2021-03-20 Cowrite Experiment
by: Buzzard
This is step 2 of the buzzard-01 game played by @Dave, @Kristen, @Jon, and @CJ on 2021-03-20.
Dave
Salman is chatting up Drew about cities. He’s concerned with the inhumanity of trends in communing, particularly around eating together. I decided for this piece to leave the audio environment as it was when the prompt came in. Typically when I’m writing/thinking with myself I like to keep things pretty quiet. The feeling of trying to concentrate on my own voice while listening to people I find interesting is incredibly uncomfortable. It feels like being drawn and quartered by the attentional horses of the apocalypse. I started typing that sentence knowing it barely made sense but I don’t care because it’s super metal. I’ve begun tuning out clubhouse, tuning into the local environment; birds chirping outside the open door, moisture in the air noticeable after being in the desert… Drew begins talking about foot traffic in cities dropping and it making the environment eerily empty and unsafe. I’ve heard about this before, someone’s concept of “eyes on the street” being necessary to maintain highly dense environments. I’ve been wondering where my interest in these large scale communal behaviors comes from. I guess it’s just a larger scale instantiation of human computer interaction. K, drifted off into meta and that’s what this picture is about.
CJ
A peaceful drive, post surf sesh with old yet new friends. Vibing to some music, chilling. Some absolutely beautiful waves today. Nothing too powerful to be scary but nothing too small to be boring. A great learning and progress day.
There’s something powerful about the mind state after a long work out. An absolute zen. Anything and everything is fine. No worries to be had in the world. Content. Satisfied. Whole. Balanced.
I find this zen in both surfing and climbing. Both activities seem to lend themselves to this mindset. They are similar yet opposite. Being one with rock, something unchanging versus being one with water, something continuously changing. Yet they are one and the same. Coexistence.
Kristen
We've officially arrived in San Diego! This is the view outside our Ocean Beach apartment's front door. Glad to see the sun poking out a bit, I wouldn’t have noticed without this photo prompt. It’s kind of chilly in San Diego, yesterday Dave and I ran into a big burly dude with a goatee beard wearing camouflage shorts along with a big puffy down jacket, naturally he was walking a tiny little dog. And he struck up a conversation about how it was “freezing”. My sister, who lives in Pacific Beach, said the same thing: “hard times in San Diego lately, it’s sooo cold.” Mind you, it’s 60 degrees! But I get it. Maybe I’m just excited to be in a place where I have family and friends, it feels good, and it’s been less than 24 hours. The cold can’t bring my mood down.
We’re listening to a Clubhouse chat about the future of cities, to be honest, I’m not really listening. I need to make something to eat, probably have another coffee (😬), and coordinate with Pearce (my sister) to hang out this afternoon. Sometimes I have a hard time with audio conversation, I can’t focus. Like I have to take notes if I’m going to pay attention - maybe a sign this conversation isn’t for me. It also feels too much like a work webinar or something, too formal for my liking. Good to experience these new-fangled media experiences though. Should probably journal about it later.
Jon
When I picture Los Angeles, the image that comes to mind is one from Blade Runner 2049: a dystopian concrete labyrinth hellhole with too many cars and not enough oxygen.
Even the very idea of a parking garage is upsetting - as efficient they are at storing cars, they’re ugly structures maximizing utility over aesthetic, oftentimes sticking out like a sore thumb.
Hence my surprise as I pull into this garage with its external walls painted in a colorful vibrant mural, matching the surrounding buildings. A few thin layers of paint offer a gray and industrial scene some much-needed charm and character.
We’ll get rid of parking garages eventually. Perhaps in the meantime we can begin with painting them and showing them a little love.