:: looks a lot like me ::

Yesterday I went to the dealership where I'd bought my last car (back around the turn of the century), for the specific purpose of test-driving two specific models, leaving the lot, and going to a couple other dealerships around town to test-drive some more.  Just data-gathering.  I brought my dad along and said I'd treat him to lunch, with the thought that if I got caught up too long at one dealership, I'd have him around to remind me that we had lunch plans and "oh yeah, gotta run".  Well, we both got seriously wowed by the new models the first sales guy showed us, forgot about lunch, and I ended up staying into the evening to sign papers for a 2009 Honda Civic LX-S.  Which is overall going to be a good thing, 'cause I desperately could use a new car.  I was so buzzed last night.  I woke up this morning, however, and I've got a wee bit of buyer's remorse already.  Haha.  See, I walked onto the lot yesterday with no checkbook and totally otherwise unprepared, since I had planned to not purchase anything.  Repeatedly, I explained this to the sales guy.  He said "we can just work around some rough estimates and see how comfortable you are with the numbers" and that made sense to me.  The numbers he quoted did seem workable to me, given the estimates my dad and I were pulling out of the tops of our heads; and only now, this morning, do I recognize that the sales guy pooh-poohed each of our musings that maybe we should call home or run home real quick to confirm how close our estimates were.   As it turns out, I did overestimate my annual salary by a significant amount.  Rats.  This is primarily what's fueling my remorse.   But I believe this is still going to be workable.  I can afford this car.  I simply have to tighten my belt somewhat more than I had planned.  The entry in my budget for "play money" is going to be renamed "car payment", and I believe I can otherwise still live comfortably.  I just wish my "get off the lot after test driving" contingency plans had worked, so that the dealerships and I could have made better-informed decisions.  Who knows; perhaps I could have ended up with a payment schedule that would have left more comfortable wiggle room in my pocketbook.  Well, I am very relieved that even though my estimates were too high, I can at least still afford this happy shiny awesome car.  :D  Highest safety ratings, great handling, best trade-in value, and so on.  It has a few other key features that I like a lot.  And it'll help the corporate image of the company I work for, to have it in the parking lot each day, in place of my much-adored, but peeling, leaking and dented, old car.  Kinda can't wait to see the impression it'll make on the guys at the office Monday morning, because everyone's been saying I've been long overdue in getting a nice car for myself.  Maybe they were right.  *bounce*

On July 26, I went out to the 4th annual ShastaYama Taiko Festival. This is an event that my dad and I had been wanting to attend since year 1, but had always seemed to just barely miss and then hear about in the news afterward, so we were determined to catch it this year. So, he and my mother and I made a day of it.

Once we got into town, we discovered that Google Maps’ street directions to the venue were not entirely accurate. It aimed us approximately 3 miles away from where we needed to be. Fortunately, we spotted one of the cross streets on our way, so were able to retrace our steps and quickly find the true location, aided further by decorative banners and the sight of a person clad in a bright green “Event Security” t-shirt, who helped us find a place to park. There was shuttle service from the parking area to the concert area, which was nice because all three of us had our arms full with lawn chairs and blankets and stuff. I was amused when the other shuttle driver, having found himself in a tight spot, asked the driver of my shuttle, “Hey, do you know how to put this thing in reverse?” and my driver replied cavalierly, “Nope, haha!”

We arrived in time for the pre-concert show, which were a pair of jazz bands. One was a tribute band performing in the style of Django Reinhardt, which completely captured my dad’s attention as he’s a fan of the original. The venue was a stage set at one corner of an open, grassy and well-tended field. We set up near the center, not too far forward nor back, where the sound was balanced just right. It wasn’t long before more people poured in around us.

The show turned out to be a grand opportunity for people-watching and overhearing.

Behind us, for example, there was a family with three teenage girls. During a break in the pre-concert show, I overheard one of them lamenting: “… on his MySpace page, he’s dressed as … a ninja. With a sword. And on his interests? Ninja. Just … ninja.”

The pre-concert show was a little slow-going because people kept doing sound checks between the bands’ songs. Meanwhile, there was this old lady in a rainbow-striped shirt (not tie-dyed, mind you, just made up of different colors of cloth sewn together) who either know a lot of the audience in front of us already or just decided to hug them and then stand around blocking our view of the stage with her undergarment-padded butt while she chatted. She seemed harmless and charming enough; it’s just that I wanted to get pictures of the female Gypsy singer dancing on stage but I kept getting foiled. So now if anyone ever asks me if I have pictures of that band, I will have to reply, “That Depends.”

Also in attendance and noted during the pre-show were:

• Dude with a spike-mohawk and leather jacket.
• Long-white-haired woman in a purple muumuu, making up her own dance to every song.
• Female sporting a pair of lavender “fairy wings”. I spotted her once from across the field and assumed it was a younger woman, but my parents saw her close-up and assure me that she appeared to be a woman in her 40s.
• Rather smarmy-looking dude in a pinstripe suit and a fedora, roving around, hawking CDs of the bands playing.

