what I'm doing now #13
Reading books, planning travels, playing sports, watching movies & TV, enjoying life, and contemplating a new project. The usuals!
reading Circe and other books
Last night on the bus from Seattle to Vancouver I read the last fifty five pages of
CirceCirce (2018)
by Madeline Miller
I can see why my wife Z loves this book. It’s well written and rich with themes of individuality and motherhood, of womanhood and misogyny, of friendship and romance, of pride and shame, of love and cruelty. For most the time I spent reading this book I thought it a hodgepodge of tales until the final chapters when Miller brought the story to a sustained climax and completed Circe’s character arc elegantly and to great catharsis. Reading this work of Miller’s you appreciate her well earned knowledge not just of Ancient Greek mythology but also of the Heraclean efforts women of all ages have undertaken to remain whole and true despite the forces that threaten to tear them apart. This is as much a book about Titans and Olympians as it is about the difficulties of being a person of integrity. Integrity not in the abstract terms of flaw and virtue but in the bloody, scarring, fleshbinding terms of human experience.
. It finished strong, a feat I think more great than starting well. The start is a place of possibility, an opening. There are yet so many worthy ways to go. But at the close, the author can deliver us to one place only. In ending Circe Miller excelled.
On the side I’m reading How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish. My friend J recommended it when I texted him (like I did several other friends) two sentences and asked him which he preferred. I did so to test the ideas I wrote about in
how to revise a sentence #5how to revise a sentence #5
At the beginning of Chapter Ten of Madeline Miller’s
Circe, the protagonist arrives in Crete, the island that her domineering sister rules oppressively. Upon docking at the bustling city port, Circe is told to make her way up to the palace immediately. She narrates:
Before us, the huge limestone stairs wavered in the heat. Men streamed past us, servants and nobles alike, their shoulders sun-darkened and bare. Above, the palace of mighty Knossos glowed on its hill like a hive. We climbed. I heard Daedalus’ breaths behind me and Polydamas’ in front. The steps were worn smooth from years of endless hurrying feet.
With that last image, the author culminates her depiction of this new context. She manages to do a lot with a sentence of modest size:
The steps were worn smooth from years of endless hurrying feet.
Though she says little about the physical appearance of the staircase, she conjures a vivid image of it by stirring our imagination about the history and nature of the kingdom that it serves. It is a kingdom whose subjects have long toiled in relentless heat to shuttle riches up from the docks to the throne. It’s an evocative image delivered concisely.
But I have one problem with it – the execution. I think the phrasing needed more iteration. The last bit in particular – endless hurrying feet – is a somewhat clunky, disappointing resolution.
It was hard to pinpoint what bothered me about it. At first I thought it was the word endless. I figured I’d replace it with ceaseless. But by the time I’d found a phrasing I preferred, it didn’t matter much which of those two words was used.
One thing that bothers me is the mushy -ing form of hurry. Another is the awkward way endless and hurrying get in each other’s way modifying feet. My instinct is to break up this awkward trio and to pick a form of hurry that’s more pleasing to say and hear, like hurried or hurry itself.
Here’s a rephrasing that conserves Miller’s idea and that I think improves the sentence that contains it:
Years of endless hurry up and down the steps had worn them smooth.
This rephrasing has a few subtle effects. By adding up and down it gives suitable motion to the image, highlighting the endless hurry of the kingdom’s subjects. And by flipping the order of elements – history first, then present – it refocuses the sentence ultimately on the present, where the action is happening. But if there is a major improvement I think it is a rhythmic one. Reading the two versions one after the other shows how different they are in that respect:
The steps were worn smooth from years of endless hurrying feet.
Years of endless hurry up and down the steps had worn them smooth.
The phrasing of were worn smooth and endless hurrying feet stunt the flow of the original sentence. And perhaps this was an intentional choice by Miller. In the end, it’s a matter of taste and aesthetic affinity. But I prefer the regular rhythmic flow of my sentence (which I believe is in Trochaic meter).
Using Scansion notation, where a stressed syllable is marked with / and an unstressed one with x:
x \ x \ \ x \ x \ x \ x x \
The steps were worn smooth from years of endless hurrying feet.
The rhythm of were worn smooth is ambiguous to me. Regardless, the sentence doesn’t flow with the same pattern throughout. On the other hand, this one does:
\ x \ x \ x \ x \ x \ x \ x \
Years of endless hurry up and down the steps had worn them smooth.
As I progress into the novel, I notice more sentences with opportunity for rhythmic tweaking.
Here’s one that gathers pace, then slows over a speedbump, then speeds back up immediately.
A door that did not open at his knock was a novelty in its own right, and a kind of relief as well.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
itself
A door that did not open at his knock was a novelty itself, and a kind of relief as well.
Swapping in its own right with itself smooths over the hitch while maintaining the meaning, although it introduces a bit of rhyminess (with as well) that makes me hesitate. Too sing-songy?
Moving on. Here’s a sentence missing a beat.
I fear I have robbed them not only of their youth but their age as well.
^^^^^^ ^
I've of
x \ x \ x \ x \ x \
I fear I've robbed them not only of their youth but of their age as well.
It’s clear to me that adding of improves the sentence. But why? Is it because it rounds out the parallelism in of their youth and of their age? I don’t think so. Here’s another sentence from the book that also avoids repeating the preposition but sounds perfect:
How an axe might feel in wood instead of flesh.
Inserting an in before flesh to mimic in wood would be a blunder.
How an axe might feel in wood instead of in flesh.
