| 5 MOST RECENT ENTRIES: |
| 1/27/09: Death Valley Days
1/24/09: Oh, My... 12/31/08: Resolution Revolution 12/18/08: 12/9/08: Note |
| Site Journal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Here at romyb.comHey, welcome to the site! Although the pace of activity has slowed since our heady early days, most of the semi-daily action is in the blog/journal beginning just below, and in the gallery. Despite the fact that this site isn't very commercially oriented, my business is indeed making and selling flutes, and there are always a few on hand and available for sale. Custom orders are also welcomed, since whatever might be immediately salable on Day X is a mere peep in the orchestra of possibilities: I've made flutes in just about every size, type and key imaginable and am willing to tackle even -- especially -- the most unlikely commissions. Since there are so many tangible and intangible variables from flute to flute, no price list exists. Tangible variables include the specific feature set such as size, scale, lip plate material (or no lip plate), dark-scorched finish or natural bamboo, etc, etc. Intangibles, which are harder to predict or qualify, lie mostly in each instrument's musical characteristics. For me, what keeps working with bamboo interesting is that each piece has its own distinctly individual character, to a much greater degree than other flutemaking materials such as wood, metal or (gasp) plastic. Sometimes the most promising-looking pieces yield a so-so instrument, while others of seemingly little distinction give fantastic musical results. So despite two-plus decades' experience, it's still a fresh revelation when each new flute rolls off the bench. As for the prices, let's just say that the typical range runs from more than a decent toaster to less than a digital SLR camera. There are exceptions, so more details on request! This introductory section is being revised in early December 2008 for the first time in about three or four years. We'll tweak and expand it a bit more before the year's end, and also resolve to keep it more dynamically evolving in the future, with relatively frequent revisions. Hope you enjoy your site visit; see you again soon! --rb, 12/3/08
January 27, 2009
Leaving in an hour for Death Valley. We'll roll those five thousand blog words over into February, so ten thousand it is for next month!
Posted by Romy
10:52 AM PST
January 24, 2009
I'd resolved to submit 5,000 Journal words in January, which would require averaging nearly a grand per day henceforth in order to meet that quota. Hey, no problem! This has been a winter of unprecedented hibernation hereabouts, but now that a glimmer of consciousness has re-emerged it should be simple to catch up. There are also two or three months' worth of unread and unanswered email to deal with-- but when we're stalled we're stalled, and when we're rollin', we're rollin'. Sorry for the stale email, all! I promise to look at it tomorrow. --r.
Posted by Romy
01:10 AM PST
December 31, 2008
The new year begins in just over three hours in this time zone, so let's throw down some serious resolve. For starters, how about 5,000 words in the Journal for January 2009, just for old times' sake? Believe it or not, that was about average at our peak of irrelevant irreverence a year or two ago, so I'll shoot to match that over the coming month just to see what happens. Countdown! --r.
Posted by Romy
08:54 PM PST
December 18, 2008
I've been rather dispirited by the recent paralysis of this site's interactive functionality due to spam-scum. Not that we've ever had a large number of comments, but it was always nice to know that someone was out there reading this stuff, especially when long-familiar names showed up in response to one of these absurd riffs. Those occasional small validations were enough to inspire further wordy nonsense, but that scenario's dead now. First to succumb were comments on gallery pictures, but the plague is now much worse, with every single blog entry inevitably infested. So, let's blame spammers for the lack of motivation that's reduced this Journal to a tiny fraction of its former output. Sure, this is getting tiresome since spam-victimization rants now dominate our sad and sparse discourse... but man, do I hate spammers! What utterly useless, creativity-stunting wastes of protoplasm. Just watch: we'll leave the comments open, and within a day or two they'll be here. Is there any way to go after those people in appropriate scorched-earth retaliation? Mid-December has brought a blast of wintry weather to Portland, Oregon, and it looks like we'll be well below freezing for most of the next week. I've been to the studio exactly once since returning from the Amsterdam to Africa trip and this weather isn't helping, since we tend to avoid the roads in icy weather and just hunker down at the Swamp Shack. So no new flutes have emerged from the Complex in a couple of months -- I make and sell bamboo flutes, have you heard? -- but there are still quite a few nice ones waiting for adoption, and perhaps I'll even muster the motivation to take a few pictures and promote them soon. Now fire away, spam-scum! --rb
December 9, 2008
I've finally posted some Africa pictures in the Personal Pictures gallery section, beginning at the bottom of page 11 and continuing through p. 14. (Those pages don't actually show when you first navigate to the PP gallery section, since only ten at a time are displayed in the menu.) There are so many other worthy shots that could be posted, and we haven't even gotten to Zanzibar -- or to Amsterdam for that matter -- in what's there so far. So there'll probably be a couple or three more trip pages popping up in the gallery soon. Remember, this is a bamboo flute site! Bamboo flutes rock! No comments allowed from now on, because the spam has gotten completely out of control to the point that it's not worth struggling any more. You win, spam-scum! Death penalty.
