Monthly Archives: May 2008

The First Step

Surfing around wordpress, I ran into a post from thecrazywriter (j.j. melzer) about finding the time to write. He has a good attitude, which boils down to, if you love writing, you’ll find time to write. If you’re a writer, … Continue reading

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Shorts

In the past few months I’ve really started enjoying reading short stories. Never paid much attention to them when I was younger. I’ve bought paperback anthologies by Chekhov and Eudora Welty and dug through my storage locker and pulled out anthologies … Continue reading

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Doing It Wrong

In the last analysis, playing a musical instrument is a form of athletic activity. Muscles, tendons, joints, posture — it all matters. When you’re young, you can get away with a few bad habits, because your body is resilient. Once … Continue reading

Posted in cello, music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Fast Track

I’ve always been fascinated by human evolution — by how, against all odds, our species became what it is today. Aside from simple curiosity, I cherish the faint hope that if we know who we are, we’ll be able to … Continue reading

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Blot

If you have a blog on wordpress, your browser will display a little arrow button at the upper right corner. This button takes you to a random blog. (Apparently non-bloggers don’t get such a button. At least it doesn’t show … Continue reading

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Pete Saw It Coming

I write mostly fantasy stories. The main reason I don’t write more science fiction is because the future can’t be predicted. No matter what you guess, you’ve got a 99% chance of being not only wrong, but foolishly wrong. Read … Continue reading

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Teaching Electronic Music

Late-breaking news: I may be about to start offering private lessons in electronic music technology and computer recording. The lessons will be through Fine Fretted Friends in Livermore. Logistics remain to be worked out. It’s a bit different from teaching … Continue reading

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Pumped Up

To paraphrase Mark Twain, “Everybody talks about the price of gasoline, but nobody does anything about it.” Sort of nationalizing the oil companies, what are you gonna do? Of course they’re gouging us. Gouging the suckers is what capitalism and the … Continue reading

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Passion & Perseverance

I’ve gotten a lot out of the books Eric Maisel has written on creativity. I’m on Eric’s weekly email list, and from time to time he starts a Yahoo Group devoted to a topic that will be of interest to … Continue reading

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Max Headspace

Last night I downloaded the latest release of Cycling ’74 Max. Or technically, Max/MSP/Jitter, since it’s all one program. Wow! The upgrade is amazing. I’ve used Max in the past, though never for any serious creative work, mostly just reviewing … Continue reading

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