<< >>
justin = { main feed , music , code , askjf , pubkey };recent comments
search
[ present 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ... past ]
June 28, 2020
Music
andy_sarai_cory_park - 1 -- [3:50]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 2 -- [4:01]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 3 -- [5:57]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 4 -- [3:17]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 5 -- [3:04]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 6 -- [3:06]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 7 -- [5:09]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 8 -- [7:50]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 9 -- [4:23]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 10 -- [4:19]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 11 -- [3:28]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 12 -- [5:55]
andy_sarai_cory_park - 13 -- [2:37]


June 23, 2020
Music
that never ending noise


June 20, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [23:37]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [30:27]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [7:18]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [4:14]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [19:27]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 -- [10:51]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 7 -- [21:24]


June 14, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [8:19]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [46:11]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [19:30]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [35:57]


June 13, 2020
Music
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 -- [3:45]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 -- [3:02]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 3 -- [6:35]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 4 -- [11:50]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 5 -- [2:36]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 6 -- [6:37]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 7 -- [23:10]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 8 -- [13:52]


June 7, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [8:45]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [4:47]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [25:10]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [29:53]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [15:28]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 -- [25:36]


June 5, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [5:45]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [7:28]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [21:25]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [30:49]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [15:19]


May 31, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [7:55]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [34:05]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [53:07]


May 30, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [19:41]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [22:47]


May 25, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [28:45]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [62:16]


May 24, 2020
1984



4 Comments


May 21, 2020
Music
andy_cory_ninjam - 1 -- [25:26]
andy_cory_ninjam - 2 -- [22:27]
andy_cory_ninjam - 3 -- [11:21]
andy_cory_ninjam - 4 -- [12:51]


May 17, 2020
Music
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 -- [8:38]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 -- [10:32]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 3 -- [12:50]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 4 -- [12:36]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 5 -- [4:25]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 6 -- [12:16]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 7 -- [19:54]


May 15, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [19:43]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [10:56]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [17:53]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [37:38]


May 11, 2020
Music
super8 - 1 -- [1:05]
super8 - 2 -- [13:20]
super8 - 3 -- [5:39]
super8 - 4 -- [13:26]


May 9, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [34:33]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [17:54]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [6:14]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [13:14]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [12:07]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 -- [14:09]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 7 -- [24:34]


May 3, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [4:28]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 - (Undeposited) / How Bad Could It Be? -- [18:34]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [11:41]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 - Readings from Dream City -- [23:07]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 - Round and Round / Cosmos -- [26:18]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 - Hindenburg / Vaguely Reflections -- [16:02]


April 28, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [27:21]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [17:42]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [13:47]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [2:40]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [21:12]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 - (Unsure) / Reflections -- [25:01]


April 26, 2020
Music
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 -- [10:47]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 - Time to Recognize -- [8:18]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 3 -- [12:27]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 4 -- [24:31]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 5 - Mark (that one) -- [13:50]


April 25, 2020
Music
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 -- [14:27]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 -- [15:01]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 3 -- [34:46]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 4 -- [13:30]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 5 -- [35:42]


April 19, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [3:35]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [13:24]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [28:37]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [23:42]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [15:50]


April 18, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [21:30]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [10:03]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [14:50]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [31:25]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [21:09]


April 16, 2020
birthday carrots



Recordings:

two or three percent wtf

2 Comments


April 15, 2020
reapering at home

(youtube link)

This was a quick thing, using REAPER and the JSFX "sequencer megababy" and "super8", recorded and edited in 18 minutes while videotaping (taping hah). I'm going to do a longer version with more explanation of the tools used, I think. Lots of fun.

Recordings:

blanking on the date

2 Comments


April 14, 2020
Music
ninjam with adara
quick and on video


April 12, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [21:20]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [24:05]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 -- [12:14]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 -- [8:50]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 -- [16:05]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 6 -- [8:21]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 7 -- [11:34]


April 11, 2020
getting through the days at home



This is my first pedalboard. Andy was very very kind to give me The Wave and the Big Muff Pi and Pog, and I always coveted his Sunset. And I also copied his Iridium since it seemed appropriate. Anyway, so much fun. Good for recording and NINJAMming.

I also posted a song (second opinion) below... the drums I recorded when I stopped to check in on my studio, the rest from home. The words were a poem written by my grandfather (in the 90s, I imagine, given some of the references). My family edited and (self)published some of his works on Amazon.