Posted by Romy
10:48 PM PST
December 3, 2008
What do you know: I just revised the intro section immediately above for the first time in several years! It's still somewhat skimpy and lame and should see further changes over the next few days. Gee, maybe real change is possible, with many new leaves to turn over-- that is, in addition to the non-figurative ones that still haven't been raked out of the back yard in the three weeks we've been back from Europe and Africa. Still waiting for that first really big windstorm, and there are noticeably more leaves still in the trees than is typical for this time of year. --r.
Posted by Romy
05:44 PM PST
We've reached the bleak December here in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but the winter solstice is less than three weeks away. After that we'll inch toward the brighter side of life again, mates! Always good to look on the bright side at every opportunity. Not that there's anything wrong with winter: it won't officially arrive until the solstice, and for now I'm still harvesting plenty of chard, kale, collards, arugula, mustard greens and other leafy goods from the garden, and digging late-season carrots. We've stored scores of pounds of summer potatoes and a bountiful supply of winter squash, which should easily last until February's first springlike days coax forth the first spurts of renewed growth. And next year's late-sown garlic, leeks and assorted baby greens already flaunt their perennially optimistic nature in the garden, still growing at a sluggish but perceptible rate even at this late date. What would life be without change? Change is the very essence of our earthly existence, and although we've often belied that reality with frequent empty promises of sweeping website improvements followed by years of stagnation, this too can... change! I'll finally post a good number of Amsterdam and Africa pictures in the next few days, and perhaps we'll get rid of some of the staler Gallery pictures. But that's easy, and real progress is much harder. On its current platform, this site is pretty much dead as an interactive forum. Believe it or not, I formerly posted thousands of bloggy words per month and individual entries often attracted ten or more comments: tiny by Internet standards of course, but nonetheless significant. That's all gone now, largely thanks to spammers. It's quite dispiriting to spend an hour or two carefully crafting semi-coherent -- but possibly entertaining or even enlightening -- daily material, only to see it overrun by ads for erectile aids and the like, which have completely crowded out worthwhile feedback. We'll leave this entry open to comments until the first spam arrives, which shouldn't take long. Actually, rather than completely closing those "terrorist" waterboarding sites, we should probably repurpose them as spammer re-education camps. Off now to write my new Senator... rb
Posted by Romy
01:08 AM PST
November 28, 2008
Sorry that the last couple of months have been slow beyond precedent here at the Complex, but we're fixing to get much more active again soon. I've long intended to post pictures from our recent Amsterdam to Africa trip -- we've been back for almost three weeks -- but there are so many photos, and I'm still not quite finished editing and preparing them. It didn't seem quite appropriate to throw up random images before the entire lot was properly scrutinized, since the trip was so *impressive* in the broadest personal sense: it was my very first foray beyond the Western and Northern hemispheres, and the Africa leg in particular was incredibly revelatory. I've read many and probably most issues of National Geographic over the past forty years, and it's still possible to step right into those pages, so to speak, to a degree which was vividly startling and surprising, both in terms of both the natural world and the human social sphere. Not that there's any real distinction between the two when you get down to it... Anyhoo, much more on impressions of the trip coming within the week, with many accompanying photos. We'll also try to revivify the flute racket soon. Flutes are good, and they certainly served as a useful icebreaking tool on the trip. --r.
Posted by Romy
09:53 PM PST
November 15, 2008
Pardon me for the long lapse in updates, but since our return from the big A it's been difficult to think of much else. What an incredible experience, especially in light of recent political events... has the word "kaleidoscopic" been fatally overused on this site yet? In a more sobering vein, comments on this site are officially dead. Too much spam shows up within scant minutes, so that's disabled for the moment. But hey, what happened to all the "cold" inquiries about currently-available flutes? Y'all have my email address, right? --r.
