June 22, 2020

I have finally finished typing up a story, Post Divergence. I had finished writing it a few weeks ago now. But typing it up took a few more weeks. My intention is to put it on the Kindle Marketplace. But it is still far from ready. I printed out a copy to edit by hand and then a copy of the first draft for posterity. 

Writing this story became a chore towards the end, which is unfortunate. It started out as fun. I was whimsical at first. I had a loose idea of what I wanted to happen, which is good for creativity. It wasn't until I was over halfway done that I had an outline. The problem with writing this story in this way is that there are a lot of plotholes and incongruities between the beginning of the story and the end of the story. So much of it changed as I went along. And now there's a lot I have to fix. But the important part is that I finished something.

I did it. I wrote a story. It's not quite a full novel. It's sitting at 27,000 words. But it exists. And it's important to me that it exists, even if it isn't polished.

If there is one thing that I can take away from writing this story it is this:

If I'm going to work on a creative project, I should pick a project that I love because creative projects require my undivided attention, and my heart-soul-and-brain. It is crucial that I do not rush.

(I certainly rushed during this project...) 

We can also substitute the word love for care. Care is more relevant than love. Love strikes me as insufficient; it's tainted by its association with mere-infatuation. But care is deeper than love. Care implies that the relationship is meaningful, that the relationship itself is important, that the object of care is not merely a means to an end but rather an end in itself.

If I would have cared more for this story, Post Divergence, I would have spent more time with the characters. I would have listened better. But I was too wrapped up in finishing the story so that I could move on, which meant I cut corners. I should have been more patient. And I wish I could have enjoyed the process of writing.

Deadlines and goals are fine, if not necessary. But I was treating an imaginary deadline as if it were a finish line. A deadline is not a finish line; do not race towards it. A deadline is more like a frame; fit as much as you need and can.

"Frame"

That's another important idea. It came up during psych-therapy a few months ago. My therapist said that it was important that we limit our sessions to a certain time. She didn't explain exactly why, but it's something that I have thought a lot about.

A time frame forces us to prioritize, to sort, to first bring forth what is most pressing. Suppose that your house in on fire and you have two minutes to escape with what you can. What do you grab? —what you care about most.

My life is short and fleeting. And my time to write is even shorter. If I am going to spend my time writing, I should write about what I care about most.

Now how do I figure out what I care about most?

[...]

I want to be a published writer. Or, at least I think I do. 

I know that I would like to say, "Yes I am very smart and a good writer. And I can prove this to you because my work was published in Asimov's."

I worry that my desire to publish is ego driven. The problem I see with being ego driven is that that would mean that I didn't really care for my work; I was merely writing to be published which would make me feel better about my insecurities. Another problem with doing a project motivated by ego is that it is shallow. I don't want to write something shallow. I want to put my whole self into it. I don't want to merely craft something that will pass.

But the problem is that the more you put yourself into your work, the more rejection hurts. Maybe that is part of my reluctance to work on something that could be published. 

Why do I have a desire to be published? —Maybe I don't need to answer that question. Maybe it's sufficient to have the desire and approach it in the right way. 

[...]

I took a class to get my motorcycle endorsement on my license last Friday. I'm part of the way there. I only have my permit. I need to retest for my full endorsement.

I keep thinking about something that the instructor said: 

"Ride your own ride." 

He said this on a few occasions, namely when someone would ask a really specific or overly general question that didn't have an obvious answer.

Me: A friend told me that when I'm on the freeway I should go somewhat faster than the flow of traffic. Is that right?

In John Oliver's voice: Ride your own ride.

The instructor was English, so I kept pretending his voice was John Oliver's. It helped pass the time during classroom sessions.

But there's a lesson in this. The rider/writer has to assess their circumstances. Platitudes and "expert advice" won't make you a good rider/writer. Every situation is different. You must respond accordingly. But by all means, practice turning, swerving, speeding up, and braking. And keep a buffer between yourself and the other cars. But the real lessons are learned en route. 

I guess another way you can put it is this: Write your own story.

June 16, 2020

Yesterday I found a lawn mower 

by some trash bins in an alley

with a tender green vine 

wrapped around the pull-cord.

New spark plugs

And a clean carb

Were enough to get her going.

She smoked heavily at first, 

but she quit.

Then today in an Beacon Hill alley

There was a chicken

That had escaped from its coop.

I gently picked her up

And lifted her over the fence. 

