On my phone I keep a note for the year, a place to stash ideas and inspirations, words that I like, things to look up for later. I built a shortcut that allows me to jot things down and automatically add them to the note, with an empty line separating it.
I don't pretend to remember all of what these words mean, but they meant something to me at the time, enough to write them down.
##2023 Bin
i should be working on my thesis right now.
laser-cut felt wreath. Will require a core.
what urges are passed down
digital molting
electronic candle that flickers more when you blow on it
“I don’t really like it but everyone else does, so i guess let’s do it”
adulation: "servile or insincere praise" -> This is usually said to be from ad "to" (see ad-) + a stem meaning "tail," from a PIE *ul- "the tail" (source also of Sanskrit valah "tail-hair," and Lithuanian valai "horse's tail"). The original notion would be "to wag the tail" like a fawning dog (compare Greek sainein "to wag the tail," also "to flatter;" also see wheedle).
wit: to know, "mental capacity",
bibliomancy
wikipedimancy
rhapsodomancy
wandermancy
the food my downstairs neighbors make smells like GOD
i come home and it’s just
Oh god do i want whatever is cooking up on that stovetop
https://twitter.com/OrrKislev/status/1623024377469014039
A glimmer of a notion of a nothing of a whisper of a figment of an idea. - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.
192.168.50.129
sandwich adafruit n00ds in between acrylic
cut slots
FIELD NOTES - SF MOMA WITH CONVERSATION PIECES AND THE VISITORS
- furniture all in one. lots of love.
- chair made of clay, coated in a protective plastic layer
- un-fragile hanging piece
- furniture meant for and not meant for the home. Meant to challenge.
- lights! oh gosh the lights. not task lights, but beautiful ones.
- a flocked rock that i wanted to touch desperately
- chairs that question the nature of their materials
A Review of The Visitors
Literally just an incredible show. Created of a single hour take, multiple rooms of a house are recorded and each musician gets one. The directional sound and intimate shooting make it feel like you are a part of a precious, fleeting moment even as you know it will run again as soon as it’s over. You whip your head left and right at the different rooms, trying to catch glimpses of everything happening at once
I feel the splash of the bathtub, the throb of the bass. I smell the smoke of the cigars, the sticky sweet champagne, the musty sheets. I feel the air cool as they leave, walking barefoot into the grass.
“extremely approximately”
a year lasts approximately forever
useless machine: comfort dongle
“a light snack” light
in our own words
the preciousness of material, the ability to be in-precious about it
to be an artist, the art cannot be precious
it needs to be like water
something you pour and drink and consume and wash away
boredom as the key to novelty
sometimes we frustrate ourselves on purpose
as if the everyday challenge wasn’t enough
challenges are an escape
if they’re surmountable
butt bombed into oblivion
is a great band name
if i could stop time for a second
i’d take the extra moment
in bed
Nothing is ever “from scratch”
you did not build the wood you carve from
the sun
the dirt
have done so much before you.
I don’t want to be scared anymore
today is made for me to do what i can, and take care of myself
there are some things to do, to take care of, like laundry and cooking and grabbing coffee. and there are other, larger things to tackle, like designing and planning a large fabrication project, like figuring out what to do with the words.
there’s plenty to do but also it’s not the end of the world. You can take your time. Do it right. Let yourself think.
I feel like there should be alt text poetry
gaze upon my flesh and perish
https://craftsmanave.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8e-gBhD0ARIsAJiDsaVejqWDGJJfE4fq0oNatjDyazGbLzFXaqp_DP41Jh3TmIAgfWjUnqUaAq7_EALw_wcB
receipt paper + lighter
the lighter moves to write something
but your challenge is to keep it a certain distance from the lighter
otherwise it burns
there’s not much left to the light
if I lean a little to the left
and squint
there’s some time left
may the transit gods be ever in your favor
I want to create a shortcut they will automatically add any text or right to the end of this note
have you ever noticed that altars and vanities have the same shape
the joy is from the fact that it's personal
so make it personal
personal but open
What is the precious part of the thesis? How do you hone in on those precious parts?
