What’s on your mind?

[Scepticalscribe]

Played three gigs in the past day - last night I played at a small house party with bass, guitar, and drums; this morning, I played at a coffee house (same one that I usually play at) with the same lineup plus a sax player, and then this afternoon I played with the same lineup plus a singer.

Performing is so much fun for so many reasons, and although I leave for college next week, I'm not even done (I have three more gigs left)!

I'd imagine that you must be looking forward to college.

I loved it - both as a student, and later, as a postgrad, and when I started teaching, and I loved teaching (and researching, and writing).

Enjoy the remaining gigs, and I hope you really enjoy college.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yesterday, I received a wonderful delivery of fruit (peaches, nectarines, grapefruit, lemons, limes, oranges, greengages, and a mango), vegetables, (aubergines (eggplant), courgettes (zucchini), peppers, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, shallots, French onions, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, garlic (lots), ginger, and several types of chilli peppers), and herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, and coriander).

Their destiny as dinner awaits them.

 

[martint235]

Now the intelligence seems to point to a bomb. Apparently, Western satellites can detect even the flare of a SAM launch. They didn't detect one so they say it must be a bomb. Doesn't matter either way to Prigozhin. And I guess a few sticks of TNT is cheaper then a BUK missile.

And DNA has confirmed he was in fact on board

 

[Clix Pix]

Actually no! I'm going to a small school in Wisconsin called Lawrence University that has a very good music program. I applied (and got accepted into) Berklee, but I ultimately decided against it because the culture there isn't really my thing.

Have a wonderful college experience! You will learn so much in so many different ways, as it's not just about the academics or one's major -- the dormitory living experience is invaluable, too. I think that by attending a school which encompasses and offers more than just the conservatory and music you will be benefiting from a well-rounded educational opportunity. You will be enlarging and enriching your life!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sipping an afternoon - a relaxed Sunday afternoon - coffee

Have a wonderful college experience! You will learn so much in so many different ways, as it's not just about the academics or one's major -- the dormitory living experience is invaluable, too. I think that by attending a school which encompasses and offers more than just the conservatory and music you will be benefiting from a well-rounded educational opportunity. You will be enlarging and enriching your life!

Agree completely with @Clix Pix about this, @rm5.

In college, you will find that the sort of stuff that may have been denigrated or dismissed by your peers in High School - an interest in books, literature, music, creative and intellectual pursuits - will be celebrated and enthusiastically supported in college, both in the classroom and in the wider culture and environment of the campus.

Not only will you be able to pursue your interests in college - and college is a place where you will meet a lot of like-minded, interesting, bright kids who are also passionate about such things - you will be in an academic environment which encourages intellectual exploration and excellence - and which supports and lauds and encourages - and indeed, sometimes demands - intellectual and creative activity and achievement.

You will be taught by enthusiastic specialists, people who are interested in, passionate about, who love what they are doing and who are very good at it; they will teach you, guide you, mentor you, support you, and will cheer with delight when you succeed.

You will have a brilliant time.

I didn't much care for school (secondary school, high school), but I absolutely loved university.

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

Good luck in college @rm5 !

I did my undergrad at Columbia from 2018 to 2022, so you can guess what worldwide cataclysmic event disrupted my time there. But I've learned not to dwell on what could have been, and I'm very appreciative of my university experience and the students and professors I met, even if it wasn't entirely "normal" (and at least I was still able to spend a semester abroad). I loved being in college, surrounded by people my age who were as passionate about linguistics and literature as I was. Spending an afternoon in my professor's office, discussing these topics (and more) with him and other students was an invigorating experience. And perhaps I was a bit primed for it, being the son of a classics professor (my dad teaches at a smaller, rural liberal arts college. I didn't major in classics, though I did take a few courses in that subject to his delight). I've taken a year off since graduating in 2022 but I can't wait to dive back into the academic world with grad school this September.

I really felt at home in an academic setting and I enjoyed it much more than high school. I think you will too.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Actually no! I'm going to a small school in Wisconsin called Lawrence University that has a very good music program. I applied (and got accepted into) Berklee, but I ultimately decided against it because the culture there isn't really my thing.

