Sorry I haven't been posting as much lately, loyal blog followers. Or, you're welcome. Whichever.
I feel like, even if not a single solitary soul ever reads this blog, I'm writing to my future self. I plan to have this as a reference when I'm in my thirties and looking back. Hello, me! And whoever else is reading, if anyone is. Rachel? Rosebud? ...Aunt Sue? Hi. Anyway I'd like to write more often, but even when I don't, it's all good.
I'm feeling more upbeat. I don't know why! Maybe I've just lost my mind. Last weekend was alright, I worked Saturday, then Sunday I went to an organ concert with my father. It was pretty good, it was a church organist downtown, it felt a lot like a church function. He played a lot of modern pieces with a lot of sustained notes and complex chords and gradual diminuendos and crescendos. The first piece was my favorite, it made all the hair on my back stand on end. I think I was reading the program notes too much and would have enjoyed it more if I'd just listened to the music.
That made me think about organs and churches and music for awhile. Then Dan started playing a new video game (Kingdom Hearts, which is old, but new to him) and that made me want to play Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask, which I'm doing. It's a great game. Very unique. You relive the same three days in this kingdom, the three final days before the world ends, over and over again. It's gloomy, you're helping all these people in so many great ways, but every three days you start over and everything is erased, nobody knows you or remembers what you did. As a concept it really speaks to me, and also the world is full of life and good stories and really draws you in. It may be, in theory, my favorite Zelda game. As you play it though, you realize the dungeons are very lacking and some game play is just too tedious. I think somebody should re-do this concept, using the newer systems' power, with a longer time span and a bigger world. It would be neat. Too bad I don't know enough about video games to ever be a game designer.
Certain things inspire me. Video games, certain ones, have this way of inspiring me, which is weird since I'm no good at them and I've watched my brothers play a lot more than actually play myself.
Obama spoke tonight. I think it's funny how both sides want to work together and be all bi-partisan, so long as the other side is willing to abandon their principles and go along with whatever they want. "We should work together to do what I say". Neither side will ever reach much of a compromise, we can only hope that doesn't stand in the way of progress.
Not that I care much about politics. As I stood looking at this man, who is now technically our president, I had a hard time connecting that in my brain. I slowly realized that it was because it didn't matter. It makes no difference to me who is president, who is running this country. It has no effect on my life. You may think that's awfully naive of me to say, or simple untrue. But really, my parents have jobs, they would have jobs no matter who was in charge. If they didn't work where they did, they would work somewhere else. We would get by no matter what. Does anything the president do or say really ever effect us? Does the state of the economy effect us? Not so long as we're still working and paying the bills, prices haven't changed much (except in gas, but that has little to do with the economy), and we have no major investments. It doesn't matter to my family who's president, nothing he does or says will have any direct effect on us, nothing that happens in California effects us, or in Florida, in fact, as far as we're concerned the whole world outside of Pennsylvania doesn't exist. People's connection that they feel to the rest of the world, especially with the advent of computers and improved communication, is largely imagined. We have no real connection to the outside world. That's the way it is, that's the nature of reality. We're all these little single-celled organisms, stimulus-response, stimulus-response, we lose our jobs we'll find another, someone we know dies we grieve and we move on, opportunities come and go, and you know what, what happens across the world makes no difference to me, what happens in Washington makes no difference to me, my only responsibility is to myself, my family, and my immediate community, which is the city of Reading and the state of Pennsylvania. The U.S. is nothing but a bunch of people who all happen to be living near each other. Barack is a man in a suit talking at me through the TV screen. He might as well be going on about sewing buttons.
Okay, that's enough ranting for one post. Anyway, as the title of this post suggests, I'm hoping to settle into a routine again. Last week I was only in school two days, and I feel really out of whack. I need to settle back into a system of doing things, and make sure I go to school every day.
This week, I'm meeting with Khai tomorrow (feeling a little more excited about that now than I was just a little while ago), and I've acquired a double-role in school show because of one of the kids who dropped out. It's a small role, but still, more stag-time=win.
Women are interesting. Mmm. Women.
I leave you with that thought.
_Dr. M
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Here I Sit, No More!
Good lord... what a non-week.
I missed a post on Wednesday, not sure how that happened. Anyway, I pretty much have nothing to write. I feel like I should write. I need to write.
I should be at some stranger's house right now, but I ended up staying home from Regionals. The reasons for not going started mounting so I didn't go. Wednesday I completely lost my voice, I mean it dug a tunnel beneath the walls with a spoon and wasn't heard from again until yesterday evening. That was combined with an overall feeling of illness. Lesser reasons for staying home included not knowing the music, not really liking the director we were going to have, simply not wanting to go through the housing ordeal and spend so much time rehearsing again, and having to miss my guitar lesson as well as show up late to work on Saturday. So today and yesterday I simply slept in and goofed off. I'm not really feeling sick anymore, but I was going to be out of school today anyway and honestly... I just couldn't see the point in going in.
