Condensed, compressed and condescended

It’s Valentine’s Day.

It is not my favorite holiday. It’s the sort of holiday that I have a sense of “If you need this one, you’re doing something wrong in you relationship.”
This is of course aggravated by my general lack of people skills, and lack of emotional expressiveness.

However, not being a complete idiot*, I do want to take a moment to say that I’ve been incredibly fortunate for a great number of years to have been able to spend nearly every day with Kate, whom, as far as I know, still hasn’t invested in a shotgun or small explosives to resolve the Tim issue.

Kate makes me coffee, doesn’t strangle me in my sleep, and looks damn good naked, has excellent taste in reading material, makes awesome stuff in a variety of media, thinks about sewing machines in the same way I think about power tools, and understands that potatoes are not just filler, but contain several of the things that make life worth living, the outstanding balance of which she’s got covered between her indomitable will and magnificent sweater puppies.

She’s the good stuff, the Real McCoy, and a sharp-tongued, smart assed powerhouse of General and Categorial Awesomeness.

Love you, Muffin. Happy Valentines!

*exclusively for definitions of “idiot” used by tech support staff. via Facebook
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“I call the right axe Sorrow,” she said. “You know what I call the left one?”

“Happiness?”

“Sorrow. I can’t tell them apart”

–The Magician’s Land, Lev Grossman via Facebook
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It’s 8:45.
Fewer than 20% of votes have been reported.
So far, it looks like Sanders and Trump.

However, most of those reports are in smaller areas. This ain’t done yet, so stop reporting it like it’s a done deal. via Facebook
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It’s Sloppy Joe day! via Facebook
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International Beverage Fantasy:

Moxie and IRN-BRU exchange distribution and manufacturing rights. via Facebook
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It’s taken me years to realize this, but my brain doesn’t actually process a lot of pop and rock as music-to-listen-to-and-engage-with. I find a lot of it extremely challenging to learn to play because I don’t hear it as “music” but as background noise.
It’s like my threshold of what counts as “elevator music” is way out of calibration, and I literally can’t find the music in a lot of the stuff.

From a listening standpoint, there’s not enough going on to occupy my brain in popular music. From a playing standpoint, it turns into highway hypnosis is really short order, and I keep falling asleep at the wheel. Its’ like everything that’s bad about being ADD catches up to me here, and it feels like a really annoying limitation – I can play the stuff, technically, but it’s really hard to stay focused and on track.

Let me try to explain with examples: my favorite naptime listening of late are Burzum’s “Fallen” and a mixed playlist of old Pere Ubu and the Fall tracks. I find all the input and complex harmonic and often dissonant elements really comforting. I also like listening to a lot of off-kilter jazz to unwind – Fushitsusha, Zorn’s Naked City work, and his IAO album all top the list: they are constant floods of complex input, and make my brain spin and dance in ecstasies of labor that take me to a place where I can rest.

On the other hand, I spend tons of energy when listening to pop and pop-rock waiting for something to happen, and it rarely does. It’s like dry-humping past the point where it’s enjoyable, and getting boring and painful – there’s neither cessation or release, and yet it’s like you can’t stop, either, because you might miss something interesting – this *MIGHT* be the night. via Facebook
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