First Published: 2018 November 3
People who know me might know that I’m somewhat flighty. Despite this, I really try to build my days around touchstones, or events that are required at a certain place and time. This works nicely in a majority of my life, as academics and extracurriculars provide this. Somehow, having anything to do in a day makes me keep track of the entire day so much better.
But, some days don’t have any events. Even Sundays, where I attend Mass, don’t feel like an event, because there are multiple options for time. These past two days in particular, I feel as though time has simply passed me by. I don’t really know where the last 48 hours went, though I know they must have gone somewhere. Such is life I suppose.
Normally I keep my days very structured. While it isn’t the structure that most people think of,1 I have the entirety of my days flow around focal points, as a way to orient myself. So, when I have days with no imposed structure, they tend to disappear.
Today is a great example of this. I woke up at nearly 11 am, because I had no reason not to. Over the next hour and a half, I apparently wrote.2 After that, I think I watched a tv show until 5, when I helped people make dinner, and then did activities with friends. But, the day still feels as though it’s barely started. I don’t like this feeling.
First Published: 2018 November 2
Today I began mapping the keystrokes on my keyboard to Celtic knots. I’ve mapped around a quarter of the letters,1 and have been able to begin drawing with what I’ve made. It may not have been one of my most productive four hours in terms of benefit to the world or self, but it was productive in the sense of losing myself to the project, if only for a bit.
Today, I made a font!
Technically.
Maybe.
Let me check the definition.
Maybe? I’m unsure what I made. I guess: I made a series of images that correspond to the letters on the computer keyboard.
Technically, even if I were to call it a font, I’m missing most of the characters. The characters I’ve mapped are: A,C,D,E,F,G,Q,R,T,W,X,Z,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,q,r,s,t,w,z,z, (space),1,2,3,4,!,@,#,$. What I made was a Celtic knot generation font. So, each letter had a different symbol attached to it, so that I could make the knots I’ve been drawing more easily and quickly. It was a semi-productive way to kill four hours, and I’m not quite done yet,2 but I had a good time.
First Published: 2018 November 1
As many of you know, today is All Saints Day. Coincidentally, that means that today is also the first of November. Now, in addition to being the month dedicated to a focus on men’s1 mental health, November is also NaNoWriMo.2 And, since I lack most of the time consuming activities I have at Grinnell,3 I have more free time here. So, I decided I’d try to write 50,000 additional words this month, or around 1700 a day. Now, according to my quick and dirty approximation, I’ve written approximately 750 words a day for these posts.
That’s a shame. I guess that I’m going to have to triple my daily word count, since this isn’t an excuse for me to stop posting, and I don’t want to subject others to the horror of my attempts at creative writing.
First Published: 2018 October 31
If I’ve learned anything these past few days, it’s that I broke a mirror a little more than seven years ago. For those of you who don’t have superstitious family, legend says that breaking a mirror causes seven years of bad luck. Now, I’m not saying this as a comment about my lack of luck these past seven years. As far as I can remember,1 I’ve had a pretty great seven years. However, these past few days have been somehow so much better.
To begin: yesterday afternoon I found out that I had won the Hamilton lottery.2 Of course, this was a slightly double-edged sword,3 because I was seeing Book of Mormon earlier in the afternoon. But, when I went to the first show, it was great. I got free gummis, and had a great view of the stage.
After the show, I checked my email. I found out that I had been accepted to a reception at Parliament a professor had applied for on my behalf. That’s super exciting.
Then I went to Hamilton. I was in the middle of the front row, and was tall enough that I could still see most of the show. At the end of the show, I got to take a photo with the conductor!
I love taking photos with techies, because they’re always so much nicer than actors when I ask to take photos with them. So, here’s to another seven years of apparently good luck.
Apparently I broke a mirror a little over seven years ago. Now, this isn’t to say that I have had poor luck before this, but these past few days I’ve felt uniquely lucky. First, yesterday I found out that I had won the lottery for Hamilton.4 Today at Book of Mormon,5 I was given free gummi bears. Then, I found out that I had a great view of the stage for the show. When I left the show, I learned that I would get to attend a reception at Parliament in two weeks. At Hamilton, I learned that I was in the center of the front row. Then, to end it, I got to take a photo with the conductor! Overall, life is going great.
