I meant to call you over turkey day, and naturally just like always I forgot :oP I am the worst person EVER about calling people, I totally know it... But I think of my friends often.
I've been meaning to call you, too, over the last week; it's just been hard to find a spare moment with Ree being a lot more in need of my services than she usually is!
That icon is adorable, by the way! It looks like they've both changed quite a bit since A's party just a couple weeks ago!
They change too fast. Aislinn is talking non-stop, and my one month old is wearing size 3 months.... I'm going to go broke buying him new clothes if he doesn't slow down!
Composing is fascinating to me. I've never tried it, so I don't know if I even could... but my mom writes music, and I appreciate seeing my friends who do it posting about the process.
And I'm opting in when you poll us. =) I understand spotty reading and posting... since I lost a lot of commenters by not being around for awhile. I think I kind of lost a connection with you, during that. I'd love to know you better. =) Plus, what others think is woo-woo stuff (spirituality, deep inner thoughts) is perfectly normal to me. ;)
It's hard to keep up connections on LJ, I've found, due to absences, people's friends lists growing and just becoming unable to keep up, etc., but I've never found that a reason to cut anyone. I've seen people make some pretty emotional posts about how they're pruning their friends list because too many people just don't comment enough or never answer their comments or whatnot. A few times I've fallen into that category and been cut because of it and then felt a bit stung that a person assumes that I, and others, simply don't care because we're not commenting enough. I usually don't bother to try to disabuse them, though, unless it's someone I feel I've gotten to know pretty well. If they feel that strongly about it, I don't figure there's any use in potentially getting myself on the receiving end of some kind of scapegoating apparatus. It is whatever it is. I will try to remember that you want to opt in when the Filter Fairy comes to town, though
( ... )
Cool. So maybe if I spend more time studying music theory, I'll start to see it like that... and playing or singing more - making music instead of just listening, would be a good idea, too.
I can't tell you how much difference singing music makes, even if it's just the tune with no words (which is what it is mostly with the type of music I play on the harp) helps to connect you with the music, to literally take the music into yourself and reproduce it directly with your own body.
The other thing I found key to remember is that Western music is mainly a progression of three chords between the I, IV, and V scale degrees and that the seeming complexity in chord progressions comes from certain substitution patterns which conform to their own rules. The rest of it is just elaborating on the patterns. Even the scale itself takes on a new, easier-to-understand dimension when you think of it as two tetrachords of whole-whole-half pattern joined by a whole step. You might find it useful to read The Manual of Harmony by Nicomachus the Pythagorean.
Ironically, I have been having much similar feelings lately about updating in my journal... hence the sparseness in actually posting much of anything lately. You took the words right out of my mouth, once again. ;)
Your posts are at the same time both far more prolific and far more organized/well-articulated on the whole than the stuff I write in my LJ, and for that reason I imagine the psychic drain on you has to get pretty intense at times! It's odd -- I feel both burned out, as far as certain aspects of LiveJournaling is concerned, and like a sort of renaissance is going on in others. I think this new age-flagging of content really pushed me into thinking harder about just what the hell I want to get out of this whole thing.
I do know that having a baby has definitely made me focus on what I get out of everything I engage myself in, and not just because of time constraints, either.
if you are by nature deep, then why spread yourself thinly? if complexity is appealing, why rush to simplify...
Thank you for reminding me of this, Paul. Like most people, I would venture to guess, I go through periods of expansion and contraction, expansion and contraction. I lot of my time on LJ has been expansive. I tried to reach out, make connections with others, as well as not focus too obsessively and perfectionistically on just a few of my pet interests. Now that I feel I'm a bit more "well-rounded" psychically, it's time for me to focus on my "preferred areas of study," so to speak, and continue to deepen my understanding of them.
I don't always comment as much as I used to; sometimes it's time issues, and sometimes I simply don't know what to say. But I read, adn when I feel like I have something to add, I speak up. Still, I understand the frustration.
Ditto here. Sometimes I know I want to comment but that I need more time to articulate whatever it is so that it doesn't sound trite because I'm dashing it off under the gun. Sometimes I manage to remember and dig back into my friends list, find the post, and comment in a fashion I feel is more apropos. Unfortunately, though, a lot of times things like that end up slipping through the cracks. It makes me wish there were more hours in the day or more of me to go around...something.
I still read faithfully. I just don't comment a lot because 1) I don't know even if you remember who I am, 2) I sometimes slip into giving advice, and well, who the hell am I to give advice? and 3) I was away from the PC when you had your kid and feel bad I didn't congratulate you.
I don't mind advice. I'm in the habit of probably dispensing it too much myself, but I don't mind it from other people. Which is probably why I give it out so much to others in the first place.
As far as missing stuff in my journal, like having a kid, I miss stuff in other people's journals all the time. If I let it stop me from commenting, with the amount of stuff that's slipped by me unknowing, I think just roll myself up in a ball of mortification and never leave the house. ;)
I "ramble" all the time. I think "rambling" is good, even while I recognize that a lot of people may not care for it.
Comments 31
I am the worst person EVER about calling people, I totally know it... But I think of my friends often.
Reply
That icon is adorable, by the way! It looks like they've both changed quite a bit since A's party just a couple weeks ago!
Reply
Aislinn is talking non-stop, and my one month old is wearing size 3 months.... I'm going to go broke buying him new clothes if he doesn't slow down!
Reply
And I'm opting in when you poll us. =) I understand spotty reading and posting... since I lost a lot of commenters by not being around for awhile. I think I kind of lost a connection with you, during that. I'd love to know you better. =) Plus, what others think is woo-woo stuff (spirituality, deep inner thoughts) is perfectly normal to me. ;)
Reply
Reply
Thanks!
Reply
The other thing I found key to remember is that Western music is mainly a progression of three chords between the I, IV, and V scale degrees and that the seeming complexity in chord progressions comes from certain substitution patterns which conform to their own rules. The rest of it is just elaborating on the patterns. Even the scale itself takes on a new, easier-to-understand dimension when you think of it as two tetrachords of whole-whole-half pattern joined by a whole step. You might find it useful to read The Manual of Harmony by Nicomachus the Pythagorean.
Reply
Reply
I do know that having a baby has definitely made me focus on what I get out of everything I engage myself in, and not just because of time constraints, either.
Reply
wise.
if you are by nature deep, then why spread yourself thinly? if complexity is appealing, why rush to simplify...
you should [re]shape the journal to suit yourself.
Reply
Thank you for reminding me of this, Paul. Like most people, I would venture to guess, I go through periods of expansion and contraction, expansion and contraction. I lot of my time on LJ has been expansive. I tried to reach out, make connections with others, as well as not focus too obsessively and perfectionistically on just a few of my pet interests. Now that I feel I'm a bit more "well-rounded" psychically, it's time for me to focus on my "preferred areas of study," so to speak, and continue to deepen my understanding of them.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Anyway - also, I tend to ramble. :P
Reply
I don't mind advice. I'm in the habit of probably dispensing it too much myself, but I don't mind it from other people. Which is probably why I give it out so much to others in the first place.
As far as missing stuff in my journal, like having a kid, I miss stuff in other people's journals all the time. If I let it stop me from commenting, with the amount of stuff that's slipped by me unknowing, I think just roll myself up in a ball of mortification and never leave the house. ;)
I "ramble" all the time. I think "rambling" is good, even while I recognize that a lot of people may not care for it.
Reply
Leave a comment