Digging up sound memories to relive

In search of portable sound

It is probably two decades ago, I bought a Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen, an MP3 player with a 6GB hard disk, this was before the Apple iPod took off and became the mainstay of portable music players. Bundled with the jukebox was a copy-protected compendium of classical music that took up over half the available space on the disk.

I probably erased one folder of music before I found the means of extracting the classical music collection into a portable format that I could playback on my computer. With time, I extended my classical music collection, ripping CDs I had bought for portability sake. Unfortunately, not all CDs automatically populated the tracks from the Gracenote CDDB as it was known then.

Volumes of excess material

Over time, I had compiled a classical music collection, all my music CDs, a whole catalogue of preachers' sermons and exhortations, along with different audio bibles, the full King James Version (KJV), the New Testament in the New International Version (NIV) and the whole bible in the Message (MSG) translation. These versions belong in different areas of translation and interpretation, the KJV which is close to literal, the NIV being somewhat intermediate and the MSG is like a paraphrase.

Blog - Good Samaritan Values - The Renewing Of Your Mind – Written in 2013 with an overview of types of English bible translations.

By then, I upgraded to a Creative Nomad Jukebox III, a friend gave me one with a 20GB hard disk, I soon ran out of space on that too, I began to juggle what I needed from what was not immediately necessary. A few years later, the jukeboxes were too cumbersome and I plumbed for a miniature Creative Zen Mozaic 8GB MP3 Player with dimensions 1.3 (depth) x 4 (width) x 8 (length) in cm, it still lives, some 12 years on.

Properly cataloguing sound files

I used to like listening to the Gospels in KJV, there were times I had it playing in the background and found myself imagining I was just walking down the same street where Jesus was having a conversation with an audience that included me.

Managing 1189 chapters from 66 books of the bible in audio format, wasn’t easy as the publishers made a shoddy job of the MP3 tagging. This being the metadata that allowed the MP3 file to be properly identified and categorised. So, I found myself retagging the files, setting out the books as albums and the chapters as chronological tracks.

It would have been easier to merge the chapters into one track per book, but the granularity in seeking specific sections would have been lost. I studiously did this for my music albums and other audio collections too.

Too many old memories

Now, why I am on this journey into the past. I acquired a while ago the full boxset of Yes, Minister, and Yes, Prime Minister, political satire from the 1980s but could not find where I had stored them. With portable hard disks all around the place, some probably with stiffened spindles for the lack of use, I began to plug them in to review their contents.

In the process, I found all my audio bibles, my broader music collection, the Yes, Minister series, some old training material and a picture I had not seen for probably 8 years now. The picture did bring back some old memories, but there was nothing I could do but sigh, he died a decade ago and someone has fully and fittingly taken the place I was unable to relinquish to explore the opportunity for love until early last year. The whole audio and video catalogue is being uploaded to the cloud.

A time to relive

I guess the strange thing about life is the many moments that create a complex story of wanting to experience the new, whilst having some other attachment to the old. The ability to conflate the past and present into another moment to cherish.

Childhood memories of places that brought happiness, peace, and joy, some other time in life where some activity had its serenity and calmness, then a present that offers the scope to relive and settle into a bliss almost unbelievably complete.

It is strange that being both a creature of habit, with a curiosity for the unknown and a quest for knowledge. You wonder when the mind quietens down. Yet, I find peace in music, simple detective shows, and railway documentaries. Sometimes, I just switch off everything and go to sleep.

Thinking Bloggers - My Thoughts

List, Lust, Last, Lost, Lest

One of my readers selected me as a Thinking Blogger a few days ago, I am honoured to be accorded that accolade and as things are in the sphere of blogging one is supposed to continue the chain of electing Thinking Bloggers.

I do read a lot of blogs even though I keep my list of regularly visited blogs very light, I learnt from years ago when ICQ became the rave - in hardly a week, I had 50 people in my contact list of which 90% only exchanged a basic greeting before they moved on having found me utterly boring.

Well, some people have so evolved that they can fully express themselves lewdly in a chat window whilst getting themselves off on fantasies and unseemly stories - I own up, I am too underdeveloped for that kind of experience.

Since then I have managed and pruned my contact lists on MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and now my BlogScope to point-blogs from where I could navigate to other blogs.

As I write this, certain thinking blogs or content have gone into abeyance, like Ayoke's Exodus, her blogging stomping ground can no more be found, though it was at one time the front for a flower shop; Nkem at African Shirts has been quiet for over a month - I could not imagine a journalist going off blogging, well - then Ababoy went offline for a few months, by the time he returned, he probably spent hours thinking up a new name for his blog. It happens.

All these awards, just in case we all become irrelevant.

The Thinking Bloggers - few of the many

Chxta's World - Cheta is a young man in studying in the U.K. you can expect a thorough analysis of any topic he decides to write on. There seems to be an engineering precision in the way he finds balance for his opinions - I met him once when I was in the U.K. - I can learn a lot about Nigeria from him.

Chippla's Weblog: Thoughts on Issues - I can safely say that many blog readers who have read Chippla always wait for an objective opinion from Chippla to complete the perspective of any issue of discussion, especially when it comes to Nigeria and Nigerians. Like Chxta, he has an engineering background and writes with amazing clarity. His fascination for things that fly can be addictively interesting - Met him a few times, utterly pleasant company.

Jeremy at NaijaBlog - I cannot remember how I came across this blog, but this Englishman who has settled in Nigeria got me thinking about Nigeria and into a circle of interest about Nigeria that I had once lost. Does he provoke? You bet! Is he controversial? He could be. His philosopher head however does get you thinking on many levels. It is a pleasure to read him.

