Tuesday, December 26th
My baby's comin' back home!
My baby moved out nearly four years ago. I've missed her, but it was either her or my wife. Honestly I sometimes think Nancy was a little jealous, though she insists she never was.
So now we have some extra room and Nancy told me that she would finance moving my baby back home. So I guess she wasn't that jealous after all. She even offered to set up a space for my baby upstairs, although I think she'll be just fine in the basement.
People sometimes don't understand the special relationship I have with my baby. Maybe it's because she's 20 years older than I am. Maybe it's because she has three legs.
But very soon she'll be home again. Just as soon as I do to her what you can't do to a fish, my baby and me will be making beautiful music together.
Sunday, December 24th
Please Pray
mood: worried
My father Harold went to Riverside E. R. last night. For a few weeks now he has been having symptoms of a stroke. They have worsened in the past few days. He is having tingling in both of his hands and a lot of trouble using his left hand.
They did an MRI on him last night which did not reveal much, so they are going to be running some neurological tests on him today. It is unlikely he will be out of the hospital for Christmas.
Please pray for him.
And pray for me too while you're at it. I'm not doing so hot myself.
Friday, December 22nd
Changing course
music: Tim McGraw- I've Got Friends That Do
mood: reflective
Nancy says that I must cease and desist posting bad pictures of our place. I suppose that posting pictures is the lazy man's way of avoiding describing in actual words. What I really wanted to say is that I am so incredibly proud of Nancy for maintaining such a wonderful household with the added pressure of working a 40+ hour week. I truly believe that the reason everybody is mobbing our house this Christmas is because they know that Nancy is the best!
There are some Tim McGraw lyrics that caught my attention recently. They seem like the ordinary country fare until the last verse sneaks up on you and sucker punches ya right where it counts:
This is for the nobody
The one in the crowd who's got a
Lost look on his face
This is for the down-trodden
The one that the world's forgotten
Waitin' on a better day
Well I'm in no position to judge 'em
Well heaven knows they're just like me
And I'm not alone
In knowin' what it's like
To wonder where you're goin' in this crazy life
And I'm not alone in knowin' how it feels
To pray to God and sometimes wonder if He's real
'Cause I got friends that do
Yeah, I got friends that do
This is for the lost junkie
Who spends all his hard-earned money on somethin' that he hates
And this is for the found guilty
Who ain't gettin' out until he pays his debt to the state
And I'm in no position to judge 'em
Well heaven knows it could have been me
And I may not know what it's like
To lose your job 'cause a habit's got you gripped too tight
And I may not know how it feels
To lay your head down on a prison bed in a world of steel
But I got friends that do
Yeah, I got friends that do
This is for yours truly
Just a little verse to remind me
We've all got somewhere to turn
And I may not know what it's like
To send my only Son to save the world and watch Him die
And I may not know how it feels
To hang there on the cross to prove that love is real
But I got friends that do
Yeah, I got friends that do
Yeah, I got friends that do
You know we all got friends that do
Thursday, December 21st
It's beginning to look somewhat like Christmas
music: Bruce Cockburn- Christmas
mood: Somewhat more relaxed
The hecticness of the season is finally settling into some semblance of order. We didn't get a tree until today since we didn't think we were doing Christmas here. Suddenly were having like, fourteen people here on Christmas day or something like that.
Speaking of which, does anybody know where one can pick up the complete works of the Venerable Bede (in English) at a reasonable price? This is all my father-in-law wants for Christmas and we haven't been able to find it anywhere.
So as we were getting ready to decorate the tree Nancy requested that music be put on. So as I was putting together an itunes Christmas list it occurred to me that I hadn't purchased any Christmas music yet this year, unless Windham Hill's Winter Solstice II counts. I had heard from a couple of sources that Bruce Cockburn's Christmas was good, so I went to the itunes store to get it. Annoyingly, it was one of those albums that you have to buy song by song instead of all at once. Itunes music isn't really of good enough audio quality to shell out that kind of money, but i figured, what the heck. It's Christmas.
