Day off with naps and rain

Oh yay for rain. I had such a ominous feeling about this drought. Mmm- it smells like thirsty drinking out there.

5pm and I'm ready to start my day.
Was wiped right out from this week. By the time I got home last night I swear every time I blinked I slipped momentarily into a dream. Slept for 10 hours until I was woken up by one of 'the artists', so got up and had breakfast, then slept for 2 more hours, talked on the phone for a while and dealt with more work stuff, had lunch, slept for another hour. And now I'm awake. Finally feeling like I can keep my eyes open. Jeesh! Lots of thoughts jumping around now. I'll have to divide them up into chapters.

ch.1)
Aren't these pictures amazing? This first one gives me a twang of aerial-gliding envy ... i want to go in a plane to look at stuff from way up high!! Not just to jet through clouds to some place far. How will I make that happen?
Second one amazes me because I think about the total dedication and patience the photographer must have. How much time does he spend just waiting, in some high wilderness spot, for an animal to emerge? For two giant birds to fly out and make mirrored Vs with their wings? Wow, I love people who capture this stuff. Photos are nothing to experiences, but they heighten my sense of possibilities.

ch.2)
Those feathers look like long piano keys. I wonder if I built a keyboard instrument with irregularly sized keys that fanned outwards, what it would mean for the instrument hammers and strings? What would it sound like? Part of the great thing about my job is being around lots of old zany instruments. I've decided that I'm going to learn how to tune keyboards. Starting with harpsichords. It's such a pain in the ass to always be looking for a tuner... it would be great if I could do it when we're in a pinch. And then... if I knew the basics of tuning pianos, I could start messing around with pitch and temperament. Someone once teased me for not knowing how pianos work. It was duly noted! It's kinda just magic, how you press down those smooth keys with your fingertips and a whole series of vibrating reactions under that black hood make sounds. Sounds that can tweak me right out or put me to sleep. Nowadays, almost all music is performed at A=440 (440Hz or soundwave cycles per second). It's a pretty arbitrary labeling... I should look up the origin. Anyhow, in the late Baroque, musicians preferred A=415, a semitone lower. In the early Baroque, pieces were often performed at A=465. But more interesting than just pitch variations are the different temperaments used. A piano is set to equal temperament, which means that from one octave to the next octave (say A=440 to A=880), the difference of hertz is divided into exactly 12 units, making the 12 semitones all equal. So because every semitone on a piano is equal, that means you can play in any key- say, transpose a piece from D major to Ab major- without having to re-tune. The only downfall of this is that it compromises the tuning of individual intervals. If you were only going to play in one key, then you could tune the octave so that the 5th of the octave would be high, which creates a much more pure sound, and one that would have more overtones and more, er, emotional impact. Major 3rds would be low, minor thirds would be high, etc. A capella choirs have the luxury of being able to tune that way, and so do non-chordal instruments like violins. Anyhow... back in the day, they hadn't thought of the equal-temperament idea (until Bach), so they would tune organs and other keyboards to favour certain intervals over others, for effect. There were even composers that would tune intervals deliberately over-sharp or over-flat for a horrifying, dramatic effect. Sometimes there would be a very long pause between movements while the organist re-tuned his instrument to play in the next key. Crazy eh? Well, I'd like to try that with the piano. Don't know how much tightening or slackening piano strings can take, but it would be really interesting to write with an unequal temperament. Someone with a house full of harpsichords has offered to show me how to tune, and then let me work away at all his instruments. I'm excited!
I wish they taught useful things like that in music school. But I guess it would be kinda musically... anarchistic if they taught us how to ditch equal temperament.

ch.3)
I'm gonna look like Veruca Salt by this evening. Just a human blueberry. My favourite food on this earth has always been blueberries. So perfect cause they always start to get really good around my birthday. I've had plenty this summer, but they've been disappointing. I mean, yummy enough, but... I started to think maybe I was getting over them. I didn't get that little quiver down my spine of "oh delicious!!!"-ness. But today turned it around. Finally had a batch that took me back to bluet-ecstacy. If I had a sports team we would be called "The Blueberries." If I was a super-hero I would be the "Blue-Bearer" and if I had a pirate ship we would fly the Blueberry flag. I'm especially pleased about this today because I've been feeling rather indifferent about food. Now that I've gone through my list of forbidden-foods and had them enough times to get bored, food is not much of a thrill ever. Guess it's not supposed to be. Had bread with cheese and tomatoes every night for dinner the last... 2 weeks almost? Too busy, and not interested. Feels good to be really stoked about my old blue friends again.

ch.4)
Wearing a new mail-order swimsuit around the house to remind myself that it's still summer. Actually, because I tried it on and it was comfortable and I was feeling lazy. Whoa, is mail order ever fun! No stores, zero shopping time. Course if it doesn't fit you're screwed. But I ordered 2 suits to try, because I'd like to become a better swimmer and making myself go to a pool when days get colder and darker would be good for my depression. I don't want to be on drugs forever.
But also because it helps me keep my 'winter-away' in my conscious mind. Was talking to a 70-something woman who just got back from Peru. Holy cow- Peru! Do I ever want to go to Peru! Just made me start to think more about where I could go. On one hand, Maui would be restful, peaceful, stress-free in terms of every-day needs. On the other, I'd so love to experience different kinds of hot climates, and especially different cultures. Venezuela and Panama come to mind first. Not so much Cuba, and Brazil and Argentina can come later. I know it would be way cheaper to live there, but also would come with tons of challenges, like language and internet and who knows what. I'd have to be able to work from there, cause I don't want to feel useless or destitute. But I would love a break from N. American culture. Would love to go study percussion. Oh God, scratch that, did I say 'study'? I meant play - learn from some folks who live for it and don't try to squish it into academic slots. Bust out on the pandeiro!

ch.5)
About the energetic-thing... I'll just finish my thoughts on that quickly. It's a cultural loathing and shame of fatness. It's hard to see women all over the 'classy neighborhoods' of town that are bone-ass skinny and all glossed up. And women who are quite clearly (at least to me) anorexic. But it's not just what I see, it's the vibrating energy of self-consciousness and body-scrutiny. You can just feel it in the air. We're all so worried about it. You'd think we were worried about bombs being dropped or an imminent invasion. But we're worried that we're not acceptable as women. Last night I came late to a dinner party of the Faculty I'm working with. A bunch of late 50s, brilliant and kind-hearted folk who all are self-assured, eccentric, content, and generous of spirit. Now that's a different energetic. I was wrapped up in cozy blankets of warm vibes all night. So how can we change the self-defeating vibes that are messing with good people?! We need a super hero. "Goodvibes Man". And he should be able to crumble exercise machines with his ray guns and magically transfer people into other bodies for 24 hours so they can appreciate their own bodies when they go back to them. And zap fear out of people for long enough for them to eat a proper sandwich and wear comfy shoes to work.

ch.6)
Consider this the denouement and also conclusion. I was planning to do another "Friday night challenge" (tho it's saturday) because it's been a long time since the last one. But can I really do it? I'd have to take the ferry back into town in 3 hours. Ugh. Maybe I'll feel more like it after another nap.

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