Thoughts.

Every semester is something new, up to the bitter end. College has been so beyond what i thought it was supposed to be. I grew up in ways that i didn't even know people could grow, i learned things that i didn't even know existed. I don't regret any of it, though if i were to do it again, I admit, I would change a thing or two, but nothing too huge. I look forward to the next adventure, though it is going to be nothing like i had imagined it would be. I don't know where I'm going to wind up in a year, that excites me. What excites me even more, is that it could be anywhere. Whenever you get too down about today, just remember there are plenty of life experiences waiting down the line.

Unmasked!

Last we left our intrepid splendiferous hero, Elliptical Man, skirmishing for food after successfully completing an important event to rekindle people's love for fine Jewish composers. Elliptical Man's family even sojourned to attend the event. During our hero's perilous search for a fine dining establishment, he notes the calm that has come over the city.

"Perhaps," he considers, "because I fed the Tubby Tabby her tuna tonight that the town has turned to such a peaceful state, or maybe it was a fantastic concert, either way, things seem to be at peace."

However, as he said these things aloud, gusts began to tussle the tree's branches. Knowing that the only reason wind

would suddenly kick up and possibly tamper with an otherwise good evening, it meant that the Pocatello Wind had heard him monologging...but then, he would have had to be in hearing distance, and withing the Perkin's Parking Lot, there was nobody but him and his family.

His father being hard of hearing was not a logical choice, his girlfriend had been with him many times, and never had the wind whipped when she was present. So it left only one option...that the Pocatello Wind must be... his own brother!

What will become of these shattered family values! How will the plot thicken? Whatever happened to that cop gocart thing? And will the Tubby Tabby ever shut up!? Find out in our next issue!

Every Thing on It

This blog post is dedicated to, and about, a life long hero of mine, Shel Silverstein. If you are not familiar with this man, he is an author and poet of children's literature, including such popular titles like The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and many other titles to his name.

His books were some of the first pieces of written art I have in living memory. My parents would always read to me and my brother before we could really read (and even a little while after), and my dad would usually select some poems from one of Shel's books. His unique illustrations and accessible children's poetry are iconic for me, as well as (dare I say) a great percentage of those from my generation.

Recently, his estate (or publishing company) decided to release a new book of his previously unpublished materials, titled Every Thing on It. I personally like to believe his estate allowed this, because to me it would be insulting to such a brilliant man's memory to just go ahead and capitalize on a dead man's B sides, which were unpublished for reasons. So if his estate deemed it was ok, then Shel probably wanted these snippits to improve, but ultimately his wish was for this art to make it to the public.

In any case, reading through this posthumous tome, I feel almost that Shel knew his end was coming, and had a sense of the weight his writings would have on so many people. The book feels more like it applies to my life now as a 20-something than even his children's books did when I was a child. To me it seems that Shel understood he was more than just a children's author, but that he himself was a writer for our generation. Admittedly, I am being a bit presumptous about his importance, but that is only because I only know what it is like to have him as such a huge influence. Nevertheless, when reading the collection, it feels like it wasn't written with children in mind, but how Mr. Silverstein envisioned those children he was writing for would grow up to be, the things they would need to hear, or the feelings they would need reminded of.

Generations X and Baby Boomers both had one Dr. Suess, another beloved author who not only had a unique poetic flavor, but also very unique illustrations and huge impact on a countless number of lives. It is well known that Seuss did write for all ages, his topics were very controversial, but also humbling, or just plain silly. His writing was ear marked, and a lot of posthumous material has fabricated over the decades since. And his material speaks to the generation he wrote for when he was just in it for the kids.

So please don't ever forget those that were able to move you as a child, teen, adult, or whenever. As artists, they understand the scope of what they are accomplishing, and hope that they can deliver it in the safest and clever manner available to them. So even in his death, Mr. Silverstein has been able to remind me of what it is in life that sometimes I forget, or need and want. And he is able to do this with just a few lines of silly, simple, lyrics.

I tip my hat to you, whatever plane you may be roaming Shel.

The 7 Year Itch

This isn't a post about the movie, or the subject the phrase is supposed to mean (being that after being in a relationship for 6 years it is a trial to not cheat in the 7th or something like that). No this is about the fact that I have been in my college town for 5 1/2 years. Before I leave, it will be a full 6 years of this town, and despite much incentive to stay more, I just couldn't do anything professionally or academically for a 7th year here. Not only is my #2 grad school choice doing a partial in state program here in the fall of '12, but I also have a shot at a full time job where I work that will pay me a professional wage. Both would be exceedingly tempting, if it were anywhere else in the world than where I live.

Why is it I have a hard time staying despite these obvious advantageous incentives?

1) I've never really lived in a town for longer than 6 years. I get an itch to just move someplace different where I am unfamiliar. The world is small, my life is short, I don't want to settle in a town until I'm ready to start a family.

2) This town has no soul. I have tried to make the best of it, but this town has nothing to offer. I just want a book store, someplace I could hang out, and something more than just going to the movies. Not to mention the populace of this town is generally uneducated, and don't support education, but also are completely uncultured and don't make a stab at it.

3) Ending my undergrad is a landmark in my life, seems like the perfect time for change. I'm willing to stick around this place for those few weeks that my classes are actually going on, but I don't want to stay here for another 2 years. I'd freaking kill myself (not really, but I wouldn't really progress as a person very much).

Now I understand the job market sucks. I understand that student loans are crippling. I am not an individual who lies down and takes what stupid things society says I "should" believe, or I "should" do. I intend to specialize in a technological field, a field that despite what the news wants you to believe, is still growing and needs more people to fill the ranks. My plans aren't to work in a library per se, but to program, alter, tweak, and design catalogs, web sites... Even then, this is just for a day job while I continue to compose and travel around the world, and try and make my music a full time job. No, this isn't delusions of grandeaur, I will work myself to the dirt to make this happen, because even though the world economy is tanking, I don't need to go down with it. Money is immaterial, it's imaginary, if I need more I will figure a way to get more. I can market my intelligence, I can learn new tricks to satisfy employers, I can work hard, and even do manual labor. But, if I want this lifestyle, I CANNOT STAY WHERE I AM. Funny when you live in a town where its GDP drops well above national rates (meaning local economy=impossibly poor) that a dream of making decent money, just isn't that realistic.

There are plenty of people my age that make 6 figure incomes, I WILL be one of them before I am 30, and I WILL have traveled to at least 3 continents at that point too. This will happen, but not so long as I live in this town.

So, I do have senioritis, I have an itch to get the hell out of this town, but that's because I want to do fun things, live the life I want, despite society telling me a lower middle class citizen should stay there.

I might sounds like an idealistic college student, but the only thing I have really learned in college is that to get anything you really want in life, you have to work at it. If there is one thing I believe I am good at, it's that I am a good worker.

Hiatus!

It has been an eternity since I've made a post. Sorry about the hiatus, summer ended and school began. So let me just break this long drawn silence with something that matters a great deal to me: the first amendment.

Why out of all things, would I decide to post something about the freedom of speech? Simple: I work (live rather) in a library, and having the freedom to print and post your opinions is a God given right (just a phrase). It is amazing for me to think that we live in this wonderous age of technology, where all information is a click away, we can see people instantly, THE WORLD OVER, and that we can become the most educated humans ever to have lived! Even more amazing are the people who prefer to remain ignorant and spiteful of this great gambit of society. There are organizations that are supposed to represent the root of the ideas of liberalism-literally, "the belief in the written word," and not just agree to challenge printed books from being publicly accessed, but to outright BAN these marks of society from the public altogether!

Now this sounds overly dramatic, but this is my life, and it is drama to me. I believe that everyone has their rights to express their opinions openly, and without criticism so long as it doesn't harm people. Now this is a bit tricky to justify because how do you claim harm or expression? Well harm is easy, because I mean physical harm, forcing someone against their will. Not this "I really don't like those pictures of naked people, and it hurts me to look at them." Nobody forces you to see it, and if it offends you that much, turn a blind eye. I mean if someone were to murder another because they were of a different race, and the previous person wanted to prove that race was weaker. That isn't speech, that's another class of expression entirely. Opinion though, that to me means any artistic or intelligent expression. So art, writing, public or private speaking, music etc... I understand not everyone agrees with this, but hey, my professional opinion.

