michael

So last night I talked about the pricing of pencils and touched on paper, or did I? Ah yes, $1 a pop at the Dollar Tree or $1.67 in batches of 12. Did you realize there is a quality difference in Composition books? It seems there is, go for the ones made in Vietnam. Recommended by Lynda Barry. And me. For your booklet, you get 200 pages or 100 sheets in them. These are a bit smaller than the 8 1/2×11 “standard” sized papers… if you have a standard size for something besides a copier or printer. (You will note that I am totally stepping aside from the A4, A5 etc differences. Which I actually prefer. Just try to buy the stuff.) (And while I am on it … never mind, that is for a different rabbit hole to explore.) I have been buying in fits and starts different sized “sketchbooks” they feature heavier paper, half-sized paper 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 or square 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 but they seemed “expensive” to me. As do Moleskin, Field Note, Rhodia, Midori, … and all of those things. (I have been considering/tempted by a journal book. Not so far yet.) But after years I settled on the Composition books. I use them for all of my “journal” books. Because I never feel like I am wasting the paper when I get a few pages in and quit for whatever time period. After the years of time from 2015 until now I am pretty convinced that I will keep to it. There are years of 23 journals. I do not think I need to worry about the cost of the paper, too much. Becuase, of the time,

I spend about 10 to 20 minutes filling up one sheet in a Morning Pages. With 200 pages, that is 2,000 to 4,000 minutes to fill the book. That is 33 to 66 hours of time. I am spending $1.67 to fill up with my writing? Say a full work week, 40 hours. I am worried about the cost of a paper thing that I am filling up. Ditto for the pencils. I have yet to use a pencil, a “$2.00” that I like to write with. Why do I care that I could get one for 20¢?

Because it is cheaper because it costs less. We are only looking at the one part of the cost of using something, the cost to acquire it. BAH!

I could use an easy to use the eraser for when I am typing along and realize that I need to erase something or cover it up. I have a Paper Mate thing. It works but not really conveniently. That I need to find a replacement for.

I think I am done ranting about spending cash. I have a house full of things I bought, some expensive others not, I never wanted for whatever.

I had available. It is time to think it out a bit. Thank god typewriters are so cheap. Wait, I have a half dozen.

I am not good at selling them. So I won’t.

— MichaelRpdx, rkmm 1948

Five cents for a pencil. Or two bucks. For some people, it is a no brainer. 5¢ each. Why would anyone ask? OK, first of all, the pencils cost a lot more for the cheaper ones. Anywhere from 6.9¢ to 28¢ each. In quantities from 576 to 18 pieces each. Are you planning to use 576 pencils? Most of the other cheap pencils run from 18 to 8 pieces each. If you are lucky and live near an art or stationery store you can buy the expensive ones for one at a time. If not, they run about $24.95 for a box of 12. (odd how everyone seems to have the same price.) Leaving oat a Dollar Tree store pricing of 10 for $1, that is whar pencils cost.

You saw my pencils yesterday. Including the one, I have used the most of yesterday. I have yet to use it up. I think I bought a box of them at least 10 years ago. And I still have all of them, They are scattered around the house. And damn! they write well. So very well. Hold that thought. I have another rabbit hole to go explore.

I have spent five or six years writing Morning Pages. Each morning I get up and write. I have filled 23 composition books with them, the morning thoughts. You can buy them for a buck each if you want to go to the Dollar Tree. Or you can get 12 for $19.99, or $1.67 each. bought a case, need to do so again.

Um, I’m sorry. I just paused for a meeting with a Portland brewing as in homebrewers as in beer. And after the meeting, well I need to finish this tomorrow. Damn, we can talk beers. Indeed. Tomorrow. again. And then I will return to typing about whatever to whoever and just get the words out.

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48

By the way, it was a great meeting. Once a month.

Well Hot diggity damn! It has happened and we have a president again. I understand he is getting to work on day one. The construction of the wall is halted; federal employees must all wear masks; the XL Pipeline is halted. These are a few of the 17 first day presidential directives.

In November and December, I went the entire two months on one talk of gas. Well, not even a full tankful of gas. This was on a Prius, so (I think) it takes 12 gallons. I Spent more on insurance than gas. Perhaps I can change that. I just need to sell my Westy.

In praise of full-sized desktop typewriters, I will now sing. I bought my original one because of its platen. It is 14 inches. This compares to the 10 inch on this KMM and the 9 1/2 on my Hermes 3000. I bought it from SCRAP second-hand store. Later, I found out from Matt that it had belonged to a local radio/TV station and it was repaired by his dad. Anyway, due to its bulk, it stays in the basement. But Oh My! when I sit down with it I start to type and I just keep going. I bought this KMM from Matt, I have the same experience, I just seem to go and go with it. I do not have the same experience with my Hermes. The only problem is that I do not have a home for it. I need to get it out to type. But, if you enjoy a full-sized, office typewriter, we are part of a small group.

