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Why on Earth would I want to blog? Will it substitute for email (or any older forms of communication)? Will it take less time or more? Its a place to display photos, but do I really care - or does anybody else care? Can I arrange photos like I do in my travelogues, or am I stuck with linear? Isn't this all a little too self centered (a collaborative blog might work...), or does it just mean that there is far too much memory and bandwidth out there (and too much time spent sitting in front of computers)?

The tornado of fire, at the Fire Arts Festival 2005 (The Crucible, www.thecrucible.org, Oakland, CA - July 15, 2005).

Why Blog?

I spent a day exploring "to blog or not to blog" and came up with "why not?" - I just have to find a style that works for me, and not waste too much time worrying about satisfying the needs of people who aren't even reading it. It seems like blogging is just one more way for people to express their creativity, and it fits into a life already spent in front of a computer. Maybe having a blog is just another requirement of modern society - like email, a cell phone, a car, etc. - and who knows where it all will lead as we evolve toward more technology?

Many blogs seem to be diary-like things and I don't think anyone is interested in my personal minutia so I will refrain from this style (what has changed in society and culture so that we are willing to do this now, at this point in time?), others are an outlet for humorous ramblings (strictly entertainment), some offer commentary and insight (scholarly?) in a world already overloaded with information, and some are more photo oriented - maybe mine will be like this, since I have photos to share and as yet no acceptable way to do it. Maybe it will be hard to blog travelogues - just have to see and learn. And the question still remains "who will read these words?".

Photo: Zi Wei ("purple flower") on the train ride between Huang Shan and Nanjing. She taught me the nuances of Chinese tones ("Dway BO chee!") and couldn't comprehend why I was unable to read Chinese.

I Write, Therefore I Blog

Despite being a scientist, I more or less write for a living and so it is somewhat easy for me. So blogging will just be more of the same? Don’t I spend enough time already writing things no one reads, even though I can’t type? But I am always looking for opportunities to write creatively, knowing that if I practice enough someday I might be worth reading. So bring on the blog – only a couple minutes at a time, an opportunity to post a photo or two, and who knows where it will lead? This might have been ideal while I was traveling, though it was hard to find a USB connection in Asia to download photos with, and just last year was technologically a long time ago and blogging was not nearly so easy. I still wonder who I will give this URL to?, and whether this will keep their interest for long – I don’t think so, because I’m not saying anything. Maybe I eventually will – it will take time to figure out how.

Photo: Cat with no name, Wuqing, China. She never learned my name and I never learned hers. We enjoyed each others’ company for a year, and she has a great home now.

I, Charlie

I’ve got to get done with this blogging about blogging (and as soon as I can get around to investigating the whole phenomena more I may end up blogging about blogging about blogging).

I doubt that it is important who I am, what I do for a living, or what goes on in my life. But just in case, this post tells the story briefly. Born in Maryland (U.S.A.), I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, got a degree in Physics from William and Mary, and another in Materials Science from Northwestern University. The first 28 years in about as many words. Then a rich 12 years (or so) in Idaho, working for The Man – a beautiful place and just what I was looking for out of life, at that time. Dabbled in business and made some mistakes – no, money is not the answer, it’s usually the problem – then thought I had to hit the road. I switched to manufacturing and prowled factories in Indiana, Michigan, and finally China – if life were a river I lay on my belly and always drank deeply; but sometimes too deep. Two years in Northern China is a long time for anyone, but I learned what could be learned from the experience, contributed what I knew (and more things I didn’t know I knew), and then moved on. I spent the next year rambling across SE Asia, from Bali to Kathmandu – but that is another bunch of stories (“the travelogues”); many of these blog photos will come from this time. Now, I live in Berkeley, California and work at a technology start-up company nearby; I try to do some crafts (woodworking, hot glass work, blacksmithing, etc.) and believe that we all have to do something for our culture, so I should volunteer more. I like to travel, I do it very easily, and this is a good thing – the world is more than just our local environment, and experiencing it locally makes us better citizens. Enough about me, let the blog begin – no plans, just writing in the moment.

Photos: When I am lucky families out there in the world adopt me, her family in Wuqing (China) owned a fishing pond and we had a tremendous bond for several years, despite not being able to converse at all. Perhentian Kecil (Malaysia) was one of the most perfect places I visited, and this family there fed me and ferried me by boat for weeks.

Where Do I Begin?

To limit expectations I will randomly shuffle between ordinary and introspective things; expect little from me and you will never be disappointed. Plain banality will fill the space between.

Digital photography changed my life, to some small degree. I had owned cameras before, and even done some dark room work, but it was always too much trouble – not enough great photos for the time and effort it took. Digital cameras were different – small size, instant gratification and the opportunity for improvement (just take another…), no material dross (paper photos), and easy integration into electronic media. The camera actually helped me travel – it was easy to hang out in small Chinese villages when in my palm I had photos of the whole world to show. So some of these photos are from this time – China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Lao, and Nepal were all special places for me – I
tried not to visit but to live there for a short time. Localize. Other photos (and they are an important part of the blog – without the pictures the blog would not be worth it) will be from the Western part of the U.S. or from future travels; no plans right now, but travel is one of the things that I do, so it will happen.

Comments on these blog postings? I don’t really encourage them for and so I may not read or respond to them – emailing me, to engage in the lively art of conversation, is a better idea. Anything too easily accomplished is usually not worth having.

