Never have ‘delusions of grandeur’...

 Rather, have expectations for BETTER.

Ever go for a walk at 5 o’clock in the morning because you felt like you had all of the backing of generations of your ancestors behind you? Like literally feeling their hands on your shoulders, ready to support you in anything you do? No? Just me?

That’s ok. It’s how my morning started. I put two feet on the ground, took piss, had some food, it was a good day. What was different, except from the obvious?

Today I put two feet on the ground and went farther. Can I do it again tomorrow? I don’t know. Will it have horrendous consequences if I try? Maybe. Should that stop me from even considering it? Nope.

It is unlikely that I will be an Olympic champion. It is unlikely that I will run competitively at any level. However, I will never know unless I at least try to put one foot in front of the other, and at least have the confidence to chase bugs and outrun at least one zombie.

I’m gonna need more D-Ribose...

It’s here! The morin khurr has arrived! It’s absolutely lovely and it even smells good, I mean especially good. Kinda like the ‘new car’ version of a wood shop smell. And, the bow isn’t synthetic either...it’s real horse hair. Which is as it should be :)

Totally worth the wait and working backwards.

If you’d like to see an example of how amazing and versatile this instrument is—and why my biceps are so feck’n sore—check out this dude’s cover of 

‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Watch it in full screen— the fingering is *under* the two strings...it’s bonkers.

Enjoy!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FyQRSZzPzkQ

Stop it!

 Before you go all ‘Ok boomer’ on me, know that I’m speaking to you as an enlightened youth. Trust me, there’s a plethora of things I’m waaaaay too young to know; this double post is worth risking the ‘hungry blog’ and tech gremlins for. I’m asking nicely for you to stop doing stupid shit and pay attention, cuz I’m gonna cite some sources.

I’ve posted before about how my I.D. doesn’t have a barcode on it so I can’t buy stuff like Sudafed, certain other medications, money orders, or anything that requires scanning your I.D.—mine is issued through my state’s Commission for the Blind.

 There’s other things too, and I realize that the problem is with the type of I.D., but stick with me here. I’m hoping that this post gets around and people will realize that their actions could have a serious impact. I’m referring to the recent craze of idiots guzzling Benadryl. 

I have life threatening allergies and trouble swallowing (I’ll allow a lewd joke there), so I sometimes need the liquid... and I’ll get it at the dollar store. Thanks to rash (like that one?)  and shameless acts by my generation for views on social media, somebody will probably pass a bit of legislation restricting sales of diphenhydramine. 

This is a link to a video by a toxicologist about what happens when you drink two bottles of liquid Benadryl:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NaAFOrudj0g

I really enjoy his stuff, but not under these circumstances.

Here’s a link to his video about gobbling detergent pods:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PmibYliBOsE

And one more about the ‘Nutmeg Challenge’. I highly recommend this one, as Dr.Bernard is pretty adamant about not doing stupid things for a little bit of fame:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3H23g5kT0

You may also have heard that our Dear Leader is ‘trying to shut down/ban TikTok’ (also WeChat). While this has more to do with those platforms being owned by China, given all the stupid ‘challenges’ and rash behaviours that have been incited, is that such a bad thing? 

It’s a great idea if you’re gonna keep doing stupid shit. It’s a terrible idea for folks that legitimately use those platforms for business, marketing, communication, and cheap therapy. I couldn’t find the original article I wanted to cite, but here’s the link to CNBC’s post:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/09/18/trump-to-block-us-downloads-of-tiktok-wechat-on-sunday-officials-tell-reuters.html

So, I urge you to *really* think about your actions and the consequences they can have. Don’t give me that ‘stay woke’ shit when I can’t even step ‘out my house cuz of your stank ass weed when I can’t get Benadryl cuz you wanted to be famous.

Please share this. There will always be silly things, but try and be aware of the consequences of your actions down the line. I can’t stop you from eating detergent pods or putting baby powder on your twat, but maybe with your help we can get barcodes on all the I.D.s and call it a truce. 

I still don’t know why MCB I.D.s don’t have barcodes, but here’s two posts where I talk about them. The second one has a brief mention about how I have to wait for strangers to pay for money orders and then hand them cash. Yeah, it’s that stupid.

https://friendswithvoltaire.blogspot.com/2018/03/this-is-pretty-stupid.html?m=1

https://friendswithvoltaire.blogspot.com/2018/04/rant-about-paying-brioche.html?m=1

Stumped

 There’s a perfectly good tree stump a few houses down. I’m gonna try and bribe my Significant Artist with some food to see if he’ll roll it home later. It looks like it’s just about the right dimension to sit comfortably on while ‘playing’ the erhu...it came two days ago :) 

  The morin khurr’s been here about a month and a half, but it was shipped to a different address—so I’m waiting for a Wildebeest to deliver it.

So far, it doesn’t sound like I’m strangling cats at all! I also had it tuned quite well—inner string D4, outer string A4–on the first go. That’s impressive for a functional person... but I’m partially deaf and can’t feel vibrations as much due to nerve damage. 

I had surgery to correct it, but I still have difficulty and wasn’t wearing my hearing aid while tuning. I suppose  it was all that time I spent trying to get to the Selenetic Age that really helped...

I also had a thought a few weeks back—although the erhu is a much better choice for me over a violin price wise and because of various disabilities, there’s just a slight problem. Since my wrists are a bit floppy due to the Ehlers-Danlos, I’ll probably have to get a wrist brace. Holding the bow is like holding hands, except there’s no way to compensate for the joint laxity. So, I guess after I get a wrist brace I’ll get to experience what it’s like to hold hands like everyone else. Thanks erhu! 

