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Talk Planning, Redux

First Published: 2023 August 29

Draft 1

Last year I gave a talk that was in part about tuning theory. Unsurprisingly, especially given the fact I had been thinking about that talk for years beforehand, I am not entirely happy with the talk that I gave. Mostly, I think that’s because I fell into the same trap that everyone does. Namely: it’s easy to explain how 3 to the n is never equal to 2 to the m1, which means any system is inherently flawed.

As I keep thinking, though, there are other elements I could touch as well. After all, if you only want two notes, you can have a perfectly tuned scale with C and G.2 If you want three notes, then you can even have a well tuned one with C, F, and G.3

The first issue, I suppose, comes between using three and five limit tuning. Now, for those who don’t already know,4 limit tuning refers to the largest prime factor you can have in the denominator or numerator. Going through in order:

Ok how did I get here? Right, how tuning theory is broken for multiple reasons. I think that a five limit diatonic scale should work perfectly, assuming you only want to play in one key. I have an inclination that it would break down even as fast as adding the dominant or subdominant keys.14 Yeah it breaks down immediately.

Ok I know that I’ve done other prep work for the talk, but my notes are all very far away, and getting to them feels like a lot of effort with minimal payoff. Anyways, all this to say, the new talk on tuning theory will go deeper into the math than my last one did, even if I never give it to a single real person.


  1. other than the trivial case of m = n = 0, but come on, we’re adults here↩︎

  2. why I always start my scales on C is beyond me. Probably all the accidents relating to white note keys. Eh, it’s not worth being concerned about I suppose↩︎

  3. I’m not totally sure what a minor 7th is supposed to be, but at least the first three notes are fine.↩︎

  4. read: for those who have spent their life better than me↩︎

  5. ok so actually, there’s a concept for consonance and dissonance where it’s how far the notes are harmonically (I mean duh, but my words aren’t working, hence why I’m doing talk planning). The most consonant interval is obviously the octave (since unison isn’t really an interval), and it has a distance of one. A fifth has a distance of two, as does two octaves. I think that matches my experience well, though I need to find the source paper so I can read it (I think I saw it in a 12tone video at some point). From a quick google, it seems like they might be doing log of the least common multiple of the two notes. In that case, once again, there is no way to make a fifth and octaves be the same harmonic distance. At a first order, though, a fifth (2:3) would be six as LCM, and so lies between two and three octaves in terms of dissonance. Ok enough diversion, back to the actual text↩︎

  6. for this and everything, assume that I still believe in octave equivalence (for all that I’m more and more intellectually willing to not)↩︎

  7. in this case, building from the fourth (fa, or F (hmmmm I wonder if there’s something to the fact that the fourth (f) is fa (f) and the note f (f). eh probably nothing new)↩︎

  8. remember, it’s primes, so four adds nothing new↩︎

  9. because we define a fifth and a fourth to be an octave, and 2 to four is absolutely an octave↩︎

  10. because we define a major and a minor third to be a fifth, and four to six is a fifth↩︎

  11. ok some quick math: 3/2 is G, 3/2 times 3/2 is 9/8 (octave equiv) is D, 3/2 more is 27/16 is A, 81/64 is E. 1.265↩︎

  12. though there are a lot of arguments that the blues and jazz use it, since they use something known as a blue note, which is halfway between a major and minor third, like this is↩︎

  13. 968 cents, according to wikipedia (and no, I will not be getting into what a cent is right now, because I don’t care that much)↩︎

  14. but I should really work out the math. Let’s see, we get A from F and then A from D if we do dominant. A from D would be 27/16, whereas A from F is 4/3 for F and then the fifth is 4 to 5 so 15/8. Nope, 5/3 actually. That makes more sense. 1.6875 is not quite 1.6 repeating, though they are shockingly close. I suppose that playing the two together could work. I also suppose taking the harmonic (i think that’s the right word, the log based one) average of the two could work↩︎

Family Book Club

First Published: 2023 August 28

Draft 1

Apparently I’ve never written about my family’s book club.1 That doesn’t necessarily mean that I haven’t but I can’t find it, so it doesn’t count right now.

So, what is the family book club?2 Well, you need to come with me back to the far off time of 2018?3 My father messaged one of our family group chats4 about a book he thought we should all read.5 I6 then replied that we should have a family book club. The rest of my family agreed, and so we have all taken turns7 choosing a book for us all to read.

Each book club begins with a few standard questions.8

We all give a thumbs up, down, or to the side for whether we enjoyed the book or not. The one who chose the book says why they picked it. We all give our big picture opinions on the book.

Then, because we exclusively read digitally, we go through the ebook that we have all annotated9 and read through each comment and highlight. We usually have pizza while we do our club, though that is not mandatory. Reading through all the comments almost always takes far longer than the pizza does to be consumed, and it often ends in a bit of a drag.