Now consider that with all this wealth of information, groups that support this undiluted freedom, to display any and all information pertinent to their collections, would remove an item. This occurs from drastic measures. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a classic example. When this book was written, it was an adventure story about a boy, freeing his friend, Nigger Jim, and exploring the great American South. This was all based on the times and events that Mark Twain would have been able to witness and live through in his age, not fictional like our day's elves(fantasy) and androids(sci-fi). So many people pull this book out from the stacks because they claim it promotes the following:

racism

anarchy

ignorance

disestablishment

theft

immorality

and probably much more.

I've read this book many times over. I love this book. I have learned a great many principles from this book, and I understand there are many elements to it that can be said as politically incorrect or corrupt in our day and age. Those who often want this book banned themselves have never read it. They prefer to make a judgement decision instead of educating themselves and making an informed decision. To me this is sad, choosing ignorance and hatred over words rather than trying to further yourself as a human. What is even sadder is libraries caving to such a dishonor to the first amendment. There are reasons why establishments do ban books that I can understand, namely threats of a physical type (yes, small libraries do have threats of being burned down, destroyed, or other such stupid acts). I also understand that if you have a K-5 library (elementary level) that Dostoyevsky might be banned because it is age innapropriate. This idea doesn't conflict with my moral philosophy because a book of that callibur IS innapropriate to expect a 10 year old to read and understand. Now do I believe a 10 year old can't read Dostoyevsky? No, I do believe if you raise children correctly and openly, they CAN read it and gain something from it, but it is hard for me to swallow that they would have the brain development to understand the political, arching, religious, and all other deep topics that a book of that magnitude would really imply. (age has been an argument made badly too, Harry Potter is just an example, parents too afraid to say it is "anti-christian" or other such nonsense). Most of the time however the reasons are just silly-going back to racism, anarchy, etc...

It is a library's function to house materials of all kinds freely. It is the orginization that hosts the library to decide that library's goals (academic, children's, scientific, religious, ...), and it is the librarians' jobs to maintain and expand the collections appropriately. Provided these librarians do their job correctly (not hard) then all materials they enter into the collection serves a purpose to further the library's objective goal. So banning Harry Potter from a children's library is rather counter productive, being that that particular series was born to be read by and for children (based on its content as well as its creators opinion). So when a librarian purchases this item, it would stand to reason they would back this decision up against all ends, but it just isn't so. Anyways I'm ranting, so to draw this back.

I believe that everyone has their rights to express their opinions, facts, and other trivial knowledge that they want, as well as to investigate other's opinions, facts, and other trivial knowledge as well. Don't be a person who decides to force others to turn a blind eye by revoking their abilities to ascertain these items, because then you're taking away another person's freedoms just so you can remain in the same bubble as before.

Here is a fancy-pants site about banned books straight from the horses mouth! Please, don't let your freedoms be challenged and your personal growth be stunted! Go read a banned book, go see an art gallery, watch some avant-gaurde films, try and find the artistry and message in a medium that you just couldn't stand, or have decided is too against you to be valuable. You get one life, and deciding not to as much with it as possible is a waste.

A helpful walkthrough

So this is a guide to assist my peers in using the library effectively (underclassmen, listen up). This will be specifically about the library I work at and you students will more than likely use.
First topic: organizational system. There are dozens of systems libraries go by, the most common in America however are Dewey Decimal and what I will be discussing, the Library of Congress system (loc). The LoC system is a decimal system that utilizes letters and numbers. It begins with a head letter, designating the broad topic. Next is the number, which designates a narrower topic within the broad topic, or subtopic if you will. After that is another letter-number set, which usually designates author/series and book, or a sub-sub topic. So, a book on the biographical history of Johannes Brahms would read:
ML -broad topic (music lit)
410 -subtopic catagory for composer biography
B8 -b is for brahms' last name, the 8 is because there are 7 other subtopics catalogued under ML 410. B--
C54 -c is for the author's last name (Clive) and 54 is for previous subtopic entries to C.
2006 -year published, not always needed or present.
So it reads:
ML
410
B8
C54
2006
And that is the complete call number to the book Brahms and His World: A Biographical Dictionary (at ISU's library that is).
Sometimes you may see a decimal number, those are the same idea, only a narrower topic field. (so ML410 will still be organized before ML410.5). It should go without saying that call numbers are alphabetical, then ascending numerical (A-Z ; 1-100...).

Next is the catalogue. The more advanced your search quarry, the more specific hit you will get, but I'll get into the nitty gritty on this in a later post. Just know it exists and you can do more than title searches, and if all else fails, ask a librarian, they can help.

So for headings that involve you music students this is a quick list:
L-LF: teaching methods, classroom topics, teaching in general
M: sheet music, "performable" music, also "how to" with music software
ML: biographical music topics (composer, era, genre, studio, etc..)
MT: music teaching, elementary music, methods books, technology guides (more on the use, not how to use).
Sometimes more modern composers will have an odd feature somewhere in the N's, but this is pictures and art, so not usually helpful.

Next is periodicals. They are catalogued the same as main collection materials (in LoC), but they are the magazines and the like. These are useful for research on modern takes on things and the latest findings on old topics. They can be difficult to navigate, so always know: periodical title, article title, article author, topic, volume/edition/pages/... Of the periodical. the more you know, the easier to find in the stacks. Of course we have a vast collection of online databases.

That begins the next topic: internet research. Off of our library's homepage there is a link that says "databases." I prefer to organize by subject, so I can just click music. Pf the three main databases there should be an EBSCO database, which is your typical periodical database. Next is the Oxford online music collection (or whatever the blast they're calling it now). This houses an impressive collection of materials in an encyclopedic fasion. Third is a database where you can find listening examples to most classical/art music. The second two are invaluable for research, so get friendly with them (i would like to apologize for any errors at this time, I'm doing this on my phone away from a computer).

checking out materials happens at the circulation desk, and you need your student id to check out (no id, no checkout).

This should cover the basics of library usage, next time, advanced techniques.

posted from Bloggeroid

Infernal!

Our unscrupulous hero was last seen changing his location, feeling that his old nesting grounds to be safe, he moved closer to the central area of town. Close to his daily life, it adds a sense of security to his identity to be so close to his alter-ego's hub of activity. Even for heros, moving can be a trying task to take on, with boxing, packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, it takes a great wealth of energy to do it all.
Having successfully unpacked most of the house, Elliptical Man decided to do some celebrating! Without the help of the Tubby Tabby (whom has been tragically lethargic with suspicion having moved right across the street from the Dumpster Cats), EM sought all day for the right materials, food, and favors to through a mini luau! The day was warm and sunny, perfect to fire up the grill and get some kabobs ready for the lady, and in style too!
As always though, the Pocatello Wind is with a sense of irony. Having placed all the fun decorations (thrifty Mr. Elliptical Man got them at the local dollar store) our hero was ready to get the coals burning with anticipation of the skewered entrees to come. Before you could give to strides to the nearest stop sign, the bastard of bad attitudes, the ruiner of meals, the Pocatello Wind had struck, bringing with him a terrible rain storm!
Our hero, never to cave to any evil threat, stayed on to man the grill, and get the celebratory dinner no matter what! Toiling with effort, and shielding the grill from rain using local tabliture, EM was successful at foiling the Wind's effort to ruin his good times, and thus Elliptical Man saved the day once again!

