My clarinet is back!!!

I have always admired musicians. The ability to make and play music, seems to me to be almost magical – like alchemy. Somehow I had a craving to be a part of the “club”. The only rational solution was to start. Still, I didn’t want to play an ordinary instrument, like the piano, or a guitar. After a while, the only instrument that was practical and diverse enough was the clarinet or the mandolin. I chose the clarinet. If you listen to Clarinet Concerto in A major, by Mozart – you will be amazed how diverse the clarinet can by played. It’s godlike – if you are not touched by this, then you are missing out of another element, that makes life sweeter to live. It hits “my soft spot”!!!

Here is a couple of links to the “godlike”…. It free and legal – enjoy!!

Clarinet Concerto in A major, 1st movement

Clarinet Concerto in A major, 2st movement

Clarinet Concerto in A major, 3st movement

Conductor: Simon Schindler, Ensemble: Fulda Symphonic Orchestra, Clarinetist: Bruce Edwards, and Location: Grosser Saal der Orangerie Fulda.
But still, the clarinet can be used in jazz, blues, rock, and so on. The subject at hand, is too vast, so I better be mooving on…

I began to play the clarinet a half a year ago and I’ve made a lot of progress. This project, is a solo-project – booklet with advice, sheet music and a CD (“Progressive Clarinet: by Peter Gelling”), was my only help. It a bit funny to hear the discrepancy between what you are playing and what you should be playing on the CD – but I can still play a decent “When the Saints go Marchin’ in”. I had reached a spot where I couldn’t move on. My legatos and staccatos really sucked and there where a lot of notes I wasn’t able to reach. Another hindrance is that I have been too busy, with too many things.

My dear dancebuddie Carina, helped me out – hence “my clarinet is back”. All I had to do was to change to a harder reed and improve my breathing technique. She has been playing the last 15 years – and she is still active. Her talent is light-years beyond where I am at the moment. But if I hang in there I might be able to play a decent score. My clarinet gives me a lot of pleasure, it’s always fun to create and progress.

I suppose my greatest challenge in life, is to have few, but completed projects. But to do this, you have to make priorities and hard choices. I have too many project floating around that are distracting me at the moment, but I’m getting closer to my “challenge”.

It’s hard work – but life isn’t easy…

Quest for love = going to the dentist?

I have a lot of quests. On my top three – there is finishing my law-degree, being able to play the clarinet (well), and as you might have guessed it – finding a soul-mate. Now the two first things are “simple tasks”. If you continually put in a lot of hard word and dedication – you really can’t go wrong. The rules for the “quest” are easy to follow and you can see a clear result for the effort you put in to it.

Now, on the other hand you have love… “That”, has to be the ultimate proof that God has a great sense of humor and is a bit of a joker. I believe that love is a mystery that just won’t make sense and the only way to learn about love is by loving. The problem is, where is she? I’m still optimistic, I have a lot to do, and i’ll be fine even if she doesn’t show up soon…. But it would make life sweeter to live.

Women have it a lot easier – the following says it all….

HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN…
compliment her,
cuddle her,
kiss her,
caress her,
love her,
stroke her,
tease her,
comfort her,
protect her,
hug her,
hold her,
spend money on her,
wine & dine her,
buy things for her,
listen to her,
care for her,
stand by her,
support her,
go to the ends of the earth for her….

HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN…
show up naked,
bring beer.

(Source http://jokes.comedycentral.com/popUp.asp?sql=7&id=2869&cat=998#top)

To drastically change the subject, i have a picture of a “nøkkerose” (Nymphaea alba?). I took it a while back, right after i got my camera. The picture is in my opinion a bit sub-standard but its the best of my Nøkkerose-pictures.

The next pictures are Roses, and these are taken with my own camera (click for larger picture).

Enjoy…

Life is good – praise it!

We are very pampered i the western world. Take for granted the good things – always unsatisfied with what we have. Its really sad to thing about…. I’m not writing at my best (sorry…). But i couldn’t agree more with what Eric Idle says in:

- The Galaxy song – from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

 

“Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,

And things seem hard or tough,

And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,

<sung>

And you feel that you’ve had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,

 

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving

And reolving at nine thousand miles an hour.

It’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned,

‘Round the sun that is the source of all our power.

Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,

Are moving at a million miles a day,

In the outer spiral arm, at fourteen thousand miles an hour,

Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

 

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred million stars;

It’s a hundred thousand light-years side to side;

It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,

But out by us it’s just three thousand light-years wide.

We’re thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,

We go ’round every two hundred million years;

And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions

In this amazing and expanding universe.

 

<waltz>

 

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,

In all of the directions it can whiz;

As fast as it can go, that’s the speed of light, you know,

Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is.

So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure,

How amazingly unlikely is your birth;

And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere out in space,

‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth!

What’s deviantART – it’s devine?

The word divine might be an overstatement, but it’s my favorite website on the vast seas of WWW. If there is a site worthy of such a statement, it has to be DA (http://www.deviantart.com).

I bought my first digital camera a couple of years back. I was playing around with long-time exposure, iso-numbers, and basically playing around with all the functions it had to offer. I didn’t stop there, I also played with motive, light, angles and just having fun taking pictures. I was recommended this site by my dear friend Christian.

There, I found a community, that really gave me a lot of inspiration, for my pictures and after a while I even publish a few on the site (http://cykelmand.deviantart.com/). It was a positive and good experience. The great thing is, that you are able to get feedback, hints and encouragement in this forum. There are even a lot of pro’s, that also publish and are helpful. For me it was a force-multiplier for my abilities as a amateur photographer.

But deviantART is much more than just photography – its a vast resource of creativity. Literature, cartoons/anime, flash and so on. It’s all neatly sorted in categories and sub-categories. Of course there is a lot of stuff, that isn’t that good. It still doesn’t degrade the forum, it’s just different degrees of quality.

I even found this funny little quirky poem yesterday, about aluminium (?!?!):
“Aluminium foil is silver and pretty.
Its not very witty.
Because it has no brain.
Because foil has no brain,
if it did, it might be insane.
Or it might not.
I really shouldn’t judge.”

Source: (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38578141/)

Discover it on your own terms and you will not be disappointed.

Kudos to you devianART!!!

Sorry, for the lack of content…

I have been very busy, really…

Since my last posting, i have been in Amsterdam, Brugge and a couple of really great places and a few not that great places. It was a family roadtrip, with my mother, stepfather and my sisters and brother. The, “not so great places” that woren’t that good to beguine were OK, mainly because of the good company. The, “not so great places”, are not worthy to write about, so i better stop now.

To be trotting along. You might be guessing correctly, that i’m trying to write something creative about my experience. And you might also be guessing, that there are ca. 950 pictures that need to be sorted, after my Holiday experience… Well what can i say – i love to take (a lot of) pictures. These tings take time, as we all know…

And after a great holiday, you need to kick back and relax with a good book. In my case “Dune – trilogy” (Herbert). I’ve seen the movie and the series, but the book kicks your socks off… If you haven’t read it – read it now! And if you have read it – read it again! As with so many books, the nuances are so much richer than the movie (and series) – so basically your missing out! Writing is mainly craftsmanship, and this is an excellent example of the craft.

Another of my projects is my “quest for love”, but this is still a covert operation and not open to any prying eyes. To quote one of my favorite books: “The beginning is a delicate time…”

I’m not good at ending, so I better stop now while i’m ahead….

Ernest Hemingway and Coffee

Clarkson from “top gear” always compares cars with coffee. There is the espresso – hard-hitting and direct; ordinary filter-coffee – hits the spot and does an okay job. Then there is “the café latte” – fluffy and without content.

Hemingway was a steaming espresso – well balanced and “larger than life”. There is the public Hemingway, with the uber-macho; game hunting, deep-sea fishing, boxing and so on. This is in stark contrast to the beauty and feel of his writing.

A great example is “A Farewell to Arms“. I was choked and disappointed when I read it for the first time, because i wasn’t able to connect the book with the man (Hemingway). But the second time i read it it reviled layers of genuine emotion, sympathy and empathy. It a love-story, without the “latté” – clean-cut and direct. The ability to write so much with so few word…

I’m looking forwards to reading a biography about the man, and perhaps shine a little lite on the man Hemingway. What made him tick. Childhood, tragic love-affair…. Deed and consequences.

My theory is that he was lost and just trying to find some kind of identity. Even willing to risk his life in seeking it. Perhaps he found some scraps of it with all of his “Near-Death Experiences” (NDE). Greater appreciation for life, increased interest in the meaning of life and increased empathic understanding,

I have always admired craftsmanship. A good chair or a work of art – it shines through. I’m looking forward to reading more of his art.

