What's on your mind now?

[pianowolfi]

You realize there's one year left for the world?  Everything will end one year from today.


Or not... They might be wrong again.  They've been wrong before.  Several times.  I don't think they've ever been right actually.

[littletune]

What? There's supposed to be the end of the world AGAIN?? 

[49410enrique]

i'm trying to figure out how this would sound?
Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano (2008)

[pianowolfi]

What? There's supposed to be the end of the world AGAIN??  

I guess this will come up a few more times in our lifespan. Maybe, when I'm turning 80 I'll look back and say: Oh wow, now I'm 80 but I have survived 113 (or so) predicted ends of the world  

[Bob]

But this is the Mayans... The Mayans!  *Matter of factly*  All native people are very wise and knowledgable about paranormal and mystical things.


I can understand looking for different sounds... Looking at the above piano pic... But that's just shifting the location of the performer and sacrificing the instrument to do so.  There's no experiment in sound production, except in what it can sound like with a performer trying to play backwards.  You could make the same sounds from a normal position more easily.   I don't see any advantage or real experimentation going on.  And if that lid falls...

[Bob]

It's all right.  Problem solved.  Fight a nutty idea with another nutty idea....

We're only in about the 17th or 18th century.  So we still have plenty of time.
 
[ Invalid YouTube link ]

[pianowolfi]

I am interested even though I know I cannot set a date at the moment...I'm juggling commitments in a not so organized fashion at the moment. It is definitely true I want to explore your music deeper, though!

Yeah I know how that is 

[littletune]

Oh did anyone maybe know that Mayan calendar starts with August 11 ?!  that is my birthday!!! I don't really know how I should feel about that 

specially cause I really don't like these Mayans  they were killing people to sacrifice them to gods!  they held them and cut them and pulled their heart out with their hands!      (i mean it would be just as horrible if they did that to animals of course!) I just don't think they were good and wise people if they were doing things like that! And really if gods would want me to do something like that I would rather not live at all, thank you for gods like that!  Although the people probably just thought of that by themselves anyway.  That's just what people are like! 

[pianowolfi]

Oh did anyone maybe know that Mayan calendar starts with August 11 ?!   that is my birthday!!! I don't really know how I should feel about that  

specially cause I really don't like these Mayans   they were killing people to sacrifice them to gods!   they held them and cut them and pulled their heart out with their hands!       (i mean it would be just as horrible if they did that to animals of course!) I just don't think they were good and wise people if they were doing things like that! And really if gods would want me to do something like that I would rather not live at all, thank you for gods like that!   Although the people probably just thought of that by themselves anyway.   That's just what people are like!  

Yeah, you see, now you have found many more reasons not to believe in this 2012 thing I don't think that people who cut other's hearts out of their living body could in any way deliver any sort of truth, only lies which support their egotistical power. But of course those might have only been a sort of dictators and tyrants, and we can't blame the people for it.

[Bob]

*Bob sacrifices a hamburger to the gods of hunger.*

[pianowolfi]

Oh Great Guru of Bobness, how can we all participate in this incredible mystery? Do we need now all drive to MC*******and so save the world? It's late here. And verrryyy dark. And I'm afrrrrrraiddd of the cold temperature outside...brrrrrr....

[Bob]

Fast food?  Yuck.

First... Find someone to make a hamburger for now.... Grilled... Don't be afraid to be specific about the details of making it.  It's really no effort on your part.

[birba]

Oh Great Guru of Bobness, how can we all participate in this incredible mystery? Do we need now all drive to MC*******and so save the world? It's late here. And verrryyy dark. And I'm afrrrrrraiddd of the cold temperature outside...brrrrrr....

I was just curious.  Did YOU put the asterisks in McDonald's or was it censored?  Oh, I guess I'll find out when I publish this.  (Im SOOOOO smart)
Yep. You did.  I guess you could have said Big Bob's or Wendy Burgers, as well.

[Bob]

*Bob thinks it's "just a strange coincidence" that a discussion of mice extermination is followed by fast food hamburgers...*

[birba]

*Bob thinks it's "just a strange coincidence" that a discussion of mice extermination is followed by fast food hamburgers...*

If we only knew...

[49410enrique]

i'm thinking how cool must a place be for this to be in their restroom

[birba]

That's as old as the ozarks!  Before liquid soap.

[49410enrique]

That's as old as the ozarks!  Before liquid soap.

lol they should bring it back!

also i couldn't help but chuckle since this or something similar has happend to me before (insert other lame pop/new age enaudi,yurima, nyman, etc. krap for said song in caption)...

[littletune]

That cat is really cool!! 
How does that soap work? 

