Wednesday, December 28th
listening to...
reading: The Fellowship of the Ring
listening to: 3 interminable whistling tones
I've put the ipod away for a few days as my tinnitus seems to be much worse. Although the fact that I've been doing a lot of listening to music recently may have something to do with it- it occurred to me today that probably the fact that I am sick and nevertheless doing physical labor at the post office might have more to do with it.
At any rate I'm finding my tinnitis incredibly annoying at the moment. For those that don't know, tinnitus is ringing in the ears. Mine takes the form of 3 clearly identifiable whistling tones: the highest B on the piano, and the F and C above that. It never goes away. A tritone and minor 9th going forever inside my head- never resolving.
Since I have a break from my listening, I've again taken up the first book of the ring trilogy. I am making a big effort here to actually finish reading a book- something I haven't done in a really long time. I can only seem to read a couple chapters of anything before becoming bored and wanting to do something else. I think a lot of that has to do with spending far too much time reading stuff on the internet.
Tuesday, December 27th
Got my polishing cloth in hand
So most of us lived through another Christmas. Christmas can be a difficult time. Personally I always struggle internally with whether in my heart I am celebrating the birth of the coming Lord Jesus or the current reign of Lord Mammon. Nancy has decided to quit her job at Java City- which I think is a brilliant decision, although hard for her. I have pretty much been a worshipper of Mammon all my life and that attitude has rubbed off on her partly. I know in one sense she feels like she is letting me down by not bringing in some extra money. But the cost in terms of the lifestyle that we have been seeking has simply been too great.
But I can't deny that we had a great Christmas in large part due to the extra income. Nancy got me (among other great things) an ipod which has been a huge help in getting my CD ready. It's a cinch to put my prospective CD in itunes just as though it were a "real CD." From there I can easily compare it to professionally produced piano tracks and shuffle my own tracks around to find the best order.
So the music is almost ready and the money to pay for the CD's manufacturing is in the bank- thanks to the generosity that Mom and Dad have always shown at Christmastime. But I have this nagging feeling that all I'm doing is producing my own little idol. I'm polishing it up as we speak. Alternately I'm torn between bowing down and worshipping it and smashing it to bits.
Either option would be wrong, of course- confirming that the beast was an idol all along. It's not, of course: it will be another CD in the mass of CD's that are out there. I'll feel a lot better after it's all said and done.
Monday, December 26th
Greetings
"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year but only if you feel comfortable accepting this expression of affection, good will, and love at this time of celebration. To the others...
Happy Rana-Hanu-Kwanz-Mas-Stice!
Saturday, December 24th
This Christmas
I learned only one new thing this Christmas.
Your life is a gift freely given by God. You can't earn it- no matter how hard you try!
Friday, December 23rd
The refined palate (or: What would Jesus drink?)
So I spend a fair amount of time hanging out at "Yeah, Me Too," perhaps in a vain attempt to become a coffee snob. But I have to ask myself- would becoming a coffee snob increase or decrease my actual enjoyment of coffee?
It seems to me that having a refined palate is more a question of developing the vocabulary for talking about something- as opposed to actually doing it. And sometimes I just don't have the time for that.
Oftentimes my beverage choices are just based on the trivial. The other day I decided to switch from Coke to Pepsi based solely on the fact that somebody I don't even know sent me a list of the 12 top corporate offenders- and Coke was on the list.
This means Jesus would drink Pepsi and not Coke- right? :eh:
Unfortunately the choices that I make have unexpected consequences in my life. I don't think that I've managed to read through an entire book this year. While considering why, I realize that probably a lot of this has to do with the habit I've gotten into of looking stuff up on the internet. Internet reading is of a totally different variety than sitting down and reading a book. And so I find that when I sit down to read a book, I lose interest after a chapter or two.
Its really annoying. I finally had to return George MacDonald's "Lilith" to the library when I was only slightly more than half way through because someone else was waiting for it. Even then, it was a few weeks overdue. I suppose I might be able to crawl through Lilith online, but I really need to get away from that.