She gave me a gentle cluck.

She was a nice girl.

A young hipster couple watched.

I like to think they were

Tripping on something pleasant.

I'll drink beer with Dan now.

I have a bottle.

Barley wine—

barely beer,

hardly wine.

June 15, 2020

It's just after 10am, and I have just finished eating a gold nugget sumo orange. Now I'm going to open up a Reign sugar free Razzle Berry energy drink while I quietly think to myself about why the ridiculously expensive oranges are so much better than the normal priced ones.

This morning it took me 1.5 hours to write about 660 words. Actually, I wasn't even writing I was editing and transcribing at the same time, which I would rather just transcribe, but my mind won't just let me be. That is waaay too long. But my gods, I don't know how to make this go any quicker.

I am just now flashing back to yesterday when I was writing about being stuck in a low gear. I'm there again, stuck in low gear. That means I can sit here and write this blog, right off the cuff; I can devour simple books; I can write and read reddit/news articles. But I can't do a steady, high-speed, high-gear, transcription for a long period of time like I wish I could.

Okay, fuck it. We're going back in. Siri, set a timer for one hour. 

Alright. 550 words. That is not enough. The caffeine is putting me on an uncomfortable edge. And I had too many distractions. I sent multiple texts and Instagram messages. Well, damn. It's lunch time now.

[...]

I think I am having trouble respecting my writing, namely the story that I'm working on right now called Post Divergence. I started it on a whim because that's the only way I knew how to start. And it came together well enough; it's a proper story. But I wish I had planned better for it. It's going to require massive amounts of editing because of how the plot evolved. Crafting a story really takes a lot of love and care. 

I might be running low on love and care for this story right now. I regret that I just want to get it over with. Maybe that just means that I need to let it sit for a while. I was really pushing myself to finish it by the end of August because without a deadline projects can continue indefinitely, and it's better to have completed something in a half-cared-for manner than it would be to let it sit unfinished.

The voice says: Chip away as much as you rightly can, and do it regularly. Savor the entire elephant one bite at a time. 

June 14, 2020

It's Sunday, and I'm in bed. Today was largely uneventful. I ate fried chicken gizzards from a gas station on Beacon and 15th; they were the best and only chicken gizzards I have eaten in the US. I also bought two motorcycle magazines and a copy of Hi Fructose. It came out to $40; it turns out magazines are shockingly expensive. 

On the other hand, last Friday was eventful. I spent a few hours on hold and then two more hours with an agent from the Washington Employment Security Department. The agent that helped me was a guardian angel in a bureaucratic doom labyrinth. Then I went to Fort Lewis with Caitlin to help her sister move. And now I'm going to be honest because this is my journal, and if you're reading my journal, you're going to get my personal thoughts. Her sister and her brother in law are the worst family whose home I have entered—or at least that I have been able to consciously realize....

It's kind of hard to quickly describe how a relationship can be toxic like that. There was never sincere communication, only yelling and sarcasm. But I could see that the married couple really hated each other. They were open about. It's those kinds of relationships where I think, why bother? I told Caitlin that if we're ever that miserable together, I'm going to divorce the shit out of her as quickly as I can. The level of suffering that I witnessed was not worth the price of half of all my future earnings.

Also being back on a military base brought back memories. Even going to the AAFES shoppette was a throwback. I don't know if I was projecting old feeling, but my god, there were so many dead, soulless faces. In addition to that Caitlin's brother in law hired a mover who was an absolutely classic army burnout—combat arms, pushing 30, never made it past E4, who was a raging alcoholic pounding back several Steel Reserves instead of helping us load the largest moving truck you can rent without needing a CDL. That time really brought back some memories.

I have this theory: If you're doing really poorly at the army, then you're probably not a good person; if you're doing really well in the army, you are also probably not a good person. This is a rule with exceptions. There are professionals 

But I'm speaking from the perspective of an enlisted soldier. The officer corps is bourgeois as fuck, as far as I am concerned. Not that I have that much to complain about; I had an office job. 

Anyway...

Somehow Saturday and Sunday have escaped me, Sunday especially, and I want to write here to figure out why. I felt stuck in a certain mindset—as if locked in first gear. I was uneasy. I felt as if there were something I was avoiding, but that I was able to reasonably hide that something. 

