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Monday, June 16th, 2008
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12:54 pm - it's a long story
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Ok, random question to all you music fans in your 20s...
When did you first hear of the band Cream, and what's your impression of their popularity/influence?
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
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3:26 pm - The Purple Carrots
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For those of you who do not know, I'll be playing/singing at Valentine's in Albany on Friday, May 23rd. I will be playing with the greatest guitarist in the... room, and when he's on the street, depending on the street, I bet he is definitely in the top 3. We are The Purple Carrots.
Also playing are local bands Miloh and The Same Four.
So, come see us! :)
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, March 14th, 2008
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3:26 pm - Widescreen
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So, widescreens, when used with media that is actually wide or could be wide (like a computer desktop), they make total sense. But I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only one who's driven absolutely bananas when something not made for widescreen is distorted to fill the space. I can't stand it. It looks horribly ugly. Give me black bars around the sides ANY day. We put up with black bars on the top and bottom for a regular TV displaying a widescreen movie, rather than making the thing taller. Why all the distortion now? Do most people just not care? (Of course, I'm asking this of a society that successfully sells tiny crappy iPod speakers/docking stations for hundreds of dollars. To me music isn't even worth listening to on such a system.)
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, February 10th, 2008
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2:47 pm - YAY
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| Monday, November 26th, 2007
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1:17 pm - statement
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| Thursday, May 17th, 2007
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1:20 pm - circumcision of baby males
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Penn and Teller have an episode of Bullshit! about circumcision. I was already against circumcision before seeing it, but after seeing it I'm definitely disgusted. It's just so unnecessary. I mean, I was brought up believing that it doesn't hurt at that age (yeah, right) and that it was good for preventing infection. (But we have these things called antibiotics....) (Interesting to note that I also grew up seeing that if people got a tonsil infection, they got their tonsils out. But not BEFORE an infection. I never had mine out. But tonsillectomies are not recommended today even in the case of infection. I think this is good because surgery has a lot of risks in its own right.)
I've been reading a lot about biology and evolution these days. I most certainly think that if it were so detrimental to have foreskins or tonsils, mother nature would have taken them out herself.
I don't "mourn" for guys who are already circumcised. What's done is done. I've heard that it takes away some sexual feeling, but the only reference I could find for this was in a handful of adult males. For awhile, it was used as a way to prevent masturbation (unsuccessfully). Our nervous system is malleable, so I suspect that guys circumcised early on would develop the nerves they've got. But nobody knows. We know it doesn't prevent masturbation. What it does interfere with, however, are the *mechanics* of sex. There is at least one survey of women with experience with both circumcised and uncircumcised men showing that women have better sexual experiences with those intact. (http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/ohara/) I haven't been with enough intact guys to comment, myself.
Anyway... no son of mine will be cut. ;)
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(35 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
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9:07 am - college
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So, I applied to 10 pharmacy schools. (Not counting Albany, which I did early decision, and they didn't want me. But every time I hear stuff about them it's negative, so I'm kind of glad.)
I've heard back from four:
University of Maryland
St. John Fisher (in Rochester NY)
Midwestern Glendale (Arizona in the Phoenix area)
Mercer University (Atlanta)
They all invited me to interview. So far, I've just interviewed at Maryland. Midwestern and Mercer are next week, and St. John Fisher the week after. I haven't heard back from Maryland yet since the interview. I haven't heard back either way from any other schools.
The thing is, Arizona is far away, and they're my second-to-bottom choice. I got a DVD from them yesterday about the school, and it was helpful. It doesn't seem like "my type" of place... whereas MD really won my over. I came away thinking, "Wow!" AZ really isn't like that. So the question on my mind now is if I should cancel my interview with AZ. Would I want to go there if they were the *only* place I was accepted? Or wait another year to apply to schools I like better? I'm not sure. I'm leaning toward cancelling, though, since it would cost me some money to fly out there (plus time away from school and work), and it's on a Tuesday. But it's tough to give up an opportunity when schools are so competitive and I really want to get out of computers and into pharmacy.
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, February 25th, 2007
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7:10 pm - new blog
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| Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
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6:04 am - Santa Claus
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| Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
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2:09 pm - drills
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So, I think it's high time I bought a drill. Useful to have around, right?
