List of activities:
- Last night Harry Teague invited me out for dinner. We went to the Woody Creek Tavern which used to be his local. The tavern has a storied history in the late 20th century as it was also the local for the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Harry described a rarefied and boisterous salon that included physicists, philanthropists, actors, and ranchers in addition to Thompson and Teague — an architect of international renown.
- At the tavern Harry ran into some folks who once were neighbors and associates from his days living in Woody Creek. They shared a short reminiscence of a trip to Fiji (and/or Tahiti). One of them had been raised in Fiji, I think his name was Tom. I am probably wrong. Tom had put the President of French Polynesia, who admired the grand Aspen tent, in touch with Harry who had designed the structure. There was want of such a gathering space in Polynesia. Harry and his team were flown out for three weeks for research and charette. They had to follow the path of a great row-boat race — because the president had sponsored a team — as they worked out sketches. I asked Harry if there was some indigenous material that could provide structure. He said “no, we would use steel because it has to withstand a typhoon. I had had a glimmer of guadua, or something like it in my imagination. No such luck.
- last night I made some exploratory pencil sketches of guadua.
- Harry asked me to name something about Colombia that he didn’t know. He asked me if they played Pelota in Colombia. I said that they didn’t, and mentioned my surmise that the Darien Gap was a geographical feature that may have stopped the spread southward.
- Harry mentioned the book Inventing Nature and its focus on Alexander von Humboldt. I think I have to add that book to my reading list. Humboldt continues to have an outsized influence on Colombia and the Bolivarian states. Harry mentioned that Humboldt was a mentee of Goethe. I need to look this up. My hours in Leipzig are growing resonance.
- On our way out of the restaurant I asked Harry if he know about guadua. He said he didn’t. I gave a cursory explanation and realized I need to research more. It’s on the agenda for today to gather some resources.
- Also on the agenda for today is to learn better how to create, manage, and manipulate variables in Bitsy. Variables are a crucial programming element for keeping track of inventory items which are, in turn, necessary for fetch quests.
- Another agenda item for soon is to change the theme on this blog. I think it no longer fulfills the needs I have. Its limitations are being foregrounded over its virtues.
- Guadua:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadua
- https://bambusa.es/en/characteristics-of-bamboo/guadua-bamboo/
- https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/guadua-species-list
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRc3TxL1sn8
- Variables:
- https://ayolland.itch.io/trevor/devlog/29520/bitsy-variables-a-tutorial
- Made draft itch.io page for Nemo’s Helper
- realized “8,000 Feet Above The Sea” should be incorporated to help anchor the resonance with Verne.
- met with Olivia who shared with me the curriculum. It is in its final state so only big errors may be fixed.
- made itch page for Nemo’s Helper public and submitted to Unidos game jam. I wanted to go through the whole process so I know where the holes are. I need to make a cover image.
- translated pencils sketches of guadua to Bitsy items and assigned values to various thicknesses.
- still a long way to go for interactions and mechanics.
- have remembered Cafetales and Caucho and Cacao, which haven’t been added.
- Brain is addled so I’m calling it a day. 3:00 pm.