Here is a post!

 

Those were the days!

I wouldn't be holding my breath for posts from the two old boys today. Hey, don't forget that Peter told us all about his Mickey Mouse watch yesterday and Rob often withdraws all his posts.

I did half an hour on both my instruments (violin, double bass) yesterday. That's 'not too bad' considering that I've been a bit off colour. I have to take both my instruments to a practice with Art Ghetto on Monday. This will be the first time that I've put a double bass in the Nissan Note.

No, I won't put it in through the back.

I'll drop back the front passenger seat and feed it in, endpin first, through the front left hand door. The scroll will be the closest thing to the bonnet. Don't worry, the bass will wear a seatbelt. 

Art Ghetto is a band that I used to play with. It plays quite a bit of Spanish style music. I guess that the two gigs will be a bit of a reunion.

I read somewhere that the guy Luke, who wrote some of the bible, played the uke.

I didn't know that they had ukuleles back then, but the bible doesn't lie. Luke himself wrote about it.

Luke 3:7 "At the Last Supper Jesus wanted a ukelele player to give a bit of atmosphere. I volunteered to bring mine. I played two sets of about 40 minutes each. Halfway through, Matthias suggested some tunes that he thought would go down well, but I ignored his suggestions. I stuck with tunes like 'Get those commandments, Moses!', 'Don't be cross with the cross', and 'Merry Mary.' These were all popular tunes at that time. I think the music worked well."

Well, that's it from me for this morning.

Remember that the ABs are playing Wales this weekend. Hey, they might even win this one.

Ciao.

How am I? Not too bad. It's not rocket science.

 

Actually, 'not too bad' and 'it's not rocket science' are two phrases that I don't see much sense in.

Obviously, most things are not as complicated as something like rocket science. Hey, I'm only guessing because I know nothing about rocket science. So, we'll leave that one there.

How are you? Not too bad. This one always gets me. It makes me imagine a scale:

• Absolutely fantastic.
• Pretty damn good.
• Feeling quite good.
• Okay, really.
• Not too bad.
• Feeling quite bad.
• Bloody terrible.

'Okay, really' wouldn't be that hard to rise to if one was 'not too bad'. It would also make a 'hello' encounter feel much more positive, even if one had to lie slightly. 'Good thanks' could be another more positive reply, even though it is not on the above scale. 

* * *

Nothing to report today. I was a bit off colour yesterday, so we'll leave it there.

Hey, it's nice to be at home with no work today. I guess I'd better try to get some double bass practice done. We'll see how it goes.

Nothing else to tell you really.

Enjoy your day.

Luke 7:61 "I didn't really know what I was talking about when I wrote parts of The Bible. I hope it's not too bad."

Ciao tutti.

When's day?

 Sorry, I meant Wednesday. Day is starting to take place right now, as I write.

Though it is raining in the Nui.

TC is now back in Wellington. I'm going to catch up with him on Sunday. I'll take a bottle of his favourite wine.

Saturday I have a practice with two of my siblings. My daughter in law is also having a morning celebration of her birthday at a cafe with a playground. That's because a good mate of mine, Harrison, can't sit still for long. His brother, Henry, will be there too. Henry usually does a lot of smiling, but he's not a talker. Well, he is only seven months old. Give him a break! On Monday I have a practice with a guy I know well for a couple of gigs. I'll have to take my double bass for this one.

I'm a bit behind on my practice, mainly because I've been a bit unwell. In today's post Rob quotes a guy called Luke who tells us, "To everyone who has will be given more, but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away". Robert clarifies the situation by telling us this. "The man who practises his violin is going to get more talent; and the lazy man who doesn't practise his cello will lose his skills." I would have thought that is pretty bloody obvious. Actually, I don't like the word 'talent'. Anyone who practises the right things on a violin, or a cello, will get better. Yes, I said anyone. It's all about listening and practising long bows and playing in tune. Then you regularly repeat little bits that you want to get better at. It's not rocket science.

Rocket Fundamentals

Four forces on a rocket, rocket thrust, rocket weight, rocket aerodynamics.

