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Trying not to be negative in 2022 and failing miserably at it...
Crazy Workplace
Talked to Babs about what happened last week. Babs was livid. And went to the union.
She also reminded me - again - that I'm protected by a strong international railroad union.
In fact, as it was explained to me ages ago, our section joined the union way back in the 1950s because the railroad was overworking us. It was to protect us from being worked to death and on call all the time. They are threatening to do it again - but the union has put a stop to it.
Breaking Bad basically told me that the management of the new agency is horrific. No one knows what they are doing. There's no accountability. And there's no way we're going to meet their commitments.
Ugga Bugga.
And work has gotten even busier. It's good to busy. But I'm losing track of things, and forgetting stuff. I forgot I had a teams meeting today. But so did my project manager, and since we were the only ones on it - because management needed me to have a meeting with him - it was okay. I just called him.
Sigh. I swear technology has made my working life more complicated. Not that I miss printing out numerous copies of things, and parceling them out to contractors - upon demand. That was a nightmare - much prefer sending the stuff as a link or email attachment.
Family
Speaking of technology...apparently they live stream funerals now. We are not live-streaming my father's funeral.
On FB, Father's Sibling's Page...(basically a FB group that is private to my father's side of the family, mother's isn't as big or as obnoxious in this respect, at least) -- my cousin's wife asked if the funeral could be seen remotely.
Cousin's wife is a software engineer who is married to the cousin, who helped Jeff Beztos design the computer system in his Penis Shaped Space Ship. (No he had nothing to do with the exterior design, just the internal computer system. The guy is a software engineer.) Now he's working for Microsoft, because Beztos left the rocketship company to save Amazon.
Cousin's wife: Can we see the funeral remotely.
Uncle D: I don't know but someone closer to the funeral might, such as SK (who he tags). SK - do you know if it will be available remotely?
Me: No. We're not techie.[I initially wrote - we're not the engineers, we're the artists in the family - but thought better of it. Less is more and all that.]
Me to cousin's wife: No.
Cousin's wife: I checked, they offer live streaming of services. And most churches and venues are doing it for weddings and funerals.
Me: The church didn't offer it here. Also we have bigger issues such as the music director can't do it due to health issues, the cantors are on vacation, and they have to find new ones. Along with other problems. Suffice it to say - live streaming is not high on the priority list right now. Sorry.
I was annoyed.
Mother: Did you tell them about my kidney stones?
Me: No. I figured you didn't want them to know that. I've not posted it to FB ...unless you want me to?
Mother: No.
Me: I told them we aren't doing live-streaming, we're not techie.
Mother: That's true, we aren't. And will they did it for a friend's, I don't want to do that - so no we aren't doing that.
Me: It's not like we don't have other issues to deal with.
Poor mother. She's not feeling great. She keeps dry heaving. Feels nauseous, and is in a lot of pain - so is walking with a cane again.
My brother offered to fly down early to help out - but she nixed it. (I can't, I can barely get away for the week of the funeral - and we'll see if they let me go for seven days at the end of December to be with my mother. Union Rep told me to follow up in a few weeks and ask. If I get nothing - they can pursue it for me.)
My brother who doesn't like live-streaming any more than I do, agreed with my response to geeky family members. We don't even really know half of them. (I only know them because of FB and one Zoom chat. I know my uncle, but not the cousin.) They never met my Dad. This is just an excuse for all of them to congregate together - which we're finding annoying. It's my Dad's funeral. Show some respect, sheesh.
Don't mind me, I'm irritable. Can't think why.
COVID
Despite what people may think? It's still out there. I have had two co-workers out sick with it - within the past four weeks. Jay got sick, then went on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. Came back fine. But took a while to get over the cough - she got it from her son, who was working at JFK airport, who got it from a co-worker who was coughing at work and not covering their mouth. As a result, Jay's entire family got it - again.
Gabe got it - again, and has been out sick.
And on FB, former Junior Minister got really ill with it along with his husband. Both were quite ill.
I'm not sure which mutant variant this one is.
So, still wearing the mask - KN95, I upgraded some time ago because most people aren't wearing them. About 10% of us wear them at work. And about 20-30% wear them on the trains. Wales doesn't wear one.