I'm not sure if I was ignoring something inside of me. I didn't have peace of mind, but I kept myself busy with reasonable things. I spent more time on youtube than I meant to, but I also read non-fiction, and learned a few things about people who tour across countries on adventure bikes. My motorcycle obsession is frustrating me, especially because I know that if I over do it, then I will only be disappointed when I finally do own a bike, but I can't stop thinking about the topic because it's a really nice break from the scifi story that I'm trying to finish transcribing to my computer and edit; and it's easier to watch motorcycle reviews on the internet rather than read Plato.

The feeling itself was like I was overheating. Stuck in a low gear: good for getting started and climbing hills but bad for covering long distances on the freeway. —There's a metaphor in here. 

Actually, now that I think about it, it reminds me of the last therapy session I had where I melted down into anger. I distinctly remember seeing a hot flaming sun with arching solar flares in my mind's eye. Today, that sun has still made its presence, but it's like I'm standing in the shade, but it's not shade because it's actually a really hot metal box. The sun is somehow obscured but remains hot—that is the phrase that comes to mind. 

Maybe if I'm stuck in a low-gear, then I just need to do low-gear things. Then when I'm stuck in high gear I'll do those things. We'll see if the metaphor sticks. And then the next challenge is to be able to appropriately determine which gear I am at anytime... hey and someday I'll learn to change gears and then be able to focus on the right things in the right way. 

[...]

Today and Yesterday I spent about 20-30 minutes listening to Joe Rogan interview Duncan Trussell. It was interesting. But the entire time I kept thinking about something I read a few days ago when I briefly picked up Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy in the chapter on Schopenhauer. I forget if it was the historian/author talking or if it was the philosopher; more than likely it was the latter. It very loosely goes something like this:

Be careful when you read. If you only read, you will never have thoughts of your own. And if you must read, then read from the masters themselves. Do not begin with a commentary on Plato. Begin with Plato.

And when I thought of that reading, I stopped enjoying listening to Joe Rogan's podcast. To put it accurately, albeit overdramatically, I felt violated. I think this is because I used to have a bad tendency where I would identify with whatever speaker I was listening to and agreed with; I would have a hard time differentiating myself because it was a reliable method of escape. It was nice feeling like I was glib and educated. But the fantasy would die when I would try to explain things myself.

Anyway, in a sense, the podcasters were inside of me. And like, that's fine. But today, giving them my time felt too intimate. I don't really like those guys anymore, even if I do find them interesting. I know I'm using sexuality as a metaphor here; I would rather find another metaphor, but it's pushing midnight, and I'm going to wake up in less than seven hours.

So, I panicked and slammed my computer shut and came here to write—because Duncan Trussell was in my mind-brain making himself a little too cozy.

June 11, 2020

I'm just here to rant today.

I've been without work for a while now. Months. Unemployment hasn't come through. I have spent a few hours this week waiting on the line with the unemployment office. I've called literally hundreds of times. It was a miracle I got through. But my case is fucked. And I need to reach a higher tier of support, but I keep getting disconnected because the queue is full, or maybe they're hanging up on me for one reason or another. I actually broke down and cried today after my third time getting through the call disconnected because of a mysteriously bad signal.

It's hard just sitting here knowing I'm running out of money. I won't be homeless. I have a plan for that. But I'm stuck. And my future is uncertain. And when my future is uncertain, I start regretting all my past choices. 

Given all that is going on, I don't feel like my pain is worth mentioning to anyone. They say I have a lot going for me. But it doesn't feel that way, not right now. I might just be a broken prototype. You know. One of nature's useless iterations cast aside. Because that's what she does, you know: she makes us at random. Deep down inside, I know that there is more to life, the world, and nature. But right now this is all I can see and feel. And so I guess I have to feel and see that right now. 

I have about $200 of cash tips from when I was a barista. I'm going to dig into that fund for a pack of cigarettes. And I think I'm going to just sit on the porch and smoke and hurt today. 

[...]

HR Giger came in the mail today.

June 10, 2020: Money is the Congealed Shadow of Value

A year ago, like almost exactly a year ago, when I was earning good money working for AWS, I called my uncle, and I told him that I did not know what to spend my money on. He said something like, "save some money, but make sure to buy the things that you want. You don't have to save every penny. Live a little." He assumed that I was saving my money—which I was most certainly not. I was recklessly over-"living".