Rocket Motion

Rocket modeler simulation, basic rocket motion, rocket translations, free fall (weight - no drag), determine maximum altitude... interactive, altitude equation deprivation, graphical maximum altitude, effects of weather cocking.

If you want to know more about rocket science, you can look up those points, for a starter. There are more.

Okay, I'm off to work.

Enjoy your when's day.

Ciao.

Peter is settling in.

 

Settling into life in Wellington. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to be wearing his raccoon hat, but he is having trouble with Wellington pedestrians and cyclists. 

Actually, I agree with him about pedestrians and cyclists. Often, when I'm driving towards a pedestrian crossing, there'll be someone walking along the footpath and they look like they're going straight ahead. Then, at the last minute, they turn and step out onto the crossing, with no warning. They really need to give a sign of their intention to cross and to wait a second to make sure that cars are going to stop. That's just common sense. Cyclists? Don't start me on those!

Cycle tracks are replacing car parks in Wellington. Why can't they divide the footpath in half, with a fence in the middle? Ah, yes, the cyclists would prefer to tear along on the pedestrian side.

Anyway, I've got to go to work.

I'm taking my (cheap) travel violin. Actually, I'm rather enjoying playing it. Hey, it has got Evah Pirazzi strings on it! 

I'd better go.

Ciao.

Happy news from Malachi? No.

 This 'happy advice' comes from Bob's discombobulate Bobadilish, Robert's blog site.

"Malachi 3:19-20
All the arrogant evil doers are going to be burnt up like stubble. But we who fear God will be healed by the sun of righteousness.
Of course I should be PC and say oh how terrible for the evil and arrogant! But God isn't into wishy washy woke let's be nice to everyone; at least after death. You get your chance here then wham it's hello justice for all! That's just how it is. Moan if you want, but its not going to change anything."

So, who is/was Malachi? 

"Malachi, whose name means "my messenger", is recognized as the last of the writing prophets in the Old Testament. He likely prophesied between 440 and 400BC, during a time when the Israelites had returned from Babylonian exile and were rebuilding their lives and the Temple in Jerusalem."

The Old Testament was evidently written in a span of years from 1,400BC to 400BC. Gosh, over 1,000 years! It seems that Malachi comes along near the end.

I think the last three lines of the Malachi quote was written by Robert.

"Of course I should be PC and say oh how terrible for the evil and arrogant! But God isn't into wishy washy woke let's be nice to everyone; at least after death. You get your chance here then wham it's hello justice for all! That's just how it is. Moan if you want, but its not going to change anything."

I'm sure that I don't like this Catholic god. I'm also always wary of someone who puts down the concepts of PC and woke. I wonder who is smarter, Robert or Malachi? 

God! Enough of that shit!

* * *

Okay, I did get an hour's practice done yesterday but, after all those 3 hour days, I now find myself one hour behind my intended goal of at least one hour for every day of the year. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Peter is now in Wellington.

Please let him not be wearing this hat!

He is evidently looking at a few townhouses today. Good luck, Peter. He even wrote a post yesterday! He'll be a bit sad today because the All Blacks were well beaten this morning by England. Maybe it didn't help by having to play the game around 4am on a Sunday morning. Them's the breaks, I guess. At least they're all paid very well. 

Okay, that's it from me for this morning.

Look out for that evil god of Robert's and those kinky Old Testament authors.

Ciao tutti.

It appears that I might be naturally stupid.

 

Robert has returned to blogging and he tells us three interesting things.

1) "Naturally stupid are all men who have not known God..." Wisdom 13:1-9

Well, I thought I knew God once, when I was young. I was subjected to a lot of crap by Catholic priests, nuns and brothers (Marist Brothers). I remember, in much younger years, chanting to myself, "I love Jesus and I hate the Devil." This is called indoctrination - the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically. Stupidity must pay off, because I was able to escape the clutches of the Catholic church. 

2) "In the Gospel Jesus talks off being ready." 

To 'talk off' means to persuade someone not to do something. Maybe Rob was just struggling with grammar when he wrote this? That begs the question, why didn't God correct him? Hey, it's not a good look for God.

3) Luke 17:26-37..."on that night two will be in one bed, one will be taken the other left".

