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Week Notes 21

This post is 21 of 22 in the series week notes.

General #

This week, I took part in Nord Amerika Somera Kursaro (North-American Summer Course). It was a blast to be around people speaking Esperanto. As someone who started learning in 2008, it is cool to meet a bunch of a new learners. They all started via Duolingo and other platforms that didn’t exist when I started. There is also a strong toki pona presence. Initially, I joked that I would probably learn toki pona during NASK.

The last time I attended NASK was in 2016 when it was held in Raleigh, NC. At the time, I took Iśtvan Ertl’s literature course. It was an enlightening experience. Now, I’m taking another literature course. This one is about microfiction taught by Jorge Rafael Nogueras.

Vendataj: bebŝuoj, neuzataj.

The famous six word story in English is even shorter in Esperanto!


A couple weeks ago, I posted a quote from ~dozens essay SOFA about the freedom to pick up new interests and identities. Here’s a trimmed version of that quote again for context.

Want to be somebody who knows how to cook, or code in Lisp? … Just start doing those things and then, poof! Now you are that person.
🛋 SOFA

At the time, I wanted to note: I do a lot of different things. When I read other people’s week notes, such as Jedda and Zak, I enjoy their focus. It is nice to see their weekly progress on definite things. As for me, I love trying new things however briefly.

I even got an e-mail this week from Brandon1 saying: “I’ve enjoyed following your adventures in your Week Notes. It’s always so unpredictable. One week you’re building robots out of the blue, the next week you’re juggling.”

Yup! That’s the way I like life.

Writing #

I sent off the piece Prove The Fundamental Theorem First2 to FYMSiC. This piece was first mentioned back in Weeknotes 10.


I wrote a few pieces of microfiction at NASK. One of them is available here: La Nudelmanĝanto. Mostly, they were responding to particular prompts or were written with other people. I generally don’t write fiction or poetry, so it has been a novel experience for me. It has me itching to explore other genres. I asked about where to publish stuff in Esperanto and was highly encouraged to check out Usona Esperantisto; they often publish microfiction.

Moving #

I didn’t do anything very physical this week. There was a fair bit more walking around dowtown, but nothing strenuous. The best walk was from Church and Wellesley to Quaker House, a nice half-hour long walk before Midweek Meeting.

Gardening #

A long pumpkin vine creeping through the garden.

The garden is certainly coming along. Megan is very proud of her pumpkin patch. The vine shown above is at least six feet long. We’re making multiple trips per week to weed and water. My side of the garden is less spectacular. I managed a couple radishes. The beats, cucumbers, and eggplant are still devloping. A rabbit (or something) ate all my lettuce.

Playing #

Several colorful blocks with string running through them.

This week, I tried out tablet weaving. I’d seen it describe in a book ages ago but never tried it. While playing puzzles with Mabel, I realized that her square blocks could be used as tablets for weaving. Once the kids were tucked away in bed, I borrowed the blocks and made up a short sample.

Previously, I’ve written about loop braiding here. I love the technique of loop braiding: the feel of the loops on my fingers, the structure, the moves. The results, however, come out rather thin. In tablet weaving, the finished product is satisfyingly thick and band-like. Moreover, tablet weaving is very old. The basic technology hasn’t changed in thousands of years.

This lack of change is sometimes interpreted as a failure to develop and so tablets and their products have occasionally been considered as simple or archaic. On the contrary, it is a case of tablets being unspecialized and therefore sharing with other unspecialized tools an almost limitless potential; in the hands of the creative worker, there is practically nothing tablets cannot do.

— Peter Collingwood (The Techniques of Tablet Weaving)

Links #

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. — Jim Jarmusch3 (director)


  1. Shhh! Brandon left the blogosphere around the time I wrote Weeknotes 12. He totally doesn’t have a new blog. Don’t go looking for it. You’ll never find it. ↩︎

  2. This is another of those annoying hidden posts that I like to keep here. At some point, once the piece is published and I have permission to share it, I’ll unhide it. ↩︎

  3. I’m stealing this quote via my friend, Mike Pawliuk↩︎


Published: Jul 12, 2025 @ 11:00.
Last Modified: Jul 15, 2025 @ 12:49.

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