Journey
I am focusing more on my personal journey. If you are interested in my day job, the link https://about.illinoisstate.edu/adatta/profile/, in addition to satisfying your curiosity, may also help conquer insomnia.
I have always struggled to express myself in spoken words—either I wrote, or I drew. This was exacerbated by my synesthesia, especially when I could see imagery associated with music. I became drawn to the ones that evoked those feelings and shied away from those that did not. This did not help me make any friends, as more popular music could not feel my emotions. Books, canvas, audiotapes, CDs became better friends than humans. When I was fifteen, I vividly remember waking up to a dream of being a kid from Japan. I was speaking Japanese fluently. However, the setting was from the future—it had flying cars and bullet trains over tall buildings.
With age, my academic mind oscillated between two universal thoughts—nothing matters, and everything is connected. My undergraduate, graduate, doctorate, publications, promotions, tenure led me nowhere to strike a balance. Yet, I sensed it while I listened to Chopin, Liszt, and Pink Floyd, or when I scratched my Dog’s (https://www.instagram.com/brucethemagnificent/) belly. I could see vivid scenes, scenarios yet nothing to tie them together. And then, just like during my sabbatical, that dream reappeared, and I started having glimpses of a life that I did not live. One day, I saw a live recital by Joshua Bell in Chicago Symphony, where he played Sarasate’s Ziegerweissen and Massenet’s Meditation. It suddenly hit me how this music can divert someone’s thoughts from drudgery to bliss. I created Vincent—or maybe he was always inside me. What if the person who played these for Vincent suddenly disappeared? What would she be in Vincent’s eyes? That was Akane. I read a paper that past and present can co-occur. So I wondered, what if time is nonlinear—the Universe does not measure time through Earth’s rotation and its revolution around the Sun. What if the past is a reflection of the future? And slowly emerged the Time Corrector and Emika.
So what do I aspire to as an author? I really don’t know. I just want everyone to enjoy the story and feel human emotions and frustrations beyond the science-fiction context. After all, the World of Vincent is not too different from ours—it’s flawed and beautiful. And maybe Vincent’s struggles will help you and me understand our own. At least I don’t know what I am looking for in life.
Thank you, ありがとうございます,
Avi D
Art
I had been scribbling since the age of three. I was determined to be an artist until I realized that it’s not a financially viable ambition for someone coming from a middle-class family in the developing economy. So I carved out a career with things I am not bad at either—theoretical reasoning, statistics, etc.
Maybe that’s why Philip’s career in art was interrupted by a time-turbulence, and Vincent too shied away from becoming an artist. The paintings that Vincent sees in Philip’s mansion are my own.
“The first is a cubist style called “Gnoseinne 1, 2, and 3.” The second is titled “Starry night over Manhatten.” The third is a surrealist work called “Moonlight sonata.” The fourth is an impressionist style depicting a man riding a bicycle titled “Homebound.”
Please feel free to enjoy some of my other paintings
When I get bored, I sketch. Here is a sample of them.
Coffee
I drink a lot of coffee, and I do believe that Erdos’s quote, “A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems,” is generalizable across professions. For instance, “A professor like me is a device for turning coffee into a boredom.”
My addiction to coffee does not make me a visitor to Starbucks. Instead, it spirals me into a world of extraction, distribution, and aroma. I experiment with beans, grind, and see their impact on taste. I use several methods of extraction—Espresso, Hario V-60, French Press, Vietnamese Phin filter, Moka pot, Hario mizudashi.
“She stares at the cup, which reveals Van Gogh’s “Wheat Field with Crows.” Then she swirls the cup, sniffs the coffee. And she drinks it in precisely three sips. “I’m sure old Vincent will be proud of the new one,” she says, curling her thumb and index finger into an “OK” sign.”
My coffee Lab
Puck Preparation and Distribution
On the left is the Breville stock filter basket capable of holding 17 to 19 grams of coffee. On the right is the IMS precision basket from Italy, which can hold 22 grams of coffee. It should deliver a richer taste.