A word of Thanks: to Rose and Mike and whoever I am ashamed to say I forgot, Thank You for telling us about your experience with Covid-19 vaccinations. It is so good to hear people are being treated and it seems we will eventually get ours also. A local outlet says the Oregon Convention Center is going to be used as a mass vaccination Site. Right now they are going the A1 people (all spots taken) but they will ramp up to 12,000 people a day. It is Kaiser starting out. Perhaps I will get a call from them.

New president, vaccinations, yes we have a new dawn of goodness here.

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48

And yes, I like pencils too. I have been thinking about the “expensive costs” of some things. Tomorrow, I will talk about it tomorrow.

I am listening to “La Voz del Tomebamba”, The Voice of the Tomebamba. El Tomebamba is a place in Ecuador. The voice of it is a radio station that I get via TuneIn. I listen to voice radio from around the world. Well, for me it is mostly to places in Mexico and Central and South America. I catch a few words or phrases. I was recently reminded of the importance of listening to a language you are learning. Listen to it even if you do not understand it. Frankly, it is also like listening to music. I have hunted out several stations. Another favorite is “Radio Mujer”, Radio Women. Right now it is playing “Linea Médica”, Medical Line. It is now playing “Un Cafe Contingo” (why am I not on my Hermes International 3000??) or A Coffee with You. I used to listen to an afternoon show called “En La Casa de ___” cannot remember the name of the woman who hosted it. “In the House of What made it especially good for listening was the subject of food. You gotta love that. But then it was a cooking show. So they gave out recipes. Slowly. With a repetition. Slow and repeating? Oh yes, that is a way to listen to something to learn from. So, anyway, I am listening again. For the music sounds of a language you don’t know and the glimmer of understanding.

You know, of course, there are radio stations for every imaginable language.
Like Esperanto.

Esperanto? This sounds interesting.

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmn/48

0 – 1 – 2, Zero, One, Two. That was the count this morning on my walk. This counting comes from my days of bicycle commuting. When I had a 12 miles one-way commute. It stands for people bicycling, people walking their dog, and people jogging. This morning I got no bicyclists, one guy walking his dog, and two joggers. Maybe I should have counted people walking. Or maybe people walking on the same side of the street as I was. Today it did not matter. There were two people walking, just like I did this morning. That would make it 2 – 1 – 2. But I like it the original way, so I will keep the 0 – 1 – 2 count.

It was in the mid-40s when I stepped out on the porch. That comfortable temperature and lack of traffic, five cars on the road except for Powell, aka Highway 26, maybe it was only three cars out this morning?? It was quiet. Though not wearing my hearing aide helps keep it very quiet. I like it that way. But yeah, I stepped out onto the porch and just stopped dead. It was pre-dawn without wind and the temperatures were oh so good, so nice, I turned around, unlocked the door, picked up a bag, a Timbuck 2 messenger bad, and went out again. I took off my glasses. They had steamed over. Then due to the lack of people I took off my mask. God, it was nice. So nice that when I got breathless I stopped and looked around. It was so nice. That could get to be a habit. We can hope so. I need to get out and get the walks in to restore my … aerobic fitness? Any fitness? Getting it to the point where I go out to walk someplace and I do it without thought. OK, I do not live in San Francisco. Walking them hills were a challenge at first. Now the rises of Portland that I call hills are like it again.

*  *  *  *

ALK of Anaheim, you are wondering about or “struggling to decide what, if anything, should be the focus of these pages.” A few years ago I did a 365 Project, in my case a photo project. A photo made every day. For me, the interesting part was what would I photograph? How could I do a day without taking a picture? And what would I find interesting enough to do one? At some point, I decided to photograph my food when I could not figure out a photograph of something. Yes, without a constraint of any type I did go days without photographing. One stands out as I spent the day reading. Do I have a point for you? Umm, well, perhaps, just maybe have some topic in reserve. Write of it when you do not have something to write about. I am going to try that. Just as soon as I can come up with a topic to write about that I will keep it in reserve.

Yes, yeah, right, like I can do that.

00
— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48

At 7:00 am, is that early to you? It did not use to be early for me. But that was the time it was set for. It was an hour of talk, all in English, about learning languages. It was not even about teaching you a language. It was about how to learn a language on your own. And, it seems, that is the largest difference between polyglots and normal people, the difference between people who struggle to learn a language and the people who learn three, four, or in the case of the woman speaking, nine languages. Polyglots like languages. They like languages enough that they come up with ways to learn a language.

And they do. Oh, that is another difference to polyglots and ?? normal people, they really like just knowing a language. I am looking into it. Not to learn a bunch of languages. But to learn the languages I am learning better.