I'm not entirely sure how to diagnose the root of my problem at the time. I knew I was spending too much and living beyond my means. But I was in a Catch-22: If I had been wiser, I would not have spent so much; however, if I had been wiser, I probably would not have accepted that job in the first place. My motivation for working was inseparable from my spending habits. When I saw that my decadent spending habits (eating out, drinking out, and buying expensive clothes on a whim) weren't making me happy, my reason and motivation dried up. This was a visceral transformation beyond my rational, conscious control. 

During the first few months of unemployment after I was "quit-fired", I became a will-less wet noodle. I told myself that I was going to become a writer and give up my love of worldly possessions; I was going to live a life of the mind. And that's kind of where I am right now, but I feel like I am growing beyond being just a hermit or just a careless spender.

But I remember those times of careless spending fondly, even though they all blur together. It would go something like this—

It was as if I would see an item—for example a $200 pair of techwear pants—I would lust. I would be overcome by desire. I wanted the thing. And when I would spend the money, I would feel release. To be frank here, making a purchase was a lot like jerking off or hooking up with someone at a bar: you feel disgusting afterwards, but what else is there to do if you are incapable of seeing better alternatives?

Picture me, an idiot, doing this: 

A store display catches my eye, or picture on Instagram makes be pause and hit that tiny little heart button just below the picture. We flirt for a while: I circle around the mannequin, or maybe I start looking up product reviews on reddit. 

Then comes the buildup. —I try her on. Then my beloved goes into the basket. We're not quite together, but we're holding hands. I caress her, feeling the texture of her skin fabric;—during those first moments when we meet her touch is sublime. Many of my clearest and most vivid dreams happen during this short period; I can see all of the lovely times that we're going to have together—showers of compliments, instances of radiance. I will be the sun, but she will be the light.

It is during these times that I use my credit card rather than my debit card: It puts to rest my fear of even a momentary dysfunction brought on by a lack of libido funds.

Then, consummation.

I insert my credit card. ...Or—less euphemistically—Google Chrome autofills what it can, and I'm left digging through my wallet to read off my card's CVV—the one I haven't memorized (yet).

Then, I am free—perfected, desireless, yet gestating expecting the arrival of something good in 2-14 business days.

But it is done. The hookup is over. The giddiness fades. And if I am capable of financial accounting or a modest self-reflection, then I am disgusted with myself, yet not so disgusted that I am going to make a return, because to make a return would be to admit that I was wrong, and I was not wrong; I'm an adult and I gave my consent, so if I gave my consent, then how can I have any regrets? 

It is not that there's anything wrong with my brand of financial wontoness. Rather, during that phase in my life I hoped for something more, something steady. And it took a lot of time, pain, and debt to realize that.

Digression: Okay, all that being said, there are some articles of clothing that I truly love despite their apparent extravagance. I love my (Iron Heart type-3 overdyed 14oz denim) jean jacket. I spent a butt-load on it, and I would never take three times that money in return. I'm going to wear that thing until it fucking DIES. Sometimes something good can come out of the mess of mindless erotic-shopping, but it is necessary to be at least passively looking for things with future value—i.e. dollar per wear.

Today, I am no longer a totally-spent, will-less, wet-noodle. I am only totally-spent. What has changed is that rather than merely lusting, my desire and attention is focused. And that's where a motorcycle comes in. I want a motorcycle. And I want to pay for it in cash. I don't want to go around spending my money on just whatever catches my fancy just like I don't want to go around hooking up with whomestever. I'm on the lookout for something of more substantial, less-fleeting, and longer-term value.

Money is merely the congealed shadow of value. And a motorcycle is merely the congealed form some other higher thing—a union of engineering, beauty, and the human desire to push beyond our physical capacities, etc., idfk.

But what I do know is that I can vividly see (read: dream of) something worth saving myself my money for. And that's kind of nice. Because for a second there I was worried that I was going to be totally content with a humble collection of dense paperbacks and a cardboard box for a home.

One desire's consummation is the birth of yet another desire. Desire (itself) is never satiated. —And that's okay; there's an art to it.

June 8, 2020: The Zen Rider's Alchemist

Something is going on.

I was told to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in 2013 by my NCOIC (my firstline manager in the army). I put it off until about last week—over seven years. And it turns out that book is actually excellent. That book really and truly blew my mind with its sophisticated take on the split between the rational and romantic. I had originally figured it was going to be wishy-washy self-help bullshit about living in the moment. —It's not. I thought I was too smart for the book, but the truth was, I didn't know enough about Platonic and Aristotelian thought to appreciate the book. It's a top tier book written by a former professor with legit academic credentials. 5/5.