Life keeps going on. Today I was looking at the graphs and timelines of things and got really angry with our state-level leadership (federal is another level of anger and despair). Had Cuomo put PAUSE in to effect a week earlier, think how many lives would've been saved. 15,000 cases before doing anything is way, way too many. California did their stay-at-home order with ~900. Bravo.

There's no use being angry, maybe, and I fully appreciate not having to be responsible for so many other peoples lives. I don't think a lot of politicians think this through -- the responsibility that comes with the power. Cuomo and Bill de Blasio clearly did not. There is no need for me to mention the other person who doesn't take the responsibility seriously. That's another league, and while some people say a malignant narcissist I prefer "bag of shit."

So now, I'm drinking a G+T made with the best grapefruit I can recall having had, making nothing of a perfectly lovely evening at home.

Recordings:

Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 - Face the Lies -- [6:58]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 -- [7:13]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 3 -- [5:53]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 4 - The Random Few -- [8:43]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 5 - Force Majeure -- [7:59]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 6 - Renormalize -- [15:17]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 7 - Major Reprise -- [4:50]

2 Comments


April 10, 2020
Music
second opinion
second thoughts revisited


April 9, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 1 -- [28:15]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 2 -- [41:42]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 3 -- [19:41]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 4 -- [4:20]


April 7, 2020
watercolor pencils



Comment...


April 6, 2020
Music
cory_ninjam - 1 -- [27:13]
cory_ninjam - 2 -- [13:00]


April 5, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 1 -- [5:56]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 2 -- [8:24]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 3 - (almost) The River -- [6:34]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 4 - (almost) What If We All Just Disappeared? -- [55:33]
Decanted Youth (NINJAM) - 5 - Andy's Done -- [8:07]


April 4, 2020
Music
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 1 -- [12:22]
Not Vampires (NINJAM) - 2 -- [28:31]


April 1, 2020
another week

Well time keeps on ticking, I guess. I've done as NINJAM-related work in the last week as in the previous 10 years, I think. The jam we had last night (see below) was awesome, I especially like the last track in it.

We started renting a cheap ($20/month) server for hosting some private NINJAM servers. My initial thought was you could request a private NINJAM server via a web interface, then it would launch a new ninjam server process and give you the port number. That seemed like a bit of work, so instead I did something that would be less work.

As the first experiment I ran 50 NINJAM server processes on the one box, and had it as a purely etiquette-based system, where you only join an empty server or a server to which you were invited. It had some usership, though it was hard to tell if people really wanted them as private or if it was just a big farm of more servers.

I thought about modes where you connect to a server, and then can temporarily set a password so only your friends can join. Seemed easy enough, though you might connect to a server you think is empty and have someone beat you to it, and people might hog servers.

One thing I noticed is that the mechanism the NINJAM server uses to decide when to sleep was fine for a few processes, but if you ran 50 of them, all those polling between nanosleeps added up.

Then I thought -- what if you had a server where if you connected with a password, that password would define the room-name you go into (the NINJAM server already has a User_Group object which is basically the whole server). This seemed like a great idea, but it turns out it wouldn't work, because the password challenge/response system doesn't allow identification of passwords, nor would it detect if two users used the same password. I thought about using part of the anonymous username as a server ident, but the downside there is that if you set that, then connected to a different server with the same anonymous credentials, you'd leak your private server name.

So what I finally came up with: the NINJAM server can now run in a lobby-mode, and via chat commands you can create/join private rooms. You can also chat in the lobby with other people who are in the lobby. So you could negotiate "hey want to play an ambient session? let's !join ambient." So you have private rooms (secret roomname), semi-private rooms, etc. Feels pretty fun! Not many users yet, though.

Of course this will all get ruined once someone decides to troll/spam/flood/etc. I'm sure at the very start IRC was amazing and simple, and by the time I left it it was a mess with bots and anti-bots and other things that just ruin everything. Oh well let's enjoy it while it lasts.

(anything to distract from what's happening outside)

1 Comment


March 31, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 1 -- [26:21]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 2 -- [15:07]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 3 -- [20:03]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 4 -- [7:59]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 5 -- [15:40]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy (NINJAM) - 6 -- [17:12]
uhrg


March 27, 2020
Music
decanted youth rehearsal and improvisation (ninjam)
ninjam with sarai


March 25, 2020
Music
ninjam with andy and cory


March 24, 2020
postpone 2020

Ah so it's been almost a week since I've posted here. Time got really really slow for a bit there but now maybe it is speeding up as life as we know it becomes more routine.

