Saw this plant in the neighborhood and fascinated by its swirling leaves.
Instead of reproducing the exact details, I tried to capture the overall feels via freeform strokes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKYrhzLxwwu/
2025-06-01
Aeonium
2025-05-31
Persistent learning
When learning a new skill, how well we can do at the beginning or how fast we can improve over time matter less how persistent we can be.
Sometimes the progress might not be obvious in the short term but might pleasantly surprise us in the long term.
2025-05-26
Animated brushes
Animated brushes (e.g., AmberDraw) and motion brushes (e.g., Adobe Fresco) are complementary ways to “draw” single-frame animations.
Recently I have had a lot of fun experimenting with the former, either creating animations from scratch or adding animated brushes over a static drawing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKJCGO5xhdY/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/p/DKGbzm1xMiv/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/p/DKGbtKgRL4l/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/p/DJ2lz9WSjDt/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/p/DJ2ljWgSpkM/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/reel/DJlLgXYOmWh/
https://www.instagram.com/kub1ai/reel/DJkv9BOSXcr/
2025-05-25
Slow motion
I realized a while back (maybe during my teen years) that my brain tends to move too fast for by body to catch up, causing fast (and thus unclear) talking, hand writing, and body movements.
The instructor of one of my physical classes also made similar comments, so today I performed one these forms in a super slow motion. It was more physically demanding (as I need to hold each position longer) but also more mentally relaxing (as I can focus inside myself).
AI, job, and creativity
[After watching this YouTube video about people pivoting to blue collar jobs due to AI]
Let’s say AI replaces or discourages certain creative tasks (like writers or artists).
Eventually nobody is willing to or able to perform such tasks, or only a few highly skilled people can and will.
And then only the AI can create such artifacts, like novels or paintings.
Would such creations just regurgitates of the original human creations? If so, would we lose forever the capability to create something really new?
Or have the humans already lost the capability to create something new, and are just recombining existing ideas?
And/or like all past technological advancements, AI will help us open new ways to create things that we have never imagined before?
2025-05-11
Baby Cindy climbing kitchen cabinet dream
Depicting the (often very vivid) dreams I have is one way to hone creative processes and measure the advances of related technologies.
This is a dream that I had on May 2 2025 during which I saw my baby niece happily and agilely climbing the kitchen cabinet to get some snacks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJhZH91PWwB/
2025-05-05
Unnoticed review assignments
Upon noticing a reminder email about upcoming reviews due for a conference 3 days ago, I realized that I haven’t received any prior notifications about the assignments and thus haven’t started reading the papers yet. It is not a good form to miss reviews, especially for a conference that I previously chaired, so I spent an intense long weekend reviewing these submissions.
2025-05-02
Fresh paint on the train platform
While waiting for the train I saw some workers painting an area of the platform with bright green color, which looked fresh, vibrant, and cheerful.
Unlike more complicated paintings that we might be self-conscious about quality, a simple rectangular region provides less room for worries.
I came back to the same spot 2 days later and found the painted areas marking spots for bike boarding, which should be helpful to let the passengers know where the bike trains will stop.
2025-04-15
Early deaths of former colleagues
While waiting for an evening train I noticed a familiar face in this recommended article on my mobile phone, and was shocked to discover that two of my former MSR Asia colleagues are among the deceased.
I don’t know how much their deaths are related to the work pressures, but it is a good reminder that we should take care of our health.
There is a certain truth that “pain is temporary, suck is forever”, but none of these matters if one is not even around.