I used to be really uncomfortable with Bruce Cockburn until I learned that his name isn't pronounced as it is written. Instead, it's pronounced as in, "Nancy and I are burning flags in our backyard. Would you like to coburn them with us?"
So we've still got a couple of days left and we're almost there:
As I am writing this Nancy is finishing wrapping up presents. I still have one left to wrap, but since I hate wrapping I'm finding all kinds of sundry tasks that "must be done" first- like writing this blog.
One final question: after composing my itunes Christmas playlist I calculated that five percent of my itunes music is Christmas music. Is this a reasonable percentage? Should I have more? Less?
Tuesday, December 19th
What I did for Christmas Vacation part I
Mailmen don't actually get a Christmas vacation- scheduling vacation in December is not allowed. In fact it's very unusual to be granted even an extra day tacked on to your day off (for example). So I try to pretend that my one day off before Christmas is my Christmas vacation. It doesn't always work.
Today I was lucky enough to eat lunch with my wife at Talita's Mexican Restaurant. They are running a special there through December of two (yes two!) corn nachos for only a dollar. We also went shopping for a Christmas tree. At the last minute, it was decided that Christmas would be at our house this year. This changes all previous plans. Disappointedly, we were unable to find a suitable tree. So we will have to improvise.
In the morning I took a trip down to Used Kids because it had occurred to me that I've really been missing the music of Steve Khan. Back before I had decided which instrument I wanted to specialize in, I had decided that if I were an electric guitarist, I'd want to play like Steve. Like Carlos Santana, he's one of those guys who has a unique guitar sound. Although I like Carlos' sound better, I think Steve is the better all-round musician.
I ended up having to wade through the dollar records to finally find a Steve Khan record. This reminded me of the story Kyle at Lost Weekend told me about a Barry Manilow fan who was furious that all of Barry's records were only a dollar. Kyle's reply was that if the gentleman wanted to pay him more for them it would be just fine.
Me, I'm overjoyed when I can get my favorite records cheap.
I was really hoping to find Khan's Tightrope but who can complain at this price. It turned out that I finally found Khan's The Blue Man in the back of the very last bin of the dollar jazz section. This gave me the opportunity to set aside seven other records that I was willing to shell out a buck apiece for. This was the final haul today:
Steve Khan- The Blue Man
December- George Winston
The Naked Piano- Robert Allen
The Winter Consort- Paul Winter and others
Songs by Ira & George Gershwin- Joan Morris (mezzo-soprano) and William Bolcom (piano)
Jazz Impressions of Eurasia- Dave Brubeck Quartet
Right Now!- Dave Brubeck
A Winter Solstice II- Windham Hill Artists
I already had a copy of December but the one I found was in such pristine shape that I just had to pick it up for a buck. This means that I have an extra one. It iis not in bad shape- just a few pops and crackles, and if anyone wants it they are welcome to it.
A Winter's Solstice caught my eye primarily due to the presence of Phil Aaberg. Phil is my favorite pianist- bar none. Of course he doesn't have the massive technique of the jazz and classical greats, but what technique he has he uses to the max. The other name that caught my eye was The Modern Mandolin Quartet. I have no idea who these people are, but I always find mandolins interesting.
The Naked Piano deserves a mention because it was the record that caught the attention of the check-out clerk, earning a "this could be good." Indeed it could. I have a recording of The Bob Allen Trio at the Christopher Inn and while it might not be the most brilliant jazz ever recorded it's well worth a listen. The Christopher Inn is also where Nancy and I spent part of our honeymoon. The Naked Piano features the same sketch of The Christopher Inn that appears on the other Bob Allen record I have.
