Today, I went on a riverwalk. Nominally, it was to fulfill an academic assignment. Since the assignment was vague,1 I chose to journey between the London Aquatics Centre2 and the River Thames.3 I found that 4 you can walk the entire distance from the Aquatic Centre to the Thames entirely along different rivers and streams.5 I had a great time during the walk! A part of me really wanted to go all the way to the English Chanel, but I knew that was a poor choice. For one, it would have been far longer than a 90 minute walk. Second, it’s really hard to decide where a tributary ends and where the real river6 ends. Finally, the footpath that would have let me walk along the Thames was closed. Nonetheless, it was a great time. If you want to see my journey at 60x speed,7 you can find it here. If you want to see it at 15x speed,8 along with fun information, you can find it here.
Today for a homework assignment, I went on a riverwalk.9 I chose to go from the London Aquatics Center10 to the River Thames.11 I found that you can go the entire distance from the Aquatic Centre to the Thames without ever leaving the river.12 It was a really fun walk. It was tempting to walk to where the Thames meets the Chanel, but I was unable to for two reasons: that would have put me well over the maximum time of 90 minutes, and the footpath following the Thames was closed.
take a walking journey of between 45 and 90 minutes between two historic locations↩︎
the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Swimming and Diving Events↩︎
assuming you don’t make mistakes (which I did) and are ok trespassing(only for a short distance to avoid crossing an overpass)(which I was not)↩︎
and even one lock!↩︎
apparently the correct term is actually “main stem”↩︎
20 fps and 3 seconds between shots↩︎
5 fps and above↩︎
the assignment was to record a journey (by foot) of 45-90 minutes in length↩︎
home of the Summer 2012 Olympics and Paralympics↩︎
the largest river contained entirely in England↩︎
if you don’t make mistakes and have to backtrack (which I did)↩︎
I’m almost always listening to music, even if only inside my head. There’s something sublime about music’s ability to transport me from wherever I am and whatever I’m doing into a different place. Although every song doesn’t send me to the same place, or even the same place for each song, they always send me somewhere.
People ask me what kind of music I like1, and it’s a fair question. I’m a music major, I listen to a lot of music, and it’s a normal question. Nonetheless, I can only ever answer that I listen to almost everything. It’s both the most and least factual statement I can make.
The statement is filled with fact because there is no genre, artist, or even song that I completely refuse to see the merit of listening to. Every song has its place, and even if I don’t love every aspect of a piece2, I still can recognize why its loved. Even if I can’t think why a song is loved, I can see its belonging in a situation, whether as ambiance or as transition.
For a very similar reason, the statement is totally devoid of fact. That is, there is no song that I always love. Songs that I love in most circumstances are unbearable in others. As much as I love soft lilting pieces, I recognize that they don’t belong in most people’s pregame3 playlists. And, as much as I love heavy electronic beats, I understand that most people don’t use them as lullabies4.
Even If I don’t like a song though, I always prefer music to its absence, which may be one of my defining traits. If given the option between music or no music, there are nearly5 no situations wherein I would not prefer music. Music is the joy of life, and it’s a joy that I refuse to do without.
There’s something sublime about music’s ability to transport me from wherever I am and whatever I’m doing into a different place. Although every song doesn’t send me to the same place, or even the same place for each song, they always send me somewhere.
People ask me what kind of music I like6, and it’s a fair question. I’m a music major, I listen to a lot of music, and it’s a normal question. Nonetheless, I can only ever answer that I listen to almost everything. It’s both the most and least factual statement I can make.
The statement is filled with fact because there is no genre, artist, or even song that I completely refuse to see the merit of listening to. Every song has its place, and even if I don’t love every aspect of a piece7, I still can recognize why its loved. Even if I can’t think why a song is loved, I can see its belonging in a situation, whether as ambiance or as transition.
For a very similar reason, the statement is totally devoid of fact. That is, there is no song that I always love. Songs that I love in most circumstances are unbearable in others. As much as I love soft lilting pieces, I recognize that they don’t belong in most people’s pregame8 playlists. And, as much as I love heavy electronic beats, I understand that most people don’t use them as lullabies9.
Despite the fact that I may hate a song though, I still won’t refuse to listen to it. I always prefer music to its absence. That may be one of my defining traits. If given the option between music or no music, there are nearly10 no situations wherein I would not prefer music. Even if I may prefer silence to the exact song being played, that’s only because I’m always singing something to myself.
