Year in Review
Dec. 31st, 2017 12:56 amI'm trying to write a bit more, but I also don't want to be a giant bummer. Currently these things are in conflict. I'm just sad all the time now.
My job is steady, but so entirely unchallenging I die a little inside every time I go into work. I am however, *VERY* thankful they are a 9-5 gig, and fairly lenient with their holidays/PTO. This allows me to spend more time with Bill, and he's not doing so great these days. At least his physical health is doing quite well.
My mum dying in October was a pretty big bummer, but we're not a close family. It still hasn't really hit me in anything but an intellectual way — So I wait for that shoe to drop. My father isn't doing all that well with the new situation. On the plus side, he *is* progressing through the stages of grief. He's currently in Depression, and possible coming out the other end of that. His eating/sleeping habits are still sub-optimal, but they seem better than what they were back in October. Physically, he's not doing particularly well either, but it's probably been years since he's seen a GP.
Michael, my 'hetero lifemate' moved to Utah, I think in November. I'm actually really happy for him. He was born and grew up here, so I'm glad he's decided to try out a different space. He's a huge fan of the National Parks, and I'm sure he's itching to bring the Road King out there this spring. That said, my standing dinner/movie dates with him obviously don't happen anymore, and consequently, I'm staying home more often. It's nice to hang with Bill, but I also need some time away. I can still do it, but my current state of being just makes me want to stay in and hermit.
I'm consuming an awful lot of 'stuff', yet making very little. That's not something I'm used to. I used to enjoy making things, doing things, trying new things. Now, it's all I can do to wake up and do the routine that's asked of me. I'm listening to some amazing music — but not making any. Seeing great films, but not making any. Even my gym schedule is all bollocksed up at this point.
Depression sucks, kiddies. Don't try it at home.
So yeah, I'm just kinda venting into the void.
My job is steady, but so entirely unchallenging I die a little inside every time I go into work. I am however, *VERY* thankful they are a 9-5 gig, and fairly lenient with their holidays/PTO. This allows me to spend more time with Bill, and he's not doing so great these days. At least his physical health is doing quite well.
My mum dying in October was a pretty big bummer, but we're not a close family. It still hasn't really hit me in anything but an intellectual way — So I wait for that shoe to drop. My father isn't doing all that well with the new situation. On the plus side, he *is* progressing through the stages of grief. He's currently in Depression, and possible coming out the other end of that. His eating/sleeping habits are still sub-optimal, but they seem better than what they were back in October. Physically, he's not doing particularly well either, but it's probably been years since he's seen a GP.
Michael, my 'hetero lifemate' moved to Utah, I think in November. I'm actually really happy for him. He was born and grew up here, so I'm glad he's decided to try out a different space. He's a huge fan of the National Parks, and I'm sure he's itching to bring the Road King out there this spring. That said, my standing dinner/movie dates with him obviously don't happen anymore, and consequently, I'm staying home more often. It's nice to hang with Bill, but I also need some time away. I can still do it, but my current state of being just makes me want to stay in and hermit.
I'm consuming an awful lot of 'stuff', yet making very little. That's not something I'm used to. I used to enjoy making things, doing things, trying new things. Now, it's all I can do to wake up and do the routine that's asked of me. I'm listening to some amazing music — but not making any. Seeing great films, but not making any. Even my gym schedule is all bollocksed up at this point.
Depression sucks, kiddies. Don't try it at home.
So yeah, I'm just kinda venting into the void.
Some Good News for a Change
Nov. 17th, 2017 11:04 pmWith my mum's memorial behind me, I'm starting to get on with life. Of course, my life involves Bill, and he's going through some cognitive difficulties. He's pretty good with the long term stuff, but the short term is pretty shot at this rate. Some days are better than others, but the rate of repeated conversations is increasing. And the other day, we spent the night in the ER, as he was having some chest pains.
It turns out, it was probably heartburn. He's never had it before, but he also doesn't normally eat a lot of rich food right before bed. he suggested we go to the ER once the sensation wasn't abating, even after I gave him an aspirin. We wound up being in the ER for roughly 10 hours. When someone comes in with chest pains, they do a VERY thorough job of trying to understand what happened. This simply involves time, and many, many blood draws. All the tests came back negative, and he was discharged — but not before I used this as an opportunity to ask their advice about his memory issues. The staff at Greenwich Hospital couldn't be better, or more kind. They all genuinely cared about Bill's condition, and wanted to help both him AND me as best they could.
