Older Improv With Effects

On its sixth anniversary, I decided to visually modify one of my older piano improvisations partially using effects and then upload it. (length: 4'47")

Since I originally played it and uploaded it on March 31, 2019, until now, it has received only seven views, so almost everyone missed it the first time. I watched this video again, and I really like this particular improv. I REALLY like it with the effects that I added.

I like to sit at my digital piano and just start playing whatever is in my head at that time. I make it up as I go along. This is what I did with this video and all of my improvisational videos.

Improv from March 31, 2019: Effects (March 31, 2025)

https://youtu.be/6LNV6k0RnHU?si=c-PLwUQMbUrfFA-p

March 31, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

Yes, I have used Bunsen Burners during my formal education in chemistry courses in high school and at university. When I was a kid, I had a chemistry set, but I used a candle during that time. When I was young, I considered "bench chemist" as my future profession.

By the way, from 1992 to 1996, I was a reporter, writer, editor, and researcher for a weekly international magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry based in New York City. This is my favorite job among my many jobs during my journalistic career, more accurately series of gigs, from September 1982 to April 2017.

March 31, 2025, at home

I prefer mashed potatoes, especially mixed with Gorgonzola cheese.

March 31, 2025, at home

My favorite Crayola crayon color when I was a kid in the 1960s was "Cornflower." What was/is your favorite crayon color? (See the cornflower color in the comment section below.)

March 31, 2025, at home

When I was a teenager living in West Islip, Long Island, New York, in the 1970s, I used to dig for Littleneck and Cherrystone clams with my feet in the Great South Bay. I occasionally ate them, but only minced and baked with breadcrumbs. I also occasionally ate steamer (piss) clams, but I didn't much like them.

March 31, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

Many thanks go to doctors.

March 30, 2025, at home

Visiting Italian Cousins

This afternoon (March 29, 2025) here in southeastern Florida, my wonderful wife and I entertained (at our home) my mom, who lives about a mile away, and three of my Italian cousins (Rose, Carmela, and Filippo) who were visiting from Long Island, New York. We enjoyed pick-ups (appetizers), pizza, Italian pastries, and fond memories.

My cousins brought Italian red wine; a basket of oranges; homemade greeting cards and two colorful handmade potholders made by Carmela; and two delicious Italian delicacies, not including their homemade biscotti.

Rose made this beautiful homemade ricotta cheese from scratch with sliced tomatoes and fresh basil on top. Carmela made two batches of Italian Christmas-Easter cookies with the white glaze, using my Italian grandmother's recipe: one batch for my mom and one batch for my wife and me. I have enjoyed those cookies since my age was in single digits in the 1960s.

(I admit that I partook in a little of the obligatory Brioschi.)

We had such a wonderful time, sharing memories and enjoying delicious food, including my wife's homemade tortellini salad. My cousins are returning to Long Island this coming week and plan to return to southeastern Florida next winter.

Next Photos By Carmela

Do You Agree? I Do.

Do you agree? I do.

March 29, 2025, at home.

Today Is ...

March 29, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

I had my annual physical yesterday. Everything is quite good, except for my high levels of triglycerides and sugar in my blood. I am still being medicated for Restrictive Lung Disease; for Congestive Heart Failure; and for Diabetes and its accompanying Peripheral Neuropathy in my feet in the form of numbness and pain.

My chest is still mostly numb and sometimes hurts from Quadruple Coronary Artery Bypass (Open-Heart) surgery, including the removal of a section of vein in my left thigh; and then two chest surgeries due to an infection within my chest and removal of the sternal plate that was holding my broken breastbone together due to loose screws, all in 2022. My thighs are still numb, and my back still sometimes aches from two surgeries in 2023 (1. a disk infection and 2. a spinal bone infection requiring placement of a titanium metal rod to hold my collapsing spine together. My right ankle sometimes slightly hurts from surgery (bone biopsy, draining of fluid, and deburring) in 2024. This last surgery was relatively simple.

That's SIX surgeries between March 2022 and April 2024. After all that, I am doing fairly well. I am feeling better, but I am still unable to walk without support from my wonderful wife, a transport chair, and a metal frame walker.

I was going to post a medical update yesterday or today, so National Triglycerides Day is an apropos outlet for my update.

March 28, 2025, at home

I am fond of teriyaki chicken on a stick delivered from Japanese-Chinese restaurants.

March 28, 2025, at home

I do somewhat like Black Forest Cake.