Photos: I have not written the travelogue on Bali yet (2 months there - as long as they would let me stay) and this new blog format (code hacked to make more space) may get me going on it. Durians and rambutans for sale in the hills above Lovina, and a bawdy monkey image from Ubud.

Back in the Saddle Again

Its been a messy few weeks, moving our tiny "factory" from Richmond to Alameda - it proved impossible to predict how much time and effort would be required to pack and accomplish the exodus, then unpack at the other end and get back to doing research. We did the best we knew how (who could know that the SMTP outgoing email server would go buggy?) and now things are approaching normal.

Then there was that trip into the Sierras...actually parked the car above snowline (~10,000 ft, just over Tioga Pass on the edge of Yosemite National Park) then just walked in a mile to 20 Lake Basin for 2 days. Indeed there were 20 lakes packed into a tiny area midst as much rock and ice as I have ever seen in one place, and certainly no place this fine was as easily accessible. No place is perfect - the mosquitos were thick, it tried to rain each afternoon, and the nights were cold this high - but it is about as close to heaven as you can get, and there may not be as many wildflowers on the other side of the pearly gates.

So its back to trying to create something reasonably useful and creative in this space...

Photos: the crew in the tabla rasa, and North Peak, in the Hoover Wilderness (Inyo National Forest, California).

Zen Traveler?

I wish I traveled in a zen way! Zen, a Japanese word from the Chinese chan, from the Pali jhanam from the Sanskrit dhyanam and ultimately the root dhya-. To see or observe, to meditate. Meditative travel? Certainly travel in an unconventional way – contemplative, sensitive to the local surroundings (not everyone was born as fortunate as we were), few expectations, no hurry, live in the moment, and enjoy every one of them. Stop and see the scene around you, see it as it is instead of how you imagined it would be or want it to be. Sit long enough so that you have some chance of capturing the essence of the place – read a book, talk to strangers, take a nap, do nothing… just don’t be in a hurry to get to the next part of your adventure. Stop taking photos. I have to admit that I don’t go to museums or famous places much – I can imagine what they look like, and I am usually right it seems. What I can’t anticipate is ordinary life – the subtle ways that people all over the world are different. People interacting – with each other, their children and pets, their environment… that’s the fascinating part. ALL my best moments have come from NOT traveling – stopping to see what happened.


Work is still keeping me from writing, but hopefully things are on the path to a more balanced life. Last weekend we escaped to Marin for an Asleep at the Wheel concert - I have been following them, and Texas music, for 20 years it seems and they (or at least Ray) still sound exactly the same. And I seem to know every word. Nothing could be finer than an outdoor concert in California - perfect weather, beautiful scenery, and the cocktails at this tiny venue weren't bad either. And the classic California crowd - passionate, eclectic, eccentric, inspired, and just plain funky.




It was a good day for memorable quotes:
"Rely on the sudden erection of your small dorsal hairs" - Vladimir Nabokov
"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates
"Not all who wander are lost" - JRR Tolkien

Photos: Sherpa family, Everest region of Nepal; Asleep at the Wheel, Rancho Nicasio, Marin County, CA

It's ALL About the Photos

I forgot to mention that this blog is only about the photos. If this is the future of information/experience sharing then I want to see it! What will blogs become in the future except occasionally creative multimedia outlets, ways to live vicariously? The dialogue is just filler – read (or ignore) the captions and maybe learn a little bit about the world; it’s not very important. Enjoy the colors, revel in the people, imagine the experience, get interested, push your envelope, and go some place, … Take a trip and experience the world! Satisfy your curiosity. Make your life a little richer.

Why these particular photos? No reason; these are what I have, and I don’t spend much time selecting them. I have not been nearly everywhere, but I have been to some of the places that are changing the most in the last little while. I explore, how people live, what makes people happy (I’ll let you know when I figure it out – it’s not money…), and how they are changing. All are good memories – might this blog be mostly for me, after all? I’ve found that photos stitch my memories together – they are the skeleton of the stories that I remember. I even find I take photos with a thought to telling a story of that trip/place in the future – subconsciously writing the tale (or manipulating the memories?) ahead of time .

I hesitate to reveal about me too much via photos. The photos are me – invading peoples’ space gently as I try for a good expression takes a lot out of you and makes you work for each image. And soooo many are not good enough to share – just not the right combinations of conditions, but every scene being photographed seemed great at the time. Having a digital (or any other, if you actively use it – at least with digital you can’t spend much time futzing with equipment, missing the moment) camera changes your trip – you now see things too often through the lens of the camera. You need to let your feel for a good photo take over, and occasionally take more pictures than you think that you should (just to get the 10%-20% that are worth having). But taking too many pictures makes for a boring life – live in the moment, and take photos only after you have absorbed it all. Fill the frame with people and plants and animals and things, or crop the photo appropriately before you share it, and throw away the bad ones quickly.

I still ask – why bother blogging?

Photos: Daughter of an outdoor produce merchant (my neighborhood, Wuqing, China), one of the last photos I took in China. Bronze pouring, The Crucible, Oakland, CA.

Wait!

It’s all about the wood, not the photos. Or maybe it is about the people, or the purpose… Good wood is a very satisfying thing, and good figured wood is far finer still. I have had the pleasure to work many fine individual pieces (every one distinct), and these are as good as I have seen.