| Life is good. |
[Sep. 5th, 2009|04:16 pm] |
| [ | If words could describe me |
| |  happy | ] |
Really. I don't have much to report. Life is good.
These past several months I haven't been posting much, and yet there have been so many amazing things that have been post-worthy. Certainly not the least of these was my wedding to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) moosefluff in May. It was (I chance some hubris here) of Epic Proportions, employing no less than four organists, three viol players, three vocalists and choir. 'Fluff and I have since moved into an absolutely wonderful basement suite (as basement suites go), with light and space and high ceilings. Work is steady and not particularly demanding, vacation workshops in Chicago were splendid, and married life is, well, certainly much nicer than I could have imagined.
Nephews (3) are still as cute as ever. Video games are getting finished (e.g. Baten Kaitos is now past the halfway point). A new church position (with the Anglicans) and potentially more accounting bring greater things (and greater income). We've had the great pleasure of having some of our friends over to eat and play (sadly, not half of them half as often as we should like, and less than half of them half as often as they deserve).
Now if only I can whittle down my To Do list instead of making it longer...
Cheers, everyone. |
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| Theatre |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|05:56 pm] |
| [ | If words could describe me |
| | mildly miffed | ] |
Not that knowing would have made me fly to London, but still, I feel miffed that I had no idea this was staged:
Waiting for Godot
with Sir Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart. |
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| The plague, it spreads. I knew it was from mold. |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|04:48 pm] |
| [ | If words could describe me |
| |  accomplished | ] |
Okay, so here it is. Because of the original post here by lauzeta and the challenge outlined here by lalaithlockhart, we now have:
Uddery, buddery
Kefalotyri cheese:
Better with ouzo
than wine or its ilk.
Thankfully, no one used
anticoagulant,
else we'd be drinking
hard liquor with milk. |
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| Spam |
[Aug. 3rd, 2009|05:02 pm] |
I couldn't resist sharing a recent spam e-mail with you:
( SPAM ) |
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| April 1st |
[Apr. 1st, 2009|08:19 am] |
| [ | If words could describe me |
| | pleased | ] |
I woke up this morning, realised it was 1 April 2009, and went to Google.ca to see what sort of shenanigans they were up to this year (I'll always remember the first prank I saw: Google search sorting via pigeons).
Nothing.
So I went to Google.com.
Still nothing.
I thought, "poos!" and went to work. At work, I went to log on to Gmail, and I was blessed with an advertisement for a new Gmail application, Autopilot. Google, you never disappoint. And to think, I never would have noticed at home (since I stay logged in).
Further internetting revealed other hoaxes of the day, including a delightful one at youtube where you can append &flip=1 to any video URL to view it in a special new layout.
Happy 1 April. |
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| Star Trek and Milk. |
[Mar. 29th, 2009|06:49 am] |
So... I've been watching some TOS lately, and there have been some rather interesting highlights. In "Metamorphosis", we meet the assumed dead Zephryn Cochrane (of "First Contact" fame, inventor of the warp drive) alive, and restored to youth when he should have died from old age. In "Journey to Babel", we encounter Sarek for the first time, and are not told he is Spock's father until Kirk creates an awkward moment by offering Spock leave on Vulcan to visit his parents... in front of his parents (who are ambassadors being transported by the Enterprise).
And in "Friday's Child", towards the end of the episode, Scotty quotes the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Chekov replies with, "I know this saying: it was invented in Russia." Then, we hear a different texture from the intense, melodramatic score that usually serves as a backdrop for TOS; instead, we hear a brass drone, and a lone vibraphone play out... the first nine notes of the theme from Tchaivoksky's Symphony No. 4, movement 4! It seems to me entirely too coincidental to have occurred by chance. I guess the old TOS composers got to have their bit of fun too.
[EDIT: I just wiki-ed the symphony, and it turns out that the theme is an old Russian folk song, Vo polye byeryoza stayala ("In the Field Stood a Birch Tree"). More and more Russian!]
Oh, and this site is awesome. It showed up as a link on Cute Overload, and I made 'Fluff click it. It could be done better, but there is some reading that is just priceless.
