Journal
2022
September 2022
Ramen recipe
This is how I like to make ramen.
December 2022
I want to be a budding naturalist
Trying to learn the names of local plants, animals, fungi, and rocks
Dreaming all the time
It’s like dreams are the stars, and conscious thought is the sun.
Extensive vs. intensive expression
What you can choose vs. what the music wants
My relationship with Illinois
The album provides emotional continuity across the nearly 15 years it’s been in my life.
Feel free to change my music
I don’t see why anyone’s composition should be above question if it leads to more authentic music-making.
A model of musical dialogue
The progression of innovation & refinement to decadence
Elizabeth Fraser is my favorite singer
She’s what pushes Cocteau Twins’ sound above and beyond.
I wanted to play Wii Party
The announcer’s voice is hilarious
I know snow
I love looking out the window at night this time of year, gathering a sense of the day’s conditions by way of the snow.
My experience with acappella
People singing songs they like with just their voices
Tater tot breakfast skillet recipe
A tasty & hearty breakfast I’ve been making for myself
The Donkey Cabbages
A perfect fairy tale mix of weird & fun that’s well-suited to adaptation.
A year of Snail’s House
I explored a way of enjoying music that had been underdeveloped up to this point.
Cold-induced irritability
On the psychological effects of living in –20°F (–29°C) weather
International Phonetic Alphabet
A fun way to get a better idea of what languages sound like
Status Cafe Emoji Hack
How to get almost any emoji on Status Cafe
I’ll always go for a time loop
Time loops are one of my favorite fictional devices.
I played Patrick’s Parabox
The best puzzle game I’ve played in a long time
Astronomy is super cool
There are crazy things going on out there
Start with examples
The right example will have serious payoff in ease of comprehension.
Building the toolbox
Students of composition need a toolbox of useful patterns and habits
My relationship with Pink Moon
A channel of continuity in my soul
2023
January 2023
The design of gomepage
It’s like a digital garden where great things grow gradually over time.
Where does your culture come from?
Some thoughts on local cultures
My cold walk
I love going on walks even in bad conditions
Five of my favorite singers
What makes a singer a great singer?
Share your notes
Sharing notes plants knowledge in other minds, where it can flourish into a million more ideas.
A gome’s garden
In gardening, you make yourself one part of a larger natural system that supports the flourishing of your plants.
Hollow Knight and Angel’s Egg
Rather than fussing over a dichotomy of style vs. substance, both works propose that substance can in fact be achieved through style.
I want to see inside other people’s homes
I want to see the mundane details of other people’s daily lives
I was a theater kid
I’d love to return to the stage and explore what kind of acting I could do as the person I currently am.
My relationship with 무너지기
The exploration of a lonely but vibrant inner landscape
Memorize a poem
Enjoyment of a poem is incomplete without memorization
My goals for the year
I consider each of these goals to be a gift to myself.
I’m more funny in person
I’d like to learn how to express more of my personality when writing
Stream of consciousness cram
I’m pressed for time today so I’m just going to free write
Pleasant little habits
I’m pondering adding more to my life
Abysmal project completion rate
What even is the purpose of side projects?
My game graveyard, part one
This might become a series, we’ll see
Listening to more and more music
When I was in high school, I was always impressed by people who knew a lot of music, and I wanted to be like that.
My relationship with Colour Green
A pervasive lightness that’s deceptively rich and deep
A little sick of being on the computer
It’s easy to do too much screen time in the winter
My game graveyard, part two
More game ideas I left to die (with one exception!)
Wardrobe updates
I have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to fashion
February 2023
Tesselating building units in Minecraft
A signature of my building style
Disagreeing with friends
It’s precisely those sites of disagreement where we build trust that our friendship can transcend our differences.
Quest for the worst shape
Why are we paying mathematicians to come up with these atrocities?
I want to watch Andrei Tarkovsky’s films
It’s taking me a while because I don’t watch many movies
An unfinished part of gomepage
Just a stub for now.
I have had singing
Let the average quality of singing go down and the total amount of singing done go up
Fireplace jokes
The irony of form without function
Hivemind-facilitating software
Many softwares bill themselves as “tools for thought”, but how about tools for shared thought?
My relationship with It’s a Good Life Honey If You Don’t Grow Weary
Led by the gentle, confident warmth of Alexa Woodward’s voice
What do I think about lyrics?
Well I’m glad you asked!
