Choice In Music

HULU TV Free Trial is not free

2025-06-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

Do not be drawn into a HULU free trial. HULU does not give free trial. Rather, depending on the version of subscription you want the trial against they charge you that fee upfront front. I took HULU on a trial basis and they charged me out of the gate. When I noticed it I immediately cancelled because I felt that they had lied to me by pretending to offer a free trial. I cancelled because of the principle that was involved. I do not like being lied to.

It is a complete disgrace what they did. I would never get a subscription with them because of this kind of nefarious behavior. They charged my account even before I was even able to watch anything,

To ABC/HULU: Are you that desperate for subscription that you have to cheat. Shame on you the set up because i noticed that

Below: The copy of their communication with me after I canceled, show that I was charged even before I had a chance to watch amnything.

A copy of their email this copy straight from the page that they sent me today

YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic $10.99/mo

Hulu (With Ads) Disney+ (With Ads)

Subscription Recurring Total(s) Your Charge(s) $10.99/mo

After any free trial(s), credit(s), and/or discount(s), your payment method will be charged on a monthly basis unless you cancel before your regular monthly billing date. This is bull-shit double-talk. Price subject to change. Please note that your charges may also vary due to any applicable taxes, free trials, promotional offers, discounts, or credits. You may be charged a prorated amount for any partial month of service. For more details, visit My Account. For more information on managing your subscription, including details about your charges, how to update your payment, how to put your account on hold (where available), or to cancel any time (even before any free trials end), log into My Account or see the bottom of this email.

The comment:

"After any free trial(s), credit(s), and/or discount(s), your payment method will be charged on a monthly basis unless you cancel before your regular monthly billing date." is total bull-shit double-talk.

The Importance of Musicianship

2022-02-14T11:23:00.001-08:00

There various kinds of elements in musicianship: Reading music while playing an instrument is one important skill. It is the ability to read and play the notes according to their quality, while representing tempo, dynamics and other elements that will lead you to the correct interpretation of the composition. Another equally important element is sight reading/singing music. Sight reading is ability to vocally produce the pitch, and the intervals between a lyric line of notes while reading from a score. In adition one must be able to identify the intervals between two pitches played. For example to identify whether two notes played reflect a fifth, sixth, second, third. etcetera. Such is requured to be effective in recording the right pitches as they are fed to you by someone playing varying pitch intervals on a piano. Being able to recognize intervals as they ar played is a very useful asset for sight reading. Furthermore, If you can accurately identify pitch intervals and note quality it will enhance your ablity to transcribe other peoples music for your own playing enjoyment.

My Mama's Hand

2021-10-27T15:37:00.012-07:00

This is the latest in a series of songs I have released. Its a tribute to my late mom.It is called My Mama's Hand. The song is basically a metaphor about the styles that we inherit from our parents.The genre is Reggae and the style is more reflective of that of the late Bob Marley. My Mama's Hand is availsble on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon and all other digital music platforms

My Alexa Moment

2019-08-19T12:26:00.007-07:00

If you have read any of my other blogs you will note that I am, to put it bluntly, not a fan of apps on my iPhone/iPad. The reason for this is because I know that they simply want to spy on how I use my phone in order to turn, me, the consumer into a customer. It’s called geotargetting through push notification.
With that said, I would like to share how I handled some geotargetings that were aimed at me. When I upgraded my Verizon Network, they offered me a free echo-gen as a courtesy for being a long-standing customer. Honestly, although I consider myself to be knowledgeable about the latest technology. I didn't know what an echo -gen was. The item in the picture actually looks like a speaker. I have a very tiny Hp speaker, which I bought when I first bought my Hp Laptop. I actually bought it to use with my mac mini . SO i was excited that i was going to get a 'bigger speaker.' However, upon its arrival after opening the box, I realized that it was the Alexa Voice Service. In addition, on the day of Alexa’s arrival I received an email from Amazon here is how it read: “Download the Alexa App.

Once you receive your new Echo, visit: www.amazon.com/AlexaApp to download the latest version of the Alexa App. This will direct you through the setup process. Once you've connected to Wi-Fi and associated Echo with your Amazon account, you're ready to start using Echo. Your Echo may receive a software update after you've completed setup.”

I have highlighted in red "and associate Echo with your Amazon Account," because first of all I don't know what Amazon would have to do to get me to sign up for their Prime Account. So it was a LOL moment for me at the time. To begin with Alexa was a technology, which I found absolutely "revolting." My first knowledge of it was when I saw it being talked about on one of the TV's talk shows. At the time I was appalled that anyone would engage with such a technology. The reason is that I would be giving my personal information (to whom I don't know) and having a robot performing basic tasks that I should be performing to keep my mind and physique exercised and healthy. As of now ‘Ms’ Alexa resides among the books in my bookshelf.