Such a bizarre predicament that nearly (?) all of humanity faces. We're all in it together, unless we're in denial. When the weather has been nice (most days since I last wrote), the parks have been crazily busy, which makes running really difficult. So instead:

(lucky me with roof deck access) An hour is an excruciatingly long time. At one point before I tried an hour I contemplated doing 24 hours. Now I think that's insane. It might happen. Yesterday was cold and rainy and amazing, I could run wherever I wanted and nobody was around! Bring back winter!

I'm now on board with everybody wearing masks (not N95 but procedure masks etc) when they are out in public. It makes a lot of sense, given the fact that people are contagious before and/or without symptoms. The advice here has always been "wear a mask only if you're sick" which is no longer applicable! Anyway I've spent a great deal of time making a mask (and now starting a second) from this site's template/instruction, which seems to work well! I don't have a sewing machine so I'm using a couple of tiny travel sewing kits that I've acquired over the years and doing all of the stitches by hand. I'm terrible at it, but getting less so as time goes on.

Musically, I've turned to NINJAM at home again, Andy and I played the other night which was nice. Hope to do more of that!

(obviously it goes without saying, all the people out there who are helping other people: doctors, nurses, delivery people, people working in grocery stores, thank you thank you thank you. I'll try to say this more in person but it's hard with all of the other pressures of life outside of home)

9 Comments


March 22, 2020
Music
ninjam with andy


March 18, 2020
Super8 Panic Marathon

(youtube link)

Apologies for my outfit (unless you're into legs, in which case, you're welcome), I ran to the studio from home. At 11am the Brooklyn Bridge was pretty empty, thankfully, but on the return it was getting more crowded. Plenty of tourists out walking in big groups, not practicing social distancing in any form. Sigh. Can't stop what's coming.

There were also a lot of people out in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I don't think playing volleyball today is a good idea.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's really not looking that way. I hope I'm overreacting. A "shelter in place" order seems not-unlikely for NYC at some point in the near future. We've discussed leaving, but have nowhere we'd want to go. Being home is a pretty good place to be, even if there are too many goddamn people around. Even if we had known what was coming months ago, I'm not sure where we'd want to be. I want to be somewhere else but nowhere else. Maybe after this whole crisis is over (will it be a few months? 18 months? ugh), a move is in order.

Recordings:

super8_panic_marathon - 1 -- [0:17]
super8_panic_marathon - 2 -- [50:37]

4 Comments


March 15, 2020
Super8 (Social Distancing)

I bicycled from Manhattan to Brooklyn to play the piano some, and do a little Super8 session:
(youtube link)

On Wednesday, I had gone to the studio (which is right by Fairway) in the afternoon and stayed until the evening. I went into Fairway, which was pretty normal-ish. After my cancelled band practice and trip home, there had been a presidential address, which was a total failure in pretty much every way I could see, other than getting peoples attention. The next day, I went to the studio, and stopped in Fairway on my way home to get a few more things, and it was a total madhouse. Such a difference in a day.

Anyway since Wednesday we've been practicing Social Distancing, which is both easy and not easy. It's only been 5 days but it's going to be challenging.

A friend and I discussed food strategies via text. What Allison and I are doing now is basically trying to keep a stocked pantry with a list of things that we wouldn't mind having more of, and when we need something, we'll go buy that thing we need and other things from the list of things that we wouldn't mind having more of.

Last Sunday we were scheduled to fly to California, and yesterday I was scheduled to run a 50 miler in Marin County. We cancelled our trip the day before, which made me sad but after an exercise in sunk cost (figuring the difference in cost to proceed with the trip vs cancel, ignoring non-refundable stuff), it made total sense. Yesterday I found out the race was cancelled anyway.

There's my rambling. Someone on twitter said now was a good time to try journalling. My first thought is "my filesystems are all ext4, baby." I lied, I'm on a mac at this moment.

Recordings:

super8_distance - 1 -- [32:10]
super8_distance - 2 -- [5:56]
super8_distance - 3 -- [0:49]

Comment...