First Published: 2018 October 30
A few days ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to see Resonet at the Brighton Early Music Festival. Now, I didn’t know it at the time, but, despite the fact that England is smaller than Iowa, it takes longer to get from point a to point b. And, I also was unaware that Brighton was on the southern edge of the country. All this is to say that what I thought would be a .5-1 hour trip ended up being an almost 5 hour round trip to get to the concert.
The show was medieval music, featuring Resonet together with Brighton Early Music Choir.1 The choir was nice, but not extremely notable, which is to be expected from community choir. Resonet’s director played a citola, and did so with equal parts grace and style. That is, at times he played with flourishes and showmanship, and at others, very subdued and calm. Their percussionist seemed to have the perfect backdrop for every piece, from a gong to a dulcimer. Although I was promised a hurdy gurdy that never appeared, the instrumentalist on recorder and bagpipes was stunning.2 The final instrumentalist played recorder and shawm and did so wonderfully.
As for the singers, the baritone had the voice made for singing love songs. The soprano was clear and pure, and the countertenor slotted perfectly between the two.
But, as is becoming the case more and more, much of my enjoyment of the show did not come from the scripted portions. I met a wonderful older woman3 who I chatted with for a good half of an hour or so. The interactions I can make like that are part of why I love music and cities.
I also got a chance to speak with the conductor about his citola, the piper about his pipes, and the dulcimist4 about his dulcimer. It was all great fun, and well worth being out too late.
All in all, it was a great time, and I forgot how nice it is to watch live music in a small5 space.
Today I had the wonderful opportunity to see Resonet at the Brighton Early Music Festival. Those of you with a grasp of English geography may know that Brighton is 2 hours by public transit from London. I did not, but do now.
The show was medieval music, featuring a group and the Brighton Choir. The choir was nice. The group’s director played a citola, and did so with equal parts grace and style. Their percussionist seemed to have the perfect backdrop for every piece, including a dulcimer. Although I was promised a hurdy gurdy that never appeared, the instrumentalist on recorder and bagpipes was stunning. The final instrumentalist played recorder and shawm and did so wonderfully.
As for the singers, the baritone had the voice made for singing love songs. The soprano was clear and pure, and the countertenor slotted perfectly between the two.
But, as is becoming the case more and more, much of my enjoyment of the show did not come from the scripted portions. I met a wonderful older woman6 who I chatted with for a good half of an hour or so. The interactions I can make like that are part of why I love music and cities.
I also got a chance to speak with the conductor about his citola, the piper about his pipes, and the dulcimist7 about his dulcimer. It was all great fun, and well worth being out too late.8
wow I wish Grinnell had an early music choir↩︎
I’m still annoyed that there wasn’t a hurdy gurdy↩︎
which should be unsurprising to anyone familiar with early music, as older people are the overwhelming majority of attendees↩︎
this is the term I choose to use, regardless of correctness↩︎
i.e. not multiple tiers of people↩︎
which should be unsurprising to anyone familiar with early music, as older people are the overwhelming majority of attendees↩︎
this is the term I choose to use, regardless of societal norms↩︎
though I am writing this on the trip back, and may feel differently when I arrive↩︎
First Published: 2018 October 29
Tonight, I had the wonderful fortune of seeing The Height of the Storm at Wyndham’s Theatre. It was a very confusing show, layering time, subjective and objective realities colliding within a fracturing mind. It hit me very powerfully, although I haven’t had to watch someone around me undergo it. I have felt some of the deja vu that the show plays with, especially when thinking about my grandparents.
The stage was interesting. When I first saw it, I felt a little nauseous, because it felt almost as if a two point perspective drawing made in three dimensions. However, as the show progressed, it began to feel more and more natural.
First Published: 2018 October 28
Mark 10:47 “On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.’”