I love music. There’s something sublime about its ability to transport me from wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, into a different place. Every song doesn’t send me to the same place, and the same song may not send me to the same place twice, but they always send me somewhere different.
However, people ask me what kind of music I like11. My usual answer of “anything” generally isn’t well received. Nonetheless, it’s both the truest and least true statement I can make.
It’s the truest because there is no genre, artist, or even song that I completely refuse to see the merit of listening to. Every song has its place, and even if I don’t love every aspect of a piece, I still can recognize why its loved.
It’s the least true statement I can make for the same reason. There is no song that I would always want to listen to. Songs that I love in most circumstances are unbearable in others.
or prefer, or is my favorite. For my purposes, they’re effectively the same↩︎
or even most aspects↩︎
or meet↩︎
yes, both of those are real examples of music choices I make↩︎
I say nearly only because I’m sure there exists a situation, even if I can’t think of one↩︎
or prefer, or is my favorite. For my purposes, they’re effectively the same↩︎
or even most aspects↩︎
or meet↩︎
yes, both of those are real examples of music choices I make↩︎
I say nearly only because I’m sure there exists a situation, even if I can’t think of one↩︎
or prefer, or is my favorite. For my purposes, they’re effectively the same↩︎
Pre-reading note: I’m writing this post1 as I tend to write my papers. That is, a very rough sketch, a more polished draft, and so on until I have the quality I want2 in my writing. Since I’m not too embarrassed of my (lack of) writing ability, I thought I’d post my drafts here as well3. I’ll leave the final draft on the top, with the lower drafts in order from newest to oldest underneath.
Those of you following this blog closely may note that this is the eighth blog post I’ve made since starting the blog. Starting one week ago today, I began writing daily. While I don’t feel the need for a disclaimer at this exact moment4, I think it wise that I craft one sooner than later
You may ask why I feel this need5. To answer, I would reply that disclaimers are a good way to distance oneself from their work. I have in the past6 expressed views and beliefs I personally don’t ascribe to because I believe that they are not being given their fair share of time. Even though playing the Devil’s Advocate hasn’t come back to haunt me yet, I know that people tend to believe what you write is what you believe7, so I want to lessen the probability of misunderstandings. Additionally, my views often change over time. Since I’m not sure if I’ll believe everything I write in the future, it seems smart to say that my thoughts may change now rather than later.
Now that I’ve explained, why I’m writing my disclaimer, I should probably write it. I could copy my disclaimer from my inspiration’s blog site: “The opinions stated herein are those of me and do not necessarily reflect those of employer, the Rebelsky family, organizations, or even most other sentient beings.”8 However, much of that disclaimer isn’t relevant to me, and it doesn’t quite express the situation I find myself in. So, this is my version: “The views and opinions expressed on this site (and linked sites) do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s current, past, or future employers, the Rebelsky family, rebelsky.com, or even the author. Readers are advised to read at their own discretion.”
People following this blog closely may note that this is the eighth blog post I’ve made here. That is, starting one week ago today, I began writing daily. By now, I think I may need a disclaimer. You may ask why9. To answer, I would reply that disclaimers are a good way to distance oneself from their work. I have in the past10 expressed views and beliefs I personally don’t ascribe to because I believe that they are not being given their fair share of time. Even though playing the Devil’s Advocate hasn’t come back to haunt me yet, I know that people tend to believe what you write is what you believe11, so I want to lessen the probability of misunderstandings. Additionally, my views often change over time. Since I’m not sure if I’ll believe everything I write in the future, it seems smart to say that my thoughts may change now rather than later.
Now that I’ve explained, why I’m writing my disclaimer, I should probably write it. I could copy my disclaimer from my inspiration’s blog site: “The opinions stated herein are those of me and do not necessarily reflect those of employer, the Rebelsky family, organizations, or even most other sentient beings.”12 However, much of that disclaimer isn’t relevant to me, and it doesn’t quite express the situation I find myself in. So, this is my version: “The views and opinions expressed on this site (and linked sites) do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s current, past, or future employers, the Rebelsky family, rebelsky.com, or even the author. Readers are advised to read at their own discretion.”
