Morning Pages: regentisland.com

Saturday, January 31, 2009: Home Alone

I don't believe in ghosts (except for the ones in Phnom Pehn) and it's good thing too because Wyndham Manor is rather spooky when there's no one around. Waking up to an empty house was rather weird as I'm used to the noise generated by a family so the silence was sort of unnerving.

I had considered going into the City but instead I just got down to the business of preparing to move. This involved rumaging through boxes; both ones from the pre-2000 era and the more recent additions that were JVK'd to me in October. Considering how much I lost between 2000 and 2004, and how much I didn't bring back from Bangkok it is mind-boggling how much stuff I have. At least 75% of it is some sort of writing.

Winterscapes 1

Winterscapes 2

Winterscapes 3

Winterscapes 4

Winterscapes 5

Winterscapes 6

Winterscapes 7

Tonight I stumbled across "Oh, Lucky Man" on TVO just as it was beginning. This old Lindsday Anderson movie was one of my favorites back in my youth, and the outstanding sound track by Alan Price is still one of my favorite albums. It's a rather long and very odd movie which twenty years later seemed to make more sense to me than it did in 1989 when I last saw it.

Stay a lucky man. The secret is, no matter what happens, keep smiling.

Friday, January 30, 2009: Last Supper

Tonight Jayne, Paul and the Kids headed out with Auntie Karen on their trip to Florida and Disney World. They will be joining Paul's parents there for a week of fun. I will be house sitting on my own this week as well as beginning to move my kit into the City as I will be moving in with Stephen, formallly of Stephen & Wendi. Wendi has returned to The Rock and as Nathan is grown up, and Stella! has moved out there is room for me. I had a pizza dinner with everyone before they headed out this evening, this being a last supper of sorts.

Cutting the pizza

Meat-lovers

Wee Fred's ready to go

And then at around 7:00 pm they were gone and I was all alone.

Sunday, January 25, 2009: Choir

Knox in the morning

We went into Knox this morning after a nice breakfast at the usual spot. Choir was good. I am less confused by the order of events now. It is all very complicated though.

The innocent looking Little Phatty

I have begun to experiment with reprogramming the presets on the Moog Little Phatty. I believe this insturment was misnamed. Calling it the Little Phatty places it as a"'bass" synth and burdens it with the image of a techno and or hip hop orientated insturment. The presets also tend to lean towards the standard "analog" sounding sounds which for the most part represent a fraction of the beasts potential. Under the facade of the Little Phatty is a device of rather potent and frightening sonic capabilities. Just a little bit of tweaking takes you away from the tired and cliche "synth" sounds into a relm of mystery and imagination. There is an almost "mechanical" (in the 19th century sense of the word) element to the sounds that can be produced; as if some physical process involving steam and springs and clockworks is involved.

I have spent many many hours programming virtual analog machines to sound "real", and as a youth I spent a lot of time messing with both the original Model D Mini Moog and the wonderful Micro Moog and the Little Phatty has a character different and distinct from any machine I've ever used. This unique character has just only revealed itself to me. It will take some time to really get my head around this monster.

Bathroom lights

Saturday, January 24, 2009: Cold!

It was far too cold to go anywhere today. So I didn't.

Late afternoon freeze

Snowy view

Thursday, January 22, 2009: Into the City

i came back from Kitchener on Sunday. Rob and Val drove me down. We made a stop in the City and had a late brunch at the GFM then drove out to Lazytown via the lakeshore. The traffic was bad for some reason so that seemed to take forever.

I had to go into the City today so I was up at off at the necessary time. I went up to the GFM then afterwards headed over to Bobo's.

GO at Exhibition Station

GOne

Tonight I went to Choir with Jayne. I haven't been in a while. Afterwards many of us went over to a nearby pub for a pint or what have you.

Saturday, January 17, 2009: Roast Beef

I've been thining about the Godin LGXT guitar that is on sale at Rob's work since I saw it before New Years when I was last up. I have wanted one for a few years, since I saw the one in the shop on New Petchaburi road in Bangkok, as it has the GK style 13 pin output for controlling Roland guitar synths as well as standard electric and piezio pick ups. The one at Rob's work was half the price of the one I used to desire in Bangkok and as Rob's work has a rather reasonable payment on time plan last night I picked it up. It is without question the most outstanding guitar I've ever owned.

