Picture thinking. When I was a teenager, I began to realize that other people think in /words/. I asked people to explain how they go about thinking like this. I was told that they "hear" the words in their heads, and then understand what their own thoughts are. While reading, they would be aware that they were reading words, often hearing whispers of them as if the words were speaking to them. It became quickly evident to me that I had no concept whatsoever of what this was like. I had the ability to read a 400-page book in two days or less, and not once would I "hear" a darned thing. Instead, I'd imagine pictures of what the words described. If asked to recall the book, I could recite from memory the words off the page, because I saw them. As a result many of my book reports could be either verbatim in quotes (which I would then take paragraphs to analyze from various perspectives) or at least very lengthy, because I retained a lot of information from what I read - namely, all or almost all of it. There was almost always some form of thought on everything I "saw" in a book, and I had no trouble bringing all of my concerns forth in loquatiousness.

Over the years the "photographic" portion of my memory has faded considerably. When I copy numbers or words from one place to another, I still "imprint" the image of them on my memory for a few moments and copy the symbols from memory. It's quick and easy but as I get older I find the imprinted "line" of symbols to become shorter and shorter, so I must continue to go back and forth to get more of what I'm copying. I've attempted to try what other people do - say it out loud over and over until I can write it down - but it doesn't work too well. Normally it just confuses me and I have to keep looking back until I shut up and picture it instead.

Anyway, all this said, I ended up reading this article: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Picture_thinking

