Speaking Clearly

I am speaking this post. I was typing some ramblings to myself earlier when it started to feel like I could not type fast enough to keep up with getting the thoughts out of my head. So I dusted off this old Dragon voice recognition software, even though I resent the company for telespamming me with unsolicited telephone calls. I don’t know if they quit doing that because I blocked the number, but I swear a call from them got through anyway on my previous phone.

Well the disappointing truth is that I don’t find myself speaking any more quickly or more expressively than I was while typing. And I find myself creating this text with a combination of speaking and using the keyboard. I dislike speaking punctuation. I would like to be able to speak perfectly naturally and make the recording available on Soundcloud accompanied by the transcript.

So here I am back@SirOPTi.com. Hah, going to leave that Dragon fail. What I said, quite clearly, was here I am back at Sorabji.COM. Dragon turned it into a gibberish e-mail address to a non-existent domain. It did it twice: back@SauronG.com. Dragon has a lot of trouble with the word “Sorabji”. Here I will repeat it and see what variations Dragon emits:

So Rob G
saw Raj he
saw Rob too
saw Rob G.com
serology

So the story here is that Rob G. saw Raj. He saw Rob, too. They took a saw to Rob G.com, necessitating the help of a serologist to prescribe a serum to heal the wounds inflicted by the saw.

At least I learned a new word. Serology is the study of serums. It is not the study of obscure British composers.

Anyway, here I am back at Sorabji.COM, ending for the most part the Sorabji.NYC experiment. My use of that domain name really did not make any sense. I was aware of that from the get go. I am not Sorabji and I do not conduct business in New York City under that name. Actually I guess you could say I do if my work in web development and such revolves around what I do here and at other sites. The Sorabji domain name has always been a good conversation piece, though its unwieldy sound has made for a number of bounced e-mail messages from people who had trouble spelling it.

Speaking of Sorabji my old friend Don Garvelmann got some respect in this story at Scroll.IN, which gives a brief (too brief) overview of the life and times of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. Somehow the author failed to note that Jonathan Powell is, by many estimates, today’s standard bearer for performances of Sorabji’s work. Just yesterday, in fact, I had reason to recall being at his 2004 performance of the Opus Clavicembalisticum at Merkin Concert Hall.

And a couple of pesky spelling errors inspired me to e-mail their “letters” address and point them out.

A few weeks ago I happened to be in Don Garvelmann’s neighborhood, if you could call it that. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens. I was on the Queens Boulevard side of the cemetery, en route to Briarwood. I considered stopping in to say hi but I did not think I would remember exactly where to find the burial site in the time left before the yard closed. Now that I look at his gravesite photo I remember that he was buried in grave number 181.

I don’t think Don ever knew of my fixation on that number but the coincidence would have amused him. 181 is the number of my post office box, which has been my mailing address for over 25 years. Among other things Don once mailed some materials regarding Blind Tom Bethune to me at that address. But 181 has appeared in my life in countless other contexts, inviting consideration that it is something like a magic number for me.

I gave up speaking this post. It was too nettlesome, as I always conclude when revisiting Dragon’s software.