Then, almost one year later in 2014, I was told to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho by my girlfriend at the time. I did not read it. I read an online summary. And I thought that I got it. I thought I already knew "the message". Plus, at the time I was reading CG Jung's take on "real" alchemy; I didn't want to read a best-selling hack. Also, this was during a strange time in my life where I thought that I was about to crack the secrets of the universe: it had something to do with reality being constructed of tensions of opposites which I was learning to "control", but what I had in fact discovered was that my ability to perceive-and-describe things was based on pairs of opposites—that human experience is largely based on a dialectic of sorts. 

Anyway. In fact, I did not get it. I did not understand The Alchemist (nor the secrets of life). (The book had nothing to do pairs of opposites.) But I set it aside because I figured a top-seller like that is probably full of useless platitudes that tickle ears. The book slipped to the back of mind while I read more "important" things. 

Today, a friend asked me if I had read The Alchemist. I said that I would read it soon. Then within the hour, I received a text saying that the Kindle that I had ordered was at my door—an omen. And so I am reading the book now, six years later. And the first thing that I am struck with is the simplicity of the book. In previously having read the first few pages, I had originally mistaken its simplicity for naivete, foolishness, vulgarity, and a lack of sophistication. But that is far from the case. The book's simplicity is one of its virtues—a sign of graceful simplicity. Moreover, it contains wisdom that I was not ready to hear six years ago.

Sometimes the most valuable and important things are impossible to notice because of their apparent commonness and simplicity. The wisdom of The Alchemist is like this. I am not finished with the book but this stuck out so much to me that I had to write it down:

"You must always know what it is that you want."

There it is. I feel it is profound—more profound, meaningful than many philosophy and political theory lectures I attended.

Coelho says that our true desires are the universe's same desires, and the universe will conspire to help us achieve those desires.

Now before I talk about how the universe is fucking with me by giving me what I want I should first ask which desires are our true desires? I think our true desires come from our true self. I found a good answer to what our true self is in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Robert Pirsig, the author, says that a bike is a reflection of its owner—particularly when the owner takes care of maintenance. If the owner lacks patience, that lack of care is reflected in the bike. The subtleties of this relationship are most obvious to motorcycle riders and, if he is both attentive and reflective, to the owner himself. 

I'll give another example. Right now I am wearing raw denim jeans. First, this makes me a conceited asshole, which I feel the need to acknowledge. But. Second, these jeans are a reflection of who I really am. Raw denim fades according to how they're worn. And these pants are fading most quickly around my ass because that's what I do in pants. —I sit. When I noticed this, I was disappointed because I like to think of myself as being active and doing a variety of activities. But these jeans can't lie. That is the difference between my real self and my ego/ideal-self.

I have gotten what I have wanted and asked for. It's true. It's just that things never quite turned out how I expected. When I graduated from college, I wanted to live in Seattle, and I did that.  When I lived in Seattle, I wanted a "well-respected job that pays well," and I got that, but I was miserable, and I was spit out.

So what do I really want? Well, if I look around, apparently I wanted La Croix, because there's a lot of empty La Croix cans sitting around me. But I have time, books, and a girlfriend. And next month, if things go according to plan, I will have solitude, because I will be camping in the desert for a month or so. Then I will start grad school a few months after that. So I guess that is what God or The Universe or The Great Magnet or my True Self has given me. But it still doesn't seem to be quite right. Things feel too unstable and this flux is too chaotic.

Here are some thoughts about what I want (in no particular order).

• Wisdom: to guard, grow, and nourish my soul.
• A Motorcycle: To enjoy the ride-and-journey to new and old places—to enjoy something for its own sake.
• Health: to be able to participate in life
• To Write as a Craft: to bring value to the world and to develop my own soul.
• Friends: with whom to share good and bad times.
• A Family: to love and cherish; to grow with. 
• Wealth: enough to support my self/family, my passions and live a healthy life—and to donate the excess to charity.
• The ability to find soul-satisfying meaning during the daily grind—some days in happiness, other days in pain.

That's a start. But only a start. I get the feeling that we don't get to choose our desires. We discover them and work with what we have. The above list is only a shadow what I have discovered so far. When it comes to this type of knowledge, what we know is written on our hearts.