LA POSTE NOUVELLE

ok, ok, "new post!" says kerri, so i'm obliged to update. my ears are "squished", as they say in the field, from some listening tests i took a few hours ago. they had us sit in a room and listen to pink noise (all audible frequncies in human hearing played at once) at high volumes (~100dB SPL). an octave band would be increased by 12 dB for 3 or 4 seconds and we had to identify which octave on the frequency scale it came from. i found it quite easy, despite its taxing nature. all you had to do was listen during the training rounds (i'm not kidding, that's what they were called) and associate a sound with a certain octave. for example:

octave 0 - prehistoric earth
octave 1 - distant prehistoric earthquake
octave 2 - close jet engine
octave 3 - subway moming towards you down near the edge of the station entrance
octave 4 - subway moving right in front of you
octave 5 - roaring crowd
octave 6 - clapping audience
octave 7 - releasing steam
octave 8 - car driving through rain
octave 10 - deflating ballon

i aced it, thankfully, but since it was our first test, it's the easiest. next week and, for the rest of this semester, we will have a one and a half hour listening test based on music and dialogue, much more complicated ad subtle than pink noise.

so, reflections on the past month:

.1 it turned out to be much less impoverished than i thought it would be. i managed to go out three or four times a week to enjoy live music and didn't necessarily have to get loaded to do so, thus sparing me much cash and some room in the brain(click on that link for a new grand theft bus song that captures everything nicely.)

.2 mind you, there were some times when the catacombs of the old cranial organ were flooded with shite. i managed to get a lot out of a little. here's the explanation:

(f)x = more than x

where x is cost

i spent a good deal of time in that warm blanket that only a good toxic haze can bring you in the coldest of times. no damage has been done and i'm sittin pretty waiting for the next bomb to drop.

.3 i learned a tonne in school, but not everyday. sometimes it was a frustrating waste of time. but there were enough key moments and full days where my attention was sharp and my thirst for the knowledge at its highest.

it's friday and all i wanna do is DANCE DANCE DANCE...