I have my own pointy stick and I ain’t afraid to use it Special1.
I decided to get productive. Since it was overcast but not rainy yet, I decided I’d go cut some grass. I did ACBG’s (he doesn’t pay me to do his…well… he does but in his own way) and two friends who do gimme cash for doin’ theirs. So, I’m a tahred bear. Glad I did it though cause it’s starting to rain just a bit here and should get really rainy in a while.
The roast is smellin’ good! I’ve got the gravy goin’ now so it’ll be nummy. I made the executive decision to add smashed NOT for supper tonight, cause, hey, gravy, so we need 'em!
Rebo what cocktail did [del]the bulimic drunk[/del] Sandra Lee say goes well with that?
Wow everyone’s chatty! I’m just getting caught up.
I’m not touching the **swampy **& **Special1 **issue with a ten foot pole!
Hope everyone who’s not feeling well feels better!
I’m back to the debate on whether to go to my 10 year high school reunion or not. See, the school reunion was a couple weeks ago, and I didn’t go to that. But my class apparently got organized (which is shocking) and decided to have their own reunion in July. So now I have to go through the whole debate on whether to go. I would like to see everyone and just see what they’re all up to. But… because #@%$&* Northwest owns this town, I can’t get a flight home for under $500. Ugh. And we’re already going home in August and to NJ in August. But… it would be interesting to see everyone. Maybe. Gah. I don’t know! If I did go, I could see everyone in the Capital Region (i.e. my post-high school friends), maybe including meeks, and probably see my family. So that’d be cool. But it’s still a lot of money.
Thanks for the welcome back dogbutler. I’m always here, I just can never think of what to say. And now I have all of **mika’s ** wedding posts to read so I won’t be able to post at all for a while.
OK dopers I need your help!
The UTI seems to be gone but I sneezed and created a situation which I can’t be arsed explaining again so I’ll just <a href="Error"link to it. </a> (um…the title contains ‘language’ but there’s none in the text). And if you don’t wanna read then let me sum up by saying that I cannot leave my computer for all eternity.
So could some dopers please stop by and amuse me? And possibly get me a drink?
Okay, okay, I skimmed. It’s been so busy at work that I’ve been able to do little more than read bits and pieces in between salvos of phone calls. Hey, it’s almost noon and I started reading the MMP at 10:30.
Anyway…
Mika - Very nice OP. It’s interesting reading about the various Indian gods, too. It’s a very different thing to see an elephant-headed God and think “Well, that’s odd,” and then learn the story behind it. It’s quite interesting.
MamaTigs - Thanks. In the interest of providing a point of reference, the original version of the song which that is a remix to can be heard here (link on right, under “Hear the Original Track”). I actually rather like the original, once I get past the angsty goth lyrics.
My older AP profile does contain some of my older tracks here. This profile has a sampling of stuff I’ve done since 1994, starting with old 4-track monaural stuff to more modern stuff. I should warn you ahead of time: I sing in a few of the tracks. And by “sing” I mean “OH, THAT POOR HARP SEAL.” I’m a better musician than I am a vocalist. Which is a bit like saying DaVinci was a better painter than he was a playwright.
Heffaroo - Heh! Yeah, I guess music composition can sometimes be a language all on its own, can’t it? I do know what he was talking about in his review. I don’ t know how well I can describe it, but I’ll try:
The pass filter he mentions is a pretty simple audio mechanism. A hi-pass filer, for example, is like an audio gate. It stands there before the audio stream like Gandalf before the Balrog and tells all the low and mid-range frequencies, “YOU … SHALL NOT … PASS!” As a result, only the high frequencies pass through and the rest gets tossed out. There is also a low-pass filter (only frequencies below x pass), band-pass filter (only frequencies between x and y pass) and a notch filter (only frequencies outside of x and y pass). If it helps, it’s like playing with the equalizer on a stereo; same basic idea. Within the context of a song (at least, in electronica, such as what I write) you usually apply a filter to just one sound, or often a group of sounds, so you can tweak and twiddle and play with the dynamics of that one instrument (or group thereof) throughout the song, instead of just being stuck with playing the note as-is. Ever see a trumpet player play his trumpet with a hat over the bell end? And he covers and uncovers the bell with the hat on certain notes to give it that “Wah wah” sound? That hat is essentially acting as a low pass filter for the sound coming out of the bell, and moving the hat modulates the frequencies it attenuates; the more the bell is covered by the hat, the more high frequencies it shuts out.
