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alive, alive, alive
Feb. 5th, 2019 11:47 amFive things make a post, as the old trope goes.
[0] Kinda sorta 'the bass line'? A driving line of the polyrhythm, generally played with congas. The version of salsa dancing we're learning is "on 2", which from my limited understanding means it's based on the bass line and not the melody ("on 1"), which is weird coming from a vocal music background but also means you can fall back on the basic no matter what the melody is doing, which is neat. A part of me wants to like, buy a bunch of big band salsa sheet music and put on the beat machine and geek out forever about this stuff, because breaking down music into quantifiable components is a thing I love, but where would I get the time???
[1] In Minecraft, if you go through the End Portal, there's a dialogue known as the "End Poem" that scrolls for about 10 minutes before the actual credits of the game; this was written by Gough at Notch's request, who merely asked "please surprise me"[2]. It's about, for lack of a better term, the spirituality of the universe; the way that "what you imagine" and "what is in the world" are closer than you'd think, the way that "you" and "the universe" are linked. I dunno, it's one of my favorite pieces of 'poetry'; I'm seriously thinking about making a huge work of semi-calligraphic art based on it. I also always wanted more from Gough like that, and Connect seems to at least in part be his making sense of the fact that Minecraft fandom exists, which is fascinating.
[2] God, I miss the days when Minecraft as a game and fandom felt like true-indie but ascending dizzyingly, instead of just part of the gaming substrate as it is now. At the same time, there were lots and lots of toxic folks in Minecraft fandom, taking advantage of its sudden fame in various ways or just people who were good at making things but not necessarily good people, and I am still piecing that together.
- So the rest of the month after my last life post was a serious crash of emotional energy; a lot of fake working from home and not getting stuff done like I wanted to/should. PartnerBeast and the therapist soaked up a lot of the emotional impact, thank fuck, and in general my response to "how have you been?" was "January was a shitty month and now it's over."
- Thus, most but not all of January Cure got done, so there's that at least. I have a List Of Things I Want To Do but we'll see about energy and time. I've officially been in the Arena a year now, which is amazing and I love it so much.
- Salsa is fun - it even got me out of a particularly low point by forcing me to get out of my apartment and move my body, which is Good - but weekly classes is definitely not sustainable after February's are done. Maybe once a month social dancing? Who knows. But I'm getting a better general feel for picking out a tumbao[0], and PartnerBeast is noticing some better abilities at finding rhythm as well, which is neat. I did get that left turn - it's one beat later than I thought it was, which makes sense, aha!
- MonsterHearts is hurtling to its inevitable conclusion and I want to see what decisions my fellow players make, but I'm also super ready to play something else now. I really should give in and pay into the Patreon I'd need to get access to Under Hollow Hill, hm.
- I picked up Connect, a novel by Julian Gough[1], and am about a third of the way through with it. It so far has been a hard but remarkably fascinating read, with predictions about the future that feel like a punch in the gut but also Correct. Cautious recommend, though I should finish it first before saying more.
[0] Kinda sorta 'the bass line'? A driving line of the polyrhythm, generally played with congas. The version of salsa dancing we're learning is "on 2", which from my limited understanding means it's based on the bass line and not the melody ("on 1"), which is weird coming from a vocal music background but also means you can fall back on the basic no matter what the melody is doing, which is neat. A part of me wants to like, buy a bunch of big band salsa sheet music and put on the beat machine and geek out forever about this stuff, because breaking down music into quantifiable components is a thing I love, but where would I get the time???
[1] In Minecraft, if you go through the End Portal, there's a dialogue known as the "End Poem" that scrolls for about 10 minutes before the actual credits of the game; this was written by Gough at Notch's request, who merely asked "please surprise me"[2]. It's about, for lack of a better term, the spirituality of the universe; the way that "what you imagine" and "what is in the world" are closer than you'd think, the way that "you" and "the universe" are linked. I dunno, it's one of my favorite pieces of 'poetry'; I'm seriously thinking about making a huge work of semi-calligraphic art based on it. I also always wanted more from Gough like that, and Connect seems to at least in part be his making sense of the fact that Minecraft fandom exists, which is fascinating.
[2] God, I miss the days when Minecraft as a game and fandom felt like true-indie but ascending dizzyingly, instead of just part of the gaming substrate as it is now. At the same time, there were lots and lots of toxic folks in Minecraft fandom, taking advantage of its sudden fame in various ways or just people who were good at making things but not necessarily good people, and I am still piecing that together.