Odds and, indeed, sods
29/11/2007
It seems I'm not very good at using free time once it gets cut down by work - having got used to having 7 days to kill each week, now that I've got 2 and some odd bits I'm not doing so well. Hence my rather intermittent visits to the internet... Or at least, it's a good enough excuse to be going on with.
On the subject of work, they've now got me starting at 8 rather than 8:30, which doesn't sound too bad, except that of course I still walk in. So it means I have to leave the house at 10 past 7, so I must awake at 6:30. I disapprove of this. But still, an extra 2.5 hours a week, so the best part of £15 extra (before deductions). Just have to keep telling myself that these few months have always been designed to get together as much money as humanly possible, regardless of how much it fucks me up... I'm young, I'll recover ;-)
The earlier walk gave me a new experience, too. The moment when street lights turn on and off is something that one logically knows must happen, but I struggle to remember ever actually seeing it - particularly not the "off" bit... Yesterday, tho, I found that every light for a good 150-200 yard stretch turned off just as I reached it. Left me feeling rather as tho I had whatever that little thingus Dumbledore uses to steal streetlights is called.
Going back in time 1 day I'll report briefly on the mayor's christmas reception. Flute choir was there to provide background music as dignitaries of various flavours arrived. All very nice and admiable, and always a good thing to raise one's profile with that sort of crowd, since it probably means more money flowing towards the county music service. Except that I'm convinced that no more than 5 or 6 people arrived in the whole hour we were there - my suspicion being that they'd all decided that the didn't like the mayor that much, and rain was just the last straw ;-) It did mean the first real outing for the beautiful Emmy, tho... Most of you are looking at me blankly now, but the keenest and cleverest have guessed that I've come up with a name for my new flute. I tried to name my old one, but it never quite stuck, so I'll have to wait and see whether this feels right.
One more vitally important update - this one also birthday present related: a few of you will know the wonders of my old skeleton pyjamas, and will be aware of my great sadness that you cant really get them in a big enough size for me. However, by some very hard work and contacts across the developed world, my female sibling managed to track down a set that not only fit, but also glow in the dark! (One big skeleton, rather than lots of little ones this time). You've got to see it ;-)
Last night
23/11/2007
This is the last time I'll post here as a minor... Not that I'll be any less juvenile than before, but at least I'll earn a few more pence per hour from Smiths ;-). Do you suppose it says anything about my essential character that the night I turn 18 should be a full moon? And, at least from here, an absolute archetype if full moons, with a really clear night.
See you on the other side (dun dun dun dun....)
Why are you wearing that stupid man-suit?
18/11/2007
Watched Donnie Darko last night. Strongly doubt that I got most of it, but I'm quite sure it was pretty freaky... And that the line I've used for the title needs a lot of thought...
Oh, and that I'm never going to call this particular drugs information service: Are you feeling under pressure to do drugs? Worried about someone? Need support? Talk to Frank...
People I don't know
17/11/2007
Over the last few weeks there've been a number of people I've got to expect to see on my way to work... We all tread our own little rut, for now at least, and they just happen to overlap. There's the old lady who leaves her house just as I'm going past - she lives in the next road, and I think she's the grandma of an ex beaver... A little further along I see a van marked "Tugwell" from which a woman emerges to deliver the morning papers to Somerfield and the newsagent. After that I wont see anyone for a while, until I've gone most of the way through the first bit of parkland on my route, when I bloke wearing a cheap dayglo jacket (kind of cag-in-a-bag quality) and carrying a green Weird Fish bag will cycle past. He's heading into town too, just going faster, so I've never seen his face.
As I walk past the hospital, I'll see a fellow in his early twenties, wearing a red hoody and a (proper) dayglo vest over the top. He looks vaguely like the brother of someone who was in my year at school, and is unshaven - I suspect he's working on the building works at the hospital. Finally I'll be nearly at work, just passing Lloyds bank, when a red-haired lady, about 30, in a long black coat, will pass me, looking quite stressed and worn down by the world.
As I say, I've got no idea who these people are, and no, I haven't started "writing my own stories for them", cos I'm not that kind of person... But they do intrigue me, and I think I'd worry (briefly) about them if they were disappeared now.
A thing of beauty
4/11/2007
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness". So said Keats, some time in the murky beginnings of the 19th century. And yesterday, I bought a new flute :-)
I spent the day in London, at the country's ultimate shop, being torn between two flutes. The first was a Miyazawa PA-102 RE, and the second a Yamaha 574. And I will admit freely that those names aren't exactly descriptive enough of the creatures they describe... I cant really say anything here that would give you an idea of how exquisite they are...
Before I began, I knew there were various makers I had to look out for - Miyazawa was one, Altus another, Mateki, Muramatsu and Sankyo. Yamaha was not - I've had an (obviously less advanced) Yamaha for many years, and my assumption was that by this level I'd be moving away from them. So it says a lot for the 574 that it kept up with the others I was trying, despite something of a prejudice against it. (Initially I had two Miyazawas - the open-holed 102-RE and a closed hole version of the same flute - an Altus 807, and the Yamaha. I would have asked to see more of the makers I've mentioned, but for the fact that I was struggling to eliminate any of the flutes I already had, without adding more to the equation.)
The Miyazawa seemed to be a little more responsive, especially in the higher octaves. But the Yamaha was still a bit of a dark horse, and I still believe it had the richer tone low down. Then I realised that it was the only flute in the price range to have a solid silver headjoint, and it's not unreasonable to attribute that extra tone quality to a better quality of metal there. Since it's entirely possible to upgrade the headjoint at a later date (once I've recovered financially...), the Yamaha's main advantage over the Miyazawa was rather diluted. I also had to consider the fact that such beautiful low tone is one of my favourite things on the flute, so it will always be something I'll work towards. Higher, faster-moving sections haven't appealed to me so much, and it's there that the Miyazawa would push me forward. So unless I say that I'm content with where I am as a player (which would be a terminal mistake - the minute you stop working to be better, you go backwards) then I should heed the fact that the Miyazawa would probably make me a better player.
I think you'll have guessed by now that I chose the Miyazawa. I must reiterate that, although I think I heard richer low tone from the Yamaha, that's not in any way supposed to detract from what was still incredible beauty from the Miyazawa. Good God it's astounding. But now for the downside... One of the main reasons I can afford such a wonderful thing is that it's coming up to my 18th, and me parents are paying for a large chunk of it as my present. Unfortunately my birthday isn't until the 24th of the month. So having been exposed to such beauty for a few hours, I'm now going to be detached from it for almost a month. It will make me more excited about the arrival of my birthday than I've been for many years, but that doesn't make the intervening weeks any less painful...
Still, this is it - when I'm with what I'm almost allowed to think of as my flute I think I'm capable of the most beauty I will ever be able to produce in all my life. It's really rather special.