Painless Upgrades

Finally dropped the bucks on Scrivener IOS. Right away was best money I've spent in a while. Typing into the Scrivener window was much more comfortable than typing into Notes, and better organized. With that and my folding bluetooth keyboard I could probably write a novel on the iPhone alone.

But the real power is being able to synchronize work files between machines. Of course that requires Dropbox, and Dropbox stopped supporting OS 10.9 or below. So finally took the risk of updating to High Sierra.

No, there aren't any whistles and bells I was interested in. I don't need Siri on my laptop, for instance. And I'm not sure I care for the new theme. But...so far all my core applications have worked or been an easy update, and I didn't lose any files, passwords, or even bookmarks.

(Just the usual run-around of turning back off all the, "Please share my identity with the world and while you are at it, put my critical files on the cloud so you can hold them hostage at some future date" stuff.)

(The only real annoyance is the pop-up window that happens when you open an ap for the first time; it says "This ap is not fully compatible with your mac" and the "tell me more" button takes you to an apple web page about how they will be dropping 32-bit compatibility in some eventual upgrade. The "okay" button seems to quit the ap -- or maybe the whole process is just so slow it only looks like it does.)




So did the acid test for Scrivener IOS today. Most things worked. I lost the macro I'd set up to color blocks of text, and selecting blocks of text is annoying on the iPhone anyhow. Also there is no Scrivenings mode (a mode that presents all the selected text as a single contiguous page -- helpful for scanning through a series of scenes nested into chapters). But navigation is smooth enough, typing is fine.

(An odd wrinkle is Scrivener IOS doesn't recognize the "command" key on the iClever keyboard. Instead I have to remember to use the "Windows" key for control-key sequences. But I already went through mental keyboard remapping when messing with programming inside a Raspberry Pi.)

I took it to the cafe and managed to create a new draft of the Agora scene. While I was drafting it discovered an opportunity to plant a couple of ideas; the idea of all Europe being a Euro-rail pass away once you've made the Big Leap across the Pond. And the idea of Penny having this vacation all planned out in her head, a dream she will have to tearfully give up during the events in Germany.

Didn't end up talking about that palimpsest. Although I think I snuck in mention of a well. So it all basically works for me and I can move on to filling the next hole in the current draft.

Oh, one last discovery. Don't synch files unless you have wifi. It takes far too long on cellular data.



Also switched to the 5C mouthpiece in the trumpet to continue my daily practice sessions, and retuned the gue to C - F. Both give me a clearer tone and make it more distinct when I'm locked into the right pitch and articulation.

Best advance? I took out the mute and was able to achieve the high c at pianissimo. That means I'm finally getting some strength in my embouchure. I'm still pressing too hard or something and my lips get a little numb. Is probably a mistake to keep working on the top end of the range. But I got that Disney songbook and the very first number on it goes to the top e on the staff within the first dozen bars...and finishes with the a' above the staff. (The last marked notes are a gliss from d to D).

(For a moment I thought it was the top c'. I'm still learning how to sight-read.)

I have this terrible idea of practicing up enough until I can record my Gue-and-Lyre cover of Game of Thrones before I get a hair cut. I don't have the beard to go Viking on it, though. I am not an actor. I'm barely able to make the music.