An extraordinaire display of wrandomness and wrecall
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
Here I sit at 12:30 Wednesday night, another Wrambling start the day before my official posting day but I’m wide awake after another disappointing St. Bonaventure “Bonnies”loss. As former Alfred State teaching colleague Gerry Vance’s dad would say: “If you wake up, get up. And when you get up, do something constructive.” Well, I’m constructing my post Valentines Day week Wrambling so I guess that counts. Oft-times I lay “a-bed,” and write things in my mind. I wasn’t the least bit weary, nor sleepy, so here I am, “constructing.”
As I have mentioned previously, the Bonnies attempt to compete with other equally talented A10 teams by matching the opponents 3-point shots with their 2-point shots isn’t working out. Scoring efficiency is about the same so Bonnies are already 1/3 shy of what they try to match up with. Bonnies lost, at home, by the score of 71-65; Well within the margin of difference. Despite Coach Schmidt’s longevity and previous successes, I think he is falling behind in coaching strategy, and/or in recruiting efficiency. Wrant over, I Wramble on.
I am suffering from an overly swollen ego lately, following numerous recent comments on my posts, the most recent of which is from a fellow Friendship Central School (FCS) student, a couple of years my junior. Rick Schwab, former FCS student, friend, and Olean Times Herald, and other national publications writer and editor, commented very positively today, and it means a lot to me. Rick is suffering from a physical/medical affliction these days and his writing has slowed down. In his “Hey Day” he was a very polished and nationally known writer. The Olean Times Herald and the Ligonier newspaper would not have been the same without him. Despite being senior to him, I learned a lot about writing from him and his published articles.
Stay tuned for Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) pending performance updates. I will offer more detail, without giving away our song list, in future writings. Matthew Morris, our director, is doing a great job getting us prepared for the upcoming Lenten season music.
As Arnold S. would say: “I’m Baaaack!” At this point I had Wrambled back to bed and despite a somewhat frustrated but dreamless sleep I gave up writing at about 2 AM and have now started by sipping my morning coffee. After a frustrated “musical practice” evening, followed by the loss of yet another winnable, but lost Bonnies game, I may have had a “beer or too” (many) before finally getting to restful sleep. I haven’t (yet) dared to ask my wife how badly I may have snored but maybe I escaped that avenue as she seems quite cheerful this morning.
My musical frustrations are compounded by my love for singing, and my lack of complete understanding… Yes! Even after all these years, of music theory standards and notations. In my schooling days of my early teens, I declined getting involved in Chorus or Band as I was playing drums in Tex Warner’s Allegany Ridge Runners country music “square dance” band. I didn’t need to know any more than the tunes I had in my head already having listened to my Mom singing them as she went about her normal weekend house cleaning chores. My mom worked a 40 (plus) hour per week job at Acme Electric first in Cuba, NY then relocating her work duties to Allegany when Acme opened a new plant there.
Why should I know any more about Formal music training. Drum players don’t need that.
As an aside to that, I did attempt to join the high school band early on but the music director (to remain nameless) said they didn’t need a drummer (his son was that) so I’d have to play a different instrument. I didn’t want to do that, so I turned my efforts elsewhere. Biggest mistake I had ever made then, and it haunts me to this day.
Fast forward from my first formal musical endeavors in the 70’s having joined the Wellsville Bicentennial Chorus in Wellsville in 1976.
Quoting from a knowledgeable source; “Based on local history records from Allegany County, New York, the group now known as the Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) was first organized in the fall of 1975 and began performing in 1976 under the name “The Wellsville Bicentennial Chorus”.
Original Name: The Wellsville Bicentennial Chorus (organized 1975–1976). Context: was created to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial and became known as the Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) in 1977.”
I have picked up bits and pieces of music theory over the years, including even starting to take piano lessons from Sue Hyde in the 80’s, but am still confused and not musically “literate” regarding terminology and more importantly “symbology.” It hasn’t been very long that I could tell a “Coda” from a “Code Red.” Here are a couple of traditional symbols that still cause me some confusion. One of these two symbols is named a “Brace” and the other is called a “Bracket.”I know…
How do I know that? Because I just copied the illustrations from a Wikipedia source. Having not copied the titles with them, due to my lack of proper editing skills, I lost the items names so couldn’t even now tell you which is which.
I know…I could cheat and look them up again but that defeats the spirit and purpose of my confession.
Those last few paragraphs with symbols took me over an hour to accomplish considering time to find the graphics and: copy, paste, rearrange and insert them where they made sense. You could not afford me as a secretary as it takes me hours to do what a good one could do in minutes, even if it took that long. Who am I going to please with the above section? Me!
