davidsfoley

Stress

2009-12-03T00:18:52Z

Lot of school work to do, which I think is causing a persistent tinnitus again.

[EXPLETIVE DELETED]

The worst part is that this bout is completely different than previous ones; it's so high I can't tell if it's a C# or G#. At least three years ago it was a slightly lower (but still very high-pitched) F#.

Poem

2009-12-01T21:50:48Z

I apologize if you've heard this one before.

I wrote it about ten (maybe as few as seven) years ago, but it seemed fitting to post it today.

An autumn holly on the first of December

Sunlight glimmering on its glossy leaves

as pitter-patter shadows play upon the window pane.

Now I'm off to work on various and sundry projects for grad school. The way this semester is going, I'm not sure I'm cut out for any further degrees.

Daily Snapshot

2009-11-30T02:15:55Z

Went to work at church and sang well, got to perform Mendelssohn (I'm developing the biggest composer-crush on Mendelssohn). Hung out after church with the organist and chatted a bit, then to school to work on various projects.
Finally, picked up a bottle of wine for a classmate and went to his wife's birthday party. Ate lots of foreign food, had sweet, tasty wine, was toasted and asked to toast, and more than once was serenaded by a chorus of Georgians.

Repopped music

2009-11-02T17:47:41Z

wacko1138 has kindly posted a link to my first "techno" piece on his website.

From there you can either download it or click on the file and listen to it in your web browser.

There are no popups, but it will take a little while to load; it's about 40Mb.

Pop music

2009-11-01T21:24:17Z

So, in my Electro-acoustic class, I've had to do a couple of self-directed projects: one I meant to mention here, but did not.

Instead, I'm focusing on the one I just finished. There are still a few tweaks I'd like to do, but I don't know if I'll ever get around to them.

It's me writing an electronica piece. I don't know if it's house, trance, or what, but I hope you like it.

Sinewave. It's a download from Mediafire, so I'm sorry for the popups, and I hope you don't have to register beforehand.

I'll do my best to figure out another way of posting it soon.

Electric Mayhem

2009-10-28T01:14:46Z

Tomorrow I get to play with a Theremin!

I apologize to the rest of the world, in advance.

The frivolous and the frightening.

2009-10-26T01:57:27Z

First the frightening.

The Westboro Baptist Church is visiting my current city. They are leading a protest this Wednesday in front of New Brunswick High School from 7:30 AM - 8:00 AM, and the Rutgers Hillel Center from 8:45 - 9:15 AM.

I might beg off school that day to join in the counter protest. Not sure yet. Hopefully, they'll decide it's too cold or they've attracted too much of the wrong kind of attention and will stay home.

The full schedule is found on their website, but other locations included are: the Anti-Defamation League of New Jersey in West Orange, Elizabeth High School, Hoboken City Hall, United Synagogue of
Hoboken, Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, Jewish Community Center in Paramus, United Jewish Appeal Federation of Northern New Jersey in Paramus, the New Jersey Jewish Standard in Teaneck, and Dickinson High School in Jersey City.

As a potential antidote to the distastefulness above, you can vote (or if you don't want to vote, just look at who's running) for The Cutest Dog.

The winner receives $1 Million dollars, and I'm backing Commissioner James Gordon Hastings, because 1) he's cute, and 2) I like Dr. McNinja, his owner's webcomic.

Not to let that influence you though . . . .

Gross dreams

2009-10-18T23:20:49Z

The palm of my right hand had a few tiny circles that looked like I might have been losing some small calluses. After picking at the circles, a thick white pussy substance oozed out. I kept thinking "I need to wash these holes out with a saline solution to make sure all the gunk is out," but I never got around to it. After squeezing out the first three and getting an alarming amount of gunk out, I found a fourth one that had some amazing amount tucked away inside: somewhere around a quarter cup.

Mind you, I only have about 1 - 1/2 cups of flesh in my hand, and in the dream, my hand didn't even look swollen beforehand (no pun intended).

I can figure out where a lot of the ideas came from: I had a calzone last night, thus the pus. While going to pick it up, I heard a fabulous story on the radio about a parasite that might have killed the majestic Tyrannosaurus Rex. The whole saline solution idea is from getting my wisdom teeth out earlier this year.

