Month: November 2020

Handwriting. I mentioned it the day before yesterday and today I encounter two messages including it. You have seen one of them, Proof that with a little typewriting handwriting is allowed here. In the other instance – oh joy! – an introduction to InCoWriMo. International Correspondence Writing Month “otherwise known as February” is an upcoming event. Yes, it is international, with people joining into the writing from all over the world. You don’t need to write to other people participating. Write to anyone. Don’t be scared away by letters. It can be a letter, “a card, a note or postcard. Really, it can be anything that you consider correspondence.” I don’t think a grocery list counts, but maybe if it is one you write for someone else. You just need to get some correspondence into a delivery chain. However, it must be written by hand. I will bet they even let you send out multiple pieces of correspondence each day. I am looking forward to it.

But what about? They do gather up people for trading addresses for sending letters (or notes or postcards) to strangers. Maybe one of them could be easier than someone you have exchanged bits with already. And brother, I have not kept up with getting out One Typed Page every day. Hmmm, it is a good thing this doesn’t happen until February. Plenty of time to get at least a few things ready to go.

And I have a couple of months to work on my handwriting so it is reasonably legible. Fortunately, there is a bunch of videos on YouTube on cursive technique. So far I have improved my a e c d and b writing. Now to take them from what I have learned and practice.

If writing a letter a day for a month does not float your boat, try watching WheezyWaiter, on YouTube. He, and sometimes his wife, give up or start something for a month. The most recent was “We Quit Sugar, Alcohol, and Social Media for a Month.” Earlier they tried “We Drank the ‘Proper’ Amount of Water Every Day” or “How to Actually Read More Books” or “No Caffeine for a Month”. You understand the point, they try different things each one for a month. Kind of like “we are geeks, so you don’t have to be.” (I cheated on our “no YouTube, Netflix, Acron, Curiosity Stream, Amazon Prime” which we gave up for Sunday nights. Sheeze, first time out of the gate and I blow it.) I hopped onto YouTube to check on examples of what WheezyWaiter did and had done.

This is great practice for Lent. Not that I am Catholic. But I have found that giving something up for a month is good for you. Yeah, I am on to a letter a day in February and who knows what else?

Side Note: I started my One Typed Page participation as a month of September do it thing. And here I still am.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

PS – Consider looking into InCoWriMo and possibly joining.

There is Nothing Wrong with My Handwriting,
They Just Need to Pay Someone Who Can Read It
— Philip Hensher, THE MISSING INK

One might make the same statement about my typewriting.

This book was picked up at the library today. It is about “the lost art of handwriting.” When the author realized that he did not know his best friend’s handwriting something was missing. There are images of handwriting throughout the book. From sloppy scribbling through the neat business script and on to very nice calligraphy.

I realize that given three samples of handwriting I would be hard-pressed to identify the one from my wife. Fortunately, I would be able to identify my own. But that is it. Well, perhaps that of my mother. She writes beautifully, in cursive of course. My dad printed. My handwriting is a mix of the two forms of writing. I1 have read that is a no-no in such things. Choose one and stick to it. I am working on that.

Do you write? By hand? We have taken to typewriters. We are confident that people can read it. Provided our spelling is not too bad (payed? what was I thinking?) or filled with xxxed out passages. Yes, we can read it. (and yay! for us) But handwriting, the real question is “can you read your own handwriting a month later? a year later? That, I feel, I fear is a much tougher question to answer. Did you mean to have what you wrote to be read later? I know some, perhaps a lot of it, cannot be read by myself. Who knows if I had written something that would trigger a thought that would lead to my having better, “better”, thoughts. Something worth sharing. Something I want to write out in a fashion for others to read.

It is time to work on handwriting. Again.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

In September 2016 I started a consistent practice of meditation. I had found a YouTube video about meditation featuring Dan Harris. It was an animated thing. It talked about how one did not need to wear special clothing or sit in funny postures. To do it you just sat and paid attention to your breathing. That is it. Now, your brain, your mind is going to go off on tangents. Like “what’s for lunch” or “did I really have to make that dumb comment to my boss?” Whenever you do, and you will, you allow the thoughts to go away and you pay attention at to your breath. Again. And again. And again. That is the point of meditation, to “fail” at keeping your breath in mind noticing that you are thinking about whatever and going back to paying attention to your breath. And again. That, the return to paying attention to your breathing, is the point of meditation. Because you will. Everyone does. I certainly do. I notice that I am thinking about something and I need to think about it later because right now I am meditating.

I have been doing it for over four years now. I had meditated before. But it never stuck. Early on I did not “get it” Or really anything about it. This goes back to 1976 or so. Didn’t get it, tossed it aside, went on to other things in life. In 2016 it stuck and, I think, I got it. I have certainly calmed down. Or as Dan Harris discovered he knew meditation was affecting him as he overheard his wife at a cocktail party say “he’s less of an asshole now.” I didn’t have that kind of epiphany like that. But I do feel better. A little bit every day.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

I keep forgetting. So I went back and read “About Us” Which is just titled “About” by Daniel. And it starts “Send me your page.” Which I do not do enough. Because? I had to have an idea, something, to type about. Coming, up with something you have to say is, for me, kinda backwards. I have to type to have something to say. So here we are, coming up with something to type about. (and if I do come up with something, type it first. Then you can type a paragraph like this on explaining it. There was something I had in mind to type. What was it?)

