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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 27, 2025, 07:28:22 AM »

...I have had a bit of problems with an aspect of my personality at times, mainly, that at times I have little respect for Authority.  I had a difficult early childhood, we moved from our home when I was about 4 years old because we got flooded out twice.  So, when we arrived in the new neighborhood, I was the odd child out.  I was bullied, and learned that I could NOT rely on 'friends' when I being bullied, they just took off.  So, I was a 'loner' until I got to College, although I did gather good friends in H.S.

So, I did things 'my way', and questioned authority, I wasn't being difficult, I just wanted to understand why someone wanted me to do something in a particular way.  I figured that since it was MY task, well, I could do it as I wanted to do it.

I did have an amusing experience when I was helping put on a Community Musical, it was Music Man, and the Director wanted me to hire the musicians, since I had done a lot of musicals and knew a lot of musicians.  So, I recruited the musicians for the Pit Orchestra, and the Director was satisfied, and we were set to perform for 6 weekends.

Before the 3rd performance, the Bass Player contacted me, and had to miss that one due to a personal matter.  I figured, "No problemo", I knew 4 other Bass players.  But...NONE were available, they had other gigs or something.  So, I pondered, and thought that another cello might work, but, a cello just doesn't sound like a Bass.  But, when I was pondering the problem after having a couple 'adult beverages', I came up with the ANSWER!!!  So, that weekend, when the Conductor entered the pit, a TUBA was sitting in the Bass chair.  The Conductor stared at me...he had a very 'interesting' look on his face...and I just smiled, held up my hands, and softly said "Best I could do..."

But it went well, the Tubist could 'temper' his instrument, so he didn't overpower the strings, and it went OK.  The Conductor was relieved, but at the end, he did tell me to NEVER SUBSTITUTE an instrument WITHOUT his approval ever again!  I just smiled, looked embarrassed, and promised him that I would never do that again...

...But I did...a year later...

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 26, 2025, 05:54:44 AM »

...Karate Katas...

I had a very good impromptu lesson in the Korean Hard Style Karate School I attended for a couple years when I was in College.  I had achieved the 'Yellow Belt' rank that was the 3rd Rank above White Belt, so I had some basic skills and was beginning to be taught more complex Katas.  For those unfamiliar with the term, a 'Kata' is a series of punches, kicks, blocks that are executed one after the other.  A Kata can be short, or in the school I studied in, they could take up to three minutes.

When learning a Kata, you take it very slow at the start, and then get it going faster as your muscle memory kicks in.  Although, even in the VERY high ranks, you practice a Kata very slow so you can study on focusing your punches and kicks and on shifting your weight. 

I had, I thought, mastered an early Kata, and was practicing it on my own at the side of a small matt, there were no classes going on.  I was aware that the 'Shifu', the Master Instructor, and Owner of the Dojo, was watching, and so I did it a couple times.  He came over, and said, "Do it again."  I was EXCITED, I had NEVER had a lesson from him, so I did, and I thought that I did it well.  I finished, holding the final position, and he came over.  He gently shook my shoulder, and intensely said,

..."A Kata is meant to not only show your technique, but to show how you would fight five or six opponents who all attacked you at once.  You are moving fairly well, but, you are treating it as if you are doing a DANCE!  Yes, a DANCE!  And, despite Hollywood and Eastern films, a REAL fight is NOT a dance!  So, when you do a Kata, I want to see you focusing on opponents, and punching, blocking, and kicking as if you are trying to disable each one with one or two punches or kicks!  So, when you practice, IMAGINE that you are fighting a bunch of attackers at one time!"...

He patted my shoulder, and walked away.  I was floored, to say the least, and my mind was whirling, so I went to where we would meditate, and knelt on the mat and held my body straight as I focused on just what he had said, and how that would affect my practice.

It had the effect he wanted, I believe.  Katas became more interesting, as I let my imagination flow as I fought imaginary opponents, and it didn't feel like I was just practicing a dance.  I earned my Blue Belt, and then my Green Belt very quickly.  But, other aspects of life took more importance...one was that I had to take very careful care of my hands so I could play the cello and the piano...trying to play an instrument with sprained or stiff fingers was very difficult.  So, I dropped out when I was learning very advanced martial techniques that you had to master before you became a Brown Belt.