I've given up on people. On the way to work on Monday, I was almost run over by two teenage boys on bicycles on the side-walk. Actually I've had close encounters with bicycles and scooters the last two days. I am beginning to root for these nitwits to get hit by cars. They don't appear to think that the rules of the roadways apply to them - they frigging deserve to be slaughtered by a car.
Memage
On Twitter they asked who was my favorite iconic singer of all time? And I drew a blank. I honestly don't know.
IDK They all have their pluses and minuses.
I recently, as you are all quite aware by now, discovered Elvis, or rather figured out the appeal. (I honestly didn't get it prior to Baz Lurham's film. Mainly because all I knew about Elvis was a bunch of B or C rated Musical Rom-Com's (which I can't watch now, without cringing or getting bored, politically correct and/or progressive, they aren't - I tried the best of the bunch, Viva Las Vegas - and gave up half-way through, actually a third of the way through - I did a lot of fast-forwarding. It's a boring movie. That one ages better than most of them do. Some are outright offensive. It was the late 1950s through mid-60s, so you kind of have to go by the times. Also, Elvis didn't have script approval - he disliked 90% of the films he made.) The other thing I knew about Elvis, is what everyone knows about Elvis (unless you hid under a rock) which is the whole Graceland, tacky, 1970s Elvis Impersonator bit - including Elvis' tours, belts, and capes that he did in the late 1970s. I didn't get the appeal of that at all. But Lurham's film shows us the man beneath all that glitz, and the talent, and the charisma, and focuses on the early music performances - and I got it. So did a lot of people. And I discovered that he has a voice unparalleled by most - in that he can hit a broad range of notes, and literally change his voice for a song. I find his voice unrecognizable on some of his songs. He jumps from deep bluesy rock to light pop to easy twangy country to gospel to an almost operatic voice that hits high notes.
There are others who can do this. Not as many men as women, that I know of.
Mercury could. Bowie for the most part. Michael Jackson had good range.
The Beatles - did not. The Stones - did not. Most bands don't appear to.
Lady Gaga can. Madonna cannot. Pink appears to be able to, but I'm not certain. Judy Garland could. Liza Minelli for the most part - could. Frank Sinatra could. Linda Rondstandt could. Joni Mitchell could not.
Favorite among all that could? I don't know. I love some of the voices that can't - often better than the ones that can. (I'm not a huge opera fan - it kind of irritates me.)
[ETA: If you have HBO Max - Baz Lurham's Elvis film is being released to it on September 2. Which will keep me from buying it. Yeah. I'm glad I didn't do an impulse buy.]
Twitter also asked to rank favorite Beatles albums, which is impossible, but whatever.
Their ranking:
Rubber Soul (I've not heard of that album (I probably have it, and just don't know it's name on my MP3 player)
Revolver
Abbey Road
Sgt Pepper
For me?
Revolver
The White Album
Let it Be
Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper
[But that's only because I've no idea what Rubber Soul is.]
They also asked which song was my favorite from the Doors.
"Light my Fire", but that's only because it's the only song I can remember outside of The End.
Somebody said it was impossible to choose between Steve Perry and Freddy Mercury...uhm, not for me, since I've no clue who Steve Perry is - he sounds familiar though, so I probably would recognize him if you told me.
Comic strips - favorites.
Calvin & Hobbes
For Better or Worse
Bloom County
Doonesbury
Kathy
Sigh, I miss newspaper comic strips. Some days I miss the 20th Century, in particular the 1990s and 80s.
Talked to Babs about what happened last week. Babs was livid. And went to the union.
She also reminded me - again - that I'm protected by a strong international railroad union.
In fact, as it was explained to me ages ago, our section joined the union way back in the 1950s because the railroad was overworking us. It was to protect us from being worked to death and on call all the time. They are threatening to do it again - but the union has put a stop to it.
Breaking Bad basically told me that the management of the new agency is horrific. No one knows what they are doing. There's no accountability. And there's no way we're going to meet their commitments.
Ugga Bugga.
And work has gotten even busier. It's good to busy. But I'm losing track of things, and forgetting stuff. I forgot I had a teams meeting today. But so did my project manager, and since we were the only ones on it - because management needed me to have a meeting with him - it was okay. I just called him.
Sigh. I swear technology has made my working life more complicated. Not that I miss printing out numerous copies of things, and parceling them out to contractors - upon demand. That was a nightmare - much prefer sending the stuff as a link or email attachment.
