Tag Archives: Zoka

Sunny, Beautiful

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Before I continue: Happy birthday, Dad! I hope it’s been a good day!

It’s currently just under 70 degrees and gorgeously sunny here in Seattle, which is in stark contrast to the snowfall most of the northeast has been getting hit by. While I can sympathize, I’m frankly just grateful for the nice weather where I am. I’ve grabbed my camera and my tripod, and I’m planning on taking some twilight shots this evening, which should be fun (still need to decide exactly where, though… we’ll see), and in general I’m feeling alright. I was sitting in my apartment earlier, fiddling with files and sorting things (still planning a full clean “soon”), glanced out the window and checked the weather and said “Fuck it, I’m going out.” And here I am.

I didn’t really mention it here, but I had a “date” last night with Avital, a cute barista here at Zoka. (I’m saying it as “date” because I’ve never really done the dating thing before. I asked her out, which sounds like a date, we had dinner together, which sounds like possibly a date, but we spent more time geeking than flirting, which sounds more like friends? Beats the hell out of me!) It was a nice evening, and it was especially nice to get a chance to spend time with someone on a one on one basis, considering other than a few brief occasions with Mickey (which I am likewise glad for), I really haven’t had that since I moved out here. I’m generally pretty quiet, but when it’s been a long while like this, I find myself talking people’s ears off, for better or worse. I was definitely worn out by the end of it… even when I’m a geyser of babble, I’m definitely still an introvert at heart, and it wears me the hell out even if I want to be there.

Animal Collective’s Feels is playing here at Zoka at the moment, and while it’s truly an excellent album and well worth my time to talk about, instead I want to mention this catchy little tune called “Young Folks” by Peter, Bjorn and John. There’s a music video for it up on YouTube (which is linked on their site), and it’s just an amazingly fun little song. The whistling is unbelievably infectious, and since it’s been getting radio play on KEXP, I find myself humming or half-whistling it getting out of the car pretty often. Go look it up, go listen, and then try and tell me it’s not good.

Breaking Radio Silence

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Awesome Tree

Sorry for the delay in posting — I usually post while I’m at Zoka, but their internet has been down for a few days (something of a comedy of errors which doesn’t need getting into, in theory it’ll be fixed later today). I finally decided it was time to actually pull the laptop out at home and do catchup on it. I’ve been experimenting with a new RSS reader found via the inestimable R Stevens called Vienna. It’s free, it’s fast, it’s clean, and the interface will do. So far, I’m really liking it.

One of the main reasons I’ve pulled out the lappy is that I have pictures from my recent trip to the Washington State Arboretum on it (“trip” might be more epic than I really intend… it’s like 10 minutes away). I’ve redacted and uploaded a dozen or so images from that trip, so if you like pictures of blossoming dogwoods and cherry trees and such, swing on through. I’ve been reluctant to go in and fill in extra details and titles with the pictures in the gallery, because I’m not sure if it would be a wasted effort if I end up transferring to a different gallery solution (ZenPhoto is currently in the lead for an alternative). We’ll see. In the meantime: the image to your right is this awesome tree in the Arboretum. The branches have wrapped around the trunk in this great pattern, with just a few branches swooping out and down (as you can see). I loved it, so I took a shot and tweaked it a little in photoshop (adjusting contrast, color, etc). In fact, almost every shot in the gallery has at least a little Photoshopping… but generally VERY little: auto color, auto contrast, auto levels, adjust image size, save as jpeg at level 6 compression. I’ve been fiddling with a few a bit more, but generally for the sake of play.

In other news, still no job, but my resume is updated and available as a PDF here. Critiques welcome. The lack of a references section is intentional… I have people who’ve agreed to be a reference, and I’ll happily provide that information upon request, but I agree with the trend towards not listing it on a professional resume. It’s a privacy thing.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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Springtime from a Zoka Window

I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for blossoming trees. Maybe it’s because I’m a spring baby or something, but I totally dig the period of spring where the trees blossom and bud and just start to sneak out their small leaves. It’s been winter for months, and this revival is energizing, especially on those first few warm, sunny days that witness an explosion of life and growth. Flowers are blooming, and people just seem to be feeling upbeat about life (or perhaps it’s just me).

