...Izee's Thread

[Izee]

Being a H.S. Computer 'Nerd'.....

In Jr H.S. I just 'knew' that I would become a Scientist when I grew up, so I focused my attention on Math and Science Courses, and also had Chemistry as a Home Project.  I did experiments that I laughed at when I was told to do them in H.S., I said that I had already done them at home.  So, when computers came out, my friends and I did all we could to get to work with them.  The Teachers created an After school computer club, and 7 of us were regulars.  We mostly worked with a 'Monrobot', it was a computer the size of a large desk, and you would program it with 'punched tape'.  That was a pain, after you wrote out the program on a sheet of paper, you then had to type the characters into a machine that would punch holes in a long roll of thick paper.  The tape was about two inches wide, and you would wind it onto a spool, and feed it into the computer.  In the following years we graduated to 'punch cards' and that was fun!  We had these long narrow boxes that the cards would fit into, and we thought that we were the School Brainy Kids 'cause we walked around campus with a box of cards in addition to books.  I was ALWAYS eager to open the box and show it to younger kids.

We were excited when we were allowed access to the School District Computer Center at the Administration Building.  We had to wear nametags that had metal borders that had some sort of sensors in them that would make it impossible for us to open certain doors, or would set off an alarm if we walked down a wrong hallway.  So, we entered through one back door, and stayed in the hallway that directly led to the computer rooms. 

Back then, computers were HUGE things that had a lot of dials and lights, and the printers were very loud.  I spent a lot of time in there, and was attracted to one printer, it was almost musical.  When printing fast it made high pitched buzzing sounds that were at various musical pitches depending on the characters being printed.  Over the course of a few months, I would experiment at what notes the printer made when it typed characters.  So, I worked hard, on the side, on a special program, and didn't tell anyone what I was doing.  I got the program done, and spent a long time at the machine making the punch cards, they almost completely filled a box.

One afternoon they brought in a bunch of Big Shots to view how we 'gifted children' were learning a useful skill.  The men and women smiled, seeing us, and asked to see a program run so they could see that we knew what we were doing.  The Manager pushed me forward, saying, "This girl is one of the most creative and skilled in programming."  They asked to see a program run...so I got out my 'special box'...no one had seen the program, yet.  The Big Shots were impressed seeing me load a huge stack of cards into the feeder, and then push buttons, and the cards disappeared into the machine.  The Printer came awake, and then began furiously printing sheet after sheet of paper...The characters it printed completely filled the sheets...and the pitch of the printer changed as it played, as it typed...

The Marine Anthem...."From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..."

The Manager turned the printer off, and told the Big Shots who were hiding smiles..."She CAN do serious stuff, but has a bit of an attitude..."

The Manager told me to inform him whenever I was going to run a program, and NOT to waste time with silly stuff...

...I just nodded...

[Izee]

...Burros...

In Girl Scouts, our Troop would go to a nice Summer Camp for two weeks in July.  The Camp had a large Mess Hall, with REALLY lousy food...except for Sunday dinner, we would EACH get HALF of a BBQ'd CHICKEN!  We wouldn't stay in the Cabins, we would set up an outdoor camp on the facility, and sleep on cots that held our sleeping bags.  But, we would go on a five day outing, which was an Event.  We would hike for about 7 miles, and get to a place where there was a small lake.  Since we were away from public humanity, well, some of us would get naked to swim and bathe, and just to sun ourselves.  The Adults tried to stop us, but we would go a ways away and swim, so they let us, but told us older girls to stay by ourselves.

Since we would bring a lot of cooking gear and food, we would check out two burros that were in the Camp.  The Camp had a bunch of burros for people to borrow to carry supplies, and also so the City Kids could see a farm animal.  The burros were very tame, and I would often go to their corral and feed them carrots that I 'obtained' from the Mess Hall.  The woman who supervised the burros just let me visit them when she saw that I stayed out of the corral.

So, when we headed out on our five day hiking trip, I 'volunteered' (demanded) that I be allowed to lead one.  The Adult Leader agreed, she knew that I would get onery if she had someone else lead the burro.

Leading the burro was harder than I expected.  They can be onery, and the walk out of the Camp started with a hike up the side of the Mountain that was almost vertical, there was a switchback trail we had to use.  I had to pull hard on the harness to get it to keep moving, but we made it, and I was exhausted.  The rest of the hike was pretty level, so it was uneventful.  At the camp we set up at the Lake, I had to visit the burros several times a day to check on them, and to bring them grain, and grass after they ate all of the vegetation in their area.  So, I was happy when we headed back.