Help came in the form of getting Bill a proper GP — one who specialises in older patients, and memory care. As well, they wanted him to go to a gerontologist so she could assess Bill's general day-to-day lifestyle, and how he's coping (physically, mentally, and emotionally). The new GP is great, as is his staff. He's Korean, so that's a bonus. We got to bond a bit =). Most importantly, Bill likes them, which means there won't be any difficulty to get him to go to his appointments (I take him, but I can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do).
This week, we saw the new GP for the second time since the ER visit, and he gave us the results of the bloodwork. He's otherwise amazingly healthy. Everything is within normal parameters, although he's 1°F colder than normal humans. Amusing, as I'm 0.5°F hotter than normal humans. No hypertension, no diabetic markers, nothin'. There's a reason his family lives to be in their late 90s.
So, yay! Bill's finally getting the care he needs, and it's possible I'll be getting some help when I'm away on holiday.
It turns out, it was probably heartburn. He's never had it before, but he also doesn't normally eat a lot of rich food right before bed. he suggested we go to the ER once the sensation wasn't abating, even after I gave him an aspirin. We wound up being in the ER for roughly 10 hours. When someone comes in with chest pains, they do a VERY thorough job of trying to understand what happened. This simply involves time, and many, many blood draws. All the tests came back negative, and he was discharged — but not before I used this as an opportunity to ask their advice about his memory issues. The staff at Greenwich Hospital couldn't be better, or more kind. They all genuinely cared about Bill's condition, and wanted to help both him AND me as best they could.
Help came in the form of getting Bill a proper GP — one who specialises in older patients, and memory care. As well, they wanted him to go to a gerontologist so she could assess Bill's general day-to-day lifestyle, and how he's coping (physically, mentally, and emotionally). The new GP is great, as is his staff. He's Korean, so that's a bonus. We got to bond a bit =). Most importantly, Bill likes them, which means there won't be any difficulty to get him to go to his appointments (I take him, but I can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do).
This week, we saw the new GP for the second time since the ER visit, and he gave us the results of the bloodwork. He's otherwise amazingly healthy. Everything is within normal parameters, although he's 1°F colder than normal humans. Amusing, as I'm 0.5°F hotter than normal humans. No hypertension, no diabetic markers, nothin'. There's a reason his family lives to be in their late 90s.
So, yay! Bill's finally getting the care he needs, and it's possible I'll be getting some help when I'm away on holiday.
I know it's been awhile since I made an entry. My mum died while I was out there. We decided to take her off the breathing tubes, and to make her as comfortable as possible during her transition to death. There was something strangely comforting about having the tubes in her. When they took them out, the sight was horrible. What was rhythmic breathing became halted, fits and starts. She died about 3 hours after we left. I'm thankful it was quick. I'm also thankful that I didn't have to witness any more. I prefer to remember her as she lived.
She didn't make it to her birthday, roughly a week after she died.
I'm headed back yet again for the memorial.
She didn't make it to her birthday, roughly a week after she died.
I'm headed back yet again for the memorial.
Goodbye, Mum
Oct. 8th, 2017 10:25 pmThe brain damage was too great, and the neurologists say there is no coming back from this. We've made the decision to pull her off life support.
I'm on a flight back to London.
Her birthday was going to be in a couple weeks.
I'm sad, yes, but I've made my peace. Now, I'll have closure. I'll also be able to support my father — make sure he eats, sleeps.
This is all the while Bill is home, alone.
I'm on a flight back to London.
Her birthday was going to be in a couple weeks.
I'm sad, yes, but I've made my peace. Now, I'll have closure. I'll also be able to support my father — make sure he eats, sleeps.
This is all the while Bill is home, alone.
Soooooo… (yeah, this is also gonna be all over the place… I'm trying to do this from memory.)
I met Philip, his wife Julia, and one of Philip's children, Jacob. It didn't happen quite as I expected. I called the house, as I always do after leaving work. Bill answered, and mentioned that they weren't there. Something happened. I'll probably never know what, but it probably wasn't great. When I got home, I talked with Bill a bit, and he asked me to invite them to dinner. I called using his phone. The phone call was rather nice, although Philip seemed a bit confused (again, probably due to whatever happened between Bill and Philip earlier. My guess is Bill wasn't happy with the pressure Philip was putting on him to get his estate in order, and they were headed back to Trumbull, roughly 45 mins away from Greenwich).
