"And victory remains with Love..."

ICTHUS · 08-04-2008, 12:08 AM

"Arise, O God, and shine! In all Thy saving might!
And prosper each design,
To spread Thy glorious light!

Let healing streams of mercy flow,
That all the earth Thy truth may know.."

It's been awhile, CGR. How's it going? I posted something in prayer requests. I don't feel like typing more, really, and that explains how I've been doing the last few months, except to say that I was out for most of today. I was going to go to the beach with Melissa (one of my roomies) and her dog yesterday, that didn't end up happening because she went to Nanaimo (supposedly). Then I find her crashed in her room this morning and find out she didn't actually go to Nanaimo. XD

So yeah.

I've been listening to a lot of Celtic music lately. I've also taken up the tin whistle and want to learn to Bodhran and Uillean pipes. I'll be asking for a practice set of Uillean pipes for Christmas (a practice set is just the bellows, bag, and chanter - no drones or regulators).

In particular I'm fascinated by Breton music. Brittany (or Bretagne, as the French call it) is a peninsula in western France. Many people there traditionally speak a language they call Breizh and which the French call Breton. Genetically it is actually a Celtic language, not a Romance language. Looking at data from it it looks like a weird hybrid of Welsh, Irish, and French, and bears the greatest resemblance to Welsh. Anyway, the Breton people have a type of dance they call An Dro (lit. "The Turn"), which is usually danced to a very repetitive, but very catchy, melody. An Dro is not a song, it's rather a dance to a song. An 'An Dro' can be pretty much any tune the musician wants.

Three examples:

The Rogues play an An Dro on their album, "Roguetrip". Click here. On the left hand side, under 'Tracks', click "6. An Dro". It's an .m3u streaming file, you'll need iTunes or something.

Carlos Nunez (I can't do the tilde, sorry) plays An Dro.

Someone awesome covers Carlos Nunez here. This is the guy who inspired me to learn the whistle. I actually like his cover better, there's less flamboyant waving of his flute every which way.

**Jeffrey** · 08-04-2008, 12:58 AM

Hey, man. I saw the prayer thread and sent you a private message - you're a popular guy, or just backed up in your inbox, it didn't get through. I'm praying for you, I think we're in similar places right now (not geographically...).

Anyway, enough heavy stuff. Good to see you're back to CGR.

ICTHUS · 08-04-2008, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Hey, man. I saw the prayer thread and sent you a private message - you're a popular guy, or just backed up in your inbox, it didn't get through. I'm praying for you, I think we're in similar places right now (not geographically...).

Anyway, enough heavy stuff. Good to see you're back to CGR.

Hey Jeffrey!

If you want to contact me, feel free to drop me an email. I got a paid membership awhile ago, it expired, and now I have 494 of 250 (or 150?) allowed PM's.

ryan[dot]w[dot]hill[at]gmail[dot]com

**Jeffrey** · 08-04-2008, 01:28 AM

Cool man, I'll be sure to drop you a line soon enough. I had the same thing happen with my paid membership expired.

What's BC like? I had a friend propose to me that in a couple years, he and I and another might move north (one of us is an electrician, I'm a teacher, so we can find work). Emigrating might be a chore, but what's the cost of living like? I saw in your prayer request that housing is hard to come by.

ICTHUS · 08-04-2008, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Cool man, I'll be sure to drop you a line soon enough. I had the same thing happen with my paid membership expired.

What's BC like? I had a friend propose to me that in a couple years, he and I and another might move north (one of us is an electrician, I'm a teacher, so we can find work). Emigrating might be a chore, but what's the cost of living like? I saw in your prayer request that housing is hard to come by.

BC is incredible. I love it. I'll be sure to post pictures of the ocean view from the front window of this house (another reason why I don't want to leave). You can see the Olympic mountains over in WA on a clear day, from here. It's absolutely beautiful. The winters can get kind of depressing particularly if you live in Vancouver, since it rains constantly (Vancouver is up against a small mountain range, so all the clouds get trapped against the windward side of the mountains and dump their lovely precipitation on the good denizens of Vancouver)

Victoria has the opposite effect going on, being in the lee of the Olympic range across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The result is that we are among the driest places in BC. We still get lots of rain being on the coast, but considerably less than Vancouver.