Thing about burros, they are VERY smart animals, and they KNEW that we were heading back to the Main Camp as we left, and they were very familiar with the trail.  And they REALLY wanted to get home!  So, the burro was PUSHING me along a I led it...I really mean it...if I slowed my walk it would push its' nose against my back and push.  It was probably also saying, in Goateese, "Keep YOUR ass moving, little girl!"  I actually got tired, and a little pissed off, so at the second rest stop, I appointed my Assistant Leader to handle my goat, and I just stayed in the back of the Troop.  But, we all got back, fine.

[Izee]

...Drawing 'Sex Signs' all over Audit Papers...

When I was practicing Public Accounting, I was often assigned to audit the books of businesses that were struggling.  I had been taught to use signs to show that I had performed a certain task.  For instance, I would draw a little 'w' under the bottom of a column of figures to show that I had verified that the sum was correct.  I would also use a check mark to show that I had traced where the amount was placed elsewhere in the records, and a reversed check mark to show that I had verified that the number came from somewhere in the records.

I came up with an idea to simplify when one sheet of paper had a lot of numbers that needed to be verified.  I would draw a little circle above the number, and then a little arrow on the circle pointing at where the matching number was.  I would then draw a circle beside that number and a little arrow pointing back at the other number.  I would also write a number inside the circle, and then on another sheet of paper a list of the numbers and a brief explanation of what it was.  I thought it was very clever...

Back at the Office, after I had audited a company, I got summoned to the Partner's Office who had that company as a client.  He demanded to know why I had drawn 'sex signs' all over the audited records.     (We all know that a circle with an arrow at the top is 'male', whereas a circle with a cross under it is 'female'.  The guys used to say that the female symbol was Venus's 'Looking Mirror'.)  I did my best to explain, and he finally just dismissed me, saying, "Just write a number, no need to draw sex signs all over the official audited records."

Being me, I continued to use my method...except when doing an audit for that partner...

[Izee]

...Being a 'Drama Queen' on the cello.   

I really enjoyed studying the cello when I was in the Conservatory.  Spending hours every day in a closet sized 'practice room' was something I got used to.  It was also very challenging to figure out which finger to use to play a note.  Any finger can play any note, but my little fingers are abnormally short, (I have 'mutant hands,)' they only come up to halfway between the first and second knuckles of my ring finger, so the tip of my little finger is almost two inches lower than the tip of my ring finger.  My other fingers are only about 1/2 an inch shorter than my middle finger.  Anyway....

When playing music on a string instrument, you have to figure out which finger to use, and you want to keep your hand in the same position as much as possible, sliding your hand around can lead to landing in the wrong place and ALL the notes you play will be out of tune.  But I enjoyed shifting into different positions, and practiced very hard on getting the hand into the right place.

The fingerboard, the jet black wood that the strings get pressed against, is about three feet long on a cello, so you are moving your left hand a lot when you play advanced works.  There was a Sonata that I was working on where you had to move the hand very far.  You were playing a D natural in 1st Position on the A string, and then you had to move up an octave to play another D natural way the hell up the A string for the next note.  So, I would play the lower D with my 3rd finger, and then quickly slide my hand up to play the higher D with the same finger.  So, there would be a slight squealing sound as I slid my finger between the notes.

My private teacher was a prim and proper Englishman, and he said that the sliding was not 'acceptable', and wrote out a fingering where I played the lower D on the D string.  That put my hand way up the fingerboard, so I just had to move my 3rd finger across to the A string to play the higher D.  He said that it was more precise, and sounded better.  So, in lessons I used his fingering.  But...came my recital...

I liked the excitement of sliding up the A string, and the passage was very quick and powerful, and marked 'play very loud', so at the recital I did it my way, and slid up the string.

The audience liked it, but I got scolded by my teacher who said that he would not write out fingerings if I was not going to follow them.  I just hung my head, and said that I got carried away during the performance and wasn't thinking about fingerings.   

I don't think that he bought my excuse, but would suggest fingerings in later lessons.

[Izee]

People engage in amazing pastimes, but this...

https://youtu.be/4CSOwxhGvmY?si=QD8El_Mz_JVtnKSa

Color me NO F---ING WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Izee]

...Captains...there are 'Captains', and then there are 'CAPTAINS' in the US Military!!!!

I got to know two very well when I was younger.  One was 'Dennis', the other was 'Charley'.  Dennis had served as a US Navy Carrier Pilot in Vietnam, Charley was, well, a Lawyer who had never seen any action.