I still can't figure out why I keep dreaming about my hand. The first one I remember happened in first grade after watching an episode of Doctor Who. (Turns out it was The Hand of Fear.)

Tempting as it is to keep going, I'll let you folks go about your business.

Chili addendum

2009-10-18T21:22:23Z

You guys remember that chili recipe I made a couple of weeks ago?

I made it again, added a couple of star anise, and threw it in the crock pot. The last batch burned on the bottom, and I didn't want to pay attention to the latest one, so I figured the crock pot would be a good idea.

While it was a good idea, and made a decent batch of chili, it wasn't as good as the previous batch. Sure enough burning the bottom and scraping off the burned bits when you stir it is the secret to the amazing first batch I made.

Figured that out today by taking the thing and put it in the stockpot. Anything above a low flame was enough to burn it. No idea why it has such a low burning point, but there you have it.

Now onto work.

Oof

2009-10-17T17:36:17Z

This week I hit a wall of blah.

I could barely think, and due to self-imposed sleep dep, I was falling asleep all day on Thursday. Mind you, this is the same day that I drive to Pennsylvania for my church job. The rain didn't help matters any.

On the other hand, Autumn is upon New Jersey, and we have lovely fall colors. Driving to school isn't necessarily horrendous when you have a captivating backdrop for it.

I've been pretty jazzed about the two big projects I'm working on composing, one which I've had permissions for the sole author, and the latter which includes a piece written by Wendell Berry (just got permissions). This piece also includes a "poem" which I finally have all of the verses of and is in the public domain. Now the only texts I need to get are the ones I haven't finished writing yet. Be very afraid: I'm writing rhyming, metered poetry. This usually doesn't end well.

Now to see if I can get any more done on my song cycle before I get started on the day's shenanigans.

Aww yisss, it's good to know how to cook.

2009-10-08T05:41:09Z

A brilliant recipe tonight, even if I did make it myself.

East meets West Chili

    Ingredients:

1x can cooking spray

1x small onion chopped (alternately, 1/2 cup chopped frozen onions)

2-4x cloves garlic minced

3 tbsp red wine

1x 1 lb., 13 oz. can of tomatoes

1x 14.5 oz. can of tomatoes

1x 1 lb., 13 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1x 1 lb., 13 oz. can of dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1x 16 oz. bag of shelled edamame

1 cup sliced baby portabello mushrooms

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1-1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger

2 dried, whole ancho chiles, ground

2-4 dried, whole small red chiles, ground

1 tbsp whole szechuan peppers, ground

1 tbsp whole coriander seeds, ground

1-1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground allspice

1/3 tbsp ground black pepper

salt to taste

    Optional ingredients

grated sharp cheddar cheese for garnish

1 small apple, sliced

fat-free greek yogurt

    Directions:

Spray pan lightly with cooking oil, sautée onions and garlic until toasty and tender.

While this is going on, take all your peppers, and whole spices, put them in your spice grinder and give everything a whirl. You can hum if you like.

If you've already done all the other prep work, just deglaze the pan with the wine, let the alcohol burn off for a couple seconds, throw all the other ingredients in and let simmer for 30-90 minutes. The longer the better, obviously.

I made this tonight, and the cheddar made it completely badass. I mean, it was tasty before, but damn, that made it heavenly.

Try it some time.

Oh, and an interesting idea: hold the anchos by the stem, cut them up with kitchen shears directly into the spice grinder, and use the kitchen shears (or better yet, chopsticks or tongs) to put the small chiles into the spice grinder at the same time.

Magic music in my mind.

2009-09-02T02:02:30Z

I've got magic on the brain. Eating good food while listening to the beginning of Bartok's made me think of Semuta music.

I need to delve deeper into this wondrous world that I'm studying at school, but for some reason tend to leave there.

I mean, I'm trying to make a living writing music, but I'm hardly putting any notes on a page.

The second comic here galvanized me to actually do something today instead of just reading more webcomics.

And while this is more pointed at wolven, all others are welcome to listen in.

Have you read Damiano or its sequels? They talk of magic, music, and deities; all things I believe you have an interest in.

I highly recommend this bit of what I have termed "historical fantasy fiction," since it is thoroughly researched, and assumes a working system of magic during the Avignon papacy and a plague. It also runs generationally, focusing on a different main character in each of the three books, while maintaining a cast of main characters who pass through all three.