Things I've learned as a20 something

This is a simple list if things I've learned in college so far.
1) always make time for friends and family
2)keep your eyes on the prize.because it's a lit more attractive than the shit you're wading through.
3) make friends with someone who owns a truck. You never know...
4) alcohol is almost as acceptable as cash for favors
5) studying can get you good grades, questioning your professors and what they teach you will get you a good job.
6) always have a car that always starts.
7) there is no such thing as a flat parking lot.specifically when you don't have a car that doesn't always star...
8)a smile and hello opens more doors than you'd think
9) everyone is down with rock band or ddr when there's at least 4 people present.
10) drama is a silly thing invented by teenagers and perfected by bad tv. All in all, you can live without it fabulously.
11) money really doesn't matter.it comes and goes as you need it, though not always on time.
12) time and what you do with it does matter, and you can never get it back.
13) there are fun times-e.g. Bombing around town with friends doing nothing in particular. And fun times-e.g. Drinking every night and sleeping around. Both give you stories, but only one gives you people to share it with.
14) important people will remain no matter what.
15) you never know where life may take you, so don't get miffed if you don't wind out with the dream job your 5 year you old wanted.
16) burning bridges only demeans who you are as a person, and teaches nobody anything.
17) no matter what happens, as long as you have a roof over your head, at least bread and eggs in your cupboard, and someone to share it with, life is good.
18) you know what? life is just good.
19) tv is the garbage bin for time.
20) hard work pays off, though sometimes you need patience to see its rewards.
21) cheap is cheap, expensive can be cheap, mediocre is usually ok.
22) doing research before making any big decision should be the law. Taking some impulse on minor decision is fun.
23) sleep on any large investment because the people hocking them are professionals trained to screw you.
24) maurices is as god of a place as any to blog.
25) social networks change every five years, and kill as much time as tv.
26) teenagers are usually annoying.kids however are funny.and adults who stay as one or the other are just sad...
27) extremists = scary
28) extremists = close minded
29) the closer you are to a major religious zone, the more extreme people are.
30) internet is not a replacement for human interaction.
31) a good deal on something you didn't even want 10 min before hand, really isn't a good deal.
32) don't eat dollar store food.
33) keep your body healthy! Exercise and diet as well as regular doctor visits, even on a budget, are essential to maintaining a happy life.
34) you're never to young to be yourself.
35) problem solving is essential to any relationship.
36) to the ladies: don't buy pants that give you a she-weiner.
37) pants hanging off your butt don't do anything for you, so but a damn belt.
38) if you want to make sure you don't go overboard with buying creature comforts,develope a stingy attitude about buying only the best things, and only when you /have/ the money.
39) debt sucks.get out asap.
40) to get more energy, you must use what you have first.
41) mooches always get their come-upins.
42) liars only hurt, so tell the damn truth.
43) labels are another kitchy invention.
44) you will die someday.get over it.
45) you can't force someone to feel one way or another about you.
46) the generation/s below you will make some things fadacious that you will think is dumb, silly, or dumbfounding.you participated in it too, so don't judge.
47) unless it's blatently supporting something you know they know nothing about (che guavara anyone?)
48) take your lumps early on, everyone takes them eventually.
49) do the small things.
50) love yourself.nobody else will be able to until you do.

Simple list, nothing groundbreaking. And just things I've learned since coming to college

posted from Bloggeroid

Value

The old saying goes that "youth don't know the value of a dollar." In many cases this is true, but I also find it erronous. First, the story that drew me to such a conclusion.
At my work we are currently engaged in a project that involves us shifting collections of books to create more space for another collection. The process is simple: start at one end of the entire master collection and slowly move the books closer together, creating more space slowly, but gradually you go from half a shelf of space, to a column (7 shelves), to a range (10 columns), to multiple ranges. Then when we get to congested areas where growth is needed, we lose space, and it helps regulate the (very) limited space we have.
Now, it's a mind numbingly easy job, the only time we need to think is when we run into a large collection that spans more than one shelf. Then we must alter how much space we give those shelves, mainly by shrinking the growth space since a collection usually isn't growing in the middle... Anyways, my coworkers are usually good about it, sometimes even great. Unfortunately good isn't good enough because that usually wastes around half a shelf to multiple shelves of space (which then I need to correct).
These minute amounts are more like cents, not dollars. Dollars are easier to see the worth in sure, but cents make dollars, and my coworkers are throwing pennies at cars.
So I feel it is important for youth to understand the value of a dollar, but adults need to understand the value of a penny.

posted from Bloggeroid

Same, but different

It's always a treat no matter who you are, to be given an occasional task at work that is completely out of the norm. This month, at the library where I work, we have been importing gift items from a large source 40 minutes away. This requires us to get a large truck (u-haul type) drive there, load the items, grab lunch, drive back, unload. It sounds, and is indeed laborious, but it's completely different from the usual routine, and I get to enjoy the sunny weather!
I just love how much more I actually enjoy my life in this 3 house town when I get to travel to the 4 horse town over.
different perspectives to keep me from going batty, ah!

posted from Bloggeroid

Reflecting on art's future

So today NPR had a great set of music playing when I got to work, Holst's Planet Suite, some Bernstein, Copland, and to end it all, Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla(if you don't recognize any of the above, go on youtube and check them out). Of course I immediately make a Piazzolla station on Pandora. After listening to it all day I've had time to think why I myself had never heard of Sr. Piazzolla until last year when my university's sax quartet played a piece of his.
In part I believe it had less to do with him as a famous musician, and more to do with the fact he died only 21 years ago. Think about it, to most professionals in the field, he is still"alive"to them-meaning they forget he's dead and say it is too soon to see if he has any staying power. But those of my generation didn't know him, he has the same respect to us as Copland, Glass (who had the same relative time span as Piazzolla and much more written about him), Britten, or any other highly esteemed 20th century composers.
A brief music history lesson: Astor Piazzolla was a native of Venezuela, born in the 20's. He was a massive composer, and in many ways the legitimizer and reinventor, of the tango. He has one of the Top 50 classic ensemble pieces played from the 20th C. with Oblivion. He died in 1990. Lesson over.
So in my mind,i think he is going to be remembered as one of the greats. I believe most people's reaction to this is"maybe as a footnote." My justification goes thusly:
1) He is a classically trained Western composer
2) He was volumous with smart, sophisticated art music that is still enjoyable and accessible to a wide array of people.
3) He was a memorable individual-a person history can spend unravelling.
4) He had good success while alive. This isn't always a good indicator of lastability, but it does help in justifying one way or another.
5) (for my music history teachers and friends) He was excellent at counterpoint!
6) He had a style he fervently loved and saw amazing potential in: the tango.

Now as I see it these would be common rebuttles(and my counters):
1) He was from a South American country, barely western.
R) alright, he wasn't from Europe or the US. But he is still a classical composer in the Western Styles. Too often I find we as artists are so ethnocentric and xenophobic towards other types of music from being let in to the museum. Time and again cultures have had to struggle to have their unique music somehow incorporated into the museum. Russians struggled for decades when they decided they wanted to be included; jazz took the better part of a century and still remains under a critical eye! So allowing this supposedly exotic westerner in shouldn't be so hard as it seems to be.
2) Just because he wrote a lot means nothing, and accessible is fairly broad of a word. And enjoyable is interpretive, not concrete.
R) true, you can make a thousand pieces and not be recognized. The same goes for artistic complexity and aesthetic. However, I refuse to believe that someone who poured their life and soul into what they did with such tenacity wouldn't be recognized and remembered. And I would assume a great many people find his music enjoyable, otherwise he would never had fame of any sort.
3) we care about his music, not his personage.
R) everybody has a life story. And the more infamous composers seemed to be real...individuals. Sluts,boozers, drug addicts, heart breakers, heart broken, gay, straight, actually a woman, actually not white, Jewish, Atheist, angry, depressed, sad, loved, ... These are the titles historians get hung up on and people love to find out about. Beethoven wouldn't have been nearly as interesting (and possibly inspired) had he not been going deaf, a luckless romantic, angry, drunk, and cocky.
4) "you're only really appreciated when you're dead" is the common saying, being that only retrospectively can a person's entire works be judged.
R) that saying is a dammed lie most of the time with musicians. Yes Poe died in obscurity, but Shakespear was a playboy. A short list of composers who had fame in life: Monteverdi, J.S Bach, Verdi, Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Copland, Cage, the Schumans, Bernstein, Rimsky-Kosakov, the Italian Three, The Mighty Handful (though only a couple achieved lasting fame), etc...
Composers who only retrospectively have or respects and admittance to the museum: Schubert, Britten (more so than not), Fanny Mendehlsohn, ... I have a harder time with this one. Most composers have had constant jobs, though not all have sought to redefine or push boundaries, just eat three squares a day. But those who last in the history books are usually famous in life, and volumous to boot! You need variety for your players and yourself. However i will say early fame can be a dead sentence if you obtained it from something other than musical genius (like most rappers).
5) You added this, seriously?
R) Ok, I Still think this is funny. My history teacher told us this in class one time, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about this, but in almost every instance it's true (some 20th c. Movements). Having played his Fuguo and Misterio, the man knew counterpoint(cp). But on a larger scale, cp is like textured brushstrokes, it adds an immense amount of interest and sophistication to a work of art.
6) Composers use many forms, and that is in why, in part, they become famous or lasting.
R) Composers *know*many forms and styles. They use them, but not strictly. On top of that, most composers are known for one song type or another. Bach had fugues by the hundreds, Beethoven had his symphonies, not saying that was all they composed, but it is their notoriety. So why can't tango be placed in the same mind set?
I am only using Piazzolla as an example, these premises can stand for any artist.

