Today marks the first week following the completion of my first semester at Emily Carr University. It was a tiring, thrilling, and engaging road over the last four months, and I've enjoyed it sincerely. Big thanks goes out to my teachers in this round: Alexandra Phillips, Celeste Martin, and Trish Kelly.

I'm always drawn towards things that make me uncomfortable, and that right now is sharing my work from this semester. So without further delay, I give you my works, in whatever creative quality you find them.

(download)

Click here to download:

goodbye-first-semester-iuFFjsBGAbeotCrxxrnl.zip (11.58 MB)

Looking at the following of Parkour, and its explosion into the view of regular society, it's easy to be awed at some of the stunts and moves these people are pulling off. As a long-time practitioner, and also an outsider to this scene, I feel it's perhaps easier to see this than some who are immersed with it daily. 

The problem I see with Parkour today is a simple one. It's continuity; Not for the art, but the practitioner. I've seen it many a time at jams, happening upon the odd practitioner, and virtually every Parkour video on the Internet today. The big, flashy moves are neat to look at, and one sufficiently knowledgeable in the art can see where these moves are used to offset someone lacking in foundational training. But far too many people are using Parkour in short, expressive bursts, rather than thinking in terms of transportation. When Parkour first hit mainstream awareness, it was explained as I still (and hopefully others) tell it today: with a heavier focus on getting from point A to B in as efficient a manner as possible, regardless of obstacles. Whether it be explosive and dynamic, or smooth and fluid, people are still operating on a start-stop basis. I recall back in 2004 when Ryan Leech of Norco trials riding fame produced Manifesto, where he attempted to transform his art by eliminating setup and recovery hops. This allowed for a much more fluid approach, and far greater continuity. It required significantly more skill, concentration, and awareness to attain this sort of level. It was so obvious, and yet groundbreaking all the same.

Today, I see the same dilemma plaguing Parkour. There are too many stop points, too many quick stunts, too many people not meditating on how far they can go with the art. Does this mean we shouldn't do Parkour if we don't have a proper run set up? Not at all. At some point, you have to stop. If you're on a roof, you obviously don't want to keep going until you end up rolling right off the building. In the words of Asid in Jump Britain: "You can create so much with just a rail, it's incredible." Sebastien Foucan, David Belle… You watch them, and they can turn a simple setup into an ongoing flow of moves; They stop when they want to stop. For me, it raises the question then: Why do we stop? Do we lack confidence in ourselves, or perhaps imagination?

I'm an avid reader. Anyone who knows me beyond a casual introduction will be aware of my almost neurotic obsession with consuming information. It doesn't matter what, so long as it's new and it's data about something. It stems ultimately from a childhood of heavy reading; I owe thanks to my father in particular for backing it financially where he could with buying books and encyclopedic materials. I used to swear up and down as a child that one day I'd know all tangible information of any discernible utility. Hah. The naivety of youth. As an adult, having tasted the bittersweet sobriety of reality, I know now that is a farce. It is not possible in this day and age to be a renaissance man, or any such offshoot of the all but romanticized idea. Think tanks, savants, lurkers on Quora… They have something to offer the world intellectually, certainly. Of what that is, I know not– though I do admire them. I'm drawn to people who know more, if for no other reason than leeching that knowledge, through some form of osmosis or whatever. Sometimes it's simply acknowledging that these people have a genuine interest in the outside world.

This brings me to a recent revelation, however. I've been enamored with this information gluttony for too long, and my appetite for it has been anything but satiable. I use Instapaper to store articles of interest for later reading while I dutifully scan through my 10,000+ unread articles each day for those gems of knowledge. To date, I have over 800 such articles pending, I'm juggling over 20 books, and have two languages on the go. I'm not really burning out, but what I have found is that I'm losing out on other parts of life with this obsession. Personal interactions with people I care about suffer, school and work don't receive my full attentions. The concept of flow used to be in my bones, and now it's relegated to a Post-It note.

My decision following this is… aggressive to put it lightly. Going forward in the coming weeks, I'll be scanning through my collection on Instapaper, and deleting all articles that aren't immediately recognized as being of lasting use to consume. Tech news, and other more transitory information is to be trashed immediately. Once that list is purged, all of my RSS feeds that are culprit to the less important information streams will be unsubscribed. Having reviewed my workflow heavily during this time of introspection, I estimate this will cut my current time and energy expenditure by half or more, leaving more time for books, language learning, people, and *gasp* outdoors.

I moved some months ago into an area rife with used book stores, and never gave them a second thought. Having ventured in and picked up a few hundred dollars worth of books for less than $30, I've found a great way to discover old materials and take a risk on a book, rather than a short article on the Internet. One reason to back this is that I've noticed a steady decline in my attention span as I rapidly refocus between articles and other aspects inherent to digital life. Over time, it has eroded my once laser-sharp focus and resilient attention span to an immediate need for that 'fix'. I'm an information addict, and though some may scoff, I don't see my position as much better than a drug addict. One need only gloss over entry level neuroscience to see that the Internet plays its own part to wreak havoc with the reward system. So, screw you dopamine, and screw you lack of focus. I'm going to get my attention span back; I'm not going to read more– or less, I'm going to read differently. There will be more focus in my consumption of information, and while I won't be as vast a walking collection of random facts, I'll be a more well-rounded, better 'ME'.

"Saying no is actually saying yes to other things." - Patrick Rhone