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Subject: +*+*+*+ Stephen's Secure Blog #300 "Setting up the Pops" +*+*+*+
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 18:09:59 -0500
From: " +Grant. " <+Grant@grant.grant>
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Stephen's Secure Blog #300
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 17 in this story, in Summer of year 7 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #300 "Setting up the Pops"
START Page
I had a few calls from CNN, requesting consultation. I did them in
person. The after the last one, I said, "Rose thinks you are only
asking for me, for my hugs." Don looked embarrassed, and Len laughed
his head almost off. I said "Oops! Sorry. If I knew she was right, I
wouldn't have said it. Anyway, I don't throw away friends. Her brother
said that was good, because the pile would be too big." They both
laughed. I said "I hope your bosses like the score. It's so
understated, I can hardly talk about it." They laughed some more. I
said "Did you know I was asked to conduct in Russia?" They didn't. I
said "The establishment there doesn't seem to respect artists much. I
had a better reception in Vienna. Boston Pops wants me, too, but I
don't know what for. Well, I can fix pianos." Don said, "I think two
things. You're popular, and they ARE the Pops, and you, well, are a lot
of fun." I said "Well, I am to me. Hey, I have to live with me much
more than you do, so I should be the first to enjoy being me, right?"
They didn't know what to make of that. I said "I'm selfish that way.
That other people might like it, is just extra icing on the cake." Len
got it, and said, "I know you don't lie, but you are coming awfully
close." I said "Oh, should I step back?" They laughed. I said "I was
going to offer you a towel." They laughed some more.
I said "Seriously, I am me. I can only be me. If that pleases people
sometimes, I love it. If I do things that displeases people, it's
because I need to, but I still love them. Personally, I like fun maybe
a little too much. Not that I hear many complaints about that. Er, if I
listened." More laughter. I said "Please give PBS as much as you can. I
wonder of you two could actually do a collaboration. Call me if you
want more from me. Oh, I maybe should mention, in my next art gallery
offering, I plan to show some spectacular gem carvings. Large ones. Not
as large as the Ruby Bridge, though." Don said "Is it really made of
ruby?" I said "Sure. Made ruby. Natural doesn't grow that big, and
would have flaws. Here's an image of something I made when I was
twelve. Diamond, and with built in colors, all carved from one made
block. My first gem sculpture." I showed them the tree I gave to Ichi's
parents. They said "Wow!" I said "Here's a more dramatic one." I showed
them Hissssner's tiger. More wows. I said "That would sure make one
pause." More laughter. I said "But who could afford such a thing, made
of pure diamond?" Len said "I don't know, but it's beautiful!" I said
"Thank you, but there isn't much point in showing it, if it doesn't
sell." He said "Smithsonian?" I said, "Maybe, in the unnatural history
section." That got some choking sounds. I said "Well, I'll go ask the
director. Oh, did you know I'm the chief display illustrator there?"
They didn't. I said "Yep, for years. Volunteer. I LOVE museums. I'll be
seeing you. After this." We hugged with love.
In Sharon's office, I said, "I hope you wait for me to die naturally,
to get the instruments." She grinned and said, "I will. The more you
stick around, the more the draw will be when we have them." I said "A
lot of people want my new flute. For you, I would rather it be the only
one of its kind." She almost cried. I said "Er, did I ever tell you
that I LOVE museums?" She said "I think I remember something like
that." I said "I have some news that might affect you and the museum.
We have agreed, after letting the cat really out of the bag in Tibet,
with the Ruby Bridge, that I can go public with all my non psychic gem
carvings." She said "Wow!" I said "Actually, that's not what Pete and
Chad said when Hawk told them what I planned." She laughed. I said "He
said they sounded like chickens trying to lay ostrich eggs." She
laughed really hard. She said "I see your humor has rubbed off on him."
