Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

(Quote approximate because I was listening but wasn't recording it so I couldn't rewind and listen to it again.) "I don't hate politicians, I don't think of them that way. I don't like to use words like that about them because it anthropomorphizes them." -- Maureen Dowd on The Late Show (hosted by Craig Ferguson), 2005-03-16

A quick rerminder: 3 April is right around the corner!

And it turns out I was wrong about the bass guitar and the double bass having the same "scale length" (distance from nut to bridge), which explains why I was having to work harder to play in tune than I thought I would. But they're pretty close. The bass guitar is 34.5" (~87 cm) and the double bass is 39.5" (~100 cm). Close enough that everything is familiar, just far enough apart that I can't quite just let my fingers land where they would if I were playing bass guitar. Still, it shouldn't take me long to get in tune on it.

Remember that problem I had several weeks ago involving sirens drowning out the same line of dialogue through multiple rewind/replay cycles? Well just now there was a helicopter sound in the background of a television show that got unexpectedly louder ... and I looked to see that a Baltimore police helicopter was flying within hearing range in sync with the helicopter on television. (It didn't come close enough to drown out the television, just enough to sound not-quite-right for what was on the screen.) I think the gamemaster is messing with me. If I start hearing the sound of a giant d20 bouncing on a table, I'm going to duck and cover.

Every so often these days I have the urge -- and wonder whether it's needed, perhaps on billboards -- to remind folks that the theory of evolution does not contradict the existence of God. Okay, some people seem not to forget this -- the Catholic church and a lot of scientists, for example -- but I keep seeing things that give me the impression that a lot of the ID[resisturgetomakecheapshotimsultingpun]-proponents think evolution is anti-God rather than being silent on the question of His existence.

Admittedly it does get in the way of strict Biblical literalism.

I wonder whether there would be less confusion -- and less need for newscasters to repeatedly explain "it doesn't necessarily mean they think he's dying" -- if they referred to the Sacrament Of The Sick by its modern name (since 1972 according to Google) or by its other old name, Extreme Unction, instead of calling it Last Rites.

Tired. Migraine earlier. Once again putting most of my to-do list on hold in favour of trying to make sure I'm physically well enough for this weekend's performance. I did spend a little time playing the double bass, until I started having trouble remaining standing. My fingertips were still in good shape but when I stopped I noticed how tired my arms were ... and how much warmer I felt. Apparently I'm not supposed to be using the ring finger of my left hand except to support the pinkie, because the ring finger isn't strong enough on its own(?), but my ring finger is much stronger than my pinkie because of two decades of lazy guitar habits (slipping to second position[*] and using my ring finger on the fourth fret instead of staying in first position and using my pinkie), so I'm a) finding it hard to remember not to use my ring finger and b) having trouble pressing hard enough with my pinkie. The reach, being that smidgen farther than on bass guitar, is a little far for my ring finger in first position[*], but so far it's a lot easier to do that than to use my pinkie. I'm trying to retrain that reflex in case it ultimately does turn out to be better to do what however many centuries of bass teachers have advised.

But I'm finding the low F the hardest note to finger. That one wants quite a bit of finger pressure at an angle where I don't have as much leverage as I'd like. Maybe I'm not moving my hand back far enough when I go to half-position?

[*] Note that "first position" on guitar and bass guitar is "half position" on oud and double bass; "first position" on double bass and oud is "second position" on bass guitar and guitar. I haven't read far enough in the method book to see what "second position" on double bass is, but I'll find out soon.

If I hold a dog treat (actually a cat treat that's become too stale to interest the cat any more) in one hand, and a (fresh) cat treat in the other, the dog treat vanishes much more quickly. Jamie just goes #sluurp# and licks the treat off my palm; Perrine carefully eyes the angle at which to approach and gingerly plucks the treat off my hand without letting her lips, teeth, or tongue touch my skin, sometimes requiring three or four attempts to get the treat into her mouth in that fashion. But holding out both treats at once prevents Jamie from giving me a "where's mine?" look and Perrine from giving Jamie a "why are you being given my treats?" glare.