my ukulele progress

[bbkobabe]

I saw a billboard for the Mentones which apparently was an a capella group probably doing gigs at places like the VFW or the Elks Lodge.

I would be really funny if this group was made up of 100% women!

 

[ripock]

I noticed a difference in listening patterns today. When I was growing up we mowed lawns so that we could buy the year's album when it dropped. And then we lived on that music. I am thinking of Queen's Jazz. Younger people have access to everything and, because of that, they are expert in nothing.

I was also thinking of Cosmos. And all those British people espousing freedom of speech and plain speaking. That wouldn't really work here. I live on the streets where Breaking Bad was filmed and if you are disrespectful, there's going to be knifeplay. I do carry a tactical whip which will give me a fighting chance against a knife, but against a gun I'm screwed. so I don't disrespect others because it is a gamble.

And that philosophy is solid. When I sit outside my workplace and enjoy a pipe on my break I can see the neighborhood drugdealer plying his trade. But I'm in no danger because both he and I know that snitches get stitches. I look the other way and no harm is done. I make another $100 to bring home to my girl and they get to transfer fentanyl pills. Or chards.

Speaking of my girl, I just made her some pork tenderloins. They were from the company Indiana Kitchens which brought back memories because, once, between semesters I did roofing work on a facility in Delphi or Americanus in Indiana for the company. I baked the tenderloins with a bunch of potatoes that I pilfered from my company's cook-out. I had a cup of cream that I didn't know what to do with because I don't usually have dairy. So I just added it to the mashed potatoes to make a smooth mixture. Look at me, I'm a French chef. French cookery is just executing decent food preparation and then adding a s** ton of cream or butter.

 

[Patty]

I was also thinking of Cosmos. And all those British people espousing freedom of speech and plain speaking. That wouldn't really work here. I live on the streets where Breaking Bad was filmed and if you are disrespectful, there's going to be knifeplay. I do carry a tactical whip which will give me a fighting chance against a knife, but against a gun I'm screwed. so I don't disrespect others because it is a gamble.

I live in FL, which has become the new Wild West, with gun shops and shooting ranges as ubiquitous as nail shops were when we lived in NYC.

Driving here is dangerous, fast and aggressive and stupid, and you should assume every other driver is armed. I am the driver in the family and my husband is always reminding me—no eye contact with another driver; no gestures; never display visible anger or annoyance. And drive with extreme politeness; no quick lane changes and so on. Another’s road rage could end very, very badly.

 

[kkimura]

I am amazed sometimes at what motivates people to be polite. Most do it because it's the right thing to do. Others need to be prodded.

 

[ripock]

I live in the old Wild West, so same thing here. Although I will say that I take perverse pleasure in being sedulous about speed limits, stop signs, and traffic lights...even though I know it drivers crazy.

That reminds me of my favorite theory of law enforcement. I think we should double the amount of police, make their 1st priority traffic, and double traffic fines. Because when people drive right, they live and think right.

 

[ripock]

I am amazed sometimes at what motivates people to be polite. Most do it because it's the right thing to do. Others need to be prodded.

I don't know which camp I am in. I certainly am strategically polite but I don't know if I'd be impolite if violence and weapons weren't part of the equation. I don't think I would, but who amongst us thinks they would devolve without a superego or an authority forcing our behavior.

 

[Down Up Dick]

I‘m gonna hafta renew my California driver’s license this year, but I dunno if I’m gonna do it.

Driving is crazy here, and I don’t like ta drive anyway. I usually sneak around on the side streets if I can, and the freeways are out of the question. There’s lotsa free or cheap rides where I live, and my wife still drives.

 

[ripock]

On an unrelated note, farming looks too hard. Around here fresh basil is expensive. I looked into making my own. The first step is easy enough. You just take a sprig of basil and put it in water 'til it forms roots. Then you plant that. But then you have to pinch off leaves so that the plant's resources go more fully to a lesser amount of leaves. It looks like it takes a lot of attention. Plus, I don't have the real estate to plant things. I don't even know if my environment in the desert is too hot for basil. So basil doesn't look to be in my future. Cilantro is another beast altogether because I can get a bouquet of cilantro for less than a dollar. There's no need to grow it.