Interestingly there is another record called The Naked Piano. The second naked piano was recorded by Bobby VanDeusen, a fine pianist whom I went to school with at Whetstone High School. At that time, Bobby was playing classical and performed among other things Beethoven's first piano concerto. Currently Bobby is earning his daily bread playing jazz in Pensacola FL. I wonder if Bobby unconsciously was picking up on Bob Allen's previous work when he chose the name for his recording.
The internet tells me that Nora Jones is now using nakedpiano.net as her web address. What a wannabe!
The internet also tells me that Steve Khan continues to record. Hmmmmm... i might just have to checkitout.
Monday, December 18th
Addiction
mood: Sour
I use a blog creation tool called Greymatter which is really a cool piece of software. Two features of it that I've never used are two fields below the "Subject" field in the entry composition page which are called "mood" and "music." I guess the reason I've never used the "mood" field is that I've figured that it is unmanly to actually think too much about what your mood is. Women's blogs always seem to feature their mood. Men on the other hand are typically emotionally challenged enough to really struggle to figure out what their moods are, and I am no exception.
Even more confusing is the "music" field. If I type in the URL of a music file, will it play when people open my blog? Honestly I don't think that would be a good thing. When I go to someone's blog I go there to read what they have to say, not to hear whatever music they think happens to fit their particular mood at this time.
I am going to experiment with the "music" field at some future time. For this blog I shall try out the "subject" field feature and see what happens. I seem to be in a sour mood right now (I think that "sour" counts as a mood) and have been for the past week or two. A lot of this has to do with my work. I'm not going to go into details, but contrary to popular belief, preChristmas in the post office is NOT a busy time (at least not for carriers), it's just a weird time.
When I'm in pain, I try to assuage that pain with various addictive behaviors. In the past, drinking alcohol seemed to work pretty well, although as I got older I found that if I overdid it it caused more problems than it "solved." So I turned to other things, principally religion. Religion in large doses kills your pain by boosting your natural tendency to believe that you are a better person than your neighbor. This also has the side benefit of relieving you of the duty to love your neighbor, since there is no obligation to love evil people. On the contrary, religion tells us that it is our obligation to hate evil people.
However, like alcohol, there can be consequences to imbibing large doses of religion.
If you find you can't tolerate large doses of religion, you may turn to politics. Politics is also all about determining who the good people are and who the evil people are. Thus imbibing large doses of politics also creates the illusion that you don't have an obligation to love your enemy.
I suppose that there are also consequences to imbibing large doses of politics, although this is a road I've never gone down.
My current addictive behavior is consumerism. I tend to maintain the facade of respectability by killing my pain with regular doses of self indulgent purchases.
Sunday, December 17th
The Kohn Family at Thanksgiving
OK here we are in our brand new tie dyeds:
Left to Right:
Lex Kohn (son of Jeanne and Andy)
Jeanne Kohn (wife of Andy Kohn)
Andy Kohn (third child of Harold and Janet)
Marilyn Kohn (second child of Harold and Janet)
Fred Kohn (that's me! first child of Harold and Janet)
Nancy Kohn (wife of Fred)
Janet Kohn (the Matriarch)
Harold Kohn (the Patriarch)
Not pictured: Matthew, fourth and last child of Harold and Janet; his wife Heather Steele (who created the tie dyes); their two sons Tavi and Asa; and Nancy and my three children: Anya, Jacob, and Chad
Saturday, December 16th
Jimmy Crack Corn
Cingular has been running a line of commercials about "fewest dropped calls." The first one I saw featured a young man talking to his future father-in-law. One of the lines in the commercial is "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care."
The last time I saw this commercial the line had been dropped.
OK my first thought was that Cingular had received complaints. "Jimmy crack corn" is a line from the old song "Blue Tail Fly" which is about the master/slave relationship in the U. S. South in the early 19th century. Certainly there are possibilities of offending people.
But to my amazement, an internet search showed nothing of the sort. Of course there still could have been a complaint- just one without public knowledge.
It's also possible that companies are being more careful after the snit Chrystler got itself into over "silly little fairy." I suppose that's a good thing.
