Fluctuations

Prerequisite: algebra 2, physics

At the beach of Anantasila Resort, Hua Hin. Not a particularly pretty beach, but that is besides the point. Got me some data on wave periods.

Of course, the ideal is to record the amplitudes as well, over a sufficient number of hours or days, and preferably where there are no anti-erosion tidebreakers. But hey, amateur here~

Here is my very well labeled numberline of wave occurrences over four minutes and eleven seconds (256s).

The data is not fine enough to zoom into, nor numerous enough to zoom out of.. Not sure what to make of this but it was fun nonetheless (I am so brilliant at producing results).

The day right after this observation I went to Vana Nava Water Park. There was this wave pool where a machine generated tides for people to bob on floats. It was perfectly regular in its periods and amplitudes, whereas waves on a real beach has natural fluctuations.

Nature has a thing for order in the chaos in the order in the chaos in the..

Cactus Chronicles

Prerequisite: none

This baby is coming home with me!

Wandered around Cicada Night Market, Hua Hin on a Friday night. Adopted this buddy for fifty baht. Barely half a pinky wide, with only a few white spots indicating where spikes will sprout. There were many bloomed cacti to choose from, but I am in for a surprise with this youngster.

The care is apparently very simple. Water once a week, to the point where water gushes out of the pot base. The cactus does not die abruptly but turns yellow or white first, so that there is time for saving. It needs some four hours of sunlight every day. I suppose a cactus can withstand drastic temperature changes as a desert's environment is such.

Great companion plant for lazy people like me. Go get one now~

Will update on a separate blog: Cactus Chronicles.

Sea Song

First find out about introspective.

Chronological order: Letting Go, Sea Song, Caresse sur l'océan

sea song

singing a shanty

gently tugging at my ankles

calling me home

how far had I drifted

to forget my Father

vast and deep

waiting with an open embrace

the shore whispers

words of wisdom

guiding me to whence I came

the waves

crests and troughs

reach for whence He came

how far had I strayed

to forget my faith

steady and true

resting in my heart’s trenches

the waters overflow

vessels of flesh

purifying my past evils

the salts

grains and crystals

season my harsh speech

the ocean blue

a sea of song

sings of homecoming

off the sand

over the foam

through the rolls

into the sea

you waded out

The Imagery

An expanse of sea.
Home.
Receive. Nurture. Cleanse.

Wading out.

The Content

This is my most recent entry as of now, from some time in October. Now that I am spending my weekend in Hua Hin, it feels fit for sharing.

I have not seen the ocean in ages. When I used to live in Rayong it was so natural for me to see it every weekend. For me the sea symbolizes home and where I came from. This should clarify many other sea references.

Microtones

Followup of Harmonic Intervals and Resonance

Prerequisite: music theory, physics, algebra 2

Most of us are taught that Db and C# enharmonic, or are the same notes in different notation. Quite evidently, they share the same key on keyboards and same frets on guitars. I suppose it is convenient to assume that they are practically the same.

Except they are theoretically different, or microscopically different. A lot of instruments are tuned with perfect fifths, which is the traditional way to do it. Actually, this causes the enharmonic notes to misalign by tiny microtones.

This difference between enharmonic notes is a particular nuisance to fixed pitch instruments such as the piano and guitar. It causes certain chords and intervals to become significantly muddy and out of tune. To solve this problem the 12-TET (Tone Equal Temperament) was made, also known as  12-EDO (Equal Division of Octave).

12-T means that there are twelve distinct notes in the system, which in our current case helps to eliminate the distinction between enharmonic notes. The E means that the perceived relationship between each neighbouring tone is equal. The final T, for temperament, is the system of note pitches that an instrument assumes. Most of our music is in 12-TET .

In 12-TET, the relation between two semitones is the twelfth root of two. To clarify "twelfth root of two":

The number two comes from the fact that humans perceive pitch logarithmically. Two notes that are one octave apart, having a frequency ratio of 1: 2, sounds "the same".

