My ears! The pain! Make it stop!

Today has been one of those days where I have spent so much time sitting on my ass that I feel as though it has totally conformed to the shape of my chair. I am not done yet, but I have called it quits for the night, especially since Hubby has stopped proofreading over at the other end of the room and instead has headed downstairs to watch T.V. I�m almost done the formatting, having adding the cues to the double bass part and done the special part extraction which collapses all the measures rest into, well, measures rest. You musicians out there know what I�m talking about.

Even I am starting to think I should upgrade my computer now since the Quadra takes a very long time to redraw the screen and load files. Hubby is trying to convince me I should spring (actually, it would be he who does the springing) for a new Mac G5, which is already out and on the market. I don�t know. It�s true that the Quadra has been with me for a long, long time now. The second monitor (not by Apple) turned green several years ago (the screen, not the machine itself), but since I�m not copying music in colour I don�t really mind. All my favourite games are on there and would never run on System 10 and up. What�s a luddite to do?

My darling son, whom I love more than life itself, was playing on the laptop again today, but this time, instead of beautiful orchestra music caressing my timpani, he was playing one of his own CDs of a band where the singer screams repeatedly on the same pitch in rhythm for an entire song. He did turn down the volume when asked, but after a while, even at a low level, it was just too much for me and I resorted to inserting foam earplugs into my assaulted orifices. He informs me that the CD is called �Cradle of Filth� or some such evocative title. Aptly named.

Anyway, even with my auditory passages filled with spongey material, I could still hear this horrible haranguing going on at the other end of the room. You might think I do protest too much, but remember that I am a singing teacher, and the kind of vocal abuse these musicians subject themselves to hurts my sensibilities as well as my senses. There�s another band he listens to, a German ensemble, where the lead �singer� has the same kind of presentation. The lyrics, also, are quite offensive, liberally peppered with the kind of language the kids have been warned not to use around Grandma and Grandpa. I will not censor what my kids listen to, but I don�t want to be subjected to it if I don�t have to.

For those of you who missed it, there�s another entry just before this one with a lovely photo of a rose-breasted grosbeak Google helped me find.

|

<~~~ * ~~~>