But this week has been overall pretty lame. I mean like I said, Sunday was amazing, but other than that, I made no new revelations, learned nothing, and spent most of my time doing diddly. Everyone has weeks like that, I think.
Tomorrow is guitar lesson and work. Sunday I meet with Khai.
The guitar is coming along, sort of. I haven't made as much progress as I wanted to this week. I can play three, maybe four chords automatically, the problem is it still takes me too long to find them, so I can't really play in time. The movements still feel awkward and unsure. Maybe this is all to be expected in your first week of playing, but I wanted to have the chords and changing between them down cold by tomorrow. I imagine the space between the progress I feel I should be making and the progress I actually am making is going to grow wider and wider as time goes on, probably because I simply expect too much out of myself, and also I have no standard to judge myself against. Is the rate I'm learning at normal?
My only real advantage in learning the guitar is the same with any instrument I might try to learn, which is that I have a pretty good idea of music, arranging, register, range, rhythm and sight-reading going in. I can focus solely on technique and getting the movements down, since basic musicianship is already innate. For instance, given the starting notes each string plays when open, I can pretty much figure out the fingering to any chord on my own. With just a little guitar theory and technique it won't be long until I'm making my own arrangements of songs (and my own songs, which I already do of course). The problem is always you don't know what you don't know, and I may be looking at a much steeper mountain to climb than I realize.
This next lesson will be very important. It's going to tell me a lot about myself as a guitar student and my teacher as a guitar teacher. Here's the progress I've made, now what's next? What can I do to help me improve beyond this point? I want to leave each week with a clear idea of how far I've come and what I'm supposed to be practicing. I have who knows how much to learn and only six months to learn it, I don't want there to be a single stagnant week where nothing is really accomplished.
I feel really stupid for not having started this whole process two years ago. It's not like I'd never wanted to learn the guitar until now. It's just now that I'm feeling motivated enough to do it.
Anyways, it's quite thankfully almost the last week in February, which means only March, then April, then May, and I'm out! of! here! Isn't it funny how regular and unchanging the passage of time is, yet certain periods of our life seem to stretch and shrink depending on how we spend them? The best times always pass the quickest, the worst stretch on for eternity. Not always, sometimes our best or most vivid memories make certain months seem a lot longer than others. But time is a very steady rhythm, a steady snare drum beat marching us towards our final destination. But the more time you spend thinking about that, the less time on earth you ultimately have for all the better, happier things.
I wanted to write about how all this week I felt like a big, unmoving blob in this chair, futilely picking away at those same damn chords every day, not going anywhere any which way. How I want to spend my time more wisely, spend less time doing nothing, make more music, feel less blah inside. This skipping of Regionals feels like a culmination of all of that. But I'm not going to write about it, I'm not going to dwell on it, because the more time I allot it, the longer it will take to move past it. This next week is going to bring new challenges and new opportunities and new songs, I'm going to grab them, hang on and not let go until I'm somewhere else besides right here.
So there.
I love Rachel. Oh, how I wish she were here. I can't be the only one who feels like he was born to be alone.
_Dr. M
I missed a post on Wednesday, not sure how that happened. Anyway, I pretty much have nothing to write. I feel like I should write. I need to write.
I should be at some stranger's house right now, but I ended up staying home from Regionals. The reasons for not going started mounting so I didn't go. Wednesday I completely lost my voice, I mean it dug a tunnel beneath the walls with a spoon and wasn't heard from again until yesterday evening. That was combined with an overall feeling of illness. Lesser reasons for staying home included not knowing the music, not really liking the director we were going to have, simply not wanting to go through the housing ordeal and spend so much time rehearsing again, and having to miss my guitar lesson as well as show up late to work on Saturday. So today and yesterday I simply slept in and goofed off. I'm not really feeling sick anymore, but I was going to be out of school today anyway and honestly... I just couldn't see the point in going in.
But this week has been overall pretty lame. I mean like I said, Sunday was amazing, but other than that, I made no new revelations, learned nothing, and spent most of my time doing diddly. Everyone has weeks like that, I think.
Tomorrow is guitar lesson and work. Sunday I meet with Khai.
The guitar is coming along, sort of. I haven't made as much progress as I wanted to this week. I can play three, maybe four chords automatically, the problem is it still takes me too long to find them, so I can't really play in time. The movements still feel awkward and unsure. Maybe this is all to be expected in your first week of playing, but I wanted to have the chords and changing between them down cold by tomorrow. I imagine the space between the progress I feel I should be making and the progress I actually am making is going to grow wider and wider as time goes on, probably because I simply expect too much out of myself, and also I have no standard to judge myself against. Is the rate I'm learning at normal?