It describes how the abilities of visual-spatial learners compare to "audio-sequential" learners. I admit, I have traits of both. For instance:
The Auditory-Sequential Learner vs. The Visual-Spatial Learner
VSL - I think mainly in images (or at least, ideas - not words)
VSL - I learn best when I can see what I'm learning, or draw it out as someone explains it to meUnsure - I have always been easily lost to time when immersed in something (esp. computers). This might indicate VSL. However, I have no concept of where I am in relation to something else unless I visualize it. (I need to visualize a map or landmarks to remember how to get somewhere, not the actual route to get there).
ASL - I need steps to do something for the first time. However, I tend to grasp things "outside the box" at times, too, way before I should. ?
ASL - I do learn by trial and error. However, VSL - I also learn concepts all at once.
VSL - Learns complex concepts easily, struggles with easy skills. This is why I could correctly perform an algebraic equation but screw it up because I didn't take the time to double-check my arithmetic (1+1=4, right? lol) I do the same elsewhere, too, not just with math. I have issues with watching for detail consciously, yet can readily see patterns in something I've never seen before and point them out to someone much to their amazement - "How did you see that? Do you even know what we're talking about?" "Dunno and nope, but isn't that what you're looking for?" "Why yes..." (I also hate it when someone tells me to slow down or refused to answer a more advanced question because I'm not "ready"! UGH!
VSL - I tend to see the bigger picture rather than details, even though I'm also good at details (initally)
VSL - Maps over oral directions ANY day, thank you so much!
VSL - I tend to learn whole words very easily. I don't sound them out, either. In fact, I've been corrected many times because I learned the meaning of a word but never heard it. When I go to use it in speech, I mispronounce it terribly and someone has to figure out what I mean - then they say, "Oh, you mean..."
VSL - I visualize words to spell them. I.e., "Hey, how do you spell onomatopoeia?" "onomatopoeia..."
VSL - Much better at keyboarding than handwriting OH GOD YES. Writing is SUCH a waste of time. Keyboarding is much more efficient because the words are all programmed into one's fingers. I don't need to think as I type, I simply express my thoughts as if my fingers are interpreting my thoughts into words!! I tend to type the fastest and most accurately when I'm typing out my thoughts as opposed to copying something or trying to rewrite something for others to understand perfectly... my handwriting sucks. Everyone tells me it's messy and hard to read. Mom told me I should have been a doctor!
ASL/VSL - Some think I'm well-organized, and I pride myself on having fairly good organizational skills. But truthfully, have you seen my den? Mom used to ask me how I could find anything in my room. I said I knew where most everything was. When she moved something, I had to ransack the whole place looking for it becase I knew where I put everything in my "mess."
VSL - I've learned over the years that people want proof, not ideas/correct answers, so now I tend to try organizing my steps better and am quite good at it in many circumstances. However, I have to spend extra time to figure out how to explain to someone how I'm doing something. Mom hated that. She'd say, "You always leave something out" when I thought it was perfectly logical to see something I left out, that it was obvious when it was apparently not.
ASL/VSL - I used to memorize everything as a child, but always created relationships with everything in an attempt to make more sense of it. Not sure how this one works.VSL - very sensitive to teachers' attitudes when learning. If someone yells at me or displays impatience, there's no way in hell I'll ever EVER learn well from them again. Alternatively, if I'm already afraid of someone, I might learn /better/ from them (provided I don't fail them and they never yell at ME).
VSL - I'm never comfy with one right answer. I'm also always coming up with either multiple answers based on alternate ways of looking at a question (this drives me nuts because I often don't understand what someone asks). I've also often come up with unusual answers. For instance, "What's up?" I translated this initially as an actual question, and responded with, "The ceiling, and beyond that, the sky, planets, although some planets may not be up per se... they could be over there..." (this annoys people but it was innocent to begin with, really!)
VSL - I've developed unevenly.
VSL - Uneven grades - at least, after elementary school, where my learning depended on the teachers who gave concrete examples and written work instead of lecturing.
ASL/VSL - I love algebra, never was good at but liked the concept of chemistry, sucked at but liked geometry, and hope one day to get into physics - it sounds absolutely awesome.VSL - Prefer to learn language from someone who knows it. First off, it's more accurate, secondly, I can ask questions immediately instead of waiting for a teacher.
VSL - I was once more academically talented, I /thought/... but truthfully, I have talents in computers, and that's technology that academically-oriented people seldom understand 100%.
VSL - I was a late bloomer (in fact I'm also still growing - between age 27 and 28 I grew an inch. Go figure.)
http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html is a site that describes how one person views his thought processes.
How did I get to this anyway? Oh yeah.
1. I opened Dictionary.com and verified the meanings of "compromise" and "comprise" in Dictionary.com so I could correctly correct someone.
2. While in Dictionary.com, I discovered "encyclopedia" in there alongside Thesaurus. I didn't know there was an encyclopedia available there so I got curious and clicked the link.
3. Needing a subject to look up, I randomly chose "Atlantis," potentially spawned by watching part of "Stargate Atlantis" last night. (Atlantis has always been an interest of mine.)
4. I read about that for a while and noted referenced links I wanted to know more about, so I began clicking some. First was the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar).
5. Following that was a link to Sargasso Sea, which I later closed.
6. Also Muddy Sea, also later closed.
7. Returned to Atlantis and clicked Gades.
8. Returned to Atlantis and after a few more clicks somehow ended up reading about Hyperborea, Nazis, ethnic cleansing, Trail of Tears, Indian Removal, Thomas Jefferson, Asperger's Syndrome, and finally, Picture Thinking... lol

I also read somewhere that visual spacial learners tend to write convolutedly. Boy, do I do this... I jump from one thing to another easily and go all over describing something! (Haven't you noticed?)

Later laters,

~nv

Picture Thinking

Picture thinking. When I was a teenager, I began to realize that other people think in /words/. I asked people to explain how they go about thinking like this. I was told that they "hear" the words in their heads, and then understand what their own thoughts are. While reading, they would be aware that they were reading words, often hearing whispers of them as if the words were speaking to them. It became quickly evident to me that I had no concept whatsoever of what this was like. I had the ability to read a 400-page book in two days or less, and not once would I "hear" a darned thing. Instead, I'd imagine pictures of what the words described. If asked to recall the book, I could recite from memory the words off the page, because I saw them. As a result many of my book reports could be either verbatim in quotes (which I would then take paragraphs to analyze from various perspectives) or at least very lengthy, because I retained a lot of information from what I read - namely, all or almost all of it. There was almost always some form of thought on everything I "saw" in a book, and I had no trouble bringing all of my concerns forth in loquatiousness.

