It's funny...
how quickly moods can fluctuate. when I'm moody.
how little things like certain smells and feelings can trigger the most vivid memories.
how much getting a good night's sleep can improve my outlook on life.
(ha! I just typed "lice" instead of life. "outlook on lice" -- awesome. )
how time speeds up and then slows down, sometimes when I want it to and sometimes not. most of the time not.
how I take some things for granted. like music. what would the world be like without music? we are so lucky to have that.
how we all have dreams every night but rarely remember them. we have a whole different level of consciousness that we're totally unaware of. that's nuts.
how I get really anxious about meeting someone new or giving a presentation at work, but a week later, can hardly remember doing it at all. let alone care how it went.
farts. farts are just funny.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Radio at Work Can Read My Mind!
Dudes. I was TOTALLY just trying to remember the title and tune to a song I was humming last night, and it just came on the radio. I'm not making this up. This radio station has magical powers!
For anyone who cares, the song was "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts (1972). Also, I totally love the toy piano in this song. Awesome.
For anyone who cares, the song was "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts (1972). Also, I totally love the toy piano in this song. Awesome.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bought Together, Part 1
Woo!! Just got back from our Spring vacation! Ten days on Padre Island, TX, baby!! I should be able to come up with some material to write about from that, but I'll need at least a week to let all my experiences get really absorbed into my brain... Lotta strands floating around in there now......Hm.
So, I decided to introduce a recurring theme called "Bought Together." Originally, this was a game we play sometimes at drinky-parties once everyone is good and sauced. The object was to come up with the two most outrageous / gross / freaky items one could buy at the same time at the Super Walmart (we always said "super" because then you get more choices of items. Like pretty much anything. You've got the full palette to choose from.) So, you'd start your turn by saying "Walked into the Super Walmart and picked me up some _____________ and a nice little _____________."
Dudes, the possibilities are endless. And with Walmart, you can also choose from all the services like the photographer, the beauty salon, the tax service...yup. It's hilarious!
So here's my first entry. I'm not using Walmart, I'm using Meijer (also a dept store,) but I totally get bonus points because I ACTUALLY went to Meijer and purchased these things. IN REAL LIFE.
Here goes....
"I ran into the Meijer and snagged a value pack of pregnancy tests, a can of Metamucil, and some Advil Liqui-Gels!" TA-DAA!
Try it the next time you need a party game. It works best later in the evening, if you know what I mean. Heh. It also works better if said in a southern/hick type of accent. I don't know why.
So, I decided to introduce a recurring theme called "Bought Together." Originally, this was a game we play sometimes at drinky-parties once everyone is good and sauced. The object was to come up with the two most outrageous / gross / freaky items one could buy at the same time at the Super Walmart (we always said "super" because then you get more choices of items. Like pretty much anything. You've got the full palette to choose from.) So, you'd start your turn by saying "Walked into the Super Walmart and picked me up some _____________ and a nice little _____________."
Dudes, the possibilities are endless. And with Walmart, you can also choose from all the services like the photographer, the beauty salon, the tax service...yup. It's hilarious!
So here's my first entry. I'm not using Walmart, I'm using Meijer (also a dept store,) but I totally get bonus points because I ACTUALLY went to Meijer and purchased these things. IN REAL LIFE.
Here goes....
"I ran into the Meijer and snagged a value pack of pregnancy tests, a can of Metamucil, and some Advil Liqui-Gels!" TA-DAA!
Try it the next time you need a party game. It works best later in the evening, if you know what I mean. Heh. It also works better if said in a southern/hick type of accent. I don't know why.
Monday, April 11, 2011
On Musical Genres...
Well, I suppose I should say something here about music since it was my major in college and grad school and I guess I've put some thought into it...
I don't like many of the labels people assign to music. Mostly they're more limiting than helpful and what's worse is our tendency to use categories like "genres" as a way to reinforce arbitrary differences in us. Race is a big one. Really, there's not much difference between "rock" and "soul" other than the fact that "rock" = "white" and "soul" = "black" in most people's minds. Same thing with "blues" and "country." Today, blues and country sound pretty different, but in the 50s & 60s, there wasn't much difference at all.