Furthermore, at the completion of the upgrade, Verizon text me a link to complete, (I know exactly why they chose to text me and i was really trying to keep them from filling up my mailbox with a lot of future promotions) so I told the representative absolutely do not text me, but to email me the link instead. So he emailed it to me. At the time he asked me if that’s my preferred way of communicating with them, and I said yes.

About a month later I got a text from them asking me to confirm my zip code. Now I have been with Verizon for years so I am not a new customer. So why would they want me to confirm my zip code? I’ll tell you why, once i respond by text it would give them access to my phone so they could start texting me promotions and telling me to download the app and all that nonsense. In fact they did send me an email telling me to download the app, which I ignored.

Apparently ignoring them wasn’t enough. So for about six months straight, when I attempt to pay my bill, I would see a big red sign asking me to confirm my phone number. I ignored them for six months until they got tired and stop asking me. So the most advertisement I get from them is at the time of my bill pay, and when the annoying promotions show up, I simply look for the no thanks field to whatever they put in front of my face, and continue to my bill pay.

My other wireless phone is with Verizon ( the one mentioned above was not) and they would love it if I would just pay them straight from my phone. However, again my preferred way of paying is on my computer. The reason is because on my computer I have a wide view. On my phone it’s an eyestrain. Secondly, on my computer I have more of a paper trail and thirdly I will not encourage them to fill up my phone with promotions by engaging too much with them by text. next thing hy will be telling me to download the app. lol!

I own two Sony smart TVs. The TVs come with several apps: Prime Video; Hulu; VUDU; Pandora; YouTube; Netflix, Kids; Berliner Philharmoniker; and two apps that can organize pictures. About once a year Sony notifies me on screen that they need to update my firmware. However, always after the update they would ask me to choose enable which would allow them to access details on how I use the TV., meaning the apps on it etcetera. As usual I would pick disable.
After my recent firmware update, I happen to go into an email, which I sort of abandoned simply because of the amount of spam I used to receive. I had forgotten that I use to have an unofficial account with them when I bought my Sony Video Camera. In that email I saw several emails from Sony, all promotions, except one. In this one Sony was asking me to take a customer satisfaction survey. They said it would take 10-15 minutes, so I expected to be there for some time. I was happy to take the survey, because I longed to let them know how i feel about people collecting data about anything I do with the technological equipments I own.

However, I was surprised at the way the survey turned out. The first question they gave contained a long list of companies that sell electronics and or music subscription, and movie subscriptions. Then they asked me which one of them I use or own. At first I was going to choose the option none of these, because I currently don’t subscribe to music or video. But since all of my electronics are Apple, I checked the Apple box. To my surprise the next page was a 'thank you' page, meaning the survey simply abruptly ended. This leads me to conclude that either they lied to me by telling me that the survey would last 10-15 minutes; or the information I gave them was enough. Indeed, they cannot include Apple TV in their app arsenal, so why waste time by having me complete the rest of the survey. I was so surprised I laughed out loud, because it didn’t make any sense that all of a sudden they had no more questions for me. Still, I understood perfectly well why the survey ended with my first Q and A. As mentioned above it’s the Apple thing. If anybody has a different take on it, please let me know. All I have to say is that hopefully I got rid of them, because I was sick and tired of them telling me that they have updated my firmware, and then asking for my permission to enable them to spy on me.

In contrast, I was recently at the bus stop where I noticed that the timetable for the buses’ arrival was replaced by a notice that said to download the My MTA app. I had already downloaded the app about a month before. But I wasn’t getting much from it. However, the notice explained how to use it. i find the app pretty useful, and so far I have not seen one ad. As I said earlier, I have had it on my phone for about a month. Now if they have the gall to start pushing ads I will delete the app. I think its a good app to have but ii can do without the agita.

Getting Rid of Tinnitus

2019-04-16T17:41:00.025-07:00

How I Got Rid of My Tinnitus

What is Tinnitus? Tinnitus is a loud continuous buzzing in the ear, that one experiences when he or she has suffered some level of hearing loss. It is usually somewhat bearable during the day, but prevents you from sleeping at nights.