Friday, December 15th
dreaming of ... football?
I'm not at all a sports person- don't watch it, don't think about it, don't care about it. So I was quite surprised by the dream I had last night.
I dreamed I was a football player in a very unusual match. There were only four players per team. I felt quite unqualified to be playing football (this at least was true to life) and even moreso when I saw that the person I was assigned to on the opposing team was about a foot taller than I am. But as I was assessing my prospects and my team's prospects I began to feel more hopeful. I noticed that the other three people on the opposing team were all of normal build, and I felt that if I'd been assigned to any one of them I had a very good chance of success. So then I looked at my opponent again and noticed that even though he was tall, he build wasn't massive. I began to feel better about my chances. So I decided to strike up a conversation with him before the game. When answered my casual introductory statement I was surprised that he had an unusually high speaking voice, though not abnormally so.
No doubt the impetus for this dream was the discussion I was having with a couple of people on Andy Whitman's blog about singing range. No need to go into the gory details here, but one of the thoughts that I had about this discussion was that music needs to remain an art, and not be an athletic competition.
However music, being such an expansive subject, naturally "transgresses" itself into an amazing array of subjects. I never thought that when I became a musician I would need to know anything about electronics or computer programming, for example. But here I sit trying to get my ass in gear to reprogram my synth for Sunday since I'll be playing in church. (I've not played keyboard in church before.) This particular brand of synth is well known for being ridiculously complicated to navigate. I've done it before, it's just not a lot of fun.
Monday, December 11th
Sunday
Has anybody else taken note of the music on the T. V. show The Amazing Race? For the uninitiated, this is a reality show that has pairs of people completing arcane tasks, usually in an urban setting, in an attempt to beat other pairs of people to a preordained destination. Weird enough, but I find the weirdest part the chase music continually playing in the background. Last night featured something like this:
"The flight is fully booked, sir."
(dum dah dum dum DAAAAAAAAAHHH!)
Are you absolutely sure? It's very important we be on that flight!
(dum da DUM da DOHM dohm!)
"We can put you on standby, sir."
(da DUM dum dohm DOOOOHHHHHHmmmm!)
Of course this ominous and frenetic minor key music continues until 2 minutes before the end of the show when the victors are smiling for the camera- then at long last we get some peaceful music and some major chords.
Yesterday Nancy and I relaxed around the house until about 11:30, and then went out for a late breakfast. After lingering over breakfast, we took a stroll through an antique store, and then went out for lunch. We were hoping to meet our former dog Kalayo's new daddy, but somehow our lines got crossed and we ended up eating by ourselves. We were in the gateway area just south of campus, and finally settled on the so called Italian Bistro there. The food was actually pretty good, but the smooth jazz in the background didn't gel with the Italian Bistro theme. After eating we hopped a bus back home and I reminisced about some graffiti I saw in a fast food restaurant years ago. Someone had rubbed out some letters from the hand dryer in the men's room so that what once read:
PUSH BUTTON
RUB HANDS UNDER WARM AIR
STOPS AUTOMATICALLY
now read:
PUSH BUTT
RUB HANDS UNDER ARM
TOPS ALL
I have forgotten so many things that are actually meaningful but I remember this. What does that say about me?
Friday, December 8th
ISO: a new routine
With my wife now working nearly as many hours as I, it has become necessary to develop new routines. Some new routines are easy to figure out. His 'n her laundry works great. Our main problems seem to be with kitchen chores. My old lunchtime routine was for me to come home to something to eat that Nancy had prepared for me, to eat it, and spend the rest of my break visiting and relaxing. This doesn't work anymore since Nancy isn't there to wait on me anymore. One thing we have tried is stocking the freezer with various brands and varieties of frozen entrees for my lunches. This, it was assumed, would make my new lunchtime routine somewhat easier than doing lunch from scratch. Many of the meals are tasty enough, but preparation is still something of a pain. Cut slits in the plastic cover. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Run back out to the kitchen when you hear the ding, take the damn thing out of the microwave, take the plastic cover all the way off, stir the still partially frozen ingredients until they are mixed up enough, put the cover back on. Microwave for an additional 2 minutes. Eat the meal. Try to throw away the container, only to find that the garbage is full. Either press the garbage down so that the container fits in the can, or just leave it on the counter.
