Mixed notes around stupa

Mixed notes under the supervision of Space Molly.

I really like this style. It's much fun and freedom to fill a page. But there is a high risk that the result would be a disaster.

Bangkok buses tickets

When I grow up, I want to be a full-time shaman. 

I’d open a small, old shop in Chinatown filled with potions. I’d treat the customers quite badly so they wouldn’t even dare to ask questions. I’d research and create my own potions, and for that enjoyable task, I would dedicate a secret notebook full of notes. 

So when there are no customers in the shop—hopefully almost always—I’d have plenty of time to work on my notes and other shaman tasks.

These Bangkok bus tickets are a great washi tape.

About beetles

Why haven’t beetles build spaceships yet? I think they are making them, in secret.

Do I have an unknown ability to draw beetles and I’ve wasted my life doing other things? Too many questions.

And other herbs...

Thais are experts in potions ภูมิปัญญาไทย. 

Creams, elixirs and brews to solve all kind of problems: headache (reduce it, not increase it), extra energy, improving wifi or better luck to mention a few.

This time I’m researching about the world of Thai inhalers (yadom), a whole section in 7 Eleven that for some reason I always missed. Old ones have super strong smell. Modern ones have nice design and soft smell. 

And of course they keep the formula in secret when listing the ingredients and adding “…and other herbs.”

Airbus A380

HUGE machine. Despite having worked on this A380 airplane, I had never flown in it until now. Exiting flight, specially when Thailand is the destiny.

Sketching this airplane with mechanical pencil gives me so much joy. Airbus uses computer generated drawings only and handmade alterations are not allow. This soulless phrase is shown in every drawing.

Writing tools in use when traveling

Writing tools for my current trip.

That chunky notebook chose the path of fat over function. The whole set is much heavier now. On top of that, I will carry a watercolour notebook for my 2050 project. The trusty Muji journal remains my go-to for fast notes.

And yes, fountain pens are back.

Brain OFF

I often find people with zero brain. Not even a little. 0.0. Zero bananas. 

I used to believe the most probable explanation is they have cork instead of a brain. But thinking about it deeper even cork may have a minimum of brain activity.

There must be a kind of switch overriding the brain keeping it in a permanent OFF status. That explains everything. Paradoxically those affected people keep some skills intact, as shouting or being annoying in general.

Am I missing a better explanation?

Sumo fan number one

Takana-san, 96 years old, was a die-hard sumo fan. He never missed an event, always sit in the front row, close enough to feel the sweat fly. His doctor had long warned him: 

“Takana-san, no smoking and definitely no sitting in the front row.”

One day there’s going to be a disaster.

And sure enough, that day came. Out of nowhere, a sumo wrestler lost his balance and toppled right onto Takana-san. Boom! Kaput. Instant flattening death.

But that didn’t stop him from keeping his dream. “If you push hard, nothing can stop your goals,” he remembered from some random motivational quote on the Internet. He had already bought season tickets, after all! So, with a newfound determination, our dear Takana-san picked himself up (or rather, peeled himself off the floor), a little flatter and definitely more 2D than before, and kept going to every sumo event. He was as happy again.

However, fate wasn’t done with him yet. Some time later, calamity struck again. This time, not one but two sumo wrestlers—400kg each—crashed down on our poor, flattened friend. Oh! Total annihilation. Double KO. 

And that was the end of Tanaka-san.

Donuts are good

Why didn’t dinosaurs make spaceships? Their reptile brains couldn’t evolve to be expandable and develop technology to escape Earth, bla bla. But here’s a sweeter mystery: Why didn’t they make donuts?  

Do you really need a highly evolved brain to create these delicious delicacy? Turns out, no other animals ever made donuts. So I deduce that donuts require a special mix of abstraction and fine culture.

Let’s celebrate this unique human achievement Keep the donut light shining! Don’t listen to those who say donuts are bad—obviously they just don’t understand the essence of life.

Recorded planet explosion

In his daily routine the James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning photos of distant galaxies every day. Humans like those photos for any reason. They collect them and analyse them and at the end he is programmed to do so. One day, a regular Wednesday, he received orders to point to the Earth for a special event. Boom! 