Family
Speaking of technology...apparently they live stream funerals now. We are not live-streaming my father's funeral.
On FB, Father's Sibling's Page...(basically a FB group that is private to my father's side of the family, mother's isn't as big or as obnoxious in this respect, at least) -- my cousin's wife asked if the funeral could be seen remotely.
Cousin's wife is a software engineer who is married to the cousin, who helped Jeff Beztos design the computer system in his Penis Shaped Space Ship. (No he had nothing to do with the exterior design, just the internal computer system. The guy is a software engineer.) Now he's working for Microsoft, because Beztos left the rocketship company to save Amazon.
Cousin's wife: Can we see the funeral remotely.
Uncle D: I don't know but someone closer to the funeral might, such as SK (who he tags). SK - do you know if it will be available remotely?
Me: No. We're not techie.[I initially wrote - we're not the engineers, we're the artists in the family - but thought better of it. Less is more and all that.]
Me to cousin's wife: No.
Cousin's wife: I checked, they offer live streaming of services. And most churches and venues are doing it for weddings and funerals.
Me: The church didn't offer it here. Also we have bigger issues such as the music director can't do it due to health issues, the cantors are on vacation, and they have to find new ones. Along with other problems. Suffice it to say - live streaming is not high on the priority list right now. Sorry.
I was annoyed.
Mother: Did you tell them about my kidney stones?
Me: No. I figured you didn't want them to know that. I've not posted it to FB ...unless you want me to?
Mother: No.
Me: I told them we aren't doing live-streaming, we're not techie.
Mother: That's true, we aren't. And will they did it for a friend's, I don't want to do that - so no we aren't doing that.
Me: It's not like we don't have other issues to deal with.
Poor mother. She's not feeling great. She keeps dry heaving. Feels nauseous, and is in a lot of pain - so is walking with a cane again.
My brother offered to fly down early to help out - but she nixed it. (I can't, I can barely get away for the week of the funeral - and we'll see if they let me go for seven days at the end of December to be with my mother. Union Rep told me to follow up in a few weeks and ask. If I get nothing - they can pursue it for me.)
My brother who doesn't like live-streaming any more than I do, agreed with my response to geeky family members. We don't even really know half of them. (I only know them because of FB and one Zoom chat. I know my uncle, but not the cousin.) They never met my Dad. This is just an excuse for all of them to congregate together - which we're finding annoying. It's my Dad's funeral. Show some respect, sheesh.
Don't mind me, I'm irritable. Can't think why.
COVID
Despite what people may think? It's still out there. I have had two co-workers out sick with it - within the past four weeks. Jay got sick, then went on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. Came back fine. But took a while to get over the cough - she got it from her son, who was working at JFK airport, who got it from a co-worker who was coughing at work and not covering their mouth. As a result, Jay's entire family got it - again.
Gabe got it - again, and has been out sick.
And on FB, former Junior Minister got really ill with it along with his husband. Both were quite ill.
I'm not sure which mutant variant this one is.
So, still wearing the mask - KN95, I upgraded some time ago because most people aren't wearing them. About 10% of us wear them at work. And about 20-30% wear them on the trains. Wales doesn't wear one.
I've given up on people. On the way to work on Monday, I was almost run over by two teenage boys on bicycles on the side-walk. Actually I've had close encounters with bicycles and scooters the last two days. I am beginning to root for these nitwits to get hit by cars. They don't appear to think that the rules of the roadways apply to them - they frigging deserve to be slaughtered by a car.
Memage
On Twitter they asked who was my favorite iconic singer of all time? And I drew a blank. I honestly don't know.
IDK They all have their pluses and minuses.
