some fiction is true

truth, however, is a matter of perspective

...



...

LEST I BE JUDGED FOR THIS
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    dear reader/listener/viewer/enjoyer/co-conspirator:
    lest i be judged for it, i inform you now that this project continues to be a scratch pad, a space for experimentation

    in other words, enjoy what you find here, and feel free to participate, but try not to take anything personal, and don't believe that this project presents an accurate view of me or my life

    this is a window, certainly, but one that hasn't been cleaned in quite some time

    your view may be foggy, obscure...you may see things that aren't really there...

    --harold

    want some background music?
    please consider downloading my most recent music podcast.

    and yes, i love my mom and my dad;
    they've always been good to me, no matter what impression you may have received here

    they never locked me in a cellar or anything
     
    archived stories, or something that happened in the past:

    December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 November 2007 February 2008 March 2008

    i am a member of the

    association of music podcasting

    musicpodcasting.org

    along with these fine music podcasters:

    all florida indies - bing futch
    audio gumshoe - rich palmer
    audio popcorn - krash coarse
    aural icebergs music cast - tiffany rapplean
    capital rock show - bucket aka jason
    darkhorse radio - alan carr
    ears to hear - jill lawton
    eclectic mix - george l smyth
    homegrown podcast - nic treadwell
    indiefeed - chris macdonald
    le jazz affair - sal calfa
    rubyfruit radio - heather smith
    sober cafe podcast - gracie hollombe
    sundown lounge - larry winfield
    tempo of the down - harold (that's me!)
    the darkcompass podcast - rowland cutler
    the fabrications podcast - matt macfarlane
    the phill(er) - phill ramey
    the radiozoom podcast - john bollwitt
    thepillarcast.com - jon tucker
    uc radio podshow - michael yusi
    zaldor's world - les zaldor

    this is...

    something that happened

    somethingthathappened.com
    		stories by harold j. johnson, in various formats - including text, audio, video, and podcasts
     
     
    Thursday, February 28, 2008  

    The next iteration of this blog may actually look pretty since I'm taking an online course to learn Adobe Photoshop. I took an Adobe Fireworks course in the Winter, and in the Fall an Intro to (Web) Programming course. Last Spring, an Adobe Dreamweaver course. The Fall before that I attempted some Database classes at UCLA Extension but failed miserably. Simply didn't continue attending the classes. I wasn't enjoying drawing maps of database workflows; just not my bag, baby (though I'll probably have to learn how to do that someday if I ever work with databases). Next up: Probably plunging into a real programming course, something to enhance my self-education in that area, and perhaps some more design courses.

    All this began as a way to develop my skills in a more disciplined manner. I'm fairly good at learning skills on my own, but I seem to learn more thoroughly when I pay to learn. Then, I have this persistent and nagging voice telling me that I've got a schedule to attend to, "Do you really want to lose more money you don't have?" Granted, I'm not paying hundreds dollars, as I did for each of those UCLA courses I took that aforementioned Fall, but I'm still in for at least a hundred ones each online class I'm taking now. $20 a unit may not seem like much to some of the more fortunate of you, but it's enough to keep bankless me hitting the books (which are, by the way, usually more expensive than the classes).

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    2/28/2008 09:56:00 PM (0) comments





    Saturday, February 23, 2008  

    I have a fair idea about what Charles is talking about (though I still don't know what "tokenizing" is), but that's not why I stopped reading his article. The following phrase caught my attention so I ended up copying and pasting it into Google:
    "Zend Avesta" "english translation"
    I wanted to see what the translation would reveal. I have no idea what Zend Avesta means, though the term Zend sounds vaguely familiar to me (and I think it has to do with software). It sometimes bothers me when I don't know what something means and I feel like I should. I still don't entirely know what it means: I simply glanced at the search results. Perhaps I should be more concerned with not knowing the meaning of "tokenizing", since it's clearly a scripting term, as I've often found it within the context of articles regarding computer programming. (For those of you not following that last sentence: scripting = programming, more or less.) If I'm serious about learning how to program/script, I should know all about tokenization by now.