Posted by Romy
11:07 PM PST
November 11, 2008
We've been back from Africa for just over 24 hours, and I'm preoccupied with thoughts of what might be different on a second visit. For one thing, a better grasp of rudimentary Swahili -- or more properly, Kiswahili -- would be a tremendous advantage. It's not a difficult language in comparison to English, and its adoption as the lingua franca for much of East Africa was based largely on its inherent simplicity. After all, many if not most of Tanzania's residents who use Swahili as the language of everyday social interaction and commerce speak it as a second language: Tanzania is home to more than 120 different tribal groups, each with its own native tongue, and Swahili serves as their commonly adopted linguistic bond. English is also an officially recognized Tanzanian language, especially in the realms of higher education, government, and big-time commerce. Although we met many citizens with a basic command of English -- that is, at least a hundred to a thousand times better than our Swahili -- only a few were truly fluent in E-speak. --But all of this is just geeky babble. That tiny swath of Africa we visited was far more kaleidoscopically impressive than I could have imagined in advance, and I'm just beginning to sort through those indelible impressions. And the photos-- it'll take weeks to organize and post them, and I only wish that there were a hundred times more, taken with a better camera. Not that mere pictures could do justice to the real-time experience. OK, more soon. Six more days of malaria pills to counter the bite of the DEADLY ANOPHELES MOSQUITO, and we'll be home free... we hope. See y'all again soon! --r.
Posted by Romy
01:03 AM PST
November 5, 2008
My friends, it's an unbelievable privilege to be in Africa today. I've been roaming the narrow streets of Stonetown in Zanzibar this morning, and the electricity -- the figurative kind -- is amazing! (The literal electricity is a bit more spotty, but that's another story.) If I had a red, white and blue-striped shirt it'd be ON right now. Back soon! WOW WOW WOW!
Posted by Romy
12:22 AM PST
October 27, 2008
Holy mackerel, we've already spent about ten million Tanzanian shillings today here in Arusha. Well, maybe it wasn't quite that much; I'm still having trouble getting the figures straight. Should get easier by tomorrow or so... after all, this is our first full day in Africa and it's been kaleidoscopically overwhelming in a way, but nice. Man, is this place REAL. Off on the Mt. Meru trek first thing tomorrow morning, so it'll be at least three days till I get a chance to check in again. --r.
Posted by Romy
06:11 AM PST
October 23, 2008
Mostly wholesome news today: biking, cheese and wine shopping and museum-going. My earlier apprehension about joining those surging, anarchic hordes of bike riders was for naught: cycling in Amsterdam is a total gas, man! You've just got to swallow the fear and dive in, and the sense of reckless abandonment is quite exhilarating. The experience was further enhanced by a small nibble of Also visited the Van Gogh museum today-- last night I learned for the first time how to pronounce "Van Gogh." Van is pronounced as approximately rhyming with the English "Ron," and "Gogh" is pronounced... like... well, sorta like "Hghoaggh," but with more of an uvular fibrilllation and a dash of guttural adenoization. More Amsterdam news tomorrow! --r.
Posted by Romy
09:20 AM PST
October 22, 2008
After two days of wandering relatively cluelessly around Amsterdam, we met up with some Dutch friends today who showed us a few interesting things we'd have missed otherwise. Also got the chance to put up a few quick photos with their computer, which are at the end of gallery page 11. That may be the last chance to post trip photos until after the Africa leg of our trip, so it could be a couple of weeks before more appear. Presumably the African segment will feature less, um, indulgence. (Next morning) Despite the repeated references to "space cake" and spirits, we're not really out of control here-- all in good fun. Today's the day to brave rental bikes, and we certainly can't afford to be impaired in any way for that. Biking in this city really is an alarming-looking activity for the uninitiated, so we'll see how that goes... That old, old bar we visited yesterday was just the greatest place: now that's what I call Oude School! The place is tiny, and there's no seating; one stands about socializing with the locals and knocking back spirits and ales on weathered planks that have borne the boots of countless generations of Dutch revellers. --r.
