Monthly Archives: November 2008

Silence

Posted on by

I have music piped all through my home, all interconnected to my computer so that it can follow me wherever I go.  I serve it up to any room(s) I choose and I can even control it from my phone.  I think that its probably one of the technological marvels in my life I appreciate the most.  Yet I am still left in silence when I don’t turn anything on…

One of the major reasons I have an iPhone is because it gives me something to listen to pretty much anywhere I am, but for some reason when I’m home I forget.  I love music to death but I think my ADD is a major contributor to this problem.  I will be running from project to project and forget to put something on in between.  Or I will stop and hear the silence when I’m doing things but I can’t bring myself to sacrifice the tenuous grasp I have on my current train of thought to do something about it.  

Music is helpful to me in many ways.  It helps me keep time, subconsciously as I go through each album.  When I clean I like something with a beat to keep me motivated and active, something I can bounce to while I do the laundry like Kaskade [iTunes].  I like songs that I can dance to while I dodge the Roomba and wash the dishes like Bitter:Sweet [iTunes].  In fact, I listen something with a beat pretty much all the time.  It keeps me going and gives me something I can latch on to without thinking too hard about the lyrics.

But, there are times when I don’t want clubby thumps, martini-bar cool riffs, or even my indie rock, but something a little introspective.  Something that is simple yet kind of complex depending on how much I have running through my head.  In these moments I turn to albums from Sigur Rös [iTunes], Hurricane [iTunes], or even some BT [iTunes].  Definitely not music for everyone.  Other albums from roughly the same line are a bit too far out there for me such as Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

In a way I think of it like arranging the score for my life.  I’m not in full swing at every moment.  Sometimes there are quiet scenes where I’m sitting there staring into the corner thinking over something trivial/important and I want music that sounds like I’m having the epiphany I’m hoping for.  Other times I may be sad or discouraged and I’ll want something soulful that I’m not going to over-analyze, tinged with hope or a smattering of brightness or calm.  I feed off my music and it’s like an appendage or some external lobe of my brain that my emotions key into.

I learned long ago, and I seem to re-learn from time to time that I have to be careful when picking my music.  I have found that I can amplify melancholy, anger, or despair just as much as I can excitement, happiness, or playfulness.  But just as much as I can amplify a bad mood, I can undermine it with some peppy music as well.  So as much as I arrange the score for my life, I can also play mechanic using the sounds to help keep things in check.

I just have thought about this today.  I came home from work with the intention of reading and have only been able to do so fitfully.  When reading, it seems that silence is exactly what I need so I can become fully engrossed in the story.  But after thinking about it, I realized that with nothing better going on, I sit in silence at home more than I realize.  There is a lot of silence in my home as that is one of the dangers of living alone, but when I remember or have the attention span to take action I fill my space with the sounds that help me just be.

TJHO: Dead Creatures Edition, Vol. 3

Posted on by

And now, for the conclusion… (or is it?)

The latest thrilling contact with household pests/freeloaders/invaders came just a about a month ago while prepping the furnace for cold weather.  In the most appropriate OCD fashion, I meticulously vacuumed every possible square inch of duct I could reach in the vents and returns.  I spent a good hour or more doing this before proceeding down into the crawl space below the house.  This same crawl space which had previously housed BLACK WIDOWS and other pests.

The gas was shut off and the area properly vented for several days so I could vacuum out all the dust and copious spiderwebs from the lower reaches of the ductwork.  As soon as I removed the filter from the furnace, I noticed what looked like a piece of yarn or pipe cleaner which was bent around far retainer bracket for the filter.   A brief moment of dread flitted across my mind and I dismissed it, seeing the large collection of crap which had collected literally everywhere.  It was mindboggling just how much crap there was to clean out.

I slowly worked my way from from back to front, working toward that pipe cleaner only to find that it was attached to something more.  Feeling rather like Howard Carter after the long work meticulous excavation, I discovered the mummified remains of a mouse.  In contrast to the last two experiences, I was not the responsible, directly or indirectly, for this creature’s death.  This did not bring me much relief, however, as the discovery was accompanied by a fit hand wringing and dancing around on tip-toe while willing the problem to resolve itself.

(Did I mention that this was done in both previous cases?  No?  Well it happened and I’m not ashamed to admit it!!!  We all cope in different ways!)

I used an old grocery bag to retrieve the tiny little carcass and dispose of the evidence and began disinfecting EVERYTHING IN SIGHT.  I followed this up with the installation of the most megalithic überfilter I could find at my local home improvement store and buttoned everything up and began to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

As of the time I am writing this, I’ve been very lucky and thankful to enjoy a critter-free home.  I’m very sure that this will not be my last escapade in dealing with dead creatures.  Home ownership is and always will be full of moments like this: sometimes dead animals, other times exciting plumbing, the list goes on.  It’s all about the spin I put on instances like this which determine just how frustrating or humorous they turn out to be.  I tend to aim for humor, it seems to be much easier to handle in the long run and makes me less crazy when I stumble into the next exciting disaster.

Hope & Change

Posted on by

I can’t begin to describe the elation and excitement that I have experienced in the last few days.  Barack Obama won the presidential election.  Let me rephrase that…  BARACK OBAMA WON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!!  *ahem* Sorry let me compose myself…

This man won the hearts of the many in this nation and has won their votes and confidence to make him the president-elect.  He has had the audacity to use the word ‘Hope’ in the deepest sense of the word, reaching out to us as citizens and asking, challenging, and inspiring us to have hope for a better world.  On a gut level, he asked us to have hope that our desires for better could be more than a fleeting figment in the face of the fear and doubt that we have had for so many years.  Hope that we may see our country once more as a “shining city upon a hill”.

He backed that sentiment up with the promise of change.  Change that he would help catalyze using the power of the presidency as well as his intellect for the nation.  Change which we as a people could more than hope for, but make for ourselves.  His very election being the first of many notable and dramatic changes that show we are so much more than a herd of panicked sheep.  For the first time in many years I feel emboldened to try and bring about constructive changes in my sphere of influence to help my community.

I look forward to seeing what this new future set before us has in store.  We will have so many opportunities to grow as individuals and as a nation.  I hope to see an increase in classic American can-do attitude, to see people not shrink from a fight for what they need or want.  I hope to see a future where we are all united in a new push to help ourselves, our neighbors, and our country.

Reading over the sentiment expressed above it’s hard not to feel like it is somewhat over the top and very sappy.  But it very much represents the sheer vastness of the excitement I feel for the future.  I realize that, though I very much enjoy Barack Obama and feel confident in him as a leader, mistakes will most certainly be made.  Hopefully they will be small, but there will be mistakes.  I know that this new president will be met with doubt, fear, cynicism and  mistrust from many people, I just hope in time that they will be able to see a small glimpse of the vision I see here.  I am excited to see what will come and to see how much hope and change the actions of this new administration are able to bring about.  I have hope that there will be great changes to help bring us back around to the America I  grew up learning about from textbooks and was excited to be citizen of.