The local Black Lives Matter protest turned out 1.5% of our town's population and, like, this is rural flyover country. Folks showed up with "Defund the Police" and "Black Trans Lives Matter" signs! What the heck! I'd been hoping for 100 people to turn up and this was way more than that. Presented a paper virtually at a conference last night. Due to timezones, I was up until 4 AM so today's schedule is just a mess. But the presentation went well and folks seemed to be interested, so that's nice. Grad school, though, is killing me and I am so tired and ready to be done. Soon, hopefully.
Hey Hubski. So, the other day my daughter asked me if she could record a song. I was ecstatic. But, I was very careful to just be the engineer on this. I didn't want to take over her creative process. She's 9 years old and she arranged and wrote the music, lyrics and melody. It's a simple tune but I was very impressed with how catchy it is and her intuition re how to structure it. Verse, bridge, Chorus etc. Allowing for pauses and adding in instruments in a subtle way throughout. I'm sure she will want to do more. She enjoyed it. My professional life is a whirlwind right now and society seems to be on fire all around us but this was a very bright light in the midst of all that. So, I give to you "The Tiger of Fire"
I'm trying to keep my kid interested in music. He's only 2.5, but he seems to really like it. We have a no kids music policy, but I let him watch Jerry Garcia on YouTube all he wants! Our song of the week this week, however, has been Buffalo Soldier. I bought him a Ukulele, so hopefully eventually he'll want to learn it.
We used to do a thing where I would blow dry her hair and play a song super loud after a shower. We called it musical education. I tried to do the whole gamut of modern recorded music. Stuff I remember playing off hand is Glen Gould playing Bach, the Specials, Tracy Chapman Fastcar, led Zeppelin. She follows her own star music wise for the most part now a days. It's mostly garbage but she's 9. Her and her friends listen to the Velvet Underground a lot, which is cool but might not be good.
I dig the “song of the week” idea. But my kids were exposed to both children’s music/shows and everything we dig. The kids Watched the sound of music this weekend. Mary Poppins etc. they also loved Yo Gabba Gabba when they were 2.5 years old. Check that out. All the music is either composed by or selected by Mark Mothersbaugh. Lots of musical guests that you’d love. It’s a trip.
Thanks! I was impressed with her vocal melody too. It's super catchy and it may sound simple to the uninitiated but it's actually difficult to write a melody that simple. She uses the lyric "fall down" and the melody goes down. She uses the lyric "higher and higher" and it goes up. This was just intuitive for her. I think it shows a lot of promise and some intuition that isn't easily taught. If you can't tell... I'm a proud father :)
Felt horribly sick yesterday - Full body chills, aches, headache, and nausea. I was worried I was coming down with something serious until my sister pointed out that I hadn't eaten a solid meal in two and a half days. What the fuck, Hubski? How did I go TWO FUCKING DAYS without eating without even noticing? I don't have body dysmorphia; I'm happy with my body. Is this just a side-effect of WFH dumpstering my mental health? I've been so fucking stressed lately, and I have fatigue from all the bad news that's been coming in...I don't feel depressed though? Is this a different type of depression than I'm used to? Setting a schedule for myself to eat, even if I feel full. I can't be letting myself deteriorate like this. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING.
Yeah, having no set schedule and being depressed is a recipe for not eating well. Happens to me too; I just feel tired/shitty and want to sleep instead of eating. Remembering to eat is also the trick to staying up for ridiculous amounts of time without entirely losing your shit. Not that I recommend not sleeping, but if you have to...
Day late and a pubski short, but I thought this was cool: Today my company published guidelines for how to participate in the BLM march tomorrow. How to get there. Where to go. How to remain COVID-safe in a public gathering. How to log your time off from work, so you still get paid. Etc. Pretty damn cool.
You can find a quality knee brace at Target/Walmart. One that holds your knee cap in place. So, the “high strength” one or w/e. Messed up one of mine a couple years ago. Wore the brace near daily with minimal exercise (if not, just walking... sitting agitated it sometimes but that was usually in shitty tutoring stools). Took some months, but that knee is back to running/biking as if it never got rekt. A good brace allows you to run with it on. Don’t think the one I’m suggesting was suited for it, though.