Posted by Romy
10:31 AM PST
If you don't hear from me again it probably means I was killed here in Amsterdam. We're renting bicycles today, and I'm genuinely concerned about the apparent chaos on the streets and sidewalks: thousands of bicycles and motorscooters careening madly in every direction while weaving randomly among teeming pedestrians, cars and trucks. To my American eye there's practically no organizational pattern to all this-- traffic lights are rare and stop or yield signs don't seem to exist; it's all much more Darwinian than anything seen in the States. Oh well, we'll see how it goes. Definitely will have to lay off the space cake for now, though: the perils of Amsterdam biking will be plentiful enough without pharmacological complications. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:20 AM PST
October 21, 2008
OK, I'm in Amsterdam. So far I haven't been able to figure out a way to get pictures posted; we didn't bring a laptop after all. It'll be too bad if that can't be done in real time. but I'll keep you posted on that. Otherwise, between here and Africa there'll be a huge post-trip image dump in mid-November. The tobacco and card shop downstairs from our apartment has a couple of Internet terminals, which is quite convenient. However, just now I tried to send a couple of flute pictures to someone, and on this computer the general file-management instructions -- you know, such as "save in folder X" or whatever after right-clicking on an image -- are in Dutch! I couldn't even figure out how to forward a picture out of my email account because of that. Oh well, at least pretty much everyone speaks English here, so I can get help later if desperate. Anyway, more updates in a day or two, perhaps after I've tried the space cake in the corner coffehouse. --r.
Posted by Romy
01:36 AM PST
October 10, 2008
My, much doom and gloom floats now about the fluteosphere! A disturbance I sense in the Farce of our national discourse, and who can say where lead this will? Named must your fear be before banish it you can, so play or play not... there is no "try." Admittedly, there is a pestilence upon this land. Nothing is sacred. Even those who play and design bamboo flutes are under considerable economic stress at this period in history. And bamboo flutes are my trade: I am a fluter. My name is Romy the Fluter. I play, design, and sell flutes. But stick to my path I shall, and so should ye: now is the time to begin a new musical quest if doubts you have had, for a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and moments of danger present the greatest opportunity. Not to say that you won't get your hair mussed, but I do promise no more than ten to twenty years' worth of practice required, tops... uh, depending on the breaks. So get going and buy a flute-- and it doesn't even have to be one of mine, Grasshopper. If worse comes to worst, it'll at least make good kindling upon a midnight dreary in the bleak December. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:18 PM PST
October 9, 2008
Whoa, there was a very light dusting of frost on the Swamp Shack grass this morning. I don't remember the last time that happened around here in early October, and we usually don't see frost until quite late in the month. Time to get those houseplants back indoors, if indeed it isn't too late already! The garden's looking good, and I've been busy getting in the cool-weather veggies for autumn through early spring harvest. One nice thing about this climate is that twelve-month gardening is possible with the right timing and plant-variety selection. Other than that, madness reigns as we attempt to prepare for the European/African trip coming up all too soon. Back with more in the next few hours... 48 or fewer, that is. --r.
Posted by Romy
11:24 AM PST
October 3, 2008
This morning I answered the phone for the first time in about three months-- well, at the studio, anyway. The line had been disconnected since the relocation and downsizing hassle weeks and weeks ago; the land-dude assured me in the early going that he'd handle the necessary rewiring and that it would be no problem. Well, that only took about eleven weeks: it wasn't until last Monday or so that everything was back online. Since then, I've hardly visited the studio until this morning, when the phone rang-- and was actually picked up!
So there you have it: don't bother calling until about early January, since I seldom check the voicemail either. I really loathe phones, and come to think of it the more ubiquitous those blasted cell phones get the stronger such loathing grows. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:08 PM PST
October 2, 2008
By popular demand... naaah, just kidding. It does seem like months have passed since any comments other than noxious spam have appeared, and those "zomby" moose and ferrets stirred up some action for a change. Why bother with flutes anymore? Not that I've actually written about flutes much of late, come to think of it. However, it shouldn't be long before spammers start strafing that earlier entry with maddeningly repetitive persistence. After a few days it'll grow tiresome deleting it and I'll be forced to close comments for that entry, as has happened with most other frontpage entries. Unfortunately there's no way to block further comments while also preserving the legit submissions, far as I know. Less than three weeks 'til we take off for Europe and Tanzania-- yikes! Sure a lot of things to do in preparation for that, so at this rate it may be mid-November before much happens onsite. Heck, it may be 2009 or 2010 before we make any significant leaf-turns, but that's old news to anyone familiar with this joint: we run on grass-standard time.* --r. __ *That's grass as in bamboo, of course: no '60s-'70s pot slang intended.