March 12, 2020
Music
what is happening to my brain


March 11, 2020
Super8 Cancel Everything

(retroactively posted on March 15)

(youtube link)

This was last Wednesday -- I was scheduled on this day to play music with some friends, but we cancelled after one of my friends found out that an usher at a Broadway show that he had recently seen had tested positive for Coronavirus, and the reality of this whole situation became clear. So I did a quick two songs before going home. The title refers to the article Cancel Everything in The Atlantic.

Recordings:

live solo improv: super8 cancel everything

Comment...


March 7, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 1 -- [9:30]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 2 -- [15:11]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 3 - Send It to the Sea -- [19:36]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 4 - Dining with Cory -- [9:17]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 5 - Family Tree (?) -- [8:00]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 6 - Reflections (Major?) -- [15:37]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 7 -- [9:32]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 8 -- [14:46]
Decanted Youth with Cory Choy - 9 - Put Behind Me -- [24:16]


March 5, 2020
Music
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 1 - the second day after the end of the world -- [5:22]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 2 - the second day after the end of the world (v2) -- [7:33]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 3 - the second day after the end of the world (cz) -- [7:25]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 4 -- [11:07]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 5 -- [22:55]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 6 -- [19:59]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! with Igor Malijevský - 7 -- [12:25]


March 3, 2020
Windows with more than 64 cores

Windows has a unique (as far as I can tell) "feature", which I have not experienced first hand but I've heard about. If your system has more than 64 cores (effectively, e.g. 40 cores each with 2 threads would count), then it divides the cores into "processor groups." By default, an application that creates threads and does no additional work has all of its threads run in the same processor group (is this always Group 0? or is it randomly assigned? I have no idea).

The significance of this is that if, for example, you have a 36 core hyperthreaded CPU (72 logical cores), then a traditionally-written multithreaded application can utilize at most 36 cores. (It's also unclear to me if the 36 cores in a processor group in this scenario are 18x2 threads each, or 36 threads on 36 unique cores).

Anyway, we're now testing a REAPER tweak to address this. If you need to implement this in your application, see SetThreadGroupAffinity(), and get ready for some fun using GetLogicalProcessorInformationEx() with RelationGroup and parsing the output to determine the group structure (the documentation for that is a bit light IMO!).

So there you go, everybody.

Recordings:

super8 - 1 -- [17:37]
super8 - 2 -- [11:51]
super8 - 3 -- [2:38]
super8 - 4 -- [14:28]

2 Comments


March 3, 2020
Super (tuesday)8 (bubble)

Another super8 go, rough in parts, forgot to tune until mid session, etc, but here we go:
(youtube link)



2 Comments


February 29, 2020
Music
andy_sarai - 1 - tbd pre-sarai -- [11:22]
andy_sarai - 2 - tbd pre-sarai -- [4:19]
andy_sarai - 3 - tbd pre-sarai -- [4:20]
Decanted Youth - 4 -- [7:29]
Decanted Youth - 5 -- [3:35]
Decanted Youth - 6 - Reflections (Bond-y?) -- [15:27]
Decanted Youth - 7 -- [4:10]
Decanted Youth - 8 - Somewhere Else Left Alone Frozen Sea -- [5:50]
Decanted Youth - 9 -- [14:36]
Decanted Youth - 10 - We Don't See the Truth -- [4:40]
Decanted Youth - 11 -- [6:52]
Decanted Youth - 12 -- [4:50]
Decanted Youth - 13 - Round and Round (eventually, hardcore edition) -- [25:06]


February 28, 2020
Music
not exactitude


February 27, 2020
Super8 (no focus) returns!

For the first time in ages, I fired up the Super8 laptop rig, and did a bit of a session:
(youtube link)
(Note to self: a dead battery that won't take a charge in the Thinkpad X60 causes all sorts of DPC issues, hmph)

Anyway, a little rusty getting the songs started, but it's amazing how different tools can get the different creative juices (ugh that really sounds terrible) going differently. So much fun. I need to do this more.

Recordings:

super8_no_focus - 1 -- [6:19]
super8_no_focus - 2 -- [11:09]
super8_no_focus - 3 -- [6:48]
super8_no_focus - 4 -- [9:27]

Comment...


