First Published: 2022 December 17
So I may have completely lost myself and ability to blog these past few weeks, but now seems as good of a time as any to get back into the swing. Musescore 4 recently came out, and it’s an absolutely wild experience.
Musescore1 is one of the two music engraving software2 I use.3 It is Free4, and the latest version completely overhauled most of the UI, which is nice.5 The part that really gets me excited, though, is the difference in how music playback works.
The lead of the project made a long video discussing it, but the summary is basically that there are now sampled sound packs available, and they really bring the quality of the sound so many levels up. I honestly somewhat forgot that not all of the notes were computer generated when I was listening back. It makes it so much more fun to write music when the sounds coming out are nicer.
I said above that I didn’t really get excited about the UI, which is somewhat true. It in many regards is the ideal UI, in that you hardly notice it. I was entering notes generally without issue, and that’s really what software is for.
On a tangent, I told one of my old professors about the new release, and he pointed me to another app which has AI sing vocal words. Now I can finally know what my choral pieces sound like sung!
First Published: 2022 December 5
It’s been a little over a month since m last posting about open mics. I’ve played by myself most weeks since then1, and it’s weird knowing just how much of a difference practicing makes. I still am not good at accordion, but I at least now know what songs go over better with the crowd.2
First Published: 2022 December 4
Matthew 3:9 “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
It’s the Second Sunday in Advent!. Today’s Gospel comes from Matthew, the writer most concerned with explaining how Christ was a fulfillment of Jewish prophecy.
John gives the Pharisees and Sadducees a chilling welcome, calling them not as brothers or fellow faithful members of the Chosen People, but as a brood of vipers. He goes on to tell them that their salvation is not guaranteed. Though it was originally directed at the religious of the time, the message remains true to us today.
We have been saved by the blood of the Lamb. That is only true if we truly accept that salvation, though. Being baptized cleansed us of our sin, but that was in the past. We still have the rest of our lives to live our The Almighty’s Will.
First Published: 2022 December 2
As with my last two posts about Dungeons and Dragons, I again was playing at the same friend’s house with the same DM. This was the third session in our module, which was prewritten by WotC. I predicted one of the major plot reveals,1 which was that the wise mentor on the island dedicated to dragons was, herself, a dragon. It’s been a fun time so far, and I’m really excited to finish out this module before starting another one. I don’t have much more to say right now, though I’m sure I’ll have more to say tomorrow.
I can’t remember the word for that right now↩
First Published: 2022 December 1
It’s the final month of 2022, which means that it’s my final monthly reflection for the year. I didn’t really set any goals in my first post of the year, but I did mention five things I was excited for then. I’ll reflect on those at the end of the year
My goals last month were:
Blog every day
Stretch every day.
Write a poem every day.
Finish NaNoWriMo successfully
Make progress towards catching up on BiaY
At least two entries in 242.
I blogged 13 times last month, which isn’t my best job ever. Hopefully this month goes better.
I stretched three times that I recorded, which is still progress technically.
I wrote a poem a day until the 22 or 23, when I abruptly stopped.
I did it!
I’m much closer now, though still not there
I only added one new entry.
That’s honestly slightly better than I normally do. I realized that I was using time I would often use for blogging for NaNoWriMo, which meant I didn’t want to blog as much. This month I’d like to write at least as much, but I guess I’ll have to see if I can do better about still blogging. Stretching remains a goal of mine that feels so unapproachable for some reason. Writing a poem a day did a lot to force me to write, though in addition to the prose I was doing, I don’t know if I still need it right now. NaNoWriMo was fun, and now my brother has pointed out how easily I could output a large sum of writing. I’m behind on 242, which is sad, but I guess encouragement for me to start doing things faster.
My goals for this month are:
Blog every day. This month is the month, I can feel it.
Stretch every day. ibid.
Write another 50000 word book. I saw that it was very possible last month, so I’d like to show myself that it is again.