I’m torn on what to do with this beautiful day (we should have another 5 hours until sunset). I’m currently at Zoka (as the admittedly poor picture suggests), and while it’s nice to be here and perhaps get some writing done, I in some ways would feel remiss if I didn’t go out gallavanting somewhere with my camera in tow, and make use of the day. There is, perhaps, time to do both.

In a moment of eating crow, I would like to publically apologize to Mr. Samuel R. Delany, whose last name I’ve perpetually misspelled for the past decade as “Delaney.” In my defense, apparently it’s one of the most misspelled author names in SFdom, including by publishers, and I could have sworn the original edition of Dhalgren that I read had it spelled with an ‘e’, hence my confusion. Regardless, I’ve realized my error, and corrected its use in the prior entries of this blog (the only use of “Delaney” that will show up on a search now is this very entry). What sparked all this, of course, is noticing that his book on writing has been nominated for a Hugo. Congrats, Mr. Delany!

As a side note about the Delany-Delaney thing: When I got my copy of Dhalgren signed last year, he added an ‘e’ to the end of my name. Given that I now realize I’ve been doing the same to him for years, I find it highly amusing. (Little things!)

The Blue Heron Struts
The Fox and the Hawk Look On
Life Marches Onward!

March of Rainy Days

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Yesterday was my brother’s birthday: Happy Birthday, Uri! (I know this post is late, but in fairness, I did actually call him and wish him a happy happy yesterday.)

Today? Today it rains. It’s cool and rainy and I’ve chosen to spend it getting some things done around the apartment. Laundry, cleaning, unpacking, nothing spectacular, nothing pressing or momentous, and that seems to me to be a good use of a rainy day in March. I stocked my cupboards and fridge last night, so there’s actually food in the house (great opportunity to inaugurate the cookware I picked up last week), and… well, yeah, things are pretty good.

Across the board, really. The new Baha’i year started on the 21st, and really since then, I’ve been having a really good period. Sure, I’ve been going to sleep at 3-4am (even when I got to bed at 1 or 2) and sleeping all morning, but regardless of that, I’ve been pretty productive, and I’m feeling good about where things are at for me. I’ve started actually talking to people at Zoka, which is excellent (more on that later), and I found a job I really really hope I get (how often do you actually see an entry level position available for game production? Or any entry level game gig, to be honest, but production is the path I want to take). I finished my revised resume last night, and sent it and a cover letter to the company right after.

I got a call from a certain Fruit-based company this morning, though sadly not to offer me a job or a free computer, but still helpful for a project nonetheless. I wish I could say more, but decidedly not yet. If nothing else, it’s useful to start being known (and hopefully in a positive light).

I’ve been listening to KEXP podcasts since I woke up. I’ve already gone through their Song of the Day podcast backlog, and currently am listening to their Live Performances podcast. Let me just say, I <3 KEXP. I like their music, I like their mission, I like their services. It’s a damn great radio station, and I wish other stations elsewhere would get on board the cluebus and start offering broader ranges of music, and less commercial pap.

This disjointed post brought to you by the letters A, Z, and K.

Of Libraries, Bars, and Corners

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I just finished listening to How it Ends by Devotchka, and How Strange, Innocence by Explosions in the Sky just started, and I’m not really sure where I’m going in this post beyond a few things I wanted to mention, so we’ll see what comes, shall we?

I’ve been playing with Delicious Library the past day or two, and I must say: it’s good. It’s a very targeted application, aimed at filling a specific (but arguably necessary) role, namely creating a rich media management system. I’m about a third to halfway through adding my things to the library, which really isn’t bad considering the quantity of stuff and the amount of time I’ve devoted to the project. I feel good enough about the product to have written up a review, and hopefully that show go live in the next week or so (I sent it to Wil along with some interview questions this evening, so when it goes live somewhat depends on when he gets back to me). I’m pretty pleased with the responses I got from my last article (on Scrivener), so I’m hoping this spotlight also goes well. For those who might be interested in its potential for institutional use in some capacity: it currently doesn’t really support ISSN or LOC information (though it does support full ISBN and ISBN-13 lookups), so I’m not sure if it’s really ready for a large scale academic or institutional library. As far as communal (informal) libraries go, however, or small scale operations (say, a coffee house that offers books to read to patrons), I think it would be phenomenal.