My only real advantage in learning the guitar is the same with any instrument I might try to learn, which is that I have a pretty good idea of music, arranging, register, range, rhythm and sight-reading going in. I can focus solely on technique and getting the movements down, since basic musicianship is already innate. For instance, given the starting notes each string plays when open, I can pretty much figure out the fingering to any chord on my own. With just a little guitar theory and technique it won't be long until I'm making my own arrangements of songs (and my own songs, which I already do of course). The problem is always you don't know what you don't know, and I may be looking at a much steeper mountain to climb than I realize.
This next lesson will be very important. It's going to tell me a lot about myself as a guitar student and my teacher as a guitar teacher. Here's the progress I've made, now what's next? What can I do to help me improve beyond this point? I want to leave each week with a clear idea of how far I've come and what I'm supposed to be practicing. I have who knows how much to learn and only six months to learn it, I don't want there to be a single stagnant week where nothing is really accomplished.
I feel really stupid for not having started this whole process two years ago. It's not like I'd never wanted to learn the guitar until now. It's just now that I'm feeling motivated enough to do it.
Anyways, it's quite thankfully almost the last week in February, which means only March, then April, then May, and I'm out! of! here! Isn't it funny how regular and unchanging the passage of time is, yet certain periods of our life seem to stretch and shrink depending on how we spend them? The best times always pass the quickest, the worst stretch on for eternity. Not always, sometimes our best or most vivid memories make certain months seem a lot longer than others. But time is a very steady rhythm, a steady snare drum beat marching us towards our final destination. But the more time you spend thinking about that, the less time on earth you ultimately have for all the better, happier things.
I wanted to write about how all this week I felt like a big, unmoving blob in this chair, futilely picking away at those same damn chords every day, not going anywhere any which way. How I want to spend my time more wisely, spend less time doing nothing, make more music, feel less blah inside. This skipping of Regionals feels like a culmination of all of that. But I'm not going to write about it, I'm not going to dwell on it, because the more time I allot it, the longer it will take to move past it. This next week is going to bring new challenges and new opportunities and new songs, I'm going to grab them, hang on and not let go until I'm somewhere else besides right here.
So there.
I love Rachel. Oh, how I wish she were here. I can't be the only one who feels like he was born to be alone.
_Dr. M
Monday, February 16, 2009
Greatest. Weekend. EVER
I'll have to keep this post short, as I only have like an hour to write it. My computer's internet turns off at twelve, which used to be fine since before I'd just go downstairs and finish on my parent's computer. Only now they've placed the same restrictions on their computer, for some reason they're hell-bent on keeping me off the internet after 12:00 on weekdays.
Other than that, I've had a really really good weekend, as the title implies. Saturday I unexpectedly had my first guitar lesson. There were two other students and both his kids (at least one was, maybe the other was just a friend) in the room at the time, so it didn't feel much like a "private" lesson, and he didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know... but still, my first lesson! I get the impression he's not as "hands on" as some other teachers, there will still be a good amount of self-studying to be done, but I imagine he'll give me repertoire and technique to work on, and answer any questions I have. That's what music teachers do, isn't it? lol
I can't have a lesson this week, because I leave for Regionals on Thursday and won't be back until Saturday afternoon. So in two weeks I'd like to have mastered the basic chords he gave me and changing between them, maybe set them to a song or two. The guitar neck on my mom's guitar is a lot thicker than normal, which is part of why it feels so awkward to play, so I'll be looking to get my own sometime soon hopefully.
Later that day was work, then me and my brother saw Coraline. Great movie. In 3-D which was really a little unnecessary, but it didn't detract much from it. The artistry was amazing, I would love to see it again just for that. I mean, the story and characters were okay, but it was really a treat to look at and experience.
Sunday I went up and saw Rachel. We had an amazing day. Went to see the Rodin museum which was great, ate pizza, etc. It was seriously the best time I've had in a long time, and I can't wait to see her again, probably sometime next month for spring break.
Today I slept until four since the night prior I'd only had 2.5 hours of sleep, then the rest of the day I spent with the guitar.
So I'm feeling pretty great, though definitely not looking forward to returning to school and show and everythingUUUGG.
I've dropped my album. I'm not in the right frame of mind to make an album right now, I just don't have any good ideas, and I knew the rest of the songs were going to turn out like the first one, and I didn't want to waste my time.
Rachel was talking to me yesterday about how she feels like she's wasting her time in college. Her mother said, and she agrees, that some people think you go to college to grow up, but really all you're doing is prolonging your youth as long as you can. You go there to delay growing up. All she wants to do, the only thought she has for her future, is to raise a family. And college is keeping her from doing that. So I said why don't, maybe in another year, we get married. I mean, why not? People get married when they're eighteen. I don't know how we'd raise kids when we can barely support ourselves (if that turns out to be the case, which with us both in college seems pretty likely), but we wouldn't have to worry about that right away. She said let's see how this next year goes.