The frequency in Hertz of a microtone within an equal temperament can be expressed as such:

where m is the order of the microtone, n is the number of distinct microtones in the octave, and ƒ is the fundamental frequency or reference note. Which means, one octave can have as many or less equal tones as you like. You can have 5-TET, 17-TET, 144-TET, or set two 143-TET microtones as one microtone. Experiment to your heart's desire! Microtones do not have to be a nuisance.

Some fascinating microtonal albums:

Brendan Byrnes - Micropangaea
Cryptic Ruse - Chains of Smoke

The microtone is not a modern concept. In fact it used to be the norm, especially with ancient folks having a keener sense of pitch. Some people have engineered microtonal instruments such as the microtonal guitar and fluid piano for traditional music. It helps to play maqamat where microtones are often used to sharpen or flatten "corners", or to build special modes. They are not equal temperaments, but tones microtones of varying sizes are involved.

Go to Xenharmonic for further reading~

Internet Folk

Prerequisite: none

First note, singing in this very low key because I cannot find my capo. Second note, the b string sounds very off because it is terribly rusty. Thirdly, only vaguely remembered the lyrics. Excuses, excuses, excuses. And bad fret shifting thank you very much.

Should be downright honest with you and say guitar and vocal is not my main (gamer's excuse: my main is a level 99 piano). Whatever. As you can tell I am not a perfectionist, but who cares. We are folks.

Without further ado, this is Please Don't Say You Love Me by Gabrielle Aplin from English Rain:

Been thinking about how music used to be. Before stages and celebrities, and even before concerts and nobilities. Just folks at home. Or in the neighbourhood. Or on the road. Without fangirl shrieks, without serious formalities. Music of amateur quality.

Also, our current folks. Internet folks, with a webcam audience. A blend of folk practices and internet culture. Here is me in my sleepwear from a while back in October. Calculator lying around after some calculus, and my homework reflected in the guitar. Very casual indeed.

I am not going to be snotty and insist that live music is the only way to communicate soul. Rather, it is interesting to observe the effect of "internet folk" practices on performance. The web  has grown a lot as a platform for sharing homemade music.

If Gabrielle Aplin is not folk enough, Lisa Hannigan might be of preferable taste.

Jeremiah 29:13

"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart".

HEEEEEY! I AM HEEEEERE!!! WHERE ARE YOU MY LOOOOORD??? A lot of us might have felt this way at some point. The key phrase is "all your heart".

You will find God when you truly truly truly believe that He will show his presence. That He will make His presence known to you. Now. Literally. Oooh, starting to doubt? Then you do not seek Him with all your heart. The doubt is holding you back. A part of you is expecting God to not show up.

Do you want God only for a minute or two, but not more? Then you do not seek Him with all your heart. If you only want God to solve your current problem but not to guide you further in the future, you seek a quick solution and not God Himself. Question your motives honestly.

The main hindrance for hardcore skeptics is that they seek with strong doubts in their hearts, and have no mind to make a commitment. If I were a skeptic, of course I would hope that God does not appear in a cloud of smoke. If He did then my stance would be proven wrong, and I would have to own up to that crazy Christian.

An even greater obstacle: thinking that you have no need of Him. If you think yourself greater than God, you will not see Him. You will not notice His presence because you are so absorbed with yourself.

Your most pressing question might be about the credibility of the senses. How does anyone know that they are not hallucinating God? I suppose this is all part of God's doing. Everyone must exercise a deep wanting of God before He can appear to us, in order to make us truer followers. There is no tool. There is no shorter cut. There is only seeking with all your heart.