Actually, let’s take a second and expand on that idea… I’d really love to see that. A coffee house that also serves a community role by housing a “reading room” lined with books that can be checked out by customers willing to register details with the cafe. Books could be purchased by the cafe to start, and then take donations of money or books to expand and refresh the library. I don’t know if it would fly — I suspect it might (as I’ve mentioned before, the notion of coffee and books seems to have already been imprinted on the public as a good combination). I’m in no position to start such a thing, but now I’m sitting here wondering if I know anyone who might be.

So, as most of you are aware, I don’t really know that many people out here (though that is changing). Aside from whatever other ramifications that may have, it means that I’ve been dining alone a lot. I’m by no means the first person to make this observation (I seem to recall a well known dining critic who wrote a regular column based on dining alone), but in general, restaurants have no idea what to do with the solitary diner. While there doesn’t seem to be as much open disdain for it as has been alluded to in the past, there does generally seem to be an outcast mentality that accompanies “table for one, please.” My observation is that you tend to automatically be placed either in the corner, out of the way, or (if they have one) at the bar. I don’t drink, but I’ve certainly found myself perched on a bar chair (no stools thankfully) more than a few times in the past month or so of being out here, and I don’t imagine that trend is going to subside any time soon.

Personally, I don’t really mind too much: when you’re stuck in a corner alone, it gives you a chance to cultivate other habits that are arguably beneficial. Bringing a book to a restaurant suddenly seems more reasonable, and more often than not, I pull out my pocket notebook and write a journal entry while I wait for my food to arrive. What, you didn’t think this was the only place I write, did you? I may not write as much as I should (and certainly not as much productive writing as I should), but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a complete slouch about it, either.

The past few days have been really good, thinking about it. I’ve been feeling pretty upbeat, and managed to a) actually talk to one of the cute baristas at the coffeehouse; b) catch up with folks from Coccinella and even go to dinner with them and meet some of their friends (which was a blast, if any of you are reading this, I really appreciated getting to come, and hope I didn’t make too much of an ass of myself); c) introduced myself, exchanged cards with, and chatted for more than 30 seconds with Wil, which is actually quite a feat — it’s dumb, I know, but I always feel a little uncomfortable about introducing myself to people who are famous, even if it’s just fame within a select circle (like, say, the Mac developer community). I end up worrying about offending them or looking like a hanger-on, and feel like I need to say something worthwhile and important so I’m not wasting their time. It’s just in general been a pretty good few days. At least for the moment, my bills are paid, and I know I have the money for the rent due in a week, and… well, yeah. Things are okay.

It’s interesting, but a lot of that “hey hey, things are okay” feeling really started accumulating once I started making real progress on unpacking all my books. I guess I’m still a bit of a bookworm at heart: I feel better when I have shelves of books around. Reuniting my things from before the divorce with the things from after the divorce is also a pretty significant act. While I’m not trying to sound like a materialist, it really does make me feel a lot more “whole”. When I packed everything up in 2005, I felt like I’d packed up a portion of myself in the process, and it wasn’t any specific thing that I could point out and say “Yes, that, that’s what makes me feel more complete.” It was more the whole notion of fragmenting myself, losing my anchor point. The entire time I was in Vermont, I didn’t really feel connected (which I will freely admit is largely my own fault), and never really settled down or got comfortable with who I was. And now… well, I’m still not sure if I’ve figured out the whole “who I am” thing to any modicum of comfort, but I definitely feel like I’m back on a path of getting there.

