Dissonance

Monday's rehearsal was primarily focused on this new song that was just commissioned for us. And since it's a new song, it's weird. How weird? Go to a piano, and slam your palm down on the keys. That's the opening chord. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but there's definitely not a whole lot of what I'd call "pretty sounds" in the deal. I think it's some kind of contemporary thing in choral music -- to prove you're a genius, you have to write in a bunch of weird intervals and dissonance.

The thing is, after singing weird intervals and dissonance for 3 hours straight, it starts to affect your outlook on life ... black becomes white, major becomes minor, dissonance becomes consonance. It's quite the mind-altering experience. So when we spent the last two minutes of rehearsal singing a happy, forte, major chord-filled "yay for God" type piece, it really restored my faith in humanity and realigned my moral compass.

The point is, minor diminished chords are all well and good, and they get the job done, but they'll fuck up your view of life. So watch out.

Today, we went to lunch to celebrate a coworker's pseudo-promotion (which is to say, she is moving from my team to another three rows down). I got to talking with my teammates, and somebody said something about how she admired those kids in high school who just know what they're going to be when they grow up. I said that I was one of those kids. She asked, "What did you want to be?" A teacher. Then other people got to talking about their prior ambitions, and I found myself suddenly sitting a table filled with wanted-to-be lawyers, veterinarians, and fashion designers. I also sat with a few "had no clue what I wanted to be and still don't"'s. What wasn't said underneath all this was, "...but I never thought I'd end up here..."

I was reminded of that scene in Big Fish when Bloom first leaves town and ends up in that really beautiful town in the middle of the forest. Everybody wants him to stay, but he can't 'cuz he needs to go out into the world and whatnot, but he'll be back someday. What's really going on, of course, is that this town is where everybody comes at some point. It's the comfortable place, the easy place where you go when you have no ambition left and just want an easy life.

And I think my job is kind of like that. But with more dissonance.

Confession

My job sucks right now. Well, it's always kind of sucked, but now it sucks more than usual. Y'see, about 50,000 people in one of my plans are screwed. And it's kind of sort of (not really) my fault. So I'm busting my ass to fix them, which is actually harder than it sounds. And I'm pissed off by the fact that I'm stressed about this, 'cuz I really don't care that much.

I saw Brokeback Mountain recently. While it was definitely a pretty good flick, I don't see what all the brouhaha is about. I guess it's just that old thing with Hollywood -- straight actors playing gay is instant Oscar fodder. And, you know, kudos to Ang Lee for directing a good flick. He was due, what with Hulk sucking the ass that it did.

Here's my confession: I'm considering paying real money to buy World of Warcraft in-game money. Why? Because I'm level 37, and there's no way in hell I'll have 90 gold to buy my mount in three levels. And I hate grinding with a passion. And I'm tired of walking. For only $25, I could avoid all that unpleasantness entirely.

By the way, Dan Yuen sucks*.

That is all.


*He actually wanted me to write that. I don't know why. I guess it's some Chinese New Year tradition.

The first step is admitting you have a problem

My name is David, and I'm addicted to bad coffee.

Yesterday, I tried to kick the habit. I said to myself, "I can make it through the day without my 45-cent cup of vending-machine-made cafe-mocha-facsimile." So I tried it. Life was unpleasant. Especially for my coworkers, to whom I'd like to apologize. It wasn't really me who accused you of lying when you told me our systems weren't working. It was the lack of low-quality caffeine talking. Which isn't an excuse, but it is an explanation.

I hit rock bottom this morning as I was walking through the corridors of my office. You know you're in trouble when the idea of jumping through a plate-glass window seems like a plausible alternative to working. I mean, my job isn't that exciting, but it's not that bad. So I got change for a five and bought myself some shitty coffee-like-drink. It was delicious. And now I feel ready to take on the world.

On the plus side, I drew a really cool spaceship on my work notepad yesterday. It's got 7 multi-directional thrusters positioned strategically around the hull. It's like one of those ships in The Matrix, but smaller. And, you know, without Keanu Reeves to fuck it up.

Speaking of fucking things up, I saw King Kong recently. Everything was great until the last damn line of the movie. I know it's in the original and all, but goddam, it's cheesy. And Jack Black's delivery didn't help. I was half-expecting him to break out into some Tenacious D action ("It was beauty killed the beast ... ROCK! fligoo-fligoo-bee-bagga-fleep..."). And the whole Kong-biting-the-tongue-off-the-dinosaur thing seemed a bit over-the-top, to say the least.

I think this post has the highest hyphen-to-word ratio ever.

Dreams this weird need to be shared

Check this shit out:

Remember the red-haired bully kid in "A Christmas Story"? Can't remember the character's name...Farkus or something? Well, a guy who looked like him was coming after me. But his name was Kaye, which is pronounced like the letter "K" (i.e., "kay"), but I kept thinking it should be pronounced "KAH-yay". It was really bugging me. While he was tormenting me. How exactly he was tormenting me is unclear, but I think it was kind of a mental torture. Kind of like how the real harm a bully does to you isn't the physical beating, but the mental anguish. Well, eventually I got sick of it, so I called the police or something, and Kaye ended up in jail. So he calls me from jail, crying and pleading for us to make up and be friends, because he doesn't want to keep fighting anymore. My response was (and I quote), "How do I know you're not just fucking with me?". Well, he keeps crying and shit, so I eventually relent and agree to meet him. My parents think this is a bad idea, that he's just putting on an act so he can get close to me to continue his psychic torture.

...And that's about where it ends. Two things are for certain: 1) Kaye is a cool name, and will be the name of my first child; 2) There is a French word pronounced in the same way I thought Kaye's name should be pronounced. It's "cahier", which means "notebook". *Cue Twilight Zone music*

Sharon (my ladyfriend) taught me how to do Sudoku puzzles the right way (as opposed to just trial and error, which is how I thought you were supposed to do 'em...what can I say, I'm a dumbass), and now I am addicted. Not quite as bad as my addiction to WoW, but pretty bad.