All this school year I've been thinking about how eager I am to get out of highschool and out on the road, being in a different city every month, playing shows in backwoods bars and getting into fights with drunk old people. It's a very appealing lifestyle to me. But in the end, it's probably not worth very much. The person I care about most wants to settle down and raise a family, and create more little persons I care about most. How much more fulfilling would that be than traveling and playing music for strangers? Damned if I know, the good thing is life will in all likelihood decide that for me. The way things usually go, I won't have any say in it at all.
Fortunately, all I have to worry about right at this moment is not flunking out of high school, not flunking out of college, and learning to play this guitar. It's kind of comforting in a way.
_Dr. M
Other than that, I've had a really really good weekend, as the title implies. Saturday I unexpectedly had my first guitar lesson. There were two other students and both his kids (at least one was, maybe the other was just a friend) in the room at the time, so it didn't feel much like a "private" lesson, and he didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know... but still, my first lesson! I get the impression he's not as "hands on" as some other teachers, there will still be a good amount of self-studying to be done, but I imagine he'll give me repertoire and technique to work on, and answer any questions I have. That's what music teachers do, isn't it? lol
I can't have a lesson this week, because I leave for Regionals on Thursday and won't be back until Saturday afternoon. So in two weeks I'd like to have mastered the basic chords he gave me and changing between them, maybe set them to a song or two. The guitar neck on my mom's guitar is a lot thicker than normal, which is part of why it feels so awkward to play, so I'll be looking to get my own sometime soon hopefully.
Later that day was work, then me and my brother saw Coraline. Great movie. In 3-D which was really a little unnecessary, but it didn't detract much from it. The artistry was amazing, I would love to see it again just for that. I mean, the story and characters were okay, but it was really a treat to look at and experience.
Sunday I went up and saw Rachel. We had an amazing day. Went to see the Rodin museum which was great, ate pizza, etc. It was seriously the best time I've had in a long time, and I can't wait to see her again, probably sometime next month for spring break.
Today I slept until four since the night prior I'd only had 2.5 hours of sleep, then the rest of the day I spent with the guitar.
So I'm feeling pretty great, though definitely not looking forward to returning to school and show and everythingUUUGG.
I've dropped my album. I'm not in the right frame of mind to make an album right now, I just don't have any good ideas, and I knew the rest of the songs were going to turn out like the first one, and I didn't want to waste my time.
Rachel was talking to me yesterday about how she feels like she's wasting her time in college. Her mother said, and she agrees, that some people think you go to college to grow up, but really all you're doing is prolonging your youth as long as you can. You go there to delay growing up. All she wants to do, the only thought she has for her future, is to raise a family. And college is keeping her from doing that. So I said why don't, maybe in another year, we get married. I mean, why not? People get married when they're eighteen. I don't know how we'd raise kids when we can barely support ourselves (if that turns out to be the case, which with us both in college seems pretty likely), but we wouldn't have to worry about that right away. She said let's see how this next year goes.
All this school year I've been thinking about how eager I am to get out of highschool and out on the road, being in a different city every month, playing shows in backwoods bars and getting into fights with drunk old people. It's a very appealing lifestyle to me. But in the end, it's probably not worth very much. The person I care about most wants to settle down and raise a family, and create more little persons I care about most. How much more fulfilling would that be than traveling and playing music for strangers? Damned if I know, the good thing is life will in all likelihood decide that for me. The way things usually go, I won't have any say in it at all.
Fortunately, all I have to worry about right at this moment is not flunking out of high school, not flunking out of college, and learning to play this guitar. It's kind of comforting in a way.
_Dr. M
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday the Thirteenth
Today wasn't a particularly unlucky day. I finally banged out what will be the opening track to the new album. The whole thing is going to be very unambitious. Just a few simple songs that repeat a bit and then end. I kind of figured it might be this way, since I'm so strapped for time and energy. I've been kind of out of it lately, and this week has been kind of frustrating since today was my only night off, and I had to say "no" to CVS in order to get it (they asked if I'd come in).
I hate having things to do. Why can't school just end already and why can't I not have to work in order to earn money. Why can't I just do what I want to do. Why can't life work that way. We all spend eighty percent of our lives doing what we'd rather not, and twenty percent dreading it. It's nice to have Heaven to look forward to. I guess.
I wish it were Sunday already. I'm kind of annoyed by how stagnant everything is. I can't seem to make any head way... but it's all my fault, really. I'm the one not doing anything.
This isn't a very happy post. Appropriate for the day, I guess. On a lighter note, I get to see my Rachel two days from now. She's about all I could think about all day.
I love her.
_Dr. M
I hate having things to do. Why can't school just end already and why can't I not have to work in order to earn money. Why can't I just do what I want to do. Why can't life work that way. We all spend eighty percent of our lives doing what we'd rather not, and twenty percent dreading it. It's nice to have Heaven to look forward to. I guess.