Why do we want radical honesty in social media? Partially to allow for groundedness in our feeds, but also because to some extent we desire it to be known that everything about ourselves, even iur random thoughts, are cool.
if we can have a language model imitate sound but not produce meaning (ie parrot complexly, but not actually "know" what it's doing)
this is like the dogs with the buttons
i should backlight my thesis, and add smaller lights to the edges of the altar to spotlight receipts in the dark
What are the world's smallest pilgrimages?
- to the store
- to the dining table
- to the fridge
- to your bed
define pilgrimage. define small.
hello adnan
have you ever just felt a bus gun it?
like the driver found an opportunity to be on time and today, just this once, decided that the thrill and the rush were worth it. somehow my phone is at 40% battery and i've just started the day. somehow i see an open window that i want to climb through. somehow i'm stuck in traffic again with a bus driver that won't budge an inch, which is probably for the best considering how many people are on this bus with no seatbelts or other safety equipment. if we crashed, my face would smash directly into this metal handrail, and then perhaps i would suddenly and unpleasantly have no teeth to speak of. if we crashed, the other car would probably have bigger problems. if we crashed, would the city of new york pay for my medical bills? my tuition?
i don't think i got enough sleep last night.
today everything is listing to the left
can't catch my breath
compensating but always off kilter
two nerds and a bag of dirt
being acknowledged and ignored all at once
personal micro joys and micro sorrows
highlighter as portal to a state of mind, captured in your scribing
books as portals not to other worlds but to the state of mind of the author
studio is a place for your work to live, breathe, for all the bits of brain to get showcased
what's an online studio
what's a distanced studio
what's a remote studio
perfect day in smells and patterns
green and orange, dappled sunlight, citrus, candle smoke, fresh bread, canvas, herringbone, sawdust and cloves
after 11pm: things that just need to be DONE, tasks that have a clear goal, things that can be completed
Before 11pm: things that require CONCEPT and THINKING and anything CREATIVE.
i don't go to chinatown enough. it's an amazing place.
lab play play lab altar everyday altar is pretty good tbh
softcore is also good
care for but with all the italics. care for or care FOR or CARE for or CARE FOR
heel HOOK heel hook lmao
classifieds but just ME and me
how do you take the joke farther?
literally 100 days of art ideas. make it a game, make it overwhelming.
magazine as iterator …?
folder laptop sleeve
https://twitter.com/presentcorrect/status/1646065361492533251?s=46&t=glz43TkC8N1Z6Fpjr3T9wg
a website that shows you the ghost of your past visits
decisions are making decisions
that's what ai is
untitled
(Please God, Shut The Fuck Up, It Is Too Hot And I Cannot Think Over The Sound Of Your Racket)
favorite tips and tricks for amateur fusion 360 and digital fabrication
use the sheet metal feature for creating flat files in order to laser cut precise designs
letters to feel the wind with
define labyrinth
labyrinthine
i think i'm exhausted. deeply exhausted. i think my bones want to lay down.
time capsule talks
https://youtube.com/shorts/eJ6DSskJ9ik?feature=share
leave no statues of me when i die
no plaques nor plates
no gravestones
i do not wish to leave any trace
no object for them to plaster
with markings of their own desire
human adjacent
promposal
will you go to prom with me
flowers and stuff
love and the possibility of french fries
the speed of distruction vs speed of growth
yesterday there was a building there
bias as a material
data as a material
bias is like wood grain
he's building a bookshelf out of balsa
We move on so quickly from things. What about a culture of sitting in it, resting in a moment, drawing out the time?
if you squint
blur your eyes a little
they don't look like bars at all
let me be done
learn to be still
learn to rest
learn to be at rest
enrichment!!!! artist dates = enrichment in my enclosure
life vs lift vs like
The clouds are heavy today with laden rains, whispering to you to go home
There's a storm cloud passing over the city, covering each block
the intersection of fuck all and i'm dying
journal that as you turn the pages adds layers of sound
qihan jiang -> playing WITH the journal
each page adds a meaning, a layer, a time
how would you layer a synth physically?
can you a building physical block?????
i smell of smoke
and unwashed cotton
and humidity
what is the path of least anxiety
to everyone who stopped to speak
to write
to share
you have shaped me, helped me know myself
thank you for being part of me
what are your grounding mechanisms for when you spiral?
