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Ogg Vorbis support in iTunes.

It works perfectly, just pop in the QuickTime plugin and it supports it just as well as mp3.

I’m a mac user at heart.

Woah, can you say tangent?

Didn’t think so. Anyway, I meant to say that Ben and Jerry’s is also giving away a free iTunes song to the first 50,000 people who pledge to vote in the coming election. I pledged yesterday, and the limit hadn’t hit yet, so if you go soon you might still be able to get the freebie.

Another music note—C|Net’s music.download.com is up, as a reincarnation of the late mp3.com, which was a mecca for indie artists trying to get their name and music heard. I’m quite glad to see that the design is entirely CSS. Go standards, beat the Microsoft! (Go bears…) ::

It was Free Ice Cream day today, and the line outside Ben and Jerry’s was three blocks long, so I got coffee instead. But it was the perfect day for it; hot and humid and sunny.

I’ve been stressed out a little lately—applications for the CS major are due next Friday, I had to sign up for classes yesterday, and I feel like everything is hinging on someone else’s decision. It feels like high school again. I just wish it wasn’t so competitive—that I could just study what I really want to learn about instead of… well… math.

What would I study? Music, writing, web design, computer science, astronomy, and environmental science. I could get by with just studying web design, though. That’d be fun. Might as well throw in a “no homework would be nice.”

Yeah, I know. Unrealistic. I just want to do what I love, and CS is as close as it’s gonna get here. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not. But I love Berkeley, and I don’t want to leave, and that’s what scares me the most, because I know that if I don’t make it into CS here, then I really have to go somewhere else to keep doing what I love. Either that, or choose something in that list up there that I could keep pursuing at Berkeley, which would be easy if I just had more time…

It’s all very complicated, but I really just have to stop worrying. I’m an optimist—always have been—and everything I’ve experienced has supported the fact that everything will turn out okay. A good thing to remember—if I ever die and they try to say it was a suicide, find the murderer ::

That’s all really—I don’t really want to sit here in front of my computer screen much longer, or go to class for that matter, but I’ll do that. It rained yesterday, so the air is crystal clear, and it’s not too cold and not too warm, and everything is green—just one of those perfect spring days.

And good music makes everything better. ::

Kill Bill Volume 2: Go see it. But—not if you haven’t seen the first one. In which case, buy the first one on DVD and then go watch the second one. Best movie ever.

Some country we live in where your approval rating is “stable” when only half the population actually approves. God I hate statistics—or rather, the stupid people who use statistics.

I’ve also been considering replacing the needle on my turntable. It would probably make a difference, especially considering that I bought it from a flea market. It’s just that I’ve been buying a lot of used vinyl lately (it’s dirt cheap), and I’ve noticed that, even with the most pristine record, there’s static when the volume gets too loud, which would be consistent with a dull needle, which I hear needs replacing right away to avoid damaging the records. Anyway, records are fun. I already have a decent collection, including all of Mozart’s woodwind concertos (including my favorite, the Clarinet), Holst’s “The Planets” suite, Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out,” and the classic Getz/Gilberto in all its original glory (all of those (together) for under $10). I just want to hear how they sound with a decent needle. ::

Drew told me to:

1. Grab the nearest book.


2. Open the book to page 23.


3. Find the fifth sentence.


4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

From a book called The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett:

There was a general murmur of agreement.

Here here….

   Twenty-Eight million steps.
Each puts into perspective
   How distant you are.

I had a bit of inspiration yesterday and came up with this short piece. It could be extended, of course, but I don’t really have time to work on it. Let me know what you think!

No. 21: [Ogg Vorbis(64k)] or [mp3 (96k)]
Subnote: I reccomend the Ogg Vorbis version if you can play it; it’s half the size and twice the quality.

The instrumentation is piano, flute, accordion, harp, electric bass, and drumset. And I apologize for the beautiful MIDI samples.

In case you’re wondering about the name, it’s just a numbering system. This is approximately my 21st musical work-in-progress. Only three of them (before this one) are finished thus far, but they’re no good. ::