Awe - capella

Some a capella best ev's:

(but first, do your 'reading')

1) Poker Face

"Poker Face" Lady Gaga music video

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A Capella!

- UCB Noteworthy -





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2) Umbrella

"Umbrella" Rihanna ( ft. Jay-Z ) music video

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A Capella!

- Duke's Men of Yale -




(with choreography)






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3) Annie Waits

"Annie Waits" Ben Folds music video

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A Capella!

- A-Men -

diff'rent strokes?

"What's this?" he asked, picking up my jar of coconut oil.

"Coconut oil!" was my obvious and enthusiastic reply.

"Oh!" he said. And then, "Where I'm from, people use this to put in their hair."

"Oh." I said. "I like to eat it."

He looked suddenly at me, at the coconut oil, back at me again, and laughed.
It was funny.

Lyrik: Food Art Drink

The Fine Grind on 39th has recently become LYRIK. I was attracted by the stylishly drawn words and image of a small floating monster. Also, I needed to get out of the house and go somewhere else to work. I'd never been to the place while it was still the Fine Grind, so I can't compare, but I was pleased with what I found on my adventure today!


There's a great assortment of weird and art on the inside, complete with lots of counter/table space and windows a-plenty so that even the gray daylight of January Portland provided pleasant natural lighting. Lots of little notices and cards for the taking to alert people to art shows and craft nights.




baked goods: fresh ones for $2, day-olds for $1. This large walnut/cranberry scone gave me something to munch on for a good while.




hot chocolate:



I test hot chocolate everywhere I get a chance, and I was sad that my hot chocolate here tasted very much like chocolate syrup. If you like chocolate syrup, then this is great news. However, I am somewhat particular about what makes good hot chocolate good, and syrup is not on the list.

Good news though - I have been becoming more agreeable to the taste of coffee. So maybe next time I'll have to try a mocha nutmeg whatever whatever.






bagel sandwich:

Oh, this was great. The breakfast sandwich menu is both extensive and easily adaptable. I got a toasted everything bagel with cheddar cheese lathered on and a beautiful fried egg right in the middle, plus the extra tomato slice I asked for. Warm toasty cheesy egg bagel goodness, with tomato. Yes, it was a pretty standard breakfast bagel sandwich, but it was a very solidly well-done standard breakfast bagel sandwich!



I know what I'm getting next time I'm there for lunch. There's a sandwich with my name on it!





I've never really done the coffee shop thing, but with it's endearingly border-insane artsy-ness, Lyrik is such a Portland coffeeshop. I will miss places like this whenever I get around to going elsewhere.



I have decided that the city of Portland is not unlike a small, cuddly monster, as far as city personalities go.

rar fox

Here are my notes (collaborative) from one of the Languages and Compiler Design lectures.

The notes start at the top left and proceed clockwise around to the bottom right.



If I did more of this kind of thing, I would want to create a short video that showed their sketched progression.

regenerate

.....


And with the winter came snow, rains, darkness, and ice. But, the resourceful earth hid away her life deep within her, underground where the winter could not reach. And so, the life endured, awaiting again the touch of sunlight to emerge.

....



Today, I noticed the trees growing their soft spring fur coats.














Walking across the front lawn, I met an Olde CoOper from my former life. We caught up with each other a bit and savored the old memories over the music and new scent of spring wafting from the lovely flowers perched characteristically atop her guitar. We passed the guitar back and forth, singing of freight trains, wagon wheels, and the home we called home.





Eventually going our ways, I felt brighter - as though a piece of me gone dead or faded had been touched and re-enlivened, and I remembered. I am always forgetting important parts of myself. I feel fortunate to encounter reminders and have my important components touched 'back to life'.


You know those games, like capture-the-flag, where there is a jail? And once in jail you have to wait for a teammate to rescue you and tag you to resurrect you back to the game?

Have you seen the movie 9?
I won't spoil it for you, but I do like the character division and development.

see how you like it, human: Turing Test 2

The Turing Test is a test of artificial intelligence by which a computer and a human interact, with the computer 'trying' to seem like a human, and the human trying to determine whether he is interacting with a computer, or with a real fellow human being - an unforgiving game of 'Bot or Not?'