The knowledge of renaissance music is impressive too. I have not played a lute, but a guitar was some similarity. I can almost feel one under my fingers as I read the prose.

And have you heard of Aleksandr Scriabin?

Most notably, his last work (unfinished) was to end the world upon its completion and performance. Although, apparently, this would be a happy end, not a terrible one.

Anyway, a few more thoughts on the power of music later. Now I have to compose love songs.

Daily Snapshot

2009-08-27T04:06:44Z

Discovered Gun Street Girl. Wow. It reminds me of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and Kaja and Phil Foglio.

Herbie (my cat) opened a yellow watermelon.

Introduced my mother to the joys of Kate Beaton.

Had my car inspected. Subsequently had to buy a new gas cap.

Quasi-rough night at work, but it will all be over in two more nights.

theatreannie is having berry beer and peanut butter on rice cakes. "It makes a pbj in my mouth = D"

Managed to get tipsy on a free Bud Light tonight.

Audition for a new church job tomorrow afternoon. I should probably be more anxious than I am. See previous deed.

Food blogging

2009-08-26T14:09:29Z

So, two Saturdays ago, emboldened by tscheese's food blogging of her own huevos rancheros, I set out to chronicle my own culinary capers. (Sadly, no capers were involved, but the consonance was worth it.) So, armed with my trusty camera phone, I shot first and never asked questions.

ETA: I apologize for the weird picture formatting in advance. Perhaps after spending most of yesterday writing and formatting this post, I should've worked it out better. I have stuff to do today, and will probably not get around to editing the picture format. So sorry.

On this particular Saturday, I made two dishes, back to back: Mac and Cheese, and a variation on my mother's Honey Lemon Chicken.

I made the mac & cheese first and, unfortunately for you, I'm putting the pictures up as I did things, not necessarily in a logical order.

I'm making a big batch of this, so I chose long, twisty noodles. They'll knit together, and hold onto stuff better is my hypothesis. Start boiling the water for them immediately. It might be done by the time you're done with everything else.

I would've used broccoli, but we were out, and some veggies are better than none. The color of the broccoli is a nice addition, as well as the extra vitamin C and more invigorating taste. This was about 15 ounces, but I should have used all 20 in the bag, perhaps even half of another bag; you live and learn.

Frozen onions, three cloves of garlic (yes I'm aware one is enormous and the other two are kind of small; I was aiming for two cloves), chili powder and cumin: I'm putting the poor man's equivalent of taco seasoning on my meat.

Speaking of meat, here it is. Nice ground turkey. This and the ~~broccoli~~ cauliflower were Annie's idea. I was complaining that I wanted something more than simple macaroni and cheese.

There are many reasons to love my wife; ground turkey and broccoli in my mac & cheese are just two of the latest.

This mess started off as about three cups of whole baby portabellos. The santoku knife to the right helped me get them chopped quickly. Pay no attention to the box of pasta and garlic behind the knife, there's no way they're related to the next recipe.

Pour some oil (about 2 teaspoons of olive oil in this case) into your skillet and start cooking!

First toss in the onions and garlic. I use a garlic press instead of getting fancy and crushing and mincing it. Maybe this makes me a bad person, maybe not, but it's what happened, so deal with it.

Add the mushrooms and saute them down also. I've heard that you need to space them out in the pan to do this right.

Then add the meat and break it up.

Cover your mixture with cumin and chili powder. I wish I could remember how much I used. It had to be at least a tablespoon of each, probably two of the chili powder. But you'll probably change this if you're following along anyway.

Make sure you brown the meat thoroughly. Yes, it's going in an oven, but just do yourself the courtesy of having everything cooked beforehand. Salmonella is a harsh virus. Bacteria? Yes, it's a bacterium. Sorry for the confusion on my part.

And doesn't that look lovely anyway? Here's a closeup:

Now, I feel it necessary to tell you that I, especially when cooking, tend to cheat. How does one "cheat" at cooking, you may ask yourself? It's quite simple. You involve things that no one can resist.

Things like bacon.

If I'd been thinking this through, I would have cooked the bacon in the skillet first, then used the bacon grease in place of the olive oil. Instead I used it for the next recipe, but more on that in a minute. And now, a selection of bacon porn.

