What forms the foundation of effort in a creative endeavor?

If I make a creative art, is there an obvious vertical hierarchy of capital goods that went into producing the final product? When a physical structure is erected or a technological marvel crafted, there is an obvious assembly of materials, research and engineering needed to turn imagination into realization. However, it seems as though the foundation of creativity is internalized within the mind, and is more of a horizontal rather than vertical process.

I realized something today. When you’re younger, you know that there will always be time in the future to do things.

• Want to write a book? Don’t have to do it now … Don’t know enough anyway, I’ll do that eventually
• Want to learn how to play an instrument?* You can learn that later on when you’re in a different stage of life.*
• Want to visit other countries? *You’ll do that when you have money and vacation time. *
• Want to get married? You’ll meet someone, you’ll see. It will just happen someday.
• Want to get in shape or build your body? I’ll start that eventually, just not today. Too many video games to play.
• Want to get to know your parents & grandparents better? I’ll talk to them in a year or two, once that stuff becomes important to me.

As children, we put off all the things we are powerless to do because we have a good excuse-we don’t have the money, experience or resources to do them. We put off the things we don’t want to do because we just don’t see the point. And, perhaps most importantly, we realize that we have plenty of time to accomplish any goal we please once we’ve decided what to do with our lives.

It dawned on me as I watched Tron that perhaps the right person was sitting in Encom’s EVP chair all along. Now don’t get me wrong. He was a ruthless, immoral bastard by any sense of the archetype. But consider the following:

It started out with this guy who wrote a couple basic video games. Great, right? Then along comes this guy who steals the video games and sets himself in motion to become an EVP. You know the whole saying, good artists copy, great artists steal, yada yada. Then he invents artificial intelligence.

So, I decided to check this movie out again. Believe it or not, I haven’t seen it since I was fairly young. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I actually saw it.

As it played, I realized that as a child I created several conceptions of the people, scenes and events that exist within the movie. As strange as it sounds, I am somehow able to remember the feelings and understanding I had of the movie when I was young.

I was walking through one of the smallest malls I’ve ever been in today. I was on my way back from picking up a new pair of running shoes when I thought to myself, “What the hell, why not.” I doubled back to the entrance and walked around. I saw the familiar assembly of establishments which define human creativity and culture: Claire’s, Victoria’s Secret, Game Stop, etc. All of those stores were quite expected. What I didn’t expect was the mix of feelings I’d have as I walked past this store called Pottery Barn.

I believe that my mind has been compromised.

Not in any way you could possibly imagine, mind you.

I have done some thinking, and came to the conclusion that I am getting old. I find it more and more difficult to pick up new things—it takes a hell of a lot longer. Maybe this is what neuroplasticity is… it’s the fact that when you’re younger, it feels like the days are longer, meaning you have high neuroplasticity, but when you get older, the days are shorter, meaning it has diminished. Your capability to learn new items has decreased literally because it seems as though you have no time to do it.

I have nothing inspiring to say.

I am still alive today.

My memory seems to be getting worse as time goes on. At times I wonder if this is why time seems to be speeding up for me.

I have an 18 mile run tomorrow. I am determined to make this run work. I’m trying a few new things tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.

I am installing the armv7 cross compiler for the hp touchpad. I want to try to install a linux remote desktop client called ‘rdesktop’ on the touchpad.

The other day I started wondering about the continuing relevancy of Superman (the DC comic hero, not the Übermensch) as an American cultural icon. Historically, the character was first realized in a 1938 comic magazine immediately following the brunt of the Great Depression. He was seen as having a “strong moral compass,” and as “someone who could fight the crooked politicians and businessmen.” The character in itself is fairly generic, representing the desire for power and vanity typical of the male sex. The genre is paralleled with great monetary effect by a focus on the ‘shounen’ demographic in the Japanese anime and manga industry:

So, it appears that the government is going to shut down tomorrow. Apparently, the powers that be have decided they can’t come to an agreement on how to fund the government for the rest of the year.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that not everyone involved with this situation has thought it through. In the end, life must go on and this country must move forward. However, the pending process seems a bit counter-intuitive as eventually someone will have to back down and compromise. Obviously, we’d save a whole lot of time and money if they just did it now instead of two weeks from now.

My head hurts. Today marks the first time in a long time that I’ve had a migraine with visual aura. Just my luck, I suppose—another in a long line of gifts from my parents. There isn’t a lot you can do in this situation to alleviate the pain other than sleep. I guess there’s probably some medication, or even some spiritual meditation that I could do, but I’m a bit too ignorant for those. I’m also fairly anti-medication unless you absolutely need it. So, what do I choose to do instead? Write. Yup, that’s correct. I choose to write when my head feels like I’ve been listening to loud music all day. Though, I suppose I can’t blame it all on my parents. They say that stress can cause all sorts of problems like migraines and headaches. Well that’s a relief; perhaps I’m not actually defective. If you just figured out via implication that I’m under a bit of stress, then two points for you.