Dennis was also attending the night Law School I studied at, and we lived in a town that was about an hours drive from the School.  So, we rode together and alternated driving.  His Corsair was badly shot up during a mission.  He said that he knew that he had been hit badly, and on the attempt to return to the Carrier, he asked his wingman to check out the damage.  The other pilot flew close, describing what he saw, and when the other pilot flew underneath, the other pilot QUICKLY banked away and said..."And you are ON FIRE!!!"  Dennis was able to nurse the Corsair back to the Carrier, and was advised to bail out.  But, Dennis wanted to bring the Corsair back, and obtained permission to attempt a landing.  The Captain of the ship had the deck arranged for a crash landing, and set out nets and such.  But, Dennis was able to land the plane on it's wheels before ending up in a net, and had the record for the fastest Carrier Landing.  He was a very formidable attorney, he actually hired me as an Expert Witness in Business Litigation, and he intimidated ME even though I was on his side.  He was also a very generous and kind man to his friends, and was a blast to party with.

Charley went through the ROTC Program in college and Law School, and never saw ANY action outside of a Courtroom.  He became a Captain when he joined the Army in their Law Dept.  He was the son of one of the Partners of that awful firm I worked for Four years, and I was often called in to help him in a difficult case.  He treated me as if I was just one of the 'help', and I took off when the Firm kept assigning the messy jobs to me, and gave him the easy ones, and kept telling me to be more like him.  I encountered Charley on the other side a few times...and I took NO PRISONERS!  The Firm would assign his cases to another attorney when I was on the other side.   

[Izee]

...Cruisin tha Seine...

My Parents sent me on a European Trip between my Jr and Sr years of H.S.  It was supposed to be a Spanish Language Experience, we did spend most of the Summer in Lecaroz and Madrid, Spain, but we had the first week in PARIS, FRANCE!!!  (I think my parents figured that sending me to the other side of the Globe would keep things calm at home... )  Anyway, I was DELIGHTED to be in Paris, and DELIGHTED that the adults allowed we teens to go out on the town on our own!  A few times I was one of five kids stacked in the back of a Parisian cab that dumped us back at the Student Hostel at 2:00 a.m.  The adults did lecture us, and I got grounded one day, but no problems ever arose.

Those were different times, I am sure.  Nowdays, if I was a cute American teenage girl out late at night with other girls in Paris, I'd probably wake up in another Country and discover that I was now a sexual playtoy for someone.

The adults did take us on supervised trips.  One of the first was to have a dinner at a VERY NICE RESTAURANT, and then have a ride in a tourist boat in the Seine river.  We kids were all excited, and we girls dressed well, and were very impressed at the Restaurant.  It was very high class, with round tables that sat 8, with white tablecloths and silverware.  The dinner was wonderful, and we were ALL served wine!  Some of the kids were Jr. High age, I was one of the older since I was 17. 

I was excited over getting a glass of wine, and it wasn't just a little caraffe...it was a large goblet that WAS FULL OF RED WINE!!!  There were three of us older girls at the table, and we told the little girls that they shouldn't have wine, so we set their goblets with ours.  So, during the dinner, I had THREE goblets of wine.     Europe doesn't have the restricted alcohol laws that we have, children could buy wine and beer at stores.  I did buy a bottle of Anisette later, I had read about Anisette in reading 'The Godfather', so I wanted to sample it.

I was not used to drinking, my parents were strict, my drinking experience was just sharing a can of beer a few times with two other girls that one of them had scored from somewhere, so, well, I got 'happy'.  I am AMAZED that I didn't puke...but my memory of the boat trip is not very good.  I seem to recall some bridges and the Eiffel Tower, but not much more.     And I wasn't the only one feeling 'happy', the boat operator must have been amused steering the boat with a load of intoxicated children on it.  The Mormon Adult Counselors watched over us much better after that and didn't let us imbibe heavily, and actually didn't let the young ones drink.

Anyway, I was much better behaved the rest of the time.  A few times I took the underground Metro to the Lourve Museum, and just walked around, astounded at what I was seeing.  Seeing the Mona Lisa was a thrill, but I was a bit underwhelmed...it is a small painting.  I must have walked around the 'Winged Victory' for 30 minutes, it is an amazing sculpture, and it brought out emotions for me.  There was another painting, not gonna say what it was...but my knees got weak as I gazed at it, and I started sobbing.  A kind older local couple came over and got me to sit down, and comforted me.  It was mostly non-verbal...they didn't speak English or Spanish...and I didn't speak French...but they made me feel better and I recovered.  They kissed my cheek when they left, and I made my way back to the Metro and got back OK.  The only French Phrase that I used with regularity was 'Ou Ei El Metro'...("Where is the Metro?")