Fellow Reedies tell me that a fellow Reedie contributed to this stroke of sheer plot twist brilliance (..no I haven't gotten very far). Man versus machine just got a whole lot more 'meta'.

Try it!

Play Turing Test 2

Perhaps we will empathize with the machines after all.

play to lose

Have you ever played Apples to Apples?

It is a pretty fun game in which a different person takes turn being the 'judge' in each round. So, the way you play is largely dependent on the personal preferences of who is judging that round, which can be pretty arbitrary. It can sometimes be very hard to decide which cards to play.

I recall one game in which, not feeling like I had any good idea of how to win, began an experiment to intentionally lose. I began playing to lose. I played the cards that I thought were worst suited to the round being played. This strategy was a lot of fun, put absolutely no pressure on me, and had the interesting side-effect that I began to win.



I've been considering that this might not be a bad strategy to apply to other areas of my life. Depending on the context, it could even be advantageous. There are many many adventuresome, interesting, and creative ways to lose at something, many of which may have gone entirely unconsidered thus far.

Play to lose your heart, your mind, .. In the New Testament, Jesus tells people to play to lose their lives, saying that this is the only way to really gain something. I am not advocating anything destructive, but I guess I'm just trying to say that, maybe losing isn't as bad as it sounds. .. Has possessiveness ever gotten anyone anything good? Maybe it's not what you thought it would be anyway.

And then, it becomes a whole different game...

Oh yeah ... !

Math is hard.

But, (sometimes) I can do it!

39th vs Cesar E Chavez

La dee da, walking towards the bus stop to go to class one day, and...



.. What's this? I'd heard the talk in years past, but, are they really doing it?



Yes. It seems that after all the talk and little 'Save 39th' signs stuck in peoples' yards, 39th Avenue is actually being renamed! Unfortunately, I didn't have my good camera on me, and it wasn't very convenient to try to get a picture of both the Cesar E Chavez sign and the 39th sign. I think that '39th' is probably even too blurry to show up in these pictures... but it was a small historic moment, and I was there. I tried climbing onto the walk-signal buttons, but when they asked me to get off, I resorted instead to requesting that they tip the sign on their truck so that I could take a picture of with both signs at the same time.

They amiably complied, but pointed out that the two signs will remain side by side for a minimum of 5 years as part of the name-changing process.

So, why are we changing the name of 39th Avenue, which has developed its own very-39th Portland personality and is beloved by residents and small storefronts bearing those familiar numbers?

I have no idea.

I assume that it probably has something to do with honoring members of our society who are not white, but to me, it looks more like a bandwagon.

I feel that if a community is going to rename a road in honor of some distinguished member of society, ... then that should be done gladly and willfully by those people. I have noted a marked lack of gladness and willfulness about this road name change. My first thought is that this seems counterproductive for the purpose of honoring the individual for which the road is being renamed, and my second thought is, .. Really, Portland? I know it's cool to think that Cesar E Chavez was a neat dude, and probably in the distant future, the road will be as uncontroversial as MLK Blvd, but I suspect that Portland is not really honoring him, but rather earning PC points.

In that case, if we had to rename a road to show our enthusiasm for diversity, I would've much rather chosen one of Portland's own. There are plenty of non-white people who helped build the city that is Portland today. I would have liked to honor one of them, ... but not by changing 39th.


Since my own opinion lacks information,
Here are some relevant articles:

Last Summer.

A Year Ago.

Two Years Ago (it could have been a different road!)

good to know

I'm tired. It's late. again. My small world is an island of illuminated table-top that recedes off into the fuzzy dark of time and space beyond.

I compulsively drink water out of a large library mug and use a certain set of songs to influence my consciousness and associated abilities. There is too much to do on all sides, and I am not doing it quickly or efficiently enough. There is a lot of future out there that I am unprepared for. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know if I will be proud of my work, or if I will have the resources to do work that I will be proud of. I cannot consume this avalanche of information, experience, and opportunity quickly enough.

But, although it sometimes seems like a treadmill, I am going somewhere.
And, in this margin between days, pressed among responsibilities on all sides, I am still functioning.
I think I feel happy.

This is good to know.

為了自由的未來

Vienna Teng is an amazing singer, and
this song is putting me in a good space.