I’ve been writing this blog for a week now, so I feel like I should probably write a disclaimer sooner rather than later. You may ask why. To that I would reply with the following:
Disclaimers are a good way to distance oneself from their work. Although I work for no-one, it seems important to me that I distance myself from some of my words. Those of you who know me may know that I say things I don’t believe because I believe that they are supportable enough views that they deserve their time. Even though that hasn’t come back to bite me yet, I know that people tend to believe what you write is what you believe13, so I want to be aware. Additionally, my views14 change over time. Since I’m not sure if I’ll believe everything I write in the future, it seems smart to say that my thoughts may change now rather than later.
Now comes the writing of the disclaimer. I could copy my disclaimer from my inspiration’s blog site: “The opinions stated herein are those of me and do not necessarily reflect those of employer, the Rebelsky family, organizations, or even most other sentient beings.”15 However, that feels intellectually dishonest. So, with some slight revisions: “The views and opinions expressed on this site (and linked sites) do not necessarily reflect those of the Rebelsky family, the domain, rebelsky.com, or even the author. Readers are advised to read at their own discretion.”
I’ve been writing this blog for a week now, so I feel like a disclaimer is probably a good thing to get out of the way. I could copy from my inspiration’s blog site: “The opinions stated herein are those of me and do not necessarily reflect those of employer, the Rebelsky family, organizations, or even most other sentient beings.”16 However, that feels intellectually dishonest. Let’s see, I could say: “The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Rebelsky family, GitHub, rebelsky.com, most sentient beings, or even the author. Any and all offense taken is deeply regretted.” That seems pretty good.
Why a disclaimer though? I feel like all of the cool writers use disclaimers as a way to distance those they work for from their works. Even though I work for no one right now, I still know that people tend to believe what you write is what you believe17. Since I’m not sure if I’ll believe everything I write in the future, it seems smart to get that idea out of the way quickly, as well as avoiding indemnifying my family.
and hopefully future posts↩︎
or have run out of time↩︎
no, this isn’t just a way to increase the word count↩︎
as nothing I’ve said seems too objectionable↩︎
I know this is unlikely, but it makes a convenient segue↩︎
and will likely in the future continue to have↩︎
rightly↩︎
taken from: SamR’s Assorted Musings and Rants: Front Door, Bolding mine↩︎
I know this is unlikely, but it makes a convenient segue↩︎
and will likely in the future continue to have↩︎
rightly↩︎
taken from: SamR’s Assorted Musings and Rants: Front Door, Bolding mine↩︎
rightly↩︎
like most people in the process of learning↩︎
taken from: SamR’s Assorted Musings and Rants: Front Door, Bolding mine↩︎
taken from: SamR’s Assorted Musings and Rants: Front Door↩︎
rightly↩︎
As many of you know, I am a large white man. There are many aspects of these two identities that are incredibly beneficial. What I didn’t really realize today, though, was how important that first identity is.
While getting ready to leave for a theatre show that we were both seeing1, I mentioned that I thought I might walk there, since I had time. It was around a 2.5 mile walk2, so I thought there might be an objection due to the length. However, the person I was talking to, who was also a white man, said he wouldn’t feel safe walking there alone.
Now, I’m not sure whether it’s that living in a census-defined “rural” area makes me unafraid and trusting of my fellow person3, or whether he grew up in a far different place, which led him to his comment. Nonetheless, it struck me that maybe the most important of my three identities is, in fact, large. It goes first when I describe myself4, and maybe it belongs there. Where before I thought it was just the white man portion that made me feel safe, I’m reevaluating now to believe that it’s a combination of all three characteristics that lets me feel safe in any situation I find myself in.
But, since the goal of my blog is to be happy and cheerful5, I’ll mention the walk. It was a beautiful walk across and then along the River Thames. I got there at sunset, so the river looked amazing. The show was fabulous, with amazing sounds and a flawless set. The acting was of the highest caliber, as was to be expected from its cast.
huge shoutout to my study abroad program for making it so available. It was an absolutely amazing show, Julie by Polly Stenham, after the Strindberg show Miss Julie↩︎
4 km for those of you who believe in a different set of arbitrary units↩︎
probably and not really, respectively↩︎
as you can read in the opening↩︎
partially in opposition to one of my inspirations↩︎
Those of you who know me likely also know my brothers1. This post seems like a great way to talk about how amazing they are, since I sometimes forget to do that enough.