I recently, as you are all quite aware by now, discovered Elvis, or rather figured out the appeal. (I honestly didn't get it prior to Baz Lurham's film. Mainly because all I knew about Elvis was a bunch of B or C rated Musical Rom-Com's (which I can't watch now, without cringing or getting bored, politically correct and/or progressive, they aren't - I tried the best of the bunch, Viva Las Vegas - and gave up half-way through, actually a third of the way through - I did a lot of fast-forwarding. It's a boring movie. That one ages better than most of them do. Some are outright offensive. It was the late 1950s through mid-60s, so you kind of have to go by the times. Also, Elvis didn't have script approval - he disliked 90% of the films he made.) The other thing I knew about Elvis, is what everyone knows about Elvis (unless you hid under a rock) which is the whole Graceland, tacky, 1970s Elvis Impersonator bit - including Elvis' tours, belts, and capes that he did in the late 1970s. I didn't get the appeal of that at all. But Lurham's film shows us the man beneath all that glitz, and the talent, and the charisma, and focuses on the early music performances - and I got it. So did a lot of people. And I discovered that he has a voice unparalleled by most - in that he can hit a broad range of notes, and literally change his voice for a song. I find his voice unrecognizable on some of his songs. He jumps from deep bluesy rock to light pop to easy twangy country to gospel to an almost operatic voice that hits high notes.
There are others who can do this. Not as many men as women, that I know of.
Mercury could. Bowie for the most part. Michael Jackson had good range.
The Beatles - did not. The Stones - did not. Most bands don't appear to.
Lady Gaga can. Madonna cannot. Pink appears to be able to, but I'm not certain. Judy Garland could. Liza Minelli for the most part - could. Frank Sinatra could. Linda Rondstandt could. Joni Mitchell could not.
Favorite among all that could? I don't know. I love some of the voices that can't - often better than the ones that can. (I'm not a huge opera fan - it kind of irritates me.)
[ETA: If you have HBO Max - Baz Lurham's Elvis film is being released to it on September 2. Which will keep me from buying it. Yeah. I'm glad I didn't do an impulse buy.]
Twitter also asked to rank favorite Beatles albums, which is impossible, but whatever.
Their ranking:
Rubber Soul (I've not heard of that album (I probably have it, and just don't know it's name on my MP3 player)
Revolver
Abbey Road
Sgt Pepper
For me?
Revolver
The White Album
Let it Be
Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper
[But that's only because I've no idea what Rubber Soul is.]
They also asked which song was my favorite from the Doors.
"Light my Fire", but that's only because it's the only song I can remember outside of The End.
Somebody said it was impossible to choose between Steve Perry and Freddy Mercury...uhm, not for me, since I've no clue who Steve Perry is - he sounds familiar though, so I probably would recognize him if you told me.
Comic strips - favorites.
Calvin & Hobbes
For Better or Worse
Bloom County
Doonesbury
Kathy
Sigh, I miss newspaper comic strips. Some days I miss the 20th Century, in particular the 1990s and 80s.
no subject
I do have to say that while I don't listen to Pink or Lady Gaga's full albums - whenever I do hear one of their songs, I am again impressed with her vocals. Same thing with Meatloaf - his vocals are impressive.
But the most impressive vocals - don't necessarily become my favourite singers. I guess probably it comes down to the vocals are just one part of the performance for me - the music is probably more important that the voice specifically?
I really like Trevor Hurst from Econoline Crush - but probably a good chunk of that is because I like their music, and I saw them in concert and he looked like he was having the absolute BEST night of his life - and I've seen interviews with him - he's just a cool guy - and actually went back to school to become a nurse and does that mostly full time now, with breaks to tour occasionally :D
no subject
As for live-streaming things - my friend had his wedding live-streamed, and I was glad he did because we got to see the ceremony without traveling to the UK. Both he and his bride had a lot of folks in other countries who couldn’t necessarily travel over. But somehow I find the idea tacky for a funeral. Not sure why.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Rubber Soul (I've not heard of that album (I probably have it, and just don't know it's name on my MP3 player)
Revolver
Abbey Road
Sgt Pepper
I'd go along with that ranking, though I prefer Sgt Pepper to Abbey Road. I notice that Rubber Soul tends to get a high ranking in a lot of lists. I suspect it's because it was a sort of crossover album between the songs they started out with and the music that was still to come. Same with Revolver.
Somebody said it was impossible to choose between Steve Perry and Freddy Mercury
Hmm, no. I mean, in fairness I never went to a Journey concert so Steve Perry might have been a terrific front man. And I loved his voice and quite enjoyed Journey's albums. But Freddie Mercury was a force, a showman for the ages.
Calvin & Hobbes
For Better or Worse
Bloom County
Doonesbury
Kathy
These were my five go-to in the paper as well, though I'd put Bloom County after Calvin and Hobbs. I remember I had a number of Cathy strips on the door of my freshman dorm room.