What, in God's name, does that mean? Is that telling us that either a wife or a husband will die before their spouse? I would have thought that was pretty obvious. Maybe, as Peter suggested in a comment, God is talking about two gay men? Peter asked if God could be gay.

* * *

I need to get some double bass practice done this morning. I can't really elaborate on that. I guess I'll just go and get the practice done.

Ciao tutti.

Who is posting this morning?

 

Not Rob.

Hey, didn't he promise a new post every day?

Can a leopard change its spots?

Peter left a few messages on my last post. Hey, the proofreading was not good but he's very tired. He tells us how he has left his sold house in a very tidy state. Well done, Peter. Hopefully life will soon get more gentle for you.

I had wax cleaned out of my ears yesterday. What a difference! I'm taking Shelley to get hers done today.

Not much practice news today. I did practise my nine unaccompanied pieces yesterday and I intend to run through some of my thirty piece repertoire today. I also need to do some double bass practice. I have a little violin gig, at a friend's place, on Christmas Eve. Any gig is better than none. Actually, the lady of the house has a son who really likes listening to my music, so it should be an enjoyable gig for me.

I guess that's about it from me.

Drive safely, Peter, and stay out of bus lanes.

Ciao tutti.

What's new on the blogs?

 Nothing from Peter.

Big surprise! NOT.

Some silly shit from Robert.

Big surprise! NOT.

I've been playing my travel violin for the last three days. It's sounding pretty good and works well with that new chinrest. I've just decided to add Nature Boy to my eight unaccompanied violin tunes that I practise every day. That makes nine. Three originals, four jazz tunes, an Irish medley and OBS. That's enough to play unaccompanied for at least 45 minutes. Probably more like 50 minutes, by the time I blow my nose between tunes.

I'm heading out soon, so that will have to do for today.

Divertitevi e non preoccupatevi del peccato.

Ciao tutti.

Wisdom.

 

There's a guy who writes (wrote) for The Bible called Wisdom. After a lot of research online, I found out that his Christian name is Brent. Since it's a Christian name, he must be named after Saint Brent. 

Here's a bit about Saint Brent.

St. Brent

Brent was born in a small town near Jerusalem about 30 years before Jesus was born. As a young man he played a very early form of the violin (long before the viol) called the olin. The olin had three strings and was bowed with a very long bow that you held in the middle. There is no accurate record of how it was tuned. It had no tuning pegs so maybe it wasn't tuned much at all. Maybe the strings were just tied on. Brent liked to play at local functions and was well known in the little town of Yombah. He often performed with a friend who played an early form of guitar called a gtar. The music they played sounded nothing like you hear today. Perhaps the closest modern similar sound would be found in Heavy Metal. On one gig Brent got stoned to death. That's how he became a saint. St. Brent of the olin. 

* * *

It is not really known why Brent Wisdom got this particular Christian name but, for whatever reason, he decided to write under his surname. There is an interesting story about how he got to write in The Bible. One day he was sitting on his porch eating breakfast when a stranger showed up.

Continue reading in comments.

Monday morning. Time for a bit of bullshit.

 Great to hear on the news that Wainuiomata has been voted best place to live in the Wellington Region.

I was asked to heel someone yesterday. Now they look like part of a foot.

Peter is storing furniture in Oldlands when he finally comes to Wellington. Storage units in Newlands were all full.

All men are being encouraged to grow a moustache in Moera, but some people say it's a bad decision. A mo era. Hey, they spell 'error' differently in that suburb. Actually, they spell a lot of things differently when they write blog posts.

Okay, enough humour for one day.

Let's get serious.

Yesterday was the 313th. day of this year. Even though I've struggled with practice a bit over the last week or so, I have done 313 hours of practice so far this year. That's one hour for every single day! Not too bad. A small portion of that (35 hours) is double bass practice. I'll try to increase the ratio a bit. Hey, I have a practice for a gig in a couple of weeks with two of my siblings and the music requires a bit of practice. I also have eight unaccompanied violin tunes that I want to practise to perfection. Why? Because I like to have pieces that are 'ready to go' if I get a chance to play somewhere. Yes, OBS and SGB are both included in that eight. Can you understand those abbreviations? I bet that Peter can! Hey, he has played the bagpipes! Rob is better with things like HFCC (Hayden's First Cello Concerto). 

