The Art of Trek "Thunder" Kelly

"Trek Thunder Kelly is an artist who experiments with perceptions of branding through popular mainstream culture"

Open MIc

Here we go again, next Open Mic:

Date: Saturday, July 16
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Timmy T's Pizza (Corner of 12th and Spring), Paso Robles

Interested performers, please sign up at:

Divine Appointment Guitars
1420A Ramada Drive, Paso Robles
Store Phone: 805-237-0054

Timmy T's is a New York style pizzeria that just opened a month ago. I have been meeting with the owners to coordinate this event. So come on out to either perform or listen to live music and enjoy some New York style pizza!

Busy

For the past week, I've been really busy with lessons and work. That's the philomath in me taking advantage of this time alone. After reviewing my schedule for the next month, it appears I will be inundated. I will not be blogging as much but I will try to peruse my daily blog reads... See you soon!!

World Cup 2006 - Germany

Would it be unamerican of me to admit that I was excited to hear of Argentina's victory over Brazil 3-0 to qualify for the World Cup?

I don't follow sports religiously. I am not up on the players. I don't know the sports jargons, rules, nor do I set aside a day out of the week to watch sports all day. I've only been to 2 hockey games (Mighty Ducks), 3 basketball games (Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings), and 5 baseball/football games (Dodgers and Miami Dolphins). Not a whole lot! :( (**someone noted my sports faux pas**)

I visited Argentina, Tianna's father's homeland, for a month several years ago and was taken to a soccer game. I believe it was River Plate vs. Boca Junior. I am not that new to soccer as soccer is the sport of my homeland. Every year during the Hmong New Year, we have soccer tournaments throughout CA. But, I observed something in Argentina that I've never seen before at any of the above sporting events -- PASSION!!. The energy of the fans draw you in. It's contagious! I've been a Argentine soccer fan since.

Soccer is the passion of the people in Argentina. I found myself getting caught up in the passion and even the rivalry between Argentina and Brazil. I became swept up in the veneration of Diego Maradona.

2002, great striker - BATI! - Gabriel Batistuta (he retired on my birthday this year).


And in 2006 - another great striker, Hernan Crespo!


Gosh, I would love to be at a few World Cup games next year. :(

Still... "Blink"-ing

I finished "BLINK" by Malcolm Gladwell whilst in SF. ::Blush:: - I stayed in one night because I was so compelled with the book; I couldn't put it down. In a nutshell, Malcolm investigates reasons why people's opinions can't be trusted. The rationale being we don't possess the language to convey our feelings.

The first personal example that came to my mind regarded a free web based email system. I was speaking with two peers of mine about this system several months ago. One of my friends asked my opinion on it. At that time, I had only used it once to send and read a couple emails. I told him I didn't like it and couldn't intelligently defend my reasons why. My friend, who was currently writing his own email storagehouse/warehouse program, understood the technology and preferred it over the other web based email systems. If I had taken a poll at that exact moment, I would have rated it really poorly.

However, w/o my conscious knowledge, I began to use it over my existing web based email system. Within a month, it became my sole email provider of choice. The very reasons why I didn't like it before were the reasons I'd be fecundless w/o it - threading of emails rather than displaying them as individual emails. I didn't like it before because I wasn't used to it.

I don't believe I will be a great decision maker over night. I know this is a microscopic example, but it's helping me question the way I think. Most importantly, I am questioning the criterias (personal experiences, outside influences, recognizing biases) that I am using to form my opinions.

SF

Tianna's father came to pick her up in SF and take her back to Miami Beach for the summer. He arrived at 3 pm and his plane was to take off at 11:00 pm, so we killed time by going to a festival on Haight/Ashbury and walked about China Town. I am going to miss my little girl. It will be the longest we will ever be apart.