    Anyway, after that quick detour I returned to Charles' blog and read the rest of his story. I even used his copy 'n' paste code to link back to his article. (See the link above.) Now I await his response. This is how blogging works sometimes: Call and Response. Like making music, except it's nothing like that. Anyway, there's not always a response. In fact, in my case there's rarely ever a response, but that's okay because I never know how to respond to a response anyway.

    Side note: Day before last I hinted that I was somewhat inspired by Nick Sagan's story, and I was, but now I'm inspired by Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running. Oh, wow, what a voice this man has. What a story and what a voice. This one has me laughing and (nearly) crying all the way through, and I want to share it with my dad. I think he'll really enjoy it. I want him to hear the audio version, but I don't know if he can put up with listening to a story for long. He has to listen to Mr. McLarty tell the story (which, by the way, is Mr. McLarty's own). He's hilarious -- what terrific characterizations! So real. His own creations, of course, which probably explains why they're so good. Reading the book simply won't be as pleasurable. So if I can recommend one audio book this year, I'd say get this one, it's that good. If only I could tell a story like this one, and in the way this fellow tells it...

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    2/23/2008 09:36:00 PM (0) comments





    Thursday, February 21, 2008  

    Reaquainted with audio books lately. Actually, audio lover that I am, this is the first time I've been so consistently listening to mainstream audio. First, found my years-old collection of Audible books, listened to those, then began paying more attention to the audio book torrents, downloaded some of those, then I discovered a hearty selection of audio books at my local library. I love it because listening allows me to "read" in the dark, while my girlfriend is sleeping. Also allows me to read while walking for exercise. Why didn't this occur to me before? I guess I hadn't realized how much I would enjoy listening to mainstream audio narrative. So I've been listening to sci-fi by Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card, Richard Bachman (A.K.A. Stephen King) and now Nick Sagan. (Scientifiction and Fantasy are mainstream now, aren't they? I suppose they'll always be somewhat outside the norm. Aside from the Harry Potters and Star Treks, of course.)

    Tonight I finished: Idlewild, by Nick Sagan (Carl's son). Fantastic. Virtual-reality type of stuff. Characters and plot compelling. Page-turner. Read wonderfully by Clayton Barclay Jones.

    When I find myself reading or listening to such a compelling story, I can't help but hope that I have at least one this good in me...

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    2/21/2008 11:00:00 PM (0) comments





    Wednesday, February 20, 2008  

    According to today's Wall Street Journal:

    Stagflation, a term coined in the United Kingdom in 1965, defined the years from 1970 to 1981 in the U.S. Inflation rose to almost 15%. The economy went through three recessions. Unemployment reached 9%. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker finally conquered inflation, but only by dramatically boosting interest rates, causing a severe recession in 1981-82.


    That's where we may be headed again. Maybe that's why we had lots of hair then? To cut expenses? That doesn't explain those short shorts, though. Maybe we should all move into Second Life. Even if you're poor and wearing jeans and a white t-shirt when you start out there, at least you can still get things (like clothes) for free. Plus, you don't need to eat...

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    2/20/2008 09:43:00 PM (1) comments





    Tuesday, February 12, 2008  

    Been awhile since I've posted. (Sorry for posting that phrase, as I know at least 30,000 others have done so. I'll try to be more original from here on out.) So where have I been, why haven't I posted? Let's skip the excuses for now (or forever) and get to the fun. You don't need to know everything I've been up to. Frankly, I haven't been doing anything particularly interesting or worthy of mention. Sure, I could argue that everything is interesting, depending on how you look at it blah blah blah. And sure, that's how I see things, truly. But I'm not going to do that. Not now. Not today. Today I'm going to go with the common thought, mundane is boring. So let's skip the mundane.

    Okay, I'm done. That's all I had in me. I just want to get this thing going again. For a great story, please listen to Tim Coyne's short tale of love and heartbreak, The Jester Card. If I could cry, I would have, it moved me so. And Tom Simpson, you are missed. I've been off-IM, off-chat, off-SL, off-Skype, and off just about everything these past couple of months (except for email and the few odd comments posted here and there). I hope you and your wife have a great fucking time this Thursday.

    As the kids say these days, "Peace out." For now.

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    2/12/2008 09:16:00 PM (0) comments





     
     

    powdered fresh and frequently by blogger.
    lance anderson tells really good stories, and seems like a nice guy, too.

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