Bryan

Afterword

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

Reading

Book Art

A Pattern Language

Christopher Alexander

    Essays

    Anxiety as a parent and raising good humans

    As a parent with anxiety, I can already tell that raising two young children to have confidence in themselves, and to approach new and uneasy social situations with bravery, is going to be difficult for me.

    I had a difficult childhood, complete with a fatherless upbringing and abuse, which affected me in various ways, including low self-esteem. I didn’t participate in many extra curricular activities due to my anxiety. I struggled in school for that reason, too, both socially and academically.

    Now I have to work up the courage myself to encourage my kids to participate in healthy activities …

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    Notes

    The spirit begins early around here.

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    Notes

    Today’s hike.

    Notes

    I started reading a book in Italian last night called Short Stories for Beginners. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could understand. I guess I am picking up the language, however glacial the pace feels.

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    One of my favorite songs of all time.

    Windows by Angel Olsen.

    Notes

    Guitar

    I learned something over the weekend. After a lot of research and forum browsing, I learned that my cheap Art & Lutherie Folk Cedar guitar is basically a copy of the storied Gibson LG-2. I measured out the dimensions and they are the same. That explains the woody mid-tone sound I love.

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    Notes

    Photography

    Beautiful day at Cape Lookout.

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    Notes

    Guitar

    Today I played some higher end small body guitars trying to see what might sound similar to my Art & Lutherie $200 guitar, but honestly I was not impressed.

    I came across a brand recently called Iris out of Vermont that I’d really like to get my hands on, but I haven’t found any locally.

    Notes

    It’s fun watching Zoomers misattrubute things to millennials.

    Just saw a meme complaining that people over 37 can stop putting two spaces between sentences because that’s from “typewriter days.”

    Dude, I’m 42 and we had a Commodore when I was like 8 and I was 12 when AOL came out.

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    Notes

    Photography

    Mood. But they’re playing “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton. And just like Phoebe Bridgers said, I hate this song, but it is sad that his son died.

    Listening to: Moon Song by Phoebe Bridgers

    Notes

    That whole 7-year itch thing is very accurate for me. I start to get really bored with wherever I am on about that timeline.

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    Notes

    Walking back from a coffee shop in Nob Hill this afternoon, I saw this beautiful home and decided to look it up on Zillow. The property taxes are just over $19,000 per year, which means $1600/mo in property taxes alone.

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    It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

    Notes

    We’re getting a little taste of fall this morning in the Portland area, with the overcast skies and mist. I’ve missed it!

    When I first moved here, several of my friends and family asked me how I could stand so much rain in the winter. Well, to be honest, I’ve always had more of a problem with the summers than the winters.

    Pretty much nonstop sunshine, close to zero rain, dry as a tinder box, and way hotter than I generally like it to be. I love the rainy season.

    Notes

    Personally, I think Google’s best product is News, by a long shot. After 20 years of harvesting my data, they’ve got my interests dialed.

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    Pumping my own gas for the first time ever while in Oregon. #pdx #oregon

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    When your old 1st Gen iPad Pro is commandeered and de facto inherited by your children.

    Notes

    My only criteria for friendship is an ability to use “its” or “whose” properly.

    Apparently I’m judgmental and my standards are too high.

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    Essays

    Autobiographical: Twenty-Year Anniversary of a Course Correction

    I had a flashback this morning as I was getting the kids ready for school that reminded me of a time in my life when everything was so unsettled and chaotic. This seems to happen to me a lot more whenever summer starts to give way to fall, when I can smell the change of season in the air and the evenings get a little bit shorter. The memories of back-to-school anxiousness come flooding back and I get a pang somewhere in the recesses of my brain. Usually I’m transported back to being 13 and crying in the dressing room at Sears while trying on school clothes, but today’s memory was different. …

    Notes

    It’s a Waylon & Willie kind of morning.

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    Notes

    One of the many things we do as planners…connect neighborhoods with bike/ped facilities for safe routes to school, walking routes to transit, etc. The neighborhood behind me was separated from the elementary school by a creek. Nice to see plans become reality.

    Notes

    I’ve always been left of center politically, but there’s a quote often credited to Reagan that I’ve kept above my computer screen for years:

    “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

    It’s a loaded saying, but to me it boils down to the idea that people can sometimes be more emotional than logical, so you should try to keep your arguments as simple as possible. I think this has served me well.

    Notes

    I’ve thought about making video content as a side gig but I don’t think I can look at my own face that much. How do YouTubers stand to see their own faces so often with all that recording and editing? I’m on TV pretty regularly but never go back and watch myself on video. Ever.

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    Notes

    I think I need a new method to organize my favorite locations. Ugh this gives me anxiety lol.

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    Notes

    Summertime and the livin’ is easy.