Zokarrific

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I came down to Zoka this afternoon, ostensibly to drop off a cd to one of the baristas (who apparently isn’t here today), and instead discovered all sorts of folks from the coffee shop in Bellevue I used to go to… apparently they’ve all migrated over here, following the close. Had some pleasant conversations with them, and then turned around and noticed Wil Shipley sitting next to me at one of the communal tables. Managed to strike up a conversation with him about Delicious Monster and Delicious Library, which is high on my list of apps I’d still like to review for AppleGeeks. I managed to line up an interview at some point in the near future, which is awesome, so I’ll be not only reviewing the software, but interviewing the developer for my next column (probably). Seems like a nice guy, and really passionate about what he does, so I’m definitely looking forward to that. (It occurs to me that I should also ask if there’s any way I can help, seeing as I’m, y’know, unemployed and job hunting.)

I spent the morning asleep (sleep schedule still out of whack), but the early afternoon assembling Ikea shelves, which didn’t arrive until 9-9:30pm last night, which I decided was too late to be hammering in deference to my neighbors. I should probably head home now and start filling the shelves, but I’m kind of liking sitting here at the moment. I’m not sure where I should be going with all this.

There are things on my to-do list, definitely:
» download and review Delicious Library, then come up with some interview questions for Wil
» update Be My Patron, and start shilling it with all my might.
» finish my resume update. The honest truth is that I’ve been royally avoidant of this, and only really applying for jobs that I feel like my current resume would be acceptable for. It NEEDS a major revision, though. (This has already caused me to miss out on a chance at a really awesome job over at KEXP, though I’m still going to apply to the company. The other positions aren’t as perfect a fit, but I think I could still do at least some of them.)
» finish unpacking my apartment
» tackle the great data-organization project
» organize my life, start using iCal religiously
» pay some bills that have caught up to me (I’ve been good about the monthlies, but the one-shots like a parking ticket, or a speeding ticket, or a lab bill, I’ve completely spaced on). I don’t REALLY have the money, but I also can’t afford to NOT pay them.

Let’s get crackin’!

Happy Naw Ruz

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Nabil in March

Today is the first day of spring, which means it’s also Naw Ruz, the Baha’i New Year. Despite sleeping in (my sleep schedule is still completely out of whack and I haven’t tracked down why yet), I’ve been fairly productive today, taking a trip to Ikea just south of Seattle, to pick up some relatively inexpensive household necessities (cookware mostly… two pots, a pan, some kitchen knives, some utensils, and a plate and bowl set. Also, two more bookshelves which should be arriving this evening). It was still arguably more than I really can justify, but at the same time, being able to eat is bloody important! The bookshelves are the basic Billy shelf, which I’ve had before and was happy with, so they should do fine. It also means I’ll be able to unpack more boxes, since I currently have stacks of boxes full of books with nowhere to put them. I thankfully got a shelf from Mickey through ironic timing (which incidentally had originally been one of mine from Windsor), which let me unload at least some boxes, but that shelf is now fairly full (leaving only enough room for books I know I have but haven’t unpacked yet that go with the topics on the shelf).

Things are progressing nicely. I resisted a strong temptation to head to Chop Suey which is a notable music venue here in Seattle. A band I heard on the radio is playing tonight that I’d really love to go see, and the tickets are only $10, but there are other things I should really be doing. Next time around, maybe, when I’m more sure I’ll be able to go instead of waiting for bookshelves to arrive and then unpacking some more. I realize that I’ve been in here for a while now, so you’d think I’d be unpacked by now… in my defense, a) I was sick for a while, and b) the place is small, so unpacking involves a lot of juggling boxes around the apartment to make room.

It seems like there’s a ton of new music I’d like to pick up. The new Modest Mouse is sounding awesome, Decemberists have several new albums out since I was last able to collect them, there’s this new band Under Byen that I’d love to pick up, there’s the new Joanna Newsom, Bright Eyes have a new album coming out, the list just keeps on going… in the interim, though, KEXP continues to be a mainstay for me. I listen to it mostly in the car, but I also pull up the stream on iTunes occasionally as well. They have a nice mix of old and new, and always ecclectic, covering a ton of different genres (though there does tend to be an indie/alt influence, which I’m totally fine with).