I wish it were Sunday already. I'm kind of annoyed by how stagnant everything is. I can't seem to make any head way... but it's all my fault, really. I'm the one not doing anything.
This isn't a very happy post. Appropriate for the day, I guess. On a lighter note, I get to see my Rachel two days from now. She's about all I could think about all day.
I love her.
_Dr. M
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Progress?
Well, the progress I was making Monday feels a little stunted now. I did finally learn today that I won't be able to stay at Jeff's house this weekend, so I'll only be seeing Rachel on Sunday. But I still haven't heard back from the guitar teacher, and I've made barely any progress in Logic. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, there's only so much I can do in the three hours between school and school show. I want to do more, but hey, I'm stuck being me. I'll have to make the best of it.
I wasn't looking forward to this weekend as much since I didn't know what I would be doing. But now that I know, and really it's not so bad that I won't be staying Monday since Rachel has class and I wouldn't have gotten to see her much anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing her Sunday. Then I have all Monday to get caught up with my album, since we don't have school.
Today and yesterday felt like straight-up spring, sprinkles of rain and everything. It was very nice, extremely nice, but it also made me really horny, which is weird. I kind of feel like a woman when I say that... men aren't usually turned on by environmental factors like that. At least I'm not.
Anyway, today I spent my one day off from school show at work, which was unexpected but nice seeing as it's MORE MONEYZZ HA HA. Never a bad thing.
So now! I need to hear back from the guitar teacher, I need to start my album, I need to get a bank account. That's about all I think. I wrote a song yesterday, and as usual I started wanting to write one thing, ended up writing something completely different, and still had something pretty good to work with. I'm trying to write a song for somebody to sing at the senior recital (which is just what it sounds like) which happens later this year. We'll see how that goes.
This week is PSSA testing, standardized shenanigans all PA schools have to put up with, but it's for eleventh grade only. I put in my time last year, so now all this week I get to sleep in an extra two hours. No English or photography for almost a whole week. Pretty good deal.
I know mostly I'm just blogging about what I'm doing every day, not so much my feelings or thoughts or anything. January I was in kind of a funk, and now I'm just chugging along, waiting for things to end, and for things to begin. It's not such a bad state to be in, really.
Westchester finally contacted me about auditioning for them. I don't want to.
I don't.
I probably will anyway. Seems to be the standard operating procedure in life.
_Dr. M
I wasn't looking forward to this weekend as much since I didn't know what I would be doing. But now that I know, and really it's not so bad that I won't be staying Monday since Rachel has class and I wouldn't have gotten to see her much anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing her Sunday. Then I have all Monday to get caught up with my album, since we don't have school.
Today and yesterday felt like straight-up spring, sprinkles of rain and everything. It was very nice, extremely nice, but it also made me really horny, which is weird. I kind of feel like a woman when I say that... men aren't usually turned on by environmental factors like that. At least I'm not.
Anyway, today I spent my one day off from school show at work, which was unexpected but nice seeing as it's MORE MONEYZZ HA HA. Never a bad thing.
So now! I need to hear back from the guitar teacher, I need to start my album, I need to get a bank account. That's about all I think. I wrote a song yesterday, and as usual I started wanting to write one thing, ended up writing something completely different, and still had something pretty good to work with. I'm trying to write a song for somebody to sing at the senior recital (which is just what it sounds like) which happens later this year. We'll see how that goes.
This week is PSSA testing, standardized shenanigans all PA schools have to put up with, but it's for eleventh grade only. I put in my time last year, so now all this week I get to sleep in an extra two hours. No English or photography for almost a whole week. Pretty good deal.
I know mostly I'm just blogging about what I'm doing every day, not so much my feelings or thoughts or anything. January I was in kind of a funk, and now I'm just chugging along, waiting for things to end, and for things to begin. It's not such a bad state to be in, really.
Westchester finally contacted me about auditioning for them. I don't want to.
I don't.
I probably will anyway. Seems to be the standard operating procedure in life.
_Dr. M
Monday, February 9, 2009
Ah, progress!
Things seem to have clicked into motion this week, finally. Yesterday (Sunday) I finally started to read the starter's guide to Logic. Most of it I could have figured out on my own... I'm thinking I'll skim through the rest of it. Gotta start that album! Then today I called Jeff about staying at his apartment in Philly next weekend for when I visit Rachel (hopefully he'll get back to me soon). Then I called the guitar teacher at the community school about lessons. I got the answering machine, but then his wife called back and said she'd give him the message when he gets back from wherever he is (tomorrow, hopefully). So I've been more productive than usual. I still need to finish the paper work to get a new social security card, without which I can't get my PA ID, without which I can't get my own bank account, which needs to happen soon. After that I'll be caught up on almost everything I have to do.
Have you ever noticed that, that at any point in our life, there is a running list of things we need to do? Here's mine:
1. Guitar lessons
2. New album
3. History homework
4. SSC/bank account
5. Regional music
6. Twilight March songwriting
I think that's everything. There's probably something I'm forgetting.