[littletune]

Yeah, you see, now you have found many more reasons not to believe in this 2012 thing I don't think that people who cut other's hearts out of their living body could in any way deliver any sort of truth, only lies which support their egotistical power. But of course those might have only been a sort of dictators and tyrants, and we can't blame the people for it.

Yes probably it was just the leader's idea.

Oh I wanted to say that that girl (or woman) who's in the picture for Piano Street Gift Cards looks a little like my piano teacher. Well my teacher wears glasses and has darker hair but I think it's because of the way she smiles and maybe the haircut.

[birba]

That cat is really cool!! 
How does that soap work? 

OMG!  the generation gap has never been so wide!   I just assumed everyone knew what that thing was.  But then I realized it was a gadget in my young days before everyone here was even born!  It has a grater in side, and when you push the lever it turns and grates a bit of soap.  Like parmesan cheese.  There's another type where you turn a knob which turns the grater.

[littletune]

OMG!  the generation gap has never been so wide!   I just assumed everyone knew what that thing was.  But then I realized it was a gadget in my young days before everyone here was even born!  It has a grater in side, and when you push the lever it turns and grates a bit of soap.  Like parmesan cheese.  There's another type where you turn a knob which turns the grater.

That sounds pretty cool!  thanks for explaining!

[oxy60]

OMG!  the generation gap has never been so wide!   I just assumed everyone knew what that thing was.  But then I realized it was a gadget in my young days before everyone here was even born!  It has a grater in side, and when you push the lever it turns and grates a bit of soap.  Like parmesan cheese.  There's another type where you turn a knob which turns the grater.

I've been looking for just that to put in my bathroom. We've tried the liquid soap things and all they do is clog or get stuck.

[littletune]

Why don't grownups ever listen to kids??! Even when they should?    I was telling my mum for sooo long that she shouldn't put heavy things on top of the aquarium (the one in the living room) and she never believed me!  she would just always get angry when I was trying to tell her that the glass will break if she keeps putting heavy things in the middle of it!!! And she just acted like I was just being annoying and making a big deal and she was saying that it wasn't that heavy at all  and then one day I saw it was broken in the middle! Not completely but just so you could see it and she still didn't believe me! She didn't believe me that it happened because of heavy things, she said that something probably fell on the glass.  and then after some time again I saw it was starting to fall into pieces!! So then she said she would tape it together, and I said that she should check all the time if the sticky tape didn't get wet... so today about an hour ago I come into the living room and I see something weird about the aquarium and there was glass that fell into the aquarium and also the things that were on it, like a picture (just a paper) and this thing that I made for my mum from something that's kinda like clay (but it's not) and now of course is falling apart cause it was in water for too long and some other little things. But I just got really scared for the fish! And there are only two in the aquarium now, and I found one quickly but it was really scared, and I haven't found the other one yet, but it's a fish that is hiding all the time so I hope everything is ok and that it just got scared! And of course all this happened while my parents are not home! I mean I called my mum and told her and she went to buy glass so we can put it over the aquarium. BUT all this wouldn't have to happen if my mum listened to me!!!  I am not saying things to be annoying (I have better things to do!) I say things cause I'm really worried and I feel that I have to say them!

[candlelightpiano]

This morning, I was reading the travel section of our newspaper and there was a real nice article about Bari, which is a little city in the heel of Italy's boot (I can just picture that!). Well, the town needed a tourist attraction so about 925 years ago, they sent 3 ships and 47 sailors to Myra, Turkey where St Nicholas had been buried and they stole the ancient relics and brought them back to Bari so now that's where Santa is buried. I was fascinated. Perhaps I should treat myself to a visit  to Italy when I complete my Fantasie Impromptu project. 

One of my hobbies is graving i.e. I love visiting burial places. I guess I like to spend my free time with dead people and dead pets! I've always wanted to visit Chopin's grave in Paris, Beethoven's in Vienna, etc. Also Nohant where George Sand and family are buried.

Anyone else interested in graving?

[birba]

whenever I go to the atlantic states or new england in the usa, I ALWAYS visit the graveyards.  There are some really fascinating and unique epitaphs from the 18th and 19th century.  And you see little tomb stones of children.  You realize how fleeting this life is.  I don't think I'm particularly morbid, either.  It's like looking into another world.  Looking into the minds and lives of days gone past.

[littletune]

It's like remembering past lives! 

Well we found the second fish too when my mum came home she found it. And everything is ok it was just hiding.

On my window I have lights in the shape of a reindeer and Santa Claus... but Santa keeps falling down  well now my mum tried something and it's holding for a few minutes... it looks really beautiful.  this year we have a lot of lights and our whole apartment looks really beautiful!!!   

