Le Sigh

It's far to easy to let oneself become attached to something that one shouldn't be.

Future Win!

Batman Beyond FTW! I love this theme song.

Played my first scale (and, actually, my first song - if badly) on the 12-hole Ocarina last night. It's much more... Touchy. It's a soprano instead of a tenor (tuned to the same key, but in a different octave), and has a smaller internal volume than my 6; longer but much narrower. Even with the extra length, though, the 10 small holes on top are more crowded than the 4 larger ones on my 6-hole. My fingers have a habit of slipping slightly off the holes as I'm changing my fingering for different notes; I need to work on that. Next time I buy an Ocarina, I'll take more care to get one with the holes spaced a bit wider for big ham-hands like mine.

(on that note, I spent some time yesterday - at work, and no, I'm not ashamed - browsing stlocarina.com's selection. Their frigging instruments range from $10 to something like $1700. That's an expensive Ocarina...)

I did make some good progress on reducing the breathy quality of my high Bs and Cs on the 6-hole, as well. I was happy about that.

I played a tune labeled in my cute little "beginner's Ocarina" book as "French Folk Tune". I can play it reasonably well on both now. I'm going to work next on re-learning "Lord of the Dance" on the 12 and practice that, though it doesn't actually hit quite the entire octave. This weekend, I'll go through the two books and pull out a couple more songs to learn; then later, probably next week, I'll start working on the sharps and flats on both Ocarinas.

Such a simple instrument, but it actually is making me very happy.

I gave my spare Ocarina to John from work. He looked surprised and pleased. Hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed mine.

Fuck.

No, not just "fuck", but FUCK.

Fuckety fuckety fuck.

Just shoot me now. *sighs*

Oldie but Goodie?

So today I think I'm going to the Old Songs Festival. It's late June, and looks like a lot of fun. It's a music and dance festival, complete with many, many performers, food, vendors and artists of various types, and things like that.

If anyone wants to come with, let me know, we'll work something out.

Were it tin...

...it still would not a tin whistle be. It arrived yesterday, and I can play a scale and a simple tune on it; a six-hole is pretty easy fingering. The fingering chart on a 12-hole I find quite imposing... But I'll try it out eventually. After I'm more comfortable on this one.

Interestingly, for the first octave, it appears there is no difference between common sweet-potato 4-holes and 6-holes except tuning - the 6-hole is tuned a couple of tones higher, which you then play down from by covering the two underside holes.

I'm going to look into finding a 4-hole for Aidan. He may not make much music, but he'll find making coherent noise far easier on a 4-hole - then he only needs to worry about grip and not covering the underside holes.

The Long Road

I had to fight a very strong urge to just keep going. I want to smell the sea and feel the miles passing under the tires. I didn't want to stop.

*sigh*

The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

In Westminster Abbey, there is a single grave covered by a large slab of black marble. It has the interesting distinction, I've been told, of being the only grave in the Abbey that visitors are specifically forbidden to walk on. In it rests the body of a British soldier slain in World War I, chosen in such a manner to specifically make it unknown what battlefield he came from, exactly when he was killed, or even what branch of the military he was from. On the stone is inscribed the following:

BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY
OF A BRITISH WARRIOR
UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK
BROUGHT FROM FRANCE TO LIE AMONG
THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS OF THE LAND
AND BURIED HERE ON ARMISTICE DAY
11 NOV: 1920, IN THE PRESENCE OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
HIS MINISTERS OF STATE
THE CHIEFS OF HIS FORCES
AND A VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATION

THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY
MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914 - 1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT
MAN CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF
FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
FOR LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND
THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD

THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE
HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD
HIS HOUSE

Around the main inscription are four texts:

THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS (top)
UNKNOWN AND YET WELL KNOWN, DYING AND BEHOLD WE LIVE (side)
IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE (base)
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS (side)

I'm glad he wasn't wasting Scotch!

http://www.ispyce.com/2011/04/kentucky-man-invents-bourbon-whisky.html

Foot-in-Mouth-itis: a disease not nearly rare enough...