In total, we’ve read twenty five books for book club.10 Ten of them have been what I would classify as self help books, which is kind of fun, I suppose. Since we’ve now gone through 25 in about five years, I suppose we do each really have an average of a single book per person per year, wow. There’s been one non-fiction, and the rest of the books are all fantasy.11

Most recently, we did a marathon of three book clubs back to back to back in a single night. It was really fun, for all that the books were not all universally loved.12 Well, c’est la vie. I’m excited for our next book club, whenever it happens.


  1. based on the search of book-club.html not turning anything up

  2. technically there’s an opening word, which is our last name (which is, I guess, absolutely obvious if you’re on this site. Nonetheless, I shan’t be explicit about it

  3. I think

  4. because we have far too many

  5. Mindset, for those curious

  6. I think at least, others may claim that another member of the family said it instead

  7. going from oldest to youngest

  8. statements, I suppose

  9. which makes being the slow reader in the family rewarded, because you get to see everyone else’s takes on the book

  10. well, we’ve had 25 entries. One of the entries was books 2 through five in a series, and another was six-ten, so I don’t know if that’s really *a* book. One was also two children’s books

  11. that probably says something about my family, though I’m not sure what

  12. mine, in particular, was panned

Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson Review

First Published: 2023 August 24

Draft 1

A few weeks ago now1 I did something that I haven’t done in a while.2 I went to go see a play. The university I attend3 was putting on a production of Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson.

Now, if you’re anything like me, then your first instinct will be to complain that it’s “Ms.” Watson, not “Dr.” Watson.4 I had that complaint going in, especially since the play was described as a feminist retelling.5 I had6 recently subscribed to a SubStack7 called “Letters from Watson,” which just sends out serialized versions of the Sherlock Holmes short stories. It’s really interesting reading them, especially as someone who reads8 a fair amount of modern serialized fiction. The genre conventions have certainly shifted in the intervening years. However, since this post is a review of the show, rather than the fiction, I digress.

When I arrived, the play promised many of the common staples of modern small work plays. It said that there would be forced audience participation9 and that it was a loving but disrespectful10 retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. It was fine.

I’m not sure whether I was just hungry and so not as into the play as normal, but the play lacked a lot of flow to me. When I go to a play that I really enjoy, at least for a moment I forget that what I am watching is a play. At no point during the show did I forget that I was sitting in a crowd, watching a performance. I suppose the fourth wall breaks did add to that feeling.11 Still, it was an enjoyable show, and I would happily see it again.


  1. because wow it turns out that one reason I might stop posting is because I become suddenly busy↩︎

  2. though, given the infinite number of potential permutations of activities I can do, that’s not the most meaningful statement.↩︎

  3. which is such an awkward construction↩︎

  4. of course, that’s presupposing a lot about the (allegedly extant) readership of my blog, I suppose↩︎

  5. not to stereotype, but as one might expect by the gender swapping in the title.↩︎

  6. have?↩︎

  7. newsletter app, more or less↩︎

  8. and writes↩︎

  9. though it phrased it differently,↩︎

  10. again, me paraphrasing, I don’t remember the actual verbiage↩︎

  11. this is not the place for me to go into a rant about the way that I dislike modern (popular) media’s tendency (tendencies? media is technically inherently plural) to avoid any sort of genuine emotional appeal by hiding it behind sarcasm and smarm. There will be a place for it sometime soon, but not today↩︎

  12. which is shockingly hard for me to type. I had to erase four four four at least once (and then again when trying to type what my mistake was, I put for in the wrong place as well↩︎

  13. though indeterminate↩︎

  14. two verses, a bridge, and a chorus. It’s probably only like two or three minutes long, but that’s fine.↩︎

25 for Twenty Five

First Published: 2023 August 23

Draft 4: 25 June 24

Last year I tried to do twenty four things between my twenty fourth and twenty fifth birthday. It was a transition away from other, less healthy traditions. I had hoped that setting that goal would have two major effects on my life. First, I had hoped that it would make me more intentional about what I spend my time on. After all, even though I do not know what the number is, I do know that I only have a finite amount of time on this earth. While that has never meant1 maximizing the utility of every single fleeting moment, I do find that I prefer to look back on my time when I have been more intentional with it, rather than less.

The second goal, obviously, was to encourage me to try new things. I don’t know how successful, if at all, that goal was. After all, as I have been told many times by far too many people, I am generally a person who is open to trying new things. That’s certainly something I strive to be, at least. That being said, I was at least more aware of things I had done for the first time, at least in my2 memory.