I'll understand if you need to take a minute.

Back? Okay. Remember that this is supposed to be macaroni and cheese. Where's the cheese?

Ah yes, there it is. Right on the counter where I pulled it out. There's two packages of two cups each of Italian four cheese blend, an industrial container of grated parmesan, and cracker barrel cheddar. The packages of shredded cheese are going to just get dumped in, but while you were lusting after bacon above, I was turning a 1 inch block

of cracker barrel cheddar into about a cup of grated cheddar. If you're reading the alt text on the photos, I'm sorry.

At some point, perhaps now, you should preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit. I don't want to bother with the metric equivalent because it's not on my oven and I'm lazy.

I combined all of the ingredients (well, one and a half cups of parmesan; I'm not going to use the whole thing. And not the binder, but more on that in just a minute) in the biggest cooking container I have, the liner of my crockpot. It is 5.5 liters in volume. just to give you an idea of the amount of stuff going into this recipe.

Then I mixed it all up with a spoon.

This is what makes your binder. If you're wondering why I keep talking about "binder," it's because that's the job of these liquid proteins: to join all the disparate things in this recipe together; it's a lot like the Force, only there's no light or dark side, just a tasty, slightly custardy side.

You pour out three cups of milk and three eggs. Yes, I'm using soy milk. So sue me. Remember here, that each egg is equivalent to a quarter cup of egg beaters. In retrospect, I maybe should have added another portion of each, bringing it to five cups of binder, instead of three and three-quarters, but again, you live and learn.

After pouring in the binder and covering everything with a last coating of half a cup of parmesan, I put this lovely dish in the oven and got started on the next recipe.

First, a word about my mother's Honey Lemon Chicken. I've watched her make this recipe many times, and tried to do it myself a couple. She doesn't have measurments for the sauce, no matter how often I try to ask her, so I tried to recreate it the way she did, by color. On the other hand, I took photos and measurements, so I can reproduce my results. Of course, I think she uses more honey in hers, so there's a trade-off I suppose. Anyway, on to the recipe.

On the left you will see both honey and lemons. Ever wonder where the original recipe got its name from? Also, there are onions and garlic. These two things will be in almost any recipe I ever make. To the right is a sweet potato that I have already started peeling. If you're curious, there's some foreshadowing in the picture of the eggs and milk. Just over there on the right-hand side is the unpeeled sweet potato.

Anyway, you want to chop up the sweet potato very finely. It makes it cook much quicker if you do so. How fine should you chop it? Perhaps not as fine as Orlando Bloom, but a little more so than Colin Firth. (No, I don't actually "get" the Colin Firth thing, I simply take it on faith from the many swooning women I've met. You're welcome Mama.)

aaaaaaaaaawsssssssssssssssssssssssssssmmmmmmmmmmmmmkkk,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Make sure when you're blogging, to keep the cats off of the keyboard.

Next, chop up about a one and a half to two cups of whole mushrooms and add to the fine sweet potato, also toss a half cup of onions and the pressed (two) cloves of garlic into your bacon grease.

Being the occasionally thrifty person that I am, I decided to reuse the water from cooking the first batch of pasta to cook the next batch. To top off what remained from boiling the twisty stuff, I simply added the water from steaming the cauliflower to the whole shebang. It worked beautifully.

Now, I've never used this type of pasta before. My mother usually uses orzo in her recipe, and a small pasta does work very well. But I always run into issues of having too much sauce left over and nothing to scoop it up with, hence I chose this lovely little "dischi" pasta. I was about to go with farfalle, but decided in favor of something slightly larger. There's a close-up on the right, so you can see what I mean when I say it'll hold onto sauce better than orzo.

About this time, the onions were well sauteed, the garlic was toasty, and I figured I'd better get the rest of the veggies and fungi in.

And so I did.

After a couple of minutes I needed to deglaze the pan, and I thought "I'll cheat again."

I added a tablespoon or two of wine to deglaze and help the sweet potato cook a little more evenly.

Had I thought this through a little more, I would have juiced my lemons earlier. Seven lemons, and here's my juicing set up: strainer on a measuring cup with a newly bought citrus reamer on the side.