posted from Bloggeroid

Summer!

As I'm sure a lot of people are advertising today, it's officially the first day of summer! Where I am it is sunny and warm, and of course I'm working. So in true tradition of being locked inside witnessing the wonderfulness that is outside, it's time to daydream!
Things I would like to think I would be doing out in the wonderful weather:
1)reading
2)geocaching
3)riding a bike
4)swimming
5)hiking
6)walking
7)bocce ball
8)frolfing
9)eating a slushy
10)running through sprinklers
11)running around with super soakers
12)writing the next great american novel outside
13)composing wonderful music outside
14)playing my sax outside
15)learning either the banjo or steel guitar outside
16)skating
17)building a tree house
18)playing with a dog
19)eating soft serve ice cream
20)flying a kite
21)lawn darts
22)bbq
23)laser tag
24)seeing a movie at midday prices
25)eating my weight in watermelon
26)soccer
27)learning to break dance
28)run a marching band through the middle of downtown blaring _Louie Louie_
29)motorcycle
30)drive a convertable, top down
31)start a bon fire this evening
32)Go fishing
33)visit a museum
34)learn to do spray paint art
35)create a cataloge of native flaura,fauna,and fungi in my area
36)make a photo album to go with that cataloge
37)make a photo album of me doing any of these things
38)sip lemonade
39) listen to some new music
40) go to a well lit book store
41) make a new board game
42) make out under a tree
43) hug strangers
44) document my life with sidewalk chalk in pictures
45) legitimately document my life in a notebook
46) sculpt
47) throw on a wheel (pottery)
48) rock chisel
49) waterpaint
50) pastel paint
51)oil paint
52) get a group and improv musical scenes
53) hand out coupons that say nice things to people
54) learn to juggle
55) learn to make a pit-kiln
56) make a new instrument
57) learn to repair cars
58) make one of those battle bots
59) learn to yodel
60) put random art clips around town
61) plant trees for the community
62) walk dogs from the pound
63) foursquare
64) tether ball
65) pick up garbage from around town
66) make a sculpture from said garbage
67) put the sculpture on arty's lawn
68) get a group of friends to dress like powder wigged judges from colonial days and shenaniganize the town
69) film said shenanigans
70) chili cookoff
71) make a rube goldberg machine
72) rocket shoes
73) run around dressed as a pirate giving hugs
74) have a friend dressed as a ninja hide then slap me after every hug
75) grill random fruit
76) sprinkle powder soap in front of people's office windows
77) dress as a missionary and do funky dances at people
78) bum money, with a *monkey*
79) roast marshmallows
80) road trip to a random place
81) row in a canoe
82) white water rafting
83) waterski
84) re-enact MJ's _Thriller_ Music video
85) start a city wide conga line
86) host a pointless singing competition
87) make the weiner a dog
88) high five everyone I meet
89) ALL DAY OUTDOOR DISCO
90) poetry slam
91) scavenger hunt
92) leave deep thought evoking questions in random spots around town
93) live action pac-man
94) convince people I'm a duke
95) make up my own language
96) learn a real language
97) float a river
98) build a spice rack
99) dress as a cowboy and tell people to "draw" and hit them with a squirt gun
100) dress up as link running around with stuffed chickens in tow screaming at the top of my lungs "OH GOD, TOO MANY HACKS! THEY WANT REVENGE! WHY ONLY ME!"
101) film it and put the derby song they always have in magic door skits on tv...

I love daydreaming.

posted from Bloggeroid

Progress-or how my 237 friends tweet nothing

Yesterday my girlfriend and I were cruising the internet via stumbleupon.com and we found a funny picture of Steve Jobs holding the latest product of his, smiling like he has changed the world again. The caption said something reminiscent of "remember when progress sent us to the moon, not the latest way to get your twitter feed." I thought it was funny, sad, and true. Currently I'm listening to a podcast about how the Voyager 1 spacecraft is still fully functioning and carrying out it's mission, some 30+ years later. This little guy was a technological wonder for its time-complete with: two high power radio transponders, energy sensitive resting equipment, the ability to rotate, a plutonium powered battery, cameras, and an 8 track player. This multi-million dollar piece of machinery is still fully functional, 40 years after its creation.
This item is a high mark in science: recording and documenting events that happen here in our solar system in great detail. And now, the high mark of science is finding new ways of telling everyone what's on your mind? I don't mean to be cruel, but that's sad for so many reasons...
I don't want to make it seem I'm just miffed about space exploration and inhabitation. Last week the super-colider held antimatter for 16 minutes, beating the old record of a couple seconds... and nobody I talked to knew about this,a seemingly important event in the scientific world. Though I have to counter argue myself here: it's effects and data are still compiling, so its importance _is_ still fluid at best.
The American society on the majority part had decided stem cell research and therapy is wrong. This had more to do with people not understanding the difference between embryonic and adult branches of the science. For those behind the times, blanking adult human cells was successful, just not from an American, so we didn't advertise or support it. It is a big deal, but when it happened we were more impressed and blown away by the new Apple product that had a high def screen!(that outdated piece of crap...) But that's my point: we as a people have become more impressed with a cheap plastic computer *that does absolutely nothing new* than with the abilities a new bounding science field presents.
We have the ability to travel (and place basic buildings) on Mars. No, this isn't a hopeful scifi nut spewing, there have been multiple proposals internationally to attempt this-st this rate creating a Martian community would take the supposed better part if 30 years by most conservative guesses, but that's with current technologies in the areas represented. The main reason this is never long at is because of initial costs v. profitability. (Might I point out that didn't stop us from going to the moon on a rocket and computer dumber than my calculator?)
I just see a disturbing trend growing more since AIM existed and myspace didn't exist yet: we care more about ways we can communicate (which is important) but so we don't have to actually face thee people we communicate to (virtual friends). It has more to do with being lazy than anything, and we here in the states invest in it so we can be lazier and more socially inept than before. Great progress science is going through when we can compare numbers of people who are our "friends"...
I'd take a society that hails the people responsible for getting us further into space and brings better medicine any day over twitter and facebook.

posted from Bloggeroid

Enter: The Deep Web

Alright, to some people, this will be old news. To others, it will be the most intriguing event since the internet itself became mainstreamed. This is a little thing here in the States called the Deep Web. What is the Deep Web you ask? Well, if you think about the world wide web...you can probably guess. It's the majority of the internet that search engines never pop up for you. This is for various reasons: requires a registration to access materials (most databases), isn't linked to anything (no crawling there...), FTP instead of HTTP (Google no likey), and various other reasons. For a brief, but more fulfilling explanation, go here to the wiki article on it.