So, since I enjoyed the challenge, I decided that I’d try it again. n for n is now being rebranded as my attempt to do more new things each passing calendar year. Since there are an infinite number of activities I can try, that should remain doable, especially if I start lowering my standards.

This post also feels like a good place to reflect on the first quarter century of my life. There are arguments to be made that nothing before I have concrete memory should really count, which I have mixed feelings about, and so will ignore. I’ve gotten a Master’s3 Degree, graduated a college with a double major, and earned my Eagle Scout. Those seem like sort of the big three in terms of explicit and externally validated life accomplishments, but there are far more things that I’ve done. I have received five of seven sacraments, which I’m beyond grateful for. I’ve also grown a lot, both physically and mentally. Most importantly, while I don’t think that any age4 of previous me would have foreseen me being where I am right now, I also don’t think any of the past mes would be unhappy with it. I am grateful for the time I have had and look forward to the time to come. My fingers are crossed that I will get more than another quarter century on this earth, and I hope to use it well. Maudlin musing aside, there are some things that I want to do in this year. I think that updates for this post will be coming in two forms: things that I have done, and things that I want to do. There were things I wanted to do last year that I kept forgetting about, and so never did.5 With that in mind: Things that I want to do before my quarter century year is gone:

Huh, I hadn’t realized some of the things I wanted to do. I don’t know if I’ve ever articulated, to myself, at least, a desire to record an album. Apparently all those people who say that giving yourself space is good are true. Anyways, I have also done new things since turning twenty five!

Well, even though I stopped blogging for seven months, I kept up with the novelty. I’m at 22 now33, and even if some are overlapping, they still feel novel right now. If I accomplish the four goals I have remaining that I still want34, I’ll be over and can condense! Hooray!

Draft 3: 27 November 23

Last year I tried to do twenty four things between my twenty fourth and twenty fifth birthday. It was a transition away from other, less healthy traditions. I had hoped that setting that goal would have two major effects on my life. First, I had hoped that it would make me more intentional about what I spend my time on. After all, even though I do not know what the number is, I do know that I only have a finite amount of time on this earth. While that has never meant35 maximizing the utility of every single fleeting moment, I do find that I prefer to look back on my time when I have been more intentional with it, rather than less.

The second goal, obviously, was to encourage me to try new things. I don’t know how successful, if at all, that goal was. After all, as I have been told many times by far too many people, I am generally a person who is open to trying new things. That’s certainly something I strive to be, at least. That being said, I was at least more aware of things I had done for the first time, at least in my36 memory.

So, since I enjoyed the challenge, I decided that I’d try it again. n for n is now being rebranded as my attempt to do more new things each passing calendar year. Since there are an infinite number of activities I can try, that should remain doable, especially if I start lowering my standards.

This post also feels like a good place to reflect on the first quarter century of my life. There are arguments to be made that nothing before I have concrete memory should really count, which I have mixed feelings about, and so will ignore. I’ve gotten a Master’s37 Degree, graduated a college with a double major, and earned my Eagle Scout. Those seem like sort of the big three in terms of explicit and externally validated life accomplishments, but there are far more things that I’ve done. I have received five of seven sacraments, which I’m beyond grateful for. I’ve also grown a lot, both physically and mentally. Most importantly, while I don’t think that any age38 of previous me would have foreseen me being where I am right now, I also don’t think any of the past mes would be unhappy with it. I am grateful for the time I have had and look forward to the time to come. My fingers are crossed that I will get more than another quarter century on this earth, and I hope to use it well. Maudlin musing aside, there are some things that I want to do in this year. I think that updates for this post will be coming in two forms: things that I have done, and things that I want to do. There were things I wanted to do last year that I kept forgetting about, and so never did.39 With that in mind: Things that I want to do before my quarter century year is gone:

Huh, I hadn’t realized some of the things I wanted to do. I don’t know if I’ve ever articulated, to myself, at least, a desire to record an album. Apparently all those people who say that giving yourself space is good are true. Anyways, I have also done new things since turning twenty five!

Welp, it’s been about four months, and I’ve gotten through about eight events, so I’m more or less at pace. I’m slightly behind, but I don’t know if that’s really an issue. After all, at worst I can just do more next summer in the days before my next birthday.

Draft 2: 13 September 2023

Whoops! The first draft of this posting didn’t have proper formatting.52 So, in addition to adding things, I’m going to have the second draft actually be, you know, formatted. Also, I’m going to delete some of the text, since it’s really rambly.

last year I tried to do twenty four things between my twenty fourth and twenty fifth birthday. I had hoped that setting that goal would have two major effects on my life. First, I had hoped that it would make me more intentional about what I spend my time on. After all, even though I do not know what the number is, I do know that I only have a finite amount of time on this earth. While that has never meant53 maximizing the utility of every single fleeting moment, I do find that I prefer to look back on my time when I have been more intentional with it, rather than less.