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 22, 2025, 02:51:25 AM »

...Bach Toccata and Fugue...

https://youtu.be/zhH53UODLEM?si=jd58O7odzlhxUAqy

This is an ASTOUNDING presentation of the work!  We usually hear it performed on an Organ, this is played on a piano, and the graphic background helps one hear the counterpoint and the several voices.  I WISH that the technology to produce this was present back when I was a teenager studying cello at the Conservatory, it would have been entertaining to watch works like this with other Music Majors.  I bet Theory & Composition Majors would have really learned a lot!   

This really is an amazing work by Bach.  I wonder what was going through his mind when he composed and wrote this out.  The opening is SO simple, but challenging, just a 7 note theme that is repeated, I envision it being a question.  And then the ANSWER COMES!!!!

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 16, 2025, 12:45:19 AM »

...Well...

...OK...OK...OK!!!!!

...You CAN play the cello standing up!!!

Izee' and her friends put on a refined classical music performance.   

https://youtu.be/BKezUd_xw20?si=SeDjTKAOlmq6Dg_8

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 14, 2025, 06:58:56 PM »

...Being put into my PLACE!!!!   

Back when I was practicing Independent Law, (Before I became a Hitter for a large insurance company  ) I focused on business and tax law.  I tried to attract clients by charging very little to form a Corporation or a Partnership, I figured that I might get more referrals and be retained for different legal issues if my name got around in the Business Community.     One day, a middle aged Japanese-American man came in and hired me to help him open a restaurant.  I was DELIGHTED!!!!  I LOVE Japanese food, and a restaurant would be a good client to have.  So I did, and was ESPECIALLY delighted when he selected a shopping center that was about a mile away from my home to open his business.  I could WALK there on weekends, or at night, and pig out on sushi and sake and NOT have to worry about driving home!!!   

We got the place open, I worked hard to negotiate a fair lease with the Owners of the Center, and after a lot of preparation, it opened.  It was a Teppanyaki style of cooking, where about a dozen people sit around a large table that has the cooking surface on one side, and the Chef cooks right in front of you.  On the first day, it opened with a blessing ceremony with a Shinto Priest, and I was standing in the back, holding a beer, watching.  The Owner had invited me to come and dine, saying to not worry about anything, that I would be an HONORED GUEST!  I was excited, I had never been an Honored Guest before.  The kitchen got noisy, and the Owner, my client, looked over at me and GLARED and quickly motioned at me to head back.  I figured that he wanted me to quiet the kitchen, so I quickly went back, and whispered to them that the Priest was doing a blessing, and they all stopped what they were doing.  I went back out and thought..."So much for being an Honored Guest, I am just one of the Help".

Later, during the dinner, the Owner came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder and said...

..."I was gesturing at the employee standing behind you, I wasn't telling YOU to quiet the kitchen"...

I laughed, and, unfortunately...had TWO more flasks of sake...

I called my H after I ate, and had him come and pick me up...I wasn't very sure if I could walk back home.   

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 13, 2025, 08:19:16 PM »

...California...

People are STILL trying to figure out why we do not have the wonderful High Speed Rail that was promised a year ago, and hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars have been spent.  We don't even have much of the actual infrastructure completed.  Now, Newsom and the Liberals want BILLIONS MORE!!!

Well, it is now coming out that a LOT of money went to 'paper managers' who wouldn't know a rail spike from a bowel movement.  All sorts of money was paid to consultants on "Environmental Impact", "Ethnic Diversity" of the workers, and other such nonsense.  Plus, the environmental idiots filed lawsuits whenever construction got close to a pond or other such environmental treasures, and those would take years to resolve.  So a lot of 'paper hangers' like Lawyers and such got rich, and the skilled construction workers drew on unemployment or flipped burgers at McD's to support their families.

Alas, all is lost here in California, with the Dems in full control and all of the illegals the Dems hauled in to vote and have a dozen children there is NO chance of recovery.  Again, I have family obligations that I have to fill here, but in a few years...many more years, God willing...I will be able to pack up and leave.