I said "We've all been doing that. Er, the rubbing off bit." She
laughed some more. I said "His family raises ostriches for their meat,
commercially, so I think that one came naturally to him. Usually, he's
too busy laughing at everything I say, to get in jokes of his own." She
said "Sounds reasonable." I said "But who could afford big sculptures
of solid precious gemstones?" She said "I don't know, except we can't.
But, can we have some, anyway?" I said "Well, why do you think I'm
here? Just to make you laugh? Although that IS a good enough reason."
She grinned and said, "Thank you, twice."
I showed her some some images, and she chose some. I said "Where to
you want them?" She said, "They're ready?" I said "Some. Some I haven't
made yet. I'll do that just before I port them in. All the real work is
in the design, the actual making of them is like using a mental
compartment to print them in three dimensions. Takes a LOT of fancy
calculations, and the process uses my abilities automatically, when I
choose the specific material from my stock." She said "You must have a
VERY big warehouse." I said "Actually, I keep the big things in space.
Microgravity is convenient to store big irregularly dimensioned
material. I use something like a hollow spaceship the size of a small
moon, so all can be kept at Earth normal temperature and pressure.
Don't want things breaking or exploding when I port them here. So,
where do you want them?" She said "We have a secure storage room. Let's
go." I had to walk fast to keep up with her. When we arrived, I said,
breath, but still laughed. I ported the things there. I said "Keep your
cats. I don't care what people say, they ARE yours in spirit, and
that's what I care about the most. She said "Thank you." We hugged with
love.
I said to Chad, "I've been thinking." He said "I think I'm going to
need a sedative." I poked him, and we laughed. I said "Remember the
paintings of the future I made at the festival, with aliens in them?"
He said "I see where this is headed. You want to do some for the show,
but as fiction." I said "Tsuriss family life would be a big draw. What
could be cuter?" He said, "Fur us, probably nothing." I said, laughing,
"FUR us!" We hugged. He said "You could do a whole series of them for
each show. Call it a new style, unique to you." I said "Yes. If an
artist can become popular by painting dogs acting like humans, why not
cat-people? And more. A Ssintris preening his teeth in a mirror, with
his wife admiring them." He laughed, and said, "Zander should see
that!" I said "You know why I want to do it." He said "Yes. To prepare
the way. I never expected to agree to this, but after what's already
happened with your going public, I agree. Good idea." We hugged.
At the office with the Pops people, which included the music
director, I said, "I think you have expressed some interest in doing
something with me, or even against me, or something." He said "Yes.
What would you like to do?" I said "Er, ah, what you do." He said "On
the list. What else?" I said "I can sing and dance, and play most
instruments at the virtuoso level. To get the most out of me, I should
do all that at once. The two Georges, Cohan and Gershwin, and Rogers
and Hammerstein, for example. Odd, but when I think of that last name,
I picture somebody smashing a beer mug." They laughed. I said "I could
do something like Cagney did, for example." I said in his voice,
"Before I found some dirty rats in my cellar." They laughed. One said
"I didn't know you could do that." I said "I didn't, either. The French
Chef was my first, on the pledge show. This was my second. One song, if
we have me do any singing, I would really like to do, is 'Some
Enchanted Evening.' In fact I have an urge to sing it now. Strange."
Chad said "Do it. I'll accompany." There was a piano there. I looked at
them, and they nodded. I stood, and when Chad was ready, I really let
loose with it. When I was done, they all stared at me. I said
"Something wrong?" The music director gulped and said, "Not wrong.
said "Well, that's an order I sure won't object to. What about
Bernstein's 'Maria'"? He said "You want it, it's in!" I said "I'm not
used to this. Can I have at least a little argument?" They laughed,
Chad the most.
