Doing things Slashback-style with a shooting gallery of random musings.
Thursday, June 22: rain. No, maybe “rain” doesn’t quite hit the right chord. See, today has been all rain, all the time. 24 hours of rain, direct from the sky to you. Nonstop, keep it going, no way to stay dry if you’re outside kind of rain. I’d forgotten that it could rain this much. You’d think that after a while the clouds would sort of run out, you know? But from morning to evening we’ve had gobs of precipitation, and it doesn’t show any sign of stopping. Friday’s forecast? Rain. Saturday? Rain. How about Sunday? Can I get a “rain” from the audience? Looks like the kids’ soccer clinic I was supposed to do at the Sports Park this Sunday won’t work out so well, and our outdoor worship service that day will be moved indoors. That’s the rainy season, I guess.
But do you know what’s really cool? The sound a shinkansen (bullet train) makes as it goes by. It’s a mix of a soft brush of metal on metal and the hiss of pneumatic air. Despite being a very fast mode of transport, the shinkansen is a quiet animal, making its presence known only in the most sublime of manners. It’s actually the futsuu ressha (ordinary trains) that make the most noise with their antiquated ke-chak ke-chak of wheel housing and rail joint and fingernail-on-chalkboard brakes.
Hey, who in here remembers Bob Books? Anyone? No one? I certainly do—that’s Memory Lane Central right there. Anyway, we have a sizeable collection at the church for our E-Space classes, and Kathy suggested I start recording them to CD so the students can practice reading them without needing a teacher. So I started on that mini-project today with the first three. Hearing myself recorded never ceases to be weird. But as it turns out, the Azumanga Daioh soundtrack (of which I have both volumes) is great for background music (because after all, it’s really very kid-style music). I knew that soundtrack would come in handy someday.