 

[ripock]

I‘m gonna hafta renew my California driver’s license this year, but I dunno if I’m gonna do it.

Driving is crazy here, and I don’t like ta drive anyway. I usually sneak around on the side streets if I can, and the freeways are out of the question. There’s lotsa free or cheap rides where I live, and my wife still drives.

I drove to the Inland Empire in my wife's car and we drove over 90 the whole way because that's what the flow of traffic dictated. There's no way I could do that in my old jeep. If I were to visit you, I'd have to take route 66 across New Mexico and Arizona and when I hit Barstow, the freeway traffic would be so congested that the jeep could cope with the lessened speeds. Things are crazy.

 

[Down Up Dick]

Just too many people and cars, and I’m too old to move.

 

[bbkobabe]

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, right? Smooths out our interactions and opens doors, too.

I teach my students to be polite... and model it myself.

Once in a while a kid will ask me "Doesn't it just feel like you're acting sometimes?"

I say: "Yeah... sometimes it does. But less and less all the time as it becomes me".

BTW: The full saying up here in NorCal is "snitches/stitches/and end up in ditches".

Drugs are ruining us. I was teaching the other day about how the British tried to ruin China with Opium. Now it's China ruining us with fentanyl. Funny how history repeats itself.

 

[ripock]

Picking up life lessons in the kitchen. Sometimes, despite your care, you still get sucky avocadoes. Or you screw up an egg flip. Obviously there are things that can be done to optimize success (such as not buying a mandolin because you will eventually severely cut yourself). But you just need to take what life gives you. When you get over ripe avocadoes, you just need to compensate with other ingredients. Taking what life gives you is why I never cozied up to chess; it just doesn't seem realistic to me. I am much more of a backgammon player because it is all about the dice. The dice gives you your fate and you take one of a few paths and that may or may not turn out well depending on further rolls of the dice. That just seems more like reality to me than a hyper-logical game of chess where you control all variables.

I just caught myself up on the backlog of grading that I had in arrears. Now I'll be able to get back to music. I haven't been able to sit down and do much because of grading, taking cats to the vet, keeping up house, etc. The only ukulele news I have is that the sides of my baritone are being bent and I am to receive a sketch of my cutaway to ensure that it fits the bill and floats my boat.

 

[ripock]

I made some Cuban fried rice. At work someone's mother made congri (black rice) and pork. The pork was an uncured ham. I took home the leftover pork and rice. I shredded the pork and then I made a stirfry by adding some egg and then cooked it in the wok. It was rather bland so I added a coin-sized dollop of my favorite pepper sauce and I added some lime and avocado. For once I was actually able to fry the rice because it was cold. Usually I use fresh rice/grains and I don't have cold rice on-hand.

Since I never play in the major mode, I thought it would be interesting to interlard my Double Harmonic Δ modes with a standard blues in E. I had forgotten how freakishly simple it is to play. However I couldn't just play it straight. I started to naturally incorporate some 6 chords and a 7#5. And I did end the progression on an E minor an octave higher so that I literally ended on a high note.

For the notes I primarily used the B Oriental, A Hungarian Minor, and E Double Harmonic Δ. At least that's how I thought of them. But, for example, the D# Lokrian bb3 bb7 is embedded within the A Hungarian Minor. Nonetheless I was thinking in terms of E's, A's, and B's.

The only thing that I noticed was the melody was a little more vibrant than the progression due to all the half-steps in the modes. I did also play a bit geometrically. This scale has dense blocks of notes and you can quickly play the blocks and then move diagonally to another block. I have at times been bored by excessively rapid shredding when it is a bit unrelenting. But I can see where the quickness is just an adornment for a measure before returning to soulfulness and gravitas.

 

[bbkobabe]

The dice gives you your fate and you take one of a few paths

Very much like casting the I ching hexagrams, no? Throwing the dice speaks truths about the universe that the mind can't fathom.

Randomness gets to vote as well.

 

[Jan D]

Some days, it seems like life is just an endless series of random experiments and experiences.