It will be so sad, California REALLY WAS a wonderful State, it had EVERYTHING, climate and recreation wise.  You could ski, hike, swim, and enjoy the excitement of a City like S.F.  Decades ago I worked for a Company based in S.F., and was delighted whenever we had a week long Managers Training Session there.  They really couldn't teach we Lawyers anything that would help us in the practice of Law, so we skipped sessions whenever we could and partied hard at night.  I, *blush*, actually one night went with some guys to a place that had strippers working the diners.  I would get sexy women coming up and dancing to me and cooing, "Come join us, pretty girl".  The guys with me laughed as I just kept silent and blushed.  The dancers would giggle and move on.   

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 10, 2025, 11:16:49 AM »

...A TRUE TALE!!!   

My Grandfather, on my Mothers side, was quite a man.  I wish that I had been more into documenting Family History, rather than just listening.  I have forgotten so much.  He was an Ambitious man, and a good prospector.  He would go out, alone, with a burro to carry his supplies, and roam the deserts and mountains in Texas and Mexico, prospecting for gold and valuable minerals.   In the meantime, Mother and her 5 brothers lived in an adobe house in Presideo, Tx, that had no plumbing.  There was a 'two-seater' wooden outhouse in the back.  (When we visited my Aunts when I was a child, we called it the 'Sauna', and taking a bowel movement in 106 degree weather in it was quite an experience.     And I just COULD NOT imagine evacuating my bowels while someone was sitting right beside me.  I mean, just WHAT would you talk about?  Once, in the middle of the night, I REALLY needed to do #2, and took a flashlight with me and opened the door to the Sauna...and I saw DOZENS of large insects with BIG BEADY RED EYES hanging from the ceiling, on the walls and the seat, and peering over the edge of the 'S...hole.'  I pooped behind a bush...)  He did locate, and file claims on several mines, and they were developed.  But, he was a HORRIBLE businessman, he trusted people too easily, and they would swindle him out of his share.

One Spring, he was out prospecting, and came across a young Mexican couple who had built a rude shack in the desert, and said that they were going to live there and farm.  The woman was VERY pregnant, and looked very close to delivery.  Grandpa informed them that they were in the area where the Mescalero Apache would come every year to harvest, roast, and ingest the beans from the mescalero plants, and that they could arrive any day now.  He told them that the Apache could get quite dangerous when they were intoxicated by the beans, and that they should move.

The next morning, when he woke up, the man had taken the couples horse and left, leaving the woman behind.  Grandpa loaded her up on his burro, and headed back to town, it was about 2 weeks away.  On the way, she went into labor, and so Grandpa delivered the child and brought them all back with him.  He found the man in town, and the man took the woman and his child back.  Grandpa was very angry and asked the man why he just took off...and the man replied that he just knew that Grandpa would bring them into town.   

Once, when I was very young, Grandpa did take me into a mine he had opened a year earlier that was being worked.  I got to have my OWN HELMET, and a padded vest, and walked with him into it.  It was very loud, they had blasted open an area, and were loading rock onto a conveyor belt that took it outside.  The foreman gave me a fist-sized chunk of rock that had veins of gold running through it.  I made the mistake of leaving it in the classroom at school, I brought it for show and tell, and it disappeared.  The school authorities did what they could, but it was never recovered.  Mom was PROPERLY angry at me, I didn't tell her that I was taking it to school.     She probably would have taken it away from me until I got older if she thought I would take it out of my room.

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on August 07, 2025, 06:03:45 AM »

...California Politicians...

I see that our beloved Governor, who is starting to campaign to become President of the U.S., is STILL trying to get the 'High Speed Rail' project going here in CA.  The price of the job keeps getting higher, FAR higher than the initial budget that we, the enlightened citizens of CA approved.  The plan was for it to travel between S.F and L.A., which is ambitious but could be a good idea.  With stops at all of the major Cities between, it could attract people who have to travel to the big Cities to use it.  But now, after a LOT of expense and delays, and cost overruns, they just have the outline of the line between Merced and Bakersfield!!!    Ah, having lived MOST OF MY LIFE in the Central Valley of CA, I can attest that there is NOTHING in Merced, and we all call Bakersfield the armpit of the Valley.  I was living in the Fresno area until the last few years, and saw all of these tall overpasses being built along the Freeways so the trains could pass over them...and they are just as they were years ago...NO connecting roadways!!! 

