Counting to Seven

The often entertaining, insightful, thoughtful - and not posting nearly often enough - Improvising Guitar has sent the "Seven Things" meme my way. (TIG, you'll get nothing but encouragement for your writing from me. Blog anytime.)

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. If you don't have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.

Like the Improvising Guitarist, I'll take liberties with those last two rules and note that TIG has tagged some of my favorite blogs already.

My obsession with prime numbers is somewhere between eccentric and pathological. A list that asks for "seven things" falls into my prime-oriented universe. Seven is an excellent prime (not that there are any "non-excellent" primes). The prime factor that gives rise to the 7/4 minor seventh - the so-called blue note of the blues scale. The 8/7 septimal whole tone. The 9/7 septimal major third. Harmonically attractive in many ways. My prime number "thing" then extends into odd quirks. When confronted with a fast food menu I'll limit my choices to the prime numbered value meals. I try to keep a prime number of coins in my pocket. It's probably something most intonation theorists resort to at some point.

I have lived in seven different states: California, Colorado, New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. I have also resided in Ontario, Canada. All have their good and bad points. Except for New Jersey.

I have a somewhat tortured relationship with film. Bad films make me want to swear off of the medium entirely (going for years at a time without watching anything). Excellent films make me want to gorge on the stuff. With a marked preference for dark humor my top three films (thus far) are: Wonder Boys, Doctor Strangelove and Brazil. I also have a marked preference for "films" over "movies."

I dislike cranberries in all forms. This can be traced back to an irrational loathing for the can-shaped substance supplied at every other lunch throughout grade school. I also detest macaroni and cheese. Possibly a result of attempting to subsist on a diet of little else through my undergraduate years. Gravy also falls on the "very bad" list.

I am a Seattle Mariners fan in spite of it all. A painfully mismanaged (and bad) team in recent years. It's still the team that drew me into a deep obsession with the game and its history. Chess may be the only rule-based activity that can rival baseball in depth and longevity.

The number of CDs and vinyl records I own and have every intention of listening to - but haven't yet - is well over 500. The number of CDs and vinyl records I have enjoyed at least once and want to spend more time with is astronomical. New music acquisition is expanding at a rate greater than consumption. I regard this as good fortune for an ear-driven life.

The home office of HurdAudio is bracing for a move. The only downside is the all-consuming nature of moving and packing all those CDs, records, books and equipment. It's the price paid to live where the action is.

Tag: Sounds Like Now (hi, Brian), Mind the Gap (hi, Molly), A Monk's Musical Musings (hi, Hucbald), The Well Tempered Blog (hi, Bart), Blaq Lghtn Strikes.. Again and Again (and Again) (hi, Forbes), Aworks (hi, Robert) and paulbailey.us(beta) (hi, Paul. I'll be in LA on business later this year).