still
life...no, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but things have been quite busy, and are about to get busier... so, this may be the last blog for a while. Voices starts up tomorrow, and then Counterpoint concerts start the week after that, and then a couple of weeks after that school... and so on, and so on...
so anyway, I hope things are going well for you, and I'll try to stay in touch.
the boys
and a weekend...a nice Friday. after I picked up the boys this morning, it's been pretty lazy. some lunch, and then a great thunderstorm that we sat out on the porch and watched and listened to. I love the three-dimensional aspect of thunder. hearing it rumble around the hills (even here in Barre!) is one of my favorite things to do. after the storm passed, I quickly finished the lunch dishes and we went out to grocery shop. that's always fun, and today was no exception. amazing what you can find at the store that is very humorous! back home, computer games, and Harry Potter movies, and then time for supper. chicken and fries. very yum. my best fried chicken yet, (yes, still with a bit of cinnamon, and this time I added crushed up rice chex in the flour for the coating.) deep fried the fries rather than baking (big improvement), and later we topped it off with ice cream. I keep close tabs on the sales for ice cream, and can usually get something good. we've been enjoying Edy's, and my favorite, Turkey Hill. we've been discussing the 6th Harry Potter book, since we've all finished it, and we like it, and are looking forward to seeing how she wraps it all up.
webwise, I've been watching the normal sites today, keeping track of what's going on in England, and now in Egypt, and everywhere else, I guess. some good discussions with online friends about global warming, and the general state of the world, which I think we've decided fits in the proverbial handbasket quite well now, sadly. I'm not sure what will be left for my children. unbelieveable, really. for being so smart, we sure are stupid. anyway, onward and upward, as they say.
my nephew Tim graduated from the Great Lakes Naval Base today. congratulations to him. I"m not sure what's in store for him next, but he seems to be handing it well. I don't think I would be. even though I have just gotten past the Pentagon's new request to raise the age for recruits to 42... gotta find that new blood somewhere.
ok, now I'm getting depressing, so I think I'll stop. have a great weekend!
to the moon
and beyond...several things to blog about today, but first, a goodbye. James Doohan, better known as Scotty, has died at the age of 85.
my favorite Scotty moment is in the fourth Star Trek movie, when they return to Earth to save the whales. Scotty has to deal with a 1987 computer, and tries to talk to it, first just sitting in front of it, saying, "computer", and then, with some help from Dr. McCoy, by using the mouse. which he holds to his mouth like a microphone. "Hello, computer". wonderful. goodbye, Scotty.
then, to the Moon:
I was actually visiting the site when my sister Carol sent me the link. a bit looney, perhaps?... pretty neat stuff. oh, and make sure you go to the highest magnification level.
and lastly, from my friend Maverick:
the pictures of the workers, and just being able to see this time in color, amazing.
ok, maybe more later.
well,
well, well...all in all, a pretty good day. I spent quite a bit of time, especially this morning, working on a piece for Voices. I've never written a tango before, but I think this is going to work. we'll see. I've also been working my way through the three Harry Potter movies, though I haven't finished no. 3 yet, since I wanted to watch Guns, Germs, and Steel on PBS. very interesting stuff. the usual conquest ideas, but the geographical ideas are very intriguing. the opportunity for species (especially domesticated animals and grains) to move east-west through Asia and Europe, and take advantage of similar climate, day-length, etc., as opposed to the much more difficult migration from north to south in the Americas was something I hadn't considered before. I'll try to catch next week's episode.
besides music and tv, I've done the usual forum hopping, including a neat discussion on what "coil" means, as in the phrase "throw off this mortal coil". the big guns at AWAD got going on this one, and it rapidly escalated over my head, but Shakespeare was basically thinking "trouble", or "turmoil". not clear why, yet. at least to me...
also spoke with my Mom and my sister, who's visiting in Iowa, and we talked about experiential memories (those that we don't necessarily have any re-inforcement for, such as with pictures), and the Taconic Parkway, and Springfield, Illinois, where my sister will be exploring tomorrow. a childhood trip out to NYC and Washington, DC in the late 60's has left many such memories, as a lot of our photographs were stolen along with our cameras while in NYC. so, I have memories of places, feelings really, that I can't place anywhere. a trip down the Taconic Parkway last summer gave me a (very welcome)! deja vu for some of those feelings. strange to have such un-answers in our lives.
we also talked about the rate of communication today, and where people get their information, and that it seems to me we have entered some chaotic state of information bifurcation, where there is so much available to us, from so many directions, that we have no common centers anymore. it used to be we all got our information from a very few sources, the major news networks, and the local or at least big regional papers. this isn't really true anymore. Kathy mentioned reading that people are more likely to get their information from very specific sources, and those sources are likely to be very ideo-centric, as opposed to the more general news of yesterday. not that those sources didn't have a bias, but (I think) they took their responsibility of providing that information more seriously, and without (such) a sense of profit-making. anyway, this needs a lot more thought, and I'm sure it'll cook for a little while, and then get lost under the next best thing...
speaking of cooking, I was proud of the fried chicken I made tonight. a little garlic in the oil, some cinnamon and curry in the flour, and onions. I deep-fried some french fries (in a small sauce pan on the stove), and it turned out very well. of course, a little cheap wine always helps... ah, the little pleasures...
okay, enough. I hope you can stay cool where you are. I'm not having much luck here, but I'll survive...
Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince...well, I finished it tonight. a great book! sad, and some unexpected twists and turns, but leaving a lot to tie up in Book 7, which is supposed to be the last...
it will be hard to wait for that one!
mammatus
and sandhogs...I had thought to write a sensitive, soul-searching blog today, as I come to terms with who I am, but that will have to wait. instead, a couple of links...
first, to a meteorological phenomenon that I rarely see out here, but those of you on the Great Plains are more familiar with:
simply amazing photographs. I do miss weather like that, though not having to worry about tornados (too much) is a welcome relief.
and secondly, for my sister:
hopefully this link will work. if not, go the NYTImes homepage, click on "multimedia" on the left column, and then search for Sandhogs. I got there via the "Tribes of NY-Goth Girls" (don't ask), but there's a whole series of "Tribes of NY" which are each quite fascinating. I had never thought about sociological groups in quite that way.
anyway, as for me, watch for the death of the butterfly, and a few doors slamming shut.
tomorrow, the boys come for the weekend, and I get to enter into Chellis' World of Warcraft. quite a place!
have a great day.
busy
and not...there have been plenty of things to blog about lately, but just haven't had the gumption to do it. a lot of it seems to be the same old same old; politics, amazing things in nature, stupid people tricks, etc. so rather than do that, I've done nothing. I have done quite a bit of work on Voices stuff, and had a good rehearsal this afternoon, but that's been about it. the boys and I had a good time while they were here this weekend, and I'm looking forward to this weeks' visit.
it's been hot here, but I'm beginning to get a handle on keeping the apartment cooler. it ain't ac, but it's tolerable.
my sister is buying a house, and I'm very happy for her.
maybe someday...
so anyway, hello.
fractal
food...I know there are much more serious things going on in the world today, but this is quite amazing:
maybe, just maybe, someday an understanding of things like this will allow for understanding of human behaviors...
thanks, Faldage!
London
unspeakable...I'm hoping that the British will show us how we should have responded:
so far, the people that I know in London are ok, but they're awaiting word on family and friends. my thoughts are with them.
a day like
most others...the occasional sound of fireworks throughout the day, but I've been hearing those for a few days already. I slept in until around 10, since I had stayed up so late. lazed around drinking coffee, checking the usual websites and forums, and waiting to see if new images of the impact were coming up. they're finally starting to get some dramatic pictures. it was pretty exciting last night; I felt a bit like I did when I was a kid staying up late to see the moonwalk. it was neat to be a part of it in real-time. glad I did it.
the only near-exciting things I did today were setting up my old keyboard, which I finally brought to the apartment. (it's been at a friend's house for a few years...) it was fun to listen to some old pieces, and get some ideas about what I might be able to do with them, eventually. once the Voices thing is really squared away, I'm going to start hacking at some of this old material. should be fun.
and the other thing was making dumplings for my Dinty Moore beef stew tonight. they weren't great, but they'll get better. a bit like eating bread dough, but Dinty Moore makes everything taste good, and I happen to like bread dough... I even had a salad. woohoo!
not much else to add, I hope that you had a safe and happy fourth of July.
oh yeah, yesterday, I put up some pictures of a rainbow we had the other evening. they're on the pictures page. not great, but you'll get the idea...
making a
deep impact...I've been watching with some interest the travels of Deep Impact, and looking forward to tomorrow, when the impactor probe will hit Tempel 1. there will even be some relatively real-time images (if you want to stay up late!), which you can see here:
it should be pretty exciting!
AWESOME!!! congrats to NASA and JPL. really incredible stuff. they nailed it. I can't wait to see all the images tomorrow.
and yes, now I'm going to bed. it's 2:15 am....
you know
it's time...to wash the dishes when you're eating breakfast off a dinner plate, and you spread the peanut butter on your toast with a steak knife...
a beautiful day here, about 70°. I got the car washed, did my laundry, ate some lunch, and did the dishes. whee. I think I'll go to Burlington tonight to see my friend Matt play at a restaurant. something different. now to get to those Voices arrangements...
hope you have a great day.
it occurred
to me...that I only spoke three words today: "hello? that's ok." (I suppose that's actually four with the contraction...) it was a wrong number.
I did have a conversation with my Mom, but that was on IM, so that doesn't count as speech.
very strange.
I did get a bit of work done today. three or four Voices songs transcribed, and into Finale, so that's a start. four more to go, and then lots of work massaging them into shape. but it's fairly pleasurable work once I get started on it.
leftover fried chicken for lunch, and leftover spaghetti for dinner, and then off and on tv tonight. a NOW interview with Milton Glaser on dissent, a discussion group on Newseum about science and the media, and a Tom Brokaw infomentary about a guy who got trapped while hiking, and had to amputate his own arm after six days to survive. and then hike for several hours in the Utah desert, and rappel down a 65 foot cliff. oh, and then hike some more. quite an amazing story, actually. makes my day seem pretty bland. which it was. a good thing, if that's the alternative.
ok, I think it's time for bed. have a great day tomorrow.