I woke up one morning and something felt strange on the right side of my face. I thought that I was coming down with a cold, so I protected my neck kept on warm clothes and drank a few cups of warm tea. It wasn't until 3 days later when I felt like there was wind in my right ear that I realized that there was a problem with my right ear. I immediately called a few ear nose and throat hospitals, but to my chagrin they either kept me too long on hold or didn't pick up at all. I decided to try another day. On Friday March 1 2019, I was outside walking when I heard this loud boom in my ear, and I was like: "Is that my ear? No it can't be; it must be from the revving of the cars." But I think I should have realized it wasn't the cars because I have been outside walking all the time and I have never had that problem. I keeping a doctors appointment at the time and when i got to the office there was absolutely no noise in my ear.

Even so I thought I should go to the emergency room because something is definitely going on with my right ear. However, I was hesitant because it was now late evening and I was worried about the wait and the fact that I might end up being there until late in the night. It was also a weekend, a time when hospitals are less staffed, and I thought there might not be an Ear nose and throat doctor there to take care of me anyway. As a result I decided to tough it out until Monday March 4, and go to the ENT hospital instead. At this time there was no noise in my ears.

On Sunday March 3, 2019 around 8:00 PM in the night, I experienced the first sustained onset of buzzing in my ear. It was very loud and sustained. I couldn't sleep and so I was up in a panic and pacing the floor. My ear just would not stop buzzing. It sounded like a car going non stop at 80 miles an hour. I also experienced plops, which sounded like when your blue tooth equipment is looking to be connected to your computer. I did not want to call 911, but I was too panicked, and so I called them, and they took me to the hospital. At the hospital they claim they had no specialist there and didn't want to give me any medication for fear it might worsen the condition. The buzzing eventually subsided around 2 am in the morning while I was still at the hospital. They released me at 3:00 am in the morning, with documents stating that it the buzzing was permanent. The documents also told me how to live with the buzzing by using things like a fan, white noise etcetera.

On March 4, 2019 When I woke up I was fine the buzzing had gone. I went to the ENT hospital, unaware that these hospitals have converted to clinics, close at 4:00 clock in the evening and that people with hearing issues can't just walk in on an emergency basis, because they do not consider hearing issues to be physically threatening, and therefore will not see you on an emergency basis. Instead they tried to give me an appointment that was 3 months in the future. Anyone who would wait that long with the issues that I was having would have to be an idiot. I was very anxious to be seen by a doctor because i was afraid that my condition could become less sporadic. ENT referred me to their affiliate hospital across the street

I did as I was told and went to the emergency room of their affiliate hospital. As it turned out, they had no Otolaryngology doctor there either. They did nothing for me but asked me a bunch of questions and gave me the same documents like the other hospital, which stated its permanent and how to manage it. They also gave me a referral back to ENT hospital. So I came home and the next morning I called for an appointment. Even after mentioning to them that I have a referral from their affiliate to be seen on an emergency basis, they refused to squeeze me in for an appointment anywhere. I was told they could give me an appointment to be seen in May of 2019. As panicked as I was I wasn't going wait that long.

I began searching the web and calling around at different Otolarengology offices. I even tried to get an appointment from a doctor that I had seen once back in 2016 . however that too was fruitless, because this office also told me to wait forever. Anyway managed get an appointment with a private Otolaryngology Doctor. The appoint was for March 7, 2019.

Let me deviate a little. When I was 19 years old I developed ringing in my ear because I was on a plane that was about to land and I didn't know that I should keep my head down to prevent air bubbles from building up in my ear. It took several years to disappear. However, the ringing in my ear at that time was very minor, or nothing that would cause me to panic. Also the most time I heard the small bell chimes was in reclining at bedtime. The the sounds were barely audible. If you have ever seen the movie "Sound of Music" and saw the little boy bouncing up and down the bell tongue in ringing it, you will understand the intervals between each ring at the time. However, in terms decibels, it was next to nothing in comparison...meaning they were much, much softer.

On Monday night March 4th on my way back and after i got home from the second emergency room, emergency room visit my ear was not buzzing. It simply started up again while the water was as I brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. I thought it was because I had my mouth opened wide. ( I am willing to believe anything at this point). Again I panicked it just would not stop. I stayed up pacing the floor and finding all kinds of things to do to keep my mind off of it. Finally, I laid down and began to speak gibberish to block out the sound. I also began humming Beethoven 9th Symphony, and I noticed it was subsiding and I continued for about ten minutes and I could not believe it finally subsided. It was about 3 am in the morning.