March 28, 2025, at home

I used to eat dandelion leaves often. They taste bitter but are quite healthy. My maternal grandfather loved them.

March 28, 2025, at home

Shave & Haircut

 

On Being A Mets Fan

Being a New York Yankees fan and a former New York Mets fan, both of which are playing their first games of the 2025 MLB Season today (March 27, 2025), I must, as I have done on previous opening days, share this 9-second video about the Mets. (no offense intended) 😁

https://youtu.be/fWfbD5Z5nZs?si=jFJRaYIZJMowLNeQ

Today Is ...

Hello Joe !!! (Being half Italian, I have many relatives named Joe. My maternal grandfather was named Joe, actually Giuseppe.) "Joe" is also slang for coffee, so this day suggests that you have a cup of Joe with someone named Joe.

March 27, 2025, at home

Stream Of Consciousness

Random "Stream Of Consciousness" Thought

Damned If I Do; Damned If I Don't: I have Restrictive Lung Disease, which was recently changed by my pulmonologist from Obstructive Lung Disease.

If I don't take my inhaled medications, I can't sleep because I have difficulty breathing, and I am coughing. If I take my medication, I can't sleep because the side effects are nervousness or shakiness, headache, throat or nasal irritation (also coughing), muscle aches, and rapid heart rate. The feeling is like drinking many cups of caffeinated coffee all day, every day.

I have been inhaling a reduced amount of medication, but that isn't solving anything.

I only drink two cups of caffeinated coffee every morning, which I enjoy. I probably could abate the effects if I ceased drinking caffeinated coffee or switched to decaf, but I don't want to do that.

Actually, I probably should switch to tea or just go cold turkey. Headaches arise with caffeine withdrawal, but because my medications also cause headaches, it's a moot point. Also, if I stop drinking coffee, it would be like I was denying my heritage, especially Italian and Austrian, but also Swiss and Portuguese, and I didn't want to get into the fiasco of drinking caffeinated coffee and taking my full dose of medication, and then having to take a sleeping pill every evening. That seems reckless and unhealthy.

Anyway, my conclusion is to drink less caffeinated coffee, to take the full dosages of my prescribed medications, and to deal with the accompanying restlessness without medication. I also need to be diligent in regard to doing my lung exercises of which I have been lax.

Thanks for reading. I just wanted to share my thought process on this issue.

March 27, 2025, at home

Saag Paneer & Torrone

I like Torrone, which is an Italian confection of nougat and almonds, cut into small blocks. Varieties include lemon, orange, and vanilla, all of which I like. (The photo below looks like Torrone, except with hazelnuts.)

I purchased a box of Torrone for myself around Christmas 2024, but I never opened it. Today is the unveiling.

March 26, 2025, at home

I particularly like Saag Paneer, which is a lightly spiced Indian dish with creamed spinach and cubes of paneer (a soft cheese).

March 26, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

Lobster Newburg is an American seafood dish made with lobster, butter, cream, cognac, sherry, eggs, and cayenne pepper. It is an elegant and classic dish enjoyed by many since the late 1800s. Debuting in 1876 at Delmonico's, a fine New York City restaurant, this dish was invented by sea captain Ben Wenburg, hence the name with a simple reversal of two letters.

March 25, 2025, at home

I have been struggling with diabetes for many years.

March 25, 2025, at home

Today Is ...

When I attended Villanova University (near Philadelphia) from August 1980 to December 1984, emerging with a bachelor's degree in communications with a French language minor, every Saturday for lunch in the cafeteria, we were served Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches: Steak-umms (sliced beef), sautéed onions, and Cheez Whiz on a hoagie roll ... NO green bell peppers. Also, on various visits to Philadelphia, my friends and I would often go to Pat's King of Steaks, which we preferred to rival Geno's Steaks.

I took longer than four years to complete my bachelor's degree because of a severe change in major. I spent my first two-and-a-half years at 'Nova in the pre-med program, which was euphemistically called BSG (bachelor of science-general).

I would later earn a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, graduating in May 1988.

I studied insurance and real estate between my degrees with the remote intent of entering my father's businesses.

I was a journalist from September 1982 to April 2017. I retired due to medical issues.

March 24, 2025, at home

My favorite alcoholic beverage is Campari and orange juice.

March 24, 2025, at home

My father liked chocolate-covered raisins. I never liked them, and I don't think that I will ever like them.

March 24, 2025, at home

R.I.P. Mia Love

Oh, wow. This is quite sad. R.I.P.

March 23, 2025, at home

Aileen Santos