I need to do a little history homework tonight. Ug. It's so simple, so easy, yet I hate it so much. Why?
This blog must be pretty boring for anybody who's not me. Maybe it's randomly interesting to follow somebody else's life in such great detail. Then again maybe not. Who knows? I've never tried it. I'd like to though. Maybe I'll try and find another blog as active as mine.
OH GOD! I LOST POETRY OUT LOUD! I still wake up screaming this sometimes. That's not going anywhere for awhile.
Can I think of anything random left to right? Yes? No? Anything? Maybe?
No.
_Dr. M
Have you ever noticed that, that at any point in our life, there is a running list of things we need to do? Here's mine:
1. Guitar lessons
2. New album
3. History homework
4. SSC/bank account
5. Regional music
6. Twilight March songwriting
I think that's everything. There's probably something I'm forgetting.
I need to do a little history homework tonight. Ug. It's so simple, so easy, yet I hate it so much. Why?
This blog must be pretty boring for anybody who's not me. Maybe it's randomly interesting to follow somebody else's life in such great detail. Then again maybe not. Who knows? I've never tried it. I'd like to though. Maybe I'll try and find another blog as active as mine.
OH GOD! I LOST POETRY OUT LOUD! I still wake up screaming this sometimes. That's not going anywhere for awhile.
Can I think of anything random left to right? Yes? No? Anything? Maybe?
No.
_Dr. M
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Vanilla Bean
I stayed up quite literally all of Friday night recording a new song. The deadline for that competition I mentioned a while back reared its ugly head, and I had to put my entry in the mail Saturday morning. Well, I'm back in the saddle, if I may wax stupid for a moment. That is to say I'm definitely ready to start recording again. I used Garageband this go-around, but I'm ready to start with Logic and maybe even finish an album by the end of the month. I wanted to start today (which is really Saturday, not Sunday) but maybe it's a little late.
The song I made is an instrumental, with a lot of contrasting sections. It sort of became a tribute to Joy Electric, my favorite band since I was eleven.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pp2mlp
You can download it there if you get to the link in time. I think it stops working after only a few days.
I'm so excited! I don't know why I waited so long. The album is going to be a lot of instrumentals like this one, only simpler and more rhythmic. I want to stop writing so I can get started! Ah, it's good to be motivated!
I wonder if there's any pizza left downstairs.
Me and Khai officially switched the name of our band to Twilight March. I like that name a whole hell of a lot more than Napenthi.
I went to see Rachel's play today (Saturday). She was the props coordinator. There weren't too many props in it, but hey, I'll take any excuse to see her. I drove down with her father, mother, and sister. It was a series of one-act plays, four of them, and it was... interesting. I don't know, unless there's a good story, characters I care about, or some kind of clear message, I just don't have much appreciation for straight drama. Two of them I liked (the one about two people falling in love and the one about two old people talking about ducks), one of them I didn't like (the one about a dysfunctional family -GROAN), and one of them was just confusing (I won't bother describing it).
The love one and the dysfunctional one were illustrations of universal themes anyone could connect with, first love and infidelity. That I got. But the problem was, both scenes were as generic and banal as you can get. Think of any scene where two people unexpectedly fall in love, or where a woman is trying to get her husband to confess to cheating, and you'll have these scenes. They had nothing new to say. The ducks one was extremely well acted (but way too long), and relied completely on snappy, clever dialogue and subtle humor. I enjoyed it the most, but... let's just say I'm not going to remember it fifty years from now when I'm old and gray.
Anyway, it was nice seeing Rachel and it got me thinking about plays I myself would like to write some time. Maybe I still will.
AH! Goodnight.
_Dr. M
The song I made is an instrumental, with a lot of contrasting sections. It sort of became a tribute to Joy Electric, my favorite band since I was eleven.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pp2mlp
You can download it there if you get to the link in time. I think it stops working after only a few days.
I'm so excited! I don't know why I waited so long. The album is going to be a lot of instrumentals like this one, only simpler and more rhythmic. I want to stop writing so I can get started! Ah, it's good to be motivated!
I wonder if there's any pizza left downstairs.
Me and Khai officially switched the name of our band to Twilight March. I like that name a whole hell of a lot more than Napenthi.
I went to see Rachel's play today (Saturday). She was the props coordinator. There weren't too many props in it, but hey, I'll take any excuse to see her. I drove down with her father, mother, and sister. It was a series of one-act plays, four of them, and it was... interesting. I don't know, unless there's a good story, characters I care about, or some kind of clear message, I just don't have much appreciation for straight drama. Two of them I liked (the one about two people falling in love and the one about two old people talking about ducks), one of them I didn't like (the one about a dysfunctional family -GROAN), and one of them was just confusing (I won't bother describing it).
