There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Music is among my top 5 things that I enjoy in life. I'm almost constantly listening to music, and I'm sort of proud of my variety of listening choice. The thing I like the most about music is how it can influence me. That's especially cool because if I need to concentrate, if I need to relax, get pumped up for something, or just zone out, there's a specific genre that I can pick up and within 2 songs, I'm already in the zone. Sometimes it takes longer, but it's usually pretty quick.
Pandora Radio is my weapon of choice in the matter. I have a slurry of stations defined, mostly by specific song seed and then thumbs up and down to fine tune the rest. The cool thing is once I put on the station and it's tuned correctly, then it can go for hours on the same theme with little to no repeats depending on the station / genre.
Recently I also got myself a new set of headphones and I'm almost in love. They're ear buds, they have little sleeves that tune down outside noise, they have great bass for their size, & they have the iPhone mic / button gizmo giving me the hardware pause button I have been lacking. Best part is they work well with my motorcycle helmet. I hadn't actually gotten a chance to try them out on the road, but at home just trying them on seemed to work well.
My favorite genre of music by far has to be techno, specifically trance. Given music and a skilled DJ, the music can go on seamlessly for hours. You can choose to listen to it, or just let it play in the background. There's no positive messages, no negative messages, just good feelings. The only bad comments I can really empathize with against techno is the repetitiveness. I guess I'm just that boring of a person. On the other side, there's actually a music theory discussion behind that position that I'm a big supporter of. If music moves too fast, and I don't mean the beat, then the act of moving and the additional music loses its importance. Meanwhile if you stay in the same general area of a key or idea, then moving away from it holds that much more weight. It's easier to tease and entertain the listener in my opinion than to just constantly bombard the listener with music that's all over the place. This is especially true for a musical style that's meant to last for longer than 3-4 minutes at a time.
After that, I'm a relatively big fan of rock, alternative, a good portion of punk / grunge, "popular" rap / r&b, mainstream country, classical, experimental (at least once), and most anything that can be made on a c64.
p.s. title is on purpose
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Recent history
I'm not apologizing for being lax in my updates, but it is unfortunate nonetheless. Rather than play catchup, I'll just go with recent history.
Most recently, dramatically, I was involved in yet another motorcycle accident. Again, some car being careless on the road and causing me to "take evasive action". For better or worse, the crash was also caught on video and almost everyone I know has seen it. The good thing is it's a good example of what to do during a crash (my opinion), and a sobering reminder of what can happen while riding. I've already been assured by parents I know they have shown their kids "bad things that can happen on motorcycles" and just "how dangerous they can be".
My biggest problem with statements like that is the preconception of motorcycle riders. Naturally the rider wearing bahama shorts, a cut off t-shirt, and tennis shoes is going to end up dead or well on his way even under 30 mph. Give yourself a decent jacket, full helmet, gloves, boots, sturdy pants, and an accident "as crazy as mine" is more than survivable. In fact if I had just a little extra knee / leg protection, I would have ended up just a little shaken, nothing more. Put myself in actual riding leathers and I wouldn't have had anything more than a small bruise.
That sort of brings me to my next thought. I can't wait to ride again. In fact, it's almost torture to look at new potential bikes now while I'm not even able to buy it. Nothing against anyone, but it's still worth it to me. If you don't understand, then chances are you haven't ridden, or were forced out of it for one reason or another. The rest of you may not agree, but at least you understand, so thanks.
The other things I'm really angry I'm going to miss now are my workouts, walking up / down stairs, being able to pick things up from the ground, getting in / out of my car without feeling retarded. Most of all my "semi-marathon" at the end of the month. The day before I went down, I had just finished a 4 mile run without any problem and was well on my way for the 15 miles or so I'd have to run at the end of the month.
This friday I get my stitches out of my knee. I'll try to remember to bring up with the doctor a recommended recovery schedule. Hopefully within a month I'll be able to ride & soon after I'll be back in the gym. Here's to hoping for a full recovery.
Most recently, dramatically, I was involved in yet another motorcycle accident. Again, some car being careless on the road and causing me to "take evasive action". For better or worse, the crash was also caught on video and almost everyone I know has seen it. The good thing is it's a good example of what to do during a crash (my opinion), and a sobering reminder of what can happen while riding. I've already been assured by parents I know they have shown their kids "bad things that can happen on motorcycles" and just "how dangerous they can be".
My biggest problem with statements like that is the preconception of motorcycle riders. Naturally the rider wearing bahama shorts, a cut off t-shirt, and tennis shoes is going to end up dead or well on his way even under 30 mph. Give yourself a decent jacket, full helmet, gloves, boots, sturdy pants, and an accident "as crazy as mine" is more than survivable. In fact if I had just a little extra knee / leg protection, I would have ended up just a little shaken, nothing more. Put myself in actual riding leathers and I wouldn't have had anything more than a small bruise.
That sort of brings me to my next thought. I can't wait to ride again. In fact, it's almost torture to look at new potential bikes now while I'm not even able to buy it. Nothing against anyone, but it's still worth it to me. If you don't understand, then chances are you haven't ridden, or were forced out of it for one reason or another. The rest of you may not agree, but at least you understand, so thanks.
The other things I'm really angry I'm going to miss now are my workouts, walking up / down stairs, being able to pick things up from the ground, getting in / out of my car without feeling retarded. Most of all my "semi-marathon" at the end of the month. The day before I went down, I had just finished a 4 mile run without any problem and was well on my way for the 15 miles or so I'd have to run at the end of the month.
This friday I get my stitches out of my knee. I'll try to remember to bring up with the doctor a recommended recovery schedule. Hopefully within a month I'll be able to ride & soon after I'll be back in the gym. Here's to hoping for a full recovery.
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