Black Looks - Sokari, her profile says, she lives in Spain. She covers hot-button topics about women, race, sexuality and social issues. Sometimes, I think she is too activist or left-wing for my sensibilities - is there something about opposites attract? - I find myself going back there to read and think. I like her stuff.

Cultural Miscellany's Katherine - A lady who is living an exciting life of changing careers, developing relationships and all those things that keep you sane and human. I have placed a few comments on her blog that reach deep down into my personal experiences - She makes me think, quite deeply too.

As usual, the chains in the blogging world are not supposed to break; the link has now been passed on to my selected thinkers to share their thoughts about other bloggers that make them think - Not more than 5 - Five is the number.

Seven things

This tagging business is becoming a fanciful fad of social networking or dare I say busy body snooping into other people's business.

I suppose if I now want to know anything about anyone, I only have to surreptitiously draw up my loaded questions and allow viral-tagging to get it out to person indirectly; ones patience would eventually be rewarded once the intended party unaware of the fact that they have been baited.

By the time you have read my blog from end to end, I doubt if I have anything else to say about me that I have not explicitly or implicitly documented, however, as the tagging tradition demands, I would humour Chxta with my responses.

Is it "blogally" acceptable to reserve the right not to be tagged?

1. I probably over-analyse every bit of information I receive, I view things like light coming out to me from a crystal, what you see depends on the angles you are viewing from; there is always so many perspectives to all sorts of things and because of this I can make assertions but try never to jump to conclusions - I am not perfect though.

2. I generally believe the best of people and expect the best of people, I have been disappointed many times, but something in me strives to understand why people are the way they are and find ways to accommodate them. I can be angry but never for long, I can hold a grudge but it exercises me too much, so it is better to find a way to rationalise and accommodate.

3. I sleep with my lights on and my television or radio on - my imagination and dreams are too vivid to be left to the unconstrained desires others to have a quiet and dark night to sleep. In fact, I cannot sleep if there is no sound about because my ears go into overdrive, I would pick up sounds miles away, if necessary.

4. Religion has been the main schism in my family; it affects my relationship with my parents to the extent that if I cannot cultivate a pragmatic understanding with them, I wonder how I can truly do that with an invisible realm. It drives my passion not to see anyone sacrificed to customs, traditions or religious allegiances just because that is what is always done. Religion has its purposes but I think I am becoming anti-religious.

5. I cannot say if I am addicted to sex, but I do not think I have been faithful, I moved on from "you are the only one" to "you are the best" a long time ago - we all have our needs.

6. I hate life-size statues of human-beings especially if I have to walk by those things at night; there is always this feeling that they would come alive. There is nothing beyond my imagination, I can visualise any situation and circumstance and see it all unfold like a slow-motion picture - sometimes, my mind can be my own horror movie which is why I never watch horror movies - I do not want that input.

7. I enjoy the company of young and old people who have something to say that inspires me; I used to collect quotations and sayings, I seem to try to find an analogy to every situation - it is a trait I have seen in wise people, proverbs have a deeper effect than just blurting out the words - calling a spade a spade.

I shall keep my counsel and tag no one else.

Yikes! I've been tagged

Tagged by Jeremy from Naijablog

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE

Laboratory Technician in a Brewery
Electrical Technician in a flour mill
Field Engineer - Computers
IT Systems Consultant

FOUR JOBS YOU WISH YOU HAD

One where I do not have to work in a month that contains an R
One where the other months which do not contain an R only requires me to think and talk from my island bordering the Canary Islands
Mentoring exciting people
International bon viveur

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN

{Gosh, I don’t watch that many films}
The Matrix – first one
Stargate
Crouching Tiger Flying Hidden Dragon
The Gladiator

FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN

Walsall
Jos
Lagos
London

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH

Yes, Minister
Blackadder
The Many Wives of Patrick
The Daily Show (Global Edition)

FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATIONHOLIDAY/TRAVELLED TO

{I’m English; I go on Holiday not on vacation}
Lisbon
Prague
Barcelona
Budapest

FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY

BBC News
Wikipedia
WhatReallyHappened
My BlogScope – section on my blog

FOUR OF YOUR FAVOURITE FOODS

Àsáró – Yam porridge
Farmer’s omelette
Peking Duck
Macadamia nut ice cream

FOUR THINGS YOU WON'T EAT

Sushi and Sashimi
Asparagus
Brussels sprouts
Pets

FOUR THINGS YOU WISH YOU COULD EAT OR DRINK RIGHT NOW

Steak and Kidney pie
Bread and Butter pudding
Venison with pears in a red sauce
Château Margaux 1993

FOUR THINGS IN YOUR BEDROOM

{Which one? I sleep in two but use the guestroom more than I use the master bedroom}

Television
Computer
Film Collection
Folded world map

FOUR THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD IN YOUR BEDROOM

A bell to call the butler
More space for waltzing or a fox trot
A floatation tank
A human teas maid

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW

A suit
Glasses
A Philip Starck watch designed for Fossil
Buckle shoes from Barkers

ONE PLACE I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

Burj Al Arab – in the best suite they can find

ONE FICTIONAL PLACE I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

Utopia?

FOUR PEOPLE YOU’LD REALLY LOVE TO HAVE DINNER WITH

Noam Chomsky
Tom Peters
A dream partner
Anita Baker

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW

How did I get lumbered with this?
How do I get my last module – Java out of the way and finish my masters?
How do I get someone to react to a problem I have been highlighting at work for quite a while in a reasonable manner?
When would I have finished answering this?

FOUR OF YOUR FAVOURITE THINGS/PEOPLE

Classical Music
The English countryside
Paris on the Seine
Zurich in the summer

FOUR PEOPLE TO TAG

Ayoke @ Exodus
Chippla’s World
Katherine @ Cultural Miscellany
Zeddie @ Rush3K Flashbacks

Sorry – You all happen to be in My BlogScope.