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Today I found a reasonably quiet place to make a very lo-fi recording of America the Beautiful with the built-in mic of my Acer Aspire E 15, with Audacity. I saved it as an Ogg. I don't know what quality number it is but really that doesn't matter.

Soylent Singing

It's easy to tell that my mic does not have flat frequency response, as certain notes resonate with the Acer's plastic case.

I'll make some far, far better recordings when I can rustle up the cash for a real mic. You can get good-quality mics with built-in USB for about $200, or I could get a better mic with an XLR connector then use a USB audio interface. Sadly my Acer has no way to attach firewire.

I once owned a Zoom H4 handheld audio recorder. It advertises itself as four-track however it is really two tracks, it just has the ability to record a second time, laying down the second pair of tracks along with the first pair. There is a somewhat improved model available now but I don't recall the price.

More important than finding a better mic is finding a quiet place to record.

I'm expecting to cash out a $7000 401k soon. I'd forgotten all about it until I was reminded of it by the Social Security Administration. I'm going to buy a van to live in, when I do I expect it would work to go way out in the woods to do the recordings.

I'm afraid I've been slacking at the guitar, however I've been picking up the piano again as there is an upright that I can play at a day center for the mentally ill in vancouver. All the shops are closing early tonight, so I'm expecting to spend some time on my guitar before I turn in.

For Christmas day, the Potluck in the Park people are holding a dinner from noon to 3:00 at the Portland Art Museum. I expect I'll go to that.

http://www.vice.com/read/a-brief-history-of-bizarre-christmas-crimes

Journalists are getting beheaded in Syria, it's near-impossible to get an abortion in Texas, and almost half the world lives on less than $2 a day. Even so, a bunch of assholes dress up like Santa every year, run drunkenly through the streets, and dry-hump each other through sweaty, plush suits. The only good that can come from such a grotesque public display of whimsy is a good old-fashioned bank robbery. Last year, some fucking genius dressed up like Santa during SantaCon, the seasonal Santa-themed pub crawl for people with strong opinions about football and other useless bullshit, and robbed a bank in San Francisco.

The cops never found him.

• Salmon Creek Consulting Engineers: We Unscramble Spaghetti

The very minimal design is actually a marketing gimmick; the websites for all the truly expert coders look just like that. Even Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who invented the World Wide Web, has a website that looks like that.

I'm going to make a new site for my music, art and photography but not my writing, my writing I'll leave where it presently is:

http://mike.soggywizards.com/

This second site is not configured yet, I'll do that tonight at Starbucks.

Someone is selling roast chestnuts in Pioneer Square today. Oh how I love roast chestnuts! - but it is quite rare to see them sold on the street, I only recall that from Italy.

"How much are they?"

"Three dollars."

"I sing on the street for tips. I'll be back after I sing three dollars worth."

They seemed skeptical but I came back with three dollars. "Sometimes I can almost make minimum wage".

I often sing on nasty days too but get few tips. Even so if I can earn just enough for one single coffee at starbucks then I have a warm place to spend my evening, a power socket, a table, internet and a restroom.

The problem with good days is that all the other buskers are out as well so it's hard to find a good streetcorner. Days like today I find new places, just now I sang at one corner of a block of food carts, where I had not performed before.

A woman listened to me the whole time she was eating her lunch then gave me two dollars. She thanked me for serenading her meal.

That was nice. Real nice.

I wasn't so confident I'd get anything else to eat other than the chestnuts but I was very determined despite getting a sore back because of the way the sidewalk was tilted.

For $5.50 I could have gotten an Al Pastor burrito but then I would have used up my last dollar bill. While not strictly necessary its helpful to put at least a dollar in my "tip jar" - really my hat - because most people don't really understand why my hat is on the ground in front of me.

But for $5.00 I could get the vegetarian burrito and have that dollar bill left over.

It was good. Real good.

I was planning to sing some more after taking a break but it looks like the rain will indeed come. I'm going to take the MAX light rail and C-Tran bus to CVAB in Vancouver. It's a day center for the mentally ill, there is a piano there that I can play anytime I care to make the journey.

I'm making the journey more often as of late because there is a lady there that I'm sweet on. She likes me too but she is very hesitant. If she's not into it I won't press it. I haven't had a whole lot of luck with women, just a couple days ago I asked a friend for her phone number, she told me she was married. I had no idea. She'd kissed me when we met see but then she is very flirtatious.

There is another that I don't know well at all but she's friendly and enjoys talking to me. I'm going to ask her for coffee the next time I see her.

She's a stripper. I'm not completely clear how one asks a stripper for a date but I know two different dancers who each have four children, so there must be some procedure for asking them out with appearing too lecherous.

Yesterday I added Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain" and John Denver's "Country Roads, Take Me Home" to my set. I didn't sound good at all when I sang them yesterday, but today Country Roads worked real well, some guy who was sweeping the sidewalk sang with me.

Singing in the Rain sounds lifeless without the orchestral accompaniment but I'll give it a few more days. My best song is Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Melodically,

Mike

(Reposted from a mail to my friends and family, with the addition of the note about the stripper.)

Cool story, bro.