Ok and here's why these things exist: search engines like Google and Yahoo! Use webcrawlers, which are in a very basic explanation, an information robot that just follows things like links and hits to catalogue into their search fields, which is called crawling. Pretty nifty to find the most popular and accessible websites around, but unfortunately being popular is relatively rare, so for a quick number to explain how much of what's on the internet is hidden, there is 500 times more information hidden from typical search engines than they present. There is a supposed 176,000trillion terrabytes of information on the internet. How bout 'dem apples? Deep Web search engines however take on a less automatic approach: they use crawlers that catalogue word hits, topics, and accessibility within a finite range of topics (such as: science, health, computer technology, people...). So they are far more limited in topics, but they give a much better representation of what is available within a specific topic.

So now you are probably asking yourself, "Why do I honestly give a damn about another series of search engines?" Because this can affect you, positively, negatively, neutrally. You care because one of the benefits of a company becoming savvy with the Deep Web is you have total access to people's official state records, residency, phone numbers, histories, web accounts (browsing not hacking), any mention of you in past internet sites (remember Geocities...?). Potentially all of the internet is stored somewhere else in the internet. Which means all site histories can be accessed (in theory) by people who are good enough to get it (yet again, just purely for access, not hacking, hackers use other methods for access to information). But on the other hand, it means you can find friends and family, check up on your own security on the web, and the security of your loved ones. After all, the less that these databases come up with on you, the better you usually are from phishing, hacking, theft, identity problems...
Another great benefit to knowing these exist is in the academic and professional worlds: serious databases, such as those for job searching or research, require an account to access anything, and therefore Google and Yahoo! don't give a damn about it.

This blog post has some very good Deep Web Engines if you are curious and wish to explore.

This website, called pipl.com, is fun if you want to see what's on the web about you. Be forwarned, it is kind of spooky what can come up.
Anyways, I found this to be (b)very(/b) interesting because I want to be a Information Technology Specialist. So, there you have it. The web is deep, the web is all knowing, the web is mostly hidden.

Meca

It's interesting to think about how people wound up where they are. I'm speaking geographically, not professionally or spiritually or anything of that sense.
Part of it is the winds of fate, some people just take a job where they can get one, some bum around, some never truly settle. But what of those who actually decide, "this is where I want to be."?
I myself chose my undergraduate university by affordability, distance away from home, but still a quick drive back there. The town itself has been on a backwards downward spiral for decades, and had ceased as a true "college town" and has become culturally void (with some exceptions) and the peoples stupid. This is not a town I could ever settle down in. I need something big enough where there is something new everyday and people know who M.C. Escher was (so to speak)...
Unfortunately I still have grad school to go to and that I leave in part to fate, I can only narrow it to a few places... Some people love their college towns so much they stay (this is actually a widespread desire amongst colleges for economic reasons), but that is so foreign to me I couldn't imagine just staying put in a community like that.
But when people decide where they want to settle down, they research and contemplate what kind of community would satiate them for life. This is a personal decision based on many aspects:
-Where can I get a progressive career going?
-Where has a good school system?
-Where has a culture similar to my interests?(conservative, liberal, religious, intellectual, capitalistic, multi-cultural, academic, small, large, rural, urban...)
-Where has good property values?
-Taxes?
-Geological location (mountainous, ocean, desert...)?
And many more questions to be sure.
I myself think it's fun to think where I might want to wind out. The problem is I haven't visited that many areas, so my scope is fairly limited. To me I would like a suburban outfit close to a major metropolitan area. The only places I've ever been where this exists are the Seattle area, the Portland (Ore.) area, the San Fran and LA areas, ans that's about it.
I love my hometown of Boise, but it is a developing city and still lacks many of the trivial lifestyle wants I desire.
Saltlake City is about the same as Boise in almost all respects, except the surrounding area is disgusting in my opinion, and the local political, sociological, and economic climates are very hostile for someone like me (nothing like moving someplace and bitching every week about how all you want is a damn martini on a sunday...).
I don't like California too much, no. cal. isn't too bad, but it lacks the cities which I really want.
Portland is really nice, the only hitch is my wonderful significant other would need a masters degree to work in her particular field, as per state requirements. But the city had a good scene, something always going on, and I can still visit the folks in short order.

Seattle is also fabulous, just really rainy weather all the time. A little further from the folks, but the city is alive! Being a seaside town, it has a lot of diversity, growth, and culture to it. It's right above silicon valley, which could be advantageous for my given career.

But I don't know squat about anything east of Missoula, Mt. So maybe that's why twenty-somethings rarely ever settle down, there is so much to see in the world! So I'm hoping in my grad schooling I can get time to feel the older half of the country, so my decision on where I want to settle down can be better informed.
Now for something a little different: I want YOU the reader to make a list of what you want in your hometown of choice. Put it as a comment on this blog-post, in your journal, or wherever. I'm interested in how other people make this decision.

posted from Bloggeroid

Sittin' around

So here I am. Sitting outside the Board Room with my bari at our local Clarion Inn, watching costumed caterpillars and handbag flamingos wander about. Blue dressed blondes and bunny eared waiters...yup, it's another fund raiser with Band on Demand. This time it's a Through the Looking Glass theme, and about as organized as Wonderland ever was.
For those in the know, I am an individual who believes in giving charitably, but money is preciously little for any undergrad, so in order to give back to my community, I must conceive of some volunteer event. Low and behold, there is a band which performs regular volunteer events, and they asked me to be their bari player. Anything to keep playing, right? So this is my way of giving back what precious little I can while in college. The best part? The funds go to the Civic Symphony! You can take that as you wish, but it goes directly back to a community I have been involved with for years.
So that's my schpiel. Go do something charitable, help your community, it in return will make that community that much stronger. And when you live in the sticks, that's important.

posted from Bloggeroid

Couples

Ok. Tonight's blog is brought to you in part by my lovely wonderful girlfriend. The topic you ask? romantic couples. A relationship is hard to keep in good graces.not, "this feels like work and hard labor" but that it requires a couple to work together to achieve similar goals, which no matter the relationship, forced mediation is just plain hard for humans.
A lot of people, probably most, never get a good feel of what it takes to keep a relationship healthy, alive, and thriving, from how they grew up. Kids can see the outcomes of how a relationship is when observing how the parents interact. This means they know that if a couple is"good" they kiss, smile, hold hands, and do all sorts of cute couple things. These things don't make a couple good though, just result from what does.(as an aside I believe most of the west's current martial problems stem in some part from this lack of understanding)
A relationship is built on a few key things (by no means am I an expert in relationships, or in explaining them):
first I believe is trust. How can anything be believed (like where you were last night) or bestowed (like borrowing the car) amongst many other aspects. So building and Maintaining this trust is critical to keeping a relationship alive.

Second is listening. If you don't hear that she needs some new feminine products in an emergency, you can bet things won't be pleasant for you for a while. If he is saying something he thinks is amusing, don't sigh and took your eyes and ignore it, he probably will go out to find someone who will respond.(not to say sighing and rolling your eyes can't be a response in a positive, just using it as the cliche "ignore"response). Listen to each others wants and needs to keep the relationship alive, and then act on those things to make it Thrive.

Third part is just that: taking action. talk is cheap. To prove your listening skills and give more reason for your partner to trust you, work to get things done. Surprises are always welcome, of course, but help is even more accepted. You function together, so don't be afraid to pitch money on a project for them, you benefit too! If they ned help around the house, just remember they aren't your maid, you live there too, and the quicker you can get things done, the sooner you can have fun:D. acting like a loving adult will strengthen the relationship and let it grow.

Now there are tons of other rules to making a relationship succeed, but I believe that most of those smaller rules stem from one of the above rules.