I then ordered food delivered (Curry!). It came, and about 5 mins later, Philip, Julia, and Jacob arrived at the house. Bill opened the door and let them in. I was busy getting the table sorted. Bill didn't quite introduce me, but I filled in the blanks, and finished the introduction. By then, Bill was pretty exhausted from a long day, and his brain wasn't operating at full capacity. After some mildly awkward handshakes, and my congratulating Jacob on graduating college (we received a letter back in May), I excused myself to finish up the table and dinner prep.
Conversation was lively and fun — even if I was quite nervous. I controlled it mostly by asking a bunch of questions of Philip. Not once did any part of the discussion veer into the realm of my true relationship with Bill. I'm still not sure what Bill told them about me previously. I'm not even sure they understand I live here. It's weird. I went through all the permutations for what could have happened that evening — turns out the one with the least probability won. I didn't expect 'They can't even comprehend the idea of us being in a relationship'. The conversation revolved mostly around professional stuff — Philip has been in the right place at the right time at more than a few tech startups, so we had a lot of stories to share. That allowed me to give them some insight into my past, as well as the person I am without getting too personal. During the conversation about managing styles (I'm partial to the mentor/learner style), I talked about helping people become the best version of themselves, rather than just giving them grunt-work. This shifted the tone of the conversation slightly, to helping people in general, during which they thanked me for being able to help Bill out. That meant quite a lot to me.
So, as I sit here, falling asleep while writing this, I'll wrap up…
Nothing is really resolved. I told Bill I wasn't going to lie to them. I didn't have to. But I'm still vulnerable. At least though, I have a communication line to open if things go bad with Bill and his family should take over. I'll take that as a win.
I met Philip, his wife Julia, and one of Philip's children, Jacob. It didn't happen quite as I expected. I called the house, as I always do after leaving work. Bill answered, and mentioned that they weren't there. Something happened. I'll probably never know what, but it probably wasn't great. When I got home, I talked with Bill a bit, and he asked me to invite them to dinner. I called using his phone. The phone call was rather nice, although Philip seemed a bit confused (again, probably due to whatever happened between Bill and Philip earlier. My guess is Bill wasn't happy with the pressure Philip was putting on him to get his estate in order, and they were headed back to Trumbull, roughly 45 mins away from Greenwich).
I then ordered food delivered (Curry!). It came, and about 5 mins later, Philip, Julia, and Jacob arrived at the house. Bill opened the door and let them in. I was busy getting the table sorted. Bill didn't quite introduce me, but I filled in the blanks, and finished the introduction. By then, Bill was pretty exhausted from a long day, and his brain wasn't operating at full capacity. After some mildly awkward handshakes, and my congratulating Jacob on graduating college (we received a letter back in May), I excused myself to finish up the table and dinner prep.
Conversation was lively and fun — even if I was quite nervous. I controlled it mostly by asking a bunch of questions of Philip. Not once did any part of the discussion veer into the realm of my true relationship with Bill. I'm still not sure what Bill told them about me previously. I'm not even sure they understand I live here. It's weird. I went through all the permutations for what could have happened that evening — turns out the one with the least probability won. I didn't expect 'They can't even comprehend the idea of us being in a relationship'. The conversation revolved mostly around professional stuff — Philip has been in the right place at the right time at more than a few tech startups, so we had a lot of stories to share. That allowed me to give them some insight into my past, as well as the person I am without getting too personal. During the conversation about managing styles (I'm partial to the mentor/learner style), I talked about helping people become the best version of themselves, rather than just giving them grunt-work. This shifted the tone of the conversation slightly, to helping people in general, during which they thanked me for being able to help Bill out. That meant quite a lot to me.
So, as I sit here, falling asleep while writing this, I'll wrap up…
Nothing is really resolved. I told Bill I wasn't going to lie to them. I didn't have to. But I'm still vulnerable. At least though, I have a communication line to open if things go bad with Bill and his family should take over. I'll take that as a win.
It's All Come to This.
Aug. 6th, 2017 10:30 pm[Warning, this is gonna be all over the place]
Tomorrow morning at 9am, Bill's oldest son (second born child) Philip, and his wife Julie come to visit, and help with his estate planning. This will probably change everything in my life. For a hint as to why, let's get some context on why I'm scared and kinda freaking out…
Bill and I have been seeing each other for almost 16 years to the day. I've been living with him for roughly 14 of those years. During those 16 years, I have never met any of his three children. I know all about them. I know their names. I know their rough ages. I was with Bill when both Amy's (Eldest child) children were born. I know personal stories of their childhood. I know fascinating stories about his ex-wife.