Remember this: a citrus reamer is probably one of the least likely things to hurt you in a kitchen, but that doesn't mean it doesn't look like the meanest thing in the room. Or perhaps it looks like something else . . . . Oh wait, this is a family blog. Hi Mama.

Moving right along, make sure you use a spoon to get every last drop out of the pulp that's on your strainer.

Once I was done I ended up with 225 mL of lemon juice. Oh wait, I was wanting to do this in English measurements. My fault.

Here you go:

One cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

And just because I can, here's a picture of the citrusy carnage.

While looking at the carnage, I had a crazy idea: zest. You remember the grated cheddar and the cup what held it? Of course you do! So I put them to work on three lemon rinds. Note well, zesting works much better when you use a whole fruit instead of an empty husk. Again, live and learn.

Now we get to the tricky bit: how much honey goes into how much lemon juice?

I measured and tasted. One third cup of honey hit the spot. I used up all of the "golden blossom" honey and started on the blueberry honey. In the ingredients picture, the blueberry honey is the bottle displaying its obverse, "Jersey Fresh" side. The idea of blueberry-tasting honey put another crazy notion in my brain: garnishing this dish with blueberries. I figure it was better than wasting them by blending them into the sauce and discovering I'd made a terrible mistake.

All of this lovely golden-brown liquid was poured into the pan. Then I realized I needed more liquid.

Yes indeed, Swanson chicken broth. Manager's special, so you know it'll be good.

Time for the meat!

One trick I've learned for cooking frozen chicken in particular: poach it in whatever you're making. It imparts a heck of a flavor to the chicken, you don't need to worry about defrosting, and it's difficult to overcook it.

Once I put the chicken breasts in, I realized I still needed some more liquid, so I put in a cup of wine. Remember, there's no shame in cheating in the kitchen. In fact, I did it again.

I realized I hadn't put any sort of seasoning or spice in this recipe. What's a recipe without spice? Bland.

So I put about a tablespoon of this (ground allspice for those who aren't viewing pictures), and ground some black pepper in.

I know it's mean to say, but this smelled amazing right now. If you made it, you'd understand.

What's that? It's two hours later and my macaroni and cheese is done? I think I should have lunch.

I did pull this out an hour earlier to discover that the binder hadn't bound, but was still a liquid, so I had to put it back in for another hour. Silly thermostatic liquids, taking forever to heat up!

Wow that was tasty.

Back to the honey lemon chicken, I reduced the honey lemon chicken sauce by half, and added some corn starch.

Can you see the patina that's developed on the outside of the chicken? Oh, it's a delicious caramel color. It's only about a millimeter thick, but that millimeter is hella tasty.

I should have put the corn starch in earlier, and remembered how to temper things, but my schedule was getting tight. I had to go out and have movie and a dinner with a beautiful woman. Such is my lot in life.

I let everything cool down a bit, put it in the fridge, completely forgot about the dischi pasta on the stove (although I did have the forethought to put a little olive oil to keep them from getting too sticky), and went to see Julie & Julia.

In case you didn't know, there's a bit of irony here; even some of the dramatic kind. I had no clue that there was food blogging in the movie.

Quite a surprise on my part, and I was feeling a little . . . serendipitous ? . . . by the time Annie and I got out for dinner.

I did eventually remember to put the pasta with the chicken; right after I had settled down in bed.

And I finally got around to plating the chicken and eating it two days later. What do you think?

All in all, a tasty Saturday.

In case you were wondering, the movie was very good. The story was engaging, the actresses turned in wonderful performances (What in the world did they do besides heels to make Meryl Streep that tall?), I look forward to seeing Stanley Tucci in something else, and I really enjoy the concept of leading women.

I keep forgetting that Hollywood especially favors the leading man, which is a little silly. When there are so many wonderful actresses out there, why would you ever have them playing second fiddle to some schmuck?

To wrap up: next time, I will cook the bacon first (assuming there will be bacon) for the mac & cheese, use fresher lemons (more juice, and these were a few weeks old), remember that allspice and sweet potatoes are a winning combination as a matter of course, and chop my chicken up beforehand if at all possible.

Writer's Block: Memo to Myself

2009-08-10T21:03:22Z

If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self?

