ktron: (delicatessen)
2016-07-10 08:25 am

this has hung out in drafts for a couple days now (oops)

at Stella with iced coffee and actual work materials out.

still don't feel like doing it.  right now it's a case of "other things feel bigger"... the topics that my heart feels drawn to today are things to do with the police violence and big social justice issues everywhere and... talking about privatizing and whether it's important feels small.

but public values AREN'T small.  they're caught up in the same maelstrom.  what does it mean to be a community, a nation?  when is it appropriate to look after monetary interests?  is there a role here, when private companies and interests and military armoring get entangled with how our police forces are trained?  how does public servant discretion get warped until extrajudicial execution is part of that discretion?

i just got back from a "third world country"... to my fruit fly filled apartment. we get drinkable water a little better, maybe, but given the reports on lead in the water in Baltimore... do we really?  for how much longer?

the day after Brexit, i got in a conversation for a few minutes with a Scottish woman in my hostel.  she was surprised, mostly just laughing over "voted against it, not quite sure what it means yet, but MAN I WISH I'D CASHED IN MY CURRENCY SOONER."

trump could happen.

we'll probably all be fine, but reading along in 1491... much like Collapse.  fine for a collection of years doesn't mean fine forever.  we could most assuredly drive ourselves to extinction very quickly.

i need to keep some attention in my part of the maelstrom.  it's a calmer issue, but it matters.  public values here and public values in transportation infrastructure... both are part of how we come to these vast, amorphous public choices about how to govern ourselves.

on the other end of the spectrum... comfort of hanging out with friends.  laughing and being goofy and enjoying the company feels important right now too.

so. balance is hard.  time to start working for it anyway.

ktron: (delicatessen)
2016-04-16 12:28 am

Day 15

Mindtalk is resisting HARD tonight on sitting down and writing.  Pushing through it, but this will likely be short.  I signed up for a beginner watercolor workshop a friend is teaching tomorrow... she's good, the price was right... I'm excited about getting to spend some of tomorrow in beginner mode... but I'm a little nervous about the logistics of it.  The *stuff* and getting all these newish supplies that I don't really know well on the bike.  This gives some of the more "responsible" voices permission to beat up on me a little for not having it together and being in bed already.

I read the time management chapter for a second time this morning.  I've always struggled with timeliness... tearing myself away from one thing to move on to the next has always been problematic (flashback to the days when my parents brought along bribes, one more extra gift to distract me from the grief whenever we went anywhere and IT WAS TIME TO COME HOME).  The "I do meaningful things" mantra, though, that's making me a little bit testier about OTHER people's (ok, Pavel's) timeliness.  Less because I really mind having an excuse to do some light reading, but the basic disrespect of "I interrupted whatever I was doing to show up; why is my activity so much more interruptable than yours?" So, paying some attention to that  Unsolicited advice on the art of ending conversations is probably about as good as most unsolicited advice, I guess, but expressing that it makes me feel devalued when it's extreme is probably helpful.

I meditated 10 min. this morning -- so light because the Puritan wanted to get going, although in the end getting to the library early and finding my books wound up being counterproductive since I left my wallet -- including University ID -- at home.  And the Puritan was being pretty nice about it, for him, acting sunny and cheerful about getting to work instead of frowning about time-wasting, so I wanted to honor that by throwing a compromise.  Reading log is such an easy habit at this point that I think I may keep it well beyond the 30 days.  The occasional conversational phone consultation to fact-check gets lost, but without data plan I suspect those will get rarer.

(even with experimenting, I've spent about $1 on phone service the last two days.  that's pretty cool.)

I did wear my watch on the "wrong" hand today, but I mostly noticed it when I was writing or typing since that's when it would get in the way.  The typing one surprised me a bit -- I'm accustomed to wearing a watch on my left wrist, why would that NOT get in the way?  I suppose it's just ingrained enough that I don't notice the sensation.

Since most of the handwriting was during a research presentation and a student q&a session with a potential faculty hiree, I was in predominantly analytical mode.  Traveler jetting around, who is this person, what does the department want, what does she want?  How will this question make the department look, is that ok?  Do I sound pretentious if I say this?  T. Jeff fitting all the pieces together.  The narrator figuring out how to say it on the forms.

