I am still waiting for him to decide to run for a third term. And find myself reminiscing about 10 years ago when I thought, "The guy from the apprentice? Surely they won't nominate HIM. 'YOU'RE FIRED'? That will never happen."
Joke of the day:
What do you call a mouse that swears?
- A cursor
Most of the time I feel like the future is stupid. Every time I have to download a new “convenient” app full of broken code that barely functions. Every time I have to pump my own gas, then “see cashier for receipt.” Every time I fill a cart with groceries, then empty the cart to scan those groceries, then load them back into the cart, then empty the cart into the van, then load them from the van into the house. I’m sure the store would make us stock the shelves too if they could figure out how to market it as a convenience. Even more disappointing is the number of my peers who don’t seem to realize the dystopian hellscape in which we find ourselves; giving our worst jobs to actual humans and working them into exhaustion, all while investing absurd amounts of profits into training artificial intelligence to make art. Humans and machines are optimized for very different tasks and it seems like somewhere along the way the powers that be got it all mixed up.
Still, I have to have hope that we can do better in the future. Faith that there is a bigger cosmic plan in play. And trust that the majority of people are doing the best they can with what they have; that not everyone is an unconscionable shitbag.
So, as the world feels like it’s going down in a blaze of glory, be sure to love the ones who are close to you, let them love you back, and give everyone a lot of grace - including yourself.
I got a dad joke page-a-day calendar for Christmas. Today’s joke is:
What is corn’s favorite holiday?
- New Ear’s Day!
… Now I’m left to wonder how many of these jokes were written by AI
::
2021 29 April :: 11.03pm
:: Music: Tauk - Sir Nebula
Jet Lag
I used to have arguments with my uncle about language. I insisted that there were grammatical structures and rules in place in order to keep the meaning of language consistent. If we are to communicate and exchange ideas, it is critical to have the same words and sounds mean the same thing to both parties, in order to successfully transmit all information in the idea accurately. I thought that the rules helped to keep those meanings from shifting.
His primary contention was that language was alive, constantly evolving and changing in meaning. Different languages cherry pick words and phrases from other languages, sometimes at random, sometimes by conquest. New words are constantly being born, while old words slowly die off and are forgotten. I think he viewed slang as some kind of nursery for future linquistic possibilities.
I have to admit, he may be right.
After all, they condensed an extremely specific phenomenon - in which one traverses the surface of the planet at such an incredible rate, that their biological rhythms have difficulty adapting to the dramatic change in diurnal cycle - into just two syllables.
::
2021 1 April :: 10.30pm
:: Music: The Great Outdoors (1988)
life goes on, man.
finished a painting gig today. gonna try to hold off on any more work until after the trip to phoenix. aside from the laundry list of chores amassed for me by past chris. occasionally he surprises me, but usually he just kicks the cans down the road for future chris to deal with. hopefully some dedicated time will help future chris in his efforts.
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the spirit of god is alive wherever people are helping others, and growing in understanding. in places where people are wrongly harming others, the spirit is dead. even if that place is a church. or a school. or a home.
this may sound like a bummer, but it is actually very encouraging to witness the spirit thriving in many diverse and unlikely places. don't let the trimmings fool you. look at the people. see who's helping. join them. doesn't really matter where.
In which I am joined by Eliot. He wants to start a 90s cover band, but neither of us sing. The set list is epic ... if we can ever learn all the songs. Or find a vocalist.
I happened across an old recording of this drum pattern I'd written for basement audio lab. It was a crappy demo version consisting of me tapping on my legs and kicking the mic stand. It was virtually unlistenable, with a horrendous click track going in the background. I was surprised to find the pattern came much more naturally to me this time around, and the click was not necessary. I just wanted to make a better recording of the part for future reference. I don't know what prog rock band I'm going to join someday that will have a need for a part in 7/8 time, but you never know. When the time comes, I guess I'll have this to contribute.
Doing fills in 7 is hard. It's not a natural thing to feel when you were raised on groups of 2 and 4. Most people understand 3, I guess. Waltzes and such. Sometimes you'll hear radio stuff in 6 (which is really just 2 groups of 3, or 3 groups of 2, depending). 5 and 7 are a lot trickier, since you're mashing a 2 and a 3, or a 4 and a 3, or 2 twos and a 3 together at once. Makes it harder to find the downbeat. Actually, what I really like to do is carry it over 2 measures, then the "down" beat becomes the "up" beat for the second measure, before it turns back around again.
I went to the KCCC meeting tonight
They were having elections. I am now officially Trustee #3 on the Board of Directors. Which is mostly an honorary title, but it was nice of them to include me.
I decided to celebrate at a place down the road ... with a poke bowl:
After much deliberation, names were left un-bleeped. If we talk about you and you want your name bleeped, please forward your bleeping requests to: complaints@spud.com
