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EDWARD JACOBS

Category: Living

  • 3 October, 2024

    3 October, 2024

    A good first day here. (Some pix below.) As always, going to a new place and dive operation means learning how they do things. Several firsts for us.

    We brought our gear over to the area with the restaurant, dive shop, pool. This area is not on the water. The guides put our gear on the boat, set things up (partially). When all loaded up, a tractor pulled the boat to the beach, and we (6 divers and a guide) walked 5 minutes to get there ourselves. We got on the boat, check over our gear–glad we did, as their setup was not complete. Then we’re off to the first site, La Esperanza.

    The dives here in the Marine Park are limited to 45 minutes, so these were not to be long dives, at all. La Esperanza was a blah dive, with not much to see in terms of reef or wildlife. The terrain was interesting, though, a rock bottom with channels between huge slabs. We’ve not seen anything quite like that before.

    The dive guide was basically absent, just zooming ahead the group a bit behind. Never seemed to check in on us. Pattie and I like to dive slow and look around, and as was the case for another couple, Kate and Dom. So we all just hung back, keeping the distant reflection of our guide’s cylinder in sight (albeit distant. These are essentially drift dives, though the current was not at all strong.

    Getting back on the boat was interesting; we passed up our BCD/Cylinder, and stayed in the water while they changed over our tanks. When they’d done their job, we passed up our fins and climbed onboard. Off to the next site, which was Los Morros, a very sealife-rich site. We saw lots of grouper, porkfish, needlefish, an octopus…it was a great site, for sure.

    And Pattie got some very nice pix…

    Octopus hiding
    Porkfish
    Pufferfish
    Purcupine Puffer
    A big group of Porcupine Puffers. Have never seen so many!

    We’ll get in two dives on Friday, 10/4, and hopefully I’ll post a few more pix then.

  • 2 October, 2024

    2 October, 2024

    Cabo Pulmo, Baja

    Today was a very long travel day, beginning with a 2am wakeup. Uber pickup at 3am, at the airport before 3:30 for our 5am flight. The lines were extraordinarily long when we arrived at the airport, as the entire RDU tech system used by check-in agents and gate agents was down.

    Somehow, even though we didn’t check our bag until 4:20, we made it through TSA and got to our gate as they were boarding. Even more surprisingly, the plane was fully loaded and boarded in time to get us off the ground on time.

    Our 2:45 flight arrived at DFW early, and had a 3-hour layover. We searched for some superglue somewhere in the airport, to fix the break in my eyeglasses’ frame–turns out stepping on your glasses isn’t a good idea. All fixed, then onto the AA lounge for coffee, ‘net, etc. And our 2+ hour flight to SJD went smoothly.

    The SJD airport is quite efficient, unexpectedly. Immigration was simple and quick, then on to customs. We were a bit concerned about this process, as we’ve been hearing many accounts of people coming in with cameras and their underwater housings, and having to pay a ‘tax’. Although it’s illegal, we are told that each person can bring in a single camera, and that the housing is often noted as a second camera, bringing a tax. I’d prepared for this by putting Pattie’s camera in one bag, and the housing in another, hoping we could say we each have one of those bags. Alas, we were simply asked what was in our bags, and our “dive gear” response was adequate–we were passed right through.

    A driver, Gustavo, picked us up outside, and we were on our way to Cabo Pulmo, where we’ll stay until Saturday morning. It’s quite hot here, so Gustavo having been in touch via WhatsApp earlier, giving us a way to say “we’re at the curb” so that he pulled right up without us waiting more than a minute or two.

    Hot, yes. And Gustavo was ready with water and beer for us. So we enjoyed a beer and great conversation with Gustavo for our 90′ drive.

    Pattie and I had made this drive ourselves in December, 2019, with Tim and Tara. Much looked familiar, and then there was all the new construction which, of course, we didn’t recognize. Gustavo was really great, and when Pattie asked him to try me out in Spanish, he was game. For about 5 minutes, we had a conversation, and I didn’t totally fail.

    We arrived at the Cabo Pulmo Resort at about 2pm, and got into our room. Accommodations are just fine, with a large main room with bed, table, couch, kitchen; and a bathroom. We’re quite comfortable.

    Dive gear is prepared and ready for tomorrow’s dives.

  • August 2, 2024

    “This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.”
    —Hannah Arendt, German historian and philosopher (1906–1975)

  • August 1, 2024

    A tremendous voice of creativity in sound, Wolfgang Rihm.

  • Monday, October 23, 2023

    What if we took a different approach to our curriculum in music training? What if we start with what our students are making with music–the repertoire they’re preparing–and base all other classes on that music?

    In the spring semester, ensemble, opera, and chamber music directors select their repertoire for the coming year. Then, with that repertoire shared with those who teach core classes (theory, ear-training, keyboard harmony, conducting, history), the core classes can use that music to draw examples for study, analysis, exercises, etc.

