June 16

Zen Mind, Beginners' Mind - Suzuki
Started thinking about this book again last week. During that time, I was getting ahead on this blog and started entering words and/or phrases of things I might want to include in the near future and saving them as drafts. I listened to a LENSWORK podcast and read the Yoga Journal newsletter this morning and was surprised to find that both had mentioned Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginners' Mind." Then I opened this draft I'd been saving and I had "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind - Sukuki entered into today's blog. Wow, talking about serendipity!

Food
Blueberry/banana juice
Made a new juice this morning. Really getting into blueberries this week!

Interviews
Sonny Rollins Interview

Musician Sonny Rollins from Texas Monthly Talks on Vimeo.

Sonny Rollins' Videos

Newsletters
MAC/LIFE Newsletter

YOGA NEWSLETTER

NASA Science Newsletter for June 15, 2009
With NASA poised to launch the world's most famous treadmill (COLBERT) to the International Space Station, an astronaut describes what it's like to run in space where sweat floats and there is no gravity to hold your feet to the ground.



Grid
http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf

Listening
http://www.lenswork.com/podcast/LW0535%20-%20Examining%20Our%20Habits.mp3
http://www.lenswork.com/podcast/LW0536%20-%20Repeat%20After%20Me%20-%20Spotting%20is%20Fun.mp3

United Nations TV


Water powered car

Websites
Marco Mancini's Magnet Jazz
Live at Time and Style

June 15

Juice
I like having fruit juices in the morning. Usually the first half of my day is pretty much all fruit. Made a new juice (mango/banana) this morning.


Sports and creativity
Basketball/Soccer
Talked with my son (great soccer player). He was on his way home from a soccer game. Told me how he felt "in the zone" during the game and was able to play and create situations on the field with so little effort and almost no thinking. We talked about some sports like soccer, hockey and basketball. Some of the sports seem to really have a connection to improvised music and other arts that involve a lot of creating "in the moment."

Photography
Starting to use RAW files. I've had to search the net to find a RAW converter because I'm using a little older version of Photoshop and can't open RAW files. Creativity is great but, involves a degree of technique. I have a lot of technical things to master in photography before I can feel free to really create.

Took some photos in the rain. I love black & white recently.





Listening
Democracy Now
Health Insurers Investing Billions in Tobacco

Reading
Escher On Escher

Good God, I wish I'd learn to draw a little better! How much effort and persistence it costs to try to do it well. Every once in a while the stress of it all drives me to the point of a nervous breakdown. It is really strictly a matter of persisting tenaciously with continuous and, if possible, pitiless self-criticism. I believe that to produce prints the way I do is almost strictly a matter of wanting so terribly much to do it well. Talent and all that are really for the most part just baloney. Any schoolboy with a little aptitude can perhaps draw better than I; but what he lacks in most cases is that tenacious desire to make it reality, that obstinate gnashing of teeth and saying, "Although I know it can't be done, I want to do it anyway."

M.C. Escher....."Escher on Escher Exploring the Infinite", pg.8

Music - Rhythm
Spent some time playing djembe (West African drum) tonight. As a trumpet player, always playing melodies and having had a love for harmony for the past 30 years, I have always felt like rhythm is my weakest area in music. Plus, as a trumpet player I feel like I play only a small percentage of every song. I want to learn more instruments so I have more opportunities to play during a gig.


Games
Played a great game I have loaded on my MAC called MACSWEAR. It's a FREE download. I love these shapes and it has made me realize that I always loved geometry but, hated the way it was taught in school. I guess for that reason, I just never did well and couldn't wait for that class to finish. Now, all these years later, I really want to learn all I can about geometry.