recording with Shawn

Sunday: Woke at 8. Quick shower. MB asked "where are you going?" and I just shushed her. Down basement for morning practices (part 1), then off to KKC, stopping at the donut shop for a muffin and some coffee.

Ran into Crazy Ed and said hello. This was the third session of the transmission of the 8000 verses. My reading was not as focused as it had been on the previous days. Stuffy in the gompa. Geshela wanted to end around 12:15, but Tsunmala pointed out he was supposed to go to 12:30. He read a little more but then stopped saying he was tired. I had managed to mess up the taping, so I took the MP3 player home to redo it. Took a walk around the block with Wnd. She had set the clocks in the wrong direction, and showed up at KKC two hours too early. Headed home, arriving a little after 1 PM.

Called Shawn, trying to move our get-together later until 3 PM. Ate leftover pizza. Laundry. Pulled some gear together. MB returned. Down basement for part 2 of morning practices. Packed the car and headed off. A lovely day out. In the 50s and clear.

Shawn and I were both 5 minutes late at the space, but we'd touched base about it before, so "five minutes late" was on time. There were some death rockers going at it next to his spot in the rehearsal facility. An unusual occurrence. We spent about an hour getting things plugged in, then took a walk out. I got a slice of pizza and some coffee. We talked to a woman at a yoga studio. Some Korean tradition incorporating many traditions. She said something about "healing the world through physical activity." She was very friendly. Shawn and I spent the next couple hours working on recording our current repertoire. Quite challenging. Eventually we got respectable (but in no-ways perfect) takes of everything. We packed it in around 6 PM. Gave Shawn a ride home, he filling me in on some recent goings on in his life.

Back home about 6:35. MB and I put together a shopping list, and headed out to the store. Guitar Circle had been canceled for the evening. After the trip, and unpacking, I made a tofu and vegetable stir-fry, using a bag of pre-cut veggies. After dipping in an egg-wash, coated the tofu with a mixture of flour, bread-crumbs and curry powder. Boiled some buckwheat noodles for a bed. Quite good. After cleaning up, MB and I worked on Intergalactic Boogie for a while. I declared myself spent, and went to do some computering and diarizing. Bed calls.

Pilobolus

Saturday: Woke later than intended, around 9. MB gave me a nudge. Don't know what happened to the alarm. Shower. Down basement for rapid morning practices. A few last minute things, and on the road by about 11. Stopped for bagels and coffee. Fuel. I was feeling a little irritable. The coffee helped. Uneventful drive to CT.

Riffing of "Shit on a shingle" on the drive:
Poop on Pumpernickel
Crap on a Cracker
Turds on Toast
Dump on a Donut
Scat on Flat-bread

Lunch with my mom, featuring one of her famous egg pies. The people installing new carpet had just left. Mom took a nap, and I gave MB a ride to the nail place. Then I took a nap as well. Awoke probably 20 minutes later feeling significantly refreshed. MB called around 4:15 for a ride back. We got some more coffee then returned to mom's. Helped her carry some items in from the back of her car. Around 5:15 we headed off.

SUNY Purchase. Ate at an Italian restaurant that is part of a hotel near the college. An enjoyable meal with two lovely ladies. Time passed quickly, and soon it was 7 PM. Over to the campus. The preliminary event was an interview with Jonathan Wolken. MB asked a question about his presenting more dance seminars.

Then, the main event: Pilobolus. A very enjoyable performance: One involving a fanciful seaside encounter with many legged creatures. "Fem Noir" with a big hat. People in bright jogging clothes bumping into each other. A hilarious slapstick number involving an intoxicated man, long rolling pins things that he tried to walk on, and a bench. And a final piece with music by Primus and Radiohead that seemed to be some statement about "youth culture"... Very athletic.

Drove back to mom's in CT. Couldn't quite articulate to mom the difference between a 'fact' and a 'theory.' Saw a downed tree blocking traffic in the other direction on the Merit.

Back at her place, packed the car. A Halloween party was in full swing in her condo complex. Uneventful drive back to Somerville. MB slept most of the way. Listened to the Intergalactic Boogies Express CD, with a sense of awe and ate moments an open heart. Arrived back about 1:30 PM. My computer's clock just set itself back an hour. Yay for more sleep!

Wnd at the Bombay Club / Flight of the 'J' Key

Friday: MB headed off to work, and I got a little more sleep. Brief web, shower, cats, basement for morning practices. Cleaned the caked on crud off my laptop. In doing so, I accidentally vacuumed off the 'J' key. So, down basement to open up the central vac canister and retrieve it. A dusty business. It's too bad there's not a market for cat fur, because, we would be able to retire, immediately. Cleaned out the vac in the process. Headed off.

Another clear and cool day. Coffee and muffin. Figured out the strange 'dual singleton construction' issue I'd had yesterday: Function statics are not a good idea on inline methods (I informed the author of this point). Some consulting with B and E about a couple of minor issues in the add-on API. Helped A work through a little bug, and then his new feature had lift-off. Some pizza for lunch, watching people try to avoid drowning on 'fear factor.' Another participant for the NST weekend withdrew. Ran into a funny problem with the way that debug versions of our libraries are handled. Only fully understood the issue near the end of the day. We will need to shift things around a little. Left work at 7:20.

Over to the "Bombay Club" for Indian food with Wnd (MB was off dancing at the Kasbah tonight). Wnd arrived a bit late. While I was waiting, I watched the "Scooter Indictment Saga" on CNN. We had a nice dinner, talking about family history, and how our days had been. Afterwards I suggested we take a walk in order to better process the food we had just taken in. Before that we needed to drop her leftovers in her car. On our way to do that, she got a call on her cell phone from a friend who was also in Harvard Square. So, after dropping the food, we headed to Finale (an upscale dessert bar). But, we didn't really feel like eating or drinking anything more, and Finale understandably has a minimum order rule, so we said hello to Wnd's friend, but then made a quick exit. I gave Wnd a tour or my workplace. She was interested in our hardware products, since she works in a similar field. I walked her back to her car, then she gave me a drive back to my car, then she followed me a sneaky way to JFK street so she could head home. Driving home on Storrow, I got stuck in construction related traffic.

Back home around midnight. MB was still out at her dance gig. I decided the best thing to do was to get ready for bed, so we could get to sleep as soon as she got in. So, that's what I did. Now its around 1:30, and the cats and I sit quietly in bed.

Last night, I was listening to a loop creation I'd made. Just as it ended, the house lost electrical power. I found a candle using the light of the laptop screen, and brushed my teeth by its light. The house was extremely quiet, and I could see looking out the windows that the whole block was without power. For some reason, cars were not moving around either. It was as if the city were suddenly in suspended animation. I realized that the furnace wouldn't work without electricity. This thought made the idea of a wood burning stove take on a new practical quality. I did a 'before bed' sitting, and just as I was ending, the power came back on. I found the sudden bright light, and various mechanical noises (the loudest of which, being the nose clearing the ink-jet printer goes through when booting up) to be far more shocking and disturbing than when it went black and was silenced.

MB just called from the road, and will be home soon.

Its a Cheshire Cat

Thursday: Woke a bit before MB. Her alarm went off. The cats were playing soccer on my forehead. Actually Leo was sleepily tucked in in the crook of my arm. It was just Gus that was being a nuisance. Imagine that. Helped MB get up, and I got up as well. I took a shower right around the time she was heading out. Brief web. Stretching. Had some breakfast. Got pulled into a small recording project. Down basement for morning practices. Sleepy. Did some vacuuming. A bright and cool morning. Packed my electric rig into the car, and was on my way.