The love one and the dysfunctional one were illustrations of universal themes anyone could connect with, first love and infidelity. That I got. But the problem was, both scenes were as generic and banal as you can get. Think of any scene where two people unexpectedly fall in love, or where a woman is trying to get her husband to confess to cheating, and you'll have these scenes. They had nothing new to say. The ducks one was extremely well acted (but way too long), and relied completely on snappy, clever dialogue and subtle humor. I enjoyed it the most, but... let's just say I'm not going to remember it fifty years from now when I'm old and gray.
Anyway, it was nice seeing Rachel and it got me thinking about plays I myself would like to write some time. Maybe I still will.
AH! Goodnight.
_Dr. M
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The GEE-TAR
Yesterday I called Misty's dad about guitar lessons, he didn't have his cell phone on, but I left a message and hopefully he'll get back to me. If not I'll take with somebody at the community school where my dad teaches piano.
I find I'm swiftly falling in love with the guitar -specifically blues guitar. More specifically slide finger guitar, but normal playing is good too. I love the rhythm of it, and the rawness. Delta blues seems to be the best description of the kind I like -just one guy and his guitar and maybe a harmonica. I'd like to listen to a lot more of it, the older stuff back when they first started recording in the twenties and thirties, and learn a lot of the songs, and use that mainly to perform when I get to college. This is one of those times when I get a little tingly feeling that runs all the way through my finger tips as I think about it and type about it... that's a good thing. I'm very excited and can't wait to start learning.
I've never worked very hard at learning an instrument in my life. I've taken lessons of various kinds, thought I was interested but never stuck with it. I guess I'm the most advanced right now at singing, though that's a funny thing to try and define, but I do know a good bit of vocal technique. I've absorbed some piano, if you sit me down in front of a piece and give me a while eventually I'll be able to play it. Well, this time it's going to be different. I want to become a really good guitarist. Never in my life have I looked a goal that would take hard work and dedication to achieve and said, "I am going to do this", and then do it. But I'm going to do it this time. Hopefully it will be a turning point for me.
The only thing stopping me from starting right this second is that my mom's old guitar that I'm tinkering around on is killing my fingers, and even with that I still can't sound a chord without extraneous buzzing (grr). I've never been one to put up with physical pain unless I know I'm doing whatever it is correctly, and the pain is the proper amount. For instance, if anyone is experiencing pain while singing, they're not doing it right and should stop immediately or they could irrevocably damage their voice. I'm not worried about damaging my fingers, but I want to see if it's a problem with the guitar, or something. I know some pain can be expected, but this is just a little bit overboard, and I still can't get it to sound good to boot. So some instruction might be good before going any further.
Misty's dad is an unbelievable musician and can probably teach me anything. The guy I'd take with where my dad teaches focuses mainly on rock guitar, but rock has its roots in the blues, right? I'd like to start out on acoustic, but I'm sure any competent guitarist could teach both. Anyway, I'm getting excited, like genuinely excited, about music, and it hasn't happened for a couple of months, since the beginning of this school year really, and that makes it all the better. I'm not as excited about recording, but I'm going to force myself to start the new album tomorrow, and once I start I think I'll be happier about it.
I feel like making an instrumental record. Overall I think I've had too much reliance on my voice, and on the melody and lyrics, so I think I'd like to push myself out of my comfort zone and focus on instruments and arranging. It will probably be more on the avant garde techno side of things, which is always fun. We'll see how it all goes down.
Yesterday was another day of school show. Some more guys didn't show up. We don't have many to spare, it doesn't look promising. We'll see though. Worse comes to worse we'll just do a review, which might actually be more fun than doing Joseph anyway.
I stayed home from school today. My mother wasn't around to wake me up (she was sick), and my dad woke me up late (I don't know why my alarm is incapable of doing this), so I just didn't get up. I said I was sick, and I might as well have been seeing as I didn't eat a thing until five. I'm going to bed on time tonight, even though I've only been awake for like ten hours. I'm definitely not sleeping in tomorrow. Ah school. Why must I hate waking up for you so darn much? Why must you start so freaking early?
Anyways, I have a bowl of Raman waiting for me that needs my immediate attention. So that's all for tonight.
_Dr. M
I find I'm swiftly falling in love with the guitar -specifically blues guitar. More specifically slide finger guitar, but normal playing is good too. I love the rhythm of it, and the rawness. Delta blues seems to be the best description of the kind I like -just one guy and his guitar and maybe a harmonica. I'd like to listen to a lot more of it, the older stuff back when they first started recording in the twenties and thirties, and learn a lot of the songs, and use that mainly to perform when I get to college. This is one of those times when I get a little tingly feeling that runs all the way through my finger tips as I think about it and type about it... that's a good thing. I'm very excited and can't wait to start learning.