I miss newspaper comic strips. Some days I miss the 20th Century, in particular the 1990s and 80s.
I don't miss comic strips that much, largely because I found most of them pretty uninteresting. And the ones I did like had good runs. But I am missing the 90s and 2000s more these days because things do not look great ahead.
no subject
Oh, I'm starting to believe the prophecies of Nostradamus, mainly because there was this weird ass pseudo-science doc series I saw in 1984 on Nostradmus. In it they said the following: A Terrorist Threat would rise in the Middle East, and bomb a major city (most likely NYC), and the Son of a President would declare war on them, then there'd be an increasing series of horrible natural disasters, each one worse than the last, then US and Russia would get together, until a calamity would come forth from Asia or China which would slowly burn through the earth for many years (they thought it was a nuclear war - but I'm thinking it was actually a pandemic, and they were horribly short-sighted), and then a transformative leader would arise - and issue the world into 2000 years of peace and prosperity, until it was destroyed probably by the sun dying or something like that.
I saw that in 1984. It always haunted me. Kind of scary actually. Then, I seriously freaked out in 2001.
Now, I'm kind of waiting for the transformative leader. In 2020 for about five months, I thought - oh maybe its that asshole Cumo, but no cigar. Wish the leader would come soon...I'm tired of waiting, and am kind of hoping the 2000 years of peace and prosperity gets issued in - in my lifetime. But I'm guessing not so much.
no subject
I agree - most of the comic strips weren't that great. But I do miss the ones that were...Peanuts, Outside, Bloom County, Over the Hedge, Far Side, Doonesbury, Kathy, For Better or Worse, Calvin & Hobbes...
no subject
Agree that Revolver is the best Beatles album. Lennon at his most daring, McCartney at the peak of his melodic genius.
In general, I love the Beatles' middle period, from around Help! (British version) through Revolver. Rubber Soul is AMAZING. It has Norwegian Wood, In My Life, Michelle, I've Just Seen a Face, and half a dozen other great songs.
From there, I bounce around: With the Beatles, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Hard Day's Night, the White Album. I love the "Past Masters" sets, which collect all the singles not on any studio album.
I never really listen to Let It Be, Magical Mystery Tour, Please Please Me or Beatles for Sale--at least not all the way through. Some great stuff on all these albums, but they're not as consistent.
The Doors? You have the epics: "The End," "When the Music's Over," "Celebration of the Lizard"--but maybe it's a little MUCH. Maybe the tighter, poppier songs are more your speed: Touch Me, Light My Fire, People Are Strange, Break on Through, Roadhouse Blues...
Favorite comic strips: Peanuts and the Far Side.
no subject
All time fave Doors, though? The Crystal Ship. Why? This is actually something I've only noticed about myself recently, but I gravitate towards not so much classical music in the traditional sense, but of the certain timeless sequences it presents, sound that transports me kind of in that out of body way. (Hard to describe this, so just go with me a bit, OK?)
There is a sequence in The Crystal Ship that does this. If I was a musician, I could likely say, "Oh, that's a...", but I can't analyze it technically like that.
Here's a Youtube link. The section between 1:10 and 1:30 is the one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKa1W4a_5mI
I think an interesting future meme would be-- what "pop" or "rock" songs from the past could readily transcribe into am elegant/evocative/powerful/fascinating classical version?
I had posted this before over on my blog, but here's the link again as a demonstration of the concept:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idf40nd7wBY
*******
Favorite comic strips currently active:
Non Sequitur
Speed Bump
Frank & Ernest
Off The Mark
Mutts
Rhymes With Orange
Bizarro
Doonesbury (still does a Sunday strip)
Garfield
Dilbert
Classics? Yep, agree...
Peanuts
The Far Side
no subject
What the Doors did more convincingly than a lot of their contemporaries was to create a mood. Crystal Ship is a great example; it's one of Manzarek's best performances on keyboards. The End, Riders on the Storm, Unknown Soldier--all skillfully crafted to capture a feeling of dread. It's great theater... with sound.
Which pop tunes can be interpolated as "classical"? The easy answer is prog rock: Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and Procol Harum come to mind. But really, anything can be converted into classical mode; Kronos Quartet has covered Hendrix's Purple Haze and Television's Marquee Moon with no problem. Even if you play a viola, if you love the music, you can make it your own.