The sentence strides gracefully to its finish and at the last moment we shove a hurdle in its path.
So, it’s clear the problem was one of cadence, not of symmetry. Returning to our edit:
I fear I have robbed them not only of their youth but their age as well.
^^^^^^ ^
I've of
x \ x \ x \ x \ x \
I fear I've robbed them not only of their youth but of their age as well.
Compressing I have to I’ve is an optional tweak to help the sentence start off on a steady beat. But it comes at the cost of slightly undercutting the graveness in the speaker’s tone. For that reason, it also makes sense to preserve the more formal I have in favor of the more casual I’ve.
By contrast, in the following sentence, replacing he had with he’d is an easier decision because it mirrors the opening He’d as well as tightening the rhythm:
He'd told me once that if he had brought the bow, he would have been the best archer in both armies.
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^
he'd either army.
x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / / x x \ x \ x
He'd told me once that if he'd brought the bow, he would have been the best archer in either army.
It’s hard to nail down what it is about in either army that flows better than in both armies. Maybe because it’s easier to say? Consonants leading into vowels leading into consonants? Or maybe it’s the additional syllable again leveling out the rhythm.
In the revised sentence, there remains a rhythmic wrinkle in archer, which flips the order of beats for two syllables.
Strong (/) then weak (x) rather than weak followed by strong.
It’s not obvious that this is a problem.
Arguably, because the best archer is the climax of the sentence, the place where the parts coalesce into meaning, it makes sense there to slow the reader down.
(Editing my previous sentence, I changed makes sense to slow the reader down there to makes sense there to slow the reader down, hoisting up there to give the phrase a more interesting shape and sound without corrupting its meaning. There’s a threeshot pah pah pah rhythm to makes sense there that then unwinds nicely in the three iambs that follow it.)
Ultimately, rhythm is not a good unto itself, but a technical tool at the writer’s disposal. It all depends on the effect the writer aims to create and how rhythm might contribute to it. The point is not to apply it indiscriminately, but to wield it judisciously. No better way than developing close acquaintance with it. Hence the exercise.
, in which I took sentences from Circe and tried to improve them.
I’m also listening to Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane after I heard him speak so eloquently about writing in this interview. He is the latest addition to the list of writers I admire.
thriving in islands of time
Bus trips and ferry rides and even international flights have turned out to be times well suited for me to read and write. They are for me exceptional
ecologies owhat is attention?
From where I am sitting on my balcony I can see the TV out of the corner of my eye and it’s very difficult to ignore it. I keep turning my head away to think of what to write next, but then when I turn back to resume typing on my computer, the flashes of color and light from the TV make it very difficult for me to focus. I just went inside and turned it off, but still my mind keeps diverting attention to the now black rectangle in my peripheral vision. Let me draw the curtains.
Sometimes when I want to be alone I come out and sit here. It’s a lovely little space detached from the living room. However, if Z is sitting at her desk on the other side of the glass where I can see her and if my need to be alone in that moment is particularly potent, I draw the curtains. Her presence remains exactly as it was and I remain aware of it, but it doesn’t intrude on my attention in the same way.
In his book
The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew B. Crawford points out that this involuntary aspect of attention makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary standpoint. New information demands attendance. Is it a predator? Prey? Or just a gust of wind? Regardless we must pay attention to it so we can make sense of it and integrate it into our mental model of the current environment.
Crawford appropriates the term ecology – the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings – to describe this fundamental relationship between our attention, our life, and our environment. He describes, for example, the “ecology of attention” in airport lounges where the news stream endlessly on TVs oriented in various directions. Even if the talking heads are muted, the infinite sideways scroll of symbols at the bottom of the screen will hijack the attention of travelers who would rather rest idly.
(Crawford astutely points out that the advertisements shown on these TVs exist to continue the transfer of wealth from these common travelers to the ones in the VIP lounges, who rest comfortably without having their attention exploited by their surroundings without their consent. I find these socioeconomic analyses of technology much more relevant and important than the technophobic ones. The same goes for Artificial Intelligence. I don’t worry that AI will take over the world, I worry that those who already rule the world will use AI to accelerate and automate processes of wealth extraction.)
I think the evolutionary perspective can also help explain why time in nature feels so right. This is the primordial ecology of our attention, the environment in which our brains adapted for us to live and thrive. And yet I don’t think we need to draw purist or atavistic conclusions against technology from this observation. Feelings of connection and coherence arise in us not only from time in nature, but also from time using artificial tools and inhabiting constructed environments.
The humble coffee shop for example is a place where many of us go to read, write, think, converse, and do other things that require our focus. The intricate weave of activity and mixture of sounds create a conducive ambience for our attention. How is it that such a busy, public space is so popular for quiet, private activity? This is only counterintuitive if we think distraction is the only unneutral effect our environment has on our ability to focus. From experience we know that it can be easier to focus in spite of extraneous sensory information rather than in absence of it. Perhaps because our cognitive capacities evolved in settings where total absence of sensory input was rare, our minds focus more easily against a backdrop of mundane information. Certain kinds of technologies are essential here and even computer screens are welcome, but not TVs because they would be too disruptive. A good ecology of attention not only prevents distractions, but encourages focus.