[candlelightpiano]

You never know what you'll find when you visit cemeteries. We were visiting a cemetery in Las Vegas when we came upon the grave of Sonny Liston. It was nondescript and we almost walked by without noticing his grave. Then, while visiting a pet cemetery in North Las Vegas, we found the graves of Jerry Lewis's pets. While touring Halifax, we were taken to the graves of the victims of The Titanic and the grave of the unknown child who died when the Titanic sank. To me, cemeteries are peaceful places where I can feel close to those who lived and died, where I can wonder about their lives, and be aware of my own mortality. Someday, someone else will walk over my grave and wonder about my life.

LittleTune: I'm glad you found your fish. We want him to have a merry Christmas, too! Your apartment sounds beautiful.

[49410enrique]

right now i'm trying to figure out why i think this is so much funnier to me on christmas eve than when i've seen it in the past, oh well.... merry christmas all!

[littletune]

I'm still here!  Not going to sleep today. 

I have no idea why that looks funny to you  it looks pretty bad to me! I mean that must hurt a lot!

I think I will go play some VERY easy Christmas songs now  I mean this year I wasn't really playing any real Christmas pieces... so I will now play some easy ones that I can sight read and play them right away! 

[candlelightpiano]

right now i'm trying to figure out why i think this is so much funnier to me on christmas eve than when i've seen it in the past, oh well.... merry christmas all!

Mmmm...this is funny???  

[candlelightpiano]

I'm still here!   Not going to sleep today.  

I have no idea why that looks funny to you   it looks pretty bad to me! I mean that must hurt a lot!

I think I will go play some VERY easy Christmas songs now   I mean this year I wasn't really playing any real Christmas pieces... so I will now play some easy ones that I can sight read and play them right away!  

Good idea, Little Tune. I'll play some Christmas songs late tonight. That's usually when I practice, anyway, very late at night. I'm an owl. Merry Christmas!

[thalbergmad]

To me, cemeteries are peaceful places where I can feel close to those who lived and died, where I can wonder about their lives, and be aware of my own mortality.

My grandfather was a gravedigger during the war and to get to his cottage, you had to walk through the graveyard.

He told me it was the people above ground that I needed to worry about, not the people below it.

Thal

[birba]

Mmmm...this is funny???  

I thought it was hilarious!!   

[candlelightpiano]

My grandfather was a gravedigger during the war and to get to his cottage, you had to walk through the graveyard.

He told me it was the people above ground that I needed to worry about, not the people below it.

Thal

True! When my brother was in medical school, he had to spend time in the morgue. I told him I didn't know how he had the courage to be in there alone and he told me the same thing: That it was the living that I needed to fear, not the dead!  Please tell me more gravedigger tales!

[candlelightpiano]

I thought it was hilarious!!  

Oh, perhaps I was sleepwalking!

[littletune]

Well I mean I get what's funny about that video... it's just that that fall seems kinda violent and that's why it's not so funny to me anymore... but it doesn't really look real anyway so I guess she didn't really get hurt.
But some things really are funny even thought someone gets hurt, and I feel bad about laughing but it's just so funny that you can't help yourself.    
Like me and my friend once found a really funny video on youtube... and it was sooo funny we couldn't stop laughing even though it was pretty bad   I'll see if I can find it...

Yes I found it:

They talk in my language so you won't understand, but I think it's funny even if you just watch, but it's funny cause they're talking about stress and the first time she says: this is stress! Please leave this in! and then the second time she says: would you like to destroy my child's mum? (and she's talking in a dialect so to me that makes it even more funny) and at the end she says: well lets say I have a hard head. And the second time it must have hurt pretty bad... but she's laughing about it so... that makes it less horrible I guess...

[candlelightpiano]

They talk in my language so you won't understand, but I think it's funny even if you just watch, but it's funny cause they're talking about stress and the first time she says: this is stress! Please leave this in! and then the second time she says: would you like to destroy my child's mum? (and she's talking in a dialect so to me that makes it even more funny) and at the end she says: well lets say I have a hard head. And the second time it must have hurt pretty bad... but she's laughing about it so... that makes it less horrible I guess...

That was funny! I have a feeling she'll be wearing a hard hat next time!!  

[oxy60]

So you think being on TV/stage is glamorous. It was very funny.  However the second piece that fell on her did hit her in the neck. Since she is the interviewer I guess she's insured. It was very nice of the guest to spring up to help.

In the early days of Dutch private television I was on the set once. All they had was a corner of a warehouse to shoot the shows. Sets were very similar to this one and had to be changed during the commercials. By sheer luck nothing fell.