I said "What about conducting?" He said "What would you like?" I said
"I figure everything is a little too much. What is appropriate? Two of
my favorites I really want to conduct someday are Marche Slav, and
Capriccio Espagnol, but you know your audience better than I do." He
said "They work for the Pops. We could do them again. But what about an
instrumental for you?" I said "There are two popular pieces I think
orchestra, and Flight of the Bumblebee on the flute and piano. Chad can
pound the keys. All those things are just suggestions. I can do
practically anything." He said "I like the whole set. Well
have the final bow as the conductor. But I have the last word, which
will be my blessing with love." He said "That was expected. Thank you
for the bow." We discussed the program some more, and set the order,
and a date in early August, and the rehearsal times. Then the director
said, "Would you be available as a guest for other concerts? Sometimes
scheduled guests can't make it, and you seem ready to perform even
before you're asked to." Chad laughed, and said, "That's Stephen all
over!" I said to him, in an accusatory way, "You looked!" They all
laughed. I said "Except for scheduled commitments and emergencies, yes,
you can count on, er, some parts of me?" Chad poked me, and we grinned.
I said "I would be honored. And the challenge could make it
interesting."
I said "In the regular season, would the Symphony be interested in
premiering something of my work?" They looked very interested. I said
"What Vienna doesn't get out of me first. I just wrote a symphony for
them. They haven't set the date for the performance. I think they might
still be trying to recover from our visit." Chad laughed, and said, "So
true!" The director said, "I don't doubt it!" I said "What if it
rains?" He said "If it's bad, we'll have to cancel it." I said "Only if
it's bad before the show. If it starts just before, or during it, I
will keep everybody safe and dry." He said "You can do that?" I said "I
am unable to lie. Touch my hand." He reached for it, but was stopped by
my shield. I said "I can extend that to cover the whole area, set to
just not let water and lightening through. And bird droppings." He
grinned through his expression of awe.
He said "Do you usually have trouble with bird droppings?" I said "I
would, If I let them near me. I usually keep an avoidance broadcast
going, when I'm out of doors, or I would be covered in, well, not just
feathers." He looked more in awe, and so did some others. One said "The
Squirrel and the bird at the golf game." I nodded, and said, "Despite
my request, sometimes they come to comfort me when I have some strong
feeling, like I had then." He said, "There was a Saint who was known
for that, and his strong love that people could feel." I said "That is
true. There could have been others, too. Who knows? The past is very
big. But we are in the present, and I hope, firmly so." They got the
message. The director said, "What about an encore?" I said "I could
play my usual one on the violin, and then do the blessing. I planed it
that way." They nodded.
I said "There might be a little problem, though. There may be some
people who will claim a mystical experience from the event. Even some
kind of healing. After all, this is America. If that can happen with
I'm a Buddhist Priest, which knowing that, may predispose some of them
to imagine some things." He became serious, "Could that actually
happen?" I said "Well, we all know stranger things have happened, even
when entirely unexpected. It hasn't happened in my performances before,
that I know of, but those were with people who paid good money to see
me, who might not have been as eager to expose their er, nuttiness in
public." He said "I see. Well, we will just have to deal with it, if it
happens. Thank you for the warning. Looking for that might be a little
entertaining." I said "I have been of some cause of confusion among
people who have trouble accepting that an artist and conductor can have
an actual sense of humor. I am very relieved that I have company in my
unusual condition." They all got a good laugh out of that one.
In my living room, I said, "I like the Pops people the best." Chad
said, "Yes. Well, they know you from the pledge week." Rose said,
"More, I think. They like people as people, and not as just customers."
Hawk said "They are more like Stephen than the others. Nice. Do you
think they will plead with him to be in the 4th?" Chad said, "Might
even say there was a cancelation." I said "I'll have an excuse. I'll be
in Tibet." Rose said "Did you plan that?" I said "Not to avoid Boston,
no. Won't prevent me from taking advantage of it, though." Some
companionable silence. I said "You know, I don't really have to do
these things. Know why I do?" Silence. I said "Mostly it's two reasons.
I get creative inspiration from these things. The other reason is,
because it pleases you, all of you. I love that." There were some not
so dry eyes, and a whole lot of flowing love.
END Page
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Grant
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