Hmm

It's about time to exercise, but I feel so lazy right now. But I shouldn't skip exercise right? The fact that I stayed indoors all day doesn't really help me either.

It's also about time to write a practice flash fiction piece. I also need to update my blog on wordpress. The murmurings from the guy talking on the floor beneath me is starting to get on my nerves. This is a restless night I have in front of me, like a thousand winds whispering into my ear at once, filling my mind with doubts and suspicions. 

Violin

I'm beginning my first violin lesson in a few hours. I'm very excited, and at the same time somewhat scared, since I have never had any decent instruction in the field of music and instruments beyond some superficial instruction thrown at me like a charity during my time in nyc public school system (although the marvelous high school time I got to spend mended the bitterness a bit).

I hope I can hold fast against embarrassment and difficulties inherent in learning a new instrument. I hope I can make this till the end, into a type of life-long hobby that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Writer's Block: My Own Creation

Although I usually write short snippets and little sketches of things and thoughts as a primary mean of my creative output, I do believe that the field of physical sciences (of which I am a long time student) is a new and more profound method of doing art. Indeed, as the time goes on, I suspect the division between art and sciences to thin out and ultimately disappear, requiring one study to fully understand the other. I see the study of artificial life using physical medium as the first step in that direction, and I constantly urge anyone I encounter who is an artist or a scientist to consider having some interest in the study and practice of artificial life.

An idea

I had a fun idea just now. How about a fiction about bunch of schizophrenics allowed to chat on the internet? Sounds simple enough but I think it has quite a few possibilities... Maybe I'll write bits of flash fiction on that setting.

Now that I think about it, I have much flash writing to do. So many ideas about whole worlds, so little time to write out any of them to the fullest. In such a case, I think flash fiction can be a potent tool. The real problem is how to capture the depth of the world in a simple and relatively short prose. Like a photography of writings, a single snapshot of situations to lead into a profound end.

Why isn't there a tutorial on this stuff?

Windy

It's rather windy outside. The trees are shaking while drenched with rain. Although it's cold, the fresh turn of weather feels almost inviting. I guess I should stop by one time and feel the change in the air. Is the winter almost over? Considering that there hadn't been a worthwhile snow in the New York City for the whole winter, the thought saddens me somewhat.

And yet, the droplets rolling down my windows feel very familiar, very friendly.

Pen, paper and rain

The rain is drenching the window by my side, cleaning out the sights of the world in coat of hydrogen. Until a moment ago my pen was scratching against a paper bound to my notes, scribbling images and messages with delicious sound and sensation. Even in this day of blogging and typing, I still can't seem to get over the joy of trying out various writing utensils on varying qualities of paper, feeling something almost similar to an artistic accomplishment to see my terrible handwriting intermingled with images and little nothing drawings about various things, like Si gale-gales of the Toba Batak people in Sumatra, and signs of metamorphosis in people and things.

My mind is free to wander from the tips of Mr. Jonathan Strange's hat to the practices of artificial life to the active galactic nucleus to hushed summer dreams of Chagall, each though leaving a footprint of black ink intertwined into various shapes that might be a language or an image or perhaps both. All from the tip of a pen and its contact with a piece of paper.

To me, the digital medium is not quite as free as I'd like it to be.

Another day spent at the Met

I spent almost half the day browsing through the fine collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One surprising change in museum policy new visitors should be aware of is that back packs are no longer allowed within museum galleries (since the whole museum is one giant gallery, this means no back pack allowed within the museum for all practical purposes). This caught me completely by surprise and I asked quite a few security guards regarding the specifics of the policy. Some of them were almost as surprised as I was, stating that backpacks were allowed as long as it wasn't excessively large and in danger of toppling displays, while some others were wholly aggressive in telling backpacking visitors to hold their bags in their hands. Of course, all of them were very polite and cordial about the whole affair, and I dare say some of them actually showed genuine concern at forcing some people to carry their (obviously heavy) backpacks in their hands.

I was somewhat confused for a while regarding the precise policy with bags within the museum though, and the fifty people I've seen walking around with backpacks didn't really help clarify the matter. I talked with one particular security guard at length about the issue, and he told me that some person with a backpack scratched a Rembrandt, a priceless artifact for the human civilization if I say so myself (although I can't validate the truth of what he said, I do feel that there were certain grim accidents within the museum in recent days). So I must tell anyone thinking of visiting the Met to try not to bring a backpack into the place, or else check it in at the coat check-in, where they will be happy to hold onto your heavy coat and bag for you, free of charge. If a security guard asks you to hold your bag instead of wearing it, please don't feel insulted, as you are not being singled out. The works in the Met aren't pretty display pieces that can be restored or replaced when misfortune befalls them. They are singular heritage gathered over the course of human history, and we all should take a part in conserving them for future generations. In front of such an importance, mere discomfort at not being able to bring certain types of bag into the museum should not be a reason to threaten the priceless works of art.