Thursday, February 27, 2003
89883583:: 9:03 PM
I was supposed to go skiing today. I woke up at 5:50am: willed myself out of bed and scrounged around for some suitable ski clothes. I didn't find any, but I pulled together what I could and stumbled out of the apartment a little before 6:15. The sun had not yet risen, but it was clearly not night. In fact the whole city was a flood of blue -- a rich deep blue like the ocean in dreams.
Though in dreams, I probably would have caught my bus. Instead I saw it: two blocks up: pulling away. I started to run, but instead I stood and looked around. The shadows were grey with the residue of night and were fading to color as the blueness rose in value :: The next bus would arrive too late to connect with my ride to the mountains, so I turned and walked back.
Two hours later, I awoke to find that Mister Roger's had passed away. Its always sad news when the world loses a kind and good-hearted person. Reading about it later in the day I found this commencement address he delivered at Dartmouth (his alma mater). Well worth a read. All throughtout the day, everyone seemed to be treating everyone else just a little nicer. Maybe they all knew. Even the conclave of cynics at plastic had kind words. Quite moving.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
89701717:: 1:07 AM
looking out my window is like playing an super-advanced copy of sim city. Whole floors of office building lights go off or on, the needle atop the space needle blinks, planes float by. Each time I spend any time looking I see another 5 things I've never seen: a rotating neon sign, a glimpse of the monorail between buildings, the shimmer of lights across the sound. Out my window I see Castor and Pollux: Jupiter is very bright and parts of Auriga and Perseus are visible. Isn't it supposed to rain here?!
::
When I was younger I spent a lot of time looking at the stars. I read Astronomy magazine starting in 4th grade and marvelled at the pictures of planets, the artist depictions of binaries self-destructing and of spongy-formed renderings of the early universe. The universe was so much bigger and more important than vocab assignments or memorizing state capitals (des moines!). 15 years later, the stuff of the world seems more important :: though its not always so clear why. More office lights blinked off. I should sleep.
Saturday, February 22, 2003
89576838:: 6:15 PM
Army of Me
A couple years ago I did an AltaVista search (the best search engine of that era) for other instances of "Tom Chi" in the world. I figured I should keep an eye out for all those other shady "Tom Chi's" :: after all, what if one of them became a serial killer? I had witessed such problems first hand from Joey Buttafuco, (who was in my freshman dorm) and more recently from Michael Jordan (did wireless systems for robocup2002). Anyway. After several hours of searching, my razor-like focus and freakish attention to detail lead me to realize that *I* was probably most likely to be a serial killer :p.
So a couple months ago, an alternate-universe Tom Chi signed my guestbook, noting ominously:
"There are more of us out there than I would think...you appear to be from Seattle? I'm pretty sure there is one in NYC, as well as one in New Haven..."
I decided to investigate further.
Apparently I attended Yale, Stanford, UIUC and Cornell, am a licensed acupuncturist who also teaches wing-chun kung fu, have a private practice specializing in foot and ankle problems, design for the department of transportation, and double as a spicy Indian ketchup. Oddly, a Google image search for "Tom Chi" turns up a picture of a broken down house. Regardless, I'm sure I speak for all Tom Chi's when I express my desire to collect and form a giant robot using our combined abilities to conquer the Earth.
Only the combined forces of John Smith could stop us...
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
89410215:: 8:02 PM
On the flight home I got [ this ] shot of the whole city, and [ this ] amazing shot of the clouds on the water. Waiting for the bus, I took [ this ] Gomez-esque photo.
Friday, February 07, 2003
88739178:: 7:21 PM
On the way home I told my friend Dave that I would record an entire rock album over the weekend. I'm not sure why I said that, but I'm sitting with the guitar now.
Monday, February 03, 2003
88514617:: 9:02 PM
My song for the Columbia crew: [here]
Thanks to blogger suddenly a lot of people are finding themselves at my site. Here are some ways in which to escape: :p
030201 :: Gallery site for professional photographer Derrick Gomez.
dyske:: If Wittgenstein ran an ad agency...
bloodysteak:: Mike Keesey, artist, programmer, taxonomer
davepeck:: Musical partner in crime.
friendblogs: dsandler KC andre osunick
and my illustrious girlfriend: lucille whitaker
Saturday, February 01, 2003
88409226:: 9:28 PM
Today the space shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry just 15 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center. The crew of 7 was lost, and fragments of the shuttle were scattered across easten Texas.
::
Awaking today, I began work on a new song and was puzzled by the flag at half staff on the space needle. I learned of the tragedy in the early afternoon and finished the song using interview clips of the astronauts from an NPR feed which ran today. Notably during this mission the Columbia crew observsed a moment of silence for the crews of Apollo 1 and Challenger.
::
This song is for them. If there are problems with the link, try here.