I love being older. I definitely wouldn't go back in time and have to do everything I had to do to get here again. I also have no desire to live forever. I don't even mind aging. I'm trying to be immodest but I've aged well especially given everything I've put my body through including both trauma and neglect. I look ten years younger than I am and have my whole adult life. It's just a fact. I have an intuitive real time knowledge of how women and men react to me. It's a survival mechanism I learned a long time ago. The stress of the last eight years hasn't done me any favors but that's about to end. But I hate the physical problems, and I hate dealing with the medical system! I had the best PCP in Hawaii for seven years; she was a board certified internist, and we developed an affinity for one another, even though that's not something that's "supposed" to happen. Since then, I've met only Doctors, including specialists, who are "phoning it in." I need to take more control over my health. I'm hoping I'll have a better opportunity to do that after I move.

@andyd You might know that Chicago is the most important city in the history of American architecture. It towers (sic) above New York. I don't know if you've been there or seen pictures but it's a beautiful city. The downtown area is especially awesome. We have nothing else that compares to it.

@Bernard said: I think that's the germ I need for this piece. An aria! Chopin loved bel canto opera. Awesome! I suspect that image will be all you need to give is the shape you felt it was lacking.

There's very little more calming and cozy than sitting on the porch in a warm summer rain.

@Bernard said: Yeah, you definitely would not want to hold tension in your hand for the duration of the arpeggios. Exactly. I worked on this (score below) in one lesson with my teacher a bit and it’s better in terms of less tension, but not great. I’ve found spots/ways to release the tension, but it seems to me there shouldn’t be tension in the first place. So I want to take it back to my lesson, but we’ve been busy with my jury piece, so I’ve put it on hold until that’s finished. But in this one (score below, which is octaves) and the other score I posted (which are the arps), I think my problem, or whatever it is I’m doing, is the same. My hand isn’t that small, I think one problem is that I might be stretching more than I need to. And then another problem is not releasing that stretch, so the tension builds. And then I think I need to use my arm, wrist, move my elbow etc., in ways that I’m not doing …. [image: IMG-0887.jpg]

My Kindle Paperwhite came in handy when the power went out for a couple hours on Thursday night. I’m in a hotel in Nashville for the weekend.

@DougG D'oh If it were real Doug would be in it.

Link to video

The price point for first tier German/ Austrian uprights seems to start at around 40k. Whoa.

I like portrait photography or informal pictures of people most of all. Pictures of the natural world and pictures of wild animals would be in second place. I have "an eye" for photography/ taking pictures (me and a million other people). I take pretty original pictures with good subject matter with results that are harmoniously framed. I do this with my cheap Moto Edge and its lousy camera set up. The pictures aren't very clear. Actually, they are kind of hazy. I'm looking forward to having a phone with a good camera. I could get into buying a digital camera but I wouldn't let myself spend the money. I apologize in advance if this doesn't sound modest. I'm not delusional. I'm no Ansel Adams or Francesco Scavullo and never will be. As to Paris, as I said in another post, I get that it's renowned, and its history fascinates me, but I don't, haven't, and certainly never will understand its culture. This fits in with my theory that the brain can hold only so much interest, knowledge, information, and skill. I've never understood the attraction of Paris. Parisian culture, in general, is wasted on me. The same thing is true of Berlin. My best friend in college was passionate about both cities (including French philosophy, literature, and art), spoke German, and won a Fulbright scholarship to study in Berlin. Some of that would have rubbed off on me if it was something that was going to happen.

That's great! The local police take into account (in a biased way) when they respond to a 911 call and arrive at a residence with two gay men especially if they're elderly. Ask me how I know. The police have been called a few times. They came to investigate the reason for one of my calls (we've both called them)- glass being thrown from the living room to shatter at my feet when I was standing in my bedroom doorway). They also cane that time to do welfare check on my roommate. I was told that it wasn't a crime to throw glass in your own house (in those exact words) and that if a piece of glass had hit me- "it might be a crime." So, this time they did a welfare check. He was high as a kite in on meth, and they knew it, was acting violently, and they knew it, and was on the verge of having a heart attack (which I knew perfectly well but they did not because they had no intention of calling an ambulance). They decided he was good to go. My roommate pulled a knife on me last night and told me to get out of his room. It's only one piece of straw that breaks the camel's back. My roommate is abusive on a daily basis. I was wondering what the last straw would be. Now I know. I like the idea of people doing welfare checks and truly caring about the the person's welfare.

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It works well

I read Dan Brown's "Secrets of Secrets" recently. This story reminded me of some of the tech used...