Over the years the "photographic" portion of my memory has faded considerably. When I copy numbers or words from one place to another, I still "imprint" the image of them on my memory for a few moments and copy the symbols from memory. It's quick and easy but as I get older I find the imprinted "line" of symbols to become shorter and shorter, so I must continue to go back and forth to get more of what I'm copying. I've attempted to try what other people do - say it out loud over and over until I can write it down - but it doesn't work too well. Normally it just confuses me and I have to keep looking back until I shut up and picture it instead.

Anyway, all this said, I ended up reading this article: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Picture_thinking

It describes how the abilities of visual-spatial learners compare to "audio-sequential" learners. I admit, I have traits of both. For instance:
The Auditory-Sequential Learner vs. The Visual-Spatial Learner VSL - I think mainly in images (or at least, ideas - not words)
VSL - I learn best when I can see what I'm learning, or draw it out as someone explains it to meUnsure - I have always been easily lost to time when immersed in something (esp. computers). This might indicate VSL. However, I have no concept of where I am in relation to something else unless I visualize it. (I need to visualize a map or landmarks to remember how to get somewhere, not the actual route to get there).
ASL - I need steps to do something for the first time. However, I tend to grasp things "outside the box" at times, too, way before I should. ?
ASL - I do learn by trial and error. However, VSL - I also learn concepts all at once.
VSL - Learns complex concepts easily, struggles with easy skills. This is why I could correctly perform an algebraic equation but screw it up because I didn't take the time to double-check my arithmetic (1+1=4, right? lol) I do the same elsewhere, too, not just with math. I have issues with watching for detail consciously, yet can readily see patterns in something I've never seen before and point them out to someone much to their amazement - "How did you see that? Do you even know what we're talking about?" "Dunno and nope, but isn't that what you're looking for?" "Why yes..." (I also hate it when someone tells me to slow down or refused to answer a more advanced question because I'm not "ready"! UGH!
VSL - I tend to see the bigger picture rather than details, even though I'm also good at details (initally)
VSL - Maps over oral directions ANY day, thank you so much!
VSL - I tend to learn whole words very easily. I don't sound them out, either. In fact, I've been corrected many times because I learned the meaning of a word but never heard it. When I go to use it in speech, I mispronounce it terribly and someone has to figure out what I mean - then they say, "Oh, you mean..."
VSL - I visualize words to spell them. I.e., "Hey, how do you spell onomatopoeia?" "onomatopoeia..."
VSL - Much better at keyboarding than handwriting OH GOD YES. Writing is SUCH a waste of time. Keyboarding is much more efficient because the words are all programmed into one's fingers. I don't need to think as I type, I simply express my thoughts as if my fingers are interpreting my thoughts into words!! I tend to type the fastest and most accurately when I'm typing out my thoughts as opposed to copying something or trying to rewrite something for others to understand perfectly... my handwriting sucks. Everyone tells me it's messy and hard to read. Mom told me I should have been a doctor!
ASL/VSL - Some think I'm well-organized, and I pride myself on having fairly good organizational skills. But truthfully, have you seen my den? Mom used to ask me how I could find anything in my room. I said I knew where most everything was. When she moved something, I had to ransack the whole place looking for it becase I knew where I put everything in my "mess."
VSL - I've learned over the years that people want proof, not ideas/correct answers, so now I tend to try organizing my steps better and am quite good at it in many circumstances. However, I have to spend extra time to figure out how to explain to someone how I'm doing something. Mom hated that. She'd say, "You always leave something out" when I thought it was perfectly logical to see something I left out, that it was obvious when it was apparently not.
ASL/VSL - I used to memorize everything as a child, but always created relationships with everything in an attempt to make more sense of it. Not sure how this one works.
VSL - very sensitive to teachers' attitudes when learning. If someone yells at me or displays impatience, there's no way in hell I'll ever EVER learn well from them again. Alternatively, if I'm already afraid of someone, I might learn /better/ from them (provided I don't fail them and they never yell at ME).
VSL - I'm never comfy with one right answer. I'm also always coming up with either multiple answers based on alternate ways of looking at a question (this drives me nuts because I often don't understand what someone asks). I've also often come up with unusual answers. For instance, "What's up?" I translated this initially as an actual question, and responded with, "The ceiling, and beyond that, the sky, planets, although some planets may not be up per se... they could be over there..." (this annoys people but it was innocent to begin with, really!)
VSL - I've developed unevenly.
VSL - Uneven grades - at least, after elementary school, where my learning depended on the teachers who gave concrete examples and written work instead of lecturing.
ASL/VSL - I love algebra, never was good at but liked the concept of chemistry, sucked at but liked geometry, and hope one day to get into physics - it sounds absolutely awesome.
VSL - Prefer to learn language from someone who knows it. First off, it's more accurate, secondly, I can ask questions immediately instead of waiting for a teacher.
VSL - I was once more academically talented, I /thought/... but truthfully, I have talents in computers, and that's technology that academically-oriented people seldom understand 100%.
VSL - I was a late bloomer (in fact I'm also still growing - between age 27 and 28 I grew an inch. Go figure.)
http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html is a site that describes how one person views his thought processes.
How did I get to this anyway? Oh yeah.
1. I opened Dictionary.com and verified the meanings of "compromise" and "comprise" in Dictionary.com so I could correctly correct someone.
2. While in Dictionary.com, I discovered "encyclopedia" in there alongside Thesaurus. I didn't know there was an encyclopedia available there so I got curious and clicked the link.
3. Needing a subject to look up, I randomly chose "Atlantis," potentially spawned by watching part of "Stargate Atlantis" last night. (Atlantis has always been an interest of mine.)
4. I read about that for a while and noted referenced links I wanted to know more about, so I began clicking some. First was the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar).
5. Following that was a link to Sargasso Sea, which I later closed.
6. Also Muddy Sea, also later closed.
7. Returned to Atlantis and clicked Gades.
8. Returned to Atlantis and after a few more clicks somehow ended up reading about Hyperborea, Nazis, ethnic cleansing, Trail of Tears, Indian Removal, Thomas Jefferson, Asperger's Syndrome, and finally, Picture Thinking... lol