The concept of “catch”…

My friend Christian was “house- and dogsitting” for the last day, two weeks ago. I went for a visit. While Christian was vacuuming and making the house “spic and span” – I went out in the garden to hang out with ‘Jack the wonder-dog’.

Now Jack is a wonderful and charming individual. He’s full of energy, loves to play and has a serious ball addiction. One of his favorite games is “catch”, but he has a variation that is in my opinion, at least partly against the main principals of the game “catch”.

When you throw he fetches with all he’s got. You really see the wolf in Jack – the ball has no chance to escape Jacks jaws. Here comes the conflict. He doesn’t return the ball! You can try to persuade, manipulate or trick him. But it won’t do… If he has his favorite ball – he won’t let go. Of course i had to learn this the hard way. Trying the above, without results – i tried to wrestle the ball out of Jack mighty jaws. After one failed attempt, he was clearly insulted and decided to trot out of range of Poul Kjartan’s thieving hand. My theory is, that he had had enough and did this to spite me. Eventually Christian came out to hang out.

But believe it or not, Christian, the Larsen family and now moi – have a secret method, that is so cunning that i do not dare teach the www.

I really don’t know how to end this, so I take a short bow…

Can’t sleep…

Sometimes i just can’t sleep, i’m wide awake – not feeling tired and am full of energy. So why not put a couple of pictures in my blog. By the way, these pictures were taken with my dear departed camera, that is no more.

Enjoy….

This is a rather cute picture. It’s Mulan (cute cat) and Baldur (lovable bulldog). You can clearly see, that they were best friends. Baldur is no longer with us. He had arthritis and was in a lot of pain – so he had to be put down. I didn’t like him at first. He snored, had flatulence, threw up all over the place and always begged for scraps. But he had so much charm that you realy couldn’t ignore his “Baldur Charm” – it just grows on you. I do miss him a lot and so does Mulan….

Picture taken in Thorshavn (Faroe Isl.). Ólavsøku is a lot of things – well officially it’s a national holiday where we commemorate Olav II (later canonizes as “Saint Olav the Stout”) and the Faroese Parliament (Løgtingið) opens.

But for me, the true meaning of olavsøku, is meting old friend and family you havn’t seen for a long time and having fun. It’s “sinfull”, peaceful and lively at the same time….

It gives life a capitol “L”.

Paint removal part. 001

I have an old door that could do with a complete “makeover”. A couple weeks ago I tried a so-called chemical “paint remover”. The theory is very simple, apply remover to surface and voila after 10 min. – the pain can easily be scraped off. As you have guessed, that was the “theory” and reality is something completely different.
Basically, it doesn’t work! Even in the areas, that got more than ample, it hardly did any difference. To make it worse – the price-tag is steep (over 150 dk.kr.). I had really hoped, that this “magical product” could save me a lot of time and effort – but as to many times before, my hopes got shattered and burned… Rising from commercial hopes – to tragic reality.

What can I say – life is evil and too cruel some times!!

Now enough with the self pity and negativity. Last Thursday i bought a 2000W heat-gun, with a good assorted set of scrapers at a reasonable price. To remove what chemicals couldn’t. I’ve tried on a small patch – and I can say it’s a bit slow but darn effective.
My plan is as follows. I’ll get back as soon as I get started with pictures and text – so keep tuned in…

Well, it is definitely not a cat :=)

“Roses are red (2)…”

I’m sorry, but i’m still not inspired enough to be able to contribute with something of my own. Here goes – this is my favorite version of “roses are red” by Comedian Ish Kabibble.

Enjoy,….

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

If skunks had a college,

They would call it P.U.

Roses are blue,

Violets are pink,

After you’ve had

Your thirteenth drink.

Roses are blue,

Violets are red,

If you think that,

You’ve got rocks in your head.

Roses are blue

Violets are red

I’m not good with colours

But I’m good in bed

Roses are blue,

Violets are pink,

Your color TV,

is on the blink.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Some poems rhyme,

This one doesn’t.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I’m schizophrenic,

And so am I.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet,

And so are you,

But the roses are greying,

The violets are dead,

The sugar is lumpy,

And so is your head.