AAA!

 One of the Wildebeests would like you to know the following: You’re not stupid! Anytime anybody calls such a name, YOU—yes, you—despite everything you’ve ever done, can prove them wrong! You do have that card particular membership card, though...right? 

Oh, c’mon now! The one that you NEVER think is gonna cover your boneheaded mistakes—that are never actually that bad, and everyone else has already made? Yeah, that card. If you have it, then you’re not stupid! But if you don’t have it, you’re an idiot.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re talking about AAA here. The Wildebeest locked his car keys in the trunk and ran down the list of possibilities including his solution for last time, calling the police. 

Neither the blue coats nor the fire department had the necessary equipment, and suggested a locksmith. The phone calls went on and the price tag went up. Finally, I asked what I thought would have been an obvious question, ‘Do you have AAA?’

He did...that’s what they’re there for folks! 

They came out in under an hour and the keys were rescued.   

Where were you at precisely 2am?!

Uhh...I was at home. It was there that I made the discovery that I have really weird knuckles. Cuz, you know, I was drawing topo maps on my hands...

No cats were harmed during the making of this ‘music’

The wildebeests have gotten me a Morin Khurr!!! Aka, Mongolian Horsehead fiddle. I’ve been throat singing for years, which is actually going about things backwards, traditionally—you start with the Morin Khurr for 10yrs, then you throat sing.

Oh well, I’ve never been one for conforming....

While I’m waiting for it to arrive, I’ve also decided to get myself an Erhu, aka Chinese violin.
They’re actually quite similar in technique, but not as expensive. That’s why I brought myself the Erhu ;)   Although, price wise if you’re looking for a decent practice violin (which I was), a Morin khurr will cost about the same.

So, why the sudden interest in stringed things? Well, it’s not sudden at all. I’ve been wanting to get all thematic and get my Holmes on for years. However, the few occasions I’ve had to pick up a violin it’s not sounded god awful, I’m sure that’s no safeguard against any serious pursuit sounding like I’m strangling cats. Bearing that in mind, do I sound like someone who gives a ‘flying farnack’?

Unfortunately, because I have trouble with my neck and shoulders, hearing loss, and also holding things... I knew that I’d never be able to play a violin. At least not in the traditional sense ;)
Although, as I mentioned previously, for the same price as a decent practice violin, I could get a Morin khurr.

For me, that sealed the deal. It can be played sitting or standing, only has two strings, and I’ve researched the heck out of the parts...cuz they might be a little harder to find here. But, Local music shoppe is willing to help and showed me parts that could be modified. I stopped in last year to ask about parts and also talk about another love of mine..yaybahars....

Anywho, so yeah that’s coming :)  And the Erhu which is similar but much smaller body (almost like a really long ladle)—so we’ll sound amazing to our neighbors!
Also, as a surprise I got a didgeridoo for the wildebeest with sleep apnea.
I have no idea what kind of ensemble we’ll have if you throw in the sassy space organ...but that’s how it goes around here at the pizza collective

That’s sound of the men working on...

We here at ‘The Pizza Collective’ —I don’t even remember remember how the wildebeests came up with that one—aren’t exactly musically inclined...but we’ve had some exposure and aren’t god awful or tone deaf either.

I used that to make a solid case for scavenging an electric organ we found.
*Somehow* we got into the car ok without removing the legs.
However, I leave the wildebeests alone with the thing, come back, and find it flipped completely over  and they’re freaking out cuz they can’t get it out of the car... and this is AFTER I took the legs off!

So, they’ve got this thing so it’s laying on an angle cuz the foot pedal is wedged under the seat, but the rest of it is nearly flat...ON THE FREAK’N  KEYS!!!
                                                    *face palm*
They’re all flustered and want to stop there, and I very firmly, but gently reminded them that we could get by with the now missing sliders, and newly freed foot pedal, but *really* needed the keyboard to not get fucked up.

So, my blind ass wobbles over and reminds them how the laws of physics work. We get the thing just so we can shut doors of the poor Honda, and the wildebeests wander off the bed...at approximately 7 or so in the morning.

At around noon we all went out and tried again. After I got tired of being the foreman, it took me about five minutes to assess what was happening, explain the physics of it, get everyone in position, and then a few more minutes to make it happen.

And now we have a ‘sassy space organ’! She’s not perfect, but makes really cool sounds (some even unprompted), and most importantly, has a perfectly tuned scale...also she won’t catch on fire. Always a plus.

Initially, I’m thinking ‘Oh! Ear training, yay!’
But, this oh, this gets much more interesting....

I Swear! I’ve not had a drop!

One of the Wildebeests (household inhabitants) has sleep apnea. So, he’s given up drinking awhile ago. But, with pubs and what not  reopening, he’s just gonna order a soda...which he already drinks plenty of anyhow...and then we’ll just start singing ‘Go for a Soda’.

So, yesterday Significant artist and I surprised him with some O’Douls— so we could all celebrate what the world has come to! :)

I am scavenger, and I thrive...

Scored half a case of organic baby arugula this morning! Gotta *LOVE* freecycle! It’s a really cool site I found out about in college, and you never know what’ll turn up on a post. You can request stuff too.

Just sign up for your area, and you’re good to go! Everything’s free! But... you have handle the pickup yourself. So, have fun with that to-scale model of the Starship Enterprise