Now Littletune would you please enlighten us? What was the name of your country before it became what it is today?

[georgedepp]

I'm thinking about how my life has a twist. I lost about 6 student piano when my wife left me three weeks ago. They moved everything from my house and turned off the utilities, so I could not learn more or to live.

[littletune]

So you think being on TV/stage is glamorous. It was very funny.  However the second piece that fell on her did hit her in the neck. Since she is the interviewer I guess she's insured. It was very nice of the guest to spring up to help.

In the early days of Dutch private television I was on the set once. All they had was a corner of a warehouse to shoot the shows. Sets were very similar to this one and had to be changed during the commercials. By sheer luck nothing fell.

Now Littletune would you please enlighten us? What was the name of your country before it became what it is today?

Yes that second time was bad! If the video ended with that thing falling on her I wouldn't think it was funny, but cause she seems ok and she even laughs about it's kinda funny...

Well I'm not exactly sure if it had a different name...  I mean it was part of a lot of other countries (but I think it still had the same name)... till 20 years ago it was part of Yugoslavia, but it was still named Slovenia. And before that I think it was part of Austro-Hungarian monarchy and I'm not sure how it was called then, but people were always trying to keep our language and all that... and it wasn't easy but 20 years ago we became an independant country. and yesterday it was some important date for Slovenia too... I think it's when people decided (like when people vote for something... I think it's referendum) that they wanted to go out of Yugoslavia and become an independant country. 

[49410enrique]

this is really quite good, so creative!

[candlelightpiano]

Sebastian, the Cyber Conductor had me in stitches! Next time I hear a sheep baa, I'll be ROFL! Of course, Beethoven might not approve! Mozart would probably not be too hurt. Thanks!

[oxy60]

Yes that second time was bad! If the video ended with that thing falling on her I wouldn't think it was funny, but cause she seems ok and she even laughs about it's kinda funny...

Well I'm not exactly sure if it had a different name...  I mean it was part of a lot of other countries (but I think it still had the same name)... till 20 years ago it was part of Yugoslavia, but it was still named Slovenia. And before that I think it was part of Austro-Hungarian monarchy and I'm not sure how it was called then, but people were always trying to keep our language and all that... and it wasn't easy but 20 years ago we became an independant country. and yesterday it was some important date for Slovenia too... I think it's when people decided (like when people vote for something... I think it's referendum) that they wanted to go out of Yugoslavia and become an independant country. 

When I was a little older than you Littletune, my school offered a stage craft course. I had the extra hour so for a year I worked on a real stage doing real shows. Falling pieces of sets were not allowed. Before the curtain went up our teacher would check our work.

Also thank you for the short history lesson. With further research I find out you have the Euro and are part of Schengen.   

[m1469]

I think that living a life beyond imagination can only actually be accomplished in the moment of actively and actually living it - it can only be lived in real time, in absolute time, and not ever as a mere intellectual or preconceived concept, though both mind and heart would be included.  I don't think this means we should stop using our imaginations to help guide us or that we should stop imagining altogether, but living beyond imagination does imply that we, at some point, step out of its box and into another dimension.  I also think it's probably necessary, in fact, to fully live what we can imagine, while being open to what we can't, and that living what we can imagine is an active way to invite a next step beyond an intellectual and preconceived idea.

[pianowolfi]

So well said!

[Bob]

Scary... I just forgot the password to my main email account.  I use it all the time.  And bloop!  Gone!  I haven't had to actually think about it for a long, long time.  Something in my mind must have gotten erased.  Wow... I'm losing it.  I figured it out, but wow.

[oxy60]

Scary... I just forgot the password to my main email account.  I use it all the time.  And bloop!  Gone!  I haven't had to actually think about it for a long, long time.  Something in my mind must have gotten erased.  Wow... I'm losing it.  I figured it out, but wow.

That's easy to do. It comes with getting older. It's a good idea to start compressing passwords. The same goes for pins. And combination locks.

You still have the same mental capacity, only more information is competing for a spot in the space.

[littletune]

When I was a little older than you Littletune, my school offered a stage craft course. I had the extra hour so for a year I worked on a real stage doing real shows. Falling pieces of sets were not allowed. Before the curtain went up our teacher would check our work.

Also thank you for the short history lesson. With further research I find out you have the Euro and are part of Schengen.   

On a real stage doing real shows? That sounds interesting! 

Well if you ever want to know something more about my country just ask  (if I will know the answer...  )

[Bob]

*Bob is realizing he's just eaten an entire jar of salsa.*  That will be a nice way to start the new year tomorrow.