I keep forgetting. Kent passed along a sentence from Gandhi, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” Gol darn if that does not sound good and right and something to remember. When did he say that? In what context? What motivated him to say that, aside from being a guy that said lots of things for us to admire. So I set off to look it up. The first thing I found was lots of sites that quote people. That is just dandy for wanting to ensure you are quoting him correctly. But nothing on when or why he said it. I added ‘Gandhi said “There is …” in’ that was not helpful. I added “-quote” to the search. That got rid of all the quote sites. Now I was full of sites Saying ‘Gandhi said “There is …” in..’ I am going to keep looking. There has to be a source somewhere.

I keep forgetting. Two rabbit holes down so far. What next? In “Morning Pages” I have fewer troubles getting something onto the page. I have gone to two pages per day, It takes about half an hour, cleans out my brain, and has me ready for the day. That for some reason does not happen here. OK, it is not first thing in the morning. I have cleaned out my brain and had most of the day go on by. Ahhh! I have remembered.

I just cannot start a page of typing without an idea. Well, as you can see from what I’ve typed so far there is that method. Most of the time you don’t need a starter. You do need one for baking bread. Sourdough bread is something you need to have prepped up. You cannot just decide mid-afternoon that whipping up a loaf of bread would be dandy. No, you need to have a starter ready to go. I have things like baking bread that need to be planned. Which I did today and again it worked. A nice loaf of bread, I guess you could pick up a loaf at a bakery. But that is like getting something from Facebook. You just don’t get the same satisfaction from the bread by buying it.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

I received a pair of-new plaid shirts today. As a result, I need to go through my closet to find shirts or something to pass along. I have more than enough clothing. I am not a minimalist. I do need to keep the inventory down. But what to rid myself of? My wife suggests faded clothing. It is fine for around the house. It is not fine to wear when we go out into the world. (Hopefully, someday.) But I have to confess to liking the faded clothing. Because it has beausage.

Beausage? You have never heard of it? Part of the reason is that “beausage” is not a recognized word. It would be good to change that. For it to happen is to have lots of people use it. What is it and why? Beausage was invented, coined by Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycles. It means “beauty through use” and the word is a combination of beauty and usage.

Beausage is faded jeans, a worn off bit of paint on a bicycle, the creases in a book, baking pans with baked-on bits. Beausage is never present in something that is new, like jeans with tears in them.

Beausage! Use the word and spread the word to other people so they can use it and, I hope, enough people will use it that I will be able to find it in a dictionary.

— MichalRpdx :: ih3k

So you sit down at the typewriter. You start to sype, or type, or something. If I was Issaz Asimov this might be the start of a novel. Or it might be a part of the stuff that gets thrown away after a daily six hour session. Maybe. Could be. Perhaps.

Just start typing. That is what the One Typed Page is all about. Right? There is Cuban music playing in the background. Semi-random choice of what to play. It comes, the music comes, from Pandora. It is not loud enough to really understand. Just the vibe, the feeling of it.

It is not late. OK, I am lying. It is almost 10:00. Yes PM 10:00 type of night time. The tyme the time of the day that is never lit up by sunlight. Like would or could be in middle of twight if it were the height of summer, in late June or so each year. Though those days are long gone. We will have darkness for hours by now each day. My lying earlier in this piece was due to me not knowing what I have been doing. The typewriter has been out. For hours, since there was a twilight. Like I love each day, twight ti twilight. There we go.

Keep going. Keep going, keep the fingers on the keys and moving. Keep having words appear on the paper keep having bits of stuff that I don’t recognize show up on the paper.

By the time you read this it will be Sunday for hours in every direction. I used to have that as a signature line while I worked. “It is Monday for hours in every direction.” On Mondays. Now it is Sunday for … If you are reading this at another time, in another day, substitute the name of the day for what I have said.

Life is formless these days. I do not have something Well, there are many things on my to-do list but none of them are necessary. This is all recreation I can do what I want and if it does not get done the only thing that misses is my tracking, like my One Typed Page. Or whatever it is that I get out of it. Maybe this inside is really a day of not making something for others to read. It is a day of typing something so that I have typed something and my typing muscles are still there and my attention to spelling and spaces get a little workout. It is my junk page because somedays you need to write the bad stuff so there is room for the good stuff to escape your or my or the typists brain and then something good can emerge.

Or so we hope.

— MichaelRpdx mlr:ih3k

I said I would not look. But I did. I kept looking. What could I do?? It was like developing a taste for beer. Or something. I kept looking. I keep going back and check the changes. Do the math on what is left. Maybe it won’t work out like I expect, like everyone expects. But I keep watching.