So you think that talking gibberish, a lullaby and Beethoven's 9th Symphony was the solution? The answer is no, because when it came on the next day and continued into the night I tried the gibberish, lullaby thing and it didn't help. However, late in the night I was just talking to myself for a bout 20 minutes to block the sound and wallah! it stopped. I was flabbergasted, I was like what just happened?

Here is what I went through for the next couple of days: My own voice sounded like I was screaming. People next to me talking sound like they are screaming in my ear. The tap water running 'seem' to set it off or make it worst. Moreover, there are three different frequencies of sound that I was experiencing. There is boom, boom boom!, then there is the one that sounds like a race car driving, or a microwave oven in motion, or like the air conditioner, but just sustained. There was also the intermittent blue tooth connecting sound pop, pops. Still none of this problem as described was important enough for me to be seen on an emergency basis by Otolaryngology doctor at the ENT hospitals. I eventually managed to get an appointment with an Otolaryngology doctor in another day or so. So I will see how that goes. But in the mean time just think of the ENT health care and how they operate. To them the health of your hearing is not important to issue, because its not life threatening.

I began writing this post on March 6, 2019, because the buzzing had stopped and I was excited. I thought it was gone for good. However, as I was writing here, about 12 pm in the afternoon, I heard it slowly beginning to come back. I panicked and got up and walked way. After it began at 12:00 Pm it lasted until 5 am the in the morning. When it stopped I excitedly got into bed.
As a result of the buzzing having stopped at 5:am in the morning which was of March 7, 2019 the day of my afternoon appointment with the Ortolaryngology doctor there was no buzzing. However, at 2:30 Pm in the afternoon as soon as I entered the Otolaryngology office it began buzzing again. I was standing at the receptionist desk and looked back at the air heating vent situated on the upper part of a wall in the back. I desperately wanted to believe that that was what was causing the noise in my ear, but I soon realized that my ear had started buzzing again. After testing my ear, the doctor told me that I had some slight hearing loss and suggested a high potency supplement called La flavanoids, which is supposedly good for the inner ear. I was excited, so I came home and immediately picked it up from the pharmacy.

After my first dose my ear never stopped ringing and continued nonstop stop for a bout three weeks.
Remember now that as I was saying before that my ear would stop ringing for several hours at a time. Of course I never took another one of those pills after that. They cost was $26.00. I was now at my wits end. Then one night I started blocking the noise by placing my hand on my temple and repeating 1000-1, 1000-2 etc. for 3-10 minutes at time and I noticed that it was practically gone. The next morning I did this for one hour straight while pacing the floor and watching the CBS Morning News of course I couldn't hear anything because my fingers were glued to my temples. After doing this I notice that it began to lower the sound. Honestly, even as the noise level had lessened a lot I was skeptical. I said to myself: "There is no way this is working, and I am not going to get my hopes up." However, the change was so dramatic that I was cautiously optimistic. I will also mention that I was also drinking a lot of green tea, which is known to contain bioflavenoids a nutrient that is good for the inner ear.

I kept up my routine of pressing both my temples with my index fingers, and on March 31, 2019 in the late evening, I noticed that it seemed like it wasn't there at all anymore. So I leaned in to my bedroom to see if I could hear it because this was the most quiet part of my house, and so I always hear it louder there. But when I leaned in this time, I was like "Oh my God its gone, I think that if this is the evening and its gone then it might be gone forever." However, I still went to bed thinking that it might come back. The next morning when I awoke it was the same as when I went to bed the night before... I had to listen hard to hear it. I could not believe that it was really gone. I was really happy. Honestly, during my ordeal the way I tolerated it, was to believe that there is no way it would be permanent. I also never told anyone I was going through this, because I thought somehow I had brought it on myself. However, I knew in my heart that I could not live with it if it was permanent, since it was literally sending my anxiety through the roof.

I don't know if the green tea helped but if it did help then it simply mean that one size does not fit all and that is why the hi-potency kind, the La flavenoids that I mentioned earlier, had simply made it worst instead of better. I am pretty sure that mind control helped, this is where I blocked out the sound by placing my index fingers on my temples and counted out of sync to the buzzing in my ear (1000-1; 1000-2 etc.)

As I mentioned earlier, I began writing this post on March 6, 2019 during a period when the buzzing had subsided, but that later during writing I heard it coming back and I got frightened and walked away. I never thought I would finish this post. Today, April 16, 2016 its almost as if its not there anymore. I really have to lean in or listen hard to hear it, and I decided to finish this post, because I thought it was more important than ever for me to share my story. When I first started writing the story the title was: The Day My Ear Began to Behave like the Westminster Chime Clock. I now changed the title to To Getting Rid of Tinnitus.