Tuesday, December 13th
How much clearer can it get?
"We battle not against flesh and blood..."
Kinda sounds like pacifism to me.
Monday, December 12th
a very normal feeling day
Yesterday (Sunday) felt very normal. Nancy and I went to church (which we don't always do) and afterwards hopped a bus up to Graceland and ate at the Chinese buffet. There we saw the Andersons and the Carlsons. After ducking into Target to pick up a few odds and ends, we took the bus back home and I had a nap.
Last night i had another strange dream- i've been having some strange ones lately. In this one, i was working my job as a dishwasher in a restaurant and thinking that I needed more money. so I was trying to convince the restaurant owner (who was the moderator of the poetry slam- is his name Shaun?) that he should pay me $110 dollars to jump in the freezing cold river. As he was considering this, I thought to myself "this is crazy." I already have 3 jobs and I'm looking for more work. But it looked like he was about to say "yes" so I quickly left the room.
It's a no-brainer what this was about. Work anxiety again. It's no fun being a mailman in the sloppy winter.
Tuesday, December 6th
can you read this?
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Saturday, December 3rd
The aftermath of the slam
so Nancy and I went to the poetry slam last night at Columbus Music Hall. In case you're just dropping in and didn't hear about the event, this was a poetry reading- with a twist. The twist being that the poetry was backed up by a jazz trio.
I have a confession to make. I went for the music- not the poetry. Bad, Bad Fred.
I learned a few things about myself. We sat with the Whitmans- and when Kate asked me if I played jazz I found myself answering, "When I have to." Hummm- interesting. I wonder where that answer came from? I quickly added that I did enjoy listening to jazz more than playing it. Always acting like the sophisticated man- that's me.
But I did enjoy myself greatly last night. I thought the best poem of the evening was by Dan Thress. Perhaps it was not the poem itself, but the playing that it evoked amongst the musicians. I felt that the piano player, whose playing IMO had been rather pedestrian to that point really shone during that number and maintained a higher level through the evening. But, even though I'm a prolific critic, I'm not a wonderful one. So I might be wrong on this.
So, anyway, what I learned about myself musically was that jazz is that it really isn't in my soul. I guess that I've always craved simplicity, even when I haven't been aware of it. I've been listening to a lot of John Prine this week. Ya can't get much simpler than that musically.
Perhaps I relate to him because he was a mailman. This line resonates with me:
Grandpa was a carpenter- built half the stores and banks.
I wonder if John had the same experience that I have sometimes of being out on the route; looking around; and asking, "What the hell difference am I making out here?" It's wierd- they pay me all this money and nothing ever changes. A carpenter and practically every other professional can point and say, "Look at what I did."
Somebody told me this week that this lack of change is the point of my job. And maybe it is. If I didn't deliver people's bills, they wouldn't get paid. And if they didn't get paid, the houses would all eventually get torn down. Or at least the carpenters would stop building.
Once I got upset because a couple of people in one week compared my music to George Winston's. Andy Whitman pointed me to some material on the 'net on George, and somewhere in there I read that George considered himself a "folk pianist." I like that. To "jazz it up" by definition is to complicate, to hang decorative stuff or fluff on the essential being of something.
I like the folk better.
Thursday, December 1st
17 right
I got this test in my e-mail today. I will put the answers as a comment so you can check yourself after taking the test- Fred
The average person only gets 7 questions right.
This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain. This
can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows how little most
of us really see!
There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have
known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little
simple questions are harder than you think-- it just shows you how
little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life.
Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No
getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or
computer!
Can you beat 20?? (The average is 7) Write down your answers and
check answers (on the bottom) AFTER completing all the questions.
REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!! BE HONEST!!! That means no looking at
your phone or anything on your desk...
Then, before you repost this, change the number on the subject
line to show how many you got correct.
LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE. - If not, just have
fun!
Here we go!
1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? (Don't you dare get up to see!)
7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
13. On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?
14. Which way do fans rotate?
15. How many sides does a stop sign have?
16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
17. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
21. On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
22. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?
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