steven – Page 10 – Steven Yi

Pirx the Pilot – Stanisław Lem

I recently had a fantastic time reading both "Tales of Pirx the Pilot" and "More Tales of Pirx the Pilot" by Stanisław Lem. The stories were excellent in their sheer adventure as well as their thoughtfulness. One of the aspects of these stories that stuck on my mind was how human the characters were. By this I mean that the people of the story all had the same issues humans have today, that despite being in the settings of space and on other planets, they still had many of the same existential questions and daily struggles that are found in life today.

(This is something that I’ve enjoyed so much about Lem’s work that I have read(as well as in the stories of Ted Chiang), that the technological or fantastical aspects of the stories are not so much the center of the story, but rather they serve a much larger story that involve a broader human story. I think the speculative fiction and fantasy texts and shows/movies that I’ve most enjoyed all exhibit these qualities.)

I also found myself quite impressed that these stories of Pirx not only solicited these very probing questions for me, but that they were also highly entertaining adventures as well! So far of the texts by Lem I have read I have very much enjoyed their thoughtfulness as well as their entertainment and humor, and I am already looking forward to reading more of his works.

Starting the Year by Organizing

So far this year has started off well with reorganization of myself. I realized that one of the biggest problems in terms of focusing myself the last few months of 2008 coincided with my switching over to using a Blackberry and not having my calendar and tasks organized on it. Considering how much the tools I had used on my Palm TX were important for managing myself, I decided to finally get things worked out on the Blackberry. Originally I had resolved to write some custom software to do this, but after some exploration I finally settled on using Remember the Milk for managing my tasks, using the milksync program to synchronize my tasks to the site with my Blackberry, as well as using Google Sync to synchronize my calendar with Google Calendar. This took some days to work it all out as I had to fix up my old calendar data once importing into Google Calendar, but I have been absolutely excited to finally have a good work process worked out for myself and a satisfactory set of tools to work with.

Although there is still a number of things left to do to finish the transition, I already I feel much better organized and more focused on my work. I am looking forward to returning tomorrow to California and working on tidying up our apartment, and settling back in to move forward with all of my personal projects.

Welcoming My 30’s

Today I am 30.

As is my usual yearly ritual on my birthday I reflect on the past year of my life, as well as look forward to the new year. The past year was full with lessons coming from the experiences of daily life, as well as full of many special occasions and wonderful trips taken. It was also a very special year as Lisa and I got engaged, then planned and ultimately had a beautiful wedding. It was certainly an amazing experience from start to finish, and incredible to have so many friends and family together on a wedding day full of love. How important and valuable are friends and family!

The year was busy with all the preparations of the wedding, but also with the work required for my programming job. I found it somewhat difficult to focus this past year on personal work, and certainly it is something I will be looking to work on moving forward.

This birthday is also a larger milestone, seeing the end of my 20’s and now entering into my 30’s. Looking back, the past 10 years have been incredible. From all the experiences from living in New York, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Warsaw, from finishing college to building up and growing a career in programming, from creating and growing my software blue and further developing my views on music and sound, from the man lessons and joys of tai chi, from dating and marrying my dear wife… how much has happened these past 10 years…

Looking forward now to my 30’s, I feel absolutely excited about all the possibilities, and I have the sense that life is only now really beginning. From the lessons and experiences from my 20’s I see many things I want to work on as well as do. There are also a wealth of wonderful memories already that inspire me to move forward to continue explore this world and this life, to create the memories for my future self.

Tomorrow is a new year for us all, but for myself, today is a personal new year and decade. I am grateful and feel truly lucky for the life I have had the fortune of living up to now, and I am blessed to have met so many good people and friends over these years. I look forward now with excitement and inspiration and welcome my 30’s with joy.

A Beautiful Wedding

On Saturday, December 13th, 2008, Lisa and I got married. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, full of friends and family and much loving care and support. The first thing to note was the weather: incredible! I still can not get over it: the day started off just gorgeously sunny, then after the ceremony and photos, it rained outside while we were indoors (I hear rain is good luck on your wedding day!), then again was just gorgeous when everyone left. Truly remarkable.

The ceremony itself was full of love and was very personal. The officiating by our Tai Chi teacher was really special, as he brought such a great warmth and joy to the ceremony. Our dear friends John and Jenn both spoke such beautiful words, and it was a treat to hear our friend Rebekah played her viol. We walked down the aisles with our families, and at the end of the ceremony walked away with great joy and applause.

Afterwards we were outside doing photographs while the caterers rearranged the room for the reception, which occurred in the same room as the ceremony. When everyone got seated to prepare for lunch, our friend John announced us as we walked into the room again to applause and smiles. We turned on some music we had chosen ahead of time (an enjoyable mix of lounge music and classic singers like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole, and others) and had a wonderful meal. Conversation seemed to be everywhere, delicious food served, all amidst a room full with lovely flowers.

After lunch, as is a traditiona, Lisa and I cut the cake and served each other pieces of the cake. After this the caterers cut up the cake and everyone filled their cups with champagne. My brother, the best man, gave a wonderful and funny account of our family’s life and my own with Lisa, followed by beautiful toasts from our fathers and friends. Their words were precious and will be treasured for a very long time.

With the toasts complete, Lisa and I began going around and thanking everyone for coming, giving and receiving many hugs, and being thankful for everyone’s loving kindness and support. As friends and family began their exits, the event came to a close with the feeling of being a remarkable success.

I don’t think I could have asked for a more beautiful way to start my married life with Lisa, and will always remember the day fondly.

