Playing in the Shambles

Updated WordPress this morning. It was badly in need of it; the last version was really old. Partly that was because the last time I updated, my Web host didn’t have a new enough version of the database software to go pass the old “legacy” branch of WordPress.

That’s in the past, though, and now we have the latest, greatest, stablest, most securest version, I am sure. It was relatively painless. I am still liking WordPress a great deal, and this new version looks like it just might be a lot of fun.

I`m walking, and I`m blogging–at the same time. This is too cool. Yawn, I know, but it`s new to me and I`m digging it. Man, I love this phone. Now if I just don`t walk into a parked car or a tree or something. . . .

Okay, here’s a little mad scientist action. The video is taken with a Kodak C160 digital camera, an $80 jobby-doo from Wal-Mart. It’s plenty good for Web stuff, I think, although I could have put a little more light on the subject. But that’s not what I’m concerned with here. Although the camera does record sound, its internal microphone is tiny, and sounds tinny. Plus, although my computer isn’t really this loud or annoying, on the microphone it sounds like a vacuum cleaner, as you will notice in the first video. It’s unaltered, other than having been converted from its native format (QuickTime) to Flash video. The sound is from the camera’s built-in microphone:
[flv:http://headwreck.com/blogs/markus/vid/testvid20100403a.flv 424 318]

Compare the difference in audio between that video and this one (I don’t really have the sound squared away until about twenty seconds in or so):

[flv:http://headwreck.com/blogs/markus/vid/testvid20100403b.flv 424 318]

In this second video, the sound is instead from a recording I made while taking the video. The software for recording was Audacity on Ubuntu Studio, and Avidemux2 was used to insert the audio. Hardware is an AKG condenser microphone, a Behringer Xenix mixer, and a Behringer hardware compressor unit (and, of course, the computer). Audacity was also used to remove noise; it does a bang-up job, at least on something simple like one guy talking. Audacity is also useful for other mastering tasks, although in this case all that was needed beyond the noise removal was a bit of leveling.

test

Has it really been a week since I posted? Man.

610 would-be comments flushed down the cyberloo. I did fish out a few for later perusal, but if yours was an actual comment that went bye-bye, I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better. As a general rule, my policy is to approve all comments that are real, and not spam. Down with spam. However, I am not saying I will approve any comment. Content does matter. I despise censorship, but I’m also not too keen on pointless profanity, personal attacks (against anyone, including me), or material that might violate my hosting provider’s TOS. So there you go.

The only thing that’s been keeping me sitting on my hands with regard to blogging is that everything I try to say seems so naval-gazing. Then it hit me–that’s what I’m supposed to do! I’m obviously good at it. I guess I’ve just been off on some ego trip or something, thinking that what I write should matter, should be deep, of consequence–why? It’s not going to matter anyway. It’s my personal blog, not the Rosetta Stone mixed with the works of Shakespeare and a sprinkling of Edgar Allan Poe.

I guess my answer yesterday might have been “so that people will want to read it”. Did I really think people are surfing around out there, looking for Deep Stuff to read? They just want to read! And they’re probably not going to read me anyway. They’re probably not even going to find me, and if they do, they’re probably looking for something else, and will just click on past.

So what’s changed between today and yesterday (honest disclaimer: I wrote those words, and most of this, two days ago)? I guess just the realization–in a way sudden, but more of a dawning inspiration–that I shouldn’t be ashamed to naval-gaze. I should embrace it, and go with it full-bore.

Heck, it might just be my calling.

Someone asked me recently what I consider to be the definition of ‘headwrecked’.

It’s when one’s head is wrecked. It could be one’s mind, and it could be one’s brain; and it’s to the extent it colors one’s life to some degree.

Headwreck (or sometimes HeadWreck, but right now that strikes me as too cutesy) the site is about the nature of the headwreck, possibly the causes or origins of it, as well as the consequences of it. That is, to the extent the site is about much of anything. It’s been really about me, and whatever I might think to say, which hasn’t been much. I keep everyone somewhat update on my health, my weight, my tobacco use, fascinating stuff like that. Lately it’s been about snus quite a bit. Tomorrow I could announce that the site is about lutes in the Gregorian period, but probably not.

But, you know, if I had a vague idea of what it’s all “about”, I guess it’s something like that. (The headwreck thing, not the lute thing.)

I should probably yammer on about two more things. One, the term “headwreck” was out there when I registered this domain years ago. It seemed to be a regional thing, maybe heavily concentrated in Australia, if I recall correctly, and I probably don’t. It was something about–it might have simply meant “a mental error”–I really don’t remember, but that sort of sounds like a pretty good definition to me.

Which leads me to thing number two, a sense that I’m weaseling out of my answer a little. Well, yes. I probably am. I wish I could say “this site is my answer”. Instead I could say, “there it is. Going forward, this site is dedicated to answering the question: “What is it to be headwrecked? What’s it about, what’s it like, what’s the effects and the consequences?”

I dunno. That seems rather grandiose. It’s also rather focused–which, I guess, is sort of a natural consequence of finding a focus–but, I mean, if I could focus like this I wouldn’t be headwrecked in the first place, now would I? I mean, this just seems weird. Also too potentially revealing. No, I don’t think I like it.

WTF do I say? Do I talk about my day? What I’m about to eat? What I’m snusing? What I’m thinking? I’m thinking about writing a blog post. There. Is that enough content yet? Is it even content at all?

Why can’t you leave me alone???!!!

Oh well, it hasn’t been all that bad lately.

Oh boy, now I’ve done it =^P

That title ought to be “Drkin…” no… “dr..” “Drk…” “Drinking”, but, well, I’m drinking.

I’m not really that drunk–or at least, I don’t think so. I had better type slow, though. Or just edit, but to hell with that. I get so tired of editing myself.

I have probably written thirty posts and not posted them at the SnusOn forum. (I don’t feel like assing about with making a link. If you really want to check out the forum, please to see mah blogroll.) This is probably, for the most part, a good thing. A lot of those never-to-be-seen posts had me chuckling to myself. Laughing at my own ri… writing is probably not a good sign, though.

I don’t know if there’s ap … a point to this. I just feel like writing. Like posting. Geez, I have a blog and I hardly ever post. I pay for the host evey … every month; I set up WordPress (like a moron, why the hell I just don’t, rather don’t just get a Blogger account I don’t know), only to let it sit here and molder. Instead of coming with som… coming up with some sort of theme, some concentrated I… idea, I just blather on about whatever. But you know, I think this is pretty much me. This is what it is to be headwrecked.

K, maybe I am pretty drunk.