In tonal (classical) music, composers use different kinds of chords in certain orders to give their music a base to work upon. These chord progressions tend to follow certain orders, i.e. there is generally an order the chords follow. An unmusically inclined individual might see this as a limitation on musical possiblities; however, a good composer will use his creativity to generate unique music through the use of melody and non-chord tones. One such non-chord tone is known as a pedal point.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/JcT9_j2abqU
The pedal point begins at 33 seconds, but you should really listen to the whole piece.
All normal non-chord tones resolve themselves into another note. The unique thing about pedal points is that chords resolve into them. Essentially, a pedal point begins on a consonance, is filled with dissonance by passing chords or melodies, and then the chord resolves back into consonance with the pedal.
To my knowledge, pedal points were first used in ancient Italy. I'm not entirely sure what the intrument looked like, but I do know it operated somewhat like an organ. Fires would heat water and create air pressure via steam. The instrument operators would pull out valves in a wall to allow air to travel through the instrument's pipes. Because deeper pitches required larger valves, the instrument operators couldn't create fast moving bass lines. Instead, they would pull out a large valve and allow it to ring as they used the smaller valves to create the melody. Thus the pedal point is born and lives on in music today.
Just as the pedal point is unique in resolution, it offers a unique mediative quality. The pedal is a theme, a conflict, in life. Dissonance becomes possible solutions to the problem as the melody pushes the meditation along. All the solutions move above the theme - none of them fitting in quite right; while one resolution may be right for another, it certainly isn't right for this particular issue. In time, may it be days, months, or years, the conflict resolves, just as the right chord finds its way back into consonance with the pedal point.
Consider: Don't take partial resolutions to a problem you may be experiencing in life. There is always the right path to take. No matter how long that pedal point may last, how long it may ring, there is always a consonance at the end. Now! Go enjoy the fugue of life.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Terror.
[Nerd]
March 28 - Blizzard has yet again reset the Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction ladder.
What better time to end my D2 Hiatus? Last Wednesday I plunged back into the world of Sanctuary. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal, beware - but especially Mephisto.
The logical first character is clearly the sorceress. Because I would be starting from scratch, there is no way an Enigma (grants teleport ability) would find its way into my inventory; and of course, the sorc can learn this ability at level 18. Since I had always wanted to try out a hybrid build, I seized the opportunity with this character. She would be a meteorb build - essentially a versatile killer, at the expense of overall damage. I deemed her "ToBeObscene"
...skipping levels 1 - 80... (You don't want to hear it)
at about level 82 i decided to begin my first Magic Find (mf) runs. The hybrid build really shines in multi-monster environments, such as the pits. With left click set as fireball and right click set as frozen orb, ToBeObscene easily cleared areas in which a single element character would struggle.
Mephisto runs are a different story. It took me about ten runs to figure out the best way to do the moat exploit, and even then my mortality rate was startlingly high. To add, the kill speed just wasn't quick enough for me. It would take a good minute or so to get the Lord of Hatred to a quarter health.
It's not that I'm patient, it's that I understand how a good mf run should go: 1.) use the nearest waypoint to the area to be ran, 2.) teleport around looking for the area, 3.) kill everything in the area 4.) repeat for hours.
Let us assume I mf Mephisto for 1 hour. Let us also give 20 minutes to making new games, selling rares for gold/buying potions, and walking from spawn to waypoints. While the time it takes to find Mephisto varies greatly, (15 sec - 3 mins ) I like to believe I generally spend less than 2 minutes. Therefore we will alot 2 minutes to finding the Lord of Terror in each game. It took my hybrid sorc about 1.5 minutes to kill Mephisto.
Do the math: 40 / 3.5 is about equal to 12. Thats twelve runs in an hour.
This pace just isnt what I was looking for. Fortunately for me, you can reset your characters skill points. Once. Goodbye hybrid sorc, hello trusty blizzard sorc.
That's right, I respec'd ToBeObscene into a pure cold blizzard sorc. It didn't take long for the redistribution of skills to pay off. I was slaying Mephisto in 30 seconds, easy.
40 / 2.5 is equal to 16. This translates to four more opportunities to find goodies per hour - at, of course, the cost of losing the ability to run places like the pits.
Oh well, no big loss. I like running Mephisto the best as it is anyway. He can drop almost any item in the game, and is extremely more likely to drop goodies than a random in the pits. (Though I admit, when goodies drop in the pits, they are usually damn good goodies).
My advice to anyone restarting on ladder is to go for a blizzard sorc. You just can't get enough damage out of a hybrid without really good gear.
Also, on a side note, I am REALLY digging these baal run bots. They make it soooo sooo easy to level up quickly. Of course, I don't use them, but its not hard to find a game with one.
[/Nerd]
March 28 - Blizzard has yet again reset the Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction ladder.
What better time to end my D2 Hiatus? Last Wednesday I plunged back into the world of Sanctuary. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal, beware - but especially Mephisto.
The logical first character is clearly the sorceress. Because I would be starting from scratch, there is no way an Enigma (grants teleport ability) would find its way into my inventory; and of course, the sorc can learn this ability at level 18. Since I had always wanted to try out a hybrid build, I seized the opportunity with this character. She would be a meteorb build - essentially a versatile killer, at the expense of overall damage. I deemed her "ToBeObscene"
...skipping levels 1 - 80... (You don't want to hear it)
at about level 82 i decided to begin my first Magic Find (mf) runs. The hybrid build really shines in multi-monster environments, such as the pits. With left click set as fireball and right click set as frozen orb, ToBeObscene easily cleared areas in which a single element character would struggle.