The MultiBand Comp(ressor): In a basic sense, the function of a mastering compressor is to bring the overall volume of a song to a kind of equilibrium. It helps to make sure that the quiet bits aren’t too quiet, and the loud bits aren’t too loud. It’s a lot more involved than that, and you can tweak it to a pretty wide degree with specific frequencies, compression ratios, etc. but in the end, it just makes sure that th quality of sound is more evenly distributed across volume levels. You can also apply a compressor to individual instruments, or to vocals, say, if you want them to be featured more prominently throughout the song so that the other instruments don’t drown it out. A good example of how this works is in my afore-linked mix: During the chorus, when the bright synth arp (see below) is doing its business you’ll notice that lower frequences (like the kick drum and bass notes) are much less prominent so as to bring the vocals (which have their own compressor) to the fore without drowning them out. When the chorus ends and the kick drum and bass arp are the only things playing, you can hear them much more clearly because the compressor is now bringing those out to the fore.
Arpeggiator presets: An arpeggiator is a synthesizer function that basically plays a repeated sequence of complimentary notes automatically when one key is pressed. Such a sequence of notes is called an arpeggio, or “arp” for short. The number of notes that are in the sequence, the order they appear, and the notes that are played, can all be stored in presets for later use. Arpeggiator functions usually come with a number of pre-programmed presets that you can use “off the shelf.” What he was referring to in his review was the fact that I used some off-the-shelf presets instead of making my own arpeggios. Unfortunately he’s right; both basslines in my mix are off-the-shelf arp presets that come with the Sytrus softsynth plugin for FL Studio. I would have made my own sequences, but I was pressed for time, having entered the contest late (barely two weeks to go when I started working on the mix) so I resorted to saving some time by using some pre-programmed arpeggios. It’s a bit lame to do that, but I didn’t really have the time to devote to making my own. Next mix, I’ll correct that.
Much as I would luuuuuuuuurve to see you I can’t really get excited over the idea of a high school reunion. Bo-ring. Part of it is because I skipped a year and thus hardly knew anyone in my graduating class, part of it is because high school sucked, for me at least.
zelie, I read your LJ. I’m sure other people will bring you essentials. I just made some aloo chole (spicy potatoes & chick peas) and am faxing them over to you. Along with a cup of coffee.
SCL, I have never even mentioned my RLS to my doctor, reason being, I kind of figured I just had to suck it up. The medication you take, is it something you have to take regularly or can you just take it when it acts up?
Lastly, I have a mystery. I got a mystery postcard from California. But as far as I know I don’t know anyone in Cali! It’s an American Masterworks card, purchased from the museum of San Francisco.
There is a handwritten message on there that is a quote from an author:
“The trouble is not really in being alone, it’s being lonely. One can be lonely in the midst of a crowd…”
-Christine Feehan
Sure sounds like someone is asking for help! But no other words or comments. The picture as far as I can tell is a hunting exhbiti - a hunting hat, guns, a dead rabbit, some dead ducks.
My full address is on there, and the handwriting looks faintly familiar but I can’t figure out who it is. And the handwriting for the address looks different from the handwriting for the quote. Not to be sexist, but the address looks as though it were written by a girl and the quote by a guy.
I have no idea who sent this. Was it any of y’all? Who could be so lonely as to only send me a postcard?
The August trip is to have a party/bbq/not-quite-reception for extended family and friends who weren’t at our wedding since it was so small. So yeah, it’s special and I can’t get out of that one! I don’t think my parents would be too happy if we skipped our own party/bbq/not-quite-reception thingy. (We don’t want to call it a reception 'cause we don’t want it to sound like a money/present grab!)