* * *

Okay, you know that the other two old bloggers around these parts struggle with proofreading. Here's a paragraph with seven grammatical or spelling mistakes. This is a challenge for them to see how many they can find.

Here we go.

Roberts blog posts normally include advice from Biblical profits, guys who lived in the passed. On his latest post Peter said, "Maybe there’s a new career here for you - Robert the miracle worker or Robert the profit. Lately Peter has bean busy sorting out which furniture will be stored in Oldlands.

* * *

I wonder how the boys will do with that test?

That's it from me.

Ciao tutti.

The first poster for Sunday.

 

No, I didn't say postman.

Actually, God would be a nice guy before you'll get a post from any other bloggers around here. 

I bought a new chinrest for my travel violin yesterday. It's called my travel violin because I bought it to take to Italia about seven years ago. All up, case and bow, it cost around $450. I didn't want to risk taking my main violin all that way. Actually, it's not a bad violin. Ro once said that he liked it. The chinrest is the same as the one on my main violin. I might take this violin to work more often. 

P's posts have been disappointing. Maybe life is better when he doesn't post? Hey, he has got the office to himself because TOG is visiting a guy named Russell. 

It was nice meeting L yesterday. She returns to where men catch and throw cricket balls today, so maybe Ro will post one of his Catholic lectures tomorrow morning. 

P is returning to Wellington soon. Both Wainuiomata and Moera are too sophisticated for a Northland boy, so he'll probably have to find a noisy place somewhere close to the city.

Hey, there are no rivers
like that in Wellington!

Well, there you go, a post.

Ciao tutti.

Fry Day.

 Actually, yesterday was Fry Day for me because I fried some eggs for lunch.

Three actually, two for me and one for S. Then I wandered off to read P's promised afternoon post. It wasn't there. I knew I'd have to settle for Ro's post this morning. It was quite long and all about J and his 'mother' M. There was a lot of AI stuff about them too. I didn't read that bit. M was the mother of J BUT J had been around for a long time before he was 'born'. After all, he is a member of the Holy Trinity - two boys and a bird.

Is dad holding a flute?

P moves back to Wellington soon. The settlement date for his Whangarei house is next week. Ro is coming to lunch tomorrow, with L. I'm looking forward to meeting L. 

As I've told you before, on Saturday afternoon I have a practice with C & D. It is for a gig of C's where he wants to play a suite that he has written. I'm on double bass, so I'm doing a bit of practice on that instrument. I must do some violin today. 

L lives in Feilding. A good outcome of this is that Ro has learnt to spell the name of this town correctly. The town name has nothing to do with this...

fielding

So, why am I calling people by their first name initial? It's something that Ro does. However, with his name, I have to distinguish it from me, Ri. Actually, he normally refers to me as RBB. I should really call him BdB, after his blog name. After all, P has long been known as TC. J! This is getting confusing!

Time to wrap this up.

Ciao tutti.

Rob leaves Peter WAY behind!

That's Peter way back in 5th. place.

 Here's a statement from Rob's latest post...

"Yes I guarantee all my readers a jolly good read every morning. Reading this blog has been shown to increase your IQ by 3 points and prevent Alsheimers as well. So dive in and enjoy."

You go, girl!!!

By the way, I think Rob meant Alzheimer's. Hey, but this guy is producing a post every day! AND I think that means that his blog won't disappear again, like it has often done.

I bet that reading Peter's post doesn't increase your IQ by 3 points. In fact, you're probably losing 5 points in your long wait for the next post. You'll be lucky if you get 1/2 a point back by reading it. That's 4 1/2 points you're losing about every five days! Not good.

Okay, my practice has been down a bit in hours lately. I need to do some double bass practice first today because I have a gig coming up. I'll keep you informed.

Rob and L are coming around for lunch on Saturday. That'll be nice. L will also meet C & D (siblings) because they're coming around for a practice on the same day.

