Monday, 09 April 2012
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Currently
Haydn: The 12 'London' Symphonies
see related
lucky.seven
everett, wa
9 april 2012 - g10, f/4.5 1/640s, iso-80
it's been decades since my little brother and i would run toward the screen door in the humble duplex. it was where we first lived when my family moved to the united states and we were situated in a spot that afforded a perfect view of planes flying by to land at JFK international airport.
this is how it started. at that impressionable age, the sound of a jet and the colours of the world's airlines would float before our eyes and before we could write our alphabet, we knew how to draw these airplanes. this is how my dream was born.
there's something about the sound of an approaching airplane and the smile it leaves in its wake as it moves past...
some things will never get old in this life of mine, and this is one of those things. yes, i will find myself checking to see if there are any flights arriving or departing before i head to my car and if there are, and if time and weather allow, you can usually find me watching.
these are sometimes the same feelings i use to appreciate the different passions of others. my interests may not be interesting to others and vice versa, but deep inside we all share the same enthusiasm for whatever those interests may be.
because when you grew up with this dream or even share it, all of this will make perfect sense. and at least i know about that inexplicable joy that makes you passionate for your loves, whatever they may be.
if we boil our life experiences down to a few essential elements, we can perhaps begin to understand a lot of the things around us.
food for thought from today's few moments of watching an airplane come and go.
always.love
-j -
Currently
La Revancha Del Tango
see related
summer.taste
seattle, wa
8 april 2012 - g10, f/2.8 1/1000s, iso-80
when even the breeze is not cool enough to move the jacket from stowage to sleeved, a brief taste of the coming summer is usually more than enough to recharge the senses and ease the mind for a coming week. it's going to be busy but there will still be new opportunities, including stepping in for a violist at a recording session.
not sure how it will turn out, but the only way to find out how is to do it. and if the schedule is willing, why not, right?
many times i talk to people and they can think of any number of reasons not to do something, but if you look at the people that are living lives that we only talk about, they're usually thinking of reasons to do what they do--and then start putting in place the elements to achieve it. there are so many examples, but even to take something as simple as the sunset, there's the same decision: to walk all the way down to a place that has a clear view could be a reason to not make the trek or the view could be reason enough to do it.
excluding cases that are truly out of our control, no matter how close you slice the moment, the very final snap instance of making the decision to move lies inside of us. we must decide to take the first step toward anything we do and if we decide not to or if we decide to settle with something less, we can't blame anyone else but ourselves if we miss out--especially if we've brought others along with us only to back-out at the very last moment (and we cannot blame them for their frustration, either).
yes, seizing opportunity and trying not to let fear be a valid excuse (it's easier said than done) is something that comes from real experience, and no matter how you can prove the truth, however many emails, however many friends (including their best friends) that have witnessed the story firsthand, there will still be others that refuse to believe it. it's human nature, and it's something we all learn to grow as adults--and we should never stop growing.
and we should never use this as a reason to stop living. we should only use this to keep living even better. not in spite, but because we have learned. leave the past behind and take only the lessons and wisdom with you and know that some lessons will really stick.
the key is to keep moving forward and keep living forward. there are too many sunsets to be seen as opposed to fretting over one missed exposure. life isn't all about what we receive--a lesson, whether we like it or not, is always received. life is also about what we've learned.
don't forget to keep learning.
always.love
-j
Saturday, 07 April 2012
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Currently
Wait for Me
By Moby
see related
ghost.romance
seattle, wa
3 april 2012 - iphone 4, exposure data unrecorded
delicate is the image, like memory, as the unimportant begins to decay, maintaining integrity on the flirtatious visual specter-thought that originally catches our eye.
keep your eyes open as well as your hearts.
when creativity flows, let it flow. on the weekends, let it flow whenever it wishes; insight might very well be in the stream lines.
always.love
-j
Monday, 02 April 2012
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Currently
Chamber Music Society
By Esperanza Spalding
see related
string.theory
seattle, wa
5 march 2012 - g10, f/4.5 1/5s, iso-800
on the first monday of every month my arm twitches for a dose of culture. relaxed, chill, some good 'ol music making without the pressure of a stage for performance. and on the first monday of each month, there's a place at the bottom of capitol hill where a scene plays out something like this:
someone shows up with a few music stands, a violin, and a backpack of music written for small ensembles. chamber music is what it's called, and way back when, it was music commissioned by the elite of society for usually their own fun, to be played with a group of close friends in an intimate setting. today it's become a genre of classical music that has its intimacy understood but is often experienced in performance for a formal audience.
sometimes it's also fun to take it out of that context and inject a little bit of that historical intimacy back into it.
because in a few minutes, other people will start to trickle in, walking through the door, some with laptops just there to chill, others with instruments looking to play. the format's loose--pick a piece and play it. no rehearsals, no need for absolute perfection. relaxed. low pressure for everyone around. depending on who shows up and what instruments they bring, each month is a bit different but there are always laughs and smiles and good times.
