Bought an ensoniq ESQ-1. Finally! And it does seem to have the sound, although I haven't gone beyond presets.... Not enough time right now. Have cello workshop coming up. Combined with 40mpw and many other projects. Gladden.... Building mom's pond... But hopefully after the cello workshop, and perhaps especially in the fall/winter I will start making some serious music.

Analog versus digital/virtual is night and day for me. It's alive versus dead. Every sound is supposed to suggest a living creature, literally. And with analog it can. Not so much with virtual/digitial.

Wondering if I should get hardware reverb now....

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
This is better than Mistborn. The magic system isn't explained so much. Some mystery is left.. The world has more detailed. And/or more is just left out to keep one's interesting. Mistborn was far too honest. This one has a hero who seems to have an ace. He just never dies. And he's being put through hell.

So hero with an ace, being put through hell in a richly detailed world full of mystery.

Very good book.

LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness just doesn't impress me so much. Liked Dispossed soooo much better.. The idea of androgynous people, I think so much more could be done with that. No wonder the book did nothing for me when I read it so many years ago. The fact that people seem to consider this her best book, when I'm so unimpressed by it, is why i've never really gotten into her writing. But, I have really liked Dispossed and The Lathe of Heaven. So definitely will read more of her stuff.

Last 4 weeks have run 39, 29, 34 and 34. Second week was tapering for a race. This last week had issues with dehydration and extreme heat. But all in all. Improving. Averaged 9min/mile for 22 miles in a row this week. Last day though the 99 degree humid weather was too much.

Trying to get to 40.

And so I've wondered for quite a while why people usually mirror the moods of others but in some cases will instead try to balance out another's mood. For example, if a person seems very unhappy they'll try to be cheery in compensation.

It depends on whether or not you think disagreeing with someone is a dangerous thing to do. So with a total stranger for example, probably best to just mirror them for the most part. And then if you consider yourself well above them hierarchially(sp), or whoever else, you're more likely to balance instead of mirror.

I balance instead of mirror more than usual because I assume good things of others, I assume they're intelligent enough to handle a different point of view. I think. I don't think it's that I'm just a contrary individual....

Ursula Le Guin. Perhaps I just wasn't smart enough when younger. It was at least 15 years ago, possibly 20 that I read The Left Hand of Darkness and just didn't get anything from it. Just read the Dispossed and loved it. Now reading the Lathe of Heaven. It's not the same level but it's enjoyable. More like a long short story. Shall mow through all by Le Guin I'm thinking. I've been starved for this kind of cerebral work, that is still a good story.

Annarres(sp) sounds great to me. Well, better anyway. Of course Sabul, etc, not so much. I've had my own Sabul experiences. Love that my boss now is intelligent and female. And that I'm surrounded by women, although I've not much in common with them.

Ran a hilly 10k in 50:09. Trying to run 8 miles, five times a week.

Was reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (125 pages in). Was enjoying it because I really like Lincoln. As a politician in general, let alone at that time, he had to be very careful what he said. I suspect he was actually a far better person than the record shows. Think he was an atheist and today, would be a vegan.

Although OTOH I think we'd be better off if the South had seceded. Today they'd be a third world country and we'd have forced them to give up slavery. Thus the most powerful nation in the world wouldn't be so damm right wing.... Although perhaps not as powerful either....

Anyway read a review that gave too many spoilers and ultimately just put the book in it's place too well and now I don't plan on finishing.
I will say I thought it better done that GRR Martin's 1850's vampire book. Ultimately it makes Lincoln into less than he really was. The real Lincoln wasn't motivated out of revenge for a personal wrong. But Lincoln as a hero is definitely something I'm down with.

1:48 for the half marathon. Enjoyed it so much I really want to increase my mileage. The faster I run, the funner it is. Want to get close to 40 mpw. A 12 and an 8 on the weekend hopefully 3 6 milers during the week....

Also, longer distances are much more enjoyable. A 5k is uncomfortable from the start. For a half marathon you really have to decrease the intensity. I didn't start hurting until 11 miles in. And then unfortunately I ran the last bit too hard and crashed, but definitely want to try to mainly do 6 to 13 mile races in the future....