I’ve moved into my apartment now, into the warmth. Out in the balcony my fingers were getting too cold. Above my head the clock ticks and farther away traffic brushes by in irregular strokes. The faint wail of an ambulance emerges suddenly and then fades quickly. Occasionally in the hallway outside our apartment a door opens and then shuts a moment later. Our little dog scurries about the living room looking for amusement. My wife Z works intently at her desk a few feet away in silence apart from intermittent bursts of typing and muted clicks of her mouse. Attention to my writing flows easily despite all these things, except when my gaze drifts over to what is happening on her computer screen. So I adjust my sitting position to make it vanish.
what is attention? #2
The shower is so fertile a place for contemplation and creative thinking for so many of us that we have the name shower thoughts for the novel ideas that we produce while we’re there. It’s one of the most ordinary of activities, but it is exceptional as an “ecology of attention.” Like many other routine activities, it occupies you for a small window of time every day. But, unlike other routine tasks like driving, it frees you from having to respond to external information. Unlike household tasks, it renders you in uncontested privacy. All these things are also true for baths, but do they provoke thoughts in the same way? Showers, unlike baths, do not allow you to stay idle nor do they let you entertain yourself with a book or a TV show.
I suspect this last bit is crucial. Keeping your mind busy on a menial task seems to have extraordinary powers for unlocking a certain kind of thinking. There is a reason for the psychoanalytical practice of hypnosis, represented in pop culture in the form of a dangling pocket watch. There is a reason, similarly, for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. It’s not magic. There are mysterious ways of programming our attention and psychological capacities through interactions with our external environment.
. I look forward to them now because I know they will produce something fruitful.
traveling to Ireland
trip to Ireland
— Mentioned in what I'm doing now #13, trip to England
Z and I are vacationing in Ireland for a week from August 8th til the 15th.
Thursday 08/07/2025 – Vancouver, BC
- 4:30pm flight YVR -> YYC -> DUB
- watched two interior design videos
- read about Dublin, The Easter Rising, The Troubles
- watched Thomas Flight’s 1hr video Why Movies Will Never Feel the Same
- read about Marshall McLuhan, the New Criticism, Harold Innis
The late afternoon flight gave me lots of time to get the apartment in order before leaving.
I watered my plants and gathered them all into the office for Z’s mom to water while we’re away.
Baxter is staying with my mom in Victoria.
I expect he’ll bond with her and my younger sister in the three weeks he stays with them as he did with our friends who dogsat him while Z and I were in Indonesia in 2023.
In particular he loves our friend A, who playfought with him.
He loves to playfight.
Friday 08/08/2025 – Dublin
- arrive at Dublin Airport in the morning; take cab to Airbnb, drop off luggage
- get coffee @ The Little Cactus; walk through Smithfield, across River Liffey and into Usher’s Quay
- eat lunch @ SPACE JARU, then browse @ Marrowbone Books & chat with the worker about authors
- continue walk: lounge in St. Patrick’s Park; Grafton St., thronging with tourists; St. Stephen’s Green
- coffee @ Coffeeangel on the sidewalk patio
- walk into Trinity College: Fellows’ Square, around the pristine College Park cricketground
- visit National Gallery of Ireland; dinner @ All Bar Chicken; walk back to Airbnb to shower and unwind
The locals have been very friendly and helpful.
The cabbie chatted with us cheerfully.
Z anticipates being upstaged in the realm of enthusiastic socializing.
It surprised me how small the city feels.
The weather is gray and mild and windy, good for walking outdoors.
There is a good deal of car traffic.
Many if not most buildings are made of brick and sit at two or three stories.
Saturday 08/09/2025 – Dublin
- solo coffee @ The Little Cactus
- brunch @ Brother Hubbard; read on our phones about The Easter Rising
- visit The Spire and GPO, site of The Rising
- coffee @ Copper + Straw
- tour @ Kilmainham Gaol Museum (great)
- eat dinner @ Gallaghers Boxty House
- attend stand up comedy @ In Stitches Comedy
- get takeout pizza & fries from Manor Takeaway Foods
I like it here.
There is an abundance of pubs, quality coffee shops, public transit, bike lanes, leftists, and young people.
Z says it reminds her of Vancouver.
Dublin feels bigger today.
It’s the weekend and this afternoon there was a friendly game between Leeds United and AC Milan so the streets are chock full of people, many in yellow and white Leeds jerseys and a few Rossoneri sprinkled about.
The city center is swarming with pedestrians, pubs brimming with cheerful drinkers pooling on the sidewalks by the entrance.
Out the windows the sound of live music streams laced with singalongers.
Cars rumble and buses whine and bike bells chime on the street.
Sunshine stretches out on the asphalt and above it lights up the translucent flags that hang angled from building fronts.
Sunday 08/10/2025 – Dublin -> Galway
- solo coffee @ Little Cactus; then breakfast & coffee together
- tour @ Henrietta House
- tour & tasting @ Jameson Distillery
- shop for used books in Temple Bar
- pick up car rental @ Dublin Airport (faff and a half)
- pick up luggage from Airbnb & get quick meal from Manor Takeaway Foods
- drive to Galway, settle at B&B, chat with host about what to do tomorrow
At the Jameson Distillery, our host was the most animated one we’ve had in Dublin.
He waved his arms wildly and in husky bellows rattled off his lines, punctuating them with dual finger snaps and tossing of the Jameson bottle from one hand to the other, the glass clinking against his hand jewelry.
He concluded his opening speech by ramming the bottle down onto a prop book, then as if waking from a trance he commented mildly and mostly to himself that this bottle hadn’t broken.
I too was surprised.
Monday 08/11/2025 – Galway
- breakfast @ 8am; I had a Full Irish Breakfast & Z had french toast with fruits
- drive to Cliffden & around Sky Road on the peninsula (scenic!)