The second goal, obviously, was to encourage me to try new things. I don’t know how successful, if at all, that goal was. After all, as I have been told many times by far too many people, I am generally a person who is open to trying new things. That’s certainly something I strive to be, at least. That being said, I was at least more aware of things I had done for the first time, at least in my54 memory.

So, since I enjoyed the challenge, I decided that I’d try it again. n for n is now being rebranded as my attempt to do more new things each passing calendar year. Since there are an infinite number of activities I can try, that should remain doable, especially if I start lowering my standards.

This post also feels like a good place to reflect on the first quarter century of my life. There are arguments to be made that nothing before I have concrete memory should really count, which I have mixed feelings about, and so will ignore. I’ve gotten a Master’s55 Degree, graduated a college with a double major, and earned my Eagle Scout. Those seem like sort of the big three in terms of explicit and externally validated life accomplishments, but there are far more things that I’ve done. I have received five of seven sacraments, which I’m beyond grateful for. I’ve also grown a lot, both physically and mentally. Most importantly, while I don’t think that any age56 of previous me would have foreseen me being where I am right now, I also don’t think any of the past mes would be unhappy with it. I am grateful for the time I have had and look forward to the time to come. My fingers are crossed that I will get more than another quarter century on this earth, and I hope to use it well. Maudlin musing aside, there are some things that I want to do in this year. I think that updates for this post will be coming in two forms: things that I have done, and things that I want to do. There were things I wanted to do last year that I kept forgetting about, and so never did.57 With that in mind: Things that I want to do before my quarter century year is gone:

Huh, I hadn’t realized some of the things I wanted to do. I don’t know if I’ve ever articulated, to myself, at least, a desire to record an album. Apparently all those people who say that giving yourself space is good are true. Anyways, I have also done new things since turning twenty five!

That puts me at a full fifth of the needed new activities, which is nice, especially since I haven’t gone through a full new month. Anyways, I hope to keep both of these lists updated, and hopefully I’ll be able to start moving things from the want to do list to the have done list. I have an awesome set of amazing friends, and I’m beyond grateful that they also do many fantastic things. Relevant to this post, one friend wants to do a good number of the things I want to do as well, which will be nice.

Since this posting is happening the same day that I’m also writing a full blog post, I’ll do my daily reflection there instead.

Draft 1

last year I tried to do twenty four things between my twenty fourth and twenty fifth birthday. I had hoped that setting that goal would have two major effects on my life. First, I had hoped that it would make me more intentional about what I spend my time on. After all, even though I do not know what the number is, I do know that I only have a finite amount of time on this earth. While that has never meant65 maximizing the utility of every single fleeting moment, I do find that I prefer to look back on my time when I have been more intentional with it, rather than less. ?The second goal, obviously, was to encourage me to try new things. I don’t know how successful, if at all, that goal was. After all, as I have been told many times by far too many people, I am generally a person who is open to trying new things. That’s certainly something I strive to be, at least. That being said, I was at least more aware of things I had done for the first time, at least in my66 memory. ?So, since I enjoyed the challenge, I decided that I’d try it again. n for n is now being rebranded as my attempt to do more new things each passing calendar year. Since there are an infinite number of activities I can try, that should remain doable, especially if I start lowering my standards. ?This post also feels like a good place to reflect on the first quarter century of my life. There are arguments to be made that nothing before I have concrete memory should really count, which I have mixed feelings about, and so will ignore. I’ve gotten a Master’s67 Degree, graduated a college with a double major, and earned my Eagle Scout. Those seem like sort of the big three in terms of explicit and externally validated life accomplishments, but there are far more things that I’ve done. I have received five of seven sacraments, which I’m beyond grateful for. ? I’ve also grown a lot, both physically and mentally. Most importantly, while I don’t think that any age68 of previous me would have foreseen me being where I am right now, I also don’t think any of the past mes would be unhappy with it. I am grateful for the time I have had and look forward to the time to come. My fingers are crossed that I will get more than another quarter century on this earth, and I hope to use it well. ? Maudlin musing aside, there are some things that I want to do in this year. I think that updates for this post will be coming in two forms: things that I have done, and things that I want to do. There were things I wanted to do last year that I kept forgetting about, and so never did.69 With that in mind: ? Things that I want to do before my quarter century year is gone:?

Huh, I hadn’t realized some of the things I wanted to do. I don’t know if I’ve ever articulated, to myself, at least, a desire to record an album. Apparently all those people who say that giving yourself space is good are true. Anyways, I have also done new things since turning twenty five! ?

