169 Saturday Nov 20

Saturday Nov 20 Day 169

I went to one of the music departments concerts and I was not impressed. The overall quality of the music is not there. There are lots of clusters of pitches which shows that the musicians are not well trained or rehearsed. The repertoire is weak and there is barely an hour of music from 3 different groups. Another session tomorrow night which I fear will be a repeat of lack of precision and quality music.

This morning I went down and video taped the music department at the school. This area was not open when I was taping the entire school so I got it done today. I even logged the tape when I got home.

It is turning colder and my room is down to a steady 50 degrees. My nose is cold during the night but I am generally warm while sleeping. I am having to wear my medium coat all day long while sitting in my room. The “sweater” I have been wearing this whole time is not heavy enough when sitting and working.

168 Friday Nov 19

Friday Nov 19 Day 168

During the night a bowling alley was moved into the apartment above me. There was so much rumbling and crashing there must have been a major tournament in progress. The audience was also setting off fireworks because I could see the pure white flashes of the bombs. Then the audience began to applaud and it grew to a sustained standing ovation. The proceeding was an analogy of the thunder, lightning and heavy rain this past night.

My poor travel alarm is dead. I put in fresh batteries but no luck. I tried to check the time in the middle of the night. The storm had knocked out the electricity and I couldn’t find my flashlights. I went out into the other room to get my little battery powered reading light. This is the light that I broke a couple of months ago trying to kill a bug that landed on it. It appears to be working fine now because it stayed on for several minutes. I used it to find my flashlight and put it beside my bed. I even lit the candle beside the bed for a while. I woke later and wanted to know the time so I searched beside my bed for my watch. It turned out to be 5:30 am. Boy, do I miss the blue light of my travel alarm.

This morning I spent 2 hours getting 45 seconds of tape. I needed color correction chips for the residence I taped last Friday. It involved a 3 mile walk and 15 minutes doing the actual taping. Because of the heavy rain I had to use the paved roads rather than the narrow trails and I had to go twice as far to accomplish the project.

167 Thursday Nov 18

Thursday Nov 18 Day 167

Today is the 2nd cloudy day in a row. The clouds are drifting around and there is plenty of blue sky. The air is very clear today so I took a vista shot from our area to show how it looks with clouds in the sky. It is really lovely.

It is 11:15 am and we have electricity for the first time today. Now I can recharge the batteries for my alarm clock. The poor thing gave its all to emit a single beep and died. I hope it is just the batteries. I am looking forward to having my own bedroom again with my clock radio so I can check the time with just a glance. Having to reach over (knocking various thins off my bed side table) pick up the clock and push a button only to be almost blinded my the blue light that illuminates the time. I could read a book by the clock light but it only lasts a couple of seconds so it would have to be a very short story.

I have left my impression on the ground of the Hostel. I went down to get shots of the building in afternoon sunshine. I walked by a bench across one of the walkways to discover that it was actually wet cement. So my shoe soles are imprinted on the pathway.

There was an excellent sunset with clouds in the sky to reflect the color of the setting sun. Generally a good day.

166 Tuesday Nov 16

Tuesday Nov 16 Day 166

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

166 Tuesday Nov 16

Tuesday Nov 16 Day 166

I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Choir this morning with Vance George. The concert is this saturday and the choir is not ready. This is the first concert for a new director and his expectations are greater than the ability of the choir. Vance was very good with the group and made several suggestions for improvement none of which will be remembered by the choir under the pressure of performance. You cannot make changes at this late date because the choir will revert to what they know and have practiced.

I logged and studied this afternoon. I am studying the color correction process and got so involved that I almost missed the sunset. I rushed out to see if I could get something and the low clouds were covering the top of the hillside. So, there was no photographical available and I didn’t miss anything. What a relief.

165 Monday Nov 15

Monday Nov 15 Day 165

I am reliving my youth. I am logging tapes and my hands are so cold that they ache. At least they are not chapped. Either I do not wash my hands or I am more careful in drying them. I think it is the latter. I spend more time sitting on my hands and rubbing them together than I do typing on the computer keyboard. When playing solitaire I wear my gloves because I use only the mouse. I have finally developed a way to see how long I play solitaire. Yesterday it was only 3 hours and 45 minutes. The other physical problem is my nose. It is so cold to the touch it feels like I have frost bite on the poor little thing. I guess winter is here in the mountains of India with it’s attendant discomforts.

This morning I went down to each of the residences and got shots of the correct colors used in the various buildings. I did the same up at the school to correct the color of shots I took with my video camera on the wrong settings. I hope that this works like I expect it to. I hope to test it before I leave. (I am typing this with my gloves on and it is working fairly well.)

164 Sunday Nov 14

Sunday Nov 14 Day 164

Today was an uneventful day. I logged tapes for a couple of hours until my back began to hurt and I had to quit. Vance George (my High School music teacher) stopped by and we chatted for a couple of hours. He was checking in to see how I was doing and was interested in my big video project.

I went down to the internet cafe and sent off 6 days of blogs. I did get a confirming message from Terry (my son) and they are expecting me home in a couple of weeks. They have to hurry up and change the locks on the doors to avoid my staying with them.