February 25, 2020
Music
remainder


February 22, 2020
Music
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 1 -- [8:53]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 2 -- [3:00]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 3 - The River -- [4:50]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 4 - Private Life -- [11:05]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 5 - Borrowed Time -- [6:22]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 6 - May 29 Track 6 -- [6:54]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 7 -- [7:19]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 8 -- [3:08]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 9 - Leacho / Cosmos -- [5:45]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 10 - Hindenburg -- [8:11]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 11 - People Get Ready (sortof) -- [6:34]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 12 -- [3:52]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 13 -- [5:19]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 14 -- [5:56]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 15 -- [6:19]


February 21, 2020
Music
overshot


February 16, 2020
Music
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 1 -- [6:05]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 2 -- [4:48]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 3 -- [10:29]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 4 -- [7:02]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 5 -- [6:11]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 6 -- [5:11]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 7 -- [4:07]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 8 -- [7:57]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 9 -- [10:12]
Yes, Exactly, Yes! - 10 -- [5:06]


February 14, 2020
Decanted Youth, live at Rocky Sullivan's

A show scheduled on short notice, to a nearly-empty Valentine's Day Crowd:
(youtube link)


Recordings:

Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 1 - Reflections -- [8:36]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 2 - Light Creeps -- [9:26]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 3 - The Squeeze -- [4:41]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 4 - What If We All Just Disappeared -- [8:29]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 5 - Hang Me Out to Dry (cover) -- [5:11]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 6 - Insecurity -- [4:45]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 7 - Major Major Major -- [3:26]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 8 - Cold Night in Red Hook (feat. Moe) -- [2:35]
Decanted Youth_live_rocky_sullivans - 9 - Sandman -- [8:35]

Comment...


February 12, 2020
Music
Decanted Youth - 1 -- [18:45]
Decanted Youth - 2 -- [10:23]
Decanted Youth - 3 -- [10:42]
Decanted Youth - 4 -- [13:17]
Decanted Youth - 5 -- [14:06]
Decanted Youth - 6 -- [10:42]
Decanted Youth - 7 -- [8:52]


February 11, 2020
SOB 50

Oops I haven't updated here in months. I posted a thread to Twitter the other night, which I'm now going to post here since it's more appropriate here anyway (I was tired and lazy and on my phone). So here goes (with [edits]):

Yesterday [Saturday, 3 days ago] I did my first 50 mile ultra[marathon]. It was in California, near Malibu [Edit: The race is called the Sean O'Brien 50]. I woke up at 3:30am, left the house at 4:10, picked up @runviper [Edward] at 4:35, arrived at the start at about 5:15, before sunrise. It was cold, 40F [reminded me of home], and since the full supermoon was low on the horizon, dark.

You will see a lot of me making this face in this thread:

The start was supposed to be at 6:00 sharp, though I'm pretty sure it was 30 seconds late:

[That's the organizer with the megaphone, I believe. In the final race information email, there was a really thoughtful paragraph which stuck with me, I'll quote it here:

    I believe we are capable of anything we set our minds to. If you visualize it enough, and work hard you can make it happen. Remember that it's a "gift" that we get to run on the trails. There are people who can't even get out of bed. You "get" to participate in an ultra. Enjoy the experience. Be in the moment, and just have fun. It will all come together on race day if you stay positive, and remember what a blessing it is to do what we do. Not even 1% of the population will ever do what you are going to do in less than 1 week. Pretty awesome when you think of it like that? See ya soon my friends!!
Anyway...]

The first couple miles were crowded enough that I didn’t stop to take a picture. It went up a nice hill which made me feel powerful in my ability to climb it while running, then down the other side, through some more park, and then we arrived at a stream.

It was perhaps a small creek, but big enough that crossing it was tricky. There was a loose rope going across to help. A headlamp went flying and started floating down the water. I had a moment of heroism when I recovered it. I crossed with dry feet. Not bragging. After the creek crossing we started climbing again, and the sky started getting light.


and then the sun rose. Around this time I was able to feel my fingers again. I had thin cherry tree 10-miler branded gloves on but they could only do so much. This was almost an hour in, probably around 4 miles in, having climbed about 1500’

After we ascended another 10 minutes or so, the fog covering the Pacific came into view:




There was a photo-op moment going up over some rocks. Approaching it I figured that round thing would be a microwave dish or something but it was actually a light for a photographer.. I’ll see the results eventually I imagine. [edit: that photo wasn't great and too expensive to buy!]

[The] first aid station was about 7 miles in (hour and 40 minutes after the start). Mmm watermelon and oranges. Also potatoes and salt. Eating felt good. [Spent about 2.5 minutes here]

The next hour or so was mostly single track and had a good amount of variety. The charcoaled wood from the fires of last year offered a contrasting element to the blissful joy of the run.