Ok, the real reason is that there's a screw I was trying to get out of something (a piece of metal), and just ended up stripping it, and the screw itself I can replace but I still need to get it out. The Internet as a whole suggests (carefully) drilling the head to get it off.
Plus drills are useful to have around, right?
I'm not looking for anything fancy. Something on the "budget" end, but not a cheap piece of crap. Under $150 preferrably. ($100 would be even better.) I won't be using it a whole lot. Just to get this screw out, drill holes in wood if I ever get to build anything, and... I dunno, the other things an "average user" (ie. not building a 747 in their garage) would need. I hope to keep it around for a few years; I'm not looking for something that disintegrates the day after the warranty runs out, ne?
Any suggestions?
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, November 5th, 2006
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4:06 pm - Geoff Tate
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So, Queensryche was awesome. Practically goes without saying; they played Operation: Mindcrime (awesome 1988 concept album) in its entirety for the first half, then after an intermission they played Operation: Mindcrime II (2006 follow-up; the album they are promoting) for the second act.
I bought O:M II some time before this. There have been some mixed reviews on it, although some people specifically complained that it was not the music, but the production that sucked. And, of interest to me, there were comments about Geoff Tate's voice being bad now, presumably because he's gotten old.
I thought that was ridiculous, because he's only 47. Singers reach their peak in their 30s-40s. (Indeed, their are certain voice types that do not develop until around age 40.) Physically, his voice should be better than it was 18 years ago. But there could be other reasons for it to not be up to par.
But, when I listened to the O:M II album, I could understand why some people had a problem with it, especially the vocals. Since I started singing, I've become much better at listening to singing, and can hear various types of tension, pick up on sloppiness, estimate absolute pitch
(ie. "I think that's an F3 or F#3"), and even get a sense of what a singer is doing physically to produce the sound. It was strange. Somebody had complained about Geoff Tate singing notes that were too high in "One Foot in Hell." Odd, since there is only one high note in that song, and it's extremely short. (I'll admit, that note doesn't sound good, but it's because his transition of registers was jarring on that one.)
I did dislike something about the tone of the vocals in O:M II. I could not pinpoint anything about the singing itself that produced the "annoying" aspect of the tone. I listened carefully, too, to the other vocals on the album, Ronnie James Dio and Pamela Moore. With Dio's part I couldn't tell much. But it sounded to me like Moore's voice had the same effect. It started to grate on me, even listening to the songs I really like (eg. "All the Promises"). The harmonies seemed.. clashing. (All of the harmonies on the album did.) Still, I know nothing about the production of albums (voice, mixing of music, normalizing, etc), and I could definitely be wrong on voices. So I was looking forward to hearing O:M II live, where I'd be able to tell more about the actual music vs. the studio recording.
And my conclusion is that people who think Geoff Tate's voice isn't still awesome are nuts.
His range* is fine, his agility is amazing, and his precision** superior to most rock singers.
(*There are many songs where the melody was altered such that he sang high parts lower than on the albums. But he did fine on the high parts he did sing, so this may have been to prevent vocal fatigue, or just to mix things up a little to make the performance more interesting. Or both.)
(**The other one who's impressed me in this regard is Trent Reznor.)
I was a little worried at the very beginning of the concert... if you ever go to a performance and start out thinking the singer isn't doing so well, and think s/he's great later, it's not your imagination. It takes time for a singer's voice to warm up, particularly if they didn't warm up before the show. On those first two songs, his voice was indeed strained on the high notes. But it didn't take long before he was doing great. It's a particular testament to a singer's skill when they do well live, of course, as with any instrument. I've heard a lot of rock vocalists be less than consistent when performing, and everyone has their bad nights. But not Tate, not on this night.
Ah, and "All the Promises" sounded so much better live. The harmonies blended perfectly. :)
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, November 3rd, 2006
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2:05 pm
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How could I have let this happen? I can't believe I did this to myself. No, no, this is not self blame. Hardly. It's an admonishment of personal strategy. Any chance of making right what's always been wrong? Who knows. I don't think I even need to care.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
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6:10 pm - KFC
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KFC Mac & Cheese tastes like Mac & Butter With Orange Food Coloring.
