"Ennio & Dario" (P.o.t.D. 7/7/15, no rev)

Terror hunts me now,
Hinted by my phone's music -
Do I like these songs?

"Changing Our Tunes" - contest - The last analog generation (P.o.t.D. 5/19/15, rev 5/19/17)

When I was ten, and my brother fifteen,
We'd wage war with plastic models reworked.
His flagship? A SR-71
With a launching bay for a small fighter...
That was '82, when we played vinyl.

The summer I turned nineteen, I played games,
Like Battletech, at a fantasy con,
With friends I had met a few weeks before
Through BBS networks, across Dallas...
'91, and walkmans still held some sway.

I was 28, living like Spartans
With roommates who would play lots of board games.
Strange that no computer was always on,
We couldn't afford that necessity...
2000, probably CD's last years.

Now, I'm 42, though youths would not know
How that's the "Answer", because they don't read
Anything beyond their Facebook news feed.
Alas, I find myself playing phone games...
Today, we download and skip radio.

"Food for Thought" (was "Unfinished Media Meanderings?" (P.o.t.D. 2/1/16))

Like a steadfast woodpecker
Meticulously digging at my brain,
The clock beats out its seconds
In its Chinese Water Torture refrain...

'Do I want to write angry words,
Railing at Flint's dirty water,
Or suicidal open mics,
Or psychopaths for President?'

Just a slice of the "news",
Eating Facebook pizza -
Quite a bit unhealthy
If gorged on each minute,
Of each day, all these years;
Leading to drying up
Of desensitized tears...

Drifting, I focus on the color orange.
I wonder, "Will my Longhorn spirit show?
Will I wander down a mental alley
With a decadent, sweet, innocent fruit -
Rolling beside me, and yet unaware
That soon, it will be skinned and devoured?"
Most of the adjectives I am drawn to
Seem to be visual - colors or fruits...

Or hard to make rhymes with...

How I thirst for metaphors,
Twists of words deep in my brain;
Awaiting the woodpecker,
Or possibly Pink Floyd's worms...

I want to listen to the bards,
Instead of the clock-knocking birds,
Or the silence of stores so bare.

So, I plug in my phone
And blast the tunes so loud,
Hoping musical noise
Will find a buried home
That attention allows
To become my mind's toys.

"Unfinished Media Meanderings?" (P.o.t.D. 2/1/16)

Like a steadfast woodpecker
Meticulously digging at my brain,
The clock beats out seconds
In its Chinese Water Torture refrain...

I ask if I want
To write angry words,
Railing at dirty water
Or suicidal open mics
Or psychopaths running for President...

Just a slice of the "news"
Gathered from Facebook pizza -
Probably a bit unhealthy
If gorged on every minute
Of every day, for years;
All leading to a drying up
Of desensitized tears...

Then I focus on the color orange.
I wonder, "Will my Longhorn spirit arise,
Or will I wander down a mental alley
With a decadent, sweet fruit -
Unaware that it may soon be skinned and devoured?"
Most of the adjectives I'm drawn to
Seem to be colors -
Maybe indicative of a visual mind?

How I thirst for a lovely metaphor,
Or a twist of words
Sunk deep into my brain,
Awaiting the woodpecker,
Or possibly Pink Floyd's worms...
(Or Waits' "Sixteen Shells"...?)

I want to listen to the bards,
Instead of the knocking birds,
Or the silence of a store so bare.
So, I plug in my phone
And blast the tunes so loud,
Hoping some mix of noise
Will find a safe home
That my attention allows
To become one of my attic toys.

"Ennio & Dario" (P.o.t.D. 7/7/15)

Terror hunts me now,
Hinted by my phone's music -
Do I like these songs?

contest - The last analog generation (P.o.t.D. 5/19/15)

When I was ten, and my brother fifteen,
We'd wage war with plastic models reworked.
His flagship? A SR-71
With a launching bay for a small fighter...
That was '82, when we played vinyl.

The summer I turned nineteen, I played games,
Like Battletech, at a fantasy con,
With friends I had met a few weeks before
Through BBS networks, across Dallas...
'91, and walkmans still held some sway.

I was 28, living like Spartans
With roommates who would play lots of board games.
Strange that no computer was always on,
We couldn't afford that necessity...
2000, probably CD's last years.

Now, I'm 42, though youths would not know
How that's the "Answer", because they don't read
Anything beyond their Facebook news feed.
Alas, I find myself playing phone games...
Today, we download and skip radio.

Insanity Lessons: Be Aware of Your Sensory Input

One of the things I've come to learn is that my environment Can affect my mood. 