    Perhaps that might broaden the impact of the curriculum–all students in their early years (the “core” years) would be studying the same works of music, though at different levels of sophistication. And the connection of (and impact of) basic studies on performance (music-making) would be made both clearer and more practical to students.

  • Sunday, October 15, 2023

    So much going on in our world, very little of it encouraging.

    To find the elements of optimism, at least for me, I need to look at the smaller circles, the closer orbits. Two thriving grandsons, healthy, smart, loving, each mischievous in their own ways. And they’re fortunate to have two loving parents who’re effective at allowing their imaginations thrive, but also at providing clear limits. I found great energy and inspiration in my visit to their home last weekend, and in that house, there is nothing but optimism.

    As I look at my own home, I am grateful that we’re all dealing with our various health situations effectively, and are in good shape. Thankfully, we’re all living with things that are treatable, and that puts us in a category of very fortunate people.

    And Pattie and I are now getting closer to pulling the trigger on some plans for next summer and after. Travel, diving, hiking…we want to do as much as we can while we are healthy. And the bucket list of places to see and things to do is a long one, for sure.

    Then there’s work/school. A fabulous group of newer colleagues provide a wonderful sense of optimism. But that optimism requires patience, for sure. The many good ideas that might create a brighter path for educating future musicians will take time. I think my job at this point is to facilitate the generation, formation, and focusing of some of those ideas; alas, the implementation will be the job of the next generation of faculty.

    The conversations I’m having with a small group of wonderful younger faculty is getting some great broad concepts on the table at this point. And some of the discussion has led me to an idea…

    More on that in another post.

  • Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023

    “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”

    –Fred Rogers

  • Thursday, June 1, 2023

    A few pics from our trip to Ireland a week ago.

    Blarney Castle

    Rock of Cashel

  • Wednesday, May 31, 2023

    I’ve been thinking alot about failure of late.

    Nothing disastrous here, just an emphasis in my mind lately about the learning opportunities offered when we don’t meet or exceed expectations. I am thinking about elements of my career (first as a player, then as composer, conductor, teacher, administrator), elements of my personal life (husband, father, son, sibling, friend), and pursuits outside of my career (handyman, carpenter, scuba diving).

    In so many ways I have not seen aspirations achieved, and in each of those cases I have learned so very much. And those lessons have offered me an opportunity to broaden and/or strengthen my understanding of both what things I want and how I want to do them.

    Perhaps this comes from being, at base level, a teacher. Music has been the activity I am driven to pursue, but teaching has been the natural strength since I was little. Music has been what I wanted my natural strength to be, but it was really something that took/takes a ton of work to get better at and, as a result, finds me a pretty idiosyncratic composer. Teaching, though, is rooted in a perspective of trying to understand how someone else sees things, and I am unendingly curious about that in a way that is much stronger than the value of my own idiosyncratic way of musical thinking…

  • Thursday, March 2, 2023

    On the cusp of school’s spring break (next week), and almost caught up with everything so that the week can be a genuine break.

    Then emails and texts arrive with work-fires to try to extinguish. In years past, this sort of thing would have really driven me a bit crazy. Now, having only a year of this “interim Chairperson” thing behind me, and knowing that my time at work is limited to only a few remaining semesters, I see these issues as irritants, rather than crises. I do question many things that come my way these days; and even more so the motivations of others who seem to have completely lost perspective on just plain getting their work done.

    It seems clear that some folks only look to ask questions, and truly do not want to come to conclusions about how to move forward with things they wonder about. The curiosity of researchers, for instance, which sometimes lead to paths of inquiry can only lead to insights if they are willing to take steps along a path, continuing to pursue the path. There are those who seem afraid to choose which step to take next, fearing that choosing one step’s direction will cut off too many other possible directions–so better to never take any step at all. This, clearly, just leads to a kind of decision-paralysis which makes any of the options one faces in life an enormous challenge.

    I recently heard a podcast which, in part, discussed the issues surrounding perfectionism. And perhaps this–a perfectionist’s traits–are what lead some into research in the first place. That is, having a sense that the only important thing about inquiry is the asking of questions; not recognizing that the act of research is only concluded when the “asker” reveals some conclusions synthesized from the discoveries found through questioning.

    This is truly fascinating to me, likely because I have difficulty with a perspective that truly believes that “perfect” is something that can be reached, rather that one only pursues. That is, that our pursuits are all practice.

    Alas, a decision-paralyzed person not only finds themselves unable to move forward, but stymies any progress in those with whom they must collaborate. And there’s the source of today’s rub, though it’s been clearly brewing for many months now. I don’t yet know how to put out today’s fire, but am hoping that a conversation I’ll have in a few hours offers a clearer path forward.