Posted by Romy
12:03 PM PST
September 30, 2008
Must admit that I was a bit confused by all the machinations and shenanigans behind the recent 700 billion "bailout" debacle. However, a recent comment on one of my regularly visited blogs did a good job of outlining the REAL story behind the scenes: THE RANTOUL ILLINOS PRESS ONCE AGAIN SHOWS IT IS THE ONLY BRAVERY IN THE FACE OF THE MENNECE OF TEH FUCHING FERRETS. THEY ARE BRAKEING A STORY ABOUT HOW JOHN MCCANE WAS GOING TO STEEL THE BAILOUT MONEY AND ATTEMPT TO BRIBE TEH FUCHING FERRETS INTO NOT GANAWING HIS FACE OFF AND FOR THARE ASSISTANCE IN SEIZING THE IRANIAN EYELINER DEPOSITS. HU JINTAO AND ED MACMANN WERE SCHEDULED TO PRESENT A GIANT CHECK FOR 700 BILLION DOLLARS TO GEORGE BUSCH FOR THE BALEOUT. JOHN MCCANE WAS GOING TO APPEAR TO CLAIM CREDIT FOR FILLING OUT THE PUBLISHERS CLEARING HOSE SWEEPSTEAKS FORM THAT MADE THE BALEOUT HAPPEN. WHEN THE EVENT WAS OVER JOHN MCCANE WAS GOING TO TAKE THE CHECK AND SAY HE WAS GOING TO PUT IT IN HIS OFFICE FOR SAFE KEEPING. HE WOULD THEN DUCK OUT THE BACK DOOR AND INTO THE BED OF JOE LEIBERMENS EL CAMINO AND COVER HIMSELF WITH A SURPLUS FEMA TARP AND BE DRIVEN TO A SECRET MEATING WITH TEH FUCHING FERRETS. THE REAL SURPRISE WAS THE DOUBLE CROSS. TOD PALING WOULD HAVE KNOCKED LEIBERMEN AND MCCANE UNCONSCIES WITH AN EMPTY BOTTLE OF OLE GRAND DAD AND DRIVEN HIM TO THE CHEEPEST MOTEL IN RANTOUL ILLINOS WHERE TEH FUCHING FERRETS WERE WAITING. ON THE WAY HE WAS GOING TO PULL OFF THE INTERSTATE IN PESOTUM ILLINOS WHERE SARA PALING WOULD BE WAITING TO TAKE THE BALEOUT CHECK. SHE WOULD USE THE CHECK TO PAY OFF THE NOTE THE CHINEASE HAVE ON ALASKA AND DELCEAR INDEPENDANCE AND CROWN HERSELF QUEEN OF ALASKA. SHE WOULD THEN DON HER POLER BEAR PELT AND LEAD AN INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES BY RUNNING SCREEMING ACROSS THE BOARDER WITH THE SEVERED HEAD OF VLADIMER PUTIN IN ONE HAND AND A MOOSE FEMUR SPEAR IN THE OTHER. HER ARMY OF ZOMBY MOOSE WOULD HAVE FOLLOWED HER AND SET UP AN ARMAGEDDAN LIKE BATTLE WITH THE HORDES OF TEH FUCHING FERRETS ON THE PLAINS OF NORTH DAKOTA. SINCE TEH FUCHING FERRETS WOULD BE ENRAGED AT BEING STIFFED OUT OF 700 BILLION DOLLARS ZOMBY MOOSE WOULD BE NO MATCH EVEN LEAD BY A SHRIEKING QUEEN OF ALASKA Thank goodness for the Internet and its intrepid denizens who are dedicated to ferreting out the Truth about these stories! --r.
Posted by Romy
07:04 PM PST
September 29, 2008
Another long dry spell 'round the site while we cram in a few late-summer and early autumn outdoor activities. Here's last weekend's campsite in the Three Sisters Wilderness, central Oregon, just a couple hours' backpacking in:  The weather was gorgeous, but it got COLD at night up there, with a hard frost and ice forming on the creek edges. Then, upon returning to Portland we were greeted with record high temperatures: 89 F. today! That'll provide a last surge of prime of garden-ripe tomatoes, so I'm down with it. Anyway, back again within a day or two. --r. (Postscript) Two spam "comments" appeared within a few hours of posting this, so comments have been disabled, which has happened on nearly every current Journal entry. I generally disfavor the death penalty but will happily allow an exception for spammers. Are there any less useful creatures on the entire planet?
Posted by Romy
08:37 PM PST |