My older brother is everything an older brother should be. He’s smarter, kinder, and more generous than me. He follows the rules, and is just all around the perfect older brother to have. Because of him, teachers assumed I was trustable, groups accepted me, and just generally his presence made my life better growing up.
Now that we’re older, he’s still amazing to have around. He’s incredibly knowledgable about a variety of topics that I’m beginning to find interesting. He, along with a mutual friend of ours2, share books that we enjoy reading, as well as share interesting short writings as we find them. When I need help with Excel, or really any software that a business person is likely to use, he’s there and willing to drop most things to help.
But, as I mentioned above, I have two brothers. The younger is really everything I could hope for in a younger brother. He is also smarter, more musical, and far more technically adept than me. For all of the softwares that aren’t common business ones, he either already knows them, or is willing and able to quickly learn them to hold my hand as I try to learn them3. He’s a brilliant musician, and I love listening to him perform4. He’s much wittier than me, but also much more sly about it.
Just as my older brother is incredibly knowledgable about topics I know nothing about and am interested in, my little brother is too5. He’s well versed in music theory, and helps me a lot when I need a sounding board. He also has shares my impulsiveness, but in a much more constructive way. For instance, right before I left, he decided that with the extra fabric he had6, he would make a shirt. He’d never made clothes before, didn’t have a pattern, and still did a passable job.
In the interest of full disclosure, my little7 brother is the reason for this post. I prefer writing my documents in LaTeX 8, and WordPress doesn’t really support that. So, I asked him to build me a website, since we own a domain for some unknown reason. He did, and assuming that I’m able to follow the (incredibly simple) instructions he gave me, my blog will be moving to j.rebelsky.com. Depending on how my ability to not break software goes, I may stop updating this site.
In summary, I have the best brothers anyone could ask for, and I’m grateful every day that they’re in my life.
despite the fact that many people are unable to tell them apart, they still claim to be distinct entities↩︎
who, despite the beliefs of some prospective students’ families, is not my brother↩︎
the ambiguity in the sentence above is because many times I’m not sure whether he knows how to do what I want when I ask, but he always gets there quickly enough↩︎
even though I have still procrastinated listening to his improvisations↩︎
they’re both also incredibly knowledgable about topics I know nothing about and care little about, topics I also know much about and care about, and topics I know much about and care little about↩︎
how he ended up with extra fabric is a different story↩︎
in my mind, even if reality says otherwise↩︎
because I’m pretentious like that↩︎
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m keeping a digital and analog journal of my day. This is inspired by a course I’m taking on London diaries, partially my own past experience, and partially a conversation I had with the professor of the course.
The course on diaries includes an interactive component. That is, in addition to reading London diaries, we will be crafting our own. Now, like many children of the 21st century, I love the idea of keeping everything journaled online. This way I can make notes on my phone as I walk, have them automatically update on my computer, where I can expand with more time. If I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, I don’t need to wake up a roommate with a lamp. However, the course requires an analog diary, so I needs must also keep a handwritten journal.
This doesn’t mean that each journal will be totally the same. Conversely, they will not be totally different. I plan to keep both journals mostly in sync, and keep only specific things out of each. For instance, problems I might have with the professor I won’t be putting in the journal that will be graded. Conversely, experiences I don’t much care about that I write for a grade won’t be recorded digitally.
In speaking to the professor about the idea of digital data, the point of Beowulf was raised. However, as I think about it, I agree with the professor, for the opposite reason. My professor’s point was that the Beowulf manuscript survived because it was hand written, and if a similar digital file would exist, it needs constant maintenance to keep operable.
I, however, feel the opposite, at least with regards to a journal. When I write in my physical journal, there are no other copies of the information. If I don’t show it to others, no one may ever know what I’ve written. I can burn the journal and remove all traces of it. Not so with a digital record. Even if I delete this WordPress site, there are still the memories left in the minds of those who read it 1 and potential digital caches and metadata associated with it. My “private” journal is only synced through the internet and a company or three, so there are almost certainly digital records of it. So while I agree with my professor about the permanence of digital and analog writings, I don’t quite know if I agree with the logic, especially on the level of skill and importance that my writings will 2 lack.
I don’t tend to keep track of my daily movements for a variety of reasons. The biggest of these is that one day in Grinnell is rarely much different from a handful or more other days, and those that are I don’t always want to remember.
