mastodon 4.5.18documenting myself & building a personal online library @ http://winnielim.org / chronically struggling with health & existence. moderately covid cautious. particularly interested in #philosophy. other interests: #cooking #photography #running
i was recently sick in shanghal (not covid), and was impressed by their near-instant PCR testing (for 12 different pathogens!) services, so I documented it: https://winnielim.org/journal/the-experience-of-being-sick-in-shanghai/
also some commentary about the seemingly lack of care about health in society.
some photos and thoughts on shanghai: "But I am yet reminded again why I travel despite not having much will for it anymore. It expands my imagination and perception of human beings. Sometimes it is easy to assume people are the same, or base our perception of “people” on the people we are exposed to. In just shanghai alone we have had many different encounters with people across a wide spectrum."
https://winnielim.org/journal/first-impressions-of-shanghai/
i struggled a lot with finishing posts because i tend to feel like i need to write something "complete" whatever "complete" means and explain things in great detail. these days i feel like i can say as little as i want or even publish a post that seems like i am saying something halfway. why not?
also belatedly realising *needing* to explain things in great detail and have some sense of completeness is probably an autistic trait.
my partner @launshae@kopiti.am posca-ed her headphones so i wrote an existential-sounding (as usual) note about it:
https://winnielim.org/notes/splashes-of-colour-in-spite-of-the-darkness/
i find it incredible that we can listen to some music from the 1950s-1970s at high quality. like you would expect crackling sounds or something due to old technology. some live concerts recorded back then sound miraculously incredible. like we managed to capture a fragment of time forever.
my partner is helping me to sell my old mechanical keyboard because i don’t use it anymore but when someone truly offered to buy it i had a visceral reaction like nooooooooo my preciousssss…
still selling it. need space. but i have serious emotional attachment to my gadgets even if they are unused.
remembering a friend who passed two years ago today: https://winnielim.org/notes/two-years/
on my 45th birthday i wrote about regret minimisation and impermanence: https://winnielim.org/journal/45/
some scenes from suzhou: https://winnielim.org/journal/scenes-from-suzhou/
i brought my camera when we went to support an artist's exhibition more than a month ago. my photos tend to languish in my sd cards but today i managed to convince my brain to publish them : https://winnielim.org/notes/celebrating-an-artists-work
(every second i fight a battle with my brain seriously)
i would like to read your toots but i am 1741 toots behind
anyone else worried about the war and its implications?
i wish i can overcome my avoidant personality
wrote a post on how i feel like a perpetual wet blanket and hence i prefer keeping to myself: https://winnielim.org/journal/wet-blanket/
the way i cope with my existential anxiety and dread is to write – so as usual i documented my thoughts on the middle eastern war, the surreality of it all, the cognitive dissonance because most people don't seem to care or know about its potential impact on the rest of the world: https://winnielim.org/journal/living-in-surreal-times/
wrote about my chronic overwhelming sadness – please don't click on it if you're sensitive to triggers: https://winnielim.org/journal/overwhelming-sadness/
been learning the piano for about 3 months so I wrote some thoughts on it, including how learning to take baby steps was essential to my learning experience: https://winnielim.org/journal/on-learning-the-piano-with-baby-steps/
sometimes i write stream of consciousness posts and this is one of them: i jumped from my writing routine to music to existential thoughts: https://winnielim.org/journal/alone-with-music/
sadly i think it may be time to get bifocals
discovered a genre of music i’m currently very into: piano jazz, but specifically it has to be solo
wrote about the random things i learnt about music (particularly jazz) over the past weeks, and how it influences the way I think about life and myself: https://winnielim.org/journal/music-a-deep-rabbit-hole/
feel like my adhd is getting worse due to existential dread from the war
@jenschuetz@mastodon.social that is some serious affection for tinned fish when one values it over toilet paper. ;) you reminded me that we would probably starve since we have not stocked up on food...
@csilverman@mastodon.social not sure if youtube is your thing — watched this video explaining why modern music is getting worse: https://youtu.be/1bZ0OSEViyo?si=XaKJ7-YZnfw8Eib2
it is interesting to think how advance of technology doesn’t always mean outcomes will get better, wonder if this would apply to photos etc too.
@azaliz@eldritch.cafe @arra@kolektiva.social yes of course, please feel free to share any of my posts. :) and thank you for appreciating.
@elana@babka.social thank you, your presence is important to my covid-cautious sanity. :)
I've been on a rabbit hole to learn more about the human memory – it made me reflect on my own strange memory so I wrote about it: https://winnielim.org/journal/my-strange-memory/
@csilverman@mastodon.social thank you for the responses! i think fidelity can be defined in different ways: in terms of technical fidelity like you'd said, for example the bitrate of an audio file; versus the audio fidelity in the sense how faithful it is to the original sound? like recording actual drums versus using midi files? so for me audio has lost its fidelity because everything sounds computer-generated/flat since they are no longer recording actual instruments.
@kylol@social.lol yes that was what got me started: https://winnielim.org/notes/keith-jarrett-improvising-on-a-broken-piano/
@csilverman@mastodon.social i used to be a enthusiastic proponent of access and i am not arguing against that, but i think ironically the technological advancement has greatly limited the environment where people can develop their artistic sensibilities. maybe it is just a different spectrum of art, but can't help but feel like we are losing something very human.
@janet@weirder.earth thank you for relating, and wow thanks for the link.
was discussing with @launshae@kopiti.am about possible doomsday scenarios, and the first things she said we should stock up on are colour pencils and a sewing machine 😂
my partner and i sometimes half joke that we have to hoard creative supplies and equipment now in case there’s a war or another pandemic
@gosha@merveilles.town am slowly making my way through this list: https://www.reddit.com/r/JazzPiano/comments/1iryipw/favorite_solo_piano_albums/
but my current favourites are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_to_Be_(album) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythical_Magic
@belle@aus.social this reminds me of my thoughts/ideas and Obsidian. As in it is a hassle to note/organise them but they tend to be useful for my future selves.
@brendonjustin@mastodon.social thank you for the time and attention. all the best for your instrument, which one is it if you don't mind sharing? :) would love to read a blog post or two about it.
@grvsmth@toot.cat I was just listening to the Keith Jarrett episode the other day, and was so impressed Marian McPartland was like 89 during that interview!
@alex@social.alexschroeder.ch amazing ❤️
@lostletters@cutie.city I think for me the web was such a big part of my life but now there are other things that i want to do IRL.