I think genre labels also limit what people can do with music. Musicians are pressured to write songs that fit into certain structures like making sure there are "verses" and a clear "melody" and simple, danceable rhythms. Genres are also expected to adhere to many other conventions, like a band's overall "sound quality" (ex: distorted, bass-heavy, twangy, subdued, over-produced, under-produced, heavily synthesized, etc.)
In this country there's a lot of pressure for songs to have both vocals and lyrics. Frankly, I don't think there are enough competent vocalists to cover this! In fact, a song's "melody" doesn't always have to be the most interesting thing about it. Rhythm can be interesting too! Syncopation is great! So are really complex rhythms like duples-against-triples, and all kinds of variations. Really, "sound quality" and "energy factor" are probably two things that I consider more interesting than what the singer is doing.
There's also pressure to assign a genre to yourself in order to get gigs and do successful marketing. Even if you just want to play gigs at bars and upload some of your tunes on itunes, most of the time you have to choose a "genre" from a drop-down menu and have that define what you do.
This whole set-up doesn't allow for much creativity or originality. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of musicians who ARE actively pushing the limits,* and I think their stuff is pretty sweet. I just think more of it would be better.
*Prince, Rage Against the Machine, P-Funk, That1Guy, Sufjan Stevens, Primus, Tree Thump, Balkan Beat Box, White Stripes, Hazmat Modine, and many more!
I don't like many of the labels people assign to music. Mostly they're more limiting than helpful and what's worse is our tendency to use categories like "genres" as a way to reinforce arbitrary differences in us. Race is a big one. Really, there's not much difference between "rock" and "soul" other than the fact that "rock" = "white" and "soul" = "black" in most people's minds. Same thing with "blues" and "country." Today, blues and country sound pretty different, but in the 50s & 60s, there wasn't much difference at all.
I think genre labels also limit what people can do with music. Musicians are pressured to write songs that fit into certain structures like making sure there are "verses" and a clear "melody" and simple, danceable rhythms. Genres are also expected to adhere to many other conventions, like a band's overall "sound quality" (ex: distorted, bass-heavy, twangy, subdued, over-produced, under-produced, heavily synthesized, etc.)
In this country there's a lot of pressure for songs to have both vocals and lyrics. Frankly, I don't think there are enough competent vocalists to cover this! In fact, a song's "melody" doesn't always have to be the most interesting thing about it. Rhythm can be interesting too! Syncopation is great! So are really complex rhythms like duples-against-triples, and all kinds of variations. Really, "sound quality" and "energy factor" are probably two things that I consider more interesting than what the singer is doing.
There's also pressure to assign a genre to yourself in order to get gigs and do successful marketing. Even if you just want to play gigs at bars and upload some of your tunes on itunes, most of the time you have to choose a "genre" from a drop-down menu and have that define what you do.
This whole set-up doesn't allow for much creativity or originality. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of musicians who ARE actively pushing the limits,* and I think their stuff is pretty sweet. I just think more of it would be better.
*Prince, Rage Against the Machine, P-Funk, That1Guy, Sufjan Stevens, Primus, Tree Thump, Balkan Beat Box, White Stripes, Hazmat Modine, and many more!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
word weirdness...
Have you ever typed or written a word so many times that it starts to look really strange and not like that word at all anymore? This happened to me today with a really common word, "like." Go me!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Academia
Two posts in the same month! A new record!! No, really, I'm making an attempt to post more since this whole thing is supposed to be about me practicing my writing.