I also read somewhere that visual spacial learners tend to write convolutedly. Boy, do I do this... I jump from one thing to another easily and go all over describing something! (Haven't you noticed?)

Later laters,

~nv

Well the key to my survival...

...was never in much doubt. The question was how I could keep sane, trying to find my out. Things were never easy for me, peace of mind was hard to find. And I needed a place where I could hide, somewhere I could call mine. I didn't think much about it 'til it started happening all the time...*

And then the tingling sensation became stronger, stronger, stronger still, and before I was conscious of what was happening, it exploded throughout my body, from my feet into the bottom of my spine, gushing upward, pulsating through every vein, every artery, every capillary. Everything beat in time with the music. Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up and danced with excitement. My pulse quickened, faster, faster, my breath escaped my lungs, reentered, laughing in ecstasy, screaming with nearly religious awakening.

"No Son Of Mine,*" by Phil Collins, somehow got into my soul. And I was driving!

"Soon I was living with the fear every day of what might happen that night. I couldn't stand to hear the crying of my mother, and I remember when I swore that that would be the last they'd see of me, and I never went home again. They say that time is a healer, and now my wounds are not the same. I rang the bell with my heart in my mouth. I had to hear what he'd say...."*

I pulled into a parking spot as "his words how they hurt me." I'll never forget this experience, and I won't regret it, for this is the first time I've had a musical experience while driving. I've been driving since March 24th, licensed barely over a month previous to that, and now I can imagine that it's a sign that says I'm truly comfortable on the road. I had this realization just minutes before as I went over a bridge: You know, Self, I actually /like/ driving now. I've become one with the truck just as I was once one with my scooter, my legs. It's been happening all along, but today is a benchmark test of just how far I've come in the last several months.