View 561 Answers

The biggest bit would be to tell myself to do some damn chores and not complain. Maybe "lighten up" too; I could've used that when I was a kid.

"Take piano lessons" would've been frickin' gold though . . . .

Four weeks notice.

2009-08-04T04:51:35Z

I gave mine today at work. When I start back to school in a month, I will only have two part-time jobs and full-time school. Also, evenings will be "free."

It's more than a little scary to be quitting a job in this economic climate, but I'm giving plenty of notice and will be given a "positive re-hire" status if I ever want to join the company again. It's also a very nice shiny bullet point on my resumé.

And now I am committed to finding a higher-paying church job for the fall. One of the places I still need to audition for suggested the opportunity of solos/ chamber ensembles, and I have been telling myself that I need to do more such work.

On an unrelated note, I received the permissions for four poems by E. E. Cummings; and will soon begin to write my latest song cycle. I'll be sure to share them soon; no worries.

Daily Snapshot

2009-07-18T04:18:52Z

Today I began watching Last Exile, and am enjoying it thoroughly.

I also went shopping. Two farmer's markets near my house, one which is only open on Fridays (mmm, Jersey Fresh mushrooms, blueberries, nectarines, blueberry honey, cantaloupe, and more!) the other which is open on both Tuesday and Friday (lovely watermelons and grape tomatoes are the only things I left with). At the latter, a balloon was lost, floating up into the sky like a flying version of the afore-mentioned grape tomatoes.

At the Supermarket, I discovered Morton & Bassett whole allspice. And it was a hell of a deal too; $6 for about three or four times the amount of $4.19 McCormick ground allspice. (There was ground by the same brand for a dollar cheaper, but I figured I'd try it the old-fashioned way.)

And now I am relaxing, post-work, with a juicy, delicious, Jersey Fresh® peach.

Writer's Block: Dream Vacations

2009-07-15T20:38:28Z

What vacations would you most like to take in the next five years?

Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

View 307 Answers

Just for kicks, I guess.

I'd like to be able to get to various conventions . . . Dragon*Con (friends & guests), Connecticon (guests), and What the Hell Con (friends).

European vacations would be nice too: Germany (music tourism; why yes, I am a music nut, what makes you ask?), Republic of Georgia (music tourism, as well as being able to tell them I'm from there), Italy (music tourism, food, and ITALY), France (see previous), Ireland (a place where everyone knows how to both pronounce AND spell my name, whiskey tourism), and England (Quaker tourism).

Then there's places in the states I haven't been, or wouldn't mind visiting again: Puerto Rico (Caribbean beaches without a passport), Alaska (no sweating! Annie has expressed interest), Yellowstone Park, California (San Fran, Santa Cruz and so much more), Maine (don't really know why), Texas (family, friends), Washington D.C. (family, never been), and North Carolina (separate from the convention, family, friends).

I've also kind of wanted to visit Brazil with my dad. I know he misses the places and foods he grew up with, and I hear it's a lovely country. Musical tourism also applies here.

I would like to visit Japan at some point, and I wouldn't mind taking a vacation to China, India, Tunisia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Hawaii, Egypt, or a host of other countries, but I haven't thought about a real vacation in a while either. That has a lot to do with my persistent lack of money.

Daily Snapshot

2009-07-14T18:10:30Z

Today I have worked on composition, talked to my brother about his upcomming trip (see below), made up another quote sheet for my desk, and taken many of my wife's old shoes to Goodwill. I am also currently kittylapped. And yes, I know that I lead a charming life.

Cold damn! Sorry, I got Mother's a/c fixed yesterday, and the result is glorious. I am now able to bask in the conflict between the sun and my overworked engine and condenser. Speaking of overworked engine, about two weeks ago, I hit 250,000 miles. Way to go, Mother.

Last week, I activated my new phone. I'm no stranger to Palm products, but this whole "smart phone" thing is a bit odd. I like having a camera though, no matter how strange and small the resulting photos are. Later this week, I'll probably share some more of them. Really, the only issue I'm currently having is that my typing is a bit messy. And I kind of miss Graffiti.

Next week I have my brother coming to visit. My smart, younger, cuter-than-me, and much different sibling will be in town for six days. Whatever should I do with him, aside from the usual constant torment? I'm still operating under the assumption that he doesn't drink, so the bars are out.

