the foghorn // zansho (残暑)
Minolta X-570, Provia 100f
残暑 - late summer heat, lingering heat (after 立秋 (risshū), approximately August 8th)
It's hot out here.
Job interviews make me feel like I'm in school again, filling out technical assignments and prepping answers for questions I'll never get asked. Is it worth it? Yes. Is it a whimsical process of hoop-jumping training in competition with professional hoop-jumpers? Also yes. What this hoop-jumpery does do, however, is remind me to keep an interest in my field beyond just my workplace, and to maintain a body of work that speaks for itself. Actively doing the things I want to get paid to do makes it a lot easier for someone to pay me to do it. It's only obvious to me retrospectively.
The season of change gains momentum, and opportunities gained and lost hang in the air while the Texas heat shifts to slightly less Texas heat. Make the most of it, you don't get those mornings back.
With that said, I spent an afternoon this weekend building speakers out of high compression strength foam panels and audio transducers:
A type of Distributed Mode Loudspeaker, these polystyrene panels have attached to them each one 40 watt transducer, offset to produce a more even frequency response.
They may not be audiophile-grade "good" speakers but they are easy on the ear, and when you think of them less like a pixel-perfect tool and more so instruments with characteristics and tonal colors of their own, I think they can be quite a bit more interesting at the very least.
They were also like $40 I mean come on.
links:
Botere of almand melk (14th century)
reading: For a better understanding of why the world around you was perhaps built the way it was, I give my glowing recommendation to Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
Articles and other nonsense: * https://reallifemag.com/reconnected/ * https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210812-adda-the-secret-to-bengali-conviviality * https://milan.cvitkovic.net/writing/things_youre_allowed_to_do/ * https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/
waiting for the next cold front