I remained in SF for a week (company related trip) at Hotel Griffon, a very cozy hotel, on the Embarcadero. It was convenient; I was just blocks from downtown. Least expensive hotel in the financial district with free broadband access. I located 2-3 Sushi restaurants within a block. Next door to my hotel, was a luxurious Chinese Restaurant, Shanghai 1930, that had live Jazz music every night. I am not very big on Chinese food but I enjoyed the music a lot. I was told a great saxophone player, Andrew Speight, was performing that night. I don't know much about him but from what I heard, he is great!!!

I asked around for the best Blues and Jazz night clubs. Everyone I spoke to recommended Biscuits and Blues and Jazz at Pearls. So that night, I ventured out of Downtown unto Union Square to a Blues nightclub called Biscuits and Blues. It is located right on the corner of Mason & Geary. Great food! The crispiest biscuits I've ever eaten!! And the music? - Delta blues!! - the way I like it! I lucked out and caught a great band - Alabama Mike & Third Degree. When Alabama Mike busted out "GOT MY MOJO WORKING" the majority of the crowd went crazy and the dance floor became packed!

My last night, I walked up to North Beach and caught some comedy at a tiny club called The Purple Onion at Jackson & Pacific on Columbus. Then I spent the rest of the evening at Jazz at Pearls at Columbus & Broadway listening to a quartet called Noel Jewkes Quartet. Wow!! phenomenol!

I have to return soon for there wasn't enough time to see all the places I wanted to see. One being, Foreign Cinema - combining French dining with Independent films. I definitely need to go back soon and catch "Internal Affairs" - HK police thriller that will be playing June 27 - July 24.

"BLINK"

I've not had a lot of time to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes- reading. With work, motherhood, studying for Private Pilot Exam and GRE's and hobbies consuming much of my time, I just haven't been able to squeeze in a good book.

Last night, after studying, I hungered for a book to read for pleasure. I grabbed Blink by Malcolm Gladwell off my shelf. What a great read so far! It's a book about making sophisticated judgement in a short time based on experiences, "hunches" or "intuition" if you may.

I'm at the Theory of Thin Slices - "the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in behaviours based on slices of experience". One of the examples was a Psychologist who could predict with 95% accuracy whether a couple would still be married fifteen years later. There is a mathematical process that he uses but essentially, he focuses on what he calls the Four Horseman: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt.

"Contempt" being the single most important sign that a marriage is in trouble. By measuring contempt, you could make an assumption on the nature of any relationship. Since contempt is related to disgust or a statement made from a superior level such as (his example) "You are a bitch. You're scum". With contempt, one is degraded and made to be inferior. I found myself agreeing with him. In any relationship, once you cross the name calling put-down stage, "respect" is lost. And its all downhill after that.

Another interesting example was speed dating. In a nutshell, what we think we want on the spur of the moment is susceptible to outside influences. He gives an example of "Mary" who comes to the speed dating event with a pretty good idea of what traits she desires in a person. But while in a roomful of men, she finds herself completely changing her mind and falling for other traits. But taken out of this environment, she switches back to her original desired traits. Does she not know what she wants or is it that she is uncertain about the criterias she uses to form her preferences, as the author states.

Lots more examples that will leave you wondering how you make decisions... and if at times, were the irrational, quick judgements the best decisions you've made??

Jazz Art: Miles Davis

Several months ago, I had a small art opening for my Jazz series of paintings which included (Miles, Duke Ellington, Mingus, Cassandra Wilson, Charlie Parker, and Wes Montgomery). Several local artists left me comments on ways to improve. As a novice, I welcome all tips and criticisms.

I've been spending the last several weeks cleaning up these Jazz pieces and working on new Blues pieces. I am finally finished with Miles and am ready to let him go. What I liked about this piece is the use of complementary colors. I believe it is what makes this painting appealing. What I didn't like was the use of the color straight out of the tube - a newbie faux pas.

This piece is going to a friend of mine to celebrate his new professional and musical ventures.

Summer of Code

This sounds like a great challenge.

Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes an open source project by the end of the Summer. (payment details can be found in FAQ)