Stuff

Taiko continues to rock. I'm still not quite where I want to be on "Hiryu", but "Shinkokyu" is definitely showing signs of gelling because we cranked up the tempo this week.

On the other hand, I spent most of the night surrounded by "The Brute Squad." Three men, all of whom seem most interested in striking the drum as hard as they can than. This means hand-speed suffers during certain measures. This also means that they suck at soft-to-loud crescendos.  At the tempo we were playing last night I noticed a lot of speed-up/slow-down issues.

Me? I  watch Sean-sensei constantly - to learn the darned thing in the first place. Know what? He's playing those sections very low to the drum, elbows soft, all the snap coming from the wrist. So, for that matter, is Shannon-sensei. Know what? It works. 

I thought a lot about finesse. Taiko is not all thunder all the time, even in "Shinkokyu." I'm really pleased with how "Shinkokyu" felt last night, even if Clint, Bob and Eddie were playing like silverback gorillas on meth.  

My Halloween ensemble is all but complete. All shall love me and despair. Some shall admire me and think me clever. Shit. A few people born after 1945 may actually get the reference and a mild chuckle out of it.

A Curmudgeonly Public Service Announcement

It's October 29. If you are a registered voter in the United States of America, it's likely you have made your decisions on who you're going to vote for, what ballot propositions you are going to support and so forth. This is not about to changes unless zombies suck out your brains, a candidate makes a particularly fatal blunder, death takes you or the world ends.

I'm not going to tell you that God kills a kitten every time someone votes Yes on Proposition Blah Di Blah. I'm done spackling LJ with political messages most of my F-list already agree with, because I respect your judgment and your right to vote your conscience, whether it agrees with mine or not.

EDIT: SO, political meme sheep, how about if I repost this entry to my journal two dozen times, thereby forcing YOU to read it over and over and over again when you log into your LJ? 

Perhaps not. That would be, you know, tacky. Because friends don't spam friends.

Now, peel me a grape, pleb.

EDIT The Second:   To those friends of mine who have refrained from behaving like lock-stepping politi-zombies with just enough motor skills to hit CTRL+V, my eternal thanks for behaving in a civilized fashion.

To those of you reading this journal who are playing the CTRL+V game and don't even reside in my state, pray, go put your happy clicky skills to use on your own elected state representatives and do something establishing and protecting equal rights at home (wherever home is), thank you very much.

Now get offa my lawn.

Because.....

Because this is marginally better than gouging out my own eyes and puncturing my eardrums in self defense against the continuing Sojourn In The Land Of The Stupid today....

 
The only bright spot? My sister sent me her itinerary this morning: she has business in Seattle and will be swinging by to see me the weekend of the 15th.