I use this topic tonight because I believe, very strongly, that I am in a relationship that is thriving, surviving, growing, and just plain kicking ass. She knows why i think this,i know why. But there you go, a hidden motive for everything.

posted from Bloggeroid

Jack

-Of all trades to be more specific.
I feel, and constantly am told, that I fit that particular title. I have a great deal of knowledge as well as experience in a great many fields. To give a small example in the realm of the arts I have years of experience in ceramics/sculpting, over a decade in music, years of drawing, water coloring(not like kindergarten, more sophomoric attempts), pastels, oil paints, rock carving, baking, cooking, sewing (awful at it), writing (creative as well as academic)...
But the hitch is, though I have knowledge and experience in these fields, I am not overly proficient in any given area. For the longest time I have considered this shmorgisborg (sp?) of ability to be rather novel, but useless. There are very few careers or professions in the world where such a diverse portfolio is really applicable. (I wish to say at this time that it is because I've never really been sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, that I have left as many options available to me as possible)
But amidst my reading of a book on game design (don't judge, cause I won't care) the author described what abilities an effective designer requires. Reading through these I realized that the only person capable of handling any position of leadership or authority are those who have this kind of diversity in abilities and experiences. To say the least, this is a reassuring (if not a little presumptuous) thought to me.
I say right now that I want to be a music librarian, but the more I think about the more I lean towards administration in the long run, and information technology in the short, peppered with the desire to also be a video game composer (hence the book at the start) . To achieve such places I need to good at a lot of things, but not necessarily great at any one task.
To put it another way: you can be the world famous diva/divo and be a phenominal singer, peerless and beautiful. Or you can become the composer: knowing just enough about a great many instruments, but not a great player of any (necessarily). Yes that analogy has a lot of if's and but's about it, but I think it gets the point across. Both positions are used to fulfill the end (beautiful music), and arguably are no better than each other.
Why I put that out there is because to be a good organizer or leader, you have to be diverse in your knowledge base. To be a remarkable individual, you must be brilliantly knowledged in your specific area. I am the earlier to a far greater degree than the later, and feel more confident in my select career decisions.

posted from Bloggeroid

SETI, gravity, and exoplanets

With a title like that you may expect a sci-fi novella or a chapter from a William Kotzwinkle book, but I actually want to discuss a hypothetical scenario.

Today I was listening to some podcasts from NPR. My favorite program (as I'm sure you *all* know) is Science Friday. Thee program usually has one or two pods on some astro subject (NASA,SETI,CERN,Mars Rover...) This last Friday there was a pod about the (recent) discovery of exoplanets. These are actual planets that are solitary and without (supposedly) a star or solar system to orbit. To me this is cool, albeit nerdy. Anyways, the way the two professionals being interviewed (who were working on the exoplanet project together) explained that these occurred most likely in one of two ways:
first way: that enough debris was in their localized space to coalesce into a planet. Makes sense to me.
Second way: that at one point they did belong to a solar system, and have since been ejected for one reason or another. How this theory works is that most solar systems only have enough gravitational force to bind no more than 2-7 planets in an orbit. Once it has reached that limit and for one reason or another a new planet enters into the solar system, it creates a gravitational shock that knocks another planet(s) out of that orbit. Eventually these planets come to rest somewhere outside their solar system, free of their star's gravity well.

So here is my purely unscientific, speculative hypothesis:in the case of looking for other potential intelligent,biological beings, wouldn't make more sense to start looking at solar systems with larger numbers of planets in orbit?

My rationality:
Every biological system has niches that can to be filled, and only so far as said system can spend. Such as: not evey fish in the ocean can be the size of a whale. The food chain and size of the ocean cannot permit such a thing. Herbivorous aquatics would devour whole forests of plants in days. Not to mention the carnivorous fish would have a ridiculous time killing and eating. One fish would be able to ferd them for a week, but would rot far sooner than that, and with no smaller fish to scavenge the remains, it would just pollute the water. So there are every size and variation of aquatic life-to fill in every "job"of the ecological system. Bottom feeders, scavngers, hunters, grazers, fighters, defenders, giants, shrimps...
So now to bring this in to something relevant. The simple reason (i believe) that there is only one sentient species on Earth (not getting philisophical here) I.e humans, is because that is all one mass ecological system can afford. Think about it-we cultivate the land, animal populations, atmospheric events, ocean levels... whether these events are intentional or not, we cause them. So in essence, we have become the caretakers and cultivators of this mass ecology. (we don't control it indefinitely, there are several smaller eco-systems that we don't meticulously cultivate for they are of little consequence to us). I will say it is possible that an aquatic being of the deep oceans may become sentient, but only because we have minimal impact on it's development.
Now, understanding that it is innate for all biological beings to survive and reproduce, humans having escalated to such an encompassing eco-niche, has to think if preserving more than just themselves, but all the other aspects that allow them to thrive and prosper (animals, plants, soil, land,dikes, reservoirs, lakes, dams , rivers,...). So ut is a logical conclusion that if we grew beyond the borders if our planet and began to inhabit other planets, we would be inclined to force planets to stay put lest they be ejected and greatly alter the sun's gravity well. So if there were to be a new planet trying to muscle its way in, we would try to allow the planet in (since I doubt we will ever have a force capable of destroying or flat out moving it) without letting any of the other planets go, to preserve the biological balancing act we have grown into. My idea for this comes from one of the scientists explanation using a full coffee cup that may have had to overflow to be perfectly full. This analogy likening gravity to a liquid made me think if the borealis (correction?)effect in cups with too much liquid-that the top can overextend the lip of the cup. And since gravity and weak valence bonds have so much in common...
Since we can only work with what we know, we can only assume any potential intelligent life we can fathom will have more likely filed the same, or similar, ecological niche as ourselves. So therefore it would make sense that if they had the ability to move across the stars and planets, they would attempt to preserve their local solar systems too.

I understand there are a lot of fallicies and assumptions in this, but hey, this is what crossed my mind when I heard this 5min podcast. Aliens are just alien to us and any real assumption on what conditions to look for or logical assumptions that "aliens must have this to exist" are just silly, but hey, it's an exciting thing to think about!

posted from Bloggeroid

Summer!

So here is to the first post of summer (I think...). So far it has been rather dreary and rainy ere whatnot. It has also been a relief. I finally get to feel like people are human again, and that all the pointless drama of the year has finally ebbed out.

I love the summer because I finally have time to set my mind into an inspired mode. No class or performance ensembles to get in my way, I only have to work full time.

So far the things I have been inspired to do this summer:

1)Learn to program in C++(+)*

2)Compose more*

3)Start a studio of my own

4)Do small fun crafts and projects. (need to get different creative outlets to grow the bigger one!)

5) Go geochacheing! The weather hasn't been too permitable yet...

6)Practice, Practice, Practice- I actually want to keep my chops now that I feel like I'm good enough to actually call myself a musician, can't screw that up!

7)Grow my relationships more. Cmon, it's hard to be always present during the school year, so I need to make summer count!

8)Cook new and exciting things (nom)

9)Work up my Senior Rectial music. I want it done. NOW

10)READ (i have around 20+books laying around at home I've been waiting to read...)

11)Take my GRE. My last year has come, I need to actually test, and ya know, get into grad school.

12) Get grad school applications. It has finally come to this.

13)Fix my damn car.

14)Make it to Boise for friends and family. (a few set dates in mind)

15)Work with digital sound programs.*

Probably a lot more to add to this, just not on the top of my head atm.

There are a few of these goals that have a (*) next to them. These are so I can say this in one fell swoop-that these goals pertain to a larger, long term goal I have in mind. That I really want to work on becoming a video game/movie composer. It is kind of backwards to be getting my masters in Information Technologies and want to become a composer, but the way I look at it is that I need a day job for this sort of trick to work. Information Technologies offers a great day job I will love, as well advanced techniques into programming. Coupling that experience with my musical background and want to compose, I believe I would make a damn fine composer for any company that would have me. And if one day that could be my day job, so be it.

It was a crazy school year, lots of drama, lots of learning, lots of growing. I feel though, that now as the end is approaching for my undergraduate career, that I have a second wind for this whole education thing, that I feel like I can tackle another degree and be more than ready to face the adult world. I don't intend to slack in my work ethic by any means, I desire to take my life and make something out of it. I could be a great librarian, I could also be a great composer, I will be a great parent and husband someday, and overall, I intend to do ALL these things simultaneously. You only get one shot at this life thing, might as well make it count dammit.