In at work, I continued my efforts in the reconfiguration of the libraries memory sub-system. This was relatively easy, since I wrote all the code, and I've thought things through pretty thoroughly. The front desk accidently sent me an email they shouldn't have. My outgoing email was not working. Mtw doesn't understand why I don't use Apple's email program. A meeting with the hardware folks was taking place in my office for much of the day. I walked out and got a burrito for lunch. Back at the office, I didn't want to disturb the meeting, so I ate in an empty office. Good progress on my project, though there is some weirdness going on with linking, that I think has to do with the way I'm building the debug version. Talked to B and J about wave transit time and phase coherence. Left work at 8:15. Got a coffee.

Arlington: Shawn had pushed our meeting later a half hour to 8:30 (though the dinner he was hoping to attend didn't happen). A slightly sleepy rehearsal. I guessed a surprise that he was planning for me. Should be quite interesting. We ran through all of our material, and then did some work on another GC classic. Gave him a lift back to his place.

Headed home, talking to MB on the cell on the way. She went out to a ballet performance tonight with her dance instructor B. Sounded like they had a good time. Arrived back at my house a little before 11 PM. Some hanging with MB. I ate a funny conglomeration of left-overs for a late dinner. She headed off to wind her day up. Cleaning up. A few last things for me, and then to bed for me as well.

H Myers' bid for the supreme court ended today. The days are getting short. Not looking forward to daylight savings time, which begins this weekend.

half-baked muffin

Wednesday: Up later than I had hoped, but needed the sleep... Brief web, shower, cats, then down basement for morning practices. Straightened out a payment issue with the house alarm company. Programmed the thermostats. Then, off to work. Cold today, but partly cloudy as opposed to raining.

Coffee and a strangely half-baked muffin. Work on restructuring the memory subsystem of an important library. Conversation with B and D about how to implement a new mode of an old feature. MB had made another egg salad analog sandwich, which I enjoyed at my desk. Got a little coffee in the late afternoon. Headed off at 6:30.

Arrived at KKC at 6:55. Another very well attended class. I was again surprised at how quickly the time went. I spent most of it reading, and letting the Tibetan recitation wash over me. Afterwards, helped pick up, and sorted through books into Tibetan and English stacks. Took a drive out with Wnd. We found a donut shop and I got some coffee.

Back home, MB was out belly dancing. I took out the recycling. Guitar, working on IBE, and some of my pieces. Feel like my practice was off a bit this last week. Emailing. One person has withdrawn from the NST course, but another person has paid in full. MB returns home, and we hang out a little, but she soon heads to bed.

record breaking

Tuesday: Not much sleep last night. The phone rang at 7:00, and MB asked me "why is the phone ringing?" Her alarm went off around 7:30. She headed out around 8:30. I got out of bed at 9:30. A focused morning: brief web, shower, fed cats, down basement for full morning practices. Completed with time to spare. A little guitar, and breakfast. Cleaned the medicine cabinet in the downstairs bathroom.

Another cold and damp day. Windy too. Driving to work (across town), I saw one downed tree. At the office I gave B the good news of my progress of the previous day. Worked on my next move. Decided to do some more integration work, to reap the benefits of a new memory allocation system in the code base at large. Lunch at my desk. Not quite enough food, I got a couple of slices of pizza later on. An incredibly annoying 'coming of age' Reality TV program on the tube in the pizza shop. Two girls graduating from high school kept saying over and over "It's the End of the Beginning... What does that mean?" Worked through a header related bug, only to find that I had already worked through it once, in a different project, months ago. A little like climbing a mountain, and finding your own initials carved at the top. "Oh yeah." Shawn never came to collect his gear. Left work at 6:15.

Made good time driving through the wet and teaming streets, neatly circumventing a traffic jam. Picked up a woman from the Wellington T stop, who was interested in taking the yoga class. We chatted on the drive. She's a tech headhunter. A very good class tonight. Heavily attended (14 people, I think). "Record breaking." Pretty strenuous in a couple of places. I wouldn't have wanted it to be any harder. Very sleepy in the end section. Gave the woman a ride back to the T stop.

Back home, hung out a bit feeling zonked. MB returned from taking two belly dance workshops back to back. (One in Central, and the other down in Quincy). We hung out a bit. I put away the dishes from the washer as she made lunches. We worked on Intergalactic Boogie a bit. She showed me a website on tree rings. And another on the son of her major advisor, who is a mountain climber. He has the same name as his father, who fell to his death climbing a mountain in the alps. He is trying to climb the same mountain. Wonder if he'll find his initials at the top.

Pumpkins at the Lampoon

Monday: Intended to get out the door earlier than I have been, but, it turned out to be a monday like many recent mondays. Up for a bit as MB left, feeling sluggish, web, back to bed. Shower. Fed cats. A brief sitting. Tidied up in the living room. Down basement briefly. Headed out, the packaged Larrivee in the back seat.

Stopped at the FedEx drop-off, and sent it on its way. It's heading to Miami. Hope Wilma is long gone by the time it gets there.

Stopped at KKC. Hln had already filled water bowls for me (she and Hm were leaving just as I arrived), but I took the garbage cans back around anyway. Took a look in the center, then headed off.



In The Square, they were selling pumpkins at the Harvard Lampoon. Coffee and a muffin (though they tried to sell me on some very decadent looking brownies). A long day at the office. Gave B a fairly bleak report on my progress. Lunch at my desk. By the end of the day, I'd had another breakthrough in my recast IO code. I'm better than where I was before I restructured things, but still not as good as the existing code. Went out to get a coffee around 10 PM, and also got a free sandwich (eggplant, cream-cheese tomato), which became my dinner. Headed home around 11:30 PM.

Significant activity on the email account related to the NST course today. Its like suddenly everyone realized "Hey, the course is soon!" today.

Back home, a little time with MB. Her company is being moved up to Nashua NH. It's going to be a bit tough for her. Down basement. Did some work on mantra winding. I've arrived at what is a fairly efficient system. Rewound three spools. Daily practices. Soon bed.

You could say that energy is the potential to effect transformation on matter.
If matter is made of energy, then, we have the situation where something 'static' is actually created out of the potential for it become 'non-static'... This is a very strange loop. Imagine finding out that asbestos was made of fire.

8000 Verses / Packing the Larrivee

Sunday: The alarm went off at 8:30, but I didn't get out of bed until 9:15, leaving me little time. Quick shower, clothes on, bye to MB. Downstairs and very brief sitting. Off to KKC. Another wet and gray day.

Stopped at the donut shop for a muffin and coffee. Arrived at KKC at 9:55. I worked the audio set up. It seemed strangely altered today. This was day one of an oral transmission of the PoWS in 8000 verses. Very well attended, with many Tibetans and othere rarely seen at the center. I studied the text in English as Geshe Tsulga read aloud in Tibetan. The session ran long, extending until 12:25 or so. Afterwards, we put the teaching room back in order. V served a bunch of the leftover food from the wedding as a lunch. I sat and ate, and Lama Sonam, my first time meeting him. We talked a little about his commitment to recite the 8000 verses 113 times. Strolled with Wnd back to her car.

Stopped at Staples to buy some packing material. It was quite overpriced, so I left with nothing. Stopped at a storage facility, and they had larger boxes, and the prices were better. I felt self righteous indignation looking at an enormous SUV that had parked taking up two spots. The person in the passengers seat of the SUV rolled down the window and asked me if I had a lighter. I was not unhappy to tell them I did not.