I'd like to write more, but... falling asleep typing now.  Thanks for reading, sorry if this one's as full of sleepy typos as last night's.

ktron: (Default)
2008-06-25 10:48 am
Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Choose a Power

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i wonder if "teleport" is universally popular... or is it just really obvious to me because i spent 18ish hours in the car this weekend?
ktron: (fred)
2007-06-23 12:22 pm

(no subject)

i was trying to find some more information on the song "satan is busy in knoxville" (odd blues tune i discovered yesterday) and just found this. free mp3s of recordings of local knoxville artists in 1929-1930. back when gay street attracted world-class artists and knoxville was a big deal in ways unrelated to football. heading out for dollywood (i'velivedherehowlongandneverbeen?) as soon as my friend alice gets here, so i can't explore now, but eeeee!

sometimes it's ridiculously fun being a geek.
ktron: (baptiste)
2007-04-30 01:34 pm

(no subject)

heather ordered me to post this when i showed her.

i was reading along in f. scott fitzgerald's the beautiful and the damned when i ran across this:

"She was composed, Anthony perceived, of a succession of semicircles and parabolas, like those figures that gifted folk make on the typewriter: head, arms, bust, hips, thighs, and ankles were a bewildering tier of roundnesses."

ascii art! in 1921!!!
ktron: (Default)
2007-04-09 02:02 pm

(no subject)

i have a natural fear of missing something.

this article is enough to turn fear into abject terror.
ktron: (movie)
2007-02-08 04:20 pm

(no subject)

oh, yeah. our swingknoxville.org forum's down. that might have something to do with the posting binge.

but this is the first item i would've likely put there instead. the dirty dozen brass band's going to be in town monday night. i couldn't find the details online easily enough to get 'em right, but it's significantly cheaper for students than it is for us non-academics. anybody else interested in skipping the church st. dance to go?
ktron: (muybridge running)
2007-02-08 12:43 am

(no subject)

not running the knoxville marathon this year. i tried to start training, my knees started hurting, i like dancing better if i can't manage both.

however, it seems that i'm going to be running a quarter of it. in relay with a few other dancers. hurray, external motivation!

must regain ability to run 7ish miles...
ktron: (muybridge dance)
2006-11-12 01:42 pm

(no subject)

the glue's drying on my first attempt at making my own dance shoes... crossing fingers...
ktron: (Default)
2006-08-17 09:05 pm

Joss Whedon's Equality Now speech

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(did you need another reason to love joss? skip to 2 min. in if you don't need to hear the setup.)
ktron: (dreamy)
2006-07-26 08:10 am

(no subject)

need... more... sleep...
ktron: (die broccoli!)
2006-06-05 05:34 pm

(no subject)

happy birthday to mr. baby!!!

(and big congrats to angie and kevin, too.)
ktron: (samurai)
2006-05-16 09:35 am

(no subject)

yay! rtl2 lets americans stream the radio station again! (for a couple years, they blocked off the non-french IPs...)

good to know they're still mostly playing the same songs they were three years ago...
ktron: (samurai)
2006-05-13 02:26 am

(no subject)

as of this morning, i was still waffling over what exactly to do the weekend of june 3-4. so many lindy hop options.

turns out, i'm doing none of them! i'm going to maine!

my mom e-mailed me this morning that dad was planning a quick trip up and wanted to know if i'd like to go. as of mid-morning, vacation days were requested and approved. as of early evening, tickets had been bought.

i haven't been there in sixteen years. cousins who weren't born the last time i got to see cousins on that side of the family are driving cars now.

so excited! a little intimidated, too... i mean, lots of family i haven't seen in sixteen years, lots of not-strangers who've become a little bit strangers. but i'm definitely looking forward to it.
ktron: (Default)
2006-05-12 05:03 am

(no subject)


angie's baby belly!
Originally uploaded by the k-tron.
eight and a half months. and she and kevin still came up to see they might be giants at sundown in the city with me last night!
ktron: (melies)
2006-05-10 02:51 am

(no subject)

argh! i had stuff to do. people to write. calls to make.

and once again, 3 a.m.-ish, i wake up from being curled up on my living room floor.
ktron: (Default)
2006-05-07 08:59 pm

(no subject)

anybody else been hit by scrubtron or a similar bot yet?
ktron: (baptiste)
2006-05-07 03:32 pm

(no subject)


IMG_1168
Originally uploaded by the k-tron.
i finally decided that although i might kill it, i might not, at least not for a while.

(i also bought a rose to go with the other plants on my balcony. pretty things seem to have an unusually strong hold on me today. but it's not blooming, so no pictures yet.)
ktron: (muybridge running)
2006-05-06 10:01 pm

(no subject)

ten miles didn't hurt all that much, really. i went super-slow (5 mph), nearly hit the end of my audiobook. audiobooks are nice... they keep my brain occupied enough to not fixate on some twinge of pain and turn it into a big deal.

but i got back so tired that i drank some water, took a shower (i could run my hand across my forehead and scrape salt off...), and then decided i needed a nap before i could even put together the energy to eat. movement's still a lot more effort than it normally is. but i can sit here and tell myself that i ran ten miles today. that's pretty nifty.