They don't know I exist. Well, now Philip knows I exist, but that's literally the extent of it.
Bill isn't out to his kids, and has no intention of doing so, even at my request for the last 16 years. Philip and his family are very religious of the 'born again' variety. Also, Bill's mental faculties have declined in the last couple of years, and significantly so within the last 3 weeks. There are periods where he says things that aren't real, but have some basis in his past (like his career, or other routines). This evening, he was convinced that people were coming over tonight, and that tomorrow morning, 'other patients' will be coming in and out of the house ('people' coming in and out of the house on the regular is a theme. I believe it ties back to his academic career when he was a Dean at Cornell). I tried to convince him otherwise, but this isn't rational, and you simply can't expect rational tactics to work. That's probably the hardest thing for me to come to grips with. I'm a scientist. I hypothesise, and experiment, in hopes that my hypothesis will be correct. That's logic. This has nothing to do with logic — or even emotion. That's hard for me to grok. There are no patterns, only the illusions of patterns.
Yesterday, he didn't recognise me, while I was sleeping next to him. He no longer reliably remembers the story of how we first met (at a Starbucks). I think he's now using the tactic of telling me he remembers things once I explain them to him ("Do you remember that?" "Yes."). I think he does it so I don't worry so much about him.
We don't comingle our finances — we don't even buy each other gifts, but literally everything I own is in the house… the house that my name isn't on. We have no papers together (we're not married, I'm not his tenant, CT has no concept of common-law marriage).
You can see how well this is gonna go.
Sure, it's entirely possible this will all just be cool. I'm pretty sure that possibility is a rounding error.
The reality of the situation is that I can no longer be the only one that takes care of him. He doesn't want to drive anymore (understandable), so I drive us everywhere. It does however, make him homebound for the entire day I am at the office — or, in the case of the other week — the entire time I'm on holiday. I was able to insure that he had a proper dinner, through various delivery apps, and he's historically been able to manage breakfast by himself (cereal, milk, fruit), but lunch is no longer consistent. I call him at the lunch hour to ask if he's had lunch, and even when he says 'yes', I come home to find no evidence. I do however, find evidence of his not eating, as he's more lethargic and less able to track conversations. He needs to be able to go places during the day (the park, stores, etc), and he needs a proper mid-day meal. He also needs to get to various doctor appointments. I'm over my limit in what I can do for him alone. I realise there are services out there that do exactly this sort of thing, but Bill's not interested in having them.
I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, and it scares the shit out of me.
Tomorrow morning at 9am, Bill's oldest son (second born child) Philip, and his wife Julie come to visit, and help with his estate planning. This will probably change everything in my life. For a hint as to why, let's get some context on why I'm scared and kinda freaking out…
Bill and I have been seeing each other for almost 16 years to the day. I've been living with him for roughly 14 of those years. During those 16 years, I have never met any of his three children. I know all about them. I know their names. I know their rough ages. I was with Bill when both Amy's (Eldest child) children were born. I know personal stories of their childhood. I know fascinating stories about his ex-wife.
They don't know I exist. Well, now Philip knows I exist, but that's literally the extent of it.
Bill isn't out to his kids, and has no intention of doing so, even at my request for the last 16 years. Philip and his family are very religious of the 'born again' variety. Also, Bill's mental faculties have declined in the last couple of years, and significantly so within the last 3 weeks. There are periods where he says things that aren't real, but have some basis in his past (like his career, or other routines). This evening, he was convinced that people were coming over tonight, and that tomorrow morning, 'other patients' will be coming in and out of the house ('people' coming in and out of the house on the regular is a theme. I believe it ties back to his academic career when he was a Dean at Cornell). I tried to convince him otherwise, but this isn't rational, and you simply can't expect rational tactics to work. That's probably the hardest thing for me to come to grips with. I'm a scientist. I hypothesise, and experiment, in hopes that my hypothesis will be correct. That's logic. This has nothing to do with logic — or even emotion. That's hard for me to grok. There are no patterns, only the illusions of patterns.
Yesterday, he didn't recognise me, while I was sleeping next to him. He no longer reliably remembers the story of how we first met (at a Starbucks). I think he's now using the tactic of telling me he remembers things once I explain them to him ("Do you remember that?" "Yes."). I think he does it so I don't worry so much about him.
We don't comingle our finances — we don't even buy each other gifts, but literally everything I own is in the house… the house that my name isn't on. We have no papers together (we're not married, I'm not his tenant, CT has no concept of common-law marriage).
You can see how well this is gonna go.