Back home and some web-surfing. Did a bit of cleaning. Down basement for daily practices. Packed up the Larrivee, using lots of bubble wrap, cardboard, glue and tape. Also did a little work on a new drive system for my mantra rolling. MB was returning home just as I emerged from the basement. I ordered some Chinese food, and then drove out to pick it up. Back home, and MB and I had a little feast, talking about our days. She'd spent the whole day downstairs at the Middle East at a belly dance event. Also talked about the profession the middle daughters, in Thai culture, are expected to take on. Some warm drinks, and we snacked on the little dessert plate I'd brought home from KKC. Headed to guitar circle.

South Boston, Guitar Circle (New England) meeting. Victor, David, Martin, Mary Beth and Glenn present. We worked on Askesis, running the piece a couple of times. Victor asked if everyone had a good mental map of the piece. We did a verbal walk-through of the structure. After running it again, MB said that the only way she could approach it was by feeling she was happy playing the piece. Victor said that, as you might be enjoying driving, knowing where you were going (having a map sitting on the seat next to you), would actually help you enjoy the drive even more. Thrak. This was improved from where we were a couple of weeks ago. There was some discussion about playing ahead of, or behind, the beat. We moved on to Intergalactic Boogie Express. Victor asked me to learn the lead part. David MB and I stayed in the main room to work on the lead, while Victor and Martin went next door to work on the bass. I worked with a bit with David and MB on the main 7 note pattern. MB went off to work on it on her own while David and I worked on counting. I got a drink of water. We all moved on to working at the 'Spriglet' rhythm. This was very good work, and I felt we made significant progress. Victor came in and played the bass line along with our clapping. Martin returned as well, and we all circled up, working through the first three sections of the piece. We are all to look at our tab for next time. Another run of Askesis. Some talk about the upcoming course.

Back home, MB had some tea, while I gave her a head rub and pretended to be an AT instructor. Soon bed.

R & K's KKC Wedding

Saturday:
Woke around 8:30 as MB headed out to the Cape for a day of BD activities. Stayed in bed a bit longer. Up and brief web, shower. Sitting and abbreviated practices. Made some breakfast. My friend Wnd showed up about 11:30. I made her some toast and peanut butter and we talked about her friend S, who is having problems at work. We watched a bit of a Sci-Fi series that her friend had loaned her on DVD (the TV show that's been made into the movie "Serenity").

A little after 1, I headed off to R&K's wedding, leaving Wnd in her car talking to S on her cellphone. At KKC there were lots of people milling about. I helped Ed set up glasses and plates in the backyard, and then tried to organize the dessert table. There was a ridiculous over abundance of dessert, if such a thing can be imagined.



It was a gray, drizzly and cold day. Someone had a fire pit going. Db told me things were getting going inside. I went in and sat next to Wnd. Geshe Tsulga said a few kind words and blessed the rings, R&K exchanged vows (R vowed, among other things, to keep making K laugh until he lost his last marble, and to always root for the Red Sox.) Wendy 'solemnized' the wedding and presented the couple. A lot of katas (white silk scarves) were draped around necks, and it was a done deal.




There was a tree planting ceremony outside that I missed, and then a lot of slightly frigid socializing. V made excellent food, as always. I ate in the gompa with Wnd. She took off to go visit her friend S. I stayed around for massive quantities of dessert (actually, I was pretty restrained... restrained by the fact that I'd already eatten too much!). Got into a good discussion with Jf and Jn about how Buddhism is being absorbed, assimilated and in a way reinvented by Westerners. I ran to the store for a couple of gallons of milk for Jf (who needed to make tea), and then headed home.



I really felt like taking a nap, and probably should have. Spent quite a while surfing the web lazing around in a "too much food stupor." Down basement and daily practices. Played a bit of guitar, and some recreational recording. And that was about it. It's thundering and lightening outside. Hope MB is OK on the road... Guess the psychic radio is working. Just as I typed that, she called.

Reunification Rainbow

Friday: Up around 9:30. Email related to the sale of the guitar. The fellow that bought it lives in Florida, so I'm going to wait until Monday to send it off, thus avoiding Hurricane Wilma. Shower and so on. The cats were being especially photogenic this morning. Down basement for full morning practices. And, off to work. Stopped for gas. Clear skies today.




Coffee and muffin. After more code instrumenting and head scratching, I found at least big cause of the problems I've been having (reads were being performed in chunks that were too small). This was pretty anti-climactic, because I'm only about half way where I need to be. Left at 7:45.

Drove to Central Square and parked and walked to the All Asia Cafe. MB arrived right after I did. She scoped out the situation, and I ordered some food. (Scallion pancake, tofu yellow curry). Then "Sci-Fi Belly Dance" began. They were playing old episodes of Lost In Space on the TVs... Quite a blast from the past. Not an optimal club for watching dance. All fun though. Hot Butterfly on Butterfly Action. MB acted spooky weird while vogueing to Esquivel, and then sang a duet with a plate of sparkly lime jello! She was followed by a Vulcan Line-Dance.




I gave her a ride to where she'd parked, and then we both headed home. Today is my dear father's birthday, and so we celebrated in what is becoming a tradition: Eating large bars of Hershey's chocolate and drinking milk. Listened to an odd bit of music titled Reunification Rainbow, by the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. Introduced MB to podcasting. Soon bed.

Goodbye Larrivee

Thursday: After a night of not sleeping much, MB woke around 7:30, and put Gus out of the room... but then returned to bed. After she left for work, I had a bit of a lay-about. Then brief web, shower, cats. DS emailed from across the puddle needing new drivers. Said hello to M, who was in the backyard doing some pruning. Down basement for full morning practices, carried out at a good clip. Did a bit of cleaning. Loaded up the car with my electric rig, and headed to work.

Arrived in the parking garage at the same time as JC. He'd just come back from the mall with a couple of the new Power Macs. Another day of frustration. Tried several tweaks to my new architecture, but it continues to perform absolutely pitifully. The strange thing is, from most of the measurements I can take, it seems like its just something about the way the new code is interacting with the OS that is causing this, rather than any obvious design flaws on my part. But, it's so bad, there has to be a smoking gun... I just haven't found it yet. Headed out at 7:40.

Over to Arlington, and a session with Shawn. Very good work, though our warm feelings of comradery led to a little extra banter tonight... Enjoying each others company is an important part of a creative working relationship, so I wouldn't say our chatting was time wasted. Help is back, but we've grown. My comment was, when help is withdrawn, an effort is then required on your part. Then, when help returns, you have grown. We played Chrysanthemum through without train-wreck tonight. With this piece, a big hazard is getting excited about not completely screwing up. Dropped Shawn off back at his place.

Back home, email. Sold my lovely Larrivee guitar on ebay (the process of which had taken my attention throughout the day). After all the fees are paid I about broke even. MB called from the road, coming home from the Athenian Corner. I sat down to eat a vegetarian frozen dinner, just as she arrived. Crazy jello for tomorrows performance was urged from its mold. More email. Soon bed.

fixes, but no fix

Wednesday: Woke around 8:30, as MB headed out, but spent more time in bed. Brief web, shower, fed cats, down basement for full morning practices. Realized the clothes I intended to put away were not dry, so started them drying. Brewed coffee. A bit of guitar. Poured cereal into a bowl, then discovered the milk had turned. Walked down the street to the nearby convenience store. Thought how funny it was that the cars that were passing would have been passing anyway, and the sun that was shining on the sidewalk would have been shining anyway, even if I were not there. And the only reason I was there, was that the milk spoiled. Quite nice out. Back home, and ate breakfast. By this point, the clothes were dry, and so, put away laundry.

