The online home of Hypolite Petovan
I recently completed a LEGO MOC (My Own Creation, an unofficial model created by independent designers) of the French high-speed train TGV Duplex. While I’m a fan of all things train, the TGV will always have a special place in my heart for personal and familial reasons.
Color-scrambled LEGO sets make for visually stunning display pieces, here’s how I built my LEGO Boeing 767 Dreamliner with scrambled colors.
While eagerly demonstrating my feelings to my significant other, I stumbled on the wonderful character of Clifford Stoll, of astronomy and computer science fame, who now sells glass Klein bottles in the most amazingly adorable fashion.
I’m a white man and I’m afraid of the police. Not because I’m been specifically targeted like people from multiple minorities, but because of the arbitrary I’ve learned they’re using to conduct their job.
I realized a couple days ago that this is it, I reached the point in my life I’m been aching for all my life. I’ve been feeling older than my peers at all previous stages of my life, but not anymore. I’ve been believing I’ve been the best version of me that’s ever been for the past 30 years or so, and this trend is coming to an end.
Oh it isn’t perfect, I’m currently paying for mistakes I made earlier in my life, borne out of an expected lack of experience, but even honoring my responsibilities feels like an integral part of the situation I’ve striven for. I’m finally having adult relationships with people who fully know themselves and aren’t cripplingly afraid of disclosing their weaknesses they know they won’t be able to fully change ever, not for anyone, not even for themselves.
Up to this point I’ve lived with the hope, that tomorrow would be better than today which usually has been better than yesterday, and lately I’ve been struggling to find an alternative as it logically faded. Especially as the dread of the expected decline, mental and physical, is naturally creeping its way in.
Now that I feel I reached “peak me”, how many “good years” do I still have in me?
The American and French coverage of the 2019 Hong-Kong protests fawning over the protesters’ ingenuity and solidarity reminds me that I loathe when Occidentals (it’s always Occidentals) praise Asians (it’s always Asians) for examples of efficiency (clean subways, on-time trains, public apologies, etc…) without addressing the massive cultural difference that enables this efficiency: a focus on community rather than individuality.
But this isn’t magic or free, I expect this focus to come at certain personal costs that Occidentals don’t otherwise have to bear. This is why individualism is easy to sell: everyone can see the benefits for themselves and easily overlook the fuzzy incurred costs for the community.
Initially published on Friendica: https://friendica.mrpetovan.com/display/735a2029-135d-5ff0-284f-85c133603623
The video streaming platform Twitch has a culture of its own with its codes, slang, memes that can be confusing for the casual viewer. Especially when he woke up at 2 AM and launched a random stream.
Continue reading “Twitch-type encounter”On last Sunday evening, I went to see Skydyed perform at Brooklyn Bowl in New York. The last-minute booking on an odd day for a concert in a bowling alley reduced the actual attendance to just me.
My American company forces me to take a holiday week between Christmas Day and New Year Day, and this year it’s the occasion to drive from Key West, FL to New Orleans, LA in a Ford Mustang Convertible with my girlfriend.
Continue reading “A (Mostly) Sunny Holiday Road-Trip Through Florida To New Orleans”
On Saturday, June 2nd 2012, I attended an event that made me redefine my concept of “fun party”. I’ve never been too keen on going to dance party, because I seldom found them fun or enjoyable from my standpoint. But something about this one made me reconsider, and I didn’t quite put the finger on it until I arrived at the NYC Decentralized Dance Party.
Continue reading “Why I won’t be able to party anymore”