- drive to Letterfrack & hike most of Diamond Hill (scenic!)
- stop at Kylemore Abbey; lunch @ Connemara Woodfire
- drive to Killary Fjord (scenic!); get ice cream @ Hamilton Grocery & enjoy view
- spend evening & have dinner in Galway
This was a supremely scenic daytrip.
Exactly the kind that makes our car rental worth it.
Tuesday 08/12/2025 – Galway -> Doolin
- breakfast @ 9am, we both had french toast with fruits; leave B&B
- ice cream @ Linnalla Irish Ice Cream; coffee @ The Oir House
- drive up Corkscrew Hill
- attend sheepdog demonstration @ Caherconnell Stone Fort
- visit Poulnabrone Dolmen, tomb from the Stone Age
- dinner @ Vaughan’s Pub in Kilfenora; arrive @ Airbnb in Doolin to rest & do laundry
- visit Cliffs of Mohar
- struggle to find restaurants serving food after 9:30pm; get takeout pizza from Riverside Bistro
I have an anecdote about my doing laundry at the Airbnb.
I’ll write it here later.
Wednesday 08/13/2025 – Doolin, Inis Oirr, & Dingle Peninsula
- pack and leave airbnb; get coffee & breakfast @ Rocket House Coffee; ferry to Inis Oirr
- rent pedal-assist electric bikes & ride them around the island, visting the sites; lunch @ Flaherty’s Pub
- bike some more; ferry back to Doolin
- drive south along coast, through Kilkee buzzing with activity
- take Killimer Ferry into County Kerry
- eat dinner @ Dough Mamma in Listowel; continue drive to Dingle Peninsula
- settle in guest house of Tig Bhric & West Kerry Brewery
- get a drink at the pub downstairs & listen to the locals sing together in Irish
Thursday 08/14/2025 – Slea Head Drive on Dingle Peninsula, then Knocknagoshel
Part I
- get coffee & breakfast in Dingle; set out on Slea Head Drive
- visit Ceann Trá Beach, where several locals lounged in the water & two kids lazily hurled a ball between them
- visit Lios Stone Circle to see the ringfort & to feed alpacas, sheep, goats, donkeys, and horses
- visit Bee Hive Huts, which belonged to pre-Christian Celtic chieftains
- stop at Cross at Slea Head; get coffee at a cafe nearby with a spacious patio facing the view
- hike up Dunmore Head (one of my highlights of the trip); stop near Dunquin Pier to look down at it
- eat lunch on the scenic patio of The Blasket Centre, a small & wonderfuly architected museum
- returned to Tig Bhric & West Kerry Brewery to pick up leftbehinds and a bottle of beer for my friends Kieran & C
- visit the Gallarus Oratory, a small stone house believed to be over a thousand years old
Part II
- drive to Tralee to buy spray paint to cover some scratches on the rental car’s front bottom bumper
- meet with my friend Kieran in his village of Knocknagoshel during a scavenger hunt he helped organize for the local kids
- chat with Kieran’s girlfriend’s mom about the village, England, immigration, the patriarchy, and more
- go to the pub with Kieran & another local B who until recently was working for the UN in Kenya
- drank beer & caught up; met several locals including Kieran’s girlfriend Eva & a man named Niall who they dubbed “the village philosopher” and who Z & I thought looked like Joaquin Phoenix
- meet my friend Chris, who like Kieran I met and last saw in Berlin in June of 2019 during my post-graduation travels
- drink more beer & eat dinner from a nearby takeaway; sit in a small circle chatting
- return to Kieran’s cottage, where Eva & Chris live as well; drink tea, eat chocolate, play music, & chat
- sleep upstairs in Chris’s attic room while he slept in his camper van outside
Friday 08/15/2025 – Dingle -> Killarney -> Cork -> Bristol
- drink coffee & eat toast that Chris made for us; shower, pack, dress, and load car
- fix scratches on rental car with Chris & Kieran’s help
- hike in Glanageenty Forest Recreation Area with Chris
- eat lunch with Chris @ O’Riadas Bar along the N21 between Tralee & Castleisland
- drive to Killarney to buy Kerry jersey
- drive to Cork Airport & return rental car; drink beer & write this journal while waiting for our delayed flight to England
On our hike through Glanageenty forest we spoke with Chris about various things.
At one point we got on the topic of gender and he expressed his resent for the anti-masculinity messaging he received while growing up.
Lately he had been collecting opinions from people about what it is that makes a man.
A positive definition instead of a negative one.
I offered an answer.
To be a good man, you need self-esteem.
trip to Ireland
Z and I are vacationing in Ireland for a week from August 8th til the 15th.
Thursday 08/07/2025 – Vancouver, BC
- 4:30pm flight YVR -> YYC -> DUB
- watched two interior design videos
- read about Dublin, The Easter Rising, The Troubles
- watched Thomas Flight’s 1hr video Why Movies Will Never Feel the Same
- read about Marshall McLuhan, the New Criticism, Harold Innis
The late afternoon flight gave me lots of time to get the apartment in order before leaving. I watered my plants and gathered them all into the office for Z’s mom to water while we’re away. Baxter is staying with my mom in Victoria. I expect he’ll bond with her and my younger sister in the three weeks he stays with them as he did with our friends who dogsat him while Z and I were in Indonesia in 2023. In particular he loves our friend A, who playfought with him. He loves to playfight.