Another thing I have tried is cooking up a big batch of something microwaveable and eating only this for 4 days in a row. This actually works just fine for me, although it would drive Nancy crazy. This week it was hoppin' john. Next week I don't know- I'll figure it out Monday when I'm off.
We're still in the process of working out a dinner routine. Myself, I'd love to work on a strick schedule- like Nancy cooks Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday; Fred cooks Monday, Wednesday, Friday; and Saturday is Eat Out Day. Menus would be on a fixed schedule too, perhaps looking like this:
MON: Mac and Cheese
TUE: Bean and Rice Burritos
WED: Mac and Cheese
THU: Chicken Burritos
FRI: Mac and Cheese
SAT: Beef Burritos
SUN: Chinese Takeout
I'm not picky.
One good routine change is that I am playing less computer games and paying more attention to music. My thought life for the past two or three years has been mostly entangled with political and religious questions, likely because of my negative experiences in my previous church. After the last election, I've found myself dwelling on these questions less. Perhaps this has something to do with the change. Perhaps a snazzy music setup right in our main living area has something to do with it. Who knows? It feels good at any rate.
Eric Peterson is doing a series on his blog about his old favorite video games. I have always favored puzzle games, and at the top of the list is a rather obscure game called Hatris. The game is actually rather mindless strategy wise, but I've always been drawn to the graphics and especially the music. Music (and graphics) on the old NES system was severely limited by the low bit depth. The Hatris music actually made use of this by making the system sound something like an out-of-tune calliope which matched the graphics well:
Monday, December 4th
new jobs, new projects
Listening:
Symphony #4- Carl Nielsen
Greatest Hits- Jim Kwesin and the Jug Band
Reading:
A Passionate Pilgrim: A Biography of Bishop James A.Pike- David M. Robertson
Eating:
Frozen Entrees- Kashi, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine
Liver Pudding
Lots of Bird
Drinking:
Various Sidecar Recipes
Black and Blue (1/2 Guinness, 1/2 Blue Moon Ale)
Coffee: Yeah Me Too Mexican Oaxana and Ethiopian Haran, Kroger Columbian Decaf
I expected last week to be the week from hell: one Clintonville choir practice and two performances, two nights at the restaurant, plus my usual 40 hrs at the P. O. Unexpectedly my son in law Michael was unable to undergo his triweekly chemo session because his blood count was too low. So he opted to play the restaurant this weekend, giving me a much needed break.
My wife has taken over the duties of transportation coodinator at CRC which ups her weekly hours from 30 to 40. This has been both rewarding and stressing. Yesterday she had to work transporting seniors to the Clintonville Choir concert. I was proud when the head of CRC recognized her from the podium, but I felt bad for her because I knew that she had a migraine. Unfortunately it only got worse as the night went on.
After some experimentation I have found a quite satisfactory sidecar recipe. I have modified the 1-1-1 formula to 2 parts lemon juice, 2 parts cointreau, and 3 parts brandy. In researching this drink on the 'net I found a description of the 1-1-1 formula as a drink that would make a statue pucker. This description is apt. I also discovered that the Margarita is essentially a tequila sidecar (lime is an acceptable subsitution for lemon in a sidecar.) I did try lime instead of lemon in my brandy sidecar, but found that I prefer lemon.
Latest musical project? Learning to play this:
It is becoming more of an undertaking than I had hoped. Perhaps I need take some lessons. Does anybody know any jug teachers? Perhaps I should look up the name of the jug prof at OSU.
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