At about 9am (3 hours elapsed, about 13mi, 3200’ ascent) after crossing above a tunnel, we arrived to the second aid station, which had expanded offerings from the first. Sandwiches! PB&J awesome! In hindsight I should’ve had some candy. Regretting not having candy. Getting warm.


There were drop bags at that aid station... dumped my wool shirt, headlamp, picked up sunblock. [spent about 7 minutes here] Soon enough it got very bright, and less photogenic. (note re: video — Spaceballs reference, had plenty of water):

After another hour or so (10:15am?) we crossed over a pass and could see the marine layer again. ~17 miles and 4300’ climbing cumulative...



10 minutes downhill and we arrived at an aid station. Lemonade, fruit, sandwiches, potatoes, consumed. @runviper made a taco, I questioned his judgment for eating beans, then proceeded to join him. No regrets [on the beans] (for me at least) [regrets on not eating candy]. [spent about 5 minutes here]

At this aid station they explained we were 19 miles in, we just had to do 3 miles down to the next aid station, then 8 more miles back up another trail, then the 19 miles back to the start. Legs felt pretty good... time to descend. Oof.


3 miles, 1500’ of descent, and maybe 30 minutes later, the cracks started to show. That tight IT band thing you feel sometimes? hello


eat eat eat [spent about 7 minutes] then back up the hill with full water, going back to where we were, in 8 miles instead of 3. Hey why is it so steep?



After having climbed 1800’ for an hour, you suddenly realize you’re on top of the wrong mountain [edit: but still on the course -- it is a torturous course], and the aid station is a tiny speck on the horizon. There is a gorge separating you from it.

The aforementioned IT/knee thing made the 800’ descent difficult, especially the steeper parts. So I was actually happy to be climbing again, which was good because there was 1000’ to go for the aid station


These 8 miles were brutal. The sun was strong, it was hot, and seeing the expanse between you and where you need to be was intimidating. And knowing once you get to the aid station, you still have 19 miles to go (which are largely downhill, ugh) After having gotten to the aid station, food [nutella (gnutella) sandwiches, mmm. apparently they had run out of water too, but had since gotten more], ice in the face, etc [spending about 8 minutes], we continue on. There’s a small descent, a few hundred feet later I decide I must stop and get a rock out of my shoe. We are 31 miles in, 7300’ of ascent, it’s 1:40pm, there have been rocks in my shoes all day. I probably also tried to stretch my IT. anyway we climb 600’ to go back over the pass, and look back at the ocean:


Now it’s just a short 6 miles to the bag-drop aid station. At some point around here I started using anti-chafe stuff everywhere i felt twinges. Seemed to work but could’ve been placebo. I was wincing on all of the steeper descent bits, not taking too many photos

Get to the mile 37 aid station, change shirts back to wool, grab headlamp. Eat a little but damn at this point I’m sick of food. [Should've started eating candy. changed socks, win. Drank cold brew coffee from drop bag. Both win. Also did some stretching of the IT. total time here was 13 minutes]



And another 6 miles of mid-afternoon. With 2000’ of ascent (not too gradual, plenty of my new favorite thing at this point: descent)




We get to the final aid stop at around 5pm (that 6 miles took a while!), just 7 miles to go! Stretch again here [spent about 8 minutes here -- total aid station time was about 50 minutes]


After this aid station it really got to be the magic hour:



and the fog and mist:

the full super moon returned, too




the anticlimactic ending is that I stopped taking pictures, we turned on headlamps, I endured the descents, and in the last 2 miles got my feet soaked trying to cross the stream that I had managed to cross dryly in the morning [tweaked an old injury in my arm doing this, though, hanging on to the rope crossing the stream. didn't really realize it at the time, but it became apparent by Monday], and despaired that the trail never seemed to end.

and then finally finished 50ish miles with approx 11,000ft of ascent and 11,000ft of descent, in a bit less than 13 hours. And @runviper [Edward] was kind enough to wait for me to catch up before crossing the finish.

update: Monday: legs feeling pretty good! had some nice walks yesterday and a hike today. much better than post-marathon, which makes sense since most of it was hiking...

update: Tuesday: flew home, had an easy run.



Comment...


[ present 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ... past ]
search : rss : recent comments : Copyright © 2024 Justin Frankel