I liked the jazz bands a lot. The host came up after their part of the show to formally welcome everybody. As part of his introductions, he quipped, “We want to apologize for the lack of a non-smoking section…” It took me a minute to catch that he wasn’t being literal, but rather was referring to all the smoke that was still in the air from the hundreds of lightning-sparked fires that have been ravaging our state for several weeks now. (The comment drew scattered, knowing chuckles.) He also invited the audience to visit the food vendors which were lined up near the entrance. My parents picked up some sushi and coffee; I had a fruit juice bottle.

In time, the host introduced the first taiko performance group of the evening, the local “Shasta Taiko”. Pretty straightforward traditional taiko style. They did one or two pieces by themselves. Then, they taught us in the audience a “bon odori”, which they explained to us is a dance to celebrate and “reconnect” with one’s ancestors, and when they began to play, they invited us to “lose our egos” and dance along. I totally did. :) The audience participation as a whole was so-so, but several of us who did stand up and dance with the band made our way to the front, right below the stage, to form a loosely-defined circle. The dance they taught us was a series of moves, each of which supposedly represented something about this part of California, including “mountain”, “river”, “fish swimming”, and “sun”. There was also a generic “welcome” move. After we learned each move, it was trivial to link them together to help tell a story.

And that really was one of the highlights as far as I’m concerned.

They continued to perform, and as the sun set I noticed each piece had its own accompanying light show — orange for a harvest-themed piece, maroon for a flute solo & fan dance; blue for a calm, sparse, minimalist drum number. They ended with an unusual dance routine involving fantastical-looking costumes — that the program described as having been created from recycled modern products — and the addition of a pair of ad-libbing saxophones to the standard taiko percussion. It was fairly well received by the audience, though. Then, it was time for an intermission so that the big out-of-town act could set up. We stood and stretched and I took note of how the paper lanterns placed along the venue’s borders were now lit.

Anyway, all fairly traditional-sounding music before this point. I thought it was kind of cute that the local group would try to push the boundaries of their art with their recycled-costume dances-with-saxes bit. My dad and I described it as “Taiko a la Bowie??”

What I didn’t realize is that the musical acid trip had just begun.

During the intermission, some guy doing a sound check started with the typical soft monotonous “check, check one … *long pause* … check two” but all of a sudden dropped that and started full-on beatboxing instead. Woo! Hey, half the audience was milling around or in line at the food vendors, so to us it just sounded like one of the sound guys was having a bit of fun, a sort of impromptu, unofficial performance. However..!

When the big out-of-town act was ready to begin their show, they lit up the stage and sky with big floodlights and started in on their drums and instruments. At the time, I was off the main concert area, standing in line for sushi and coffee at one of the remaining vendors, so I saw more than I heard from their opening piece. The audience response sounded enthusiastic as I walked back up the hill, though, so I hurried to return to my lawn chair, eyes on my open beverage and ears tuned in to the band leader’s greetings. Turns out that he and one of his bandmates were former members of the local group that had just performed. He praised them and then said with pride that his current group had been “taking the art in our own new and different direction.” As I rejoined my parents and got situated, the guy on stage was thanking everyone for coming out, and inviting us to listen.

Well, what followed was over a half hour of … I’m not sure what it all was, but I can tell you it was definitely several degrees removed from any other traditional taiko performance I’ve seen, live or on screen. Their music incorporated electric musical instruments, throat singing, a standard rock drum set, a turntable and more live beatboxing, layered in with a koto and what seemed like sparse use of taiko drums. It was pretty far out and groovy music, buuuut to my ears it was barely “taiko” at all. I came away from their set with the feeling that they were really more of a “kewl” new-age/funk/techno/world-fusion band that just happened to every now and then throw a hit on a taiko drum or two into their songs.

(Don’t get me wrong, they’re a great sounding band, and their performance in itself would have been fine if the concert had been billed as, say, a Drum Festival or a World Music Festival (Featuring Taiko) … but this event was specifically promoted as a “Taiko Festival”, so, I, for one, rather expected less record-scratching and more, y’know, dudes hitting big skins-and-wood drums in strict choreographed rhythmic fashion without melodic accompaniment.)