Headed to work. Stopped at a sporting goods store, and picked up a snorkel for my friend Wnd (who has been taking swimming lessons for a couple months now.) Also bought a couple of bean treats for MB. An alternately enjoyable and frustrating day in the office. Attempting to get to the bottom of why my new code is displaying such poor performance, I put in several internal measurements to break down where the time was going. This turned up a couple of real bugs, which I fixed. Then, looking deeper into the IO subsystem, I turned up another problem. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, even after fixing all these things, the performance was still no better. More investigation tomorrow. Ate the lunch MB had packed for me at my desk. Fun bean and corn quesadillas. B was talking about the new Power Macs that Apple just released. They effectively have 4 processors, so they should really fly. Talked to my mom. Everything went fine with the closing, thought she is a little blue, and still recuperating from the effort. She liked the CD I gave her. Headed out around 6:40.

I arrived at KKC just before things got going. MiCn arrived a little after I did (7:10) and said "Oh good, I'm not late for once!" I replied "It's just we're all late today." A good class. Running the audio, I took notes on a pad of paper, since I had forgotten my notebook. At the end, quite a number of questions were asked. E (the fellow who speaks Tibetan) asked a really good one about the basis of a sense of self. Helped empty water bowls with Dlrs. Gave Wnd the snorkel, which she seemed to like. We drove around looking for a Starbucks, but couldn't find one. Settled for some coffee and tea at a donut shop (which are incredibly bountiful in this neck of the woods).

Back home, helped MB clean up from a little party she'd had after the drumming class. She told me about an accident she almost was in this morning, where a van pulled out in front of her after she turned a corner. Took out the recycling. I ate some blueberry pie and drank the last of my coffee. Another interested party wrote me about the NST weekend. MB is working on belly dance costumery. I'm going to play a little guitar, and call it a day.

vivid

Tuesday: Woke around 8:30 as MB headed out, but slept some more. Strange vivid dreams persist. Brief web, shower, fed cats, practiced guitar for about half an hour. Down basement, for a slightly abbreviated session. Laundry. Headed out, driving across town. Still having a head cold.

Coffee and a pumpkin muffin. A slightly dispiriting day. My original new design only performed 80% as well as the existing architecture. My recast is down to 12% of the original, and nothing I've been doing has helped. Today I made a sub-system available to implement more efficient thread management, but to no avail. Kicked this stuff around until about 6:30. Spent time on hold trying to straighten out my cell phone bill. Off to KKC at about 6:45.

KKC, and yoga. Much needed. I got in a little late and snuck into the back row. A couple of new folks. Had to take little breaks to blow my nose. Throat tickle during sitting. Stayed a little late and emptied water bowls. Wendy gave me some website updates.

Back home, and made a quicky dinner of tempeh 'ribs' and noodles. Hanging with MB while I ate. Some email. Down basement for completion of daily practices. Soon bed.

need sleep and exercise

Monday: Slept in, feeling head-coldy. Eventually up and shower. Brief sitting. Ate some stuff standing around the kitchen. Fed cats. Lubricated my guitar stool. Brought back L3 memories. Two years ago on this date, the L3 team was gearing up to play at the Healing Arts center in Athens GA. Briefly down basement.

Dropped off DVDs at the store. At KKC, took the garbage cans around back. Jf told me he had already filled water bowls. Understandable, given how late it was. Some alarm, or something, had been going off in the center, and some guys were trying to fix it. Quite a nice sunny day out, but cool.

In to work. Got a coffee. They were playing Nick Cave's "Murder Ballads"... I warned them not to listen to the album late at night. Tweaking things trying to determine why the performance of my new system is so piss poor. Gave B a run down. Leftover pasta for lunch. Email with Mta, suggesting she stick with the real. Stayed until 8.

Back home, down basement for daily practices. I heard MB arrive as I got underway. When I came up, hung out a bit, then made an egg drop soup. Called Wnd, who wanted to talk about a friend of hers that has had sexual harassment issue going on at work. I supported her in supporting the friend to talk to their boss. A request to move some stuff generated unnecessary tension. Guitar for a bit. Email. Soon bed.

cleaning the Cape house

Sunday: Woke around 7:40, and brief sitting in bed. Shower downstairs. Breakfast with mom and MB (cereal, yogurt, strawberries, coffee). R stopped in and said hello. I carried the stuff we were taking out to the car. The movers arrived just after 9. Friendly guys. My mom showed them around the house. I packed the car while they carried boxes out. No room for "Rosebud" in my car, so it'll go in storage with the rest of mom's stuff. Did some "Level T" work (cleaning toilets) in the house. The mover's had everything out by 10. My mom headed off with them to R's warehouse, where it will be stored.

MB and I continued cleaning house. I vacuumed while MB dusted. In order to replace the crsiper drawers, we pulled the refrigerator out. Judging by the lint behind it, this was the first time it had been dislodged since the house was built. Gave that a quick cleaning. We were done by about 11:30. My mom called a couple times. The first time, she was sitting on a forklift. The second, she was on her way back. She arrived back home at noon.

We walked over to R's, and I helped him carry an electronic keyboard into his house. He played a bit for us (a little classical, and then some blues). He gave us a tour. (He's been doing major renovations on the place himself.) I favorably commented on the color of an upstairs bedroom, and he said it was several other colors mixed together.

Mom took MB and me out for a drive. She showed us a condo complex that she think she might buy a unit in, at some point. She needs to be looking forward to something, to lift her spirits. Speaking of which, the weather today was really nice. A cool clear autumn day, with the sense that the previous week's rain had washed everything clean. We stopped for lunch at a pizza shop, and ordered sandwiches. On the TV right in front of me, the History Channel played footage from World War II. Dropped off the DVD.

Back at the house, we took last looks around, walked around the yard, said goodbye, and were on our way. Sleepy drive back to Boston, MB napping, and me fighting doing the same. Stopped outside of Braintree for coffee. Bought MB a mailing envelop at the Staples. I threw a bag of packing peanuts at her. When the cashier asked her if she needed a bag, she said "My husband is my bag."

Back home. The house was as we left it, and the cats seemed lonely, but otherwise fine. Various unpackings. Drank my coffee and ate a donut at the kitchen table. Cleaned out the back-seat of my car. Down basement for the continuation of daily practices. This took quite a while, as I was sleepy. Back up, at 7:50, just in time to head for guitar circle.

A good session tonight, though attendance was light (David, myself, MB and Victor). We worked on Thrak clapping cycling through parts of the R&R section, while counting and marching. Eye of the Needle. Askesis (sounding a lot better). Victor gave our hands some attention. I have a long standing habit of accenting using the heft of my hand, rather than the firmness of my grip. I'm not convinced I can change this. Some discussion about the course, and how few people have applied. Other comments on practice.

Back home, I made some refried bean quesadilla sorta things, and some pasta. After we ate, I cleaned up and MB went upstairs to work on her grant proposal.

packing the Cape house

Saturday: Chatham, Cape Cod MA. I was up around 7:50. Downstairs and morning practices in the little bedroom. I heard my mom get up and make a cup of tea, but otherwise the house was quiet until 10 or so. Shower. Tiny bit of guitar. MB and my mom got up, and I scrambled some eggs.