why does your brain get stuck in a rut? what characterizes the ruts? what gets stuck?
remembering that it can get good again doesn't help you feel better now
list of future challenges
30 days of illustrator
of outside
of espressos
my thesis is (about trauma | about family | an exploration | stressing me out | unfinished | scary | finished )
violent illumination
modes of access, chorded key access
the moments high leverage
the lasts of things, the ones almost over, the nights to just go
what if i leave this place and lose my artistry? what happens then? how do you hold onto what feels important?
what does it mean to write something over and over until the word is meaningless?
we build so many beautiful things that can only be seen through a screen
i want to build those things in the world so we can experience them unmoderated by pixels
that beacon of light in the distance? that's just a mcdonald's
30 days of
computational poetry
found object assemblage
junk journaling
nighttime photography
photo editing
overwriting
sound samples
science for sciences sake isn’t enough
how depressing it is to know someone
and love them
and for them to suck the hope out of you
the gift of my everyday practice to the choice to take the time to notice the little quirks of life
to play for just a minute
why doesn't cow juice settle?
how do you build your own time
is higher education just a cult?
"i cried today" tote for julia
épi-pen holster made of leather
how many moments have you forgotten to write about? forgotten to capture on camera? to live in the moment is ideal but even the best ones can use a token to trigger their re-emergence. you can gather tokens like a slot machine, like a gum-ball dispenser, listen to them clink into a pile, sift through them with your fingertips.
what's a moth rave
### Early Warning Signs of my Impending Doom
an autobiography (or for now, just a list)
1. the unassailable desire to make, do, or generally be productive at all times
2. new website creation at 2am
3. the recurring thought, "just one more thing"
4. using sound as brain-filler
5. a lack of a consumption of tea
Church of the _______
what is the micro biome of your internet presence?
it's funny that public storage isn't public
you pay for the privilege of storage
housing as right, but also home as right. the right to home.
data redaction in real life - sharpieing out the data you redact from the internet
button wall
if a tree is sheltered it will never grow tall
it will stay, quietly underdeveloped, with tender branches
waiting unknowingly for the moment its protectors fall
is this entire practice just subtweeting
press my buttons, i'm a switch "switchboard"
i'm a survivor of ldds
at least we'll be pretty when we die
email as iterator
great terrible band names
- my friend james
- greenhouse for the dead
- espresso solstice
- mothra rave
- church of the Anthropocene
- the privilege of piracy
my brain is essentially a singular process, no multiplex
who is the beloved? the held close?
i would like to devour a book. i would like to be devoured by a book. what's more poetic, to devour or be devoured by?
how to avoid distracting yourself from the discomfort of being alone with your thoughts
harvesting bugs (jessica stringham)
how old are your trees?
things that feel unreal:
- i leave in less than two weeks
- my journey with this program is over
- i feel good.
practice researching what interest you
practice rabbit holes
practice experiments with no goal
practice trying something dumb
practice googling things
practice writing down silly thoughts
practice being confused
things that are comforting:
- the number of people on a subway platform at 12:41am
what side quests do you sssign yourself in life? what's a side quest? what's a main quest?
phil-in-a-can can do it
crochet plant rope
Diasporic stupidity is looking for an eastern witchcraft, and forgetting about all of the spirituality that exists like feng shui
instrument versus toy
tool versus toy
it's the little knowledge
like knowing to hit the button twice to catch the elevator
fonts being the filters of the text world
paying for your medium to have a mood
Is the vision of the future leisure or purpose? How can both be true?
