Tiny Tea Dispatch #007

Published:

Aug 12, 2018, 02:00:00

This dispatch is coming to you from a cabin in the woods, with a dog napping on the floor, bading in the sunlight of the living room window, overlooking this leafy new domain. Welcome to a quiet place, let me show you some of my thoughts and experiences compiled on a screen.

We’re well into my favorite season and hopefully past the longest stretch of continuous heat. The garden did very well, considering. It helped that we had a good supply of rainwater stashed away from the season before. Our sunflowers don’t quite rival last year’s in size but they’re still impressive. One of them is even bigger than my head. It gives me pause to think of how such a big thing came from a tiny seed, using nothing but water and air. And in such a short amount of time, even. I’m sure there’s something insightful to distill from this, concerning creativity or something, but I’m not all that interested.

See online

For all the would-be explorers with (perhaps romantic) ideas about island discoveries, this interactive map immerses you in the world of fictitious, phantom islands. I love that they created audio-tracks of ambiant noise to fit the places while you travel from the comfort of your own chair. It’s quite relaxing.

If you are into dog pictures and are in any way involved in making stuff online, Dog Api is the thing for you. Use it as a random (or deliberate) image generator in a project in the near future.

If you’re more of a story-telling person, this myth generator may be more up your alley. Be the next big thing since Homer. Greek or Simpsons, your choice.

See IRL

One hundred years later but the impact still clearly visible on the landscape. This article shows some of the faded battlefields WWI left us with. Beautiful scars and tragic reminders of the darkest humanity has to offer. Having visited some of the places listed, I find it amazing how nature can take over and return them to a peaceful state. Unfortunately, the metric tons of explosives or poisons sitting just below the surface make them equally terrifying.

Stephen Wright’s house is a place my sister would have instantly loved. Reading about how he essentially turned his house into the embodiment of his mind and creativity, gives me clear images of her. Her thoughts and emotions splashed on paper as well as stitched into clothing upcycled into works of art. It’s a place I would like to visit and hope to leave a bit of her work/self.

Watches

This is a recurring thing now. I have more watches. My latest acquisitions are 2 classic Russian watches, Vostoks. They are both Amphibias, although one is brand new and the other a vintage piece from somewhere between 1981 and 1991.

These things have the reputation of being extremely cheap but durable, which makes them perfect for me. I can tinker with them without worrying about breaking them because parts are easy and cheap to find (for these models anyway), they run at least as well as my Seiko’s and they seem to be virtually indestructible. I even love the fact that some parts look and feel cheap. The hands and crown especially seem like they were built from paper but they do the job just fine.

I’m currently waiting on some parts to finish cleaning/restoring the vintage one and doing some modifications to the newer watch, which will be awesome. They are also the perfect summer watches because they are light in weight as well as color (with the blue dials and chromed metal bezels). A+++, would recommend.

Reading

If you’re a Bond fan (this is issue 007, after all), Warren Ellis had an excellent run with a new comic series last year. His stories are ‘VARGR‘ and ‘Eidolon‘. Closer to the novels than to the movie incarnations.

I don’t remember what newsletter shared this first, but here’s a column about the problematic side of the meritocracy. It is US-centric but the critique of this new ‘aristocracy’ applies to all places in it’s zone of influence. And I can some links between this and the (lack of) ethics in the field of AI and other current tech-based developments/pushes/disruption.

If you base a society on a conception of self that is about achievement, not character, you will wind up with a society that is demoralized; that puts little emphasis on the sorts of moral systems that create harmony within people, harmony between people and harmony between people and their ultimate purpose

Maaike Hartjes’ Burn-out boek might already be translated into other languages but I’m currently reading the original (Dutch) version. It’s an illustrated diary (comics, really) of her coming to grips with the facts and emotions of having a burn-out and the long process of acceptance and climbing out of it. Lots of guilt and self-flagellation, thinking you’re not working hard enough and taking on various responsibilities. I haven’t yet made it to a full-on burn-out but I recognize a lot of it relating to my creative stop (still recovering from that) and my career so far. It’s not a secret that I was looking into a complete career change before I landed the curring gig. While I feel lucky to have this job — it’s a ton more satisfying when something goes well compared to some in the past — I’m still trying to find ways to get back into a creative routine and/or a side hustle to balance out the mountain of stress and emotional baggage I accumulated in the past year-and-a-half.

Here’s a thought, if I wasn’t a full-time webdeveloper, what do you think would suit me for a job? Or it could be a combination of things. I’ve thought of comic artist, watch making, pottery, carpenter, sculptor or silver smith amongst other things.

Visited

Speaking of work, I went to Utrecht (The Netherlands) for a conference a while back. It was just before summer, incredible weather without being too hot, days visibly becoming longer. Just the right time to make long walks and explore the city after the sessions. I can only compare it to a city like Ghent, with its student population and a mix of very old (streets & architecture) with modernization efforts (the train station looks like part of a UFO). But it’s a much bigger and greener place than I could’ve imagined.
My colleague and I wrote a blog post for work about the visit (in Dutch), if you are interested. It’s mostly about the sessions though.

Writing

I think I would like to write more. Interactive stories maybe? There’s a cool bit of software called ‘Twine’ you can use to make ‘choose your own adventure’ type stories. Combined with audio and visual elements, you essentially have a very cool adventure game. And it’s HTML-based, so perfect for the web.

This newsletter is the only consistent bit of writing I do and I can only do it when I set aside a chunk of time, eg. when I have at least a week of vacation time. So best not to expect too much at once I reckon.

I think that’s enough from me for today. How are you doing this summer? Do you have a garden or other quiet place to recharge every once in a while? I’d be interested to hear about it.
See you next time! A bit before the end of the year I hope 😀

Tiny Tea Dispatch #007

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Published:

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~~ See IRL ~~

~~ Watches ~~

~~ Reading ~~

~~ Visited ~~

~~ Writing ~~

~~ Links ~~

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