REGARDING VENDORS

I wanted to mention the venue and vendors we used as we found each and everyone had done just an amazing job.

Venue: Brazilian Room at Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA.

What a gorgeous place, especially with the incredible weather! We chose this venue because we thought that December would be cold and possibly rainy, and the venue had a nice fireplace to offer. It was a little chilly, but gorgeously sunny, and we did make use of the fireplace which added a very nice ambiance to the ceremony and reception.

Caterer: Serves You Right Catering

Delicious! They prepared the food on site on the day of the wedding and the food was excellent. We received great compliments on the food!

Florist: Branch Out Floral and Event Design, Leighsa Montrose

The flower arrangements, corsages, and boutonnieres were really beautiful. Lisa had taken care of working with both the caterer and florist so they were both a surprise to me, and it really was a surprise how gorgeously the flowers and how wonderful the food came out. Beautiful work!

CAKE: Masse’s Pastries

As delcious as it was beatiful! The experience of working with them was just fantastic, from the tasting to the end product, everything was just so wonderful. The cake was a beautiful 3-layer cake surrounded and covered with flowers. Their cake was really exceptional and again was complimented on by everyone.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Martina Konietzny

Martina was great! She has such a wonderful energy about her, and her assistant Kevin was incredible. Together they ran around taking photos all through the ceremony and reception. They made us all feel very comfortable and were funny and friendly, making the photography a very enjoyable experience. We are waiting to see the results, but I have no doubt that they will be excellent, and am glad we went with Martina.

A big thanks to all of these vendors for their wonderful work!

A Welcome December

Already it is December and I am as welcoming of this one as I have ever been. Thinking of the past year and rereading my December entry from the previous year, I see so many changes and as well as many things that remain the same. The sense of need for time and mental space to explore musical work is as strong as it has ever been. Yet, in looking back at the year, it was such a full year…

This December will be a particularly joyous one as Lisa and I will soon be married as well as will be celebrating our 30th birthdays…

Sitting here I realize it is the first time in quite some time that I have the mental space to for reflection and writing. It is late and it is quiet out and I am appreciative of the peacefulness…

I am excited for this December, for all the changes, for all the ends and new beginnings…

Joy in the Election

After such a long wait, I’m overjoyed to see the results of the 2008 election. I am sure I will sleep well tonight… =)

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub – Stanislaw Lem

I have just finished reading Stanislaw Lem’s “Memoirs Found in a Bathtub” and found it quite a story. At first I thought I felt it had a certain connection with the insanity of Catch 22, amused by the humor and nonsense. However, as the story developed, I found that the insanity wasn’t insane after all, but rather that every detail in the story was very well crafted and connected to form its own inner logic within an insane world, and that what started off as simply amusing became deeply troubling and thoughtful. I would say more, but perhaps best to simply read Lem’s thoughts as well as a fragment of the text on the official Lem site.

This was the first story I read by Lem, and I am certainly looking forward to reading more of his work!

Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang

A few weeks ago I was at the library and had realized that it had been a very long time since I had read any fiction. I had been watching the original Star Trek series online though, and since I had been happening to stand in the new Science Fiction section, I picked up a book by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter entitled “Firstborn”. I had gotten quite into it and took it with me to Utah, where the person I stayed with ended up being quite a Science Fiction fan. He made some great recommendations and on one of the nights there I had read Ted Chiang‘s “The Story of Your Life” and was hooked. Just fantastic!

Well, after Utah I had finished reading “FirstBorn” (it was just alright in the end for me; I thought the story built up very well but when it came to the big action of the book I thought it was a bit rushed and could have been a little more dramatic; overall an okay read), I went to the library and picked up Ted Chiang’s “Stories of Your Life and Others“, a collection of short stories including “The Story of Your Life”. Each story was excellent, and I appreciated the many different approaches to writing stories he had taken, as well as the many interesting thoughts and ideas he had explored in his work. Thoroughly enjoyable and exceptional!

In looking for more information, I found more of Ted Chiang’s works on a free speculative fiction website that also included links to some of his stories that were in the book.

I’m certainly enjoy reading Science Fiction and I think I will continue to read SF as my primary reading. I checked out a book my Stanislaw Lem from the library Saturday and am looking forward to diving into it next. I am looking forward to exploring Science Fiction further, discovering more stories and authors and enjoying the wonderfully interesting thoughts on life as we do and do not know it.

Horatiu Radulescu has passed away

I read on The Rambler today sad news that Horatiu Radulescu has passed away. I know very little of his work and life, but the little I did come in contact with has made me curious to learn and experience more of his work. I sighed reading the news, feeling time passing and somehow another connection in the fabric of art music now gone.

Tai-Chi Workshop with Ben Lo

This past weekend I had the great fortune to attend a workshop with Ben Lo in Logan, Utah. Like the previous workshop I was fortunate to attend, the work as tough as it was inspiring. One of the biggest things I took away from the workshop was that one can work just as hard at home as there at the workshop: “I hope you work like this when you practice at home” he said, and really one can work at home with as much focus and intensity as one can at a workshop. This is certainly one lesson I hope to keep in mind in my practice here on out.

There were many lessons learned from Master Lo’s teaching as well as all the push hands experience with the other attendees and enjoyable conversations. Being my first time to Utah, I was very impressed by how genuinely kind everyone was, and was grateful for the hospitality. Inspired, I hope to take the the lessons forward and will be looking forward to being able to see these people again, either here in California, at other workshops, or hopefully again in Utah!