Just to note, I tossed a pic into this post. I’m not planning on making it a regular habit, but I figured what the heck, Photo Booth is easy, and that way folks who want to see what I’m looking like nowadays can. (A lot like I did before, eh?)

Not a Shut-In

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Or at least, I’m trying not to be. I noticed myself tending to hide out in my apartment the past week, ostensibly because I wasn’t feeling well and needed to unpack, but when faced with the reality, I didn’t really get much unpacking done during that time, and didn’t make good use of my time even hiding out in the apartment. I also noticed myself sleeping too much (12 hours last night… I’m usually happily functional on 7 hours), which is something I tend to do when I’m letting things pile up rather than acting on them. Doing is also key to keeping the depression demons at bay.

So, today I packed up the laptop and took my first trip to the coffee house in about a week. Early in the week is the best time to be here, anyway, as it gets hard to find seats later in the week. I ran into one of the folks from Coccinella (sadly now defunct) when I came in, which is awesome. I gave him my card, we’ll see if he gets in touch. (He’s in much the same boat as me at the moment, job hunting… he wandered off to work on his grad degree in philosophy, and is back now.)

Wil Shipley is sitting a few tables over, but it looks like he’s working, so I’ve opted not to bother him. I keep on meaning to go over and say hi when I see him in here (this IS one of his regular haunts after all… this is the same coffee shop they wrote Delicious Library in), but it’s hard to step up and break the ice. “Hi, I read your blog, I like your software, let’s chat?” Heh.

For those who are keeping track, I did, in fact, get Gentoo running on my G5, except for one very small, minor, deal breaking problem: the display I’m currently using (my television) apparently doesn’t play nice with the bootloader, meaning I get a blank screen and no way of knowing what I’m selecting (like, say, whether to load Gentoo or OS X) until it’s already loading. So, I’m going to chalk it up to a learning experience (namely, I now know more than I care to about configuring a kernel), and get back to thinking about data, and how I want it organized.

It’s a daunting task to take several years of files across multiple computers and drives, and get it all collected and sorted and not duplicated, and then prep it for clean backups and archiving. I think that once I DO get it all organized, Slingshot and LifeBoat are going to come in exceptionally handy, and I’ll be a lot happier (and ostensibly more productive, but I’m not holding my breath).

All quiet on the romantic front. I’d have to, y’know, be social for it to be anything else. I’ve been giving a LOT of thought to finally putting together my thoughts and observations on love into a full essay, and have slowly started gathering notes and quotes and such towards that end. Those who’ve known me for a long time can attest to the fact that love, and the idea of love, have been perennial topics for me for most of my life. I can remember sitting and thinking about it when I was 5 and 6, trying to figure out the butterflies in my stomach when certain girls were nearby, and the topic has never really fully left my thoughts since. The difference between arousal, infatuation, crushing, and love, different types of love, the abstraction and the concrete behind it. I think it’ll be rewarding (if only for myself) to sit down and put it all into words, and hopefully it will make it more clear for those around me as well. It’s still a ways off, though, as I really want to do the topic justice, and there are other things that are more pressing that I need to do (like get a job).

Zoka Again

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It’s Saturday, it’s noon, and I’m sitting in the University Village Zoka again. I don’t have a particular pressing need to be online, honestly, but it’s nice to have a destination to go to when it’s kind of rainy and grey out. Besides, there are worse things to do than to blog randomly. I don’t really have a set goal with this post, so we’ll see where it goes.

I drink a hell of a lot of chai — it’s my drink of choice in most coffee shops. I’ve noticed that a lot of the coffee shops in Seattle tend to have two kinds of chai: sweet and spicy. What this really means is “Oregon Chai” or “Morning Glory Chai“, two particular brands of chai. While having the options of different types is nice, there are other choices out there that I really wish they’d consider. In particular, there are a few brands that I think would go over really well in Seattle’s coffee-culture. There is a Mate based chai called Pixie Mate Chai that I’ve been really impressed by. It has the spices of a sweet chai, but none of it is so overwhelming that you can’t taste the tea beneath it, which is really important and often missed with Oregon Chai. As far as spicy chai goes, I may be bucking a trend, here, but I like a spicy chai to have a moderate bite, versus the strong bite of the Morning Glory. The best I’ve found along this line is a Portland local brand called Dragonfly Chai. If I could convince one of the local coffee shops to try it, I think they’d be well pleased with it.

