In Transition

I am now living at my new home, with my new family. I feel like I've been adopted all over again. The house is so close to my work that I've been coming home for supper each night. It takes about two minutes to get here by car, so that gives my most of my hour to hang out with my loved ones.

I heard a rumor that the Super Bowl is this Sunday evening. I guess that means that I'll get some reading time this weekend. Either that, or maybe I could get out to a movie theater. I haven't been to a film since "Avatar," so I still fill the need to cleanse my palate, so to speak. It's not that "Avatar" wasn't entertaining, it was, but it's still just two plus hours of expensive computerized special effects, and I'm more of a character and plot kind of guy.

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice just before moving to the new place. Now I'm into a mystery/thriller entitled California Fire and Life, which features an insurance investigator as the hero. It's not Jane Austen, that's for sure. I'm enjoying the fun read, but I'm also ready to sink my teeth back into some philosophy.

My office is no where near completion. I only set up my computer last night, and I was unsuccessful at connecting to the internet last night, so I'm using my friend's laptop. Once I start filling my office with my book collection than it's all over. I will not be relocating any time soon.

At a Loss...

It's not so much that I'm at a loss for words. It's more a lack of time really. Isn't that always the story? My son stays here on Monday night, and his habit of late has been getting up at 5:30 am, and requesting a game of Zingo, or the "fighting game"between Cars characters. You'd be surprised how easy it is to play the "fighting game" while half-asleep. He loves the Zingo game. It's like bingo, but it matches things like a house, or a tree instead of letters and numbers.

My son had his 4th birthday party on Sunday afternoon. There was a gaggle of toddlers milling about, choosing different activities to occupy their time. I stayed for an hour, and during that time I did not witness any meltdowns, or fights. Justin was quite tired, and a little overwhelmed by all the guests, but he held up well. He even got his second wind after all the guests left, and was able to try out many of his new gadgets.

Justin's life is already filled with gadgets, and he's constantly asking to use the computer. I have to be on the lookout, because he changes things in an instant. I realized the other day that some of my icons were missing. It was let icons be bygones. He drags and drops things where they shouldn't be. And this is on my new computer no less. Things will be a little different starting next week when I move into a house with an office. There will have to be a secret knock or password for admittance into my office.

Iced Tea and Frank Zappa, with a Dose of Ornette Coleman for Good Measure

Iced tea and Frank Zappa. Two sure fire ways to wind down from the work day. I have found over the years, that listening to discordant music ( I would prefer "pleasantly discordant") when I'm suffering from an unusually high level of stress is actually very comforting. There are those that find Frank Zappa's music a little jarring, especially his instrumental pieces. Some of Zappa's influences include Edgard Varèse, and Igor Stravinsky, R&B and doo-wop groups, and jazz artists such as Eric Dolphy and Ornette Coleman. I remember lying in bed awake during the adoption process that gave us our beautiful son; listening to the music of Ornette Coleman greatly helped to ease the anticipation and stress about the unknown. It was almost as if the battling sax and horn on the album "Science Fiction" matched the irregular rhythms of my own stress level and they cancelled each other out, leaving me calm and relaxed. Something like that anyway.

I saw Ornette Coleman in performance with Pat Metheny at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. It must have been 1986, or 87. I went with a good friend of mine, who was a fan of Pat Metheny. Metheny and Coleman were performing tracks off their collaborative work, "Song X." By the end of the show the music had taken me to heights much higher than the balcony I was seated in. I had never heard of Ornette Coleman, but on that night I felt that I had seen a musical god. I had heard jazz before, but not the world of jazz in which Ornette Coleman lived. My friend's response was at the other end of the scale. He was used to the more pleasant melodies of Pat Metheny and his composing partner Lyle Mays. Sometimes you hear their music on the Weather Channel.

As far as iced tea goes: my commercial brand of choice lately has been Lipton "Pure Leaf™" iced tea with lemon. It's sweetened, of course, but not obnoxiously so like Snapple©. I prefer my iced tea unsweetened with lemon. Shaken not stirred. And if you want it right you've got to do it yourself. I remember at the end of last summer, a co-worker called to ask how one could tell when sun tea was done. Hmm. That's a good question.