people can walk in and ask their curiosities and the musicians are more than happy to chat--and not everyone that shows up are professional musicians. there's some talent in the seattle woodwork and you can usually find them coming together at these chamber jams.
it's all about fun (i mean, isn't that what most of life is about?) and last time someone just happened to come by after hearing about it on a local blog. they took a few videos, chatting it up with the musicians that would tag-in and tag-out, everyone enjoying the atmosphere. how often are you going to see a mid-measure bass hand-off between two people without dropping a note, or playing beethoven string quartets with an electric bass? purists will cringe, sure, but it's understood that that's not what it's about in this particular frame of reference.
it's all about fun.
if you're in the seattle area, come check it out, have a drink and say hello!
and if you're looking for a good feel for what chamber music is, try esperanza spalding's definition for size :)
sometimes when you're surrounded by culture, you just have to jump right in with both feet.
always.love
-j
~ = ~
during last month's chamber jam, someone brought their harp and some music. what happened? we threw the music on the stands and sight read through it, naturally:
(many thanks to phil for taking the video and letting us share it!)
this whole idea started in san francisco and chapters have since formed all over the world! it's classical revolution!
Sunday, 01 April 2012
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Currently
Radio Music Society
By Esperanza Spalding
see related
dream.lines
seattle, wa
26 march 2012 - g10, f/4.5 1/800s, iso-100
when you grow up dreaming about airplanes, it's often hard to go to sleep (or figure out when to go to sleep) when you feel like your life is already a dream.
~ = ~
it's been a busy week but here's a highlight: on monday, japan airlines took their first two 787s home (both departing on the same afternoon), and in keeping with the traditions of the japanese pilots when they take home a new airplane, both can be seen "waving" goodbye (both japan airlines and all nippon airways pilots do this!).
it's with moments like these that i feel like all of those years studying (in lieu of sleep) were very much worth it.
always.love
-j
Thursday, 29 March 2012
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Currently
How To Win Friends and Influence People
By Dale Carnegie
see related
ghost.peek
seattle, wa
24 march 2012 - g10, f/4 1/800s, iso-80
the days are getting longer and summer is coming.
this is my mantra. well, one of many.
always.love
-j
Sunday, 18 March 2012
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Currently
Together
see related
simple.gesture
seattle, wa
17 march 2012 - g10, f/3.5 1/1250s, iso-100
whether it be the unexpected happiness of friends that delay the start of an afternoon wander because they were driving through and "just wanted to say hello" or the sunset that followed shortly after their visit, sometimes i don't have words to describe the things i see. the experience is a blur of images that are more interesting and curious than what i could possibly compose in text.
it was, without question, a good day. :)
always.love
-j
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
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Currently
Revancha Del Tango (Bonus CD)
By Gotan Project
see related
community.lines
seattle, wa
11 march 2012 - g10, f/8 1.0s, iso-400
sometimes life can tire us out as it blurs past, but we must hold on--we can't let ourselves miss out on too much (we also need to know we can't make it for everything). in the end, one thing will be true: it'll be worth it.
~ = ~
three concerts in the past four days, a board meeting tonight, a rehearsal tomorrow. thursday will be a nice day with a nice evening of relaxation. (i do hope so :)
always.love
-j
Saturday, 10 March 2012
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Currently
Plus
By Ed Sheeran
see related
sky.burst
sammamish, wa
9 march 2012 - eos-1ds mk2, f/5.6 56s, iso-500
at about 10pm i looked toward the north and saw haze and clouds and stepped inside with a mild feeling of defeat yet comfort that even if i wanted to see the aurora, i wouldn't have been able to do so anyway. i started to take a shower at approximately 11pm. having been on only 3 hours of sleep the night before, i calculated in my head i would have 5.5 hours of sleep before having to wake up the next morning but while showering the extremely (and unusually) loud text message sound of my phone thundered into the bathroom.
wondering who could be messaging at an hour like this, i dismissed it as another likely junk text.
ready to go to sleep, i checked the message. it was from a friend. the message sequence went something like this:
r: hey jon! are you going hunting for northern lights tonight? i'm picking up a friend and we're going out to a park in issaquah. wanna bring your camera and come with? big solar storm!! i can pick you up.
me: hmmmmm...i have to be at work early...how late do you plan on staying out there?
r: 1230 to 130 :). i have to be at work too. probably not sleeping but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity!!!!!
the key words were "once in a lifetime opportunity." they were right. so right. and my arm was sufficiently twisted.
me: you have a point. i'm putting on socks and shoes and stuff...
r: cool! send me your address. i'll be there in 10. don't forget a tripod if you have one.