A song I love:
讚美之泉 - 我心切切渴慕你

Do not give up yet. Keep trying, keep seeking, with all your heart~

Shoes

First find out about introspective.

shoes

try before buy

but I disapprove

because shoes wear out

shoes to last a lifetime

but a pair will not last

without treating it like a last

any thought of forfeit

is to end the walk before it began

and so any amount of trialling

is futile

people are abandoned, betrayed,

worn out

some shattered after fragile age

some broken in bold primes

some deflowered before tender youth

all robbed of a glorious heritage

now spattered with shadows

over skin and sole

the earthly mud of mankind

that defiled

a shoe

The Imagery

Shoe shop.
Walking a pair of shoes.
Muddy shoes.

The Content

This is one of my early entries, probably my second. I am digging this out now to complement my current mood.

What do I know about marriage, or relationships even? True, what do I know? But divorce rates are higher than ever, and all this freedom and adolescent experience has done nothing to improve. Rather, what it seems to do is teach us to flee from commitment. While divorce may be the smarter choice in some cases, a smart choice certainly was not made in the beginning.

A common approach to establishing relationships is to try it. Dive straight in. To bed. Maybe not as immediately as I have exaggerated, but it does happen a lot. Supposedly relationships are a trial and error thing that needs to be tested, but are people not more than shoes? People do get hurt from the end of an intimacy. It is like applying superglue between two people and tearing them apart, and each person dies a little more..

Maqam(at)

Prerequisite: music theory

Most music that we hear today is a descendant of Ionian (do re mi fa so la ti do) and Aeolian mode (la ti do re mi fa so la), which originated in Greece. Those are the most common and familiar modes. Following is possibly the pentatonic system (do re mi so la) or the blues (do re me fa fi so te do).

In the post Harmonic Intervals and Resonance, I emphasized polyphony. It is a strong basis of Western music, which values contrary movement and lush layering. Arabic music on the other hand, has more parallel movement and is relatively sparse in instrumentation. Another thing is its subtlety in pitch. Pitch distinctions go beyond semitones to quartertones, and even microtones.

Enter Maqam World. A maqam is almost a mode, built with trichords, tetrachords, and pentachords. Maqams are not limited to the Arabian world. A lot of Eastern traditional music have similar equivalents to the maqam concept with different structure and microtones that give each its exotic flavour. These pitch subtleties used to be the norm, whereas now we have equal temperament deeply engraved into our brains.

A good place to start is probably oud music~

Matthew 20:26

"But whoever would be great among you must be your servant".

Said Jesus. In the context of this chapter, a mother asks Jesus for her two sons to have a place by His very side in His kingdom. Jesus insists that she does not understand what she is asking for. The mother made her request for want of status, not knowing the heavy duty of servitude it requires.

Paradoxically, the greatest of us must be lowly. A leader is no great leader unless he serves with the vigour a peasant. Even Confucius knew that. He taught that farmers are vital to the agricultural Chinese civilization, and that the Emperor's interest should be for the citizens.

Sometimes I think that Christianity arrived in Asia relatively late because God had faith that Confucius' teachings will hold out for some thousands of years. In recent years with China rising, a lot of Confucian values are lost but God is finally coming..

Likewise, a God is no great God unless He serves us. Jesus humbled himself to heal, teach, and feed the faithful. He was a lowly traveller. He walked in common garment. He was with the lame. He was one on one with the untouchables. Even so He made no commotion about His deeds.

Being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has a different meaning in Christianity. While God is to be feared and respected, He also toils for mankind. God is not an omnipotent authority sipping on the suffering of mankind, but a caring Father. What father does not care for his child? God is not distant, but up close and available.

More than anything, Jesus served us on the cross. He willingly sacrificed His pure life to pay for our sins. It is such a heinous crime to accuse, torture, and kill God, but He was lowly. He let Himself be humiliated. Mortals jeered at the-God-who-could-not-save-Himself. He died the death of a criminal to give us the chance of salvation. This is significantly different from our worldview in which the greatest is often dignified.

It takes a lot to be great. It takes even more for a God to lower Himself before wicked mortals. How great Thou art.