Anyway, having whiled away the past hour, I suppose I should get back to being a professional composer and all that.

Daily Snapshot

2009-07-09T04:12:29Z

Today has done its best to piss me off.

Got up early to take the car into the shop: I was informed that my car is too old to have its a/c recharged by the auto shop in my back yard. They didn't even look it over to double-check: they simply have a policy not to work on any cars older than 1995 models.

Now, I have a check-up scheduled for Friday.

The maintenance staff finally showed up to fix the leak in the bathroom ceiling. And though this is wonderful, I felt obligated to stay; I've always been a little weirded out by having people in my house when I'm not there, and there's no one else there I trust. It probably has something to do with all the break-ins we had when I was younger.

So with my self-imposed obligation to stick around, I got very little composing done. Especially since I spent at least half an hour searching for wonderful, magnificent, heart-wrenching, and slightly impossible movies.

Once the gentlemen finished up their job in the bathroom, I had to go in and clean up what mess was left. Having looked at what was involved beforehand, I'm quite happy that I had to do as little as I did. Now both our kitchen and bathroom floors are mopped!

I now have a not-quite brand-new red Palm Centro. I even got my phone service transferred over.

And work was . . . well, trying is a good word. Driving home coworkers who I can commiserate about work with is fabulous: I cannot put a price on the amount of good they're doing for my marriage.

Lastly, I need to get to bed; I have an audition tomorrow for a new church job in Newtown, PA.

This post was brought to you by the "colon" family of punctuation.

Quaker Musings

2009-07-07T06:03:00Z

While on my latest research into Quakerism, I found a link to an online Nontheist Quaker Community.

This includes people who have the view that "God's" existence doesn't matter to their religious beliefs, as well as atheists who consider themselves Quakers. Or you could look to their own definition of what "nontheism" means.

Having first heard about this something less than a year ago, it's interesting to run across it again.

The night in gem tones

2009-07-04T02:34:38Z

The lapis heavens
hung with one large pearl, turn to
diamond-studded jet.

Dream Post

2009-07-01T12:47:45Z

I really don't remember my dreams usually. This is an odd spate for me.

Anyway, dreamed that I was visiting my folks, and when I arrived at their place, my mom and brother were watching an animated feature film of Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. It was in the proper style, just very sleek and professional. Seems that it had gone straight to DVD but was doing quite well, sales-wise.

The sad part was waking up and realizing that it wasn't real.

Dream Post

2009-06-30T21:52:05Z

I dreamt Firefly fanfic . . . or at least the beginning of one.

Mal and Zoe are on a planet looking through a town at night. There are no people there. A few outdoor electric lights are on. Several strange, mutated woodchucks are in pens around. There are ones with six long, jointed legs, one with a feathered crest; they seem to have been genetically crossed with various other animals, most of them livestock related.

As the couple pass one outbuilding, all the lights in town go out. It is very dark. They stumble up to Main Street, and see a well-dressed man on the opposing elevated sidewalk. A car roars down the street, with someone inside shooting at them.

Cut to the next day. Several people are found, still alive but strangely malformed. If you were to take a Muppet and bend it backwards around its jaw? That's what happened to these people: their upper lips were nailed to a wall, while the rest of their body was still upright and they could (somehow) talk.

Mal and Zoe found at least three of these people, and during the exposition, I woke up.

The only reason I didn't wake up and freak out about the tortured people was that they were so patently false-looking it didn't register. I only started getting grossed out when I woke up.

Meme

2009-06-26T03:50:12Z

List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it.

1) My Name is Asher Lev* by Chaim Potok
2) The Christian Bible
3) Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
4) The Hobbit* by J.R.R. Tolkein
5) The Chronicles of Narnia* by C.S. Lewis
6) Damiano's Lute* by R.A. MacAvoy
7) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
8) 2001* by Arthur C. Clarke
9) I, Robot* by Isaac Asimov
10) The Colour of Magic* by Terry Pratchett
11) Sandman* by Neil Gaiman
12) Redwall* by Brian Jacques
13) Musical Composition by Reginald Smith Brindle
14) Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman
15) Coyote* by Allen Steele

* This is either the first book or the series name.

Looking over this, I realize that I need to read more, and better quality books. A lot of these are things I read when I was much younger.