The podcast segment was one I have had open on my browser for weeks. Tim Ferris interviewing Dan Harris. Dan Harris is, among other things, a leader in meditation. It was interesting. I have books on hold at the library. It is easy enough to find, just look for a Tim Ferris source. I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Three hours today? Yes, it was a big thing to do, but they are done. I had a longish walk in between them,

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48

This is tiring. To sit at a typewriter. To have nothing to say. John Prine wrote about people who have nuthin to say. What kind of people are they?

My wife makes great pizza. We had some for dinner. I would compare it to chili and cornbread, I would but how? Both are good, very good.
Chrunch, Chrunch.

Chrunch. Chrunch. The boots made that sound on the side of a road. The dry sound of an empty gas can. From a car out of gas. He could see the sing up ahead. “103 (degrees) (pause) 2.89 (dollars)” He had enough money. And a hell of a walk back to the car.

It was hot and dry and fuck if he knew what he was going to do with gas in the car. He just had no ideas. He thought about finishing the drive into Boise. Or was he really thinking of Albuerrue and did he really want to drive there. Long distance there. Or maybe he should look for a town not yet grown into a city yet. A town with the tallest buildings being three or five stories tall.

Yeah, well, maybe. He supposed any place would do. Any place at all.

Oh, that is shit. He wanted a place with Indian Food, with Thai Food, with pizza better than he could make it, with Vegan Food when he was wanting something like that. There was a whole bunch of other food types but you need a big place, a place with lots of people and lots of people who wanted different kinds of food. It took more than just a large city to provide that kind of eating. Ah shit.

He filled the gas can, Where are you taking it? Back down the road a bit. Hot day to walk. That it is. If you wait an hour I can drive you back down the road. Save you the walk. You sure? You can’t be that far. Sure, I can take you. I think I’ll have a chocolate malt then, while I wait.

About three miles down the road he pulled over. There was only a car every five or ten minutes. Thanks for the ride. No problem, I’m going this way anyway. He crossed the road, then the other road. Added the gas and got rolling again. Now what? He thought about that while filling the tank. Now what?

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48

Yep, don’t have anything to write about. It would be good to think of things to write about.

At a typewriter I sit.

Waiting for the thoughts

Waiting for things I know

know things that I should

have somewhere inside me

waiting to escape, to flee

it stumbles around inside

it is there somewhere

somewhere watching the typewriter

I do not always do a One Typed Page. Obviously, today I am. Today: What do I do every day?

Sure there is eating and coffee drinking with my wife. Take my meds, brush my teeth. The list that will follow is my things that I do from a decision. Well, hang on, you will, I think, come to understand.

Morning Pages – I have been doing them since 2015. Mostly every day as soon as I wake up I write. This ritual comes from Julia Cameron. You can find a lot of information on it, online or in print books. Morning Pages are three handwritten (no, no typing allowed) pages. About anything, anything at all. Anything. Just get the three pages written out. Ignore them for at least a couple of weeks. I tried to quit it this last summer. And after a bit, I felt the urge to write again. And so I did.

Duolingo – a fun way to learn a language. My current streak is 740 days, every day. My Duolingo goes back to 2013, December of that year I started so I could talk with people when we traveled. It works out OK for Spanish not yet for Latin.

Meditation – my first recorded start is September of 2016. There were some on and off sessions going back to a college class from an Indian man. We did not get it then. Not in any of the intervening sessions since then. But then in 2016, I ran across a piece on YouTube that says the entire point of meditation is to notice that you are not paying attention to your breath and to start again. And again. Which I do.

House Stuff — which can be loosely translated as “clean up” we have collected a whole bunch of stuff. We don’t use it so it has to go. I don’t, ahem, really keep to that list of things to do. Building a habit is high on my list. I do not need to have stuff. Even the stuff I bought and used for a while.

Exercise – You might think this needs to be up there with eating and drinking of coffee. But no, I don’t do it. After spending six weeks in the hospital followed up with some other visits I need to get back at it. There was a time when I could ride 60 miles and it was just a day. It is time to get back into that kind of shape.

Reading — On paper, not anything on a screen. At one time when I was fresh out of college, I was reading for pleasure. I decided I did not need to read so fast and I slowed down again, to enjoy the books. Then after a hospital adventure, I could not read for quite a while and when I could read again it was slow and not nearly the speed I had. Being able to focus on the page was a skill to relearn. I still am.

Writing – Aside from Morning Pages and One Typed Page I try to write more things. A page or two a day. I want to get the expression engine revved up and ready to go. Much like a typewriter is better for typing when you use it. So I keep exercising my writing skills.

Do Not Disclose – There is another block on my list. But I won’t disclose it. Much like a Book to Burn, It is private.

That is my list of things to do each day. I typically hit four to six each day. It is a fun day when I get all of them.

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm/48