Today’s gospel shows us that even when the world is against us, Christ is for us. Bartimeaus1 calls to the Lord. People around him mock him, and yet he persists. But when the Lord answers him, he doesn’t ask for all his problems to be solved. Rather, he asks for divine intervention only in the part of his life which needs it, his loss of sight.
To me, that’s the other part of the message of today’s gospel. We are told that we can ask God for help, and that He will answer, even if those around scorn us. But, we should ask him only for what we cannot ourselves, or cannot via mortal means, accomplish.
which the reading informed me means son of Timeaus↩︎
First Published: 2018 October 27
Like I’ve mentioned before, I1 compose. But, that composition is always alyrical or setting words to music. But, today on the bus I was playing with the2 ukulele.3 Someone asked me to sing a song about them, so I tried to make one up.
Unsurprisingly, I thought it was better than those around me. A heckler told me that I needed rhymes. There I remembered I do horribly under pressure. But, as I pushed through, I remembered how to think of rhymes and rhythms in real time.
Then the ride ended and we got off the bus.
So, on the journey home, my mind was running with creative song ideas. Since pop country is the furthest acceptable genre from pure country music allowed in rural Iowa, I decided that I would write in that genre. The fact that there aren’t many genres that you can do4 with male voice and ukulele helped me come to that conclusion/
As I started writing though, I’d get stuck about one couplet5 into each set of lyrics. Every so often I’d end up with a whole verse6 before realizing that I had nowhere to go with the lyrics.
Finally, I got a verse and chord progression that sounded nice and left me room to grow.7 Now all I need is another verse, a chorus, and a second set of verses. Easy.8
Like I’ve mentioned before, I9 compose. And, today on the bus I was playing with the ukulele.10 Someone asked me to sing a song about them, so I tried to make one up.
I thought it was ok, until someone yelled that it needed to rhyme. I then learned that I can’t think of rhymes when put under pressure.11 But, right as the ride ended, my creative flow kicked in. That meant that my head started thinking of music.
And, since everyone loves a good country song,12 my mind started thinking of country music. But, I can’t write a normal country song. Despite living in what the Census defines as a “rural” area, I didn’t have the experiences that a country song tends to need. I didn’t have a dog that I loved and lost, or a heartbreak, or an unhealthy relationship with alcohol or a car. To rebut the comment about singing anyways, I can’t be that fake. My high school friends would find out.
So, about one couplet13 into each set of lyrics, I’d get stuck. Finally, I got a whole verse out. Now I’m stuck. But, I figured out the melody,14 which is good because I tend to forget melodies. So, I’ve got four lines, a melody, and a chord progression. If I can just get four more lines and a chorus, I’m cooking.
attempt to↩︎
because there’s only one in my life↩︎
as I always do when given an instrument↩︎
well, do well at least↩︎
two lines↩︎
four lines↩︎
yay!↩︎
?↩︎
attempt to↩︎
as I do when given an instrument↩︎
so there goes my rap career↩︎
don’t lie, Take Me Home, Country Roads is the best song around↩︎
two lines↩︎
and wrote it down, which is more important↩︎
First Published: 2018 October 26
Today, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Stonehenge. It’s definitely not a monument I had ever planned on visiting, so the fact that I went to it is really cool to me. It’s certainly more impressive and large than the mental image I had before seeing it.
Also, I brought my ukulele with me today, and while at a pub, was told that I could play it if I wanted. While playing John Denver’s beloved Take Me Home, Country Roads, an elderly man at the bar joined along in singing. It was great!
First Published: 2018 October 25
Today, I had the opportunity of attending the Grinnellians in London1 alumni meetup. It was really interesting. After an hour or so of socializing, we were given a talk about Global Grinnell, and its initiatives.
I found it interesting that the focus was solely on English2 people we were bringing to Grinnell. When I asked about things that did not fit into this catagory, I was given a few examples in the social studies division, and theatre. I find it odd that we don’t do anything with S and M3 in a Global Grinnell, especially since more and more students are majoring in those disciplines. But, maybe I just phrased my question badly.