"someday you'll be just like me, and that's free, but still your chains are on..."

1. I don't want to say too much and jinx anything, but i think this whole cloud of depression that i've been laboring under for the last three years has lifted, finally. normally winter is the hardest time for me, and i knuckle under pretty soon after Daylight Savings. as of a few weeks ago, tho, things are picking up. my concentration is excellent, productivity is up, mood is elevated. barametric pressure holding steady. Winter quarter is usually something i dread, and by the end of first week I'm usually cutting out at 11am to get completely drunk, and decide which classes will be dropped. Not this time, tho. Granted, i don't have the luxury of dropping classes anymore anyway, but i pulled thru this first week with flying colors. I'm looking forward to all of my classes, and especially kicking ass at them (all repeats too: this is the 4th time I've taken the 2nd transistor course, 3rd time i've taken Physics of Semiconductors, 2nd time for Electric Fields and Generators/Motors). this WILL be the last time for all of them.

1a. been trying to puzzle out what's different this time around...cutting out getting drunk every night/day has helped some. stabilized medications, check. a Good Woman at my side, check. i have been chain smoking this week, tho. gotta keep an eye on that.

1b. My Electric Fields prof looks disturbingly like Phillip Seymore Hoffman.

2. ESVC is on hiatus for a bit. looks like some internal conflicts need to be resolved. one person has left the group, so i hope we can limp along or get this straightened out. hopefully my pal/mentor/part-time-employer will join us. its probably for the best that we take a little break, i want to concentrate on school until i know i can handle it, and i want to take some time over the holidays to make some additions/upgrades to the synth.

3. over there on the right is a link for Montery Bay Aquarium's real-time shark cam...on the same page, check out the penguin cam. it's just a corner of their environment, as they hang out, eat fish, and walk around. its as relaxing as watching fish. I could watch this all day.

4. it's been a rough year for Synth icons. we lost Dr. Bob Moog a few months ago to cancer, and Larry Hendry, a Synth DIY pioneer was killed recently in a motorcycle accident. Now it seems that John Simonton, from PAIA inc, has died. this one especially hits close to home, as John's designs for low cost kits did more to put synth gear in the hands of experimentors than possibly any of the other synth designers around today combined. Not to mention the fact that he was just a really great guy, always willing to share his knowledge and help out. I've had a few very nice email exchanges with John over the years when I couldn't get this thing to work or that thing. I also interviewed him for a class a few years ago, and he was very gracious with the time and info he was willing to share. John will definitely be missed. RIP.