Loaded some stuff into my mom's car. She and MB headed out. I packed and sorted through stuff in the darkroom in the basement. They returned, and we all had at it.
Old pictures of my mom as a debutante. One photo of an old beau of hers was posted with a gun over a dead lion. Many tools, some of unknown purpose. Boxes of smelly fabric, containing, among other things, curtains from my room when I was about 10. Jars of beans my mom said she had moved from house to house, never using, over the span of 30 years or more. Old silver trays, and china from my grandmother. Crochet hook. Paint brushes that had sentimental value for my mom. A musty briefcase, bought by my father. A mini-drawing board built by him as well. A whirly toy. Matchbox cars. Silver mirror and hairbrush from my grandmother. Mildewed air mattresses. A box of recipes from my grandmother. A china Buddha. A crystal horse bookend. Old lamps. Old files of students of my moms. And so on. Some we left for the family that has bought the house. ("Leave it for the Beaches" became a happy refrain.) Some we took. A lot we threw away.

My mom and I went out and bought some flowers and a couple of items for supper. I got her a copy of the McCartney CD, since I thought she'd enjoy it, and that it might stir some happy memories of listening to Beatles music, years ago. Raining quite hard today. We went to her bank and attended to some family business. She bought a bottle of wine to give to the folks that have bought the house.

Back home. Mom made some popcorn, and then had a nap. MB and I packed some stuff up in the kitchen, then hung out a bit. More work in the basement. My mom told me she was feeling aimless. I said "When you're not sure what to do, complete something." So, with relatively little effort we closed down sections of the basement, and realized we were done. MB and I got some tools out of the shed she wanted. I took the roof rack off her car.

Around 6 MB and I went out to buy a mailing envelope for her. They were sold out of the size she wanted at the CVS. I asked the woman at the counter if there was another store that might have them. She said "Well, Staples would have them, but I don't know where they are located." Which I thought was a strange answer. We picked up a video, and some Kahlua for MB, then headed back home.

I made some pasta and sauce as mom, who had already made a salad, took a whirlpool bath. MB did some tap dancing for me, and set the table. Kit came down, and pointed out that the sky had cleared, and a full moon was plainly visible in the sky.

Then, the last supper in this house was supped. We gave my mom some gentle ribbing about the 30 year old beans, and the 15 varieties of salad dressing that she has in her refrigerator, (even though, or perhaps because, she does not use salad dressing). Some nice slices of orange for dessert. We watched our movie "The upside of anger." (Quite good. Recommended family viewing.) Halfway through, I paused the film, and when we resumed it was stuck in "director's commentary" mode. Had to pop out the disc and reboot the player to fix it. Tea. Mom went off to bed. MB and I watched the last episode of The Office. MB headed off to bed. We have an early day tomorrow, but I think I'm going to take a little walk down to the water.

quite a long day

Friday: MB headed out around 7 AM. Memories of Gus batting at my face. My alarm went off at 7:30, but I didn't get out of bed for a bit. Quick shower. Fed cats. Down basement for brief sitting. Tidied up a little around the downstairs, then out the door. Raining and chilly again.

Heading to my dentist appointment. The connection from 93 to Storrow was backed up, and crawling, so I continued past it, getting off on the opposite side of downtown Boston from the office. Made my way across town, and found parking. Walked to the office, arriving 25 minutes late. Apologized for my tardiness. The receptionist said "Glenn is always 25 minutes late." I realized that was probably true. I always underestimate the effect morning traffic will have... and I always push my departure time. A routine cleaning, provided by hygienist who I've known here for quite a few years. One of my teeth has been displaying a little cold sensitivity lately, but she couldn't find anything wrong with it. Conversation with the receptionist about the different countries represented in the staff: Mexico, Bellarouse and Romania, to name three.

Down the street and got an egg-bagel sandwich, then back to my car, and on to the office. Email was down all day. Mt sat in front of the server with a glazed look plastered on his face. I achieved a lift-off, of sorts, with my recast code. The only problem is, I'm seeing worse performance than the old code at this point. Showed Dv a couple of graphics related bugs. Listened to Mk and B talk about a old hack that has stopped working. Walked out and got some pizza around 3. "Cops" on the TV. Feeling pretty sleepy, and not really up to the task of getting into the nitty gritty of figuring out why the performance was so bad. Got some coffee around 5. Left at 6:30, figuring I'll give it a fresh start on Monday.

Back home, said hello to MB, who was getting ready to dance at Argana's. Fed the cats. Put some new batteries in the downstairs thermostat, and set it to 68. Then, down basement, for the completion of daily practices. Took sort of a nap at first. Had a little break in the middle. Wrapped everything up and did some packing before MB returned around 10. Last minute things, then we locked up, packed the car, and headed off to the Cape.

Heavy rain made driving out of Boston slow going. Conversation about the right-wing drama around the Harriet Myers nomination. MB told me about the video taping that she had done in the AM for her grant proposal. In spite of the rain, made fairly good time. Arrived just after midnight. Mom greeted us, and we got settled in, for our next-to-last night in this house. Quite a long day.

coalescing sound

Thursday: Slept late. Vague memory of MB heading out. Downstairs, fed cats, brief web, shower. Sent a couple of emails. Down basement for brief practices. Lots of garbage blowing around the streets today. Tightened some screws on the hinges of the doors on the second floor. Loaded car with electric rig, and off to work.

Another gray day, with rain. Flooding in New Hampshire has been reported. Had a tea and some fruit at my desk for breakfast. Worked through a few more bugs in my re-cast code. Tracked down, and handed off a bug in some code that Dv had modified. Lunch and snacks at my desk also. Headed off around 7:40.

Met Shawn at the rehearsal space. He'd just got some Starbucks coffee. We talked about the new McCartney CD, which we've both been enjoying. Warmed up with some standard numbers, and then rolled onto Chrysanthemum. Did both make it through once, with a flub on my part. Good progress. Then through the other material. Our sound is coalescing. I've found a guitar tone that works pretty well for all the pieces. Shawn's kit continues to evolve. At this point he's got a simple 3 piece acoustic set with ride and hi-hat, but in slightly non-traditional placements. I've always been amazed at the variety of colors he pulls from a simple kit. Ran through most of the rest of our pieces. Gave him a ride back to his house. We talked about those who are aging and in ill health in our extended circle. Many transitions looming. On a positive note, Shawn has cleared his plate of other projects except for ours and one other, and it looks like we may be able to begin meeting twice a week.

Still drizzling. Back home, brought around garbage cans. MB and I arrived at almost the same time. Unloaded the car. Continued working on her soup, and made some quicky soup for din-din. After cleaning up, I helped her assemble a CD that she's going to use for a video she's shooting as part of a grant application she's working on. We watched an episode of The Office while waiting for files to copy and so on. Some coffee. Now down basement for the rest of my daily practices, and then bed. It'll be a late one tonight.

fixing the doorbell

Wednesday: Woke around 9:30, but then somehow it got to be 11. Shower, fed cats, down basement for about 3/4ths of my morning practice. Fixed the magnetic latch in the first-floor-bathroom's medicine cabinet. Also fixed the front-door bell. It turned out it just needed the contacts brushed off. A small bit of guitar. Looked at my homework for class, but could only makes heads or tails of half the questions. Headed for work.

Another gray day. Even chillier. Read that natural gas prices are going to be way up this winter. Good thing I got a new furnace. Took some small steps towards having the re-cast code running today, but didn't get as much done as I would have liked. Talked to B, E and Mt about adding an 'encapsulation' feature for add-ons. Got a call from my mom. She's feeling a little overwhelmed packing up the Cape house. She'd also talked to an investment advisor. I did some research on discount brokerages. Leaning toward Scottrade. After another round with EBay they agreed "as a one time courtesy" to refund the charges for the botched post. How big of them. Brief day, left at 6:40.