Wow, I did it again. Monday I - completely by accident - got someone yelled at by their boss because I tried to talk to them at work (not because I wanted to talk, but because of who I was talking to them...); yesterday I managed to ask a question to an acquaintance in the context of her and a former friend of hers... Only to find out that that "friend" had slept with my acquaintances fiance and broken up their engagement; and just now, when talking to a friend, I accidentally said "chatted up" instead of "chatted with" when referring to a conversation I had with his wife yesterday... Nearly causing a great deal of trouble through a simple slip of the tongue.

Y'know, I think I'm done talking for the week. I'm going to go hide in a corner and not answer people so I can't do anything else dumb.

*sighs*

Ocarinas FTW!

Okay - so today, as a follow-on to an otherwise unrelated conversation, I found out the primary difference between a recorder and an ocarina; a recorder is a tubular resonance chamber where the pitch generated is related to the length of the bore and the open holes, which change the resonance frequency by changing the size of the resonance chamber; while an Ocarina always uses the full resonance chamber, but the pitch generated is related to the ratio of the area of the uncovered holes against the volume of the resonance chamber. Because of its nature, the location of the holes and the shape of the resonance chamber have far less effect on the tone than the material of the chamber and the size of the holes... And from an aesthetic and mathematical point of view, I find it fascinating.

I have to investigate this more.

Canadian Rose

I dunno why, but this song always reminds me of a specific person - Samantha. She's not Canadian. She's not from Burlington. We have no "special table". I've never called her "flower"; I've very rarely called her anything besides "Sam". She doesn't taste of Cinnamon, and she has not smelled of cider or rose any time I've been around her. She has never, in my memory, called me ugly. In fact, I don't think she's ever called me American, either. I can't think of a single logical reason why it's associated with her in my head, but it quite firmly is.

Funny how my mind works.

By the way, she tells me that this song makes her think of me, because I played it for her the first time she visited me in NY. That was long ago. I don't remember if I played it for her because it reminds me of her, or if it reminds me of her because of that. Either way.

EDIT: Yes, I know what she tastes like. No, I'm not going to tell you what. Yes, skin tastes unique on people - based on various health and beauty products they use, their body chemistry, and even (in rare cases) what they've eaten recently... So get your minds out of the gutter. No, I'm not going to tell you the context in which I found out. "Recent" is a very subjective thing, so I can't answer that usefully. Geez, don't you guys have anything better to do in the middle of the day? O.O

---

Autumn air it carries me there
Less than an hour to go
Six hundred miles an hour
And still it feels so slow
I'm trying to get back to Burlington
To a square in the center of town
To a spot on a wooden table
Where her feet didn't reach the ground
And when she kisses me it tasted like cinnamon
And her skin smells of cider and rose
And when she looked at me we both got quiet
And my heart beats so hard we were in so close
Once for such a beautiful while that still makes me smile

And she called me her ugly American
And I would call her my Canadian flower
And I don't think that we'll ever get there again
We had such power
And she would call me her ugly American
And I'll remember my Canadian rose
Especially when the fall comes to Burlington
We were in so close

I finally made it this town looks rearranged
I don't know these people anymore
But in the best ways not much else has changed
From the way it was before
And at least they still have this certain table
Where I once carved a particular name
I run my finger through the weathered carving
And I almost can feel the same
And my mouth it almost tastes just like cinnamon
As I ponder what my pilgrimage means
And I try to figure out where Vancouver is from here
And I listen to the leafs
If only for a beautiful while that still makes me smile

And she called me her ugly American
And I would call her my Canadian flower
And I don't think that we'll ever get there again
We had such power
And she would call me her ugly American
And I'll remember my Canadian rose
Especially when the fall comes to Burlington
We were in so close

And every single hope and dream I could ever conjure up
Passionately springs in me and all things are possible
Plausible and perfectly both of ours forever after and every day
At least it seemed that way
Once for such a beautiful while that still makes me smile

And she called me her ugly American
And I would call her my Canadian flower
And I don't think that we'll ever get there again
We had such power
And she would call me her ugly American
And I'll remember my Canadian rose
Especially when the fall comes to Burlington
We were in so close

-Blues Traveller

Holy crap, dictionaries change fast these days!