Catch up on BiaY. If I want to finish this year, I need to be caught up by the end of the month.
Time to see how I do!
First Published: 2022 November 25
Hooray! I finished NaNoWriMo yesterday, nearly a week ahead of time. Sadly, there are still two achievements which require me to continue writing these next few days, so I will continue to do so.
Last time I was curious if the goal would be 0 after finishing the goal, which is somewhat true, Before I had put an increase in my wordcount today, the goal was zero. After doing so, the goal was 40, which is interesting. My writing continued to go more quickly throughout the month, which was nice. I
First Published: 2022 November 24
At this point, I’m more and more sure that I’m the only one who reads this blog, for all that I rarely do so. In many respects, that makes this mostly a write-only space. But, I am currently listening to an audiobook about the creative process, and there are some interesting ideas in it about creativity.
A brief search of my musings1 shows me that I have mentioned my muse in apparently only two posts, both of which are from my initial blog. In one, I talk about how I was blessed with a hyperfocused muse that day. In the other, I mention how my muse should be considered to have the name Janet that day.
The book talks about how writing more makes you more creative, though it does so in more of a spiritual sense than I think I am personally willing to ascribe to it. Still, it made me think about the fact that what I do now does shape who I am in the future.
So, to the future me, I hope that the writing I do now is helping you write better. To my muse, I hope that my willingness to keep writing will encourage you to keep giving me ideas.
thanks grep!↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 24
Last night1 I had the chance to watch a fantastic musical called “Come From Away.” It’s about the small Newfoundland town that suddenly nearly doubled in town on September 11, 2001 when planes were diverted to its airport. I really enjoyed the musical, because most of the music was clearly coming from the Newfoundland folk tradition, and there were certainly2 a number of nods to that great Canadian songsmith Stan Rogers, with his driving bass and rock influences.
The musical was interesting, especially in the way that it interspersed the serious with the profound with the funny and lighthearted. It gave me, at least, a similar feeling to what it must have felt like to be running without sleep for days in the midst of tragedy and love.
The mix wasn’t the best, but that could also just be where we were sitting. It was a fantastic show!
First Published: 2022 November 21
I just finished rereading Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor. The book tells the story of a housekeeper assigned to a former math professor who has suffered an accident which means he cannot remember anything more than 80 minutes in the past. The professor is brilliant, in love with mathematics, and a genuinely kind person. Most of the book focuses on the relationship between the professor and the housekeeper’s son, who form a bond over their shared love for baseball.
Reading the book was an interesting experience for me. The last time I read this book was more than half of my life ago,1 when my grandmother gave it to me. I don’t remember why she had the book, thought I would enjoy it, or what I took from it at the time, but throughout the entire reading of the book2, I kept remembering vague snippets of my childhood.
For a book about the lack of memory someone has, it was an interesting metaexperience reflecting on my own lack of memory about my last reading of it. Even without my own personal connection to the book, though, I did really enjoy it. It’s great as a person in science seeing a writer talking about the fundamental beauty of math, and the characters all feel real. More than that, though, most all of the characters in the book are kind people. Too often I find that fiction, especially realistic fiction, tries to paint a world where no one is motivated by the interest of the common good. This book does not do that.
Overall, I give it a very biased score of 5/5, and would likely still give it a 4.5/5 even without my history. I’d highly recommend reading it, especially since it’s so short.
First Published: 2022 November 21
Luke 23:37 “they called out, ‘If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.’”
The liturgical year’s last Sunday is always the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. In 2018, I noted that the year was the Year of Grace, though I don’t know what the year is this time.
Something I found really powerful about the readings is how they connect to each other and to Christ’s Kingship. The first reading shows us David’s entry into kingship, which is the line through which Christ claims His. The second reminds us that everything was created through Christ for Christ.
And, the Gospel serves to remind us what the King’s role is. He is not some warlord, conquering nations under a sword. Rather, he dies on behalf of those who revile and spite him.