Movember check-in: Seein’ Things

I'm Seein' Things, believe me, you ain't never seen before...

Perception is a tricky thing, and it’s often wrong.

Well, not wrong as such, but rather it depends a lot on the perceiver, including their mood, their mind and their experiences.

Throughout this Movember experience, I’ve been trying to figure out what my moustache was going to look like. I’ve had several moustaches in the past, but they were all cleverly concealed within the confines of a beard. That way, they don’t get illusions of striking out on their own and conquering Hollywood, or Broadway or Stratford..

But as I challenged my self-identity over these last couple of months — or rather, as I challenged my perceivable self-identity — the target and result have flown around considerably. Continue reading

Movember update: mighty fine stache

Once you have broken the overwrought pattern, the ends of it wave back and forth, madly trying to connect to other things. New patterns form, weak and unsupported, very tenuous and temporary. Strange insights may be had at this time, as the patterns are formed in your mind, and it feels freer than ever, frighteningly, exhilaratingly, intriguingly so.

The interesting thing about a spiral — even one that you are out of control in! — is that it comes close to the point where you were before. You can see it, just over there. If the spiral isn’t regular and smooth, the points may even cross over, intersecting but with trajectories in opposite directions. You can linger at that point, but the movement won’t be in the same direction.

Life seems like that, sometimes, composed of moments that are similar to the past, occasionally repeating but never quite going the same way. Continue reading

Movember Update: I Have Unlocked “Rocked A Vest” Achievement

It’s official: vests rock!

I now look upon a collared shirt with no vest or no tie as somewhat lacking.  It’s like it lacks structure and form.

A collared shirt alone is a void. Like space without stars. Or an empty ice cream bucket.

Much like a face without a beard.

Or maybe just my face without a beard. Although now I’ve had chance to grow a moustache. With only half of the month completed, I can know call myself “moustachio’d”.

That is, if anyone can. (It largely depends on the word-status of “moustachio’d”..)

It’s been an interesting month to challenge myself. Growing a moustache. Regularly blogging about it. Learning acoustic guitar. Wearing a vest every Tuesday. And yesterday: hemming pants. Continue reading

A Dressing Up, A Dressing Down: RIP My NaNoWriMo 2011, Long Live Movember!

First: let me admit that there really wasn’t much hope for me to do NaNoWriMo this year. In fact, it was really a doomed proposition, given that I’ve felt that I’ve had no free time lately, and really need to make the homestretch push on getting my Phd finished, done, over with. It’s really what I’ve been needing to do, and perhaps part of me has been avoiding it for a while.

Writing a PhD is a complex task. Continue reading

November traditions: NaNoWriMovember!

I’m not sure why this year has marked so many changes to me. Perhaps it is the reeling and rocking reaction to the changes that have come external to me, the changes I initiate as course corrections in response to the asteroids and stellar tailwinds.

Or maybe it is just the outpouring after a dam has burst, its pent-up contents free to stream out and release the potential energy..

In any case, I’m trying two traditions this year, for November, which are new to me: Movember and NaNoWriMo. Or rather, I’m trying to. Continue reading