? Anyways, I hope to keep both of these lists updated, and hopefully I’ll be able to start moving things from the want to do list to the have done list. I have an awesome set of amazing friends, and I’m beyond grateful that they also do many fantastic things. Relevant to this post, one friend wants to do a good number of the things I want to do as well, which will be nice. ? Since this is going to be a constantly updated draft, it feels a little strange to do my daily reflection in it, but c’est la vie.75 ?

? Oh fun! I posted this a year and a day later!


  1. for me at least↩︎

  2. admittedly spotty↩︎

  3. I can never remember if that’s a possessive or not↩︎

  4. excluding the past year or so of my life↩︎

  5. chief among them: taking an improv class↩︎

  6. which may not be different? I’m only half remembering words anymore↩︎

  7. since I’m sure some of the pieces I put out will be instrumental↩︎

  8. and won my section no less!↩︎

  9. it was absolutely beautiful↩︎

  10. added 11/27↩︎

  11. well, participated in one. I think I’ve technically attended one as a spectator before↩︎

  12. added 11/27↩︎

  13. added 11/27↩︎

  14. added 11/27. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll just be able to say I learned↩︎

  15. creative. I’m only counting blog post, Jeb and NaNo I think↩︎

  16. 7219 currently. May be higher later. Added 11/27↩︎

  17. added 11/27↩︎

  18. added 6/25, don’t ask↩︎

  19. added 6/25↩︎

  20. maybe, I don’t know if it was the first time I actually learned the rules↩︎

  21. added 6/25↩︎

  22. added 6/25↩︎

  23. added 6/25↩︎

  24. added 6/25↩︎

  25. added 6/25↩︎

  26. 1,329,218 as of updating this on 6/25↩︎

  27. added 6/25↩︎

  28. it was so fun honestly. added 6/25↩︎

  29. added 6/25↩︎

  30. added 6/25↩︎

  31. added 6/25↩︎

  32. added 6/25. Have to add the caveat of skipped work because I have, in fact, seen an eclipse before↩︎

  33. having removed the 23nd because it feels too private↩︎

  34. sorry improv↩︎

  35. for me at least↩︎

  36. admittedly spotty↩︎

  37. I can never remember if that’s a possessive or not↩︎

  38. excluding the past year or so of my life↩︎

  39. chief among them: taking an improv class↩︎

  40. which may not be different? I’m only half remembering words anymore↩︎

  41. since I’m sure some of the pieces I put out will be instrumental↩︎

  42. and won my section no less!↩︎

  43. it was absolutely beautiful↩︎

  44. added 11/27↩︎

  45. well, participated in one. I think I’ve technically attended one as a spectator before↩︎

  46. added 11/27↩︎

  47. added 11/27↩︎

  48. added 11/27. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll just be able to say I learned↩︎

  49. creative. I’m only counting blog post, Jeb and NaNo I think↩︎

  50. 7219 currently. May be higher later. Added 11/27↩︎

  51. added 11/27↩︎

  52. I had just switched to a new editor that apparently uses non UTF-8 line breaks. Don’t ask me why↩︎

  53. for me at least↩︎

  54. admittedly spotty↩︎

  55. I can never remember if that’s a possessive or not↩︎

  56. excluding the past year or so of my life↩︎

  57. chief among them: taking an improv class↩︎

  58. which may not be different? I’m only half remembering words anymore↩︎

  59. since I’m sure some of the pieces I put out will be instrumental↩︎

  60. hmm back into may be wrong.↩︎

  61. and won my section no less!↩︎

  62. it was absolutely beautiful↩︎

  63. added 13 September, I sat around for twenty or so minutes until the judge came in and told us that they had settled.↩︎

  64. ok so like it was hosted by a friend and there were no stakes, but I’m still counting it, may be willing to remove if more exciting things happen to me. Added 13 September↩︎

  65. for me at least↩︎

  66. admittedly spotty↩︎

  67. I can never remember if that’s a possessive or not↩︎

  68. excluding the past year or so of my life↩︎

  69. chief among them: taking an improv class↩︎

  70. which may not be different? I’m only half remembering words anymore↩︎

  71. since I’m sure some of the pieces I put out will be instrumental↩︎

  72. hmm back into may be wrong.↩︎

  73. and won my section no less!↩︎

  74. it was absolutely beautiful↩︎

  75. the only french phrase my family uses.↩︎

  76. for all that this musing felt a whole lot like a journal↩︎

Pinball Part One

First Published: 2023 August 22

Draft 1

Last Wednesday I competed in my first ever pinball tournament. I had no clue what it would be like going into it, which may not have been my best choice ever. Nonetheless, I knew a few important facts. ?