Here we are

Here we are, down to dead week and the end of another semester. To those who it's their first year complete: congratulations on beating the majority of the world, you are part of the top 25% educated people in the world. To those who have a couple years or more under your belt- you are now that much closer to a better life. My thoughts on this year: was tough, was different, was rewarding.

Highlights for me:
-Sang in choir for the first time, was great.
-Was given seniority within my ensembles as a saxophonist
-Hired by a "professional" band to play the bari
-Told Jazz will go to China next year, kaching!
-Second year with the most wonderful gf ever!
-Learning to deal with some people who can act as social poison to those you care about
-Learned to live with TWO girls
-Had a Recital!
-Went to my first Opera
-Learned about Opera and Vocal rep in some very detailed manners.
-Made some great friends, who I hope to see over the summer
-Sang with an orchestra, big deal!
-Bought a bunch of tweed/sports jackets, ya!
-Got a cat, don't mind it too much
-Worked 30hours a week ontop of 5 ensembles and full time student status; I now know I can do anything.

That is basically it for this year. Though to be fair, there are probably a lot of other things I havn't mentioned.

The new threat emerges

Pocatello's dirtier face has emerged once more. While the Pocatello Wind has Elliptical Man bound in his diabolical clutches, the Tubby Tabby has found her own arch rival to battle, or make that a collective of rivals, the Dumpster Cats. A roving gang of violent mannered felines, they were raised on the streets learning to steal what they can. They created a base of operations in a local dumpster located on one of the highest hills in the city, where they watch and plot from afar. They are only four cats strong, but have caused ceaseless problems within the town.

Beware of these walking flea bags of bain, they are the Dumpster Cats!

Jed and Barrett

Time changes everything. None knows this better than Elliptical man, who has for years witnessed astounding changes to the town he resides in. The Pocatello Wind is also shifting, changing, much like time. This time around though, time brought to our do-goody hero new neighbors, the odd couple as it were.

Tiny, miniscule, shaky, Jed was all you could ever expect from a pocket sized chihuahua. Barrett was a large man, with large glasses, but a simple minded gentle man none-the-less. An inspirational duo for our hero to always remember that time may take a toll on us, but as long as we bring our friends and family with us, we may never be alone!

That's when you realize

That you've been removed from society for basically 5 years. You see a link on your facebook for a band you liked in highschool and are (miraculously) still together bringing out new cd's. And wham-o, it has become apparent that you don't know what changes have occured in who you are as a person, and what has remained the same.

Five years of college, let me give you an idea of how out of it I am, at least before my smart phone news tracking: Had no idea about an earthquake in south america...
Had no idea about biodiesle fuel.
Had no idea about Foo Fighters going on Hiatus
Was Really late in learning East Jr. High was rebuilt...

There is a long list, but I don't remember it all. So it goes i suppose.

Interceptor!

Never a dull day for our hero, Elliptical Man. The ever changing weather has caused the population to plummet into a state of unrest, all according to Pocatello Wind's plans. Our hero, caught in the maelstrom of mundanity with the rest of his people, has allowed crime to persist where it once was dashed away in a single stride, and the Tubby Tabby is distracted with trying to destroy bedsheets. But fear not, for there is a new hero in town to help! Taking on the guise of an average meter maid, he rides around in a modified golf cart, scouting his town for any injustices with vehicles or pedestrians, a man of insipid insurgence towards illegal activity, Interceptor! You've been warned J walkers and 3-space parkers alike, your days are numbered!

The Suburban Myth

So this may sound more like a topic proposal for a graduate study dissertation than anything. As the title implies, I find that the suburban lifestyle to be more or less a crock. Follow me on this musing.
My girlfriend and I have been watching a lot of Desperate Housewives, (if you don't know the show, it's worth a gander) and seeing how the popular view of what classic suburbia is. Obviously the show is beyond dramatic, but the lifestyle the characters lead is more extravagent than anything. But they are upper middle class folk (supposedly) and that is how I can excuse a children's book author living in a house 5x the size of my apartment. With that being said, they are in fact still middle class. Why do I find that disturbing? Because it's boring, uneventful, blissfully hellish.

Here is the breakdown of class structure.

Basically, once you make over $10k to $200k, you are considered middle class. In other words, by American societal dogma, 85% of American citizens should live in the traditional suburban dream. It might be the communist, or the socialist, the rebel, the paranoid, or just the common sense of history within me speaking, but I don't trust these idealic little dreams concocted for people to strive for. So here is my rationale for feeling this way.




1) Historical precedence: Just looking historically at America, it has time and again tried to establish where the status quo should go. I will start as far back as post American Civil War. The poor people (wage slaves, social dependants, vagrants etc...) were flocking and encouraged to live in inner cities, to be closer to where "the action is." This had the effect of localising serious economic drains into one area, where they could all be equally forgotten (these ghettos still exist today, especially in D.C., NYC, and Chicago). This to me is the same as saying, "If you are a musician/actor/dancer the only way to make it big is to go to NYC." Which, if you play your cards right and with a little luck, you can make it work anywhere, but the gullible will attempt their luck, and a very few will succeed.
Next point in American history, expanding westward. This overlaps with post Civil War, but they also encouraged all working class individuals (which included: Doctors, Teachers, Blacksmiths, Carpenters, Farmers, Clothiers, Bankers...) to head west and strike it rich, being granted land rights and the promise of the fortunes of a new frontier. Of course this was bullshit, they just wanted to secure the entire continent from Russia is a major political ploy. The expansions was trecherous, empovershing, long, arduous, and like so many fads, rarely met the hype (though it did give popculture an excellent genre to work with).
During and after the world wars there was a push between Old Money vs. New Money. What this was was a battle of what was truly upper class, and a battle that only they were privy to. How it occured was due to technological innovation, the newfound stockmarkets, and various other reasons that people would come into newfound wealth. This clashed with the already wealthy, who inhearited their wealth the old fasioned way, their family. They never worked, so they had different moral and social ideas of how people with money were to act. Not surprising, this argument lead to the sharing of rich "neighborhoods" and creating new classes to explain those who were richer than middle class, but not quite a Rockafeller, a.k.a Upper Middle Class and Lower Upper Class. Even in the 40's these people made hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, a feat I can only dream of. They however, were not relocated or asked to move, merely the political sanctions these classes had were altered accordingly, which is basically: if you have lots of money, you probably have lots of connections; if you lack connections, you have money and angry neighbors.
After the world wars and during the cold war, the idea of Suburbia began to be realized, when square mileage of land was developed with cookie cutter housing in identical layouts to create a sense of homogeny and equality within the obviously wide-gapped middle class. This was also out of defense, keeping that diverse of a population in identical areas with identical housing with everyone copying the Jones' must have made it very difficult for Communist spies to garner any useful tactical information as to where local heads of communities and states were located. Not to mention the neighborhood bomb-shelter would have been much easier to afford than individual ones.
Then that is where we have stayed, the Cold War being dead now for over 20years, and no honest push away from this seemingly self imposed homogeny, which to me suggests something socially and politically.