It’s interesting to sit in a coffee shop near the counter, because you really notice the sort of pattern and flow of traffic. It seems to be a steady trickle of people until it abruptly floods in. I don’t know what else is going on in the area that would cause the momentary surges, but they’re definitely unmistakable. It’s all about the ebb and flow and cycles. (And being patient… it’s time to refill my chai, but I’m waiting until the current surge dies down).

I recently read a blog post that talked about how delightful it was to have a grapefruit, Photoshop, and an empty apartment to work in. While there are certainly days that sounds excellent, that’s not really my model. I like my solitude as much as the next introvert, but what exactly that entails differs between people, I think, and for me, it comes down to having solitude without being alone. This is why I’m so fond of coffee houses and cafes: I’m left to my own devices generally, but other people are around, satisfying my desire to people-watch when I want (watching the social dance between people is something of a pastime… I find it fascinating). That sort of “communal solitude” is my happy medium where I feel like I’m the most productive. I’d really love to sit down and get a discussion going between a number of creatives to talk about that… where our productive “sweet spot” is. I’m not sure this blog really has enough of a readership to get as broad a sampling as I’d like, but I’d still love to know folks’ thoughts on the matter nonetheless.

Tuesday Drips By

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As a follow up to last post, I did indeed procure and install a shower head and pillow (well, the pillow doesn’t really need installing per se, but the gist I think is made). Life is better, though I’m still looking forward to something more resembling a bed. I’ve gotten a few other errands out of the way, and my Scrivener review is now up, if you care to read it.

Today I woke up to a bright, blue sky, which is always fantastic. Spent the morning reading and puttering around the apartment waiting to meet with my landlady and for a package from my parents to arrive (got it, and it’s all very much appreciated! Happy Ayyam-i-ha!). The meeting with the landlady went well, so now I’m officially the leaseholder and I’ve paid my rent and all that. I’ve got to say, it’s really nice renting from someone who is willing to work with their tenants: I was able to move in on a relatively small deposit and without the lease officially signed, and all a week before the apartment was originally supposed to come due. Big, hearty thumbs up on that. We also briefly discussed my doing some computer related work for her other business, and she asked me to give her a rate to set up a VPN. I’ll need to think on that and get back to her: not too worried about setting up the VPN (she has pretty minimal needs, we’re not talking some enterprise level solution here), just trying to think of what to charge — I could certainly use the money.

When I was down in Portland, I swung by Powell’s, and ended up picking up Harry G. Frankfurt’s On Bullshit and On Truth, both of which are delightful short reads (I started and finished On Truth this morning waiting for my appointment). Definitely some interesting things to think on, and I’ve already started taking some notes (via Scrivener!) for an essay I’ve been thinking about writing.

I’m currently in Zoka, downing a pot of Jasmine while waiting for for their wireless connection issues to sort themselves out (system crashed and had to be rebooted, and now appears to be flaking out again… unfortunate). I’ve been here most of the afternoon, wrapping up a project for AvatarMUD and mailing it out to the rest of the staff. While I think I did some good work with it and that it would on the whole benefit the game, I’m not exactly holding my breath on seeing it actually implemented. Perhaps I’m getting cynical in my near-decade on the MUD, but seems like big changes tend not to go through unless they’re championed by someone in a position to implement the change themselves… which this isn’t. Sorry I can’t be more specific about what I’m talking about. It’s good to have it out of the way, at least. I’ve been working on it since August.

The weather has progressively become wetter as the day has marched on, with it currently wavering between drizzling rain and simply looking sullenly damp. I’m fine with this. I kind of like the semi-rain Seattle tends to get. It evokes a partcular mood that is a little hard to describe: the closest I can come to a short definition would be “indie aloofness”, only without the smug pretentiousness. You’re walking around or driving around and there’s a good groove going on the radio or on your iPod and you’re feeling good about the solitude. It is all good.