Made it to KKC just as things were getting going. Half teaching and half puja tonight. A woman sitting next to me, who had never been to the center before, wriggled around without respite. I offered her my cushion. She accepted it but said "Oh, I always move around." The teaching was fairly understandable tonight. In the ceremony, I helped distribute goodies, and collect the overage, then carried it out to the back porch. After teaching, some talk with Wendy. Took a drive around with Wnd. Stopped for gas. Talked about finances, and some of the things she'd learned at the weekend retreat she just came back from.

Back home just after 11. MB had a mysterious red spot on the sleeve of her robe. We think it came from Gus. Made some quick burrito sort of things and ate. Almost time to turn on the heat. Email. Guitar. Now to complete the days practices, and bed.

somebody loves misery

Tuesday: Up around 9:30. Dawdled. Web, then shower. Fed cats. Email. Scanned my neck curvature sheet. Down basement for morning practices. Did a little filing. Breakfast.

A gray, chilly, drizzly day. Drove out, stopping at the gas station. Hot coffee, talking about T Gilliam with the fellow behind the counter. Dropped my neck sheet in the mail. A quiet and productive day at the office. Should be able to begin testing my re-cast architecture tomorrow. A little consulting with Dv. MB called and we chatted. Worked late, heading home about 9:30.

Stopped at the grocery store, and picked up a few things. Unloaded back home. MB had made the beginnings of a soup out of some old carrots. I wanted to puree it, so into the blender it went. The top almost blew off as I started the motor, and we had a minor soup spillage to deal with. After cleaning that up, we had some bread and cheese. We're both trying to cut down on processed sugar. Took out the garbage. Some guitar, working on a bass-line to Chrysanthemum, based on Shawn's drum line. Not sure I'm happy with the result. Some email.

Annoyance of the day: my ebay listing was posted twice, due to an error in their software. And I'm being charged twice. And their tech support is saying that they won't refund my money.

But, I wrote the following to a friend today:

So, you see, in reality there is no ultimate context to decide if a complaint is valid or not valid.

There is something positive to be gained from developing the ability to see the complaint as your own creation, rather than something that exists as external, objectively true, and self existent.

Once you see that, it gives you the ability to let go of the complaint. Often, this is all that is required to be happy in a situation where before all you could feel was annoyed.

There are difficult circumstances, but the annoyance comes from within, and is never valid, justified, or even worth justifying. It's just misery.

So, I will take my own medicine.

guitars coming and going/photos

Monday: MB woke me up on her way out to the dance studio. Brief sitting. Fed the cats. I spent some more time in bed, then drove to Kurukulla to fill water bowls. No one around, but they were empty, so things went quickly. Back home and vacuumed. MB returned, and we had a brunch sort of situation with eggs and Spanikopita.

Upstairs, we looked at the photos the cat photographer had taken. Then, I pulled out a bunch of pictures I've been meaning to scrapbook at some point. MB hadn't seen College Era Glenn before. Also looked at old photos of my dad as a child, his brothers, and my grandfather and grandmother. My dad was born in 1917... so, its pretty antique stuff.

Played guitar for a good long while, mostly electric, faintly amplified. There's this odd meter pattern in "The Ides" that I find nearly impossible to tap my foot along with (44 16th notes, grouped 4 + 9 + 9, 4 + 9 + 9, accent picking.) Progress on the upside down part of Chrysanthemum.

Took measurements of a couple of necks that work well for me for the custom guitar I'm having built (a Washburn electric, and a Larrivee jumbo acoustic). Also measured the Ovation as an example of a neck that is a little too fat. Took a bunch of photos of the Larrivee and put it up for sale on ebay. It's a lovely guitar, but I need a cut-away.

MB returned from the dance lessons she was giving. I talked to her mom (it was her mom's birthday), then made a burrito sort of thing, which I ate while MB and I watched another ultra-squirm-inducing episode of The Office. Hung around a bit, then down basement for daily practices.

the kids at the office have the day off

Sunday: A lazy day. MB said goodbye as she headed off to OCBC. I slept in, eventually, showering and having some breakfast (eggs toast etc). My mom called saying she was on the way to the Cape. This is the last time she'll be at her current house there. The closing is in about a week. Lazed around, then down basement for daily practices. MB returned. The endless Latino party across the way was in full swing. The afternoon was spent hanging out, watching bits of The Office and Kids in the Hall. We ate a little Spanikopita. I organized some financial stuff, and did a bit of searching for RAD systems, and financial software. MB headed out for a lesson with Victor. I took a walk around a long block, up to Highland, across on Cedar and back on Broadway. I thought about Unicycles, and about five minutes later a guy passed me riding one. I saw some guys getting busted at a convenience store, and some very nicely dressed people looking like they had just come from church. Back home, some more web surfing, and MB returned. She listened to some Richard Feynman tapes. I practiced guitar for an hour or so, working both with acoustic and (unamplified) electric guitars.

Spontaneous Celebration gig

Saturday: Slept in. MB woke me around 10:30, having made some breakfast. Web, shower, downstairs, and enjoyed the eggs and potatoes that MB had prepared. A gentle rain falling outside. Down basement, morning practices.

Hung around the kitchen drinking coffee and reading an article in the Phoenix about the historic Glass Slipper strip club in what is left of Boston's Combat Zone. It's funny that folks like Senator Santorum paint Massachusetts as some sort of den of carnal inequity. Compared to a (Southern) city like Atlanta, Boston is quite prim. You know, this is where the Puritans put down roots, where they burned witches, and where until recently you couldn't buy a six-pack of beer on Sunday.

I've been finding watching the contortions that the Hariet Miers nomination is putting the Right through, to be most entertaining and edifying. You see, the extreme right-wing, needs the left. They draw energy from the conflict. They view themselves as conquering demons. If there is no demon to fight, what will they do? So, when Harry Reid lauded Hariet, he stole the Right's power. I don't know if this was intentional, or accidental, but either way, it's brilliant.

Practiced guitar for a bit over an hour, getting the right hand back in shape, and reviewing the Bach piece. Around 5 I printed out directions to the gig, pulled some things together, and MB and I headed out. The directions were terrible (mapquested again), and we got turned around a couple of times, but made it there (Spontaneous Celebration in JP) only about 10 minutes late.

The venue had a lot of crazy lefty hippy energy floating around. The main downstairs space had 10 or 15 large tables set up with various organizations and causes displaying their literature, bumper stickers, apparel, and so on. Billionaires for Bush was a good one. MB and I loaded our stuff up some rickety back stairs (that can not be up to code) and found ourselves on stage. Victor was tweaking knobs on the mixing-board, David and Terry were providing a sound source. MB and I got set up as well. Quite a nice little circulation with the four of us. The room was incredibly reverberant. Our guitars were feeding back, even with our 'busters' in place, and nothing coming through the on-stage monitors. Martin arrived, and we began. Well, not quite a beginning. Didn't even tune together. I guess because we all arrived late, and there was a timetable, we just had to go with it. Circulation. Eye of the Needle. I played this piece horribly tonight. My mind wasn't there. The Bach piece was a bit of a mess, but we made it through. Moving Force and Growing Circle were pretty decent, I thought. The trio version of Bicycling also came off well. At the end of Third Relation, someone was off by a half step through several chord changes. Bridge and a couple of friends played games in the big open space in front of the stage, as we played guitars. And, soon it was over.

I put out some flyers, then bought a sandwich at a concession stand. Talked to a guy from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. MB was waiting outside in the rain. Had to find a couple of people to move cars out of the way so we could get out. Had a very nice dinner with MB and Martin at a little Mexican place down the road. We talked about Martin's experiences traveling in Israel in the 1970s, and the Porcupine Tree show. By the power vested in me (zero), I retroactively dubbed Martin a Four Quarters Maintainer for that show, since, as near as I can tell, he did more to keep the peace than I did. Also talked about the uselessness of Stadium Concerts.