As I told my friends going into it, my only real goal in the competition was making it past group play. As it turns out, that was a needlessly pessimistic goal. Everyone makes it into the finals, though not in the same bracket. ? I suppose I should explain the format of the competition. After signups, everyone is2 randomly assigned to a group of four.3 Each group plays seven of the eight machines at the bar4, and they record their scores at the end of each three ball set.5 They had a few extra rules, like that you weren’t allowed to play extra balls, which makes complete sense to me in retrospect. While it would not have made a huge difference for me, there were people whose every ball lasted at least five minutes. ? In my group of four, there was me,6 the person who ended up winning the entire competition that night, the girlfriend of the brewery’s rep7, and a fourth person about as good as I was. Once group play ended, we all turned our slips of paper in to someone, who then ranked us best to worst. One rankings were done, I found out how finals work. When I had signed up, the organizer told me that they make sure it’s not just the absolute best players who get a prize, because that would discourage less good players from attending. ? So, we are all ranked from best to worst. The best four players go to a machine and play single elimination games until there is one person left.8 Now, you may be wondering how they pick which machine they go on. The top seed in each set gets to choose their machine.9 I was the top seed of the fourth bracket10, which was where they started putting us in groups of three.11 I chose Godzilla, because it was the most fun machine. At that point, I was incredibly nervous. One of the other people on my machine was the fourth player in my qualifier, who was notably better than me at the Godzilla machine. ?But, I managed to squeak out a win twice, and that meant that I got a prize.?I ended up taking home a four pack of craft beer.12?I also took home a tshirt and some stickers, which was nice. I also learned while there that the brewery buys your first13 beer of the night. ?It was really fun, for all that it lasted much longer than I expected it to. I had really thought that the entire event would be over in two or three hours.?Instead, it took four, and that was apparently a quick tournament as far as their timings go.?I’ll probably do it again, though I’ll make sure to eat dinner first and know that I’ll be late rising the next day. ?

Once again, sorry for the rambling nature of the posting. That’s what the site encourages.? ?


  1. I’m never giving up this construction, even though it makes me sound so much like the person who studied abroad in London (which, to be fair, I am↩︎

  2. allegedly, though I think they intentionally try to get a diversity of levels↩︎

  3. or three, I think there were a couple of those because there weren’t enough people competing that night.↩︎

  4. going left to right, so you don’t play the machine to your left when you begin↩︎

  5. the number of people I know who didn’t know that pinball is played with three balls astounds me↩︎

  6. obviously↩︎

  7. one of the people who didn’t know about the number of balls you get↩︎

  8. so at the end of everyone’s three balls, last place is eliminated↩︎

  9. though the top seeds aren’t allowed on the Godzilla machine, because it takes far longer than the other machines, especially at high level of play (for instance, the person in my group had two different multiballs active at once.↩︎

  10. thirteenth place↩︎

  11. because we did not have a modulo four number of players, I assume↩︎

  12. I think I chose a sour initially, but then traded away a few individuals to other people who took a four pack so we could try multiple flavors or something.↩︎

  13. read: my only, since it was a Wednesday↩︎

  14. eight non rhyming lines, I think↩︎

  15. four rhyming lines↩︎

  16. hips because I noticed they’ve been strangely tight recently and shoulders because I swam.↩︎