Milk from cloned cows |
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| Lizards et al. |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|08:27 am] |
Woo! After serendipitously meeting up with my roommate at a bus stop downtown after work, being rejected by the first #22 that came by, and relocating to the previous bus stop on the route, I successfully acquired four free new fridge magnets by relieving the Telus bus stop ad of its extra weight in lizards. Don't worry, there's still a few dozen left. Maybe I'll procure more today.
Oh man. OOTS has reached epic levels. Literally. (I'm talking about the most recent strip, #636, though I've linked to strip #1 for anti-spoiler reasons.)
And I think I want a stuffed cactrot. |
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| Twenty-Six is a dumb number. |
[Mar. 6th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | WFM PRV | ] |
| [ | Instead of pipes, I hear |
| | bad | ] |
So, two days ago was my birthday. It was a good one. I felt particularly spoiled. Thanks moosefluff!
The morning wasn't so interesting, and mostly involved me doing some tidying of my room (negligible), three loads of laundry, and church music planning. The afternoon held a visit from the fiancée and eggs-in-a-basket grilled cheese in jalapeño olive oil. Rehearsal at church was actually somewhat dismal with only 2.25 choir members in attendance, a revocation of my psalm-setting plan, and frustrations with the 0.25 choir member.
But after, ah! Amazing food at Shota Japanese restaurant in Kerrisdale (everyone agreed with me on the subject of its excellence). I had the Japanese tai, which was a whole red snapper sliced into sashimi and displayed on ice. The bones were later taken away and used in a hot pot soup. I ate the aqueous humours of both eyes, much to 'Fluff's chagrin, and invited Daniel to have a cheek. The Yew St. roll (avocado on unagi) was delightful, the Maple St. roll an appropriate amount of spicy (thanks lauzeta!), and the presentation delightful. And thanks to bang_hiss_meow for helping me eat the excess of food.
I got two utterly astonishingly appropriate birthday cards from the entity know as techie_pet & musakura. One, a raccoon who'd received a fish for his birthday. Two, a card exploding with bits of cheese (not literally), including a wonderful explanation of what rennet is. Following them, the gifts of Power Grid: Korea/China, and Lost Cities. My gaming collection is currently a rather healthy size.
And a completely unassuming card from 'Fluff was discovered to contain tickets to a showing of Coraline 3D for later that evening at Tinseltown, with the gift wrapped beneath containing the 3D glasses. Eeeeeeeeee! She'd already given me a recent small Carcassonne expansion (Siege and... something?) the day before. And, as everyone else either had to turn in early or had already seen it, I was able to subsequently cuddle my fiancée shamelessly before and during the movie. Which was very cool, by the way. The needles poking out of the screen and the music were excellent - cheery, but ever so subtly creepy.
At the close of the movie, we encountered iterininfinitum and joe_msp185, when I received a lovely coffee table book on the history of the Church! leaving the mall, we spotted a place that was still open, with gaming tables inside and board games lining the walls... apparently, in existence for about half-a-year, it was open until 1am seven days a week. There were people playing magic, and the owner told us of drafts and tourneys and gamings oh my! I'll have to check it out sometime...
And now, I depart from work, because I've been here enough this week. And the music's bad. And I want to game at my place. So I go. |
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| Walking map of Travestere |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|01:21 am] |
I meant to post this 1.5 years ago, and unfortunately, since I've waited this long, my memory's a little foggy. I know I visited Santa Maria di Travestere and Santa Cecilia. The loop on the map is the only place I can see that resembles the bit where I "walk in a loop uphill", and remember there were pedestrian steps going up that I backtracked down on. I remember walking north along a junkyard-type strip alongside the river. I remember getting onto Via di San Michele by the bus stop. The rest is... a best attempt at recollecting. And that's not including taking the metro from the hotel, and the journey to the Museum of Musical Instruments afterwards.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2503012 |
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| Gaming at Drexoll! |
[Jan. 17th, 2009|06:17 pm] |
There are three games that have open copies available for play at Drexoll that I definitely want to try out. Let me know when you can go, and I'll play some games with you.
