Randomness

• My shiny, new (to me) Gallien-Krueger MB2-500 arrived at the office today via FedEx. The seller shipped it yesterday from St. Louis. Of course, I won't be able to experience the full glory of it's bassy goodness until I get a suitable speaker cabinet or two, but it has a headphone out so I can test it and dial in a sound.

• I need to get back to working out. I've gained back just about all of the 20 lbs I lost :( Perhaps I should try, yet again, to prepare for the Chicago Marathon. Maybe THIS is the year?

• I realized today that I don't feel like or think like an independent adult. For some reason, in my head, everything is less than urgent or important. I guess that, to me, it seems like, "who would hire/sell property/allow to drive/give responsibility to ME!" It's all so very surreal.

Where does the money go?

Recently, I treated myself to a shiny, new Music Man Stingray 4-String Electric Bass Guitar. This occurred, of course, after I had a couple of paychecks under my belt (Figuratively. The funds actually get transferred directly into my bank account, whereupon they (the funds) generally get automatically transferred directly OUT of my bank account and into the virtual coffers of my creditors).

I was able to achieve this feat of financial wizardry due to the serendipitous intervention of the lovely B and her neigh-obsessive need to tidy. Whilst we [read: she] cleaned the condo one Saturday morning (ugh! morning?!?! Why on GOD’s green Earth would anyone: 1. Get out of bed with the intent to clean. 2. Get out of bed on a Saturday before noon. 3. Combine numbers 1 and 2 intentionally?) I discovered my long lost Musician’s Friend credit card.

And what would a shiny, new Stingray be without something to play it through?

So, thanks to TalkBass.com and the good folks who frequent and comment there, I was able to filter down the available bass amplifier heads in my price range to the two most recommended based on the options and information I provided.

As fate would have it, a TalkBass member was selling a used Gallien-Krueger MB2-500. Gallien-Krueger was the overwhelming favorite of the ‘other’ category I had provided in my unscientific poll, though the exact model was less definite (some people entirely disregarding my budget constraints and recommending amplifiers well out of my price range).

I, of course, messaged the good seller and we have since agreed to let me have the amp in exchange for currency.

Next up, I shall need to acquire two 2x10 bass speaker cabinets.

“TWO?” I hear you exclaiming.

Yes, two. As one 2x10 would be sufficient only for private rehearsals, not moving nearly enough air to be heard above the cacophony of dualing 4x12 guitar cabinets and the wallop of a drummer’s beat.

“Why not just get a 2x12 or even a 4x10 cabinet?” You ask.

I would love to get a 4x10 (preferring the tighter sound and cooler look to that of a 2x12), but whatever I get needs to fit into the confines of my 2004 Hyundai Sonata.

Also, I want a cast iron skillet.

Is it…

…Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder or Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

In my most unscientific poll, it seems the unwashed masses were split down the middle. A good portion also gave the ubiquitous, “It depends,” which I think is actually the case…sort of.

After reflecting on my own experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that with the addition of time, the matter gets more extreme (or polarized if you will). That is to say, at least in my mind, I tend to dismiss any bad and remember only the good, thus leaving only fond feelings for those for which there was any fondness to begin with. Conversely, I’m sure I’ve entirely forgotten the more forgettable of acquaintances.

So, my final conclusion is…

…wait for it…

…

It depends.

The Saying: ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER.
Who Said It: Thomas Haynes Bayly
When: 1844
The Story behind It: One of England's more versatile writers, Thomas Haynes Bayly wrote novels, plays, poems, political articles, and songs. In 1844 a poem titled "Isle of Beauty" appeared in Bayly's two-volume Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems. It is here that the following romantic words are found:

What would not I give to wander
Where my old companions dwell?
Absence makes the heart grow fonder:
Isle of Beauty, fare thee well!

Bayly is credited with popularizing the phrase, but he took it from Francis Davison's Poetical Rhapsody (1602). The exact words appeared as the first line of a poem by an anonymous writer. An updated version of the quote goes: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder-of somebody else!"


The use of 'in mind' for 'remembered' and 'out of mind' for 'forgotten' date back to the at least the 13th century. The earliest printed citation of a link with memory and the sight of something is in John Heywood's Woorkes. A dialogue conteynyng prouerbes and epigrammes, 1562, as reprinted by the Spenser Society, 1867: "Out of sight out of minde."