I noticed, too, that a sizeable portion of the audience gradually packed up and left as their set continued. Granted, the weather had grown cold after sundown, and perhaps not everyone brought blankets as my parents and myself did, but you could kind of tell that the sight of some people leaving was enough to cause others to question whether it was still worth it to them to continue braving the chill air. More than once, my parents and I huddled together to mull over the same question. I kept feeling like apologizing to them, my mother especially, for bringing her to what I -thought- was going to be a full evening of powerful, traditional-style performances. But we decided to wait for the show’s big finale, which was to be a more traditional dance involving -everybody- from the whole concert on stage at once. Pretty glad we did, because it was worth the wait. From what I could see, the local taiko group took the center and brought out some really tall and flowing banners. The lady who performed the solo fan dance earlier, Michelle Fujii, demonstrated her ample chops at the drums, as well. No saxophones, no beatboxing, no problem. I was determined to capture the whole finale on video, but I was foiled in part by more random geriatric types who, I suppose, figured that since the audience had thinned, that it was okay to just stand around in front of the remaining people who were still seated. Fortunately for me, they were also standing in front of the guy in front of me (and his wife), so he got up and got them to move along. The other thing that foiled my effort was the sheer cold of the night which sent my body into shivers, since I had to hold my camera arm away from the heavy blanket over my shoulders in order to see what I was filming. So, what I have recorded is the music, the host’s thanks and farewell, and a bunch of garish amorphous shapes. XD I doubt it’ll ever hit YouTube, but you never know.

When it was time to leave, my parents and I hustled back to our vehicle, where we were content to fire up the heater and just wait for the initial rush of cars to clear out from the overflow parking area. We drove around town trying to find a place where we could use the restrooms and eat dinner, but were denied twice — Burger King had all the lights on and even a neon sign advertising “Open Til 2AM!” but the doors were locked and nobody was on register; another local restaurant also claimed to be open, but wait staff hurriedly locked the doors as we exited our vehicle. Boo. So we pulled up to a nearby gas station and had convenience store nachos for dinner. Funnily enough, one of the departing customers as we entered the store was the pinstripe-suit-and-fedora salesguy from earlier that evening at the concert. The really shady-looking, pimp-mustachioed guy. Even more unlikely but true, my dad and I both thought we heard him say “Bless you, brother” and “See you at church tomorrow?” to the cashier. Oh, life, and its random, unexpected twists.

So, I, uh, I bought the World of Warcraft Battle Chest this past week, which comprises the original WoW and its "Burning Crusade" expansion.  I'm planning to roll a human paladin so that I can start playing with some friends of mine in their guild.  I'm super busy anymore these days, between my desk job, local social life, and a recent commitment to working out more often at the gym, so I'm going into this with the idea that this will be something I'll do either casually or not at all.  I've been assured that we'll probably only play as a group once or twice a week at best, which should work out okay for me.

As a newbie, I'd like to solicit from the veteran WoW players out there any advice you would care to offer me.  Thanks greatly in advance.  :)

From "Straight No Chaser", an a capella group from Indiana University, here's an offbeat take on the "12 Days of Christmas" song.

• Idea for a shirt to sell at the likes of Hot Topic: black, with distressed white lettering, "Falling through the cracks ... Just like you." -- After observing several disaffected-looking youths wandering aimlessly through various crowded scenarios (mall, church potluck) last weekend.
• Idea for a form of cryptography: My cell phone's adaptive text messaging ability suggests words that you might mean as you begin to build a word from its numeric keypad. Alternatively, you can hold the down arrow key and a larger list of possible words will pop up. Sometimes multiple words use the same keypresses ("of" and "me", and "if" and "he", are two pairs that trip me up a lot). Often, the first one or several suggested words will be nonsense, but will tend to stay in the menu anyway. So my cryptography idea is this: Compose a message using those nonsense words. To decode it, the recipient must have the same kind of phone, or at least the same adaptive text engine. They then type the nonsense word into their phone, and bring up the popup list of alternatives, scanning it for sensical entries.
• Using my last.fm journal for writing about music and documenting my album purchases.
• Straightening my hair and growing it out long ... just so I can post unexpected pics to the Men's Long Hair Hyperboard where my sister has enjoyed lurking for years. xD
• Securing a web domain, with my family surname, to act as a central place for an extended genealogy project; another project where we'd scan, tag and display all our years and years of family photo albums; provide surnamed e-mail addresses; maybe host blogs/a forum/a wiki/who knows what else?

If you had a CD or album coming out, who would you thank in the liner notes?

I believe I'd thank my God, my family, my friends, the folks involved in the production of my album, and my fans, in roughly that order, and of course those broad categories would be broken out into lots of specific mentions of people by name and the reasons why I appreciate them.  I might also like to give props to favorite restaurants and towns and web sites and other uncategorized influences, if I were given sufficient space.

