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Panoptix — Week 2

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After Week 1, I no longer had to wear the transparent eyepatch at night. Not a huge issue, but it had been a bother.

The major difference between week 1 and week 2 was really positive — I was progressively adapting to the new lens. During the second week I found that on more occasions I was noticing that I could read small print up close. I would be reading something on my phone screen with both eyes open and relaxed, (and at this close distance the naturaleye would be sharp) but then realize that it was the new eye that was seeing things sharply.

Anyone who’s nearsighted knows that without glasses or contacts you can get right down close and see the pores on your hand. It was becoming obvious I would no longer have that microscopic tight closeup vision once both my IOLd were in place. Like let’s say 6 inches away. Totally blurry at that distance, and maybe magnifying glasses would do the trick — but I don’t know for sure. Just beyond that, however, at 10 or 15 inches I could frequently read things like small print on a medicine bottle. It surprised me when it happened, and it was unpredictable and unreliable, but left me very hopeful.

Now at 13 days post-surgery, I’m scheduled to have the other IOL implanted tomorrow. A little apprehensive, but upbeat and excited to see how the two eyes work together.

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2022 year-end greeting

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What a year! 

From frost on rooftops out our windows (San Francisco – frost?) to the vivid red maple blooming in front of our home, we continue to appreciate life and beauty!

 

Kathryn: I am still leading the Feldenkrais program for adults with severe neuro-motor challenges at Bay Area Ability Now and also co-leading a weekly meditation practice group for Tergar International on Sunday mornings, with my colleague Cristian Lotito—something I’ve done weekly since April 2020, and monthly in person before that. The photo shows me with Cristian and Mingyur Rinpoche, Tergar’s Founding Teacher.

 

Kathryn: This year I began my studies with Upaya Zen Center in a unique 2-year chaplaincy training program that serves not only individuals, but also communities and the world. It is based in caring about the value of Buddhist principles for living, systems perspectives regarding social change, and intentions to nourish healthy community and society. For years my books and professional work have focused on creating healthy organizations for a healthy world: This brings a new community and new approaches.

 

I was drawn to the work of Roshi Joan Halifax (photo left) several years ago, and I am delighted to be able to study with her “in person” on zoom. (You can see my small face on the zoom insert above her head.)

 

My study of the chaplaincy grows out of all my previous work with organizations, leadership, and meditation. To get a sense of what I wish to nourish in the world, enjoy reading my most recent article “How generative mindfulness can contribute to inclusive workplaces”, published in the Humanistic Management Journal last December (read the article). As my co-authors and I wrote, “Humanistic management and mindfulness practices can potentiate one another to foster an inclusive society. By moving beyond a limited instrumental understanding of mindfulness practice to a generative mindfulness that incorporates a recognition of the rich nature of the human mind, awareness of cultural practices, and deeply rooted ethical foundations, managers can create organizational cultures that honor the sacred in every human being.”

 

Jim/Sky: It’s been mostly-sunny days this week on the ski slopes near Lake Tahoe, and we’re happy that we’re both skiing — at least on the fair-weather days. (Temp 36°F day and 18°F night)

Despite a ski injury last January, Kathryn has continued skiing and loves it — as she has for many years. These photos of us were taken yesterday!

 

Jim/Sky: Kathryn also got to visit with her sister Susan Amber Gordon on the East Coast, despite our lessened eagerness to travel since the start of the pandemic.

 

Play It Again

Jim/Sky: In 2022 I started producing my feature-length film Play It Again about “Coming home to music.” I’m personally an extreme example of this. For me the coming back started in 2014, then accelerated to full tilt in 2015-2016 at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where I completed a full-time post-graduate year in Technology and Applied Composition. At that time, I had already been thinking about making a film about the experience, but there just wasn’t time to complete the coursework and do a film at the same time. So in February, 2022 I finally started filming. An intermediate full-length cut of the film is completed now (December, 2022) and with the filming of one more scene in January, we will have it all “in the can.”

When I went back to music in 2015 I said that “software had caught up with us” and was finally enabling a new breed of composer and compositional process — with sampled instruments it had become possible to compose and play back in real time at good quality — a new cyclical compositional process much like software development. Well by 2022 it was obvious that iPhone hardware and software were advanced enough that “filming” could be similarly streamlined and available to far more would-be producers. So I became one of those. The film is almost entirely shot on iPhone with wireless sound recording right into the camera as well. Sign up for more film info!

Play It Again filmThe Third Harmony (film) CD

My film will be available in February, 2023, and if you visit the Play It Again web site, you can sign up there for email notification.


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Gandhi Action Figure

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gandhi-action-figure-headMy friends at The Metta Center, which focuses on nonviolence education, sent me a holiday card. The card is more like a Mahatma Gandhi action figure. Gandi was, of course, a cornerstone of the peaceful action which resulted in India’s independence from Britain in 1947.

The cutout cards are produced by the Unemployed Philosophers’ Guild and they stand up on four legs. There are philosophers, writers, activists, scientists, composers, and many others. The (Unemployed) Philosophers’ Guild sells its cards and other products online. (The online store was broken when I tried it today, but they’re also sold in many stores.) It’s worth a visit to see the promotional videos. Cute.

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Where’s your external brain?

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SD-card-shadowedFor years I’ve kept snippets of code in a file that I refer to when I need a cookbook of sorts to perform some magic incantation I only need to invoke once or twice a year. I just don’t need to keep this kind of stuff in my head. I call the file Gems of Wisdom.

You know, in programming (which I do a lot of), there are often little gotchas that require hours or days to figure out. And once you’ve figured them out, it’s easy to forget them if you immediately move on to the next challenge. Working at the level I do, which often requires typing command-line stuff, I’d never remember this stuff character by character unless I used it every day. [Read more…]

As the mouse turns – Are you twisted or are you straight?

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use-mousie-twistedAre you “straight” or are you “twisted?”

You’ve probably never thought about this, but if you are currently using a mouse, take a look at how the mouse is positioned with respect to your screen. Is the mouse pointing straight away from your body, or is it twisted around to point directly at your screen?

I constantly find that I’m unconsciously twisting the mouse to point toward the screen (first illustration), even though this makes no difference whatsoever in how it functions. It doesn’t get smoother—it doesn’t get faster—it doesn’t gain precision. Sweeping it leftward in an arc still moves the cursor to the left across the screen. Pushing it toward the screen still moves the cursor upward.

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