This week’s written snapshots.
Angry aardvarks advertantly abducted an airship at Akita Airport absurdly assuming acerbic albatrosses abducted an adolescent aye aye.
Many years ago, a BoardGameGeek user in Australia asked me to receive several shipments before his arrival in Vegas to attend a friend’s steampunk themed wedding.
When he came to pick up the games, his wife gave me this pink handmade pillow with chibi Star Wars characters for my newborn daughter.
Last year, I joined Post.news. The open and accepting crowd inspired me to start drawing again after years of fearful, constipated dormancy.
I started a series of hand sketches forming the ASL manual alphabet.
After a few letters I started adding alliterative sentences.
A month into this exercise, I was forced back into the office.
Reinserting a commute into my routine was so disruptive that I dropped the project before completing it.
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A couple weeks ago I also joined Substack Notes. One of the first folks I met was Charlene Storey, who started a weekly ritual to share pictures of “everyday magic”.
Given my interest in the mundane objects that surround us (I earned my 2003 NaNoWriMo by writing about the stuff in my tiny garage apartment), it’s a perfect way to jump into the new stream.
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I should finish the alphabet series, but I also like this new weekly thing and I don’t want to wait half a year before archiving these memories.
So for the next 26 weeks, I’ll be doing a series of unplanned diptychs. Let’s see how it goes.
06 May 2023
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OPM.39 (notes on) Dream Big, Greg MacGillivray, 2017
This movie is a modern industry propaganda film with the all-American narration of Jeff Bridges, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
It highlights the altruistic sides of the engineering profession — building a bridge in rural Haiti, earthquake analysis in Nepal, and teaching robotics to disadvantaged children. It didn’t convince my daughter to enter the industry, but I enjoyed the heartwarming reminder of why I got into this business.
We joined this profession for a good job, but we didn’t just stay for a tidy nest egg. We change physical reality — we walk over, under, and into our projects. Other professions can’t provide such tangible results.
Taken one step further, this is why I joined the government. There’s great psychic value in knowing that my projects will directly benefit the public. All real estate development involves spreadsheets, but my numbers come directly from the people to serve the people.
It’s an awesome responsibility to be employed by my fellow citizens to spend their tax dollars. And it’s damn satisfying to hand them a properly constructed building, on budget and on time.
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Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal passed away at 92 in mid-April. Ted Gioia celebrated his work with a great essay.
I’m slowly borrowing Jamal’s albums on Hoopla, one week at a time (I’m currently enjoying Volume IV which has a great cover). Each of album so far has had a moment that sent tingles down my spine — 3 for 3 is a great hit rate!
Of the three so far, my favorite is The Awakening, which was sampled by many hip hop artists (as outlined in this blog post and video). It’s easily a classic alongside Waltz for Debby and Brilliant Corners.
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Thanks for reading!
Justus Pang, RA
05 May 2023
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She calmly called out names as he squealed and jumped whenever he caught a pair.
Cat!
Moon!
Gingerbread Man!
He’ll play Spot It!
But only as a team with his sister.
So I flounder, one man chasing four sharp eyes.
When she was small, I’d slow down,
Looking for two pairs while she only needed one.
Even then, those were easy wins.
Now, I can’t keep up.
They double me up.
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I didn’t have preconceptions about parenting.
Except boardgaming.
Start ’em young and they’ll love it.
Nope.
They enjoy the occasional play, but that’s it.
Two bookshelves of games hibernate in the garage.
Maybe as teenagers?
One can hope!
But it’s not for me to determine.
04 May 2023
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What Percent Are You?
I was curious about my lot in life,
Of course the Wall Street Journal had an answer.
I started with my current wage.
Top 6%. Nice!
Added demographic information.
“Male, Asian, Gen X, with an Advanced Degree”
Down to 44%!
Barely above the median!
Last year, I joined a Slack channel with Berkeley alums.
It was obvious that I was the lowest earning member.
What to make of it?
Well, I’m damn lucky.
Even as the underachiever among my peers, I’m doing better than fine.
A sign that I was born halfway between third base and home plate.
When I compare myself against the guys on Slack,
I remind myself of the people building my projects,
Trading their bodies for an hourly wage.
I was there too, moving dirt in the Oakland hills,
But just a short-timer before grabbing a desk job.
I’m blessed with a good career, with meaningful work that I enjoy.
A gig that leaves time to hang out with the kids.
Earning enough, we don’t worry about money.
Why am I comparing myself against others?
#Enough is #Winning, everything else is #Vanity.
#Gratitude
03 May 2023
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He jumps on his chair, raises his arms, looks down at us, and hollers “I am taller than all of you!”
Staying at the in-laws,
Digging into the closet,
She finds momma’s old shoes.
Shiny taupe flats with half inch heels,
Clomp, clomp, clomp!
Marching on the tile.
Her feet are still small,
But the ankles fill the throats;
Last year’s gap is gone.
䷑䷝
cross great water
before three days
after three days
twin flames
02 May 2023
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Summer, Joe Hisashi, 1999
In January 2020, the Vegas arts scene was struck with an early tragedy when Alexander Huerta suddenly passed away.
Given our fears of the incoming pandemic, I skipped his wake, though I left some offerings outside his studio before the world shut down.
I met Alex in his studio during a First Friday art walk soon after moving to Vegas ten years ago. He was working on a series of collages with old black and white magazine images on a black scratchboard background.
As an architect, I was struck with the sparseness of the series with its urban perspectives. I lent him an exhibition monograph of black and white collages by Romare Bearden.
Over the years, I’d drop of old architectural sets at his studio. I was excited to see his work exhibited at the library — some of my drawings had been incorporated into his collages! We enjoyed the occasional chat, though given the arrivals of a baby and her brother, it was not nearly as regular as it should have been.
He used to valet cars at a casino, but taught himself painting, rescuing himself from alcoholism with the brush.
I had hoped to introduce him to my kids when they were old enough to understand what it meant to say, “Here’s a real artist!”
February 2020 was a long month, processing the loss and watching the pandemic inexorably work its way towards our shores.
During that time, I listened to this song on repeat. I was lucky to find something that meshed perfectly with my emotional turmoil.
In America, Joe Hisaishi is known for his collaborations with Studio Ghibli, but this song isn’t from one of those films. Maybe that’s why it touched my soul. I could imprint this music with my own memories.
Even though those personal and global tragedies came in winter, I always think of this song when it gets hot. The air conditioning kicked on for the first time yesterday.
Welcome to “Summer”.
I never reclaimed that book, I should buy a replacement.
01 May 2023
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Thanks for reading!
Justus