  17. long course, no less↩︎

Universe in the Park Part 4

First Published: 2023 August 21

Draft 1

It’s been a fair minute since the last time that I wrote this blog.?Sorry for that!?Hopefully future delays will happen with far less frequency and length. So, since my last posting, I’ve actually gone on more than one UitP. I’ve given five over the course of three events. They’ve all been incredible, though each in their own way. ?The first one I gave since accidentally giving up was at what I have to assume is the most popular state park in the state. It was scheduled for a Tuesday, and I even still had more than twenty people show up. Apparently in an average year, they get more than three million visitors, which is wild to me. ?The viewing of stars from that talk wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, the place they recommended I set up was somewhat obscured by trees and the surrounding cliff. That isn’t too much of an issue, though, because historically most of the stars and other celestial bodies I care about seeing are in the upper portion of the sky anyways. It was also beside one of the shelters, which remains lit apparently all night long. That made it a little bit harder to see the stars. A number of my friends made it up to the talk, which was really nice!? After that, I had a brief few days off. That Friday and Saturday, though, I drove up to the northern part of the state. While there, I made a quick detour to drop off my accordion at the1 accordion repair school. They had a museum, which I’ll hopefully find the time to blog about in the future. The talks were hosted by a pair of sister parks, and so they asked me to prepare multiple different presentations. Despite the fact that I’ve been assured each instance of my usual talk is different, I still made a new slide deck.2 Since my talks were scheduled during the peak of the Perseid3 meteor shower, I made the new slide deck about that.4 Both nights, unfortunately, we were rained out from observing. Even more unfortunately, both nights the rain was completely unforeseen5. The second talk proceeded much like the first, though with far more questions.? There was a camp of high schoolers who were very interested in black holes. As it turns out, one of the counselors for that camp is a rising student in the Astronomy PhD program at my university. It was great to meet him. A whole week went by without doing anything with the talks, since I planned to reuse my slides again this past weekend. At the end of the week, I drove just about as far north, though slightly further east this time, to give another two talks. Both nights had perfectly clear skies, which was fantastic. On the first night, my audience was primarily older people, members of the friends of the state park, which was cool. It was also by far the best prepared audience I’ve ever had. When I asked my standard starting question of “who has heard the term astrochemistry before?” most of them actually raised their hands. That was a surprise, but did mean that I had a number of great questions. After that, we looked at Mizar,6 which I’m going to more and more use as a staple star. It’s really cool that it’s a double star.7 When that talk ended, I went to sleep and woke up, excited for my second talk of the weekend. I took a leisurely drive up another hour north, stopping at a coffee shop, a few bakeries, and a farmer’s market. I also got to8 take a ferry up to the island my next talk was on. It was apparently not advertised at all until five or so minutes before the talk began. Despite that, there were around thirty people at my talk, which is still great. ?Since I made it to the island plenty early, I had time to go swim in another Great Lake.?That was really fun and cool,9 and the water was so clear. It was a really fun trip, for all that the seven hour drive the next day was less than my favorite thing to have ever done. ?I think that I only have one more of these talks scheduled for the summer, which is really weird. It both feels like too many and too few. I do regret not blogging at all during the five talks, but life got in the way.10 I’m also sorry if this post is far more verbose and rambly than normal. I’m trying out a new word processor, and it encourages high word counts.

918/130


  1. as far as I can tell, only,↩︎

  2. I’d call it a powerpoint, but I’m producing PDFs in LaTeX, which I then present in a PDF viewer, so powerpoint feels fully wrong to use as a descriptor↩︎

  3. I think that’s how it’s spelled↩︎

  4. I suppose that I’ve blogged about it in the past, so that should not be a surprise.↩︎

  5. unforecasted?↩︎

  6. a double star in the big dipper↩︎

  7. two stars that are visually very close together on the sky.↩︎

  8. was required to? I suppose there wasn’t another real option in terms of making the voyage↩︎

  9. almost icy, in fact↩︎

  10. primarily, I went to a concert and a birthday party on the fifth, celebrated on the sixth, and did not have access to my main computer from the ninth through the seventeenth.↩︎

Open Mic Planning

First Published: 2023 August 4

Draft 1

Apologies in advance, this is me using the need to blog as an excuse to plan my next open mic.

As I mentioned, I need to come up with a setlist for an open mic. I want to start learning more music as well, so hopefully I can.

Right now, I’m thinking the following songs:

Now, that may be far more or less music than I need. I think that starting with Maid on the Shore makes the most sense, if only because I know that song like the back of my own hand.7 From there, St. Olav’s Gate has a similar love lost, though far more consensually. The love segues into Ring of Fire nicely. From there, doing my first original could be fun, since it’s about heartbreak. My third original could follow that, because that’s the opposite order as last week. Assuming I still have time, I will follow you into the dark is better right now than Fisherman’s Wharf, so I’ll save Fishers for last.

If I still have too much time, Three Fishers is great8 If that still isn’t enough music, I guess 45 Years is always a staple, or I could try Til Forever Falls Apart, depending if the friends I hope to show up do show up.9

386/158


  1. which I need to name at some point? Probably starfall since that’s what I used to call it.↩︎

  2. idk cats chase bears?↩︎

  3. because I’ve really liked it for a while and it’s so easy to play↩︎

  4. because I fell in love with it this summer and memorized it (also fairly easy) (also has the benefit of being unique↩︎

  5. which I’ve been working on for like a year, so I just need to get over myself on↩︎

  6. which I’ve only ever performed on accordion, so that will be interesting.↩︎

  7. obligatory: “huh I never noticed that spot”↩︎

  8. for all that I don’t really want to do three Stan Rogers songs in one night (though the internet only seems to believe in the Garnet Rogers version of Three Fishers↩︎

  9. one of my bandmates who normally takes lead vocals on the song↩︎

  10. my group doesn’t like them but meh↩︎

  11. see “I’m run down...”↩︎

  12. I just did a crossword, which I am counting↩︎

Lemon Wine Starting and Ending

First Published: 2023 August 3

Draft 1

Huh, apparently my post in June about lemon wine never posted. Anyways, it’s finally finished. It was almost certainly ready well before I ended up finishing it off, but I was busy and so gave it some extra time.