Cost of living..hm. Gas is comprable to the rest of Canada I think. I don't think food is any more expensive than anywhere else, you can get certain types of seafood (salmon, etc) cheaper here because it's caught locally. As for housing...have a look at the Craigslist for Victoria and Vancouver, should give you a pretty good idea.

Cost of living is pretty high. Vancouver is among the priciest city in Canada to live. It has a vacancy rate of 0.9% according to a thing I saw the other day. Victoria is even worse - it's definitely a landlord's market, to be sure.

JerRocks2day · 08-04-2008, 10:01 AM

Hello Icthus. How ya doin'? Wanna check out my journal to see I'm doing?

ICTHUS · 08-04-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerRocks2day

Hello Icthus. How ya doin'?

Pretty alright, thanks.

Quote:

Wanna check out my journal to see I'm doing?

Not really. I don't particularly like you, sorry.

JerRocks2day · 08-04-2008, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Not really. I don't particularly like you, sorry.

Actually, I've been musing about my hobbies, teen life, my spirtual life, music, etc.

ICTHUS · 08-05-2008, 12:52 AM

Woo. I just biked a mile or so, both ways. One way was uphill.

It was excellent.

**Ted Logan** · 08-05-2008, 01:06 PM

Ryan, I've been dying to get a set of Uillean pipes for about five years now. I can play a couple of Irish tunes decently on a tin whistle, but my technique is horrific. I'm not familiar with Breton music, but Carlos Nunez is amazing!

Have you heard any of Planxty's music?

By the by, I got your message from yesterday and I'll get in touch as soon as I can.

**Skeeter** · 08-05-2008, 02:13 PM

When it comes to cost of living in BC, the further you get from Vancouver, the cheaper housing will be. Everything from Aldergrove through to Chilliwack is reasonably priced, but it depends on where you want to be. If you want to live in Vancouver, it will be expensive and housing is hard to come by, but you can find plenty of places further out.

Anywho, good to see you back, Ryan.

ICTHUS · 08-05-2008, 04:34 PM

Hahahahaha.
I'm listening to Planxty's rendition of "The Jolly Beggarman" and laughing my ass off. I'd never heard of them before, thanks Aaron.

Thanks for introducing me to Planxty, Aaron. I've been listening to them all day. I'm going to work on recording myself singing a song I found by them, "Bhean Phaidin". It's an Irish language song sung in the old Irish Sean-nos style. Very beautiful - too bad it's actually a song sung from the perspective of a woman jealous of the wife of another man.

Go mbristear do chosa, do chosa
May your legs, your legs be broken

Go mbristear do chosa a Bhean Pháidín
May your legs be broken, Páidín’s wife

**Ted Logan** · 08-06-2008, 02:14 AM

Planxty are the KINGS of the jilted lover song. Some of my favorites in that genre are

The Blacksmith
As I Roved Out (two different songs, both awesome, on their album The Well Below the Valley)
The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
The West Coast of Claire (my favorite song right now)

Their singer, Andy Irvine, has a version of "Arthur McBride" available for free download at Cantaria that's much better than the Planxty version, in my opinion, but it's a bit less traditional.

ICTHUS · 08-06-2008, 05:59 PM

I'm working on "John Ryan's Polka" on the whistle. I have it almost perfect at 60 BPM - I found a metronome online, so incredibly helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1S8yvzGHo

About 1:40 to 3:15 is John Ryan's, with the lead played on Uillean pipes

ICTHUS · 08-07-2008, 03:44 AM

So, psychiatrist appointment tomorrow.

I've heard so many horror stories about people, usually young teens, being forced to go to 'the shrinks'. Honestly, my doctor has the opposite effect on me. I feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel of mental illness after I see him. It's a good feeling. Dr. Stovel is respectful. He cares. His training has given him the knowledge he needs to know that how I'm feeling is not made up or purely psychosomatic - and he wants to help.

Like I said, good feeling.