Monthly Archives: March 2016

moisture festival, philharmonic, snake suspenderz / alive

so far…

i’m done playing moisture festival shows with the “show band” for this year. i still have a few other moisture festival related shows coming up as “artists” this year, with snake suspenderz: we’re playing the volunteer party, three “on stage” appearances, and at least one “fluffing” (where we entertain the audience waiting outside the theatre, before the performances start) that are still upcoming.

i’m waiting to see whether or not the band that is taken up the last two weeks of shows as the “show band” is any good before i make a firm decision, but there’s a good chance that i will be bowing out of next year’s moisture festival performances all together, if things don’t work out. i’m just getting way to tired of watching other people become part of the “old boy network” with a fraction of the input that i have made to the festival, when i am not even considered for that network, in spite of the fact that i’ve been in it since the beginning. it’s getting to be the same way with the oregon country fair, as well. i’ve never been a person that appreciates “old boy networks”, and these two things have been grating against that dislike for quite some time now. there are definite advantages to both, but, if not soon, definitely eventually, i’m going to have to bow out of both, because, fundamentally, i dislike the way they take advantage of me without offering sufficient benefits.

at the same time, i want to create a new act for next year’s moisture festival, that is a sextet (or larger group) that plays bach or mozart or something like that, on nose-flutes. so my feelings are definitely conflicted.

miscellaneous

FYI

podium lectern

a podium is the thing you stand on, from the greek πόδι – foot. it is also the thing the lectern stands on. the lectern is the thing you read from, from the latin lectus – to read. when you know even a little bit of a language other than american, things like this are a lot less confusing. 😕

spam, the mallet

dear OVH

dear OVH,

i have been reporting, and blocking spam from your network for at least 5 years. i have at least 500 different addresses that you have used to hide behind, so that when the spam-reporting gets too extreme, you just start a new, incomprehensible email address… yes, i’m talking about [email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected] and EVERY FUCKING thing in between…

through my moderate poking around, i have discovered that most of these addresses are for Florent Demuynck, Stephane LeSimple, Falco Schmutz, Grillion Alexis, Tarik Benammar, Edouard Vanbelle, Benjamin Ficheland, Laurent Allard, and others (some of whom may or may not still be employees of OVH), and/or their boss, Octave Klaba.

today, for the first time, i have actually blocked someone from OVH for trying to login to this blog… YES, MY BLOG has been probed by 158.69.223.8.

this is a warning: if i EVER catch you or any of your minions poking around my web again, i will block you so fast that it’ll make your head spin.

i’m on to you OVH. don’t push me, or you’ll feel my mallet! 😠

art projects, pictures, swastikas

then there’s this…

5 types of swastika buttons
5 types of swastika buttons

i think i may have found a way to market these online so that people will be able to get what they want without having it be a random selection chosen by me. it’s difficult, because no two buttons are exactly the same, but i discovered, quite by accident, that there are five different general categories that they fall into. i suppose, if i wanted to get really technical, i could separate them even further into a predominant colour, but i think that may be a bit more complex, because then it would be possible, theoretically, for someone to come up with a colour and category that doesn’t exist, and that would be embarrassing.

they are all swastikas: category 1 buttons have more of an abstract swastika, because you can’t actually see it, but if you can look beyond the borders of the button, you might be able to imagine where it would be. category 2 buttons are a little less abstract, but it’s still not a visible swastika, although it might be easier for some people to figure out where it is. category 3 buttons have at least one definite swastika. category 4 buttons have at least three definite swastikas, and category 5 buttons have EITHER no less than 6 swastikas, OR at least one swastika, and a significant area where there are no swastikas.

they’re all $1.00 or more a piece… i say “or more” because if people want to pay more for them, i won’t complain. 😉

the very big stupid

notuchup

every now and then i actually listen to the “christian” AM radio that i frequently have on in the car, and today was one of them. this time it featured “doctor” robert jefferess of Pathway To “Victory” (although they never state over what, exactly, you will have victory if you listen to their broadcast), and i got to thinking:

fundamentally, the things that “doctor” robert jefferess was talking about, for the most part, are either demonstrably false, or not supported by the preponderance of evidence, at the very least… so why is it that he has the priveledge of being addressed as “doctor”, which carries the added reputation of being extremely studied in your chosen field. but, the thing is, in this case, being “extremely studied in your chosen field” means studying the works of people whose study is of a single book which is demonstrably false, or not supported by the preponderance of evidence, at the very least…

which, essentially, is saying that “doctor” robert jefferess, and all of the “doctors” on whose study his “doctorate” is based, and all of the “doctors” on whose study their “doctorates” are based, and all of the “doctors” on whose study their “doctorates” are based, and so forth, are, essentially, “doctors” of lies and falsehood.

