Headvoice

As defined by Wikipedia

The head voice is similar to falsetto, but usually sounds 'tighter' and less airy than falsetto. It is sometimes heard when a woman shouts or is highly excited, and is used less commonly by men unless they are deliberately accessing the range. To the untrained ear it can be difficult to distinguish between someone singing in falsetto or head voice.

The tonal qualities of the head voice are usually described as being sweet, balladic, lilting, lyrical, or pure. It is often used in choir singing in adult men.

There are only four words...

I loved Freddie Mercury.

:::sound of crickets chirping::::

Stop laughing!

Luigi von Tortellonifish

Where is the fall haircut? Time to get the clippers out.

Retro Disco Stevo 1981

Mark and I spent two weeks going over photos, both new and old in order to make an album for my fathers upcoming 70th birthday. My mother had sent a package of what she could cobble together when he wasn't looking.

We scanned, and retouched. I did the layout over two very long days. It was a photoshop marathon. 184 images on 101 pages with collage cover and back.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Here I am from that album. It was 1981 and I am 23. The only time I really had a mustache... and no wonder. I look like a cheesy dealer who just off shift from the casino.

Ashes to Ashes

Ladies and germs I present the top of the piano in our living room.

Can you find the ashes of two dogs? Or the Navajo seed pot? My grandparents?
Obviously I have little to say today...

Falling Forward Further

To hell with you folks in tropical climates I say. Here in Ontario (as in Canada, eh?) we have our climate so precisely tuned to the calendar, I can expect the first colors of fall to appear on the exact day it starts. Also this week is when we began looking for jackets and long sleeves getting dressed in the morning. The seasons changing ring like chimes from that grandfather clock in the foyer.

When I lived in Florida, it was also around this time of year when the first cool air began to flow down from the north, ending the endless months of torrid heat and steamy nights since it warmed up in April or May.

Now it is time for frivolous trips to Salzburg for schnitzel and also Scranton PA for Utz potato chips. It is the season for that perfect sweater, snow tires and new opportunities. Time to clean out that home office closet and close the pool. The damn Halloween candy is already stacked in the drug store like skyscrapers. It is a just a matter of days until we hear Christmas music for the first time at the mall.

I drove to the Salvation Army clothing drop off near us today and left an old suit from my days in New York in the early 90s. It was so light in my hands when taking it from the car...

Nine Years Later

Back in the day, say this very day of September in 1997, I was on line in New York and met Mark in a chat room on the internet. Our paths probably would have never crossed in any other way.

We were ahead of our time back then in this regard, and when it was arranged to meet, our friends and relatives worried that either one of us might just turn out to be ax murderers.

But here we are, still together. Nine years later. And no ax murders.

Yet.

Vienna - June 2001

Before 9/11 seems long ago for many reasons. Five years now gone by.

We went to Austria that spring... and I got to visit Beethoven, as I always wanted to. Soon thereafter, so much had changed.

Vienna - June 2001

Jun 27, 2001 - 71 Photos

September Morning

Luigi and I headed out for the morning walk today, and I prepped for the good light noticed---took the camera. After turning the corner at the edge of the "big park" this shot was sitting in front of me. The little dash of a far off cloud peppered the view just right.

No humans, no clutter, and just the glint of morning sun on the greens of the end of summer. Sweet.

What I did on my summer vacation

Dear Class,

This year I took the summer off. It wasn't my intention to do so, but it turned out to be the right thing to do in retrospect.

I was burnt out.

After a couple of years working at yet another technology start-up, I moved on to a job at a vendor. It seemed the right thing to do, as I loved the people and knew the products in depth as I had used them every day for years. We were good to go.

But then, toast. Crispy burnt toast seven months into it. High blood pressure and editing emails endlessly in my sleepless nights type of toast.

So, the summer off made sense. I said goodbye.

But now that season is over, what exactly did I do on this sojourn?

I cooked.
And I read about cooking. I watched cooking on TV. I fried chicken in the driveway. I grilled pizza's and handed them over the backyard fence to the neighbors. I made pounds of frites with fresh thyme and lemon mayo for dipping.

I talked.
Not really productive, career next-move discussions, but more likely to be concerned with what wall would be painted mustard in my parent's new house, or what we would be eating at our pool party that weekend. My cell phone bill last month was stupidly high.

I ate.
And guess what? I now can heartily recommend a summer diet including ice-cream sandwiches consumed every six hours around the clock for people determined to keep that little belly going.

I swam.
In both our pool and in the Atlantic off Barnegat Light. Check.

I walked the dog.
This is something I have been accused of not doing my share in the past. Bullshit. I have walked the damn dog from here to Atlanta over the past three months.

I read.
My subscription to the New Yorker is a little unpredictable via Canada Post, but they arrive sooner or later. And Mark bought the DVD archives for me as a gift, which has every page from every issue ever printed. Fascinating reading. The old ads are a riot.

I enjoyed some culcta'. Rufus Wrainright channeling Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall. Friends in summer stock productions up north were seen in their shows. Two sets of my favorite Masterpiece Theater production made there way through the DVD player.

But now the season has changed. Even though we have a few more weeks of summer, we all know that the Tuesday after Labor Day signals the real change. And that, class, is what I did on my summer vacation.

Now I better get off my ass and get working again...

Walking but not Talking

Home Again - Last Week

Barnegat Light - 8.06

Sep 2, 2006 - 15 Photos

Click the image to open a Picasa web album. This is pretty nice software, considering it is free.