Wisconsin.......say, have you any first hand experience with winter weather? In particular the upper mid-west seriously brutal and sustained winter?

Well, you're going to need warmer clothes.....no, warmer than you're already thinking you'll need

 

[Clix Pix]

Wisconsin...... Think CHEESE!!!! That state is famous for its cheeses so you'll have fun trying different ones.

And, yes, it gets COLD there in the wintertime!

 

[rm5]

Is there no way to bring your keyboard with you, or, will you buy, beg, borrow, a keyboard while you are in Wisconsin?

Well I could check it on the plane, but I don't want to deal with the insanely expensive baggage fee that'd be associated with that, and the risk of it getting damaged, because I haven't purchased a hard case for it yet, and I still have my original soft case that I used with my old keyboard (because I just got the new one a couple months ago). I've been reassured by the faculty that there'll be instruments (keyboards/acoustic pianos) there.

I'd imagine that you must be looking forward to college.

I loved it - both as a student, and later, as a postgrad, and when I started teaching, and I loved teaching (and researching, and writing).

Enjoy the remaining gigs, and I hope you really enjoy college.

I'm sure I'll love it—what is there not to love about studying music full-time? And yes, teaching is fun - while I haven't done it officially in a classroom, I have taught privately and done some clinics.

In college, you will find that the sort of stuff that may have been denigrated or dismissed by your peers in High School - an interest in books, literature, music, creative and intellectual pursuits - will be celebrated and enthusiastically supported in college, both in the classroom and in the wider culture and environment of the campus.

And that's perhaps what I'm looking forward to the most, because I'll be with like-minded individuals.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Well I could check it on the plane, but I don't want to deal with the insanely expensive baggage fee that'd be associated with that, and the risk of it getting damaged, because I haven't purchased a hard case for it yet, and I still have my original soft case that I used with my old keyboard (because I just got the new one a couple months ago). I've been reassured by the faculty that there'll be instruments (keyboards/acoustic pianos) there.

I'm sure I'll love it—what is there not to love about studying music full-time? And yes, teaching is fun - while I haven't done it officially in a classroom, I have taught privately and done some clinics.

And that's perhaps what I'm looking forward to the most, because I'll be with like-minded individuals.

How many miles from your current home to your college? Could you or someone not do a road trip with the keyboard?

 

[rm5]

How many miles from your current home to your college? Could you or someone not do a road trip with the keyboard?

To be exact, it's 1,390 miles away. Personally, I don't think it's worth driving all the way there, because I don't know if I even would use the keyboard, since they have superior-quality Steinways (and a few Yamahas) there already that I can play.

 

[Expos of 1969]

To be exact, it's 1,390 miles away. Personally, I don't think it's worth driving all the way there, because I don't know if I even would use the keyboard, since they have superior-quality Steinways (and a few Yamahas) there already that I can play.

Two very long days. I would do it for you if I was there. The open road, good music, a few brief stops for food and the bathroom and that is living.

 

[VulchR]

Good luck in college @rm5 !

I did my undergrad at Columbia from 2018 to 2022, so you can guess what worldwide cataclysmic event disrupted my time there....

Good luck rm5!

Actually this post made me think back and realise just how dire that whole lockdown was (trying to teach university students from my cramped living room using an obsolete 13" MacBook was surreal).

 

[Macky-Mac]

To be exact, it's 1,390 miles away. Personally, I don't think it's worth driving all the way there, because I don't know if I even would use the keyboard, since they have superior-quality Steinways (and a few Yamahas) there already that I can play.

I think you're making the the right choice by leaving the keyboard at home.

You've been told the school will have instruments you can use, and in a pinch you'll be able to borrow one from one of your fellow students. Either that or you'll be able to rent one should the need arise.

You'll be coming home for breaks over the course of the year and you'll certainly enjoy having your keyboard at home during the break.

If it develops that you really do need or want it at school, you can always have it shipped to you.

 

[rm5]

I think you're making the the right choice by leaving the keyboard at home.

You've been told the school will have instruments you can use, and in a pinch you'll be able to borrow one from one of your fellow students. Either that or you'll be able to rent one should the need arise.

You'll be coming home for breaks over the course of the year and you'll certainly enjoy having your keyboard at home during the break.

If it develops that you really do need or want it at school, you can always have it shipped to you.

Yeah, if the school has good-sounding pianos (which they do), why even bother bringing a keyboard? Plus, I'll be coming home during breaks and playing gigs, and I'll need a keyboard at home anyway. So yeah...

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

 

[chown33]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

Take a battery with you, and offer to replace it.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

My sympathies. Neighbours can be a pain. Thats why I bought a house a little further away from my nearest neighbour than our last detached house. That said all our smoke detectors are wired into the mains. Much safer that way.

On my mind is an upcoming trip to Scafell Pike in the Lake District on Thursday. Hope the weather behaves.
A group of around 10 of us are going.

 

[Expos of 1969]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

Maybe they are dead.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Maybe they are dead.

Smoke inhalation?

 

[Crowbot]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

Possibly they have significant hearing loss. The chirp is fairly high frequency. Best bet is to offer to replace it (if you're on good terms).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

Wailing house alarms are also a menace, especially when the nearby neighbouring owners are either absent, or oblivious, or indifferent when notified (and yes, I have had experience of all three, made much worse by the fact that my mother - who was then still alive - had dementia and was bedridden - and thus, couldn't be moved - and, unfortunately, couldn't not hear this appalling, shrieking, jarring, noise).

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

I don't think they have hearing loss; plus like four people live in that unit. They may not all be home right now, but they're definitely there. I think offering to change the battery is a good idea.

And yeah, when I was living in the dorms in college, I remember there was a guy who lived on our floor who would set his alarm for 7:30 but then leave before it could go off, so it would go off in an empty room and continue beeping for hours until he returned around lunch time. It happened only maybe 5 times or so during the year, but it ruined a lot of people's mornings, but the fact that it happened multiple times is just astonishing to me: how could he not learn?

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I don't get how someone can just live with a chirping smoke detector. When a smoke detector battery gets low, the smoke detector will emit a chirp every 30 seconds to alert you to change the battery. My neighbor's smoke detector has been doing this for three days now. And if we open our windows, I can hear it. I'll be sitting there trying to read quietly and every thirty seconds: BEEP....BEEP...BEEP...

And they are home and don't seem to notice or care; they've been living with it for three days now apparently. It's driving me insane. It's getting to the point where I may have to go over there and say something 😑

We used to have a bird (I believe it was some kind of cuckoo) that used to sit in a tree outside our house. From 3am to 5am every morning it would go "Whoop ... Whoop ... Whoop" every few seconds. We couldn't replace its batteries, or persuade it to sit in some other tree, perhaps 1,000 miles away. It was calling for a lady friend.

Early one morning it started its mournful cry, then it changed. It started to go "Whoop, Whoop, WhoopWhoopWhoop". Finally, we thought. A lady WhoopWhoop bird has arrived and it has got its rocks off.

Silence...

For about 30 minutes.

Then "Whoop ... Whoop ... Whoop"

We cut the tree down. Not because of the bird, but because it was diseased, but it fixed the problem.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We used to have a bird (I believe it was some kind of cuckoo) that used to sit in a tree outside our house. From 3am to 5am every morning it would go "Whoop ... Whoop ... Whoop" every few seconds. We couldn't replace its batteries, or persuade it to sit in some other tree, perhaps 1,000 miles away. It was calling for a lady friend.

Early one morning it started its mournful cry, then it changed. It started to go "Whoop, Whoop, WhoopWhoopWhoop". Finally, we thought. A lady WhoopWhoop bird has arrived and it has got its rocks off.

Silence...

For about 30 minutes.

Then "Whoop ... Whoop ... Whoop"

We cut the tree down. Not because of the bird, but because it was diseased, but it fixed the problem.

Brilliant.

However, it occurs to me that a cat might have solved that particular problem.