In

[ateolf]

Was as pretty active day yesterday. Mary Beth and I started off by going to this writers' workshop. They let us sit in kind of as a preview to see if it was something we wanted to try. It's modeled on some sort of Amherst method or something. Anyway, it had prompts and there were more and shorter prompts than the other thing we went to recently. It was pretty good and I got the beginnings of what might be a few things going. The feedback was nice, though I always feel embarrassed when receiving any kind of compliment. Everyone else there was really good though I do need practice in listening and providing feedback. I suck at that sort of thing. It was also a super treat to hear Mary Beth's writing and that's something I almost never get to do! It was really spectacular too. It'd be wonderful if eventually she'd let me in a little more (eh, Mary Beth?). Then it was the usual grocery store errands and I came home to my stereo receiver (another Onkyo piece)! But no time to set it up yet as I had this beginner's workshop for musicians to learn electronics up at Rocket Science Audio. Alyssa did most of the presentation. It was pretty cool 'cuz there was a little bit of theory (which I kind of know a bit of from having an electronics class once, not that I did well or anything but some of the very basics are still with me). We got some hands on stuff with making a basic circuit with a battery and wires and christmas tree lights and serial and parallel and moving stuff around and seeing the difference in brightness. Oh, and Alyssa provided a Faulkner quote at one point about gratitude and electricity. But the hands on stuff we did was a lot of fun. It went an hour longer than anticipated but the extra hour had the best stuff. We cut off the end of a cable (for my little group an xlr cable others had 1/4 inch but they're about the same in the connection) and resoldered it back on (should there be a short or break or something inside and you need to repair it). So that was cool. I even got a good tip for soldering form. Touch the tip of the iron to both things you're trying to solder together so they are the same temperature and then come with the solder from the other side and just let it flow into the joint. Should be easier and more efficient and better. Not the way I've gone about it so explains why all my soldering jobs are so bad. A couple other dudes (including the one sciencey dude) took a few turns as well. And one of the guys is the guy who I'm pretty sure said of The Family Ghost many years ago that he never wanted to punch a band so bad though he was pretty nice yesterday (and outside of the goner message board even back then, I think, I don't really remember him in person too well). After that I came home and put my stereo together. I even cleaned a path and moved the shelf away from the wall to do it right and all, but then the speaker wire from the speaker that's farthest away only barely reached the stereo where it was up against the wall so I had to push it back and wire it all up while leaning over and reaching down into a narrow, dark space. So kinda annoying but I got it did. Then I went up to the Rec Room to meet some coworkers who were hanging out up there. It was alright. Some talkin' and stuff. Only at times feeling a little bit awkward. Anyway, now it's Sunday and I'm up and about pretty late. There ya go.