This was week a Company O. that I found both quiet and tiring. I've been testing and modifying software all week, trying to arrive at a configuration that works as I want it to. This is a process not unlike re-building an automobile engine. You get a bunch of parts, use some tools to connect them together in a certain way, then one day you get in the car, turn the ignition, and see what happens. Sometimes something goes horribly wrong, as there is a loud screech and a crash... and you know that you'll need to start over once the dust clears. Other times nothing happens at all, and you're left wondering what you missed or what you need to adjust. Finally, the engine will run and uneasily sputter along for a bit once in a while, and you know that things are basically ok except for some tuning.
The early part of the week was dominated by screeching and crashing, leaving me with some pieces to pick up. The crashes would generally occur after the software in question would run for a couple hours. It all made me rather tense. I kept thinking "will it crash this time? will it be ok? please let it be ok!" I bothered to chew my fingernails, they would have been ugly little nubs after this week.
Fortunately, it's all come out well in the end. I was able to complete a successful test just a few minutes ago. The only lingering concern is that the delays caused by my failures got someone else working on doing the same thing. They finished slightly ahead of me... and I hope this doesn't make me look bad.
One good thing about this week activities is that it put me in the mood for some hard driving music to listen to while waiting for tests to finish. It got me back in touch with the heavy metal part of my CD collection -- Black Sabbath's Dehumanizer, Anthrax's Sound of White Noise, Corrosion of Conformity's Deliverance, Candlemass' Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, and Danzig's Danzig III: How The Gods Kill. I didn't have a chance to dig out any Metallica or Voivod.
It's been a few years since I listened to some of these discs... so long that I think that if Mrs. Geek heard me playing them at home, she'd say "what are you listening to???"
Looking back, I can't really say why they've been gathering dust for so long.
I've always been drawn to the rhythmic complexity of good metal music -- and when I say "good", I don't mean Warrant, Winger, Motley Crue, or any of the hair metal bands of 80's. I think I associated the music too much with adolescent and post-adolescent angst... something I've been feeling rather separated from for a while now. Yet, as I listen to Ronnie James Dio and Tommy Io go at it on "Master Of Insanity", I remember that there's something much more musically complex going on -- especially in light of all the three chord punk and post punk that people have been playing since Dehumanizer came out.
Does this mean that every day will be a heavy metal day for me? No. I think it does mean that they'll get a place in the iPod rotation more often from now on though.
Anyone got any recent old school metal favorites? It might be nice to expand my collection.
said drgeek
on 2005-02-04 at 3:45 p.m.
|
The Wayback Machine - To Infinity And Beyond
|