Warner Bros. thought so too.

http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2015/Announcing-VLC-for-Chrome-OS
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vlc/obpdeolnggmbekmklghapmfpnfhpcndf
http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/18/vlc-chrome-os/

The app was made possible by Google's App Runtime for Chrome (ARC), which allows developers to repurpose Android apps to work on Chrome OS and other platforms. The team says it was able to "recycle 95 percent of the Android code and optimizations" it utilizes in its existing Android app. While VLC for Chrome OS has been tested on a Chromebook Pixel and an HP Chromebook 14, some users have reported issues on Samsung Chromebooks. If it doesn't work for you, VideoLAN's Jean-Baptiste Kempf says the team will work quickly to fix bugs, so be patient.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/europe/spanish-prime-minister-mariano-rajoy-punched/

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was dealt an eye-watering sucker punch by a teenager during a campaign event Wednesday.

The young man got up close to the Prime Minister, reportedly asking to take a photograph, before unleashing his left fist into the side of Rajoy's head.

The punch knocked Rajoy's glasses off of his face, leaving the leader of the People's Party bruised but otherwise "feeling good," he later said in a tweet.

The 17-year-old attacker was later shown being taken away in handcuffs by security guards.

I have a big family. I'm the oldest of 5 kids. I have something like 16 first cousins, maybe more. I have a mom, dad, and 'step-mom'. When we get together, it's a big crowd. Everyone smiles and pretends they are good friends, but in reality, no one really knows each other. We have this illusion of closeness, but it's just that - an illusion.

Everyone always presents their ideal self. For me, that means presenting my non-pot-smoking, non-vaping, non-poly version of my self. I can only assume that everyone (or at least a portion of them) are also hiding parts of themselves that they want to keep hidden, like I do.

As a result, we have a 'perfect' family. Everyone is happy, prosperous, and perfect, but it's all a facade. What appears to be a close family is actually a group of acquaintances that are all kept at arm's length.

This is true for both the extended family as well as the immediate family. My dad is a judge -- a high ranking judge that spends a lot of time working with drug offenders, and good man. I have a lot of respect for him. I smoke also lot of pot, so, naturally, I keep that on the down-low. He's conservative, so I'm not sure how he would react to my poly experimenting, so I hide that too. He wouldn't approve of my vaping, so I hide it. All this to keep up that perfect image that our family has.

I also still feel like a child to my dad. I place too much value on his acceptance of me, and that causes me to hide some of the less perfect truths, and as a result, we aren't all that close. I'm 32, make a good living, own my house and am married. I haven't borrowed money from him since I moved out almost 12 years ago. I am an adult who is fully independent, but for some reason still need that acceptance from my dad.

I'm sick of it. I'm tired of hiding my true self. I'm tired of my judgey family and the distance that it creates. I'm tired of walking on glass trying to meet their expectations.

Most recently my dad wants to schedule a ski trip for later in the winter. 3 nights, 2 days. I didn't really want to go for that long (because I feel uncomfortable being around him for so long holing up this fake image, and also I'm usually tired after one day of snowboarding, and the second day feels like a slog and is not as fun). I suggested that I go out with him, snowboard the first day, book a massage for the second day, and then leave after the massage (leaving a day earlier than originally planned). I think that dad wanted to do a boys weekend and because I want to cut it short, that hurt his feelings (I haven't heard from him since I suggested I leave early that weekend...).

So, yea. I feel bad and guilty if my dad feels bad about me trying to cut the weekend short, but I really don't think I can handle that much time being the 'perfect kid'. Maybe I'm just selfish. I want to smoke while snowboarding (because it's fun) and vape while drinking (because it's so satisfying) and not feel guilty. I'm tired of pretending to be something else.

I just want to spill the beans on everything and get it all out there. "No, this family isn't perfect! I smoke more pot than I care to admit, I love to vape because it feeds my nicotine addiction, and we are experimenting in poly. I don't care if you approve or not, this is how I choose to live my life."

Doing that is one of those things you can't undo though... My family is gossipy, and the poly news would spread like wildfire and would definitely result in some (a lot of) judginess. Plus, I don't know if I am far enough down that road to share it with the family... I don't know what to do. I'm tired of hiding. I hate constantly feeling guilty because I might/do disappoint my dad.

EDIT: So after writing this, I decided to call my dad. I better explained that I really didn't want to do a second day of skiing, and suggested we all do something else together on the second day. We'll be meeting this weekend and should be able to figure things out. I think everything will be okay.

I didn't mention the pot or vaping, but that will be something that I want to bring up either before the trip, or on the car ride out there. I'm pretty sure that I won't be sharing the poly thing for quite some time yet...

Anyways, the purpose of this journal was to help me organize my thoughts, and it worked. I also wanted to share a little about my family dynamic. I think it's weird that we are so concerned about appearances that we sacrifice the closeness that you get from showing vulnerability and trust. It bothers me. I think its because everyone in the family is relatively successful, everyone feels the need to present this image to 'keep up with the Joneses'.

The 5th Republican debate is underway, and most of the candidates that can remember what encryption is appear to be "against" it. Rewatch the first hour for some truly chilling comments. Only Ted Cruz or Rand Paul appear to deviate from the party line on security, and not that much in the case of Cruz.

Undermining these peoples' fantasies and law enforcement in general should be a top priority for our community.

Continue discussion here:

In former (?) actor Shia LaBeouf's latest performance art stunt, he will be taking calls at a mini call center:

The Hollywood star has set up his own call centre in the city's Fact gallery, where he and his two artistic collaborators will field calls.

They will be at their desks between 11:00 and 18:00 GMT from Thursday to Sunday.

Those wishing to touch LaBeouf's soul can call the trio on 0151 808 0771.

Others can visit the gallery to see the event unfold in person, or can watch a live stream and see notes the trio are making on Touchmysoul.net.

Get in touch.