how did she know i hated using actual tripods enough to remind me to actually bring one along? more interestingly, how did she know i even owned one as a just in case measure? i may never figure this out, but i grabbed the robust tripod that gathers dust in its spare time and told her where to meet me.
we had driven to the park but were looking around trying to see where or if there was any aurora activity visible. none. well, it appeared to be none. feeling defeated (again), we were starting to tell each other, "well, at least we tried. if there was something going on, we would have definitely missed it if we decided not to do this."
on that thought, i said, "you know, i'm just going to take a picture just so i have one of this lake to say i've been here."
i let the camera run for approximately one minute, waited another minute for it to process, and expecting one of those "night looks like daytime" photographs, i was shocked to see the sky was a very vivid green. what we had originally thought were clouds and haze was actually the aurora borealis itself! and it seemed to be intensifying in activity!
it was approximately ten minutes before 1am and i had my camera shutter open, taking long exposures and my friends were taking however long a picture they could take with their cameras. r was trying to see what they could capture with their new lytro camera (yes, they did waitlist for one once they broke the news). the excitement was so intense, watching spears of faint colour streak across the sky and after about three or four minutes of marvelling, the skies were calm and constant again. there was a very faint glow in the distance but it was once again appearing to mix with the colour of the clouds.
gone so soon, as with many things in life, but we had been there and we were ready. we took a few moments to show each other what we had captured (as i was packing my camera to head home), and we started the drive back to seattle.
i was dropped off first and if i were smart, i would have gone to sleep seeing that it was 2am by that time and i had three hours left before the alarm would signal it was time to prepare to leave for the commute.
i downloaded the results and shrank them to size and posted them. everywhere i could remember to post. what we saw really happened and the memories were perhaps just as vivid as the colours that the human eye couldn't perceive at the moment. the excitement was not going to let me sleep satisfactorily. i had to download them and wow, were the results ever breathtaking. i selected a few, posted them, and stepped away from the computer. everyone asleep would have the images waiting for them when they woke up.
i slipped beneath the covers and forced my eyes closed. the next morning, my phone was buzzing with activity--notification after notification because, well, who talks on mobile phones these days, anyway? ;) a man contacted me about using one of the pictures i posted for a blog entry that was rounding up aurora pictures from all over the world and all he needed was one from the lower 48 (49?) united states. not one to pass an opportunity up, i did give permission and, exhausted, carried on with my day. i did tell the story to my colleagues but it wasn't until i later received notification of a link that i finally brought it to everyone's attention: i was up late watching some scientific phenomenon and came back with an amazing picture or two. the proof was in the following link:
msnbc photoblog: sky lights go wild, north and south, by alan boyle.
and that, i suppose, was my fifteen minutes of fame for the day.
~ = ~
from 1am yesterday up to now, the past 24 hours have been one for the personal record books. thanks, dearest friends (near and far, old and new), for an amazing day and for continuing to make this life of mine one of pure and real magic. none of my experiences would be possible without the kindness and support of my friends.
a very special thanks to "columbia" for bringing my picture to mr. boyle's attention, and thank you mr. boyle for including my picture among the collection of even more fantastic shots from all over the globe! perhaps most importantly, because if she and her friend didn't twist my arm so that i wouldn't get the much needed sleep i was after i would have missed this greatest celestial show of 2012.
i do hope all is well with you as well, stranger friends.
always.love
-j
Sunday, 26 February 2012
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metal.jones
seattle, wa
25 february 2012 - g10, f/2.8 1/5s, iso-80
it's easy to be described as "inspiring" as, to some degree, the definition of the word has been diluted by overuse, but when one leaves "truly inspired", now we're talking. among the piles of performance notes i've jotted down in the past few months, learned from countless pages of books, it's really hard to beat the opportunity to observe a master of an art at work. if one is so privileged as to be able to spend some time with the artist, there's no stopping the flow of information exchange, even if it might be unidirectional by virtue of a vast difference in experience.
it's so easy to get big eyes and bite off more than what one can chew but the best advice i've learned is to start small and go slow at first. and to listen to experience. the first few steps are crucial foundations, as many have learned, but perhaps the most important part is one that seems to be quite often forgotten: taking that first step.
if you think about it, we all start at the same level in anything we do. in order to become proficient at anything one needs to simply choose to start learning. focus the learning and one becomes heavily proficient in that particular discipline while another that shifts focus may develop proficiency in multiple disciplines but perhaps not to the comprehensive degree as one with a narrowed focus.
while some are still discovering parts about me that they didn't know about, i'm continually searching for new things, rooting deeper and more firmly in other things. i'm not waiting for them to discover everything about me, i'm just trying to stay a few steps ahead. i'm still re-building the foundations on something i started over a decade ago but i think things are beginning to move along.
of course, today, i've decided to start laying a foundation right next to it in a similar but new direction. time to start learning coins. if one is on the edge with deciding to learn something or not, it's good to have some of the very best to push you over (but also teach you how to deploy the canopy as you take the plunge).
thanks, eric, for getting me hooked on coins...
