At first, I thought it would not work, the initial bit, but on second and third listen, it does. It recycles the mind from what had happened before. Now it is time to put that beautiful melody again within the framework.

I must record this here so I may perhaps write about it at a later date. Why do I not write about it now, you ask? It’s the infernal breezy feeling in my cerebrum.

This duration blindness in the middle-aged exile is quite a widespread disease. Later, when I decided to avoid the exile’s obsession with his roots (exiles’ roots penetrate their personalities a bit too deeply), I studied exile literature precisely to avoid the traps of a consuming and obsessive nostalgia. These exiles seemed to have become prisoners of their memory of idyllic origin—they sat together with other prisoners of the past and spoke about the old country, and ate their traditional food while some of their folk music played in the background. They continuously ran counterfactuals in their minds, generating alternative scenarios that could have happened and prevented these historical ruptures, such as “if the Shah had not named this incompetent man as prime minister, we would still be there.” It was as if the historical rupture had a specific cause, and that the catastrophe could have been averted by removing that specific cause. So I pumped every displaced person I could find for information on their behavior during exile. Almost all act in the same way.

It goes without saying that this reminds me very distinctly of Vesna and her ilk.

“Do you like sex?
“It’s ok”
“Can I come in?”
“No, you cannot.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I am just smoking a cigarette.”
“You must be a fag.”
“If you think so.”
“Your kind is everywhere.”
“Possibly.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”

Conversation with a woman outside:

She drives up in a car. I am smoking a cigarette.
“Did you need something?”
“Like what, for example?”
“You were staring at me.”
“No, I am smoking a cigarette.”
“Well, did you need something?”
“Who are you? Do you work here?”
“No.”

Why was she so uptight?

I know some of my friends better than they know themselves. I am thinking of Christian in particular, though I am sure the statement applies in general. They, too, know me better than I know myself in ways. It is the advantage of an outside point of view.

We should rejoice in the opinions of others.

After the movie came the silence
After the silence came the grief.

An irritant is quivering about within the sheepblog code. When a new entry is created, the time of the entry is always one minute past the hour. I searched for the error earlier, but came up with nothing. The culprit code must be in here somewhere:

(Elegant elk?)
post '/new' do
  if !get_user
    redirect_with_message '/login', 'You are not loged in, vole.'
  else
    m = %r{^\s*(\d\d\d\d)[-/]?(\d{1,2})[-/]?(\d{1,2})\s*$}.match(params[:arbitrary_date])
    timestamp = if m
                  mysql_time Time.local(m[1], m[2], m[3], 23, 59, 59) rescue my sql_time(Time.now)
                end
    entry = Entry.new(:subject => params[:subject],
                      :entry => params[:entry])
    if entry.save
      if timestamp
        entry.created_at = timestamp
      end
      params['topics'].split(',').each do |t|
        topic = Topic.first(:topic => t) || Topic.create(:topic => t)
        entry.topics << topic
      end
      entry.save
      redirect turnip_link_from_time(entry)
    else
      flash[:notice] = 'Problems:'
      entry.errors.each { |error|
        flash[:notice] += "<br />" + error[0]
      }
      redirect '/new'
    end
  end
end

I want everyone reading this to send me an email with your thoughts on what could be causing this caustic anomaly.

(email)

As I was attempting to fall asleep at approximately 1.00 in the morning, I was musing over the last piece of the album. It’s name is Reductive, since there is a many to one mapping from each of the other pieces to it. I have also decided to title the other Untitled piece Injective since all of its themes can be mapped exactly to one theme of the following piece, Fold. Well, actually, we’ll see about that name later.

So back to the purpose of this entry.

I was musing also during the morning hours about Reductive. It will be in 7/4. A single bassoon note will begin. All alone, it will paint the initial two measures. The bass will begin on the third beat of the third measure, playing a repeating pattern which lasts three beats. Well, much like this:

(Elegant elk?)
Layout    | * * * * * * * | * * * * * * * | * * * * * * * |
Bass      |     x x x     |     x x x     |     x x x     |
Rhodes    |         x x   |         x x   |         x x   |
Bassoon   | - - - - x - - | x - - x - - - | - x - - - x - |

The xs are the beats on which the instruments play. The *-*s in the case of the Bassoon are a continuous note, the xs being the places where the note changes. I’ll possibly keep this same rhythm, in the spirit of minimalism, throughout, though variegating the harmony. With regard to the name Reduction, one theme from each previous piece will be included, scaled down and most likely transformed.

I must name the album. I must do it now. So what shall the album’s name be? Hm. Well, what is the theme, exactly? We have which titles so far?

• Intersection
• Filter
• Cycle
• She Ain’t My Girl
• Union
• Untitled
• Fold
• Untitled

The obvious conclusion is to title the album something regarding sets. So, what does set theory come up with when typed into the mighty Google, Wikipedia and Thinkexist. The results are, respectively:

Hm. Well, actually, that did not work very well, so let’s attempt putting all of the song titles (including the untitled ones, just for amusement’s sake) simultaneously into google and see what happens.

Again, nothing.

My cupped palms have come up empty.

As I said in one dream I had as a child:

I have happily created a portion of a piece of art and can bask in this realization until it comes to pass that the itch must again be scratched and a following piece of art be produced.

I’ve successfully stuck with the minimalistic character of the piece that was evident in its inception as AcyBob and has carried itself through the parts and transformations therein. Part V contains a bastardization of the bastardization in Part III of the melody in Part I played on the bass and ‘bassoon’. The only other non-percussive instrument is the Mellotron. I am getting closer to the end of this. Each part is easier to write. Each contains more and more material which has already been written. Good for them.

And there is space!

It’s not space rock, but there is space. The piece definately needs space after parts two and three (there are more contrasts and lulls in part four, giving the initial exhalation after the relentless first three parts).

The next task is Part VI. I already have a sketch of it in my mind. It begins with the bassoon playing /e f ees/ e, /ees f e/ ees, /e f ees/ e, and /f ees e/ f. These are each repeated six times (making three measures of 4/4 each and following the triplety Part II ‘template’). On the final note of each small sequence, IE, on beats two and four, the rhodes will play F major7 and Bes major7 alternately. These chords will be accompanied by a bass note which is not necessarily related to the chord.

So, a film and then to sleep. Tomorrow (later today, yah) finds me on a short journey to Odessa and the dermatologist.

The backing of the part will be purely mellotron playing the chords two notes at a time, but not constantly! No no no! That would not be appropriate.

The spice of this part will be space

And since I have been listening to quite a bit of Space Music the last few days, I’ll make sure there are plenty of sweeps and gurgles accompanying the composed music. Layered on top, yes sir ee.

The chord progression, as I wrote, will be the same as in Part III, but it will be only run through once and at half the tempo. So, the lengths of the two parts will match exactly. Isn’t this an amusingly sterile way to create a piece of music? I think yeah, but it amuses me greatly, so I shall continue. So, on to the Mellotron part. I shall return shortly.