作譜

I bought an iPod Nano on Thursday night. It’s a big deal for me because the Cult of Apple disturbs me.

I’m not a target market for Apple products. In fact, Apple marketing efforts tend to alienate me, and the breathless, unquestioned awe Apple fans have about the company’s products creeps me out. And the iTunes Music Store? Dead to me.

I was considering using the criteria chip used to purchase his MP3 player — and given my laziness, I probably would have just bought that same model — but I wasn’t interested features.

I wanted something cheap to take with me on the approximately 9-hour flights to and from Honolulu in April. I thought about an iPod Shuffle, but the lack of an interface would have driven me crazy on the plane. So I went with the cheapest Nano available (2GB Silver). What can I say? The ease of use won me over, and it supports UTF-8, which I like for all those pesky Japanese files I have.

It came in handy yesterday. Every time I bring my car in for servicing, I know I’m going to spend half the day at the dealership. So I bring books to read while I wait. It took five hours for this particular visit because I was getting my air conditioning recharged and the engine belt replaced. The only way I stayed sane was by listening to Shiina Ringo on the Nano.

Given the amount of Shiina Ringo on the player at the moment, I figured I should change the default name to 林檎ちゃん. 林檎 means "apple" in Japanese.

The Nano came with a pair of Apple logo stickers. The only apple branding I want to stick on anything is this one:

It’s official — I’m heading back to Hawaiʻi for a visit from April 24-30.

I will be missing a few of my synthesis classes, but by that time, we’ll be working on our final projects.

It’s rare that I would willingly go back home for a visit. The last two visits were borne of family obligation. This time, I’m actually dropping my own dime for no special occasion.

Well, that’s not exactly true.

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Here’s what I would be writing about if I still kept an online journal (which this site is not):

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Some numerical figures regarding my commute to work today …

• No. of minutes spent hauling bucket after bucket of hot water to melt the 1/2-inch of ice on the steps outside of my apartment: 20-30
• No. of minutes spent chipping ice off the windshield and exterior of my car: 20-30
• No. of minutes spent driving up Lamar Blvd. to get to work because I wanted to avoid the freeway: 60
• No. of minutes spent heading home on MoPac: 60

It took me two hours to get to work today. I waited till the weathermen reported the temperatures was at least 35 degrees before I started to melt the ice on my steps. In my zealousness to scrape the ice from my car — I used a screwdriver-type tool as an icepick — I ended up scratching the paint on my hood and my windshield. Oops.

I was rather amazed by the 1/2-inch of ice that built up on everything. The sight of my car complete encased in ice was just … weird. When I finally did get big chunks of ice off my car, it was tricky stepping around or through it once it fell on the ground. At one point during my drive up Lamar, a sizable chunk went flying off the hood. It looked like it would hit my windshield, but it didn’t. I was hoping it wouldn’t cause an accident behind me.

All that scraping and melting caught up with me in the afternoon — I wanted to take a nap at my desk.

This weekend, I’m eating out. I’m tired of frozen dinners and my own cooking. I had three days of it.

I might have enjoyed this whole ice storm thing if I weren’t literally trapped in my apartment for the past three days.

I don’t have any cleated shoes, and I live on the third floor. The steps were iced over, and there was no way I could descend. Well, I could have risked it, but I’m familiar enough with my lack of coordination not to risk breaking my neck or falling on my ass.

At the very least, I wanted to walk around the apartment complex, surveying the snow and ice on the ground. Instead, I had to appreciate it from a distance. And elevation.

I felt like Rapunzel.

It got slightly warmer today, and just to get out, I took my broom and spent an hour or so chipping away at the ice on the steps. I got three steps and a tiny portion of a flight cleared. Then I petered out. I went back in, curled up on the futon and let the fatigue catch up to me.

I’ve been watching the weather reports obsessively, hoping to gauge just when the temperatures will rise enough to melt the ice. Man, I don’t want to have to wait till noon. I didn’t think I’d see myself typing this, but I really wouldn’t mind going to work tomorrow.

I’ve had a four-day weekend this week. On Monday, I could have gone into work, but I didn’t want to risk my life trying to get back home, driving on icy roads. So I called in. Today, the office was closed.

I haven’t heard any rain coming down, so I peeked up from my computer to look out the window. I didn’t expect what I saw.

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Since the evening of Christmas Eve, the pinky and ring fingers on my left hand have been numb. I went to the doctor on Friday to find out why. Looks like there’s a pinched never somewhere near my funny bone, and at some point, the numbness should go away.

But in an effort not to excaberate the numbness, I’ve been staying away from posting to my sites or working in the studio. In short, I’ve been forced on vacation from all my side projects. If I am sitting in front of my computer, it’s to browse around, which means overusing my right hand with the mouse — not a great alternative.

So I’m going to post a few items today and spend the rest of the weekend either cleaning or watching TV. I think there’s an SVU marathon on USA today …

Even though my intent was to rip off Enigma, what I ended up doing was ripping off James Brown. So in tribute to the departed Godfather of Soul, here’s my contribution to the plethora of songs that sampled "Funky Drummer".

Eponymous 4 – enigmatics II

If you’re remotely thinking about buying something for me this Christmas, let it be this convenient item. Every little bit toward some monitor speakers, a Shure SM58 microphone, newer headphones or Ableton Live helps.

I don’t know how it happened or even when it happened. I just know one day, I discovered the Kawai K4 I bought from eBay back in January 2005 wasn’t working.

I brought it down to Strait Music Co. to see if it could be repaired, and after waiting a month for the repair guy to get to my keyboard, I learned it was beyond hope.

About half an hour ago, I dropped $250 on eBay for another Kawai K4. I had attempted to bid on a few postings in the past few days, but I always got outbid. I hate the bidding process. Tonight, a seller included a "Buy It Now!" option, which is how I bought it the last time. So that’s what I did again.

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