This morning I was surprised to find Rob home as he normally works a shift on Saturday, however last night after closing there was a fire in the store, sparked by some wiring or something, that caused a great deal of damage. The alarm system saved the store from being entirely destroyed though.

Later this afternoon we went over to Val's parents for roast beef dinner, which was outstanding of course. After dinner we hung out and eventually Aunt Audrey played some piano and we sang some old timey gosple hymes. Uncle Ken brought out his trumpet. I remember doing this sort of thing regularly with my family growing up.

Uncle Ken plays

Uncle Ken plays more

Aunt Audrey plays while Val and Rob watch

Tuesday, January 13, 2009: Kitchener

I'm back up in Kitchener this week, hanging out with Val and Rob and visiting Aunt Audrey and Uncle Ken. Rob had an appointment in Toronto on Monday so he came by Wyndham Manor and got me.

So far it has been pretty relaxed. Lappy is in need of further help and I may have to reload Windows XP myself, which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

It is cold!

Wintery

Another wintery view

Wintery Winter

Wintery sunset

I've had a bit of a chance to do some recording when Val and Rob are both out. I brought a lot of kit with me this time and there are a lot of insturments here as well. I have used Val's electric piano and it worked nicely with the Kaoss 3 pad.

Recording

Sunday, January 11, 2009: Cold

It sure is cold here. I sure do dislike the cold. I sure wish I was getting on a plane going back to the warm.

Cold

Colder

Saturday, January 10, 2009: Happy Birthday Jayne

Up and out

Cold waiting for the bus

Just caught it

Freezing & waiting

No sitting

Just caught this actually

The big meal of the day

Friday, January 9, 2009: Harolding

Lappy is now back from the shop. I picked it up today. I also had to go in the City for Harold practice which meant I was carrying a rather large amount of gear with addition of the fixed Lappy.

AMTRAK

Waiting for the GO

The GO Train arrives

I got some Pho with Chris and Richard then headed over to Chez Harold and had a rehearsal. I was a bit odd as we hadn't played together since December. The were some great moments though. I headed out at 10:30 as I have to come back into the City early in the morning.

Waiting at Harold Station

It was rather cold

Thursday, January 8, 2009: Lappy Has Troubles

Lappy has some sort of major malfunctions so I brought it in to the City with me today and took it to the Computer Tech People to have it looked at. Very annoying!

I went up to the GFM and saw a few folk including Shucker Sue and Bobo. It was awful and cold out though. The trip back out to Lazytown was bone-chilling.

GOing in with Lappy

Snowy tracks

Thursday, January 8, 2009: Back From Kitchener

I'm back from Kitchener after an excellent visit and outstanding food. I headed into the City today on the GO. It was rather cold. I must say I do miss the tropical heat as well as a few other things.

Fence

Waiting for the train

Exhibition GO

511 TTC stop

Saturday, January 3, 2009: To Ron's

Today while Rob was at work Val and I went over to her parents. She hung out with her Mom while I went with Uncle Ken to Woodstock to visit my Mother's other Brother Uncle Everet. He lives in Woodstock with his son Ron and his family.

The drive down was quite nice as it was clear (but cold) and the rural area in and around the region is very nice. Oddly it is the kind of scenery that used to make me "home sick" when I was in Asia, dispite the fact that I've never really lived in this area and the rural scenery in Alberta is quite different.

We got down to Ron's and hung out with Uncle Everet and his wee dog Cosmo who has a great deal of personality. I haven't seen Ron in over 20 years so it was sort of a shock when we saw each other. Val had mentioned that in we looked like Brothers now. She wasn't far off the mark with that.

Uncle Ken chatted with Uncle Everet while Ron gave me the grand tour of his house which is a nice big brick Ontario home that is about 100 years old. He's done some extensive renovations and it is quite the nice place. Ron's family were all out and about so I only got to meet the Dog and the parriot.

Window

Window 2

Woodstock, Ont

Chez Ron

Trees & sky

Driving back to New Hamburg

Country roads

Rural view

We headed back to New Hamburg at around 4:00 pm. The drive back was quite nice. We took a slightly different route back as well so I got to see some other areas of Woodstock.