MB and I stopped at the video store on the way home, and made a couple selections. Curled up on the couch with some tea, and watched an episode of Kids in the Hall, an episode of The Office (second season) and the last half hour of The Big Lebowski. "Come on, man. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!"

subtractive

Friday: Up around 8:30 as MB headed out. Web, shower, fed cats and down basement. Feeling sort of sluggish and wobbly today. Paid bills. Had some breakfast, and then headed out. Realized that there were a couple of packages waiting on the front steps, one of which was my contour gauge for describing the arc of my favorite guitar necks. Played with this for a moment before heading on my way.

Another warm one today, though a bit overcast. Dropped some bills in the po box at the end of my street. At work, doing my best to keep typing. Sometimes, when there are too many details to think about, its best just to urge the hands to do something, even if you're not completely sure of the big picture. By the end of the day I'd made substantial process. If this new design works, it will be significantly simpler than the old one, and more efficient also. So, the process I'm involved in is sort of 'subtractive coding'... mostly I'm deleting stuff that is no longer needed, and then patching up the scars. Lunch at my desk. Some consultation with Dv. Talked with B and Al about the problems involved in accurately placing something in a context, when the thing you are placing actually changes the context. B's wife showed up, but he had already left. Worked late, heading home around 9:30.

At the ranch, played some guitar. Had a conversation with MB about who keeps who up late. More guitar.

love the nose that nature gave you

Thursday: Another sleep in after a late night. Brief web, and shower. Then took my buns down basement for morning practices. Put away garbage can and r-bin. Email. Printed out a furnace rebate form, and filled it in.




Off to work. Quite warm out today... summery almost. Stopped at the post office and mailed a package to my untrustworthy plumber, with delivery confirmation, and postage paid return envelope. Headed to Davis Square, and more flyering. Saw a woman light up a cigarette right next to an older woman breathing out of an oxygen tank. The old woman said "what are you crazy, this is oxygen!" The smoker scurried away. Stopped at a guitar store and the guy let me post a flyer in the window, while he continued to vent on the phone about his girlfriend. Posted a couple at a yoga studio... I think we should hit more yoga studios. Still not able to post at Cambridge Music.


Can't really see it, but along the edges of the triangle are written the words: Observation, Monitoring, Well

Coffee and a muffin. At work, began my recasting of the existing project, rather than starting from scratch. This went pretty well. It had the right feel to it. I'm able to reuse a lot of existing code. Lasagna at my desk. My mom called. K isn't doing so well. She's on her way to start boxing up the Cape house. Walked out to the pharmacy. Saw a couple of kids beating the crap out of a shopping cart full of junk, to excellent percussive effect. Saw my friend the Asian bowed instrument player. Worked late, leaving around 8:20.





Headed to an evening of belly dance at the Radisson. MB was there with her friend Db from Argana. We ordered appetizers and waited for things to get going. Another friend of MB's Gwn came over and chatted, then went back to sit by herself. I pointed out that we perhaps should invite her over, so MB did. And then finally the dance performances began. First a tango. Some hot bat on bat action. A really wonderful Greek folk-dance performer (balancing a tray of candles on her head... very good command of rhythm), A floor writher (with new nose), a crazy woman doing hyper-samba with full feather regalia, and so on. I left around 10:30, as MB was going to stay until 1, and I wanted to get some things done at home.



Back home, a little relaxing. Just as I was about to pick up the guitar, MB returned as well. She'd decided to leave earlier than planned, since she didn't feel like dancing herself. Guitar, feeling a little rusty.

I shared with the GCNE, an insight I had into the piece Third Relation. When looking up the original diary entry that this observation made, it turned out it was exactly three years ago. Quite an odd coincidence... about an odd coincidence. This time of year must be some sort of bio-rhythmic node for me. MB asked me to come to bed. I made an effort to wrap things up, but I wasn't quick enough.

non-judgmental kindness

Wednesday: Another sleep in day. Remember MB leaving, and various proddings from cats. The phone rang, and I jumped out of bed, but decided not to answer it. Web. Someone confused me with a rock-star of the same name, and wrote "I'm enjoying your new project with Iommi"... As in Tony Iommi. That wasn't something I was expecting to read in an email addressed to me. Shower. Brief sitting. Did my homework for KKC. Headed off to work.

Lovely day, quite warm for October. Coffee and a muffin. Apologized for my hostility involving bracing style. Began reimplementing things, but then thought more about a way to use the existing code. This began to seem like the best idea, and I was sold on it by the end of the day. Headed to KKC at 6:30.

A fairly comprehensible class tonight. Sitting in the middle of the room tonight, I felt surrounded by non-judgmental kindness. That's a rare thing in this life. During the going over the homework portion, Geshela gently showed us that we needed to work more diligently. Afterwards, a great conversation with Wnd, Dlrs and Shn. Nourishing, and necessary, though I hadn't realized it was what I needed.

Back home, and hanging with MB eating some bread and cheese, talking about dance. Down basement for completion of daily practices. Email. Beddy bye.

bloody snot

Tuesday: Up around 8:30ish. Web. Shower. Having not received my rebate from the energy company, I called and asked if it was being processed. Turns out they never received the paperwork, although the plumber said she sent it. Left a couple of messages on the cell of the plumber. The first was a bit more hostile than it should have been. The second more conciliatory. Maybe I can get my wife in on this and play good-cop. Ordered pills for gus. Down basement, and brief morning practices. Laundry. I tried to get some glue off a t-shirt with paint thinner, but it didn't work, and it made the whole load of laundry smell of petrochemicals. Breakfast.

Gave myself permission to listen to the radio on my drive in to work. Feeling in a sour mood. I think its dangerous to engage the world in any way, before the morning sitting. Coffee and a muffin at T's, dropping off some GC Intro cards. Looked into a couple of small things. Made a new playground for my new pre-gen project. Design work. Became pretty irritated at Dnl because he insists on using a different bracing style than everyone else in the company. I suppose this is a stupid thing to get worked up over... but it just goes right up my nose. Talked to a salesperson at the Boston Phoenix. Couldn't decide about this weeks issue. Called Victor, who encouraged me. Called the salesperson back. Missed this week, but placed an ad for the three weeks leading up to the course. Took a walk out visited the bank. Left work at 6:30.

Over to KKC and yoga. First time in a while. Large class tonight (9 people). I think Wendy kept things a little on the gentle side, since there were a couple new folks. At one point, I found there was something like a bloody snot on the floor next to my mat. I wiped it up with a sock, but its disgusting quality, and wondering where it came from, polluted much of my work. It was that kind of day. After class, emptying water bowls. Talking to Wendy and Sn about stuff going on around the center, especially a program for retirees that is happening in a few weeks.

Back home. Made a veggie burger and some instant potatoes. Ate while listening to the BBC. Hung out with MB for a bit, she showing me a belly dance video. Then, down basement to complete my practices.

what a crock

Monday: Slept in a little. It was a late night, last. Some web. Shower. A sitting, on the short side. Took out the garbage. Screwed the interior covering of the roof of my car back together. Down basement briefly. A little breakfast, and then off.

Much warmer out today that I would have thought it would be. Over to KKC. Had to empty the water bowls as well as fill them, so things took a little longer today. Saw Hm and Hln. Hln offered me lunch and brought stuff out of the fridge. I put it all back after she left.

