the minute waltz

Things have started to get busier at work and are about to get even moreso. There will be an impact on the frequency of posts, so I suppose I'll have to concentrate on quality. Starting with the next one...

The new car speakers (Focal splits, mine are the 165v2 model) are extremely suitable for classical music so I've bought a stack of CDs from the el-cheapo Naxos range as I wouldn't know the difference. I've bought a selection - Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Dvorak and so on, desperately trying to recall what little I knew about the various composers when I was a wee tacker and learning piano. So far so good - I found that I was getting sick of the rock and so on, except for some all time faves such as Little Feat, Crosby Stills & Nash, Steely Dan and so on. We'll see whether it lasts. The Focals are smooth as: clear, detailed and modulated (eh?) in the middle ranges. The highs are just so, and while the blurb says the bass extension is good, I found that I need to give them a teensy bit of bass boost for best results. And some volume, of course. The car has a secondary amp, 30w a side, so I can drive the speakers easily. I've found the experience of driving around with classical on at fairly high volume to be sort of liberating.

I am sure it has been well over two weeks since anything John Howard-related graced these pages. I gotta say, I feel better for the experience. So even if I don't collect on the wager, the details of which still elude me, I've won already. There is, of course, nothing I can say that isn't being said either better or louder elsewhere, so why induce the stress, eh? I don't think he reads this little blog. If he did, that might be a different matter. Suffice to say, the wheels will fall off one day and when they do, I hope the road is icy, the bus is full and the surroundings are proximate and unyielding. If you catch my metaphor.

Mentoring this morning was conducted in brilliant early summer Brisbane sunshine. I did more of the talking than I usually try to do, but we had agreed that I would do a personal explanation of some stuff I used to do in a group/course context a few years ago. It seemed to get as good a reception as it used to, probing questions back at me etc, so I think I delivered something of value. I can see an alternative career starting to invent itself, but the big question is 'what is it worth?' Finding answers to that question is something I will need to put some devoted effort into. Starting next week or the week after. Or while I take some holidays hopefully later in the year. Mrs VVB and self haven't had a decent holiday together for over ten years so it will be a new experience, almost. Something to look forward to. And on that note, goodnight.

Hmm, that took well over a minute.