Today was my birthday. I took a day off work and chilled out at home. It was quite nice. I try to do this every year if possible. Normally, I try to be social at work, but this is a day I’ll be antisocial, even if some people have the tradition of chipping in for a birthday cake for the birthday boy/girl (at least we used to). But I didn’t just chill out and nap all day, I kept busy.
In the morning, I’d arranged to go to Zen’s school to do a demonstration. It’s my bit to encourage the teachers to be more active in inviting interesting people (not that I’m one necessarily, but…) to the class to give a show to the kids. I brought in my acoustic guitar, my stratocaster, and my amp, and I demoed how the guitars work. It was interesting to see how clever some of the kids were in their perception abilities. I held up the guitars and asked the kids to tell me how the two were different, and I got interesting answers. I showed how it is possible to make single notes, and then how to make cords. I sang three songs – “I’m a little dinosaur” by Jonathan Richman (a favourite of Zen’s), “(Take me home) country roads” by John Denver, and “Kumbaya” and had a good time. Then they brought in another class, so I sang “Kumbaya” again, then they brought in another class, and I played “Kumbaya,” “I’m a little Dinosaur,” “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Apeman” by the Kinks, and a bit of “Lola” by the Kinks. I usually play without a pick at home since it’s quieter when people are asleep, and I wasn’t really used to my electric either, but it went over all right. My most surprising moment came when I was playing “Redemption Song” to the three-year-olds. They seemed to be really getting into it!
I spent the afternoon lazing around, doing a few errands, a bit of work, finished re-reading the manuscript of my novel, taking notes. I have to tie it together soon, somehow. It’s 68,000 words long, just 12,000 shy of the minimum length of a novel. Have to think how I will resolve it in a clever and agreeable way. Hmmm…
In the evening, I picked up Zen from school, we watched our new DVD of video filmed over Christmas and New Year in Singapore and Japan, lots of family. Nice. Zen’s friend Lucas came over and we had strawberry cheesecake. It was fun.
Nothing new to report otherwise. Last weekend was a bit of a write-off since I only got home at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning after spending 20 hours at work. Saturday I spent some time with Zen in the morning, took a nap, then got down to completing errands. Sunday I spent a lot of time cleaning the house, our first thorough cleaning in about a month since we had been to Thailand and all that stuff.
Went to a few events last week. In one case, a local bank was typing up with a local supermarket to launch supermarket banking in Singapore, which was interesting. The press event was held in a public area of a mall, there was a tour of the supermarket, a demonstration of new ATMs, and as a thank you gift we all got a goody bag full of… groceries!
Here’s a cool pic of a deformed carrot from the Fujino vegetable garden. Weird…
Me playing my stratocaster for Zen’s class.
Me playing my acoustic guitar for Zen’s class.
Naoko and Zen wishing me a happy birthday at dinner.
I’m so touched to have such a wonderful family wishing me a happy birthday.
CD Review:
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – After buying the stunning 8-CD, 1-DVD Black Sabbath “Black Box” set, the followup edition for the Ronnie James Dio era of Black Sabbath, with a single CD, may seem a bit uninspiring. But it does have some of the best nuggets of the first two Black Sabbath albums with Dio, such as “Heaven and Hell,” “Neon Knights,” “Turn Up The Night,” and of course the ultra-heavy “Mob Rules” that I’m still a bit weary of from overplay in my teen years. But the album also has a few nuggest from Dehumanizer, a mid-era Black Sabbath album that had Ronnie James Dio singing on it, a reunion album of sorts that I was only aware of recently (I’d seen the cheezy album cover in the stores, but didn’t know that Dio was back singing with the band for just that one release). Two of the songs from Dehumanizer that make it to this album, “After All (the Dead)” and “I” are actually quite good. At least they’re better than any of the new songs that Black Sabbath has recorded with Dio for this release, “The Devil Cried,” “Shadow Of The Wind”, and “Ear In The Wall,” which are simply decent. But I suppose that Tony Iommi’s battered fingers are getting a bit weary after all these years, and “slow and plodding” seems to be the theme for new output. At least for now.
DVD Review:
James Ellroy’s Feast of Death – Interviews with Ellroy about the unsolved case of his mother’s murder, the centrepiece of which is a gathering of Ellroy with a large group of LA detectives who had worked on his mother’s case or other homicides in LA over the years. Discussed at the table, as Nick Nolte (for some reason) wanders into the room, is the Black Dahlia case that had fascinated Ellroy as much as his mother’s had for decades. One person at the table had used his own money to investigate the case and come up with what Ellroy calls the most plausible theory about the murderer’s identity that he had ever come across. Who, in other words, would have had both the extreme dementia and the medical knowledge required to do what was done to Elizabeth Short on that day in January 1947. The film is a glimpse into the noir world of Ellroy, and it is fascinating seeing firsthand what an intense fellow he is, as well as his wife. I wonder why he hates Bill Clinton so much?