I'M A DRIVER!!!

To have a musical experience in my own vehicle with me in the driver's seat means that I am no longer constantly worrying that I'm not going to see something in time, that perhaps I'm doing something wrong. It means that I can focus on music deeply enough to experience it, and all the while drive safely. For as I pulled into my spot, I realized that the tingling sensation had drifted off temporarily - I needed to focus a bit more on backing in than I needed to focus on the music. I /do/ have my priorities, after all... Dante should take me places for a long time yet. No sense in smashing him into another vehicle just because I'm enjoying music!

What a wonderful day it is... HAPPY HARMONIES EVERYONE!!
* "No Son Of Mine" lyrics are copyrighted and used without permission - I hope no one minds.

Wireless Routers, wireless mice

My mom asked me about this today, and my explanation turned into a ramble. So I figured I'd copy it here. Thus, if you're wondering about wireless routers and/or mice, and want some rambling layman's terms, here you go.

I've got both, along with a couple wireless keyboards. Note "wireless" means that you don't need to have the computer connected with wires to the router, or you don't need your mouse to be directly connected via wire to your computer. It doesn't mean you have NO wires. Nonetheless, it is very convenient. I'll explain. (be prepared for a ramble)

The wireless router packages up its network information into a bunch of little packets that it then broadcasts via antennae, just like anything else that uses an antennae. The awaiting computer(s) have their own antennae designed to detect these broadcasts, decrypt the packet of network stuff, and read it. Considering the whole process, it's really amazingly fast and its market is getting even faster as I type this. The reason people really like it is because laptops in particular become VERY easy to move anywhere in the house without having to run a long wire wherever you go in order to get 'net access. For instance, rather than drop a long ethernet cable out my window, I can simply bring Morgan (laptop) out on the back deck and she's still online. The range can be pretty good depending on the strength of the antennae and the amount of interference in between the signal and the computer. Note it's the same concept used in the wi-fi that's becoming popular [in cities] these days.

** Digression.
The other day I saw a laundromat. A huge sign has been hung on its main-st-side wall that says, "Free wi-fi Internet access available here!" Instantly I thought, "CRAP! NOW they come up with that... now that I have a washer and dryer right inside the house! Dammit... Imagine, I could have brought my laptop here, done my laundry, and had internet access all the while..." Then I immediately came up with a new "geek" thing: "You might be a geek if you see a sign on a laundromat saying "free wi fi access with every load" and you wish you didn't have a washer at home so you could justify using someone else's wireless connection." Because, you see, I have exactly what they offer, without having to pay for every load. DUH. *blush*
** End digression.

** No wait. Comment on digression.
It just dawned on me, however, that anyone who has a wireless computer in the immediate vicinity of that laundromat probably gets free internet access...
** End comment.

Anywho, a wireless mouse is the same concept as the router. It's more like a remote control, though. You have a receiver that plugs into the back of the computer (in the mouse port, go figure) and of course you install drivers for that. You plug another wire into a power supply. Then you put batteries into the mouse, which has NO wires. It can be either optical or the ball kind (don't ask why ballywallies are made wireless, to me ALL ballywallies should be replaced with opticals). You press a button on the receiver, another on the bottom of the mouse, and the receiver finds the "channel" that the mouse is on. This is a good thing because you can have two wireless devices in the room and they won't interfere with each other (until the channels degrade, then you repeat the button thing - it's rarer than mouse batteries dying).

Selene's mouse came with the keyboard I bought for her, and both use the same receiver. Same with Raven's keyboard/mouse. The keyboard uses four 'AA' batteries which last a LONG time for some weird reason. I've used two sets in over a year. The mouse's batteries expire approximately once a month, maybe a bit sooner. But they're rechargeable - I set the mouse into the receiver and two little contacts on the bottom of the mouse pull power from the receiver until the batteries are recharged. Not all mice are like that but I take great pains to find those that are since they're obviously more cost efficient. It's a pain in the butt though at times when you're in a hurry and the batteries suddenly die on you - you have no mouse at all unless you plug in a wired one. At work we have both a USB wired mouse and the wireless one, since we're 24x7 and are always using the poor computer. They do not conflict with each other since they use separate IRQ's (another story) so as soon as the wireless dies, we simply put it in the receiver to charge and grab the wired ballywally we've got hooked up. Which is easy to find because, well, it's wired. Follow the cable, silly.