There you go.

Read Bob's discombobulate Bodadilish or your intelligence will not increase by 3 points.

Ciao tutti.

Remembering the passed.

 

No, no, it's okay, I'm talking about the cars who will have passed me on my way to work this morning. 

I know, I know, Robert uses the word to replace 'past' ("I drove passed a stall selling fire works on Waihone street...") but my use here is quite legitimate. 

As I drive up the Nui hill, cars come racing past. I get passed by many cars who are getting very close to being above the speed limit of 80kph. 

Yes, I'm off to work soon and I'll not be passing anyone else, except maybe if there is a slow bus heading up the Nui hill.

I have a few gaps in my teaching today because senior students have left, so maybe I'll get quite a bit of violin practice done.

A gap in a fence.

Okay, time to go.

Have fun, but remember the passed. (Hey, I'm talking about cars who are no longer in front.)

Ciao.

Nothing today.

 

November the second.

 

There are 86400 seconds in a day, and they each go by quite quickly. I really need to cut my front lawn today. I also need to do some good practice.

I only did half an hour's practice yesterday and that was on the double bass. Consequently, there is quite a bit of catch up violin practice to do today. No time for mass or working in the church shop, that's for damn sure! Also, the All Blacks play Ireland this morning. 

I can't really start practising violin until closer to 9am (neighbours) and I think the rugby is on at 9.30am. A problem. I'll leave the lawns until about lunchtime. Suddenly November 2nd. is becoming a busy day!

I can't be bothered working out how many seconds are gone already. Well, okay, it'll soon be 7am. That's seven hours' worth of seconds, at 3600 per hour. Multiply that by 7. 

Okay, that's it for this morning.

Have fun but do your violin practice.

Ciao tutti.

Happy Left Over Sweets Day.

 November 1st. is Left Over Sweets Day, not to be confused with Boxing Day, though it is similar. As we all know, November 1st. follows October 31st., Halloween. Shelley seemed to get excited about Halloween and did preparation for it - buying sweets and chocolate and a couple of silly masks for us to wear.

Not one of the actual masks,
just to give you the idea.

Only two boys, two of our nearest neighbours, showed up together. No one else came, so we now have lots of sugary treats left over. I think Shelley intends to give them to the neighbours. I don't know why we just can't keep them. Sort of makes a mockery of Left Over Sweets Day.

Giving away all our sweets to neighbours is kind of like praying for souls in Purgatory. I mean it's not really our fault that those souls are in Purgatory, just like it's not really our fault if neighbours are short of chocolates. 

Robert tells us, in his latest blog post, "Evidently All Souls Day, and Christmas Eve, are two opportunities to help our loved ones, or others, move on from Purgatory to Heaven. The story goes that God doesn't allow prayers to work for souls who didn't themselves pray for others in purgatory, except on these two days. I'm not sure if I really believe this but it's worth doing just in case!" (I fixed up a bit of grammar)

It's worth doing just in case? So, Robert is only helping these poor souls in order to help himself. God will be impressed by that!

"No, I'm not!"

Nothing much to report on the practice front. I've been a bit off colour lately, but I did do 30 minutes on both instruments yesterday. Hey, it all counts. I also played my guitar for a while.

My older brother has written a suite of tunes and he wants me to play double bass when he performs them at his Wellington Hospital gig. Some of them are slightly tricky, so I need to put in some quality time on those. Daryl will be playing clarinet. It's good to have something to practise for.

What can I say about Peter's latest attempt at an interesting post? It's named 'KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS' and features this photo.

"Cor! Look at those knockers." Jesus says about Mary Magdalene. I can see a guy going to Purgatory for that statement! Robert better get praying. "Dear God, any chance of keeping Peter out of Purgatory?"

He talks about going to the tip and says that the other posts he read are 'pretty pathetic'. I guess he can claim to be an expert on pathetic blog posts. God (Robert's god) knows he has written enough himself.

If there is someone who deserves to go to Purgatory, it is Peter.

Well, there you go.

Today? Maybe Peter will make another trip to the tip and Robert will clean the Freemasons' hall, not for money but for love.

Ciao tutti.