Friday 08/08/2025 – Dublin
- arrive at Dublin Airport in the morning; take cab to Airbnb, drop off luggage
- get coffee @ The Little Cactus; walk through Smithfield, across River Liffey and into Usher’s Quay
- eat lunch @ SPACE JARU, then browse @ Marrowbone Books & chat with the worker about authors
- continue walk: lounge in St. Patrick’s Park; Grafton St., thronging with tourists; St. Stephen’s Green
- coffee @ Coffeeangel on the sidewalk patio
- walk into Trinity College: Fellows’ Square, around the pristine College Park cricketground
- visit National Gallery of Ireland; dinner @ All Bar Chicken; walk back to Airbnb to shower and unwind
The locals have been very friendly and helpful. The cabbie chatted with us cheerfully. Z anticipates being upstaged in the realm of enthusiastic socializing.
It surprised me how small the city feels. The weather is gray and mild and windy, good for walking outdoors. There is a good deal of car traffic. Many if not most buildings are made of brick and sit at two or three stories.
Saturday 08/09/2025 – Dublin
- solo coffee @ The Little Cactus
- brunch @ Brother Hubbard; read on our phones about The Easter Rising
- visit The Spire and GPO, site of The Rising
- coffee @ Copper + Straw
- tour @ Kilmainham Gaol Museum (great)
- eat dinner @ Gallaghers Boxty House
- attend stand up comedy @ In Stitches Comedy
- get takeout pizza & fries from Manor Takeaway Foods
I like it here. There is an abundance of pubs, quality coffee shops, public transit, bike lanes, leftists, and young people. Z says it reminds her of Vancouver.
Dublin feels bigger today. It’s the weekend and this afternoon there was a friendly game between Leeds United and AC Milan so the streets are chock full of people, many in yellow and white Leeds jerseys and a few Rossoneri sprinkled about. The city center is swarming with pedestrians, pubs brimming with cheerful drinkers pooling on the sidewalks by the entrance. Out the windows the sound of live music streams laced with singalongers. Cars rumble and buses whine and bike bells chime on the street. Sunshine stretches out on the asphalt and above it lights up the translucent flags that hang angled from building fronts.
Sunday 08/10/2025 – Dublin -> Galway
- solo coffee @ Little Cactus; then breakfast & coffee together
- tour @ Henrietta House
- tour & tasting @ Jameson Distillery
- shop for used books in Temple Bar
- pick up car rental @ Dublin Airport (faff and a half)
- pick up luggage from Airbnb & get quick meal from Manor Takeaway Foods
- drive to Galway, settle at B&B, chat with host about what to do tomorrow
At the Jameson Distillery, our host was the most animated one we’ve had in Dublin. He waved his arms wildly and in husky bellows rattled off his lines, punctuating them with dual finger snaps and tossing of the Jameson bottle from one hand to the other, the glass clinking against his hand jewelry. He concluded his opening speech by ramming the bottle down onto a prop book, then as if waking from a trance he commented mildly and mostly to himself that this bottle hadn’t broken. I too was surprised.
Monday 08/11/2025 – Galway
- breakfast @ 8am; I had a Full Irish Breakfast & Z had french toast with fruits
- drive to Cliffden & around Sky Road on the peninsula (scenic!)
- drive to Letterfrack & hike most of Diamond Hill (scenic!)
- stop at Kylemore Abbey; lunch @ Connemara Woodfire
- drive to Killary Fjord (scenic!); get ice cream @ Hamilton Grocery & enjoy view
- spend evening & have dinner in Galway
This was a supremely scenic daytrip. Exactly the kind that makes our car rental worth it.
Tuesday 08/12/2025 – Galway -> Doolin
- breakfast @ 9am, we both had french toast with fruits; leave B&B
- ice cream @ Linnalla Irish Ice Cream; coffee @ The Oir House
- drive up Corkscrew Hill
- attend sheepdog demonstration @ Caherconnell Stone Fort
- visit Poulnabrone Dolmen, tomb from the Stone Age
- dinner @ Vaughan’s Pub in Kilfenora; arrive @ Airbnb in Doolin to rest & do laundry
- visit Cliffs of Mohar
- struggle to find restaurants serving food after 9:30pm; get takeout pizza from Riverside Bistro
I have an anecdote about my doing laundry at the Airbnb. I’ll write it here later.
