Cow

I dunno today. Watched this bug crawl into a cement crack infested with ants. It seemed to falter for a while, but a bit later it struggled out of the crack and wandered off to blades of grass.

If I'd shrunk into such a crack, I'd itch, but I saw ants pausing to nip at this critter. It may have itched; it may have died. The clock dictated I go back in to hit buttons on my phone, or wait, maybe I was already cheating.

Whatever. Watch the Last Temptation of Christ and wonder about ants. And Willem Dafoe.

And, for that record, I hit delete about 100 times recently. You decide. I can still probably type better than most.

Creativity and rebellion

Found this interesting quote today.

Economists and historians alike realize that there is a deep difference between homo economicus and homo creativus. One makes the most of what nature permits him to have. The other rebels against nature's dictates. Technological creativity, like all creativity, is an act of rebellion. (Joel Mokyr)

Made me think of Rollo May and something about daemons, something I barely skimmed back in college at some point, I think.

Rollo May introduces and defines the classic Greek conception of the "daimonic" or darker side of our being, noting that "the daimonic (unlike the demonic, which is merely destructive) is as much concerned with creativity as with negative reactions. ... constructiveness and destructiveness have the same source in human personality. The source is simply human potential."

from interview with Stephen A. Diamond, PhD: The Psychology of Creativity

I was originally skimming whatever it was I skimmed because the thought was intriguing. Creativity sure can feel like possession, and surely that's some sort of rebellion. Waking up with dissolving words in mind, poetry (but without the bother of verse, rhythm, rhyme, reason) spontaneous watching bark flap on a birch or some other peeling tree.* Think briefly I could be a birdwatcher as I watch a bird on the power line, half-spreading wings, twittering on about isobars or whatever birds feel they must incessantly chat about (the ones that come sit all too near my sleeping head every morning, making me think a bow and arrow might be better than binoculars).

Now, the new zen of banjo, from page one (or at least a rather early page) in my first banjo book, a quote from Lao Tzu. Never mind Taoism versus Zen Buddhism, for I've turned a page. It's absolutely the wrong book to have first, but definitely the right one for me.

Currently I sit in awe of other fingers. Don't think I can coax mine into moving bluegrass fast, but I've at least spent some time on it today. Just listening now. Earl Scruggs.

* They just make me think of the Codeine album cover for The White Birch.

Spent

We've just spent over a thousand dollars. On a banjo, an F-style mandolin, some cable, some picks, a pick-up, some brushes.

So I owe the guy on the couch, since he was the one with cash money, so to speak. And at this count, we have over a dozen instruments in the house. Musicians, we are. Really.

Oh and I reeked of alcohol, I'm told. Bravo.

This mess

It occurred to me on a recent yesterday that I meant to comment to myself on this choice of template thingie. Quite simple. It reminds me of shoes and phones.

Wow, my phone just rang.

Then stopped. No kidding, real time typing, here.

Anyway, the star. Look at the 6-8 pairs of Chucks. Then 897. The prefix where I lived for about 18 formative years.

That's all there is to it. Maybe I'll make it less of a mess some day, but not very likely.

Fools

The Internet really makes something new of April Fool's Day. I look forward to it every year now, more than Christmas. In the past, you might get the chance to trick a couple of friends, play some kind of prank. Look now though. The 'net brings to life a web of elaborate creativity.

Opera came up with some fascinating new peer to peer technology. The demo was to ask someone in your vicinity what day it was. Google struck gold with a beverage line and the Infinity+1 scheme, which is apparently only half-joke, as they're gradually increasing mailbox size from 1000MB to 2000MB today. I'm glad I happened across this handy link to a list of April Fool's Day Funnery.

Or whatever. Some folks hate it. I love laughing at attempts to trick me. Got to be savvy.

*Opera's went away.