Mapping my thoughts

Satori, maps, weather — Stephen on January 7, 2009 @ 7:52 pm — 2 comments

It is raining and dark and cold outside. Days like this are demotivating (or give me an excuse perhaps) but I haven’t really felt like doing much. Looking out the window, I see low clouds blurring much of the skyline, and there is a calm sense of melancholy in the atmosphere. Today I have not been thinking very clearly, with thoughts wandering to all sorts of things, finding work, my travels, old friends on facebook, maps, food, book writing, updating my cv, politics and headaches. On more than one occasion today I have been asked by people what I have been up to the last couple of years and in response I just send them this map:

There is something wondrous about maps and mapping. They are really just another representation of experience. A map is a schematic and abstract representation often (as in my case) keyed to so many disparate memories, yet the map’s structure brings them all together.

Rainy Rio

Satori, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, weather — Stephen on December 20, 2008 @ 9:44 am — 1 comment

It has been fairly rainy since coming to Rio (although not as bad as we feared from the weather reports), and this morning the fog is so bad we can’t see mountains and hills that are quite close to us. Looking through the information on Rio on the internet, you realize to what a great degree this city relies on good weather and views for a large part of its attractions. After all, what is a trip to the top of Sugarloaf without something to look at? One of the guys we met in a club last night told us that Rio just isn’t itself lately with the weather, and that people are staying in and cocooning while waiting out the rain. Rain or no, I think we will try to visit some of the historic parts of the city today, as well as Copacabana.