But, our Governor is seeking more funds, and I read that Trump cut off the Federal funding, so Newsome is suing Trump!  Hopefully the Courts will shut down such Lawsuits...I mean...where in the U.S. Constitution does it say that the Federal Gov't (Actually we, the TAXPAYERS) have to support such inane ideas?

But, Liberals don't use their heads when such ideas are brought up...and I BET that a lot of the funds got diverted to people who didn't drive a spike or do ANY actual work on the project.  And, we in CA, have a very high population of Liberals who do NOT think.  Like the one who shouted at me...

..."I DON'T CARE IF THE STATE FAILS...AS LONG AS THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN CHARGE!!!"...

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on July 26, 2025, 11:57:51 PM »

...Law School Exams...

Taking a Law School Test that requires Essay Responses, is quite different than most exams.  Often it is because there is NO right or wrong answer.  You are given a situation, and you have to figure out how the Law would apply to it, which Laws are pertinent, and then explain your reasoning.  I just LOVED questions that presented a complex factual situation, and had you imagine that you were a Justice of the Court and had you explain your ruling.

In one question in Constitutional Law, it was just that, and it was a complex situation with a lot of facts, most of which were irrelevant, we had to answer as if we were on the US Supreme Court.  I started the answer by saying that I was the Honorable Wilma O. Douglas, Esq., (daughter of probably the most lunatic and liberal Justice who has ever sat on the Court), and went to town.  I had a blast...

I cited the Fundamental Rights in the constitution that applied, and also the Penumbral Rights that Justices have made up.  (The Rights to Privacy and Marriage are NOT specified in the Constitution, but are 'Penumbral Rights' that emanate from the Fundamental Rights...like the penumbral light from the Sun)  But, I took it further, it was a very unclear exam question, so I made up TWO PENUMBRAL RIGHTS on my own, saying that they emanated from the right to Counsel and Self-incrimination.     I then used them to come up with a rather unusual ruling on the exam.  Of course, I had the "Chief Justice" write a dissenting opinion on my ruling...

The Professor read my opinion to the entire class, and said that he was going to accept it, this time, but that no-one should EVER make up Laws on an exam!!!  I just slumped in my seat.

But, of course, I did it again, but as a DISSENTING opinion, so I did take the existing Laws and applied them to the question, so I felt it was OK...

...and had FUN!!!!!!

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MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread

« Last post by Izee on July 21, 2025, 08:34:16 PM »

...Thank-you for your comment, Shylina, it made me happy.   

And, GOOD FOR YOU!!!  Yes, do get back into music again, it really does fill one's life, the emotions performing or just playing music is unlike anything else in this World. And it fills ones soul...

Hey, a little bit about what it was like the last time I got back into the cello and the piano after leaving the cello in the case and the cover on the keyboard down for a number of years.  I had to change my attitude at the start.  I have very high expectations of myself, and I VERY easily got discouraged at first.  I could barely hold the cello and the bow very well, and my fingers just went where they wanted on the piano.  I would get discouraged, looking at the sheet music that I used to be able to play very well, and just stop...angry at myself for having quit.

But, one evening after I stopped, I had a couple of 'beverages' and on the third one, REALLY thought about it.  I actually started laughing, telling myself, "Who do you think you are?  Pablo Casals?  Hell, you aren't going to get it all back in a few weeks!  Just take it a note at a time, and rather than focusing on bad notes and mistakes, be GRATEFUL when you hear a good note, or your hands do a passage OK!  And, Life had other things that you needed to do more back then than play your instruments!"

So, I just set 30 minutes a day for each instrument, and picked exercises, scales, or simple works to practice, and I would actually feel good when something went well. I also made myself ignore when things weren't going as I thought they should. So, as the days, weeks, and months passed by, I heard MORE good notes and nice passages...and my hands weren't sore, they got loose again and calluses grew on the tips of my left fingers. So, after a number of months, I did get back to where I had been.  I helped found a new Community Orchestra and was the Principal Cellist...until it was taken over by a bunch of Armenian Refugees and they kicked me out.     And, I felt good about myself...re-learning a skill does take effort.  I have met so many adults who used to play instruments who say that they just won't do it again, even though they would like to.

So, play on....