A sample, for example, off the top of my head:

"B. Would Like To Thank:

My Savior and Lord, Jesus, lover of my soul, rock of truth and perfect peace. -- o -- My immediate and extended family, of whom I am not ashamed, but whose names shall not be mentioned here for the sake of our privacy. -- o -- Best friends over the years: Jason, whose simple gift at age 6 was enough to help keep my birthplace in my heart; Tony, I doubt a truer lifelong friend exists to be found in this world; Daniel, for whom for a time I was happily foil and sidekick; Billy, inspirational musician and geek extreme; Veronica, she of the fire, whose stones outweigh anybody's; Donna, beloved confidante and all-around Awesome Girl. -- o -- Danielle, Zoe, Tandi, Hallie, Megan, Maureen, Christy, Sandra, Becca, Kelli, Shay and Lisa, and everybody from Edna and The Wash. -- o -- Nicole, Ida, Clara, and Annie. -- o -- Band mates: [...] Producer and other staff: [...] -- o -- Carl's Jr./Hardee's, for great grub, and for keeping B. from starving.  Pages For All Ages and Powell's. -- o -- Special thanks to my piano teacher, Mrs. R., and to one elementary-school teacher who encouraged a young aspiring harmonica player more than he will perhaps ever know.

Thank you, especially, dear fan, for listening to our music and believing in this humble little project.  The band and I have loved being able to meet so many of you after our shows.  You're in our thoughts and prayers."

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.

Right; I'm guessing the goal of this is to make readers wonder which one's the ringer, so -- in no particular order:

1. I was once, briefly, married, but it was peaceably annulled.
2. I have met up with someone from my Vox neighborhood in real life.
3. My right pinky bears a distinctive birthmark.

Have at it! ;)

[Edit] -- (P.S. Heena... you don't get to play. ;D)

Quick snapshot of my life these past days:

1. My car's odometer rolled over as I was leaving work Monday afternoon.
2. My mother recently surprised the rest of us by totally redecorating the family bathroom -- new rugs and towels and wall art.  It looks good.
3. I've joined a gym.  :o
4. I'm way overdue for a physical, but my health insurance happily kicks in at the end of the month.
5. I bought some new computer hardware the other day.  *techgasm*
6. I'm planning to take a week of vacation next month for traveling.

1. What web browser do you use?
Like all hip netizens, I use chiefly Firefox, but I keep Internet Exploder around for those (increasingly uncommon) websites that don't work well with the 'fox yet.  I also have Opera and the Mozilla browser installed, but I rarely actually use those.

2. What email client do you use?
I have several web-based e-mail accounts.  I also run Thunderbird every couple of weeks or so, on my accounts that allow POP access, such as Gmail, in order to create an offline backup.

3. What type of Internet connection do you have at home?
Clearwire is a provider of wireless, portable broadband.  They give you an external modem, and from there, you don't have to have a land-based phone line or a cable connection.  Just plug it into your computer, an it establishes your Internet connection through cell phone towers, instantly, as long as you're -anywhere- within the service area.  So, I could unplug the modem that's sitting on my desk right now, take it halfway across town to someone else who has a computer, plug it in, and instantly access the net.  I think that's neat.

4. What kind of computer do you have?
An unbranded Intel PC, assembled at home from OEM parts and running Windows XP.

5. When did you first get 'online'?
While I was peripherally aware of the Internet during my time at university, I never had an account while I was a student there because I wasn't a Comp Sci major at the time.  My first hands-on experience with being online was sometime in the mid-'90s.  One evening shortly after my place of employment at the time had acquired a modem and a dialup account from a small local ISP, a co-worker showed me the computer that had been set up for connecting to the 'net.  Software on it included a script-based dialer, an IRC client, and an early version of some cool thing called "Navigator" by a company called "Netscape".  Ah, good times.

1. If you could suddenly speak one language fluently (that you don't currently speak) what would it be?
Well, from a purely aesthetic perspective, I'd love to know how to speak Portuguese with a native speaker's accent, because I think it sounds beautiful.
However, if we're talking about a language I'd most want to understand fluently, inside and out and sideways -- idiomatically, culturally, the whole nine yards -- then I would definitely pick Classical Hebrew, because I'd like to be able to investigate the relevance of the Old Testament to contemporary life with the greatest degree of accuracy.

2. If you were to suggest a foreign film, that you really enjoyed, what one would you suggest?
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" is the first one that comes straight to mind.

3. If you had to call another country home (other than the one you currently live in) what one would you choose?
Probably Canada (my brother lives there with his family), or, barring that, Australia (because many of my long-time 'net friends hail from there, whom I'd probably not likely otherwise be able to meet).

4. If you went out to buy an import music CD, what one would you buy?
Oh, how fortuitously timely this question is.  I happen to have bought an import music CD just recently: the "best of" compilation album for a Japanese idol group called "BaBe", ベスト, also called "BaBe Best".  Cheesy fun! =)

5. If you were to chose an ethnic dinner, what would it be?
Heh, "ethnic", eh?  How about a cheeseburger, fries and a cola? "American" is an ethnicity, after all, right? Sure it is.