Musical dry spell
When your primary creative output dries up
Chess etymology adventure
Big fun fact dump incoming
Articulating a vision for your locale
Learning how to share the genius loci
Just intonation introduction
In which I must explain equal temperament first
Long winter effect
Trying to make it to spring
Game graveyard averted
I avoided scope creep & made something I’m happy with
How I update my site
As of now, it’s all manual
My relationship with Fantasma
The sound of summer
COVID reset my personality
If the mind is a garden, COVID tilled up the soil
Just intonation: the harmonic series
The underlying structure of pitches
March 2023
Nostalgia for the present
Nostalgia is part of building a narrative you can process about what’s happened in your life
Let’s talk choral music
It’s still my favorite kind of music
Stories being what they are
Stories don’t have to be symbols of something else to be meaningful
A few of my favorite choral pieces
These are some great ones to check out
Regenerative agriculture sounds cool
Restoring & supporting the ecosystem around you
Just intonation: building intervals
A key insight for navigating just intonation
When it rains, it pours: dry spell revisited
I’m excited to write music again
Rebuilding your food chain
I’ve been thinking more about growing food
Thoughts on ghost kitchens
Brands are like software and it makes me sad
Attempts to make custard
Trying to learn how to get exactly the custard I want
My relationship with Songs From Philadelphia
It has a good angst to it
I love sailing!
Every year I look forward to getting out on the water again
Basics of thrombus
Not the medical term, it’s an awesome four square variant
Show us the garden, not the gate
People might not understand your perspective, but if it’s valuable, the results will speak for themselves
Is the composer a listener or a performer?
Breaking out of “sticking to what you know”
Drinking in the presence of others
Don’t gag!
100-day challenge check-in
It feels great to look back through what I’ve written, knowing it’s the fruit of my persistence.
I can be better
I want to mourn the consequences of my actions when I do wrong, without being afraid to live authentically.
Things people have always done
Connected to the past by human nature
Just intonation redux
Going to try another approach
My relationship with sleep
I’m pretty sensititve to not getting enough
They got me with this postcard
Mail marketing still has potential
11th-hour speedpost!
I’m starting this one at 11:50
April 2023
Is art about self-expression?
I’m not sure that’s the best word for it
Journaling by listening
Music for storing feelings in
Last.fm dark matter
Music you wouldn’t know I listen to
How I like to play
I love exploration
I’d like to travel more
There’s lots to see out there
Maybe sometimes you shouldn’t think
Things are just incomprehensible sometimes
Preparing to write a new piece
I need to get my head right first
Trying new candy
I only ever buy international candy
Just intonation: 5-limit tuning
How do you build intervals out of primes?
My relationship with Hours Were the Birds
The introspective aspect of exploration
Build your own website
Creative freedom, fun learning, and online community
The spring melt
I can’t imagine living somewhere where the seasons don’t really have distinct shapes, as pleasant as that might be.
Giving myself permission to be confidently incorrect
Not everything needs to be defended with the maximum level of nuance
You don’t need GitHub
A nice trick I use to deploy my site
I miss writing every day
It’s only been a week since I finished the challenge
May 2023
What’s up with dowsing?
A mysterious way to find water
Why learn etiquette?
Hopefully, it’s a form of guidance in being considerate
Basic health stack
The things that keep a virtuous cycle going
I just learned about Ratioscore
I’ve wanted a tool like this for a while now
I love isometric graphics
Especially Roller Coaster Tycoon
Building my music collection
I want to own more of the music I love
Hobby spin-up period
Are you so interested in mastery you lose interest in learning?
Udon sauce recipe
Pretty simple but it’s tasty
Note: going camping
June 2023
Back from the camping trip
How did it go?
Have you heard of paramotors?
Seems like more fun than a jetpack
July 2023
I’m putting on a Jam
To encourage the web I want to see
Stan Rogers is a true folk musician
What does folk music mean today?
I love my new keyboard
My first mechanical one
August 2023
New-year goals postmortem
How did that go?
November 2023
My relationship with Nurture
I didn’t realize I liked this one as much as I apparently do
2024
February 2024
Lotso’s heavy burden
This stuffed bear could use some therapy
March 2024
I’m looking for the Hats of 2008
Please send me leads!
September 2024
I want to start blogging again
Unfocused check-in post
December 2024
Why don’t I review my notes?
What am I even taking them for
No new year’s resolutions this year
I’m thinking differently about goal-setting
Songwriting journey
It’s hard to know how to begin with new skills
2025
January 2025
Bingle
My go-to nonsense word
I learned American Mahjong
It’s not like the Windows game
I love being slow
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Infinite undo
A certain artistic preoccupation
Knowing your sources
Content vs. context
Losing steam
I am simply too tired to write.
I joined Toastmasters
“Hello, so, um —” *BZZZZT*
Bachelor slop
I recommend crushed tomatoes
I’m a piano teacher now
I love seeing my students’ progress