One problem people cause themselves with rechargeable mice is that as soon as the red light flashes they think, "OMG!! IT'S GONNA DIE!! QUICK!! RECHARGE!!" BAD idea. It's like anything else rechargeable - the more you DRAIN the battery before recharging, the longer the charge holds. If you keep charging it before the battery's completely gone, it'll "learn" that behaviour and consequently you need to charge it more and more often until it's completely dead and you need new batteries altogether. Hence the one at work dies every two days and the one here dies once a month. (Usage affects it of course, but the idiot(s) at work simply refuse to understand the necessity of battery depletion.)

Oh, and once the mouse does lose the charge, it simply stops working. There's seldom any erratic behaviour. So really, drain the sucker, morons...

Sorry... was all that too much information?

Avoiding games and becoming oneself to boot

Family and people in general are interesting concepts. I was asked about a month ago if one of my cousins could stay over for a couple of days while attending a craft show near here. She's from another state. I talked it over with Ducky whom would of course also be affected by her staying here. We were both OK with it so I said yes.

Just two days before her scheduled arrival she asked if she could bring her granddaughter. Now, I have little against kids these days, but having a six year old running around our place which is full of breakable things is simply not in my book of fun. I brought this to Ducky and told him my concerns, and he agreed it wasn't a very good idea. So I told my cousin that wouldn't do it for us.

She wrote back and said she'd already told her granddaughter she could go, so they'd just have to sleep in her truck. I offered the names and numbers of local hotels but warned they may be booked due to the season. She replied that she'd try to find a way out of bringing the granddaughter.

Now, I don't have much experience with most of my family, but I do know one thing. It's NOT a good idea to go telling a kid something like that when you have no control over whether you can pull through or not. It causes much resentment on the kid's part and could potentially teach that promises are worthless and only given out of convenience.

For a few brief moments I worried that perhaps she'll be angry at me. After all, I've stayed at her place a few times when visiting that area. But reasoned out, there's nothing for her to be angry about as far as my decision goes despite the favours she has granted me. I was up front about my plans and did not change them. She asked if she herself could stay over, I said yes, then at the last minute she decided to try forcing a kid on us, appears to have attempted a touch of guilt (evident in her choice of words), and now that the whole thing didn't work changed things to seem that perhaps she can get out of things with the kid anyway. So I hope she realizes all this and does not sport an attitude should she end up here after all. It will be cold and rainy outside tonight...

I also pat myself on the back here, because in the past I may have gone along with the game and allowed the child to ruin things in the house "because they're my family." It took courage to say no to that and then stand by my words. It took even more courage to resist being angry and instead try to offer help when I felt almost manipulated. There is strength in learning to feel, express, understand, and control one's emotions, and I know this because it is so difficult to do regularly. In the past I did not acknowledge enough of my feelings and they became repressed. Now I allow them to surface but also /deal/ with them as they do so. The greatest challenge is learning how to deal with them quickly and efficiently so they don't negatively affect my relationships with people, and yet avoid repressing them again. And, as I practice all this, it becomes slightly easier each time. As if I'm building muscles that were formally unused.