Home early waiting for the cable guy to upgrade us to digital. My appointment is “between 1 and 5” and he probably won’t show up till 4:30 but I couldn’t be sure of that, so I’m here.
It’s hot and muggy and the AC is running. Might get cooler tomorrow, so that’ll be nice.
What else…? My boss is back from his deployment, and we had a brief conversation this morning about what I’m to do. He needs me to assist on one project, and it sounds pretty interesting. I’m assigned to prepare for an exercise, which would be OK, except as I reviewed the exercise scenarios, there’s nothing in there that involves my area of expertise. But I might not have a choice and I may still have to work the 11PM-7AM shift for 2 weeks. Swell. :rolleyes:
My eyeball is almost back to normal. It’s still a wee bit irritated, and it wasn’t helped when I was putting the broom away today and found myself in a cloud of dust. eeeesh. Thank goodness for artificial tears.
No idea what I’m gonna do for supper, but I will be printing out Rebo’s recipe. It has real potential.
For some bizarre reason, this reminded me of a particularly Bad Chinese place when we lived in Middleburg, FL. It was part of a strip shopping center. If I remember correctly, the walls were painted bright blue. Decor consisted of miniature sombreros along the booths. The music playing was country. And the food really was bad. We only went there once, and they were out of business before too long.
The GF gets jimmy-leg at night. I rub her back for about five minutes and it goes away.
You have someone around to do that for you, don’t you?
There is no way I’m going to be able to catch up with the MMP this week, but I’ll try. So any non-sequetors I post this week are really in response to earlier posts by others.
Oh, and Mandy The martian is leaving. Here husband got transfered to the USS George Washington, which is getting moved to Japan. So that’s where she’s moving.
I have occasional RLS, Meeks, and read something a few years ago that has worked well for me – vitamin E. I just take one capsule morning and evening (400 mg or whatever the normal OTC amount is), and my RLS went away. After a couple of months I was able to cut back to just one in the evening, and in the last couple of years haven’t needed it at all. I figured it was harmless enough to try, and for me it definitely was a good decision.
We have entered the digital age - at least as far as TV is concerned… I had to toss Bernie into the garage - she did *not * like the young man who came to install the converter. That’s really weird for Bernie - she usually loves everyone.
Anyway, yay! **FCD ** will be soooooooo happy - he loves him some TV!
And it was all finished by 2:30 for a 1-5 time slot. Pretty good! Congrats!!
Here, when we get these timeslots, it’s always possible to get the installer/delivery person/whatever to take you cellphone number and call you when they finish with the previous customer; typically gives you 20-40 minutes advance warning. That’s enough for me during non-rush-hours to make it home from work
**Mika **-- hope some of the ideas for your RLS actually works for you!
Everybody else – you seem to be doing fine TMI-wise without me for the past few hours I think I’ll climb back up into the peanut gallery for a while
Sean, the backrubbing doesn’t help. Tried it. And the leg-rubbing - well, I’m sad to say no one can rub my calves for more than seventeen seconds at a time without me freaking out from tickles. I’ve timed it.
I’ll try the vitamin E thing. I’m still hesitant re the doctor? I am not old enough to be on constant medication, dangit!
mika I don’t have a clue. You know any of those “deep thinking artsy type” people who think that doin’ stuff like writing postcards with just a quote is the epitome of bein’ a “deep thinker”? I ask cause I know a few people like that. I tend to pretty much go out of my way to ignore ‘em but still have to interact every once in a while. I’m all smiles and politeness outside while inside I’m all “go away, go away, go away”. Perhaps it is one of those. Or a random stranger is gettin’ names and addresses out of the phone book and sendin’ postcards.
Bobbio know any swarthy six foot Armenians? That’s someone I met let touch me.
Rebo we dubbed Sandra Lee the bulimic drunk. She’s so skinny, we figure she eats all that stuff she makes on her show, tosses back those cocktails and then throws it all up. (Sorry LiLi!)
