Blunders, Eight-stringed Ukuleles and Random Winged Insects: Voran's blog

Voran said:
Same with kids. People used to love throwing it in my face that I'd totally change my mind and have kids. It has yet to happen lolol
Click to expand...

My wife and I are in our sixties. Same. :ROFLMAO:

I love kids and kids love me (I was a teacher for many years), but never felt a need to have any around. When parents used to bring this up to me ("You'd make a great father" or whatever), I replied with a quote from Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), who likewise never had kids: "You have 'em, I'll entertain 'em."
 
TimWilson said:
My wife and I are in our sixties. Same. :ROFLMAO:

I love kids and kids love me (I was a teacher for many years), but never felt a need to have any around. When parents used to bring this up to me ("You'd make a great father" or whatever), I replied with a quote from Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), who likewise never had kids: "You have 'em, I'll entertain 'em."
Click to expand...
I couldn't truthfully say I love kids...LOL. I do not like high pitched grating or nasal sounds. I don't like being bothered or needed. Having to interact with my nephew was torture...I'm glad he's older now LOL.

I think my brain just threw out the nurturing modules to make room for other things...like composing umpteen songs that I store purely in my memory because I'm too lazy to write them down or notate them as sheet music.
 
Even after 70 years, I have no regrets being “childless.” There are more than enough humans on this planet already. I’m glad I didn’t contribute to the problem. I do like kids. They can be quite fascinating. And their honesty is refreshing - even when it is occasionally brutal. But I just never felt a strong urge to have one of my own. Now, books and music … that’a different story. :)
 
Jan D said:
Even after 70 years, I have no regrets being “childless.” There are more than enough humans on this planet already. I’m glad I didn’t contribute to the problem. I do like kids. They can be quite fascinating. And their honesty is refreshing - even when it is occasionally brutal. But I just never felt a strong urge to have one of my own. Now, books and music … that’a different story. :)
Click to expand...
I absolutely do not like kids...I prefer creatures that have some sort of skill or asset, whether that's flight, strength, speed or venom. Babies and children have neither wings, nor blue scales, nor are they much able to jump or climb or balance on a beam. They mostly just scream, poop and pester for things :D
 
I was watching a reptile channel on Youtube and I was so not impressed by this guy's absolute recklessness.

He insisted on handling a wild cobra that was clearly shy and nervous and wanted to be left alone. It kept trying to quietly leave the area and he kept grabbing it. Predictably the cobra panicked and used its only weapon ie its teeth and venom.

After tourniqueting off his finger and being pumped full of 20 or so vials of antivenom by ER doctors he survived. FFS.

The reptile was the adult in the room for God's sake. It was being reasonable, trying to back down and leave and this guy would not take a hint. I would bite too if someone much larger and stronger than myself cornered me and wouldn't let me leave.

So ridiculous that a wild predator was the more reasonable and sane one. I thought humans were the smart species LOL
 
Finished some drum tracks for my one woman death metal band En Gang Til (norsk for one more time).

I tried on and off to start one since my late teens and people either just weren't that enthusiastic and didn't turn up for rehearsals or they weren't all that interested in such a niche form of music. It became this huge bucket list thing I regretted not doing.

So I'm doing the entire thing myself lol. Some modern day music I wrote recently and at some point I'll record my very old stuff going back to age 15.
 
I'm doing just a single to start off with. Doing everything yourself is a big task. Drums take forever because...have you heard death metal? We don't exactly do slow ballads. Doing the bass yourself and editing out fingers squeaking on strings is also a big undertaking.
 
I'll do a small EP later and then my entire archive.
 
Hey, it just occurred to me, if you've not seen this, you might enjoy it:
www.rottentomatoes.com

The Queen's Gambit: Miniseries | Rotten Tomatoes

Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.
www.rottentomatoes.com www.rottentomatoes.com

I'm certain that you'll absolutely RAGE about parts of it because there is some significant sexism in it (set in the 50's/60's as I recall), but overall, the main character is a very strong female lead, and it's all about chess. We enjoyed watching it a few years ago.
 
LorenFL said:
Hey, it just occurred to me, if you've not seen this, you might enjoy it:
www.rottentomatoes.com

The Queen's Gambit: Miniseries | Rotten Tomatoes

Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.
www.rottentomatoes.com www.rottentomatoes.com

I'm certain that you'll absolutely RAGE about parts of it because there is some significant sexism in it (set in the 50's/60's as I recall), but overall, the main character is a very strong female lead, and it's all about chess. We enjoyed watching it a few years ago.
Click to expand...
I want to BE Beth Harmon lol. Although we're different personalities...she was more the classical type and I love my ridiculously fast time controls.
 
I had a fun dream last night in which there was a massive red-gold python outside. Think reticulated but the colors of iron ore. I briefly got to touch his head then he took off into the trees.
 
I read a reddit thread about the fiasco that happened with Arch Enemy about 5 years ago and it put a few things in perspective for me.

My original dream was to be the lead singer of a death metal band. I wanted to live fast and die young, preferably in a motorbike crash.

Now I'm really not so sure I'd thrive in an environment where music is about business rather than raw human emotion. I'm not sure I'd deal well with having to write songs because audiences want a particular product rather than because I have something to express. The fact that death metal is so very Voranic with all the turbulent riffs and enraged screaming wouldn't necessarily change that. I'm not sure, for example, that a mostly male audience would want to hear my rants about sexuality. I don't think they'd want to hear a song in which I'm basically saying 'actually I don't want to be dominated, take your hands off my neck and don't even bring up BDSM.'

I think I would rather just sing for me.

I don't even have it in me to write songs 'on command'. I write because I have something that demands to be expressed NOW. It's less that I write my music and more that something very reptilian in me does it on her own.
 
Also I ordered myself blue serpent earrings.

I want a blue insularis in my life but you don't just go get yourself a venomous reptile because you like how they look.

So I got resin ones for my ears instead :D
 
Last edited:
This guy just keeps challenging me to rematches and walking into my unsound annihilation moves that I keep using because they work on him lol

Oh my juicy little prey item...have you not had enough of the venom of the insularis?
 
I learned to checkmate with just two bishops for the first time ever. Still very poor at it and can only do it by constantly referring to a list of steps...but I got it right for the first time ever while drilling with an engine today.

So exhilarated. I've been struggling lately and sometimes wonder if I'm just not gifted enough for chess...but it was worth the perseverance. I think I deserve a nice piece of jewellery for this haha.
 
Last edited:
I asked an AI for 'nuclear explosion' and got this.

1712429880790.png
 
Still struggle a bit with the precision required but I can now do all 5 two bishop mate drills with the engine on chess.com.

So stoked to be able to do something I always wrote off as impossible.
 
I think this has also been a lesson on the importance of breaking things down into steps. I found what worked this time around was following a video on Youtube and just doing one stage at a time. If I don't checkmate today but I do manage to corral the king up into the 7th rank? Yaaay! Progress! Didn't get him today but did hunt him into a restricted zone of just one square? Woohoo! And eventually I mastered the different stages and can mostly do this reliably unless too tired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Voran
Recommend me a plastic or carbon fiber eight-stringer?
Replies
13
Views
598
Voran
Voran
choan
Eight Rags a Week: I Love You (original ragtime)
Replies
1
Views
134
choan
choan
Canada Jim
Thirty-eight years!
Replies
7
Views
414
Joe T
Joe T
M
Barry Harris' eight note diminished scales
Replies
3
Views
1K
Putts
Putts
UkeStuff
Review: Aklot Eight String Tenor Ukulele
Replies
11
Views
1K
bbkobabe
bbkobabe
Top Bottom