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 31st, 2006
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12:15 am
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Seizing the day! Not giving up on this one! Not taking nothing for an answer!!
Well, okay, I'm taking nothing for an answer. *grumble*
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, October 30th, 2006
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5:55 pm
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| Friday, October 27th, 2006
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4:36 pm
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This is driving me crazy.
Wish I could turn off the part of my brain which attends to this subject for the 98.9% of the year I don't need it.
Is it worth it to put my best into building sandcastles?
Don't worry; the parts of my brain that do not attend to this subject (which are most of it) are doing fine right now, thanks.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, October 23rd, 2006
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6:42 pm - My driver's license
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So I wasn't able to find my driver's license all weekend. So I went to the DMV today and got a temporary one, and I'll get the real one in a few weeks. (At least I got my nearly decade-old picture updated.) Having gone to the trouble to do this guarantees, of course, that my old license will turn up quickly and unexpectedly.
Here are the top ten places where it might show up:
10. Under the bed. (I needed to prove that I was legal...)
9. In the cereal box under the toy. (Why do they always put that at the bottom?)
8. In the air ducts. (Where's Harry Tuttle when I need him?)
7. Tucked inside the computer printer. (That's the last time I clean the printer head with my driver's license.)
6. In the toilet tank. (Maybe Bean found it.)
5. In between the refrigerator and the wall. (Nothing is skinny enough to ever remedy that problem.)
4. Delivered and signed-for by an unknown person in my apartment complex. (Wait no, that's my copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.)
3. Glued to the underside of my car hood. (You really wouldn't think this would ever happen. But it DOES, okay, it just does!!)
2. Eaten by one of my stuffed animals. (I'll find it when it defecates.)
1. On my head, next to my glasses. (But I don't have glasses...)
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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12:36 am
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Words are not necessary to break silence. Sometimes you can do it just by breathing, as long as you're doing it honestly.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, October 21st, 2006
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2:34 pm - Must be a blue moon -- a normal LJ post
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Today was the day of the Big Test. The Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT). The test which, like the SAT, will decide MY ENTIRE FUTURE.
Well, ok, I already took it in the summer, but signed up again so I could get better scores. Been studying a ton for it.
The test was at 8:30am. I got up at 7:10. I showered, out of habit, before remembering I'd done so last night so I wouldn't have to in the morning. Had some cereal to eat. Got my things together - not much, test admission ticket, pencils, my coat, etc. You need two forms of photo ID to get in, one with your signature. So I looked in my wallet to see my student ID and my driver's lic-- what the?? No driver's license!! *Apparently* I've been driving along without a license for some unknown period of time. But more importantly, more immediately, I needed it for an ID! The thought of not taking this test was... well... unthinkable. Well, at the worst, I knew where my passport was... Didn't I?? I readily found my birth certificate... but not passport.
I stayed calm for the first ten minutes of searching... then I started getting upset. But Miles, since he is the Best Boyfriend in the World, he rolled out of bed and helped me look. Nothing. I had to leave though, and he offered to drive because I was so upset. <3s
I ended up using my school ID and the ID I had from working at the incubator. It's not technically valid now, but it has no date anywhere, so nobody would be able to tell if it was "expired." In the car, I started to worry about being late. Last time, the test didn't really start (as in, lock everybody out now) until 9, but, there's just that *twinge* of uncertainty. The same with the IDs. But, we got there, and Miles came in with me for moral support. (I felt very taken care of. :) They accepted the IDs, and there was plenty of time before they started. Phew.
I think I did a lot better than last time. Can't be sure til I get my scores (4-6 weeks from now), but still.
Now that that's over... I can go to 3 to 3 and get drunk (just a little bit) and be social. Being social isn't something I've been able to do in the past week.
I still need to find my driver's license. =(
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
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2:44 am - joy and agony
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The joy of disassembling something and reassembling it and not having any screws left over. (so... many... screws...)
The agony of knowing that it was one stubborn little screw that you couldn't get unscrewed that prevented you from achieving the goal for which you disassembled the damned thing.
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(comment on this)
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