Tag Archives: phainopepla95

To be or which to be?

When I first set up my retirement computer, I made some decisions that were less than ideal. For example, use of “weggieboy” as an identifier here and other places. It’s meaningful to me, but it has other meanings to others, some not so good! The confusion my user name causes occasionally attracts unsavory people or comments wherever it shows up on the Internet. It prompted me to write a blog called “wedgieboy vs. weggieboy” in July 2009, and that helped for the short-term, if not so much now.

More and more, the user name is a burden, so I want something more comfortable and less provocative to wee brained people trolling the ‘net. I’m just not sure what that new user name might be!

Weggieboy might morph into “birdman”, since I am a life member of an ornithological group. I use “phainopepla95” on YouTube. The phainopepla is a bird. I’m a man. Erm. Yeah. Birdman. I note, for clarity, that I am the first person to make a photographic record of a phainopepla in my state, where records go back to the Lewis and Clark Expedition of May 1804 to September 1806. No one outside of my family saw it since I didn’t realize in 1980 that my record was unique, a first state record accepted by the organization that evaluates and maintains state records of birds. In the 33 years since, no other phainopepla wandered north to sample the lovely winters we have here!

There are people in the ornithological group to which I belong who feel it is unfair that an amateur spotted and gained credit for this record and that it spent two months in my backyard feeding area (January through end of February 1980) as my exclusive rara avis. Snot happens. (Thank me later for cleaning that up a little!) That makes “phainopepla95” a bit provocative as a different user name, but only to a small number of people worldwide. Ha! Many more confuse my current user name with immature behavior involving yanked underwear.

The blog’s evolved into a “guy with two cats” format since the early days, too, with a subtext of retirement issues. The blog might be, then, “Andy, Dougy, and Doug” or “2 cats and a guy” or “a guy and two cats”. Not too punchy, no sizzle, no pizzazz….

How about “birdman and the boys – surviving retirement with two cats”? I often call the cat brothers “the boys” here and in day-to-day references to them elsewhere. Seems a natural! Of course, no one will recognize the new name and I’ll risk losing both the people who subscribe to this blog. It’s a conundrum.

What do you think? Does any possible change above make sense to you? Or do you have an idea you like better?

Here’s a link to “wedgieboy vs. weggieboy”:

wedgieboy vs. weggieboy

mumbling along

“Does anyone read this blog?” is a perennial question most bloggers ask themselves when they update their blogs. There must be hundreds of thousands of these odd snippets floating around in the ether, full of personal insights and commentary on everything under the sun. How do people connect with them?

I follow, irregularly, three very good blogs that have little in common other than the passion and technical skills of their creators. There have been others, also very good, by technically skilled, passionate creators, that I followed for a time, then stopped visiting. No reason. I just stopped stopping by.

I am not certain why these things happen, I just accept that my interests, the time involved to indulge in them, and Factors X, Y, and Z (the latter, unknown) keep me away. Out of sight, out of mind. Like my blog, which I see I last updated in March, which was a very busy four updates month.

If you adore and follow me, the long space between the last of March’s updates and this must have been sheer torture; if not, then join my billions of non-followers, blissfully unaware, possibly better people for it!

Incidentally, part of the reason I’ve been absent is I, as @phainopepla95 of dailybooth and phainopepla95 on YouTube, have been busy with other time-consuming web “stuff”, the videos below, for example.


(Without sound.)


(With sound.)

My brother is visiting from California. Yesterday, my cat Louie amused us with his quirky eating habits!

taste

I love Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic music. They are a major part of my CD depository. (It’s huge! To call it a collection is insufficient to describe the size and scope of this thing, this passion, these racks and stacks that dominate the decor of my home!)

I spend a large amount of time on YouTube searching out music of the kind I like, reasonably enough.

Recently, I listened to this video posted on the “thebarroque channel”, brilliantly sung by Roberta Invernizzi, an aria from Franz Joseph Haydn’s opera “Il ritorno di Tobia“.


My initial reaction was enthusiatic, though a bit brutal. (I am “phainopepla95” as “weggieboy” was claimed before me for purposes of YouTubing. See “wedgie boy vs. weggieboy”, posted 07/29/09, below.)

phainopepla95 (2 weeks ago)
a bit screechy on high notes, but otherwise good!

thebarroque (2 weeks ago)
:O!!! No insults for Roberta Invernizzi in my channel!!!! :@

phainopepla95 (2 weeks ago)
sorry- perhaps it was my speakers…. (:{

Wow! I did check out my speakers, but I didn’t find anything remarkable or in need of repair.

The exchange between “thebarroque” and “phainopepla95” stuck in my mind, like a piece of glass embedded in my skin, but just beyond the reach of tweezers: to get the glass out, you’re going to have to dig, it’s going to hurt, and you will bleed!

Did Roberta Invernizzi actually screech on the high notes? What sense did the comment make when I gave the video five out of five stars? Was the reaction from “thebarroque” just some crazy hyper-fan’s response (been there, done that!), or had I committed an injustice to Roberta Invernizzi?


(Here’s a short video showing Roberta Invernizzi singing from A. Scarlatti’s oratorio “La Santissima Trinita”)

I had to find the video again and give it a proper re-listen. After two hours or more of music videos that day, aural fatigue might have set in….

I know you! After all of those Japanese cat videos, the horrid business about wedgies and weggies, now you want to hear me scream in pain while I dig out the sliver of glass. More importantly, you want to see me bleed!Bloody damn hell! You betcha!

So here goes:

Dear “thebarroque”,

Today I listened once again to Roberta Invernizzi sing “Anna, m’ascolta!” Not only did I make an unforgiveable mistake when I suggested she “screeched” on the high notes, I upset you. I’ve come to respect the quality of your channel, and your effort producing videos that are a step above the others for the virtuosity of the selected singers and the works they sing. I’m sorry I trivialized that effort, too!

I apologise, profoundly, deeply for my hasty remark about this brilliant singer, and note that not only have I removed the unjust remark, I’ve added one that more honorably characterizes her skill, and, perhaps better reflects my taste.

In harmony,
phainopepla95 aka weggieboy

p.s. So much did I enjoy Roberta Invernizzi’s singing, I posted this video on my blog to expose another audience to the joys of a truly brilliant singer!

Taste comes in many shades between good and bad. Two weeks ago, I erred on the side of “bad”.