Wednesday 08/13/2025 – Doolin, Inis Oirr, & Dingle Peninsula
- pack and leave airbnb; get coffee & breakfast @ Rocket House Coffee; ferry to Inis Oirr
- rent pedal-assist electric bikes & ride them around the island, visting the sites; lunch @ Flaherty’s Pub
- bike some more; ferry back to Doolin
- drive south along coast, through Kilkee buzzing with activity
- take Killimer Ferry into County Kerry
- eat dinner @ Dough Mamma in Listowel; continue drive to Dingle Peninsula
- settle in guest house of Tig Bhric & West Kerry Brewery
- get a drink at the pub downstairs & listen to the locals sing together in Irish
Thursday 08/14/2025 – Slea Head Drive on Dingle Peninsula, then Knocknagoshel
Part I
- get coffee & breakfast in Dingle; set out on Slea Head Drive
- visit Ceann Trá Beach, where several locals lounged in the water & two kids lazily hurled a ball between them
- visit Lios Stone Circle to see the ringfort & to feed alpacas, sheep, goats, donkeys, and horses
- visit Bee Hive Huts, which belonged to pre-Christian Celtic chieftains
- stop at Cross at Slea Head; get coffee at a cafe nearby with a spacious patio facing the view
- hike up Dunmore Head (one of my highlights of the trip); stop near Dunquin Pier to look down at it
- eat lunch on the scenic patio of The Blasket Centre, a small & wonderfuly architected museum
- returned to Tig Bhric & West Kerry Brewery to pick up leftbehinds and a bottle of beer for my friends Kieran & C
- visit the Gallarus Oratory, a small stone house believed to be over a thousand years old
Part II
- drive to Tralee to buy spray paint to cover some scratches on the rental car’s front bottom bumper
- meet with my friend Kieran in his village of Knocknagoshel during a scavenger hunt he helped organize for the local kids
- chat with Kieran’s girlfriend’s mom about the village, England, immigration, the patriarchy, and more
- go to the pub with Kieran & another local B who until recently was working for the UN in Kenya
- drank beer & caught up; met several locals including Kieran’s girlfriend Eva & a man named Niall who they dubbed “the village philosopher” and who Z & I thought looked like Joaquin Phoenix
- meet my friend Chris, who like Kieran I met and last saw in Berlin in June of 2019 during my post-graduation travels
- drink more beer & eat dinner from a nearby takeaway; sit in a small circle chatting
- return to Kieran’s cottage, where Eva & Chris live as well; drink tea, eat chocolate, play music, & chat
- sleep upstairs in Chris’s attic room while he slept in his camper van outside
Friday 08/15/2025 – Dingle -> Killarney -> Cork -> Bristol
- drink coffee & eat toast that Chris made for us; shower, pack, dress, and load car
- fix scratches on rental car with Chris & Kieran’s help
- hike in Glanageenty Forest Recreation Area with Chris
- eat lunch with Chris @ O’Riadas Bar along the N21 between Tralee & Castleisland
- drive to Killarney to buy Kerry jersey
- drive to Cork Airport & return rental car; drink beer & write this journal while waiting for our delayed flight to England
On our hike through Glanageenty forest we spoke with Chris about various things. At one point we got on the topic of gender and he expressed his resent for the anti-masculinity messaging he received while growing up. Lately he had been collecting opinions from people about what it is that makes a man. A positive definition instead of a negative one. I offered an answer. To be a good man, you need self-esteem.
and
to Englandtrip to England
Z and I are vacationing in England for ten days from August 15th til the 26th.
Friday 08/15/2025 – Bristol
- arrive in Bristol Airport in the evening, take Uber to Airbnb in Montpelier
- eat late dinner @ Nadu (really good)
- shower and go to bed before midnight
Before we settled on Bristol, Z and I considered visiting Liverpool. When I noticed that Wrexham was nearby, I fancied a day trip down to see them play their first ever(?) Championship match at the Racecourse, or at least to grab a pint at The Turf and meet Wayne, the charming bar owner and Wrexham A.F.C. devotee. I just realized he reminds me of Karl Pilkington. Agh, I’m almost regretting not pursuing this plan. Commute from Bristol to Wrexham would be long and I can’t imagine tickets would be cheap to get, if any were available at all. I suppose it might still be worth it if I can watch the game at The Turf. We’ll see. Z won’t be thrilled with the idea, but the 16th is my birthday and for it she’ll do whatever possible to make me happy. I’m a lucky guy.
Saturday 08/16/2025 (my birthday) – Bristol
- solo coffee @ Poquito
- breakfast @ The Bristolian
- coffee @ Radford Mill Farm Shop
- bike to north end of Bishopston on dott ebikes
- browse bookstores along Gloucester Road
- buy Yuro Press @ Perfecto Coffee Co and chat with barista
- get a beer & watch last 20 minutes of Aston Villa vs Newcastle @ Industry Bar & Kitchen
- browse more shops along Gloucester Road
- walk back to Airbnb and rest
- have lunch @ Nadu, then drop off leftovers at Airbnb
- scooter to Old Vic for free Sofar Sounds gig
- walk through Queen Square, then back to Old Vic for next set of Sofar Sounds gig
- attend stand up comedy @ The Gaffe Comedy club
- get takeout from KFC and get uber to Airbnb
Our time in the Irish countryside was fantastic. There we found the conventional tourist attractions well worth seeing. It is making me reflect on cities and what about them makes them worth visiting. Good food of diverse types. Art shows like galleries, live music, and stand up comedy. Historical landmarks and notable architecture.
A remarkable aspect of a good city is its density. I think I have to shift my mindset. Here it isn’t about covering ground but about drilling down in single spots. Spending hours at a museum. Eating a great dinner in a restaurant mere steps from another where you had breakfast. Even returning to the same restaurant to try different items on the menu. Doing these things feel less like exploring and adventuring.
Sunday 08/17/2025 – Bristol
- sleep in; get coffee & pastry from Poquito; shower & dress
- scooter to Temple Meads train station and ride fifteen minutes to Bath
- eat late lunch @ Comptoir Libanais Bath (really enjoyed it)
- buy airpod bud tips from nearby Apple store
- walk through city centre, visit The King’s Bath, drink from host spring in The Pump Room
- walk Z to Jane Austen Centre then walk alone to Assembly Inn
- watch Arsenal vs Man United and chat with fellow Arsenal fans
- walk with Z to The Circus then Royal Crescent then Pulteney Bridge
- walk to train station, ride to Bristol Temple Meads, scooter back to Montpelier
- get takeout from Oowee Diner and eat at Airbnb
I can’t help but chuckle to myself sitting here on my first train trip in England. The platform was occupied with travelers waiting for the train and when it arrived everyone flocked to the carriage entrances. Z and I were confused to see everyone standing so close to the doors before they opened. Wouldn’t there be people on the train already, some of whom would be disembarking here in Bristol? Indeed there were. The doors opened and people started trickling out, many with luggage and one with a stroller and yet the travelers waiting to board barely made way for them. Z and I looked at each other.