For example, playing classical music or jazz or just something familiar can be much more comforting and calming then, say, playing Death Metal or - shudder - Talk Radio.  Of course, those are my personal preferences, and yours are likely to differ.  I think I might be the rare person who can appreciate both Phillip Glass and The Pogues.  You may also think of this as, "There's music to dance to, music to study by, and music to ease you into sleep."

This idea is not just limited to background music, though.  The temperature of the room, the lighting, the arrangement of the furniture, the presence or lack of clutter...  anything our senses key in on - they will, and that feeds back into our brain's processing and thinking.  One of the effective Buddhist meditation practices, in my humble opinion, is to sit, looking at a  blank wall - as that really keeps you from being distracted by visual input, like the other people in your Sangha.  Also, it's a lot easier to meditate when the background noises are minimal. 

So, I find I like to arrange my environment, when I can, mostly to reduce stress, but also to nudge my thoughts a little in the direction I want to go. 

I call this an "Insanity Lesson" because it's one of those ideas I picked up in the midst of a major mania.  Locked up in the PICU of Shoal Creek in '96, I noticed the difference in the behavior of our angry patient when we changed the radio station in the day room.

The Nightmare Before Christmas-Town Meeting Song (Movie Monday / Tune Tuesday)

My attempt to revive a tradition from my Yahoo 360 days - this fits a contribution for Movie Monday, and Tune Tuesday, eh? ;)

...one of the joys of my new smartphone is playing Pandora on the filmscores station, seeded with Danny Elfman...

...biz-scheme 2: "Share your I-pod!"...

This thought struck me last night, while I was drifting off to sleep -- inspired by the touchtune jukeboxes I've seen in bars, and the "I-pod random shuffle Q&A posts" I've seen in facebook...
Wouldn't it be neat if we could share our I-pods?

For example, a club could offer to showcase your I-pod for a nominal fee (say $5/hour), either in shuffle mode or using some of your pre-created playlists. You would just pay for the time that it'll play, and the club then plugs it into their stereo system to either entertain or torment everyone there. (Note: I'm notorious for picking horrific playlists while playing pool in the past)

Alternatively, maybe you could swap your I-pod with a friend, or even rent it out to those less fortunate friends who do not yet have them... Going one step further with this swapping path, each of you could add some songs to the loaned pod(s); perhaps not even telling the owner(s) what those songs are. (Heh! "Hide and Seek!")

another night at the saxon... (yahoo cross-post: 1/4/08)

So, originally, tonight I was supposed to work 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at the old 7-Eleven. However, my co-worker calls me at 6 p.m. saying he had just woken up, was wide awake and willing to work, and wanted to know if I'd like to swap shifts. I was kind of cool with that, but wanted him to clear it through our manager first... and about 10 minutes later, he calls back, saying, "the swap's on." That left me with a wide open evening, also wide awake, although not so willing to work. I went down to Alligator Grill and had some crawfish quesadillas (sp?) and 2 dozen peel-'n-eat shrimp, and I thought, "well, might as well see what's up at the saxon and alamo..."

Take the bus up there, and I noticed I missed the 7ish showing of "Juno", and most everything else at 7ish is sold out at the Alamo. I make a note that the next showing of "Juno" is at 9:25, and head over to the Saxon to see who's playing. Eight hours later finds me at this computer, posting this post, with a brief intro to the 3 bands seen: Carolyn Wonderland, George Devore, and Ramsey Midwood.

For some reason, Carolyn reminded me of Janis Joplin, although I haven't ever seen footage of Janis. I'm not sure if it's her vocal styles or her head movements; but she did put on a really good show especially since she said she's fighting a 102 degree fever right now... Here's two clips I found on youtube - the first being "I'm the Man" (which she said she wrote after getting a call from a telemarketer) and the second being "Come Together" - posted on youtube by hoopinman and milkriverfilm, respectively.

Next, we have George Devore, who I actually know from many a happy hour at Alligator Grill and late night snack runs on his part at the 7-Eleven. This is a video from his tour in Europe, posted by youtube user dbarnes001.. I talked with George a little as the evening wound down, and he said he had gotten kind of complacent and content this last year, and had some management problems... so he's in the process of rebuilding, with a 5th CD due out in February, I think? That, and he's also singing/playing with Paula Nelson (Willie's daughter..).. anyway, here's the video:

Finally, we have one of the hardest to remember names of the night (I literally had to go to the Saxon's web page to remember it for the 6th time, when I couldn't look at the board in the pub), Ramsey Midwood. This is a band from South Austin (Manchaca area)... One of the comments from Catalina (the lady who sat next to me for a little while) was that his mouth wasn't moving, and I'd agree. Now, the youtube search came up with RamsAy Midwood, but the songs I heard sound real similar in style and timbre to who I heard last night, and the guy looks about the same... maybe the Saxon just screwed up the spelling of his name? Anyway, this is "Monster Truck" posted by youtube user imlegion: