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Going for the record for lengthy/self-absorbed diary posts today folks. No politics though. And no smileys. I'm finding these long 40� night rides with no ear/eye protection to be invigorating. You don't notice the tears streaming down your face and your frozen lobes (and knuckles--my summer gloves are inadequate) after a while, and as long as your core stays toasty, you can concentrate on other things. A downside would be harassment by bored Denton cops for everything from wearing gloves to riding on the sidewalk to [the latest] NOT HAVING A HEADLIGHT. Geezus, guy didn't want to let me ride home since I had no headlight. This was around 2 am. On that note, how about this strangeness. On Friday after TG in SW Ft Worth it hit 82�. The high this coming Thursday is supposed to be about 37�. Freezing precip? Maybe a little at night. I miss the net. I mean the net in my home. Even the slow, unreliable dial-up was better than sitting in this stuffy, cramped, superbright 24 hour lab (my usual lab is closed for the holidays). I should mention that because of the holidays, the connection is extraordinarily fast. I would tell you it took me under 5 seconds to download an 11 MB video, but you wouldn't believe me, so... There may be hope for my hard drive. I may be able to extract some of mah stuff from it. It's screwed, to be sure, and I need a new one before anything, but just maybe I can get some of the uncorrupted data (music, cycle/car/other vids, thousands of pictures, over a gig of UT stuff, etc.). I'm looking at a 7200 RPM 30 GB drive for $100. It could swallow my old drive three times. In the same five minute period: the milk sprung a small leak in my backpack, my floor lamp stopped working on the low setting, and the heel of my left shoe collapsed. I just had to sit down and have a good laugh about it. What else is going to happen?? Remember this: speed cameras have very little do with safety. They are pure revenue-generating tools. It's more about greed than altruism. Guy two seats over is loading up Everquest. Something on screen about the 'anniversary' events going on. The news is bad. Many businesses are laying off much of their workforce, and many others are just closing their doors forever! Wonder what the job market will look like come Autumn 2003 (when I have to go looking for a job). Europe and Japan have some things better than the US. You guys in Europe have a stronger market for performance cars, motorcycles, and music. In Japan the motorcycle market is huge and the video game market easily dwarfs that of the US and Europe. All the specced-out car models get sent to Europe while the US gets one base model with 'suspension tuned to the American palate' (which means soft, dull, and wallowy). Europe and Japan get four or five color choices for each motorcycle model while the US makes do with a couple and sometimes only one. Not to mention all the great bikes that never make it over here (including alot of great lower power bikes which would open up the market for beginning riders considerably). There are currently a couple of albums I'm waiting for that have yet to be released in the US (such as Muse's latest), so they are only available as $35 imports. What the hell's the hold up? But, at least we don't have crap like this and this. Here's the thing. I did drugs. A long time ago. Some during high school, a little during my first stint in college. Mostly marijuana (but a few other things). And I listened to music. And I saw music. The bassline to 'Fascination Street' was this zig-zagging futuristic green tank + train hybrid with big hemispherical wheels sending off gleams of light... The intro to 'Judas' (Depeche Mode) was a fantastic crystal castle which just hung there a hundred times larger than life while shimmering dragons (all of whose names I knew) flitted playfully about its spires waiting for God to speak. 'Up the Beach''s (Jane's Addiction) cascading lead guitar line was a series of glimpses at each of the past 10 centuries! And Zappa taught me during 'Uncle Meat' that anything can be music. My secret was I smoked ALOT of it, also drank some whiskey from the cabinet for that roller-coaster effect, had a giant stereo with Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater (I think they had 21" woofers) speakers for bass and state of the art ESS ribbon-hybrid floor speakers for the rest, and just sat down and listened with my eyes closed. Of course, I don't do that anymore. And I'd be lying if I said that I 'see' music in any sort of the same way now (and I hope I don't come off like some burned-out brain-bended ex-addict--I'm not). But it most definitely affected the way I hear music. Inevitably, it's hard to explain. I listen to 'sonics'. Shapes of notes and shapes of sounds. Textures. The collage. The color (on a sidenote: does anyone else have that feeling that your perception of an album is affected by the cover art? Particularly the prevailing colors and whether they are 'warm' or 'cool' colors?). It probably explains why when something like the Autumns' 'In the Russet Gold of this Vain Hour' bites me, I get infected. That and 'Perfect From Now On' paint sonic pictures as vivid as anything I can think of right now (though I'm probably missing something very obvious). And it's not just a matter of having atmospherics and sound effects and lotsa reverb--Olivia Tremor Control's 'Black Foliage Animation Music' is a fun listen, but it doesn't do the same thing for me, for instance. It probably also explains my extreme fascination with Scott Miller. His compositions seem remarkably fluid, slippery, able to grow logarithmically, chromatically variable... again, it's hard to put words to what I'm trying to explain. I could go on citing all sorts of evidence. I'm in no way saying this is a handicap or a problem that needs working on. On the contrary, I think it's something I've recently identified which only promotes my added enjoyment of this music. Perhaps it enables me to be privy to wonderful aspects of some music which would elude me had I been a good clean teenager. And I'm not trying to make a comparison with some of the music my brother Quentin listens to, the kind which you MUST be high to actually enjoy. The guy right next to me said 'ta hell wit it' and is using three chairs to take a nap. You want an alarm app so you can wake up at a certain time? Best reason to get cable in 2002: twins -vs- triples -vs- inline 4s -vs- V-4s -vs- V-5s -vs- sixes -vs- V-8s -vs- two stroke 500s. I am marvelling at my ability to be entertained and gladdened by some of the smaller things. An episode of StarGate. A nectarine with sugar and milk. A CD listened to very quietly in an even quieter apartment. A short slow ride on the Bandit. A predawn bike ride through town. A cuddly chihuahua. A keyboard under my fingers and a net connection at my control. A Mavs game over the radio. A Game Boy. Bernard Butler's early guitar work. It's all so meager and all so satisfying these days. New X-Box game. Guy on Esport who was run over by a white Ford Explorer (which quickly drove away) after going down from his Gixxer: pictures here, story here. Multiple compound fractures on his legs. Notice the thumbs up though. A quarter mile in 7.75 @ 189.3 mph by a streetbike. Sportbike-riding indie-rocker? (and the very clean-cut looking girlfriend). Making vacuuming more exciting. Squidliness or sweet stunt? You be the judge. The future of motorcycles? The latest stunt, called 'doing a 12'. This is NOT why I want to ride motorcycles. Here's another. Notice the lack of any gear. The result of a little nudge at 190 mph in SBK2K1. Concept 'bikes': One and Two. Interesting paintjob. The amazing new Harley. Amazingly mean-looking V-Max trike conversion. Good sled-jumping video. Remember how I mentioned Houston was voted best street racing town in the country? Watch this FoxNews report. Highly amusing. And last but definitely not least, ONE OF THE COOLEST MOTORCYCLE VIDEOS I'VE EVER SEEN. � � |