Once we got on the train, we waited for people in front of us to stow luggage and find seats. The seats were mostly occupied but we saw a few single open seats remaining so we stepped down the aisle towards them. Nearest us there appeared to be two single seats open at either side of the aisle but when I came to what would be mine I discovered a small dog panting where he lay before a bowl of water. I considered asking for the seat but then there were more open seats down the aisle. Still it felt funny to give deference to a dog. I turned to the other side of the aisle and asked the girl if she’d mind moving her luggage from the seat next to her. To my and Z’s surprise she replied that she did mind, that she had documents in her suitcase. I said Oh, you can’t put it there? pointing overhead. She said No, it doesn’t fit. Two dreadful excuses. Z and I looked at each other again, mutual incredulity growing. No matter, ahead were more open seats.
A woman with a baby strapped to her chest asked me for help putting her stroller in the overhead compartment. I did and as she turned to get in her seat the backpack on her back touched the face of a middleaged man sitting across the aisle and he moaned and clutched his nose as if he’d been struck. The mother turned to him and said I’m so sorry, are you ok? with all the polite concern in her tone of voice but none much on her face. The man didn’t look at her anyway — he was still holding his face — and he waved her away and said Just sit down. The mother exchanged silent looks with us and sat down.
As Z and I lurched down the aisle of the moving train towards the few remaining empty seats, nobody made to remove their bags from their adjacent seat to allow us it. Each of us had to walk up to a passenger, look them in the face, and ask that they make their spare seat available to us. An opportunity to interact more with the locals I suppose.
Monday 08/18/2025 (Z’s birthday) – Bristol
- sleep in; get breakfast @ The Crafty Egg
- get coffee @ Elemental Collective Grocers
- accompany Z to a couple boutiques on Stokes Croft
- visit Wake the Tiger
- eat dinner @ Poco Tapas Bar (fantastic)
- spend evening relaxing at Airbnb
We’ve been getting around on dott scooters. Bristol is not huge. The best ways for us to get around have been walking, biking, and scootering. We haven’t taken the bus yet because it’s rarely a convenient option.
Tuesday 08/19/2025 – Bristol -> London (Upton Park, SoHo)
- eat breakfast @ The Bristolian
- coffee @ Poquito
- bus to Bristol Temple Meads; train to London; take tube to Z’s friend L’s apartment in Upton Park
- eat lunch @ Chaiiwala
- eat dinner @ Mele e Pere
- get ice cream @ Ben & Jerry’s
Wednesday 08/20/2025 – London (Spitalfield, SoHo)
- get coffee @ Nagare Coffee
- eat lunch @ Bubala w/ my cousin P
- get another coffee @ Nagare Coffee
- browse shops in Spitalfields and Brick Lane
- eat dinner from SushiDog
- see Hadestown with Z’s friend A @ Lyric Theatre
Thursday 08/21/2025 – London (Fitzrovia, Bloomsbury, King’s Cross, Somers Town)
- coffee @ Caravan Coffee Roasters
- brunch @ Rosa’s Thai
- coffee @ Omotesando Koffee
- visit The British Museum
- solo walk in Bloomsbury
- visit Skoob Books, used book store with ample selection; ride Lime bike to King’s Cross
- visit Word on Water book store, then walk around; ride Lime scooter to Somers Town
- get takeout from Roti King & eat at Cock Tavern with beer; chat w/ three old men about Eze’s transfer to Arsenal
Friday 08/22/2025 – London (Blackfriars, Bankside, Waterloo, Covent Garden)
- help a guy at Upton Park station catch the right train to King’s Cross
- solo coffee @ Flow Coffee outside Blackfriars station
- walk across Blackfriars Bridge and along south bank of Thames to Tate Modern
- spend day alone @ Tate Modern; eat a delicious pork shoulder sandwich & good flat white @ The Corner Tate cafe
- ride Lime bike to Waterloo; have a drink w/ Z and A @ Waterloo Taps
- ride Lime bike w/ Z to Covent Garden
- eat dinner @ Sartori
- go to stand up comedy @ The 99 Club
Saturday 08/23/2025 – London
- solo coffee & pastry @ Prufrock Cafe (James Hoffman’s)
- walk in Farringdon & Holborn; ride Lime bike to Islington
- coffee @ Miki’s paradise; walk around
- browse The Armory; attend Matchday Stadium Tour
- eat lunch @ Xi’an Impression
- shop @ The Armory; meet w/ Z and walk around stadium
- attend Arsenal vs Leeds @ The Emirates — the first home match of the new English Premier League season & my first ever Arsenal match!