Mephisto runs are a different story. It took me about ten runs to figure out the best way to do the moat exploit, and even then my mortality rate was startlingly high. To add, the kill speed just wasn't quick enough for me. It would take a good minute or so to get the Lord of Hatred to a quarter health.
It's not that I'm patient, it's that I understand how a good mf run should go: 1.) use the nearest waypoint to the area to be ran, 2.) teleport around looking for the area, 3.) kill everything in the area 4.) repeat for hours.
Let us assume I mf Mephisto for 1 hour. Let us also give 20 minutes to making new games, selling rares for gold/buying potions, and walking from spawn to waypoints. While the time it takes to find Mephisto varies greatly, (15 sec - 3 mins ) I like to believe I generally spend less than 2 minutes. Therefore we will alot 2 minutes to finding the Lord of Terror in each game. It took my hybrid sorc about 1.5 minutes to kill Mephisto.
Do the math: 40 / 3.5 is about equal to 12. Thats twelve runs in an hour.
This pace just isnt what I was looking for. Fortunately for me, you can reset your characters skill points. Once. Goodbye hybrid sorc, hello trusty blizzard sorc.
That's right, I respec'd ToBeObscene into a pure cold blizzard sorc. It didn't take long for the redistribution of skills to pay off. I was slaying Mephisto in 30 seconds, easy.
40 / 2.5 is equal to 16. This translates to four more opportunities to find goodies per hour - at, of course, the cost of losing the ability to run places like the pits.
Oh well, no big loss. I like running Mephisto the best as it is anyway. He can drop almost any item in the game, and is extremely more likely to drop goodies than a random in the pits. (Though I admit, when goodies drop in the pits, they are usually damn good goodies).
My advice to anyone restarting on ladder is to go for a blizzard sorc. You just can't get enough damage out of a hybrid without really good gear.
Also, on a side note, I am REALLY digging these baal run bots. They make it soooo sooo easy to level up quickly. Of course, I don't use them, but its not hard to find a game with one.
[/Nerd]
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Milk.
I fell out of bed a bit earlier than normal today, and that's no big deal. I'm usually the second person to take a shower in the morning, but today I was the first - in habit, I turned the water temperature gauge to its usual setting. Moments later I hop in and get a steamy surprise! I dart out of the stream of water, and try to find a comfortable water temperature. With a scortched back, I finish my shower. How unpleasant...
OK, pants are on, contacts are in. It's time to get breakfast. My pantry is a bit empty today, it seems my only option is oatmeal, and that's no big deal. I open the packet and dump it into a bowl. Then, as I open the fridge, I realize I have horribly miscalculated my morning. There is no milk for my breakfast.
What do I do? For years I have relied on milk for my primarily cereal and oatmeal based mornings. What should I do? Get angry? Complain? No, neither option will do. For a moment I panic. Maybe I just shouldn't eat breakfast today? No, I can't do that either; I won't make it to lunch. After a moment, I collect myself. I must improvise: a plate of strawberries and grapes will fill me up. Not bad, if I do say myself.
It seems my break in habit helped me realize how truely fixated I am on habit. And on that note, how humans in general tend to be creatures of habit.
Everyday, I get out of my car, press the lock button atleast twice, and walk through the central courtyard to my first hour class. I make small talk to the person across from me and get to work. After first hour, I make a B-line for my next class. In third hour, I have the liberty to work at whichever computer I please. Yet I seem to gravitate tward a particular computer, for no reason. It's just where I fell. With few exceptions, I stand in the same line for my lunch. I sit in the same spot across from the same two people.
Every day.
So, on April 14, 2011, I made a small change. In fifth hour, a class I am generally quite in, I made a joke. It was funny. That's a bit of a deal (to me.)
This small alteration to my day gave me a small new light. This light gave me inspiration to start something new: a blog.
In time I hope this will become a place to share my thoughts with the world (*ahem* realistically, perhaps a select few readers) and a release from the stresses of my days.
OK, pants are on, contacts are in. It's time to get breakfast. My pantry is a bit empty today, it seems my only option is oatmeal, and that's no big deal. I open the packet and dump it into a bowl. Then, as I open the fridge, I realize I have horribly miscalculated my morning. There is no milk for my breakfast.
What do I do? For years I have relied on milk for my primarily cereal and oatmeal based mornings. What should I do? Get angry? Complain? No, neither option will do. For a moment I panic. Maybe I just shouldn't eat breakfast today? No, I can't do that either; I won't make it to lunch. After a moment, I collect myself. I must improvise: a plate of strawberries and grapes will fill me up. Not bad, if I do say myself.
It seems my break in habit helped me realize how truely fixated I am on habit. And on that note, how humans in general tend to be creatures of habit.
Everyday, I get out of my car, press the lock button atleast twice, and walk through the central courtyard to my first hour class. I make small talk to the person across from me and get to work. After first hour, I make a B-line for my next class. In third hour, I have the liberty to work at whichever computer I please. Yet I seem to gravitate tward a particular computer, for no reason. It's just where I fell. With few exceptions, I stand in the same line for my lunch. I sit in the same spot across from the same two people.
Every day.
So, on April 14, 2011, I made a small change. In fifth hour, a class I am generally quite in, I made a joke. It was funny. That's a bit of a deal (to me.)
This small alteration to my day gave me a small new light. This light gave me inspiration to start something new: a blog.
In time I hope this will become a place to share my thoughts with the world (*ahem* realistically, perhaps a select few readers) and a release from the stresses of my days.
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