In the initial recipe notes, I said that I would dry hop it, which I no longer plan to do. I also said I would use three quarts of lemon juice, which ended up not being true. I saw a video discussing oleo citrum1, and thought about how that could be nice in lemon wine.

So, I ended up peeling six lemons, getting about 4.5 ounces of lemon peel, which I mixed with around that much citric acid, let sit, then blended with the juice from the lemons.2 That mixture went into the reracked lemon wine along with stabilizers. I then waited for a bit as I cleaned kegs and found access to CO2 again.

It is now safely inside of a keg, and has been receiving fantastic reviews. I’m really happy with it, and used the dregs from reracking to pitch the next set of lemon wine, which is my laziest attempt yet.

In short, the new version is just the entire 10 pound bag of sugar that I normally use for both fermenting and backsweetening at the beginning with no inverting. I then filled water, trusted that there would be sufficient nutrient, but repitched yeast just to be safe. It’s fermenting away, so I trust that it will go well as well. If so, I plan to dry hop it.

395/63


  1. ok the video claimed I could get 8x (I think) as much juice from a citrus and I fall for clickbait

  2. read: I cut the pith off and blended the whole remaining lemon

  3. which I am terminally unable to spell correctly.

  4. just now

  5. had a letter that was being saved for when a friend was back home

  6. visiting a friend in the hospital

Open Mic

First Published: 2023 August 2

Draft 1

Assuming my last post about open mics was the last time I went to one,1 I haven’t been in about two months. I’m glad that it’s been long enough that the staple songs I mentioned no longer feel stale. In particular, Maid on the Shore was everyone I polled’s favorite song.

I had planned on it being like most open mics I’ve gone to at the bar, where I have ten minutes, though finishing early is encouraged. Instead, I had fifteen and a generous fifteen at that. It was fun!

I played two original songs.2 I then played Three Fishers, because I love the picking pattern. After that, I made a joke about having time and played The Rose.

By that point I really thought I should be done. I wasn’t which meant I had to start thinking of songs I just know on a deep level. Maid on the Shore is one of those, so I played it.3

Even still I had time! So I finished with 45 Years, which was a little low for me where I set my capo. C’est la vie, live and learn.

I’m very excited to go back next week. I had initially planned to play accordion, but my accordion is out of tune sadly. So, assuming I don’t figure out how to fix it yesterday, it looks like another week of guitar. I suppose I should start thinking of a setlist.

Maid on the Shore deserves an encore, I think at least. I’ve only ever done Treaty4 on accordion, but I think it could work on guitar. If not, You Want it Darker maybe? What did the Deep Sea Say is a song my band did, so that could be fun. I Will Follow You Into the Dark is another option, though I’d need to be better at the chords for it. Til Forever Falls Apart also maybe belongs.

My two originals should probably get some more love/playtime too.

457/33


  1. which I think it was↩︎

  2. one new and one old↩︎

  3. and wow it went so well. I don’t think it’s ever sounded that good to me before from on stage.↩︎

  4. by Leonard Cohen↩︎

Monthly Reflection

First Published: 2023 August 1

Draft 1

Woo! Another month passed. It hardly feels real that it’s been a month, but what a month it’s been.

I gave three talks in state parks, signed up for another four(?), and very recently was reached out to for another two talks this fall about the eclipse! I went to a conference. I went to a mission trip. I rediscovered my love of pinball.

I finished the first book in my web serial. I finished the first batch of lemon wine for the summer!1 Last night, I made it back to an open mic for the first time in a while.2

So: looking back at my goals.

This upcoming month I’m excited for:

Using last month’s goals and the excitement as a way to generate a list of goals:

So, my daily reflections will look like:11

As an example:15


  1. which I apparently never blogged about. Whoops! Blog incoming eventually.↩︎

  2. musing to come↩︎

  3. including the two new ones I need to add↩︎

  4. and I would love to get one back, but that’s not in my control so eh↩︎

  5. feels like I should put it here, idk the idea of monetizing is so stressful↩︎

  6. one of my double headers is over the peak of them and requested two distinct talks↩︎

  7. as measured by my word tracker, so basically book words and blog words↩︎

  8. earlier wouldn’t be the worst thing, though that does conflict with wanting to do open mics↩︎

  9. so starting/finishing a fifth at least.↩︎

  10. especially since I can write two chapters on a good day↩︎

  11. regrouped so that like are with like↩︎

  12. after the Pleiades, I should make my eclipse talks↩︎

  13. which is a bit obvious↩︎

  14. a probably healthier question to ask↩︎

  15. and for today, since it is a day in August (wild)↩︎

  16. musing incoming.↩︎

  17. except in the grand scheme, I kind of am↩︎