Saturday - Wednesday, April 21 - 25 2012 (diary)

We know for sure that in about 5 billion years time the sun will end its life span and explode, destroying our entire solar system in the process.
The universe itself is expanding at an ever increasing rate and in due course stars and galaxies will be separated so far apart that their lights can no longer reach each other.

If this happens before our earth burns to a cinder and if there still are life forms on it to observe the sky at night it will be pitch black, without the twinkle of a single star.

Although this still is far far ahead in time and won't affect us here now, I still find this thought somewhat depressing.
But perhaps there is hope. Our solar system for sure has a finite lifetime, but new thoughts are around amongst physicists (I gather from a recent TV documentary) concerning the origin and life of the universe.
In fact a Darwinian style evolution is believed to be more likely for our universe, and the entire Big Bang theory is being seriously questioned. There has been a big bang, or something like that, but it was not an absolute beginning. There existed something before that event.

One view is that at one stage the universe will have expanded so far that spacetime is stretched to its limits and collapses on itself, triggering the birth of a new universe from the old.

Another is that eventually the universe will contract again, until it reaches a minutely small size which bounces outward again in "inflation" (through the reversal of the force of gravity), generating a fluctuating universe alternately expanding and contracting over eons of time.

Does this makes me less pessimistic ? Yes it does. Curious how we humans are so keen to have at least something from our world to progress and continue infinitely. If it is not ourselves, or our planet, or our solar system, let it at least be our universe.

Thursday - Monday, April 26 - 30 2012 (diary)

The dry season has now definitely kicked in here. The past two nights I had to throw a light blanket over me in bed and the air is nice and cool. All the same I think I like the wet season best (as all the long time locals here do). Days are sunny with clear blue skies, but there can be a cool breeze here inland in the mornings.

I was watching two black and white movies from the 50s or early 60s on TV last weekend.
The first one, St. Louis Blues, portrayed the life of the famous early Jazz composer W.C.Handy, with Nat King Cole and Eartha Kit in the head roles.

I could not help crying my eyes out when I heard the voices of those two wonderful singers again.
Nostalgia for the past no doubt and for an era where music was still intelligent and real, not produced by manipulation on computers (often by people with scant musical knowledge and skills).

There really is nothing that can compare with the sound of acoustic instruments (I have always hated electric guitars) and natural (not manipulated) voices. And I realise that perhaps the greatest satisfaction during my music performing days was the wonderful deep focused and resonant sound I eventually could produce on my baritone sax. It took years of relentless practice to develop, but I got there in the end.

There are two fundamental aspects to musical performance, especially improvisation. One is the development of instrumental skills, knowledge and creativity of the mind. The other is the production of tone quality and resonance. This latter reflects the soul of the performer. Without it the music is meaningless, dead.
I experience this now while only playing my electronic keyboard these days. In fact I have not touched the instrument for almost 6 months and little desire to start again. Occasionally I do long for my bari sax, just to rediscover that wonderful tone I once had, but practice here is not convenient and I also lost the desire to perform.