I don't know if Ornette Coleman drinks iced tea, but he has lived long enough to be recognized as a musical genius, instead of a pariah, as he was early in his career. On February 11, 2007, Ornette Coleman was honored with a Grammy award for lifetime achievement. His music is still relatively unknown in his own country though. Here is an excellent piece on Ornette Coleman. It's in two parts.





Just for the heck of it...click on the Snapple© link. Go ahead. What harm can it do?

Changes

I woke up this morning with a Yes song in my head: "Changes." There are major changes afoot in my life right now. Of course, there have been major changes in my life throughout the last year (divorce, new job, new residence, new Significant Other.) My next "major change" involves moving once again. This time I will be moving into a house with my new Significant Other (owner of the Pink Robe.) It also appears that I will instantly becoming part of a new family, because my S.O. will also be bringing along two of her children. They are both nearly grown and out of the house, but in this economy it may be a few more years (decades?) before they are out on their own. The house we will be renting is also bigger than my little subterranean abode. I will have my own office! That means peace and serenity for all, at least in that little household.

Now back to Yes. I've always been a fan of the British prog rock band, but I only saw them once live, and that was the tour for "90125," which also happens to be the zip code I moved from last. This tour was minus Steve Howe, which still depresses me. Instead we had Trevor Rabin on lead guitar. In my humble opinion, Rabin wasn't qualified to carry Steve Howe's guitar case. Other than that the show was entertaining in a pop music sort of way. The "90125" album is infectious, but is closer in musicality to the band Asia -- which included Steve Howe and Carl Palmer in their lineup oddly enough -- than to the heady progressive melodies of Yes.

For the Record

Scott Brown, former Playgirl model and current tea bagger, has squeaked out a win in Massachusetts. It's slightly hard to believe that he will be the next elected senator after Edward Kennedy, but the results are in, and Coakley has conceded. Let me just state for the record that I am glad that I do not live in Massachusetts anymore. I will not even bother to call my parents to needle them about the results. It's not worth it. In a country where Rush Limbaugh,Glenn Beck, and the Queen of Stupidity herself, Sarah Palin, get more airtime than your average intelligent person, it's no longer "What's the Matter with Kansas?" but more like did 8 years of the crass criminality of the Bush administration turn us into a nation of idiots? Maybe so...maybe so.

I Have Returned

It has been over a week since I last posted, and that was a cheat; putting up a video instead of writing a full post. If I remember correctly I was counting down the days until my three day weekend on the coast. I returned from the Olympic Peninsula on Tuesday afternoon after a wonderful three days in a cabin by the sea. We even had high wind warnings and driving rain while we were there, ensconced in our cozy cabin. We kept the room quite warm with the wood stove, but my pink-robed Significant Other brought an electric blanket for good measure. She is okay with roughing it, but she has her limits.

It seems that most of my visits to Kalaloch in recent years have been rewarded with bald eagle sightings. This time was no exception. We were sitting at a vacant campsite, watching the tide roll in, when a huge eagle swooped up from the beach. He appeared to peek into our car as he soared up into the higher reaches. The flock of seagulls left behind seemed pedestrian compared to the great raptor.

We ate at the Kalaloch Lodge one night, but it was quite pricey. I'm just a measly bookstore employee. When the meals start to price out at a hundred dollars than it's time to start eating crackers and cheese in the cabin. Luckily we came prepared with a plethora of snack foods. Our bluff cabin didn't come with a kitchenette, but we still managed to heat some things on the wood stove.

Today I have a day to myself. A tweaking of the schedule brought my son back to his mom's house last night instead of this afternoon. I may post again later, but I have the entire day, which gives me plenty of opportunities to fill it with productive things, like cleaning the bathroom...or reclining on the couch and reading "Pride and Prejudice." Hmm, I wonder which I will choose?

WTF?

Is it just me, or do Christians have a persecution complex? Why are they constantly complaining about bias against them? Their leaders live lavish lifestyles tax-free. They are able to commit adultry and find forgiveness more easily than in other religions. This is straight from the theologically wise mouth of Brit Hume.

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