↑ [[2024-03]] ← [[2024-W09]] ## Overview Last week’s push to get plans for Nancy Ann Dr in a finalized stated culminated in a stimulating conversation around building methods and plant/material aesthetics. Lots of professional and process value derived from review despite a likely financial loss. Cool to warm false spring weather interspersed with gray skies and rain. ## Projects #### Nancy Ann Dr Review day. Very productive discussion around moving into further phases of development and design. Client's pleased with pace of work and results. Billing for this phase this week and estimating hours for additional development of front door path, landing, and steps. Of note for future reviews: - 90 minutes seems a good time budget to facilitate detailed discussion without getting worried about closing time and for follow-up questions. - Should budget for an additional 90 minutes to get set up with room and display equipment, and to transcribe notes into KED vault for discoverability. - So 1 review = 3hrs. + 3hrs for inventory, analysis, and site modeling leaves 4hrs for design...this may not meet a minimum requirement. #### KED Infrastructure Adapting a place assessment form for rainwater harvesting that I think will make a good addition to a site report with less effort, or at least give the site consult some more credible research behind it and increase the value (bump up to $200). Also providing an opportunity to spend more time in Affinity Publisher and with each data point. #### Moving Transferred all utilities and signed up for city services. Got a better internet deal at 500mBps for $35/mo and no installation cost for the transfer. Process moving a lot smoother than expected. #### Home Search Regarding some of my thoughts that real estate is a racket, I have a settlement statement that states the buyer agent commission of $475,000 at 2.5000% equals $12,225. But 2.5000% of 475,000 is 11,875. 12,225 is 2.5736%. Obviously this difference is nominal but it shows a certain comfort with lack of transparency and integrity in the process. This is fully endorsed by the legal system/process. Some possibilities: - My calculator is incorrect. - An honest, clerical error - Spreadsheet malfunction The point here is that we have tools that enhance our ability to be very clear about how we account and we aren't using them. ## Topics #### Dolores Maintenance Deleted the idea net today since it has been at least a year since its last entry. The DNP seems to have replaced it as a means of capturing information. #### Music Maggie Rogers, *Alaska*, shallow ecology. Does the musical content reflect the lyrical content? I am bringing this up because the song is very popular among the urban climate-advocate set, but my experience of it is emotional emptiness. The lyrics are poignant, and the song is catchy, but they don’t convey the same meaning together. I am if this illustrates my criticism of the type of person who enjoys this song, possessing some affinity for the environment, enjoying its fruits and deriving value from it, but ultimately not inhabiting it, or more properly, not inhabited by it. The experience the song describes, escaping into the wilderness to recover from a break-up and experiencing a transformation through the simplicity of nature, is a common experience. The music is distinctly urban. The landscape of Alaska itself is not given much description. I guess this song doesn’t move me, even though I understand its content, and I am trying to understand why it’s so popular. #### Politics/Economics Created a new note on [[Capitalism]], which will serve to distill the many competing definitions into the specific critique that I have of it as a modern ideology. #### Rainwater Harvesting Revisiting topics of interest surrounding circular water systems with office-mates at lunchtime. Relieved and pleased to discover that I remember how these systems work in principle and able to discuss from an educational perspective, and with awareness of the social realities at play in introducing such systems. I think I'm still in "fake it 'til you make it" territory as far as the engineering is concerned, but am aware of the broad components necessary in various types of systems with various types of goals. ## Reflections #### 2024-03-05 **Prompt (if any):** The L-word A conversation with a friend today whose lover expressed her feelings as people often do after a long period of intimacy. I found I had a lot to say on the matter and would like to see if I can’t refine my thoughts, since the word "love" seems both universally understood and universally misapplied. For starters, I think love is best expressed non-verbally, or verbally indirect, since a stimulating conversation can be an expression of love. These are the proverbial "love languages" that seem so popular with dating apps. A direct, verbal expression of love is invariably a poor expression. I think it is at best an invitation into a more detailed conversation about individuals’ emotions are intertwined with the others and the implications that has for a shared life. At worst, it is an expression of control.[^1] I think it is entirely natural to stumble into a situation where suddenly the care of another becomes important as the care of oneself and to clumsily acknowledge that situation with an "I love you." However, that phrase is subjective and requires some settling time followed by unpacking through more detailed dialog. Feelings of intimacy and biological imperatives often transcend our ability to express those feelings concisely, but we also have to accommodate our social, legal, and practical circumstances. Once I realize I love someone, what I am actually feeling is a sense of how my sense of well-being is entangled with theirs. At that point, beyond the professing of the feeling itself, a conversation needs to include how that news is interpreted, where those feelings lead, and how to navigate the implications. [^1]: My opinions on this matter are entirely informed by having used the phrase "I love you" in any number of ways to avoid expressing the emotion itself. #### 2024-03-07 Continuing to think about the new chapter that is opening in the next few weeks with home ownership. Have avoided hashing out errant thoughts that I think are reactive to the anxiety that occurs with uncertainty, an attempt to not feed the proverbial bear. Also refraining from developing any ideas about the systems and arrangement of the new home as a defense against disappointment if something unexpected arose in the due diligence process. Now I am a week away from closing and the process has its own momentum, so short of continuing to spend lots of money on closing fees and appliances, I am beginning to feel the freedom of my own place, and how I might organize to reflect my values and share those values with my community. I am looking forward to the opportunity to cultivate new habits and new self-discipline in an environment I have complete agency over. I hope I am able to be an example of holistic urban living to those who are interested in exploring new relationships with their surrounding community. ## Astrology - **2024-03-04:** [[Mercury]] sextile [[Uranus]] - **2024-03-07:** Moon conjunct [[Pluto]], [[The Sun|Sun]] conjunct nMidheaven, [[Mars]] opposite [[nSun]], Mars trine [[nSaturn]] - **2024-03-08:** Mercury conjunct [[Neptune]]