-j
Sunday, 19 February 2012
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Currently
DERREN BROWN - ENIGMA [NON-USA Format / Import / Region 2 / PAL]
see related
winter.set
seattle, wa
18 february 2012 - g10, f/8 3.2s, iso-200
lately i've been revisiting the first few chapters of the royal road to card magic and working on the first few effects in the context of teachings by juan tamariz. what has been fascinating me on this journey so far is the human mind and how it makes (or breaks) the magic within the effects. this may sound like a phenomenon that occurs exclusively in the mind of the spectator however there is also a significant part of this that must happen with the performer.
i've been on a search for texts regarding presentation and performance theory, the tension and relaxation of the moment, as opposed to learning new routines or sleights. as a result of this, my study has been focused on watching performances by some of the famous names as well as reading a lot of books from the psychology section of the bookstore.
these books may not explain life, but i've found it helps, to some degree, deepen compassion and also help to proactively counteract misunderstandings.
the mind is a powerful and amazing thing.
always.love
-j
Saturday, 18 February 2012
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Currently
Delicatessen (StudioCanal Collection) [Blu-ray]
By Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard
see related
af.one
everett, wa
17 february 2012 - g10, f/4 0.5s, iso-800
lately i've taken many pictures of 747s, especially with the delivery of the latest passenger variant on the horizon. they were primarily pictures of them departing on delivery flights, though lately i've been taking pictures of them leaving for or returning from test flights, but today, in the cold winter rain, i took a blurry picture of a very rare 747.
the 747 in the picture above, in its most proper designation, is air force one--the air force one. VC-25 planes have visited paine field many times for maintenance, but today this VC-25 was flying the general mission for which it was designed: to carry the president of the united states.
yes, someone showed up at work today:
and it was a fantastic way to close out a fantastic week.
~ = ~
what's new in your part of the world?
always.love
-j
Thursday, 16 February 2012
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Currently
Stairwells
By Kina Grannis
see related
task.list
seattle, wa
16 february 2012 - g10, f/2.8 1/80s, iso-800
i am on very little sleep at the moment but for the heart it was very much worth it. i didn't know i was going to do it until very shortly before the clock struck midnight. after that, i knew i was committed. and it was the best decision ever.
what was it? it was following through with doing something i had read about a few months ago: 38 acts of robyn.
thank you to my parents, my brother, and to all of my friends that inspired me and encouraged me to be the person i am, and for giving me the courage to do some of the crazy things i decide to do. i can't say it enough, but i feel this gratitude deep within my heart. at 10:45pm i finished all 32 items on my mission. exhausted, happy, joyful and tearful, it was a full roller coaster ride of emotions that still finds me exhausted today. but it was definitely worth it.
the stories from yesterday's experience will last a lifetime, hitting so very deep with so much meaning. i urge you to give it a try.
always.love
-j
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
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Currently
Fearless
By Taylor Swift
Love Story
see related
valentine's.cards
seattle, wa
14 february 2012 - g10, f/2.8 1/15s, iso-200
it's well past my bedtime and i have to be up in about four hours, but it's the fourteenth of february and i have every intention of spreading love. i see it everywhere, and while my creativity is lost in exhaustion for today, i do remember seeing magician dan white arranging four of his playing cards in quite a creative manner (re-created by yours truly above--in other words: i can't take credit for this bit of imagination). i'll let you figure what those cards spell, and if you can't, well, drop me a line and i'll help you out :)
see, there seem to be a lot of bitter posts out there, stories of betrayal, or just a series of bad experiences and so for those people, that sure is a reason to complain today, but it really doesn't make things better or any more attractive, yes? once again, if you've followed my blog for quite some time, you’ll occasionally see me coming back to the memory of reading a dear friend’s blog when they wrote:
"we can choose to be happy." -sleepy
it's not always that simple, but most of the time it actually is. being single today has never been something for me to be bitter about. it's been something for me to be hopeful about. we have to be ready to welcome it, and i don’t know about you, but my observations show that bitterness hasn’t quite worked as a welcoming strategy. i don’t expect it to change, either.
dear friends and stranger friends: happy valentine’s day today :) if you’ve got nobody to celebrate it with, i’m sending you a virtual hug. right now. anything for a smile. (don’t worry, there will be no bitterness on this blog today :)
~ = ~
the magic community is inherently creative, and so here's dan white's colleague, patrick kun, in a video he made for his girlfriend last year. simple magic with a simple message.
he's hinted at a possible video for this year, so who knows what he'll think of ;)
keep smiling, strangers, keep your eyes open and most importantly: your hearts.
always.love
-j
Lifetime