which makes me wonder how they got into positions of authority. somewhere along the line, somebody must have said “i know this is not true, but i’m going to teach it as though it is, anyway, because if i do, these suckers will give me money”. it may even be that the person who said that was long enough ago in history that nobody remembers who he was.

it also makes me wonder how many other people in positions of authority are there because nobody bothered to check to make sure their “authority” is not, also, based on lies and falsehood.

bssb, philharmonic, snake suspenderz / alive

arf…

i’m well and truly into the midst of rehearsal season: we’ve been rehearsing the fremont philharmonic for 3 weeks for a week of shows at the moisture farcetival, we’ve been rehearsing snake suspenderz for a week for a gig at the château, a recording session with deb seymour(!), three moisture farcetival shows, and a moisture farcetival volunteer party, and next week rehearsals for the sousa band, whose first gig will be while i am in orlando.

and, speaking of orlando, this evening, i made, and paid for, the reservations for my trip from seattle, to orlando, to warrensburg, to seattle between may 23 and june 3. this is the first trip i’ve taken where i’ve had to fly, by myself, for my own enjoyment, in my entire life. i haven’t flown anywhere since the big bois with poise went to san francisco in 2012, and i haven’t been on the east coast since i went to boston when i started at software dot com in 1998… and then i was working (actually, i slept through most of the training classes, because i had stayed up until 4:00 in the morning drinking beer with spods), so i didn’t get the chance to see that much… and this is sort of the opposite corner of the continent…

i guess i’m officially starting to get “excited” about going on this trip…

but the visa signature conceirge service, in the process of giving me options for the trip, gave me the option of flying from orlando to kansas city, by way of… wait for it… seattle. yes, they tried to make what would ordinarily be a 3 hour non-stop flight into an 18 hour trip back home, with a 9 hour layover. really! 😕

flight weirdness
flight weirdness
flight weirdness
flight weirdness
miscellaneous

bleh

two days ago, i drove moe to the airport, so that she can go on a business trip to austin and las vegas.

yesterday started with my almost losing zorah… well, i didn’t really “almost lose” her, because she was perfectly safe and fine all the time, but there were about 15 minutes, yesterday morning, when i wasn’t so sure of that.

today the cat decided that he was going to go walkabout, and door-dashed when i opened it to let the dogs in. of course he didn’t go that far, because he hadn’t thought that far ahead, but it was complicated by the fact that the dogs wanted to go inside and were confused when there was a complication with their desires.

i had a rehearsal for the moisture festival yesterday. i’ve got another one today.

moe gets home on thursday.

i’m planning an actual, long-distance, several-day trip at the end of may. it’s somewhat exciting, but it’s also terrifying, and something that i am ready to give up on, several times a day. i’ll be going to see joe, who i haven’t seen since 1973 (according to the handy-dandy chart of when things happened) in orlando, and rosemary, who is my great-grandfather’s daughter, in warrensburg. the last time i flew anywhere was when i went to san francisco in 2012, with the big bois with poise. the last time i was on the east cost was when i went to boston in 1999… but i have never actually planned a cross-country trip where i was both planning the trip, and the only one going on the trip. and, to be honest, i haven’t seen joe for 40 years, and, while we are farcebook friends, i really don’t know that much about him or his life, and i do NOT want to be stuck on the east coast with a friend who is pissed at me for saying the wrong thing, or looking bizarre. and i really don’t want to be stuck in Knob Noster with a relative who, like most of my other living relatives, can’t stand me.

oh gawd… i was distractedly perusing the map, and i discovered small towns to the south of Knob Noster, called Tightwad and Racket… yes, folks… this is where my ancestors came from. 😕