- wait in The Armory for over an hour to get name & numbers printed on back of jerseys
- eat late dinner @ Nón
Sunday 08/24/2025 – London (Spitalfield, Hackney)
- get Z supplies since she is under the weather
- solo flat white @ Nagare Coffee; walk around
- ride Lime bike to Hackney
- get flat whites @ Elsewhere Coffee (good) and Incoming Coffee (great); walk around
- visit Tate Modern Museum again
- solo meal & drink @ Mercato Metropolitano
Monday 08/25/2025 – London
- get flat white @ Origin Coffee at The British Library
- eat lunch @ Xi’an Impression London again
- get flat white @ Rua Coffee Bar
- wait again in The Armory for over an hour to get name & numbers printed on back of my other jerseys
- ride Lime bike to Camden Market; hang out there w/ Z and friends
- drinks @ London Bridge Rooftop Bar w/ Z, friends, & my friend Anuj
- get late dinner @ Silka Borough Market
Tuesday 08/26/2025 – London -> Vancouver
- take train to Heathrow & fly back to Vancouver
I hope to spend a good deal of time reading and writing while traveling to Dublin, to Bristol, to London, and then back to Vancouver. We leave tomorrow, to explore the Irish countryside and the urban hubs of England. I’m thrilled to say we got tickets to Arsenal’s first home match of the new English Premier League season. If I had a bucket list, attending a competitive game at the Emirates would be on it. And by the end of this month, that item would be checked off.
enjoying the summer
I’ve unfortunately only paddleboarded once this summer but I’ve played plenty of soccer and golf, even a game of tennis. I somewhat regret that we will travel most of August, it’ll eat up so much of the warm and sunny weather we get in our corner of the world.
planning a Xmas trip to Mexico
In December we will escape the dull grey PNW for lovely, sunny Yucatan. I’ve never been yet and I’m so excited to go.
watching Curb Your Enthusiasm and Portlandia
Z likes to compare me to Larry. Like when he declined to roll up his long sleeve so that the dentist could give him a shot because he didn’t want to ruin the elasticity of the cuff. She’s right, I agree with Larry.
It had been years since I’d watched Portlandia. But I’ve been thinking about it recently. More than ten years ago the show stoked in me an interest in cities like Portland that has grown into my enthusiasm today for good urbanism.
watching Dogtooth and thinking still about Severance
The first movie Z names when she gets into a conversation about indie or arthouse films is Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos. I finally watched it and it reminded me of the show Severance, which I think
failswhy is Severance so slow?
The premise and the set are both interesting, but for so long I’m just waiting for something to happen. I want to feel like a mystery is unfolding before me, that the answer to each of my questions raises another even more fervently in need of addressing. But instead I feel like the writers are withholding information, stalling for time. My intrigue wanes into restlessness.
The pace jolts into high gear at the end of season one, when the writers finally show their cards. All this time they have been sitting on highgrade, plotpromising bombshells. And as the season finale approaches, it’s finally time to drop them. Yes, what a thrill. But I don’t feel so much shocked and swayed as I do manipulated. Is this any way to tell a story? Create a sudden climax and end it right there, with not even the beginnings of resolution? Why didn’t the writers introduce the same ideas earlier in the season and develop them throughout? We all know the answer already. In the end, Severance is more asset than art. It is, above all, a strategic allocation for growing Apple’s share of the streaming market. And how do you keep people watching? You end on a cliffhanger.
As a viewer, I feel my interest being managed and manipulated rather than being cultivated. I don’t feel like a thrilling story is being recounted for my entertainment, I feel like I’m being sold a product. Please keep watching, we promise something interesting is coming soon. I’m sure there are people involved in making Severance that want to make genuinely good TV but the overall effort seems to me more like hedging than striving. It’s ironic when you consider that Lumon’s closest analogue in the real world might in fact be Apple. There is the cultlike adulation of a heroic founder, the snaking corporate campus enshrouded in dark glass, the obnoxious secrecy, and so on, but the most meaningful similarity is the basic one. They are gigantic tech corporations held aloft by myths of technotopian supremacy and driven by an everincreasing hunger for growth and expansion. (Also, Lumon sounds like Lemon.)
The basics of telling a good story is like playing chess. You can’t rely on sneak attacks or smuggled secrets. The pieces and the tensions between them are all in plain view, brought into position one step a time. The tensions build until there comes a natural point when the deadlock breaks and the inevitable drama ensues. Consequences ripple and trigger further action. There is no need to contrive plot. It flows out of confrontation between agents in the story. If nothing happens its because the people moving the pieces don’t know what they are doing. Or they’re holding back.
The writers of Severance might well know how to write a good story. But I think the problem is that the real chess is being played by Apple, who is mobilizing their pieces – Severance, Ted Lasso, and so on – to corner a share of the market. Their ultimate goal is not to make compelling television, but to compel us to keep watching.
where Dogtooth succeeds. I’ve made the comparison to a few people and they’ve surprised me with their puzzlement. I suppose it’s not an intuitive matchup, or at least not an obvious one. But I think their premises are similar in meaningful ways.
thinking of starting a new writing project
Z suggested to me a few weeks ago that I write on Substack to engage with readers. She knows I love to share what I write and discuss it because I do it with her all the time. Often on our dates I give her my phone with the browser open to my latest piece and she reads it in silence in front of me. When she Hmms and nods I say What? I want to know what made her react and what the reaction is.
What I write on this site concerns many topics and takes various forms — blog, journal, essay, app, notes. It’s hard to imagine strangers subscribing. To attract and maintain the interest of an anonymous public however small I figure I’d have to offer a coherent and focused stream of content.
What if I write about Arsenal? Like other fans I spend a good deal of my time and energy thinking, talking, even analyzing the activity of this football club. There are of course already many Arsenal content creators making videos and podcasts. But how many people are writing? Maybe no one wants to read about it. But reading about their favorite football club may in fact serve as good runway for men who want to read more but haven’t gotten the habit going.