here, and I may refer in general to the tenderness collection and perhaps employ are.na for the whole essay.

Keeping this short

Like I said, wrapping it up here.

listening to

Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness - by Coheed and Cambria

questions