Sure, it's entirely possible this will all just be cool. I'm pretty sure that possibility is a rounding error.
The reality of the situation is that I can no longer be the only one that takes care of him. He doesn't want to drive anymore (understandable), so I drive us everywhere. It does however, make him homebound for the entire day I am at the office — or, in the case of the other week — the entire time I'm on holiday. I was able to insure that he had a proper dinner, through various delivery apps, and he's historically been able to manage breakfast by himself (cereal, milk, fruit), but lunch is no longer consistent. I call him at the lunch hour to ask if he's had lunch, and even when he says 'yes', I come home to find no evidence. I do however, find evidence of his not eating, as he's more lethargic and less able to track conversations. He needs to be able to go places during the day (the park, stores, etc), and he needs a proper mid-day meal. He also needs to get to various doctor appointments. I'm over my limit in what I can do for him alone. I realise there are services out there that do exactly this sort of thing, but Bill's not interested in having them.
I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, and it scares the shit out of me.
It seems my last post wouldn't cross-post because I didn't sign the new EULA, so I just nuked it right then. Most folks I still keep in contact with via other means. I'll lose some friends, but considering I didn't post much here, I wasn't much of a friend to the folks that posted. I feel kinda bad about that. Lately, I just haven't been feeling it.
So, I'm Out
Apr. 5th, 2017 11:39 pmThere's some hot garbage involving the new EULA over at LJ, so I won't be posting there anymore. I'm putting 2 weeks on the clock, then I'm destroying it. The content is all here on DW (If you are seeing this on LJ, I'm simply 'octothorpe' on Dreamwidth), including the replies — so I'm not worried about that.
So now I'll have one less moribund blog.
See ya, Space Cowboy
So now I'll have one less moribund blog.
See ya, Space Cowboy
Happy Holidays
Dec. 27th, 2016 11:53 pmHey all
Just popping in. I don't want to bum anyone out, but my Christmas was… not a good one. Various celebrity deaths aside (holy fuck 2016, chill the hell out), the parental situation is reached a point where I'm unwilling to spend more time with them. I'm an adult, and I shouldn't have to be trapped in a situation where I have to swallow fascist rhetoric. So, next year, I'm thinking I'll go on a cruise or something. I'm not a cruise person, but it'll get me out of visiting my folks for a year.
In other, less stressful news, I managed to take a sanity day in NYC, alone. Away from family, away from Bill (another stressful situation — for another post, maybe), and away from friends. It was wonderful. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I felt free. I really needed that.
I wound up having dinner at Ippudo http://www.ippudony.com for some comfort food. I got there about 15 mins before they opened, and queued up. I was probably 70th in the queue. Patrons were seated quickly. Larger parties were already starting to wait for a turnover. As a party of one, I was seated within 5 minutes (yay!). The place is run like a traditional ramen house where you are announced, and greeted by the cooks (and wait staff) in Japanese. Even the American workers knew the drill. I had their 'classic' ramen, which includes some non-traditional dashi (broth). It included ginger. It added a brightness and lightness to the dish that I really enjoyed. Their tare was very good, and fairly complex. They definitely lived up to the hype. I've been trying to go for over a year, without success, and the wait was worth it. I also had their pork buns. They were excellent, although I prefer Momofuku's. I paired the ramen with a special beer made by Brooklyn Brewery, 'Kaedama' (named after the word you shout when you want more noodles for your broth) http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog/news/brooklyn-kaedama-ale-a-taste-of-something-extra-w-your-ramen/ It was pretty amazing, and paired perfectly.
After the meal, I rolled myself out of the restaurant, and caught a showing of Hidden Figures. See the flick. It's good, and deserving of your money. For those not hipped to it, it's based on a book that tells the story of 3 African-American women who played key roles in NASA getting the US into space, and eventually the moon. History has traditionally wiped out the hard work of minorities and women in key roles of pivotal events, and this film shines some light. I'd not read the book, but now it's on my list. I mean, who doesn't love space, and stories about NASA?
My body has no idea what time it is, and I have to go to work in the morning. Good times.
pax
Just popping in. I don't want to bum anyone out, but my Christmas was… not a good one. Various celebrity deaths aside (holy fuck 2016, chill the hell out), the parental situation is reached a point where I'm unwilling to spend more time with them. I'm an adult, and I shouldn't have to be trapped in a situation where I have to swallow fascist rhetoric. So, next year, I'm thinking I'll go on a cruise or something. I'm not a cruise person, but it'll get me out of visiting my folks for a year.