I used to be in an intensive reading/writing/researching grad program. For three years, I had lots of experience writing, though none of it even remotely became what anyone would consider "interesting reading." I think this is true of most academic writing. There's an unspoken rule that this style of writing must adhere to a rigid structure. Like, the introduction has to hit you right off the bat with the main "thesis statement," followed by a comprehensive literature review (boring!), and then a summary of what's coming in the future chapters. Repetitive much? Next comes the chapters, which then must follow their own micro intro-body-conclusion structures. And FINALLY you reach a conclusion that summarizes everything you've read, which most people actually need because the piece itself was so freaking boring that you had to have six cups of coffee and you're sitting there wondering why anyone cares about [insert boring, obscure topic here.] You admit to yourself that you sure as shit don't, but you've got to read this thing in order to get an "advanced" degree or satisfy some other kind of bureaucratic, soul-sucking requirement. Jesus, that is SO FREAKING BORING! Why do that??
Of course there are exceptions to this, so I don't mean to dump on ALL of academia. Just most of it. When started my degree, *I* was planning on being an exception. I was optimistic. But I quickly found out how much the system was stacked against original thought. It was a career changing realization.
So that's how I'm trained to write. Like an academic. Recently I've realized that if I want to get better at writing, I'm going to have to unlearn all of the stupid academic writing conventions, and then LEARN how to actually write! The whole thing is kind of daunting. I'm reading a book right now that discusses how much our "internal editor" holds us back. Yeah, mine's like a power hungry drill sergeant on steroids.
I used to be in an intensive reading/writing/researching grad program. For three years, I had lots of experience writing, though none of it even remotely became what anyone would consider "interesting reading." I think this is true of most academic writing. There's an unspoken rule that this style of writing must adhere to a rigid structure. Like, the introduction has to hit you right off the bat with the main "thesis statement," followed by a comprehensive literature review (boring!), and then a summary of what's coming in the future chapters. Repetitive much? Next comes the chapters, which then must follow their own micro intro-body-conclusion structures. And FINALLY you reach a conclusion that summarizes everything you've read, which most people actually need because the piece itself was so freaking boring that you had to have six cups of coffee and you're sitting there wondering why anyone cares about [insert boring, obscure topic here.] You admit to yourself that you sure as shit don't, but you've got to read this thing in order to get an "advanced" degree or satisfy some other kind of bureaucratic, soul-sucking requirement. Jesus, that is SO FREAKING BORING! Why do that??
Of course there are exceptions to this, so I don't mean to dump on ALL of academia. Just most of it. When started my degree, *I* was planning on being an exception. I was optimistic. But I quickly found out how much the system was stacked against original thought. It was a career changing realization.
So that's how I'm trained to write. Like an academic. Recently I've realized that if I want to get better at writing, I'm going to have to unlearn all of the stupid academic writing conventions, and then LEARN how to actually write! The whole thing is kind of daunting. I'm reading a book right now that discusses how much our "internal editor" holds us back. Yeah, mine's like a power hungry drill sergeant on steroids.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Always Take a Piece of Meat...
In an effort to actually write posts more often, I've decided to use fewer complete sentences and more of a bullet point format. This blog-maintenance thing is turning out to be a little more work than I had planned. (If "little more work" means ANY work at all....) HA!
So, anyway, here's some total randomness:
So, anyway, here's some total randomness:
- Indian music, particularly when played by Steve Gorn's bansuri, is mind-blowingly great.
- I can smell Spring. And that is awesome.
- Our dog Fritz has recently started sitting up on his haunches for long periods of time and looking at us quizzically. I have no idea what he's getting at. Maybe he's just sick of always being so low to the ground (he's part mini-daschund).
- Sometimes I wish people wouldn't let their insecurities cause them to act like assholes.
- Grilled vegetable kabobs are the only way anyone should eat veggies (especially when you also strategically put pieces of bacon all over said kabob)
- Whoever invented the 8 hour work day should have their hands mutilated and then be subjected to a thorough tooth cleaning from a dental hygienist on PMS.
- The radio station at work is playing the 80s hit "Every Time You Go Away" right now. When I was 7, I thought the lyrics were "Every time you go away, you take a piece of MEAT with you." But every time I heard it, I would also always think "Wow, that's kind of a strange song. Why in the heck would anyone carry a piece of meat around?"
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