(Editing is for weenies. Backspace allowed only for typos…)

It was a pretty good weekend.

I finished a long-running project in my iMac fish tank, more or less. I need to add a couple things, but they’re standard aquarium equipment, the same things I would need to do with any new tank. Heater, PH testing, etc.

Now, when I say “long-running”, I mean I conceived of this project in 1998. At the time, I was a junior systems administrator, and I didn’t like Apple computers. (You might not be aware that this blog entry is being typed on a Macbook Pro. We all grow and change in life.) When the original “gumdrop” iMac was released, I had to support a few of them, and I was known for proclaiming the only useful purpose any of them could ever serve was being converted into a fish tank.

Years later, I acquired one from a client when it became clear that repair would cost far more than replacement. I kept it, hollowed it out, and built a tank inside it. (More detail on that process in another post.) The process took years, with many stops and starts and profanity as I never, really, quite had anything you would call a “plan”.

This weekend I finished it, and I’m not quite clear what I think about that just yet. It’s been a project for so long, having it finished is… good, but different.

Lilly, Angela, and I went to a concert with friends on Saturday. Tricky Pixie, one of the many bands formed by / around / with one of our favorite artists SJ Tucker. The show was as always a great experience, but I was particularly struck by three tracks.

The first was an old song of theirs, Alligator in the House. Now, that link will give you an impression of the song’s reality, about like looking at a photograph will give you a vague impression of someone’s personality. This song is made for live performance, and it’s never the same twice, and it’s always great to see it performed.

This time, though, they played a cover of a cover – one they’d heard recently at a festival, to a swing beat. I was really fascinated by the way these artists reveled in playing with what another artist had done with this thing they themselves had created.

Then they did something else, something I’ve heard about but never seen in person at this level. Three musicians just completely winging it and seeing what falls out of their play – I mean, of course I’ve seen that in practice sessions. This was on stage in a packed-full sold out house. As music, it was interesting and uneven in spots and beautiful but unpolished, as you’d expect. As a trust exercise between artists who clearly implicitly trust one another, it was even more amazing. Then (I think) they did it again as an encore at the end of the set. (I think. They didn’t announce that’s what they were doing, but I didn’t recognize it and it played like improvisation.)

Sunday, Angela had a meeting, so the kids and I hung out and spent most of the day being lazy. (Okay, I did work for a couple hours.) Movies, Minecraft, and LEGO. Further detail not required. 🙂

Time to post this and get back to work, methinks.