In other, less stressful news, I managed to take a sanity day in NYC, alone. Away from family, away from Bill (another stressful situation — for another post, maybe), and away from friends. It was wonderful. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I felt free. I really needed that.
I wound up having dinner at Ippudo http://www.ippudony.com for some comfort food. I got there about 15 mins before they opened, and queued up. I was probably 70th in the queue. Patrons were seated quickly. Larger parties were already starting to wait for a turnover. As a party of one, I was seated within 5 minutes (yay!). The place is run like a traditional ramen house where you are announced, and greeted by the cooks (and wait staff) in Japanese. Even the American workers knew the drill. I had their 'classic' ramen, which includes some non-traditional dashi (broth). It included ginger. It added a brightness and lightness to the dish that I really enjoyed. Their tare was very good, and fairly complex. They definitely lived up to the hype. I've been trying to go for over a year, without success, and the wait was worth it. I also had their pork buns. They were excellent, although I prefer Momofuku's. I paired the ramen with a special beer made by Brooklyn Brewery, 'Kaedama' (named after the word you shout when you want more noodles for your broth) http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog/news/brooklyn-kaedama-ale-a-taste-of-something-extra-w-your-ramen/ It was pretty amazing, and paired perfectly.
After the meal, I rolled myself out of the restaurant, and caught a showing of Hidden Figures. See the flick. It's good, and deserving of your money. For those not hipped to it, it's based on a book that tells the story of 3 African-American women who played key roles in NASA getting the US into space, and eventually the moon. History has traditionally wiped out the hard work of minorities and women in key roles of pivotal events, and this film shines some light. I'd not read the book, but now it's on my list. I mean, who doesn't love space, and stories about NASA?
My body has no idea what time it is, and I have to go to work in the morning. Good times.
pax
Happy Christmas!
Dec. 22nd, 2016 09:01 pmIt's caroling season!
Now that the Internet is vastly more of a thing than it was even 10 years ago, I am now able to dig up some carols I used to sing. (I don't do much carolling these days for various reasons).
These folks are friends of my ex-GF, and we used to sing together.
One of my favourite carols: Coventry Carol:
Now that the Internet is vastly more of a thing than it was even 10 years ago, I am now able to dig up some carols I used to sing. (I don't do much carolling these days for various reasons).
These folks are friends of my ex-GF, and we used to sing together.
One of my favourite carols: Coventry Carol:
It's Official!
Sep. 28th, 2015 01:09 amHanded my resignation in last Thursday. My final day is (I believe) the 9th, and I start my new gig on the 19th October.
I also received the new (to me) speakers!



The tweeter is actually a giant industrial diamond (well, sorta… they fuse a lot of tiny ones together to make a single 1.5" dome). I got to listen to them for a few hours over the weekend before re-packing them and moving them upstairs (I need to re-design the room they'll eventually be in). They're really quite lovely, but I need some alone time with source material I am familiar with, rather than Bill's random assortment of discs he had on-hand. The temp location was also horrible. In listening position, the mid/bass drivers were cut off from the listening position by several large pieces of furniture. Standing in front of them, while way too close, it was like being at the recording. So many subtle details are revealed that you couldn't really make out before with quite-nice-but-lesser speakers. It'll take me awhile to get used to them.
The new amp comes Tuesday. I think I am going to get a cheap pre/pro as that component seems to be in a lot of flux right now. Many competing encoding/decoding standards, and the better brands haven't caught up, but by the time they do, I reckon at least a few won't be used 'in the wild'.
I also received the new (to me) speakers!



The tweeter is actually a giant industrial diamond (well, sorta… they fuse a lot of tiny ones together to make a single 1.5" dome). I got to listen to them for a few hours over the weekend before re-packing them and moving them upstairs (I need to re-design the room they'll eventually be in). They're really quite lovely, but I need some alone time with source material I am familiar with, rather than Bill's random assortment of discs he had on-hand. The temp location was also horrible. In listening position, the mid/bass drivers were cut off from the listening position by several large pieces of furniture. Standing in front of them, while way too close, it was like being at the recording. So many subtle details are revealed that you couldn't really make out before with quite-nice-but-lesser speakers. It'll take me awhile to get used to them.
The new amp comes Tuesday. I think I am going to get a cheap pre/pro as that component seems to be in a lot of flux right now. Many competing encoding/decoding standards, and the better brands haven't caught up, but by the time they do, I reckon at least a few won't be used 'in the wild'.