§ § § §

How have I ended up with 17 pens, fountain pens, with another eight on the way? Seven kinds of ink, really pretty ones, but seven kinds. I think I am figuring out what kinds of pens I like. That is a good thing. I think. I know there is a whole big batch of handwriting in store for me.

§ § § §

I am drawn in by moving things. I watch them. It is a problem I have with a TV on. I look and cannot look away. I sit down with an intent to allow it to play the Taiwanese thing my wife watches and practices her Mandarin. I intend to write or draw or something. Instead, I watch it. I check the changes in w

I said I would not look. But I did. I kept looking. What could I do?? It was like developing a taste for beer. Or something. I kept looking. I keep going back and check the changes. Do the math on what is left. Maybe it won’t work out like I expect, like everyone expects. But I keep watching.

§ § § §

How have I ended up with 17 pens, fountain pens, with another eight on the way? Seven kinds of ink, really pretty ones, but seven kinds. I think I am figuring out what kinds of pens I like. That is a good thing. I think. I know there is a whole big batch of handwriting in store for me.

§ § § §

I am drawn in by moving things. I watch them. It is a problem I have with a TV on. I look and cannot look away. I sit down with an intent to allow it to play the Taiwanese thing my wife watches and practices her Mandarin. I intend to write or draw or something. Instead I watch it. I check the changes in what I have left to do. Calculate what I want to get done. And my attention is drawn in to the TV. Again and again.

§ § § §

Did you think I was talking about politics? Georgia and Nevada and Arizona and … all that? I wont admit.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

hat I have left to do. Calculate what I want to get done. And my attention is drawn in to the TV. Again and again.

§ § § §

Did you think I was talking about politics? Georgia and Nevada and Arizona and … all that? I won’t admit.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

Well, now that this whole election thing is over except for the counting, it is time to move on to important things. There are lots of things to consider, for instance, ownership of animals. Like kangaroos. Were you aware that 37 states ban kangaroo ownership outright? Another 10 restrict ownership to people with “permits”? But there are a blessed three that allow ownership outright. Yes, three, just three, states in the fine country we reside in allow kangaroo ownership without restriction. You can verify my claim by searching for “kangaroo ownership legality united states” and maybe add “mapporn” to narrow the search a bit.

Do that and you will see a map with three green states doing things the right way. South Carolina, West Virginia, and (well lookee here!) Wisconsin. That would be the future home of Kent. I pointed out this great blessing of his relocating to the cheese state. He forwarded the idea to his wife. She came back with a “no kangaroo. Inkling would freak.” I, personally, believe this underestimates Inkling’s tolerance for other animals and his desire for a warm and cuddly place to stay. Can you imagine being a cat with a mobile place to stay? The ‘roos pouch has to be a wonderful place to stay.

§ § §

In other election news, we turn to Oregon. We have joined Portugal in our legalization of all drugs. All of them. This makes “a personal non-commercial possession of a controlled substance no more than a Class E violation (max fine of $100 fine)”. Perhaps we were getting ready for another winner for the white house. The program is going to be funded by taxes on our already legal marijuana industry. But that is not all. Measure 109 “Psilocybin Mushroom Services Program Initiative” authorizes the Oregon Health Authority to creat a program to license the administration of psilocybin-producing mushrooms. Oregon is the first in both of these matters. No rush to move here. It will take a while to get things set up. And it is a lot cheaper than moving to Portugal.

That is it for Oregon changes to the laws. Well, the notable ones. Yes, we did vote to fund the libraries, provide daycare for free, a police oversight committee, and other items to spend our money on.

-— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k

Oh yes, let us praise Matt of Ace Typewriter in Portland!
Let us praise him for setting aside time to fix what I broke.
Let us praise him for diving right in and setting right it all. One would think losing er loosening a screw and moving a knob a small fraction of a millimeter would be simple.  It was not. He did appreciate my bringing all the parts. We did have a nice chat. I got to be tempted by the Royal typewriters. It turns out he classes them as one of the best-made machines of the US. Now I just need to figure out how to get the machine into the house without my wife wondering too much about them. No: I mean it, not them. Singular, just one typewriter. Of course, I need to find a place for it. As we are overflowing with them at the present.

If you happen to be a Hermes 3000 fan, like me, Joe Van Cleve has a comparative review of two of them on YouTube. One is a 1961 the other a 1972. Wich skipped the golden age of my typewriters. OK, maybe not the golden age. But they sure are nicely shaped. Though I can see the lust for the early 1960s versions.

Speaking of YouTube I am watching this in the background while I type this. It was about typefaces this week. Interesting. I believe I will work on my not very legible handwritten typewriting descriptions before obsessing on whatever my typewriter spits out.

“Drink, no wait. “Write drunk, edit sober.” Not for me either. My wife just handed me a glass of cognac. So this will need to draw to a close.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k