To whom do I owe the Sun illustration rights to? Me! (And my boss Andrew of course 💕).
At this point I haven’t even consulted my topics notebook as the topic, nor was any of this information on my agenda. I’d better step it up as I have three more pages worth of topics to write. Breathe easily, I can always push some of it forward to next week’s Wrambling, or if the mood strikes me, and Andrew has a gap in his formulated schedule, can accommodate an extra edition.
Then again, I can consult my “Zoom Workplace One Drive.” That bold print implant is a copied image from my files search results. For some reason I have been overtaken by Zoom and it is invading any, and everything I write. It is on my devices and I did not (knowingly) invite it.
I have tried in vain to get rid of Zoom notations and/or the app or link, or whatever is, or they are. I will take my computer to its source of purchase Wellsville Computers and I’m hopeful that Rob can either educate me on how to get rid of it, (Zoom, not my computer) or clean my device(s) by himself.
Does anyone want a stray or local “tom”cat? We are now being “blessed” with the odor emanating from a cat that visits our back deck nocturnally, recently. For a couple of years now there has been a dark colored grayish cat that wanders across our yard “in passing.” I have seen signs that it goes under our shed or the decking that wraps partially around our swimming pool, but it has never been a problem. I think it must be a female, or neutered male. Only over the past week or two have we noticed this “Spray…err Stray…cat. The odor is nauseating and I need to wash the house “siding” down almost every day. I now have a “live trap” set up to try and catch it. What I will do with it to dispose of it I’m not sure; but it will be humane and hopefully legal. Hopefully the storied song term: “Cat’s in a cradle,” can be re-written as “Cat’s in a live trap” (cha,cha,cha).
Now onto my intended topics. Most can be added as “Bullets” and if needed can be expanded in my next Wrambling.
Amazon must have some kind of “trapping” set up that monitors our Kindle and Laptop usage. Oft times when I write or share something on Facebook I start getting unwanted, or unsolicited ads that pop up in other things that I am doing, or even in my emails. I can understand that I am quite visible online, but, my wife isn’t. I never use her Kindle device, nor does she go on “public sites” ANYWHERE, other than her QVC items. That must be her “trigger” as she gets almost as many “device implants” as I do. It is very annoying.
For the past several years I have been wearing a single earring pretty much 24/7. I match the theme of what I’m doing, or where I am going as I have a “studded cross” for church activities and a couple of different musical symbol earrings, worn when I’m going to Church Choir or GVC events or practices. I don’t recall exactly when I started wearing one but it was picked up from one of my off spring doing the same. Something like 25 or 30 years ago, I guess. Is it feminine? I don’t know; you’ll have to ask the old-time Pirates that did it. They, specifically the men, were a very colorful group from history. Present day the women dress colorfully, and the men are somewhat subdued and less colorful, at least mostly. I was a product of the 60’s having been born in 1945 and lived through the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and so far, beyond that and still “keep on truckin,” or “chuckin” (I hope). I have received many compliments and comments and if there are those who think it’s too feminine, they have at least been respectfully silent and not commented. Presently I have the music symbol earring in as Tuesday night was GVC and last night (Wednesday) was Grace United Church choir practice
I had (have) a new poem I planned to share but given the abundance of picturesque type additions herein I most likely will overfill my gap or space utilization in the in the Wellsville Sun.
On my most recent trip to Olean I jumped off I86 at the Cuba exit and visited the Cuba Cheese.
My final topic and comments will refer to the Cuba Cheese Shoppe, as shown in their advertisement photo included herein. For some reason I had a hankering for their Cheese Curd. Yes, there are several brands of this available, including their own, but I wanted the “really fresh” product. That was day before yesterday and the whole pound I bought is now history. I guess I’m going to have to invent a reason to go that way, maybe for gas at “The Res” or a Walmart run. Speaking of gas…The price at the “Res” is usually about 20¢ below other local gas stations. Unfortunately, they base their comparison for pricing options on Catt County (Olean) prices, which have been, oddly, at least 15¢ higher than Allegany County gasoline outlets.
I once again leave you, hesitantly I might add, with the invitation to reach out to me at IM.Wiserdad@Gmail.com. I appreciate those who have done so and recently, particularly those who have commented to me, in person at places like Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC), or the Grace United Church.
My closing was just interrupted when my wife reached toward me with a chunk of the QVC Cinnamon/Raisin bread and it was absolutely joyous provoking. Picture my with my “eyes closed turning my head left and right showing my appreciation…To her and for the bite of bread.
