Carl Setzer

A simple thought: physical attraction may be felt towards those disliked, or even despised. Love is richer, deeper. Love seeks the happiness of its focus. Self sacrifice for the beloved: easy, actually pleasing, especially when successful. Generosity's birthplace is there. No more glorious sound exists than the laughter of those we love.

I've been following Ms. Millman for sometime and highly recommend her podcast: Design Matters . I'm quite deliberate about making time as soon as I see the update come through on my iPhone. This week she interviews Noah Brier . I remember messing around with his project Brand Tags some time back, though after the interview I see an deeper power to the site that I really hadn't considered before. The most important takeaway: that we need to abandon the idea of controlling a brand's image and identity. We, as professionals, can clearly influence and effect perception, but "control"; no. He points out that, really, it's the fans, the public that really control, really own a brand. The interactions with customers, fans and critics all play a part in the identity. Reminds me of several discussions over the years where I say "we can't please everyone. We need to identify who our audience is, focus on them, accept that there will be some un-detractab...

I remember reading an article, years ago, about how one should never trust their gut. They cited the presence of serial killers like Ted Bundy and how smoothly they talked and acted. This made me laugh. Bundy, et al, had no logical reason not to trust them. Even if we had today's tools, we wouldn't find anything terribly remiss in their background. Those people who weren't taken in were following their gut.  Perhaps there's some confusion about gut following. This isn't just mindlessness; deliberately slowing down and thinking. It's deeper, though, than simply analyzing facts. But it's more than airy fairy mindless trust.  Learning to listen to that inner guide takes time and deliberate training. Often, that voice gets drowned out by the din of modern life. Much to our detriment. 

One thing I've learned from my migraines: limits. I can't do it all. My system stops me too often, and too completely. I'm completely ineffectual once a migraine sets in. Intense pain, light sensitivity, and an inability to focus collude to stop me cold. Sleep is the only way forward. Though my meds work amazingly well, they aren't perfect. The scattered foci of my life can't flourish anymore. One main drive, with my other interests secondary. That's all I really can muster anymore. Though part of me is saddened by this realization, mainly I feel relief. I don't need to save the world. Just do as much good in my place. Go in piece, I guess.

Listen for music's zeitgeist. Harmonics: voices intersecting, creating sounds not uttered, rather vibrations overlapping, the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Music offers us so very much, should we choose to listen. We may learn the value of each voice, whether frantically busy or quietly adding structure, all critical to the audio portrait of a piece. Each pitch and tone crucial to the landscape. Silencing one changes the whole. We must learn to value voices equally. This summarizes the commandment to love. Namaste!

The sky evenly grey, moisture descends calmly, quietly. Some bird's song sounding rather akin to a child whistling poorly. This song grabs attention solidly. I know my walls absorb some tonality, change timber, perhaps limiting the time of the song. With the window open, the range expands. Compelled to understand this strange song better, I slide open a window. Slowly, carefully; trying to ensure that from which it emanates remains unaware, undisturbed, thus continuing unabated. An element of Heisenberg, I guess. The sine wave of pitch clarifies. More tonal range, combined with an interesting harmonic. Do both pitches originate together? Perhaps a strange acoustical effect as sounds merge? Perhaps simply echo, with the scattered sound's timbre losing elements, absorbed by the world hosting it, deflecting it? I feel the different bell curves. One wave reflecting pitch, rising, cresting, returning to the origination. Then a pause, this few seconds of rest before recommencing....

From Fergus and the Druid, W.B. Yeats “A wild and foolish labourer is a king, To do, and do, and do, and never dream.” We’re so focused on doing, on completing and accomplishing and advancing that we forget to dream. Heck, many of us forget how to dream! With no dreams, there are no goals, thus no plans, so life becomes a wandering morass of unconnected and empty (if completed) task lists. So many of us dream of kingship, so it seems.