Happy Birthdays!
Well, it is a bit past my birthday, but it was a good one, and seems to be going strong still. Chad, Charles, and I got together last night to celebrate each other's existence, and I think we did a fine job. Before I get to that however, I should like to send out a most sincere note of thanks to me mum for, well, being me mum, but also for the generous Amazon.com gift card she gave me. It, in turn, helped me to acquire a couple of new books and CDs. Somehow this blog has turned into my ramblings about neuroscience and reviewing movies, books and CDs, so, if you're reading this, this should come as no surprise.
Anyway, while I've not tucked into it yet, the first of my purchases was of a recently published biography of Donald Coxeter, and American mathematician and geometer, written by Siobhan Roberts. I've always had a thing for geometry, despite how abstracted, how un-empirical it is, if you will. Quite looking forward to this read. Next I scooped up a book by Gyorgy Buzsaki titled Rhythms of the Brain, in which may be found the culmination of his work on neural oscillators, and populations of neurons firing synchronously. Naturally, any connection between neuroscience and rhythm was bound to catch my attention. I'm not too far in yet, but it seems to be written well enough, and there are heaps of notes and citations from which to hurtle myself should the need arise. I'll keep you posted, but so far so good.
It just wouldn't be a birthday without some new tune-age, so I treated myself to a disc I've long been hoping to add to my collection: Money Jungle, by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. If you dig jazz at all, you'll know that these are some fantastic musicians; not just excellent on their respective instruments, but adept composers as well. Upon my fourth listen it continues to exceed my expectations, and I suspect it will be one of those albums I'll return to with some regularity. Top-notch.
As if all this weren't enough, Caralyn made me PIE and got me a fabulous Lego tee shirt (no, not one made out of Legos, rather, featuring a nerdy little Lego rocker-dude with a half-stack). Thanks! Mad thanks go out to Elliot for Blade Runner, Charles for the X-Men and the sweet tunes, to Chad for dooming me to innumerable days of electronic joy via a Gamecube, and to Chris for the delicious teas (I have been savouring each). It was a motherlode year, and while that's pretty sweet, it's been greater still to have spent these past few weeks with my friends. The band went out for dinner before our last show, and it was just cool to be together; Mom and Jim came to town that same weekend, and Chad, Elise, Eleanor, and Caralyn and I all got to spend some time over dinner together as well; I certainly value my time to myself, but friends are good, and I'm really glad I got a chance just to be with you all.
With greatest affection and thanks,
Paul
Anyway, while I've not tucked into it yet, the first of my purchases was of a recently published biography of Donald Coxeter, and American mathematician and geometer, written by Siobhan Roberts. I've always had a thing for geometry, despite how abstracted, how un-empirical it is, if you will. Quite looking forward to this read. Next I scooped up a book by Gyorgy Buzsaki titled Rhythms of the Brain, in which may be found the culmination of his work on neural oscillators, and populations of neurons firing synchronously. Naturally, any connection between neuroscience and rhythm was bound to catch my attention. I'm not too far in yet, but it seems to be written well enough, and there are heaps of notes and citations from which to hurtle myself should the need arise. I'll keep you posted, but so far so good.
It just wouldn't be a birthday without some new tune-age, so I treated myself to a disc I've long been hoping to add to my collection: Money Jungle, by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. If you dig jazz at all, you'll know that these are some fantastic musicians; not just excellent on their respective instruments, but adept composers as well. Upon my fourth listen it continues to exceed my expectations, and I suspect it will be one of those albums I'll return to with some regularity. Top-notch.
As if all this weren't enough, Caralyn made me PIE and got me a fabulous Lego tee shirt (no, not one made out of Legos, rather, featuring a nerdy little Lego rocker-dude with a half-stack). Thanks! Mad thanks go out to Elliot for Blade Runner, Charles for the X-Men and the sweet tunes, to Chad for dooming me to innumerable days of electronic joy via a Gamecube, and to Chris for the delicious teas (I have been savouring each). It was a motherlode year, and while that's pretty sweet, it's been greater still to have spent these past few weeks with my friends. The band went out for dinner before our last show, and it was just cool to be together; Mom and Jim came to town that same weekend, and Chad, Elise, Eleanor, and Caralyn and I all got to spend some time over dinner together as well; I certainly value my time to myself, but friends are good, and I'm really glad I got a chance just to be with you all.
With greatest affection and thanks,
Paul
posted by P. Robinson at 4:31 PM
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