Thursday, September 21, 2006

Insomniac Almanac -- Not

Here I am, up at two AM, making an entry in my journal, but for some reason, I do not feel like an insomniac.  Sometimes I feel cheated, not getting my sleep, but tonight, I am just a guy rolled out of a bed who is ready to write in his journal.

I guess the visit to the doctor yesterday, which I dreaded, turned out positively.  Doctor said he was glad to see me looking so well.  Well, that's swell.

Maybe I am imitating Karen who seems to stay up at all hours to write in her novel, Maverin.  Perhaps my muse is busy elsewhere during the day.  I guess that's it: my muse was busy yesterday on my "music" project.

My grandson recently used my lap top Dell to record the music of our volunteer piano player, George, who wanted to make a CD of his repertoire. Grandson brought a pre-amp, a special mike, a mile of wire, and a new software.  He recorded George, and burned the CD, all on my little portable computer.  I was impressed.  I sought to imitate George and burn a CD of my keyboard playing.  But alas, I didn't watch grandson close enough.

Grandson came back and tutored me, but we didn't have the mike or pre-amp.  Yesterday, I rooted through the junk box and found an old tape recorder mike.  Then in another stash I found an old Radio Shack audio amplifier, and rehabilitated that with a new battery.  I hooked up a pair of spare computer speakers.  Now with hay-wire spread all over a table, the software fired up, I was ready for my debut as a recording artist.

I was however in my power wheel chair and my keyboard was several feet from the assortment of electronic parts.  So I started the recording, backed my power chair to the keyboard, and pulled the mike and pre-amp off the table. The first thing I recorded, in full  fidelity, digitally preserved forever, was "Oh, Sh*t", expletive NOT deleted.  However I rolled on, played my keyboard, not well, having been shook up.

But the odd assortment of parts worked, and I made my first sound recording on a computer.  My muse was hard at work yesterday.  The possibilities are endless.  I am looking forward tomaking a CD soon.

And, oh, I need to learn how to edit the recordings, too, in case I have more expletives to delete. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

you simply amaze me my friend, i'm still stuck on erasing stuff!
hows the videos coming?

Anonymous said...

Funny entry.....i can almost see you trying so hard to make that CD and then saying oh shit. With practice you will be a master of it soon,i hope. Enjoy your Thurs.
lisa jo

Anonymous said...

Go Chuck...This one had me giggling. Bam

Anonymous said...

Hoory fo0r the doctor visit going well, and hooray for you getting that recording made, even if it was PG!  Well done!

Anonymous said...

Awesome work Dad...I marvel as well...you are doing so much more than I can at this point.  Does it skip a generation?  

I was thrilled with my CD of slideshow from England trip, gave it to my friend to put on DVD and most of the photos are chopped up and he made them 3 sec. each...hardly able to view.  OH well, he added nice music and title pages.  Back to the "drawing board" for him tho to get the photos fully on the screen.
Kate

Anonymous said...

LOL LOL
CHUCK.........DID YOU REALLY SAY THE "S" WORD??? LOL AND YOU EVEN GOT IT ON TAPE!!! LOL
NOW YOU GOTTA PUT THAT CD IN HERE SO WE CAN HEAR YOU PLAY!!!
OR SAY THE "S" WORD AGAIN!!! LOL
YOU MADE MY DAY CHUCK...I AM STILL LAUGHING!
HUGS,
CARLENE

Anonymous said...

You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. A minor slip of the tonque as you rush about trying to get everything to work right is nothing to worry about. Heck, there's even video out there on the Internet of the President giving the bird to some reporters, so a four letter word is a minor offense in my book...