If clouds were Yimirs brains and thoughts, the sky is clouded with thought today
How many people have ever been photographed? Intentionally or unintentionally just appeared in a photo.
fitting an entire persons story in the margins of a page
representing marginalization
footnote story
i'm a new yorker baby
all i do is complain about things and be better than you
I've worked with words for 161 days now and you know what I don't actually think I'm any fucking better at it, I think I've made 161 things and yeah that might be some kind of achievement but like come in it would be nice to see some sort of measurable improvement for once
this is candle not holder
and what is it inside? it's a mess
anna and toucha from slash gallery
if AI is the new industrial revolution, then the only legislation that i truly think needs to exist is the limitation on creating people or false personas. the disintegration of truth through the use of false personas has been proven time and time again to be distasteful to humanity as a whole despite the type of industry
One day, god willing, I'll have a journal for almost all the years i've been living as an adult. 40, 50, a book for every year. I think that in of itself will be a sight to behold.
and if you don't have your own ancestors to call on, storebought is fine
dopaminecore
summary, notable, questioning
there are so often the things that annoy you only in the transitions
and so when you finish the transition, you forget it until next time
the fact that the back of the toilet is dusty
the moth in the hallway light
street markings illusions
white man enters foreign country and incredibly quickly becomes better at the thing the locals have been doing for years
also white woman is inexplicably the ruler
the people will complain about the crime
about the government
that the judges don't do their job
and they will also find their ways of skipping jury duty
leave me room to be right for once
toui shan (mom’s family hometown in china) -> hong kong
mix and match style and content
cooking video coding content
what if it works?
lasts and firsts
transitionary trials
a birdie falls from the sky in a ray of light
how will voice assistants shape language?
the elderly woman on the bus speaks no english
except for the echoes of "i'm sorry" s she drags her bags of cans down the aisle
bags now echoed in the sandy liang collab with baggu
paid and woven
i want people to love me before they ask me to dance. I want to know they are interested in me as a human and not just a dance partner. I miss the naievety of feeling like dancing with everyone was perfection, was fun, was exhilarating, even when i didn't know their name
speaking of
can you make a masking tape dispenser + stamper?
all the way at the back on the way down
i'm the kid on the way up
today today today
Today the escalator is stopped, and I must do the moving
Today there is a circle of chalk inscribed up on the ground
today it is too warm to wear a jacket
today
today i get one of the old trains (the windows are yellow)
my bart train peeks above the ground for almost exactly 20 second
in fantasy, you can always be willing. fantasy is perfect.
lost landscapes, the pelenger library
What is the reason is Joy?
My shorter commute has a 22nd window, where the train enters the open air, just long enough to clinch the sky. My longer commute stays above ground, the whole time, meanders their houses the way you might expect a secret passageway to take you to a new world between the Ivy.
intentionally blank beanie
failure is not an option, it's a necessity
left intentionally blank t shirt
take yourself seriously
private internets
journals as index of self and time
how do you curate your web
arduino breadboard meets charcuterie board
playing pygmalion
maybe part of what the manic is is the feeling of confused hunger
Today I made my coffee with no spare time to drink it.
Today my mask fits tight across my face.
Today my feet ache across the heel.
a website of todays, via text
subtle tech
minor tech
analog tech
the altar doesn't need to be smart
just seamless
it already has so much impact
focus on easing pain
the projection
zines for us
for little ideas
and travels
and moments in time
what are you tending to? what pathways are being fed?
the sweetest thing a friend did for me is make me boring daal
SPAM PROJECT
digital spam
spam mailer (like an envelope)
digital render of spam, spam musubi
spam can used as spam blocker
spam can used to yell at you
spam meat bow tie
spam meat letterhead
watching someone walk around with a vape and an ipad
like the digital versions of a book and a cigarette
the j meanders through the hills of noe valley like a romantic, carving to and fro, pressing close into the ivy.
joyful things today
- blue angels flying overhead
- conversation with a stranger
- a lost butterfly
- people talking to their dogs like they are humans
today there is a man in an aquamarine dart swinger who has not succeeded in passing the train in its route up the peninsula
today the buzzing in the speaker is not in fact static but instead a bee, trapped behind perforated mesh
i should make mobiles lol
what if your mobile could harness the power of its movement to draw
or record
or shine
Recording a journal at a location on a map
glancingly curated
zine ideas
- what to do when you're lonely
- what to do after a breakup
- the colors of feelings
- poem that wraps around and closes itself
- poem that changes when you unfold it
30 days of documentation
30 days of video
30 days of design drawings
30 days of drawings
the fog is climbing over the hill like an encroaching forgetfulness
but i’m stuck in a dirty train and the windows ruin the picture
what does "uh" look like in different languages
in sign language
in body language
package your merch in pill bottles
One day people won't understand resolutions, because we will have moved passed pixel based screens and rendering into things that are vector only.
we grow to the lengths we are allowed before we are snapped at the edges by passing trains
I'm really sad
Why?