Dominion
A pseudo-CCG in a box. You start with a handful of cards and gradually build/add to the deck you play from throughout the game. Set in feudal Europe.
Race for the Galaxy
A game in space. Good reviews.
Thurn und Taxis: All Roads Lead to Rome
An expansion for Thurn und Taxis. Reviews are not so good, but the idea appeals to me. I want a first-hand account. |
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| Dine Out |
[Jan. 13th, 2009|11:29 pm] |
Okay, I'm back from a fabulous weekend in Alberta's Capital Region, seeing Gestahl's Empire here on earth, gaming out like I wish I could every month. But all good things must come to an end. Thanks to the hosts, rpm45 and baker_kitty for the foods and games!
The Play! concert was good, too, and included a jazz combo in the lobby which played arrangements of music from Puzzle Bobble and Final Fantasy IV ("Into the darkness"). Lovely, with much more fulfilling compilations of Mario and Zelda music, though less sensationalism and a disappointing use of mikes.
Apparently we received the warm treatment in the City of Champions, with the temperature hanging around -10 C, and popping above 0 briefly while we were there. The snow is pretty and acoustically muffling, and so dry, being blown about as it did on Sunday.
Dine Out Vancouver has descended like a fast thing from somewhere known. However, my budget isn't what it used to be, so: who wants to go somewhere as a group? I might be interested in going to Zin or Octopus' Garden, but I'm easy going. Who wants to go where, and when? Does anyone else want to organise, or shall I?
The clock is ticking... |
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| Mario Kart |
[Dec. 27th, 2008|01:07 pm] |
"Woah, what was that? Something exploded on my bum!" - moosefluff (Saturday 27 December 2009 @ 1pm) |
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| Cute Animal Quiz |
[Dec. 20th, 2008|12:32 pm] |
Gacked from obeliamedusa.
 Cute as can be, kittens are playful, mischevious, and ever-curious. Your mischevious side is part of what makes you a kitten, as is your dislike of getting wet! Kittens are often loving, but are known to scratch or bite when annoyed. These adorable animals are the most popular pets in the United States--37% of American households have at least one cat. Whether it is your gentle purr or your disarming appearance, you make a wonderful kitten. You were almost a: Monkey or a Bear CubYou are least like a: Bunny or a PonyWhat Cute Animal Are You? |
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| Sacred music |
[Dec. 17th, 2008|03:14 pm] |
| [ | If words could describe me |
| |  sick | ] |
Much snow today. Choir rehearsal cancelled tonight. I guess I need to simplify the music for Christmas a little...
I was just thinking earlier today, and thought about looking in the CBW II hymnal for an Imprimatur. Lo and behold, there is none. But maybe I'm reading too much into that. I don't think The Parish Book of Chant has one either (though I bet it could easily get one).
Also, some wonderful things I've read in Sacred Music lately. Regarding chironomy:
"If the conductor initiates the ternary curve as for a binary group, the singers will hurry to make the third note pass in the time frame set for two notes. The result will be a modified triplet. We have already mentioned this.
Another fault: Theoretically, a certain group of notes is known to be ternary, but, not having signaled this from the beginning, the hand movement is held back before arriving at the next ictus. An equally deplorable effect." - "Gregorian Chant: Its Artistic Value and Its Interpretation" by Joseph Lennards, Sacred Music, volume 135 number 2, pp. 53.
Amazing. This is precisely what happened recently at choir rehearsal in the Inviolata chant. There's exactly one place with a ternary group leading to a long note, and when I don't conduct/play properly, the choir inevitably sings the long note short as the second part of a binary group. Very cool.
"Dom Mocquereau who knew about this, compared the chant to a good choir of orchestral violoncellos." - "Gregorian Chant: Its Artistic Value and Its Interpretation" by Joseph Lennards, Sacred Music, volume 135 number 2, pp. 57.
Excellent comparison, IMHO.
Finally, it has become ever more increasingly apparent to me that for the most part, State and Religion are simply incompatible. Religion makes non-believers unhappy, and State tries to make everyone happy, and in so doing, makes no one happy. |
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