So lucky am I to have Ducky in my life, too - he's someone who does not appear to play any of the more sinister games and he refuses to participate in most or all of mine. The refusal to play has led me several times to turn inward and figure out why I react certain ways and how to look at things differently, how to grow up for lack of a better word. He is a very happy, optimistic person and his wonderfully childlike yet very responsible personality is very much rubbing me the right way. It makes me glad not just to know him and be so close to him, but also to know that I must be doing something right to be attracting such a person at this point in my life. At times I wonder if he's "better" than I am, but I know this is silly even as I think it. We are simply from different backgrounds. He was lucky to have somehow gleaned his outlook earlier than I have and seems to have steadfastly held onto it. He admits he didn't have the emotional and financial issues I had growing up. But where he lacks the experiences I have had, he also lacks the complete understanding of them. I know that having lived the experiences he can only empathize with has built me into the strong person I am today, capable of understanding others and occasionally helping them through what I'm all too familiar with. So it isn't that he's better than me, he simply offers a different type of knowledge which arose from his own separate life. And this realization is what enables me to be myself and grow rather than try to force myself into his image or anyone else's.

When someone says, "I want to be just like him when I grow up," I think they really mean that they wish to select certain traits and add them to their own traits. I suppose some can be worked toward and added, and others require part of a life to obtain. Then there are some traits which may have unwanted side effects.

Yes, definitely best to become oneself and not worry so much about what other people are becoming.

Wisdom for the day

One can fit into a mold without having been shaped by it.

technically - or musically? - speaking

As many people I know know, I've been a rather loyal fan of Peter Cetera's music for a very very long time. Some might have even called me obsessive for a while there. But times change, and as such, I've branched away from his music quite a bit. Over the past few years, I've gone from listening almost ONLY to his music to listening to it as rarely as I once listened to anything else. In other words, I've branched out, and happily so. There's a lot of great music out there! My ears opened to new worlds of talent, of musical genius, of new styles, instruments, vocals, and lyrics. There are no regrets whatsoever, and I feel no disloyalty. After all, it was Peter's musical talents that caught my ear in the first place and gave me a long repertoire of music to analyze, dissect, and downright enjoy.

Yet I cannot help but notice his voice sail out of store speakers, out of the multitudes of radio waves, or out of the window of a passing vehicle. His voice has always been distinct, and of course I know it well! I also have a little bit of an affinity for audio cassettes. There's something more homey about them. Maybe it's just because I grew up with them and the very first album I ever bought was Chicago 17 on tape. I learned how to mix my own tapes before I ever saw a computer. And they somehow seem to sound better than anything digital. A musician guy I know told me once that digitizing music actually does do something to the analogue sound of a song, but I can't remember what it was. Maybe that's a part of it.

Regardless, every now and again the occasion strikes and I plop a tape into the deck. I tend toward Sony for all my serious musical needs because in my opinion they have the best sound of anything I've ever heard. Hey, Sony, that's free and voluntary advertising for you... like to donate one of your products? Seriously, if Sony had mp3 players back when I bought my little Creative MuVo, I may even have veered that way... now, that's called divided loyalties - Creative is my other kudo despite less of a history. Hey, free advertising for them, too. LOL Anywho, back to the subject at hand - what is my point again? I think I was going to comment more on Peter Cetera's music.

Indeed, nothing quite equates to Peter's work. Despite all my musical adventures, I keep coming home to my roots. I swear I've found music that seems to me to be more technically correct, or more creative in some way. In fact I know I have. Yet there's a deep feeling of excitement and gratitude that resonates within my being whenever I hear a Cetera tune. It can be one of my favourites, or even one I don't know as well, and the moment the bass starts in, the tempo kicks up, and Peter's voice shoots over the air at my waiting ears, I'm floored by the gentle intensity of my feelings for it all.

Perhaps it's just because his music is so familiar to me now. Or maybe part of my old obsession refuses to die. Or maybe despite all the technical possibilities he never quite reached like some others have, maybe, just maybe... he's got something the others don't. Where others have the perfect drum lick, or the perfect riff, Peter's got that extra oomph that marks the song as his and makes it something you want to keep coming back to again and again and again. Despite the perfectionistic advances in musical technology, there are some things that just can't sound better than Peter Cetera. Technically speaking, I don't see Peter as the most perfect musician. Musically, however, he still rules my musical world.

A breath of fresh analogue air in today's digital society if you will.