In at work, I got a cup of coffee on my way upstairs. Didn't get much done today. After my integration last week, several files were messed up. I spent most of the day fighting with the SCC system. "What a crock," I would say. Also had to investigate some code that wasn't working right that was new to me. Eventually got everything running. Headed home around 9:30.

Back at the ranch, walked out with MB to deposit my pay. When I returned, MB was sitting on the front steps. Inside, I held up my finger and whistled.

fixing a hole where the rain gets in

Sunday: Would have optimally gotten up at 8, but didn't have the will. Up around 9. Shower, brief sitting, and then off to KKC, feeling pretty out of it.

A good class, Geshe Tsulga breaking concepts down into small enough bites that it all made sense. The text itself is very difficult. He was simplifying quite a bit. I asked a question involving a thought experiment and surreptitiously administered alcohol. After class, I had to more my car down the street. A big potluck followed. Wendy had said that last time we had too many desserts, so of course this time we barely had any. But lots of good food. Sat in the grass with Wnd. Also E and A (both of whom speak Tibetan). I left around 1:30, and gave Eml a ride to the T. He had some good comments to make about my question.

Back home, made some coffee but didn't get a chance to drink it. Vacuuming. Brief daily practices. Gio showed up, and we worked on repairing some holes in the roof of my car. Bordering on hot today, and quite sunny. We talked about my dad, and his career as a parachute repairman (one of many career's he's had). He left right around 4:30.

Packed my car up, and off to Arlington for rehearsal with Shawn. We spent the first hour on Chrysanthemum, and the second on our other material. Progress. Chrysanthemum is the hardest piece yet. I wasn't able to play it through without crashing today, though I have other times. Need to spend some time with the electric. Other pieces were doing OK, but could spend more time on all of them.

Back home right around 7:30. A quick sandwich and some coffee, then MB and I headed off to Victor's for guitar circle. This meeting had the same quality of 'help withdrawn' that a rehearsal that Shawn and I had a few weeks back. Thrak was a mess, and we spent some time clapping. Third Relation was pretty wobbly, with a bunch of clunkers. Bridge came in and we played Eye of the Needle for him. Moving Force sounded OK. Bicycling to Afghanistan as a trio with Victor and Terry was pretty smokin'. Some talk about a circulation project for next year. The meeting ended around 10:30. I said a few negative things about Porcupine Tree that I regretted. I'm sure I might like that band given different circumstances.

Back home, and some snacks with MB. Down basement for the completion of my practices for the day. Sleepy now. Soon bed.

endless socializing

Saturday: Up around 9. Christine had packed up, and was heading out, sporting a new look with her hair. I said a sleepy goodbye. Shower. A little difficult knowing how to fit things into the morning, since I wasn't' sure when Victor was arriving. Briefest of sittings. Down basement and found the GR-1. This took longer than I thought it would, since I had forgotten that I had grouped it with some other older music gear waiting to be sold. MB helped me clean it up a little. Put it in its original box and taped it up. Nice its going to a good home. Also put together the flyers. Walked over to the Post Office. A man waiting in line became very agitated because a woman hadn't filled out her forms before going to the desk. Most people seemed to just smile, because the guy was obviously a character. One of the PO workers, seemed to let it get to him. Another ridiculously nice day out. The condos that have been built one street over are on the market, a real estate agent standing waiting for potential buyers, looking a little anxious.

MB had headed out to pick up her friends A and G. A slightly longer sitting. Victor called to say he would be late. Down basement briefly. Lubricated some door hinges. Began cooking brunch. Victor came by, and we made the GR-1 hand-off. MB, A and G (who are up from South Carolina, unfortunately for a medical visit) arrived. We had a lovely brunch. Tours of the house and the yard were given. A and G are both very decent and kind people. It was a pleasure getting to know them a bit better. Had a very involved conversation with G about the new heating system. And process design in pharmaceutical manufacturing. A big friendly, slightly cross-eyed Siamese cat from the neighborhood, who told us (via his tag) his name was 'Turbo,' can sauntering into the basement. I called the owner to make sure he wasn't lost. He wasn't. After sitting in my lap a little while, he wandered back outside and lay under my car.

We gave them a ride back to their hotel around 4. Several roads around that neck of the woods were closed due to a Red Sox game. Back home, some nice hanging out time with MB. The friendly fellow Gio, who bought my father's lathe, stopped by. We had several involved conversations, about his moving back to Italy, a house project I'm going to undertake, the shifting Somerville landscape, and so on. We invited him in for tea. He's going to stop by tomorrow around 3 to help with the repair of the roof of my car.

After Gio left, I headed down basement for daily practices, as MB prepared for her belly dance performance. She left while I was still at it. At 8:30, I emerged, and drove off, heading to the same place. At the Kasbah in Winthrop, met up with A, G and another friend Ivn. MB danced for us, as we ate dinner. A small girl sitting to my left was transfixed with MB's performance. Ivn is possibly interested in learning to play guitar in the New Standard Tuning, since she used to be a cellist, and would like to play guitar, but didn't want to learn a new tuning. This is a funny inversion of the experience most players have when entering Guitar Craft: NST is a shock to the system. For her, it would be the comfort of the familiar. A most pleasant time.

Around 11 we departed. A and G, with Ivn driving, followed me back to route 1 A, where they turned left, and I turned right. Back home, coffee, guitar, email and now this. MB returned around 1:30 AM. Now it's 2:30.

cat photography and the porcupine

Friday: Up around 8, knowing I needed to be intentional with my time, or the morning wouldn't work. MB was working at home today. Christine had headed out early for yoga. Shower, brief web, breakfast, then down basement for morning practices. Emerged around 10:30. The cat photographer had arrived. We spent a couple hours playing with the cats and taking pictures. The kitties had quite a romp in nip-patch in the backyard. MB and the photographer went upstairs, and I attended to some other things, including calling a few businesses to update my debit card number. Played a bit of guitar. Emailed the print shop with a request for more flyers.

Another nice day out. In at work, gave B an outline of my new strategy. I had turned some sort of corner in my thinking since the day before. More SCC wrangling, bringing my engine project up to the latest trunk version. Walked out and picked up the flyers, and a couple slices of pizza. Explained some preference system subtleties to Dv. Fixed a few problems in my check-in of the previous day. Left around 5:40.

Hit quite a bit of traffic in my attempt to get to Berklee College of Music. Would have been better off just going straight down Mass Ave. But, lucked out on parking, and arrived about 6:15. RF had wrapped up his sound-check. Said hello to him and Victor, J Sinks and Biff. Hanging around. I had heard John and Robert talking about needing a new GR-1, and not being able to find any for sale. I offered them mine, at a reasonable price, since it had been about 6 years since I last used it. It was nice to have something to contribute. I found a spot to stand upstairs. People filtered in. A mixed crowd. MB said hello before the show began.

RF's set never quite settled in... though it had its moments. But, it seemed that whenever it was going to take off, something would break the spell. At a quiet point, a youthful voice yelled "Play something." Open hostility. I believe I could sense 'violation' in the space as well... but could just be imagination. After the set, Victor and I went backstage for a brief debrief. RF introduced us to some of the Porcupine Tree guys. A de-fisting, and goodbyes. Ran into Martin in the lobby. He'd been up in the balcony and had seen someone openly video taping the show. In some ways being a Four Quarters Maintainer is an impossible task.

MB and I stayed for about a half hour of the PT set. Wasn't quite scratching the spot for us. I would say one of the things missing for me could be said to be "interplay."

Back home, I made a concoction of pasta salad and scrambled eggs, which we ate while watching about the first half of the Big Lebowski. Then we both became suddenly tired and headed for bed.