Why not
a truth of the web is that the text on it only lives so long as someone is rendering it
"where do I live today?" map of the body
what if a story needed an audience to be received
i would sooner
i would rather
for your information
just in case
there's a grain in my eye that covers everything in rainbows
when will it stop feeling like i'm running
poet engineer poengineer
a clock that slows down every time you glance at it
i have a sudden desire to make ascii art
we will never build better than the earth itself

betty, in the back, is just a jerk.
this here is my safety stick
camera that prints a receipt of the image
of your experience?
casting led noodles into resin
led noodles with 3v battery?
careful has lost its meaning
has become caution, fear, dread,
when can we return to its core
care full, full of care, for others and yourself
your screen addiction is showing
ldds direct to garment printing
lenticular prints for poems changing
how much effort would it be to spray paint every tool I own with the same orange
I had read enough child psychology to know that this was normal enough, that a parent, at this phase, is in essence sacrificial, that she must, in order to inspire the child's long-term confidence, survive her own destruction. A parent, I had even heard, is merely a fixed spot on the wall that the child can look to, should she need to regain her balance. I knew this all in the abstract, of course, but in practice, I was not a dot on the wall, an immutable shape on the horizon, and I found that the destruction merely had the desired effect of destroying me.
~ Sarah Freeman
Their relationship had been frayed already, I had comforted myself, a tooth so loose it needed just the lightest of tugs. Elle settled in the corner of the room at a little table set up just for her. Maude stood and moved toward her, kissed her on the head. I had done the tugging, sure. Had held the bloodied tooth in my palm.
~ Sarah Freeman
"Very lucky," I said, feeling my face redden.
I had dozens of questions, but none of them came to mind; instead I half-listened, not knowing what to do with the time: it would be over too soon. I did not want to go without saying some-thing, something of importance, and then it was time for a snack, Maude told Elle, and when a single thought did come to me, you can have him back, I was already outside, remembering now that I had forgotten the bag containing the scarf, which I had laid next to me on the couch, and then it was gone, the thought, the pur-pose, the scarf, in the muddle of our encounter, and now the front door was shut, a blue, endlessly dark blue door, much darker than my daughter's room where I pulled the curtains shut, even though it was only four in the afternoon, and even then, it was still not dark enough in the room, so I lay under the weight of her floral duvet, the one we had chosen together, and I wept, oh what a fight there had been about this duvet, a battle at every turn. She wanted this one, but in a different color. Your eyes will be closed, you won't have to look at it anyway, and she had cried and told me I knew nothing about duvet colors, nothing about her.
~ Sarah Freeman
magic 8 ball that's only response is "you're overthinking it"
tactical mint dispenser
penperipheral
something to think about a lot is how access to tools makes us feel more capable. with the right tools you can carve your own spoons. with the right tools you can build your home from the ground up. The Internet came along. Suddenly we were all writers, we were all publishers, we were all bloggers. When TikTok came along, suddenly, we were all video makers, and we wanted to be what about all the other tools, the ones that are digital.
the library of first tries
embroidery on a linkedin sweatshirt
that just says
"i've never gotten a job from" right before the linkedin logo
canvas behind moulded satin acrylic
lenticular over photography
can i cnc cut transparencies
shirt that says snack
Google Translate re-writes my name as Zhang Liya.
Zhang instead of Chang.
Liya instead of Leia.
It makes sense, because in English, the spelling of Leia implies a “lei”, a “lay”-like sound. And the 立 is “lee”.
I’m looking at the other version of my name. Who I could be called.
compulsive documentarian
fischer price observatory
fischer price mechanical arm
fischer price esoteric mechanics
a 15-second stop
above ground on the train
luxuriating in light and slowness
into to poetics and computation
the arbitrary time boundary of the end of the year and all its pressures to finish things, post them, send them out
what else hits "cut" at the end of a time frame
creates a seam to mark your life by
hire so you softly archive yourself
what is one sunset worth
General Tidy, Squadron 2
marginalia