Friday, October 01, 2004

Well Eric, I just listened to the debate off NPR and I stand corrected.
I was initially suprised that it turned out the way it did.
Now lets see how Cheney Edwards debate goes, frankly, I'm a little worried that that Cheney will eat Edwards... literally. Then what will Kerry do for a running mate?

Bruce I don't know what Wryd thought of your post, but I thought it was beautiful and well put.

Hey what the hell happened to Sherry?

Thursday, September 30, 2004

I DID remember one thing that pissed me off today:The presidential "debates" start tonight.
WHAT A JOKE!!
The fact that the Bush and Kerry campaign have inacted all these rules for it. (I believe the Bush campaign came up with it, but Kerry's excepted it).
If you want to see how some of these rules go here, it lists many of the problems, and ridiculous rules of these "debates".
Here's one of the most ridiculouse portions:

"Under the ridiculous 32-page contract that reads like the rules for the Miss America Pageant, there will be no candidate-to-candidate questions, no rebuttal to your opponent's points, no cross questions or cross answers, no rebuttals, no follow-up questions -- that's not a debate, that's a news conference."
Connie Rice

Go here for the rest:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052162

I know what your talking about Bruce. The fall doesn't bring it on for me (despite the indication of my post yesterday), I do get mildly depressed in the winter though.
Today is different, today I'm in a good mood.
I've got some SunkistR to drink, that makes me glad. I've got a little bit of cash in my pocket.
I'm looking forward to the weekend, where I don't have to go into work on Saturday unless I want to. (I probably will for a couple of hours).
And despite the completely shitty rehearsal we had last night for the show, I'm happy with it. (Just hope tonight goes significantly better).
Yes today I'm very gruntled.

Ahh, Wyrd I can share in at least part of your pain on loss. The painful numbness eventually went away for me. My father is a memory, a very pleasant memory. I'm not going to say I don't miss him. I do. But it's been along time since his passing now, and when I think of him now, I think of him fondly, remembering his antics and his humor. I don't have any advice for you really. I don't know the full situation of what your going through or struggling with. I will say though that its important that you remember. As for your other situation... I'm poor at offering advice on that topic, so i'm not going to. Partly for the lack of knowledge, partly for some stinging of the heart that it causes for me to think on that. It's often difficult to do what we know is right, because it hurts us.

I'm listening to "Jabba's Theme" from Return of the Jedee. The sweet sound of tuba, up and down. Next to the french horn it has the largest range of the brass. A good tubist can clear five octaves on the instrument, from low C (this is three octaves below middle) to the C an octave above middle, that is unless it is a Bb horn, then that's Bb not C. IN my prime on the instrument I could do about four octaves, though the upper octaves were a struggle. The way brass instruments work is on the principle of harmonics. In the higher registers the harmonics get really close together so close in fact that no valves are required to go up in down in scale, just subtle changes of the lips. That's tough. The french horn is about a five octave instrument also, the low note is about 1 1/2 octaves above the tubas, the high note the same distance. You don't see alot of writing for the french horn in the outer extremities of its range, it's not a pleasant sound really. Excellent and superior trombones and trumpets can clear four octaves on their horns, bass trombonist can hit five.
When orchestrating for the brass, you have to remember the strong and weak points of each instrument: Tuba's not going to be heard well in the extreme low register, double with the bass bone an octave above, or tenor bones two octaves. Tenor trombones get real brassy (they all do really) in the higher registers. Be careful of shrill high notes in the trumpets. Also watch out for shrill notes in the french horns, they occur at a much lower pitch in the horns than they do in the trumpets. For a warm sound, group the harmonies together in the lower or mid registers. For a brighter sound, drop the bass instruments (easiest) and use the Trumpets and 1st and 3rd horns in the upper registers, the 1st and 2nd bones and the 2nd and 4th horns for the bass in their mid registers.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

It's overcast today. The clouds make a ceiling above the valley, making it feel somewhat claustrophobic.
I don't mind.
I find my self rather melancholy today. It happens, frequently or infrequently, given my temperment and the season.
I'm missing people today.
I'm content most of the time, but some days, like to day, I miss people.
Family, who I know I'll see again (though most likely not until Christmas, or possibly thanksgiving).
Friends I haven't seen since highschool; some I still comunicate with, others I have not, and probably will not again.
Friends from my first few years in college, many I haven't seen in years.
Others more recently; you guys on The Cake for instance.

I can hear the construction across the street and a block up. They're tearing up sidewalks, and putting new sidewalks in.
I have a suspicion that the block the store is on may be next.
I'm not looking forward to it.
It will close our store front for a couple of weeks.
That's going to take a toll on our business.

Well the good news is, I should be caught up with my debt by the end of December. Unfortuantly I won't be able to start school in the spring semester as I had hoped.
Yes I'm going back, but not as soon as I had hoped.
But I can start saving money, which is a good thing.

I composed a little melody for the song in Holes.
Now before you say "Frank, that already has a tune."
Well, nobody knew it, and Colin asked me (after everyone volounteered me for the task) to write something.
It's a haunting little melody, in Aeolian. At the moment it's stuck in my head.
I think i'm going to use it for something else.
Don't know what yet, but something.



Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Deanne, now admittedly, I've never had the problem of being accussed of pregnancy. People HAVE accussed me of eating babies however, though I never have. As for the rest of your post; if perhaps they find away for men to become pregnant, then perhaps societal attitudes will change as far as domestic issues go. I find it strange that society is so psycologically obsessed with a very mechanical function of being an animal. Why do we find an exchange of bodily fluids so damn fasinating?

Wyrd, I love playing RPG's. I have several of them for the original playstation, a couple for the Xbox. IF you have a pc or a Box then I highly recomend Morrowwind (I've logged on about 50 hours into that game and I've only scratched the surface of it). Knights of the Old Republic (sweet game, cool plot line, and it's Star Wars). Right now those are the two premierre rpgs, Fable's good, and the Baldur's Gate duology isn't bad if you want some midless adventure. I'm looking forward to three right now: A Bard's Tale, Knights of the Old Republic II, and Jade Empire. Until then I think I might turn back to the old playstation though and pic up some of the FF games again or one of the other old school Japanese style RPG's.

Hey great news everybody, Oil is now $50 a barrel. Aren't you happy that our society relies on a substance that has a finite supply. Damn I wish they would have gone with corn oil... oh well hindsight is 20/20.

Monday, September 27, 2004

Let me first say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRUCE'S BLOG.
Congratulations Bruce on the year. Glad to have you around.

So I spent the bulk of yesterday playing the Xbox game "Fable"
Now I have to admit, I AM a little dissapointed with it.
It is a good game, well put together, but it's a very small game.
Short.
I've only been emeshed in the world for about fifteen hours, several short spurts during the week and several hours yesterday, and I'm about 2/3rds of the way finished.
It's great that I've been able to marry two different women and two different towns; it's great that I've got many little side quests still to do, but as with every one else, it's too small.
I'm the sort of video gamer who likes to set a game aside after a while and come back to it later.
I've done that with nearly everygame I've ever played.
With this one, there almost isn't a point, at least with the current quest, to do that.
It will only take about five, maybe ten hours of game play (a week for me, maybe).
There is alot to this game, other than the quests, but some of it's easy, the rest borders on impossible.
If any of you have an Xbox, wait until the price drops, then pick it up. It's a good game; you can kill villagers and merchants (if that's your thing, it's not mine, but I did kill a blackjack dealer for beating me about ten times in a row at blackjack) . Get married many times over (I'm married twice, and working on the third). Find random, useless, but interesting junk.
It's fun.
But I crave more quests.

That's my geekiness for the day.