2) Social Precedence: We all strive for the community we belong in. Whether it is economically (rich, poor, selfimposed poverty, wanderer...), clique (goth, punk, jock, prep...), jobs, marital status, common histories, we all desire to belong to a part of something as is inherent in human nature. So finding common grounds to live in makes perfect, natural sense. However, when you enter into a divergent group of populations within on socio-political boundary (such as cities, states, countries, counties...) you run into inherent differences between the people within said structure. So within structures we seek out further assimilation with "our" group, so now we seek out districts where we feel more around ourselves than before.
For example, you may enjoy the west, but live in a small town, but you know a larger city would just fit you better, so you move to someplace like Tucson or Austin or even Seattle if that fits you. Now however, you also notice that you can't live on the hill with the fanciest of houses/mansions, but you do enjoy the downtown "freethinking" feel. You now have moved in to a studio apartment in a surrounding downtown affordable highrise, surrounded by other slightly worse-for-wear artist types. You have now found an almost exact community that you feel comfortable with.
The ghettos and west both make sense when explained in this manner. The earlier seeking jobs and security by flocking to those of equal social temperment and ethnic background. The later for a fresh start at establishing entirely new communities where you can be someone different than you were before (who doesn't like a new beginning?). But in Suburbia, you still have that high difference in basically everything. You have 85% of America supposedly living in suburban fantasies, which means a high diversity. You are all middle class, though Tommy next door in reality makes 4x as much money as you do, and Jimmy across the street makes half of what you do; and what steams you is that you all live in essentially the same house. You can't stand your neighbors, or the stupid rules your neighborhood has (courtesy hours, watch times, "open door" policies, lawn/street upkeep...). So why would anyone stay there? The sense of community isn't made out of mutual interest or trust, or even necessity, but out of distrust of everywhere else and a disillusionment with other communities. Of course, in modern America nobody honestly trusts their neighbors (alright, statistically), we just politely put up with them, so it is fair to say that suburbanites don't even trust their immediate community. (This without any hard evidence is of course presumptiuous, but it's a blog, not a thesis.) So yet again, why is it that Suburban neighborhoods remain popularized?




3) Economics: Alright, this one continues a little on the social aspect. As said above, there is a high difference in how much people in one middle class neighborhood makes. This in of itself usually segregates people's living considerations so that they seek out a more comfortable community. Suburbia though is no stranger to borrowing a cup of sugar, as the phrase goes. The other oddity is that with a solid neighborhood like most suburban 'hoods are created, there is almost no way a local business can rise in their midst, or even a franchise for that matter. This meaning that you have to go place your money is a different community's coffers, even if it is across the street from the neighborhood, it isn't in your neighborhood technically. Even when considering who works, there, they can be from any number of communities, not just your own. So you are a benefit to people outside of your zone. Not good for the society at large, seeing as how most towns and cities rely on local businesses to survive and flourish. So, if you follow me, this means that Suburban structures choke the abilities of a community to reach its fullest fiscal potential.




4) Artistically: Alright, this is just a personal vendetta, but really, cookie cutter houses are an eye sore, and boring. I think it promotes the further idea of "be like your neighbor, because that's what you should want to be," killing creativity and opening your mind to the idea that you can escape to better pastures. Really, it just promotes that homogeny I discussed earlier, that being like everyone else is what is best, and while it sounds rather like 1984 I assure you that it isn't that bad. I just feel people should express themselves, and that everyone would healthier for it.

So if you still want to dream a fancy Suburban dream with a four bedroom, three car garage, then by all means, dream on. It may in fact be that lifestyle you have always sought, but me personally, I aim for more. I want to break that status quo of what is expected of me, and be damned if I will let silly things like lack of funds get in my way, all I really need is some guts to get it to happen.

This is a longer post and I realize this, but honestly, Suburbia disturbs me, greatly.

Aha!

Upon successfully devouring the evil that was the can of Speggheti-O's, Elliptical Man is doubly bombarded by stupid needy victims of Pocatello Wind's Brain Drain Lazer, as well as dominant-tritone substitution chords! (For those of you just joining us with this issue, or missed the last, our hero has been affected by Pocatello Wind's Gust of Change, a nefarious weapon no person can resist!) His energy waning, from the cold as well as supposed failure in his academic affairs, Elliptical Man is fighting for the energy to continue running on!

Will this winter chill freeze our hero to the core? Will he keep enough gumption to keep on plodding towards his big debut? Will the Tubby Tabby loose that extra two pounds of dry kibble?

Stay tuned!

Outdated

Man, I am sick of the minimum wage game. I am tired of waiting to have a slight amount of money, and then expecting to make it through to update required things. Things such as reeds, mouthpieces, car maitnance, a new computer that actually RUNS(more than just basic word functions and internet), a newer car that isn't nearly to 200kmiles, living in a crappy town, and still working on my undergrad, and then not being able to replace my broken xbox...which seems whiney but dammit, I like having one :\

Basically I'm just whining about how I'm bogged down in Yesterville. Oh well, such is life.

Reworking it

I'm sitting here listening to my favorite song from middle school, Under the Rice Moon, which was a concert band piece about the Rice Moon event of Chinese lore. In basic- a rice moon is a full, very white, moon in which the wild rice was to be harvested. But it was also a time when spirits would rise to interact with humans, not scary, but still intense.

Anyways, all day today I've been listening to sax quartet rep and solo sax rep. Now listening to this song, I really, really want to rearrange it for sax quartet....because it would fit. The only hangup is the middle segue section that is all percussion rythm. But it can be done...

Listen here

Blown

Not going to lie, when I know a piece, and feel confident about it, I love to perform, especially jazz. Tonight our university's Jazz big band had a performance at a local brewery, and to be honest, I feel really damn good about myself after it. My performing was in time, on pitch, and at the end of the concert it felt like I had run a marathon, which means I was doing it very right (or...very, very, wrong). In any case, I was able to blast some true pitches in the altissimo register which is something I have never attempted in public before, let alone succeeded with. This concert was a good marker of progress in how far I've come with my artistry on my horn. Yes, I am taking time to be a little egotistical, but it's my blog, and I can talk about myself on it.
I just remember my first concert at this university, how shaky I was; my total lack of confidence showing through at every turn; my improvisation being tarnished and barely in the key. Not to mention the charts we were reading were really difficult to me at the time, and now I look back through and really see how simple they were... But that does mean progress, so I am going to take this time to enjoy my feelings of self worth.

Oh, and for those of you who came, thankyou for your continued support! Even if I don't say anything to you when you're there, it does mean a lot that you show up!

Once upon a dreary midnight

Those of you who don't know me, I work late nights. Not a true graveyard, just until midnight on weeknights. This open time of work (thank god for work study...) gives me plenty of time to start pet projects. My latest is trying to learn how to use music editing software. I run into quite a few snags on this project for a few reasons.
1) My computer is a piece of shit. Even when I bought it it wasn't up to technological specs. But, the impatient get second rate things I suppose.

2) These programs are freaking expensive, and I'm rediculously poor. For obvious reasons, this makes learning how to efficiently use these programs nearly impossible. Though I guess I shouldn't complain, the freeware teaches the basics, which are needed.

3) Time restraints! I am still in college, and I can't allow myself to become consumed by these pet projects so much, but I like to get carried away.

4) I don't know how to use a lot of the features. I'm a newb, I'm willing to admit it.

So that is just my newest fascination, but I love it a lot, being able to just create at will, that is art!

So the adventures continue!

We find our ever increasingly incredible hero Eliptical Man struggling with comprehending complex musical analysis. The Tubby Tabby nowhere to be seen, our hero must go it alone. The only supervillian here though, is Sibelius and his violin of contemplation.

And the flavor is...

So there is a trend I have noticed that exists within American (and many times British) popular culture, a trend of flavors if you will. They are not flavors as in, "stripey" or "vanilla" or "colorful" (though I'm sure those come and go in their own respects) I'm speaking of a more international flavor that popular culture focuses on. These flashes of worldly insight usually last only half a decade, but not usually more than a full decade.
To trend set, this is what I have down:
60's: Hindi music (thank you Beatles)
70's: British Invasion (punk, disco, metal..?)
early 80's: Native American
Late 80's/Early 90's: African (thank you Jackson, Gabriel, and probably a large list of others who wanted to Aid the world...)
Late 90's: I'm not too sure... Asian culture took over pretty steadily
Early 00's: Still a lot of Asian culture seeping in
Late 00's/early 10's: no clue. too early to tell really...

But I feel that these trends are pretty true. I am coming from mostly a musical idea behind this keep in mind, and I feel I can give a few good examples to support these if people really want to get into it, but that is only if they really feel it.

I always find societal trends fascinating because it happens by some unseen current that just sweeps over a large entity of people to become obsessed or immersed with another culture.