Untitled

Sigh.

this literally changed everything. seriously. now i will grant you...  this artist doesn't look like the same goof who took the 4th international chopin competition by surprise with his ground breaking interpretation of the 2nd sonata in b minor... but make no mistake. This is chopin perfected... and that's not just my opinion.  Upon hearing this interpretation (I believe this is the vid from the actual competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL_I1z5OHe4 ) Martha Argerich, the most prominent authority on Chopin since Chopin himself, refused to participate further in the competition without giving this solo performance the recognition and respect it deserves.  Some say she did more by protesting the "official" ruling than she would've by simply voting for him. Either way, my main girl Margerich and I both know genius when we hear it and if this isn't genius then genius doesn't exist.

thursday: luciano w dflizzle

friday: standard friday with some good nectarage

saturday: brewfest with awesome friends.  met my good friends Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue while out. Paul seemed surprised I'd choose to spend time with him while out with my other friends.  silly Paul. you are the man.

sunday: oakledge sunset. relaxation. cover letter. started reading prelude to foundation.

monday: cover letter cover letter cover letter cover letter cover letter cover letter.

Wednesday was another low key day keeping with this week's low key theme.  I did some more windsurfing rigging practice... thinking I'm getting the hang of it finally.  Then it was time for some big-boy sailing as I headed down to Shelburne Bay for race night.  The wind was fair but squirrelly and we felt comfortable shaking out the reef in the main and throwing up the 150.  As we were jockeying around before the start Chris and I encouraged Charles to be a bit more ballsy and, as we jockeyed for position to the line, ended up having the best start of the season.  It was so good that for the first time I was able to stare at the bow of the Wingdam as we made our way west across the lake to the mark.  

I've never seen her bow while racing before.  It was an uplifting experience.  Unfortunately, our overaggression led to an ill-timed early tack that pulled us from first/second to the back of the pack.  Alas, despite the best start I think we've ever had while I've been on crew we were only able to come up with a second to last finish.

Over the past couple days I've been predominantly useless.  Sometimes that's ok, but I'm irritated with myself as the weather has been almost picture perfect (although a bit hot for my taste, I do live in VT after all), and I have a lot of important things to take care of right now.

Yesterday I woke up to my a call from my good friend Ramana.  He told me about a small job fair that the state was putting on, and that while looking around he had run into some of my old pll family.  After commiserating with him for a bit, I decided I should go check it out.  Like me, it turned out the event was completely useless.  I have to accept that there is nothing else in VT for me, at least from a career advancement perspective.  So I settled for reading a book on semiconductor physics at Oakledge state park and watching the sunset.  Picture to follow... It was a hot hazy humid day ergo not the best atmospheric conditions, but I love every sunset from that beautiful place.

Today was slightly more productive.  I acquired a ticket to the Burlington Brewfest, which I am told is quite the spectacle and have a number of friends attending.  I'm going Saturday night, with CJH, M&C, and some other friends.  It cost me an arm and a leg but seeing as this is my last summer in VT I might as well enjoy one of Burlington's summer traditions.  I then went and cashed my last two checks from IBM.  Looking over the dollar amounts, I did some quick math and realized IBM is trying to stiff me almost 7 grand!  Ridiculous!  As if they haven't done enough already.  Oh well, I wrote a message to my manager and he's promised to verify my concerns.  I hope that I will be paid that which is owed to me......

I spent this afternoon practicing riggin up my windsurfing gear.  I can't wait to get into the water, with just a little more work I think I'll be ready to start daily practice!

After dinner I went over to my friend Jacob's house.  We've started reviewing analog design fundamentals for technical interview questions.  We discussed some physics concepts for almost 3 hours, then I came back home.  On the way home I got a call from my good friend John.  I always enjoy our discussions, and I appreciate the fact he occasionally asks me for advice.  Usually, I'm the one begging for his counsel, so when I can return the favor and offer him some small insight it's a really great feeling. 

I realized I failed to blog about daily activities yesterday... so... we're off to a rough start tumblr :).  It's probably best, if this is to become a daily ritual, to not beat myself up about missing entries or writing dailies late and just accept that sometimes life happens.  

Over the course of my time in VT I started this habit of getting chinese food on Sundays.  I don't know if you've looked at any fortune cookies recently, fair reader, but the things Confucius has been saying are anything but prophetic.  "You are an honest and generous person" is not really the insightful wisdom into the future I was hoping for.  So it was notable, when about 2 months ago I got the first fortune cookie with an actual fortune in ages, which read "You will soon change your line of work."  Strange I thought, as rumors had been swirling at the time about impending layoffs from my employer, IBM.  Even stranger was that when the day of the layoffs arrived I was in fact affected.  I'm sure I'll write more about that as time goes on, that's not really the point of today's entry.  The point of today's entry is that this little prophetic nugget of oracular wisdom was "You are heading for a land of sunshine."  Fascinating I thought, as moving to California is something I've seriously been considering as of late.

Other than that, today was a low key day.  After an extremely rough night, involving fun times that quickly tanked to a relative emotional minima, I needed to sleep in.  I think the most productive thing I did all day was start this blog.

http://johncohn.org/