I send exactly the same, 1-word, text to two people. The first one? Just goes. The second one? It auto-corrects the word to something else.

WTF, iPhone? You like the second person less than the first one?

England expects that every man will do his duty

“MAY THE GREAT GOD, whom I worship, grant to my country and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious victory: and may no misconduct, in anyone, tarnish it: and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet.

For myself Individually, I commit my life to Him who made me and may His blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my Country faithfully. To Him I resign and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend.

AMEN AMEN AMEN”

-Horatio Nelson, from the deck of H. M. S. Victory, October 21st, 1805

One way to look at it...

• Gas to get to/from the mall: $2.50
• "Daddy, do you have any money for the claw game?": $1.00 (got something on the first try, too!)
• Two adult and one child's tickets: $22.50
• One large popcorn, one large and one small soda, one small fruit punch, one hot dog, one Junior Mints: $30.50
• The hug when he says "That movie was awesome, daddy!": Priceless.

Dammit, I miss my son.

An acquaintance of mine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuOxWhhJvxc&sns=fb

A lot of people ask about things that make me happy, or if I am happy, or whatever. In an effort to illustrate one such thing, here's a little story for you all.

There's a used book store called the Book Barn, in Latham, NY. It's a great little place; it has an active and knowledgeable owner, who's very friendly and'll do things like wander off into the shelves to find books for you if you call him up during the day. They have a huge selection of widely varied books, including a comics section. I got a book here for my mother's birthday - an old copy of "The Girl Scout Story", or something like that... But I digress. One of the things they have is a big hutch in the back, which is what I'd descibe as "the old books section" - the newest book on the shelf is probably 30 years old, and many are much older.

In 2010 (January, I think? I can check when I get home if you care), I stopped by. From this shelf, I found a 1917 printing of the 1914 publication "Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds", a collection of poetry and prose by Amy Lowell. It's a little hard-cover book, bound in green and with rough page edges, obviously aging. I bought it for $8.10 (including tax).

I then took my new book, and went next door, to Roman Pizza. There, I bought a slice of pizza and a soda for $2.50, sat down, at dinner, and read poems by a woman I'd never heard of before that day. And that? That was a good day.

As an aside, the book in question is available on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=L6IqAAAAMAAJ&dq=Amy%20Lowell%20sword%20blades&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

BattleZone

Years and years ago, when I played BattleZone - the original, white or green vector lines on black screen - I always thought to myself, "If I go far enough, I'll reach the mountains." I'd spend hours driving for the horizon, wanting to reach the mountains. I got really good at the game, not because I wanted to play it, because they kept on killing me short of the mountains. It wasn't until years later I found out the mountains couldn't be reached.

Sue me. I was young.

"Anticipation", by Amy Lowell

I have been temperate always,

But I am like to be very drunk

With your coming.

There have been times

I feared to walk down the street

Lest I should reel with the wine of you,

And jerk against my neighbours

As they go by.

I am parched now, and my tongue is horrible in my mouth,

Bu my brain is noisy

With the clash and gurgle of filling wine-cups.

Stupid Achievements in Rift...

To answer your (a specific you, of course) question, yes, there are "dumb" achievements in Rift. See "Cry Me a River", granted for slaughtering large numbers of squirrels, and "Death-Defying Acheesement", granted for completing a short quest chain involving eating poisoned cheese. I don't think there are any "wrong-place-wrong-time" achievements yet, though, like the "get killed by Deathwing" one in WoW.

Noticed

I've gotten two awards in the immediate past, at work, for things that I've done - for my work over the weekend, and for volunteering to fill a hole in the on-call schedule. On some level, it's so silly; just an attaboy and a pat on the back. On another level, though... It's nice to know that at least someone is thinking about it and appreciates what I do. Don't get that type of notice nearly enough - at work or otherwise.

Ahh, well. Back to what I was doing.

Interesting factoid for the day: a single Starburst candy is 1/8th of a serving, and about 20 calories. For some reason, that amuses me.

Dammit...

...I forgot today was April 1st. Time to ignore Slashdot for 24 hours.