It turned out that Otolaryngology doctor and other practitioners were wrong about my condition being permanent. The lesson here is to believe and be optimistic and never be afraid to try anything. I know it sound weird that the gibberish, the lullaby and the 1000-1; 1000-2 counts and the green tea could have solve the problem but it did for me. Thank God. I am still keeping my fingers crossed though, and trying to keep my ear away from loud noises or any further damage by wearing ear plugs as needed.

Update: It is May 14, 2019 I am still without recurrence as I said I have to listen really hard to hear it, so that means it is not enough to cause me any anxiety. Full disclosure, I am a musician and I spend a lot of time listening to midi music through software I use fro writing music on my computer. This involves a lot of repetition and I am told that that can cause your hearing to deteriorate.

Update: It is December 22, 2019, before my last visit to Otolarengology on October 30, 2019, the ringing in my ear was completely gone. Moreover, on October 30, 2019 the audiologist found no damage to my ear and has given them a clean bill of health.

During my ordeal, I searched the web to find out if anyone could give me advice, and I found many people who played upon others vulnerability in an effort to profit. I remembered thinking that it was shameful that someone should try to profit from their story which of course were dead ends. I believe it should have been imparted as Goodwill. I hope that in sharing my story I might have helped a few people. As I said before, I was able to tackle my buzzing at the early onset. I have heard people say they have had it for years, so I don't know if what worked for me would work for them at this time. I had my buzzing for under a month when I began to tackle it on my own, and I managed to get success. However, don't be discouraged, just try, because hope springs eternal, and all things are possible if you believe.

God Bless!

PS: So far I have been billed over $3, 800.00 from the hospitals even as they sent me home and told me there was nothing they could do for me. LOL!

Thanks for listening! 👂
Thanks for Reading!👀

Cotton Moire

2019-03-02T15:39:00.002-08:00

"No Room For Comfort" is a poem about my home. In it i describe how my neighbor that resides above me I consider a thorn in my side, because she constantly walk on the bare floors anywhere from 3:00 am to 6:00 am in the morning which is usually a time I cannot sleep because she is up walking around in her high heels. I describe the features of my home from myself: "icon on your chest," to the drapes: " Cotton Moire, flowers with leaves, and her high heels: wooden sticks on stilts.

No Room For Comfort

A silver coat across your back
A tiny chest: a treasure
Some violets in ceramic ware
And fixtures to your floor
Your Cotton Moiré I stitched long
And lovelier the window pane
The blues on greens are beautiful
To eyes that chose to see
Rhododendron in a patch of leaves
Scenic is the view
I too an icon on your chest
A fixture in the scene

Sometimes your ceiling head
Vibrating cause my ear to quiver
As neighbor’s feet syncopate
Her feet as if on wooden stilts,
and sounds like the beat of a drum
Nighttime, noontime, early dawn
This hammering,

Holds me in a wakened state
In you I speak in tongues that call
These foreigners’ restless beasts
I adorned you for my pleasure room
Comfort my endeavor and there is
Never a dull moment within your walls

Promoting Your Music, Digital Websites

2019-02-26T17:11:00.002-08:00

Can digital music promotion websites really give your music exposure?

I have simply been disappointed that they aren't what they purport to be. For instance, the one i am registered actually has a platform where as you can pay to have your song rated. This to me it is the same as buying stars, and I find that element of being asked to purchase stars abhorrent. I simply prefer to earn them genuinely. They also tell you post your music on the overrated Facebook. Ultimately, the question becomes what am I paying them for if i have to still do personal promotions. One of the worst money grabbing pitch for me was the fact hat they wanted a specified additional amount which would be applied when a new digital music store becomes available. So if a new music distributor never becomes available I would be out that money and they would line their pockets.

Ultimately, if you don't allow them to rack up extra money off of you, they dump you in the website with no search ability. For example you can never search for your song by its name only by artist name. Then they tell you to tell your friends and family to search for you by your name as if you made your song just for your friend and family. "You cant make this stuff up." Ultimately, I from my experience so far I have come to the conclusion that as is capitalism the music promotion website is the new neoliberalism frontier for those who came up with them to buy themselves mansions and yachts. In other words while profiting should benefit both the artist and the promoter, however, it seems to mostly benefit them.

Therefore, the music promotion website is really no different from those big recording companies who is used to keeping all the sales and royalties for themselves while giving the artist next to nothing for their creativity and hard work.