Isolated Blurt Thread

[Handley_Page]

Congratulations! The new generations just keep on coming.

I may have to wait for another, though.

 

[legerdemer]

To friends - l'chaim!

My oldest and best friend (from high school) just visited me for a few days. She's recently moved and we'll be the closest we've been to each other in years - about 1,000 miles... It got me thinking how few actual friends I have (actually, none). I'm a mentor, a teacher, a mother, a partner and friend to my S.O. and father of my child, but my only current friends locally are from my professional life, a complicated and fraught situation. She was my friend first, then we happened to choose the same profession. It may explain some things about my recent life... transitions.

 

[Handley_Page]

It's taken more than 6 hours to warm up, from a day teaching in a rather cool hut (It takes ages to get warm in that building). And the rain was damned cold!

 

[Hypoxia]

I have no friends. But I digress. I used to like larger musical instruments -- no grand pianos, but I almost bought an ethnic string bass (handcrafted in Guatemala) and I love 12-string guitar, 'cello, lute, baritone sax, and stuff like that. But I've concentrated on smaller axes lately. Tinwhistles, ocarinas, and harmonicas. Ukuleles and mandolins. Nose flute. Not just more portable, but I can work my ThinkPad on my lap and simultaneously play an instrument whilst keyboarding. That's right, folks -- LIT is just another riff for me. [/me blows a line of THE WORK SONG on my Clare Whistle, made in Eire]

I'm travelling next weekend. I'll stop at a certain music store and buy a certain 6-string tenor ukulele (my soprano is just a bit undersized for my large fingers) with two doubled strings for more projection. I played it last time I was there but didn't have budget then. But soon, my pretty, you shall be mine, heh heh heh...

Something else I should get: harmonica inserts. Backstory: Lee Oskar is a Danish harmonica player. Long ago, he co-founded WAR. That's him playing in unison with a sax in all the breaks on LOW RIDER. He was dissatisfied with available harmonicas ('harps') and designed his own modular system. By replacing the core, called a reed plate, the key and tuning can be changed. Lee Oskar sells standard, inverted, and natural and harmonic minor tunings in many keys. I'll replace my two Lee Oskar harp cores with an inverted "Melody Maker" and a natural minor. That "Melody Maker" tuning should be interesting. All the reeds on a standard harp are reversed, so when you're used to blowing, you suck instead, and vice-versa. Blow-suck, suck-blow, oh yeah.

Don't let me get started on my double ocarina.

 

[trysail]

Google

IS evil.​

​

 

[Handley_Page]

I have no friends. But I digress. I used to like larger musical instruments -- no grand pianos, but I almost bought an ethnic string bass (handcrafted in Guatemala) and I love 12-string guitar, 'cello, lute, baritone sax, and stuff like that.
Don't let me get started on my double ocarina.

What - no Bass Sax ? ( Linky )

Google

IS evil.​

​

I thought that was a given, these days. . .

 

[oggbashan]

...

Don't let me get started on my double ocarina.

I would prefer to hear you play the Sousaphone.

Or a Steam Calliope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFgqDSBba1g&list=PL1DDECC1D4C48FB1B&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Aah9vsXPR0

 

[loquere]

Google

IS evil.​

​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOBzWF0Aws

 

[Hypoxia]

I would prefer to hear you play the Sousaphone.

Or a Steam Calliope.

Closest I had to those were a slide trombone and a Hammond church organ (with Leslie speakers), all gone now. I can rig my MiniMoog for calliope effects, maybe. And I could run my electric slide whistle through some effects pedals for a Sousa sound. But now I'm really concentrating on fingerpicked mandolin and chromatic harmonica.

I have a special mandolin challenge, trying to finger Jack Bruce's AS YOU SAID (from Cream's WHEELS OF FIRE album) but 1) I can't figure part of the harmonic structure and 2) I can't find the sheet music at a decent price. I spent HOURS yesterday trying to google that down. Best I've found is the WoF album songbook (coverless) for twenty bucks. Feh. All I need is a scan of the lead sheet, or even a MIDI transcription. Alas, the quest continues.

 

[loquere]

Yahoo

 

[Handley_Page]

Yahoo

Whooppee

 

[loquere]

Whooppee

Goldberg

 

[Handley_Page]

Goldberg

Variations on a theme in 1741.

 

[loquere]

Variations on a theme in 1741.

I would like to have my own theme music.

 

[Hypoxia]

I would like to have my own theme music.

Whistle up a storm.

Actually, I composed some new theme music today. Too bad it sounds terrible. I'll try again tomorrow but without sniffing nitrous first.

 

[TxRad]

I wondered where that storm we were supposed to have tomorrow went. Now I know.

 

[Handley_Page]

We have cold (6.5C) & grey.
Nice very nice at all.
And now - Breakfast.

 

[loquere]

"Sunday Morning!"

 

[glynndah]

I finally found the tea I like online. It's over an hour trip to buy it around here. The only problem is, it's only available in a three hundred count box.

 

[Hypoxia]

"Sunday Morning!"

That it is.

Here, it's the second day of the estate sale. Yesterday was full-price day; today it's all 50% off (and more). Maybe today the Chinese lacquer furniture, the Thomas Kinkaide paintings, the complete Encyclopedia Britannica + Great Books set, the spinet piano, the first-day postal covers, the office furniture, et fucking cetera, will all fly out the doors and there's won't be much left to donate. Maybe. All the cheap stuff disappeared yesterday. If it's cheap enough, the rest should vanish. Better to sell it at 5% of retail than have to donate it.

 

[glynndah]

That it is.

Here, it's the second day of the estate sale. Yesterday was full-price day; today it's all 50% off (and more). Maybe today the Chinese lacquer furniture, the Thomas Kinkaide paintings, the complete Encyclopedia Britannica + Great Books set, the spinet piano, the first-day postal covers, the office furniture, et fucking cetera, will all fly out the doors and there's won't be much left to donate. Maybe. All the cheap stuff disappeared yesterday. If it's cheap enough, the rest should vanish. Better to sell it at 5% of retail than have to donate it.

It's been my experience packing it up and taking it anywhere is the worst part.

 

[loquere]

That it is.

Here, it's the second day of the estate sale. Yesterday was full-price day; today it's all 50% off (and more). Maybe today the Chinese lacquer furniture, the Thomas Kinkaide paintings, the complete Encyclopedia Britannica + Great Books set, the spinet piano, the first-day postal covers, the office furniture, et fucking cetera, will all fly out the doors and there's won't be much left to donate. Maybe. All the cheap stuff disappeared yesterday. If it's cheap enough, the rest should vanish. Better to sell it at 5% of retail than have to donate it.

I like deals. What did you buy?

 

[Hypoxia]

I like deals. What did you buy?

We were selling, not buying. What did NOT sell includes most of the Kinkaides, the Selectric, the 1980 state-of-the-art photo copying station, the massive Chinese furniture, various appliances, the postal covers, some of the costlier jewelry and art and china, the sheet music, the piano, the encyclopedia, the wheelchair, and the mink coat. Some of that stuff will hit Craigslist. I think my daughter will end up with the mink and kimonos.

 

[loquere]

We were selling, not buying. What did NOT sell includes most of the Kinkaides, the Selectric, the 1980 state-of-the-art photo copying station, the massive Chinese furniture, various appliances, the postal covers, some of the costlier jewelry and art and china, the sheet music, the piano, the encyclopedia, the wheelchair, and the mink coat. Some of that stuff will hit Craigslist. I think my daughter will end up with the mink and kimonos.

I'd like my own photocopier.

 

[Handley_Page]

I'd like my own photocopier.

I'd settle for a really good Tape recorder