Document a part of a building that most people ignore.

the ceiling deserves to be examined….this is the ceiling of bar deville in the ukranian village of chicago. here last weekend with a group of friends, we drank some good bourbon and listened to quite possibly the best soundtrack ever. it was mostly an alt-country mix…just a perfect combination of excellent company and warm atmosphere.

Exploration 16 – Simple Survey – I actually did this on December 29 while battling some writers block. Turns out this book does good for the writing.

Answers to the Survey in the Book

What is your current favorite book? I like John Russon’s book, Human Experience. I am enjoying Irresistible Revolution because it calls us to be transformed; the rest is unrealistic (but I’m thinking hard about this claim).

Who would you like to have dinner with? I like having dinner with my friends. Dinner with Merleau-Ponty or Heidegger would be exhausting.

What superhero power would you like to have? Some manner of bending the time-space continuum, for no reason other than to be able to bend it.

What food would you eat every day? Easy, Pho.

What is your favorite smell? I don’t pay enough attention to smells, but I like when rooms are just vacuumed, the smell of a clean bathroom, and late spring mornings.

And my own survey, with answers. You could respond to my survey questions in the comments, if you’re so inclined.

What fictional character do you think is most like you? Liz Lemon.

What new thing would you most like to try? Capoiera

What is relaxing to you? I don’t know.

What is frustrating? That writing doesn’t automatically appear out of nowhere.

What is funny? AV’s real laugh-from-his-toes.

Exploration #12–Fifty Things

Not sure I followed the “instructions” here but this is what I was thinking…recorded it when I got home. Pretty neat experience.

1. Karl runs too fast 2. It’s chilly out. 3. My lungs are throbbing. 4. Look how high the snow is piled up. 5. I bet we have 5 feet in the yard. 6. A man is walking a Jack Russell terrier with one of those cones on his head. 7. Why is it called a Jack Russell? 8. What a cute family at the bus stop. 9. Mon, dad, boy, girl. 10. Reminds me of my own childhood. 11. I wonder what it would be like to have kids. 12. If I do have kids, I hope we ride the bus together. 13. And ski together. 14. Public transit is so cool. 15. People should be more open to using it (including me). 16. My hangover is killer. 17. It’s not as cold now that my muscles are warm. 18. Wow, achy knees. 19. That tree looks like it will collapse at any minute. 20. Does this road go through or dead end? 21. It goes through. 22. I wonder where the foxes went for the winter. 23. Winter is a brutal season–things break and shatter. 24. I think it makes me more humble. 25. Spring is rad. 26. Things renew and are reborn. 27. Karl, wait up. 28. Good dog. 29. When I get home, I need to shovel…again. 30. This hill is hardcore. 31. Strive. 32. Made it up. 33. Wish I was on my bike instead. 34. I wonder where B is–which continent he is flying over. 35. Australia is far. 36. Oceans are creepy. 37. Too much unknown in there. 38. I’m a mountain girl. 39. More in control. 40. Still free, solid. 41. Snowshoeing looks fun–next weekend Kat and I will do it. 42. Is there a lot of snow in WYO? 43. I wonder if someone was with me what I would be thinking about. 44. My iPod is sweet. 45. I’m happy to have music. 46. Thank God for musicians. 47. If there was no music, what would happen? 48. We’d make music. 49. At least I think we would. 50. What a run.

My copy of  “How To Be An Explorer” arrived in the mail this weekend.  I immediately flipped through it looking for some fun new adventure to try out, and found myself quickly stopped in trying to take on a task.  I was simultaneously inspired to act and intimidated by thoughts like:  what if I choose the wrong task?  I don’t want to be the first one to post! maybe I don’t understand the instructions.  etc.  I spent the whole weekend thinking about grabbing a notebook and going for a walk, but never did.

It’s a good thing I have a great husband to keep me moving sometimes.  Earlier this week, I read that crawling was a good prenatal exercise for hips and back (I am 26 weeks pregnant), and tonight my husband came up with an indoor exercise to try–hide & seek on your hands and knees.  The rule was you had to move around the house with at least one hand on the floor at all times.  I figured this strange game was as good of time as any to explore the world in a new and unusual way.  So here it is…

Things I noticed when playing hide & seek in my own home:

1. The smell of my carpet–a combination of cat odor and carpet glue
2. Red and white striped foil candy wrapper
3. Small unidentified white fluffy things
4. Burning sensation in my knees
5. Moonlight shining through the bathroom window
6. Pink plug that used to go to something electronic
7. The blue, rose, and gold colored flecks that made me want to buy my carpet
8. The amount of focus it takes to crawl
9. Uncontrollable urge to giggle while hiding
10. Scuffy friction noise of hands and knees on carpet
11. Hum of computer
12. Distant sound of cars passing by
13. Scratches on the floorboards
14. Feeling of my shoulders, asking me what the heck I am doing
15. I need to vacuum!

The point of this project is to see what different people come up with when set to similar tasks. With that said, the only requirement is that you choose an exploration, and post your results. It doesn’t matter which one you do, and the more “evidence” you give (either with photographs, writing, drawing, whatever), the better.

How about that for unconstrained exploring? Onward, friends!

http://www.24hours24artists.com/schedule/

All times are GMT, but at 6pm GMT, this person will be making a 16mm film live on webcam.  Kind of neat.

More to come, later.

-av

Here is what we’re exploring with.

We are excited about this book, written by this person.

We would like you to come along with us, too.