In a flash, planet Earth vanished. Billions of years of biological evolution, gone. The James Webb Telescope recorded the catastrophic event, but now he floats alone in the cosmos. Forever.

With no one left to admire his photos, the telescope ponders its existence. “What do I do with this footage now?” he asks himself. It could have been the most shared video ever, but there’s no one left to watch. The James Webb Telescope needs a new purpose.

Cyberpunk 2077 memories

“One day, I’ll sit by a fireplace and look at old photos.” But that never really happens. Most of the time when I go through my cherished catalog, my personal treasure, it’s for organizing tasks in Lightroom. And this happens quite often. A task of a lifetime.

Now, I’m also starting to accumulate photos from Cyberpunk 2077 which in a way are also memories. Anything that evokes a feeling brings back a memory I guess.

My writing tools. Home version

Unlike when I’m traveling, I use a wooden box at home. Also metal mechanical pencil and something else that increases the weight a lot. I still try to keep things simple and accessible. And yes, I’m back to fountain pens!

It’s amazing how these small details can impact every drawing or text produced.

Love the process

1. For TikTokusers/mainstream readers (too much text below!): 

Experiments are good! 🤗💫❤️

2. For curious minds:
“I need to produce good things. Moreover, I need to produce only good things. Therefore, I cannot waste time on drawings that are not extraordinary. Problem solved.” The paradox of excellence.

It’s a big mistake to fall into that trap. To achieve an acceptable level of mastery, a learning process that includes trial and error is necessary, inevitably resulting in often low-quality outputs. The game of creativity is what is it, and the first step is to accept and use it to your advantage. Avoiding that step out of fear of producing failures or, even worse, awakening the ego would be fatal. The ego will immediately seize any opportunity, raise its voice, and cause havoc, blaming its host for such horrible drawing here or that mistake there. What a shame! The ego will say this would be tolerable for a beginner but unacceptable for someone with experience.

However, the reality is that these failed experiments are the building blocks of a future palace yet to be constructed. Once this is understood and accepted, expecting a highly probable disaster, it is important to develop a new superpower: learning to enjoy the process. Reaching this level is akin to attaining Nirvana I guess. Then you can start the journey with some peace and tranquility.

This page serves as an example: an experimental composition with little hope of producing something useful. How boring it would be to use proven solutions whose outcomes are known in advance. After all, this notebook is an exploration tool, and you can’t expect to gain much from well-trodden ground. The possibilities that open up at this point are endless. It’s overwhelming, so much so that it becomes paralyzing, but that’s another topic to address separately. I’m running out of space here, and not everything can be covered at once. To conclude, experience tells us that often, wonderful things emerge from experimentation that would never have come about otherwise.

2050. Huge A3+ notes

This 2050 project has many arms, in many directions, and that's fascinating. I often just let me go with the flow of new ideas. In this case I started to take some notes in this A3 paper which ended up like that. It offers a kind of overview much wider than the pages of a notebook. 

Definitely not useful as a pocket notes to take them everywhere (airplanes, cafes for intellectual people, crowded metro, etc).

2050 notes

Only indigo for these figures. Creating new characters is magical. They are in form of a blurred idea in your mind and minutes later they are so real in front of your eyes. Fascinating!

Abstract Games

I recently discovered Tak and I’m absolutely fascinated by it! Its beauty, simplicity, and layers of complexity are truly captivating. I’ve even started crafting my own wooden version.

Back in the 90s, I played competitive chess (regional level). However, during my university years, I discovered GO, which was a refreshing change from the repetitive positions and memory-based openings in chess. Bye bye chess. But GO requires several lifetimes to master, and eventually, I drifted away from both games.

Now, I’m on the lookout for new abstract games. Tak is the only one I’ve found so far. Have I missed any great abstract games designed for online play? It could be a great combination for a game in the category.

Notes on brown paper

Mixed notes. I always like to write on this kind of brown paper. Far for being the best or even acceptable quality, but it creates the perfect contrast. A kind of dressing for the whole notebook aesthetic.