The second reason I don’t track myself is the time required. Writing takes time, and I’m usually doing or recovering from doing.
Finally, as far as I can tell, most of the time I’m the only one who really cares what zany adventures I’ve gotten up to. Obviously my professors care if I show up to class 1, my coaches care that I show up to practice, and my friends and family care that I show up at prearranged times. Other than that, though, I really doubt that anyone cares whether I studied for three hours in Noyce or in Bucksbaum.
None of these apply to my time abroad. With no frame of reference, every day in London feels very different. So far I have far more free time than I know what to do with 2. Finally, I’ve had at least a few people mention that they want to know what I’m doing while abroad.
So, for those of you keeping track at home, that was 224 words to explain why I’m writing, but not addressing the title of how 3. I’m keeping track of my life in a plethora of ways. Like in Grinnell, I send the minutiae of my life to friends via various instant messaging platforms. Unlike in Grinnell, I update different social media far more frequently, I hope not to the annoyance of my friends there. I’m writing this daily journal 4. Finally, I’m maintaining a hybrid journal. That is, I’m writing a journal that is partially digital and partially analog. I’ll talk about the nitty gritty of that later, but it’s been probably the source I use most to record my days.
As with most cities, London has its share of musicians performing on the street. Although I’ve only been here a few days and in a small portion of the city, I’ve noticed two things about the street music that I don’t like.
The first, and pettiest, of these is that I haven’t seen or heard any bagpipes. Maybe I’m just conditioned from growing up in Grinnell, where our local bagpipe troupe practices with some regularity, but it’s shocking to me that a small Iowa town is more bagpipe-centric than London.
Second, almost all of the musicians I’ve seen have been using amplifiers. It’s not that I’m an audio purist, who has a problem with the idea of amplifying music. My problem is mostly just the fact that it reduces the number of musicians who can play in an area. When musicians are playing acoustic instruments 1, the sound is easily overwhelmed if you’re more than a few score feet away. In places like New Orleans, there’s a different musician at almost every intersection, if not also one in the middle of the block. In London, however, the sounds are amplified, which means that the entirety of King’s Cross Station only seems to have room for one person.
With that said, I still love the fact that there are people who are making music near where I am. It’s great, and so far they’ve all been incredibly talented.
Edit 1 September: Today I saw bagpipers. It looks like there is a rotating group who stands between the underground station near Parliament and Parliament.
With the slight exception of bagpipes↩︎
My first 56 hours of life in London have passed me by, so it felt like a good time to get some reflections out of the way. Since I’ve never lived anywhere but Grinnell, I thought I’d be a little more culture shocked than I was. To be honest, London feels a lot like Grinnell so far. Or at least, London feels a lot like Grinnell during NSO. 1 I don’t recognize most of the people, and everyone is rushing somewhere. It might help that I’m in a part of London that’s fairly old, so the buildings aren’t towering over me.
Some big takeaways from my first 56 hours:
1. Apparently when I don’t have a 24/7 access to Google Maps and the internet, I actually have pretty good navigation.
2. It takes around 30 minutes to walk around King’s Cross Station if you find yourself in that situation.
3. Apparently bagpipes aren’t all that common here. In Grinnell I’m surprised if a week goes by where I don’t hear bagpipes, but so far I’ve heard and seen none.
4. London weather is much nicer than Grinnell’s.2 When I walk out in the morning it’s almost, but not quite, too cold for my shirt and slacks. By 1700 3, it’s heated up to what feels like the peak of the day, and it’s only slightly uncomfortable to powerwalk through the streets.
5. It’s a lot harder to find a Catholic church in London than in America. I’ve so far seen a few Church of England churches, a Baptist church, an Ethiopian Reformed Church, and a Christian Scientist gathering place. Looking at Google Maps, however, I think I should be able to find one.
6. The underground is really simple to navigate. I’m still not sure how the busses work though.
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan
“Hello World!” is one of the first 1 pieces of code that I 2 learn to code when learning a new language. There are a variety of reasons for this, none of which I am aware of. However, it’s still a great way to start this blog.
Speaking of starting, I’m starting this blog for three major reasons 3:
1. Someone asked me if I would be sending email updates about my time abroad
2. I like having a forced place to write
3. As my tagline notes, my father also writes 4 daily essays.
So, expect to see some updates about travel, my life abroad, and whatever else happens to be on my mind when I sit down to write.