I've never worked very hard at learning an instrument in my life. I've taken lessons of various kinds, thought I was interested but never stuck with it. I guess I'm the most advanced right now at singing, though that's a funny thing to try and define, but I do know a good bit of vocal technique. I've absorbed some piano, if you sit me down in front of a piece and give me a while eventually I'll be able to play it. Well, this time it's going to be different. I want to become a really good guitarist. Never in my life have I looked a goal that would take hard work and dedication to achieve and said, "I am going to do this", and then do it. But I'm going to do it this time. Hopefully it will be a turning point for me.
The only thing stopping me from starting right this second is that my mom's old guitar that I'm tinkering around on is killing my fingers, and even with that I still can't sound a chord without extraneous buzzing (grr). I've never been one to put up with physical pain unless I know I'm doing whatever it is correctly, and the pain is the proper amount. For instance, if anyone is experiencing pain while singing, they're not doing it right and should stop immediately or they could irrevocably damage their voice. I'm not worried about damaging my fingers, but I want to see if it's a problem with the guitar, or something. I know some pain can be expected, but this is just a little bit overboard, and I still can't get it to sound good to boot. So some instruction might be good before going any further.
Misty's dad is an unbelievable musician and can probably teach me anything. The guy I'd take with where my dad teaches focuses mainly on rock guitar, but rock has its roots in the blues, right? I'd like to start out on acoustic, but I'm sure any competent guitarist could teach both. Anyway, I'm getting excited, like genuinely excited, about music, and it hasn't happened for a couple of months, since the beginning of this school year really, and that makes it all the better. I'm not as excited about recording, but I'm going to force myself to start the new album tomorrow, and once I start I think I'll be happier about it.
I feel like making an instrumental record. Overall I think I've had too much reliance on my voice, and on the melody and lyrics, so I think I'd like to push myself out of my comfort zone and focus on instruments and arranging. It will probably be more on the avant garde techno side of things, which is always fun. We'll see how it all goes down.
Yesterday was another day of school show. Some more guys didn't show up. We don't have many to spare, it doesn't look promising. We'll see though. Worse comes to worse we'll just do a review, which might actually be more fun than doing Joseph anyway.
I stayed home from school today. My mother wasn't around to wake me up (she was sick), and my dad woke me up late (I don't know why my alarm is incapable of doing this), so I just didn't get up. I said I was sick, and I might as well have been seeing as I didn't eat a thing until five. I'm going to bed on time tonight, even though I've only been awake for like ten hours. I'm definitely not sleeping in tomorrow. Ah school. Why must I hate waking up for you so darn much? Why must you start so freaking early?
Anyways, I have a bowl of Raman waiting for me that needs my immediate attention. So that's all for tonight.
_Dr. M
Monday, February 2, 2009
Another audition and other exciting times
The first month of 09 is all over, and I must say things aren't shaping up too badly. I had my audition for Temple University last Saturday. It was a very different experience from the one for UArts. Things at UA were very relaxed and laid back, and smaller. Here everything was bigger and more regimented. UA also had a much more human touch, at Temple the presentation at the beginning and the aural exam were all done by a recorded disembodied voice. The audition itself wasn't a complete disaster, though they didn't review my portfolio with me there in the room like they had at UA, which I didn't like. They just gave me a piano sight-reading exam (not good) and a sight-singing exam (also not good, much to my dismay), asked me some questions, and that was it. I think I made it a little too clear I was looking for more of a contemporary music education while they were a mostly classical department, so I never had much of a chance to impress them. I don't think I'm good enough grade-wise to be excepted to the university, so it didn't really matter how well I auditioned anyway.
But I already got into my top choice college. What do I care what Temple thinks?
Sunday was my first eight-hour shift at work, which was long but not too bad, anyway it was really random when I found out considering how bad my hours have been lately. Sunday evening I met with Khai and we got to practicing our new version of my song North Winds. He's actually made some good progress, and now after I send him some practice tracks and he really works at it, we'll be ready to record a demo. That's pretty exciting.
Today was the first day of school show rehearsals. This whole first month will be nothing but learning music, which isn't so bad. I just hope our voices can stand it. Now I really need to figure out how I'm going to fit in everything I want to do around school show. I have a pretty good chunk of time between three and six o' clock every day. I should be able to get some stuff done.
Speaking of which, what all do I need to do tomorrow?
1. Practice tracks for Khai
2. Call about guitar lessons
3. Start learning Logic so I can work on my album!
I should be able to do all that in three hours. One and two will take hardly any time at all.
Today was also the first day of photography class. That class will be a breeze of course (so much better than piano), I only need to worry about waking up and getting there on time. The first step to that will be going to bed on time. I don't why that's been such a problem this school year.
I heard something about some kind of important football game that happened on Sunday. Not really sure what it's all about, all I know is nobody at work mentioned it, and in the evening I was with Khai and Khai didn't mention it. Who knows? Oh yeah, and something about Bruce Springsteen. We just can't let our poor washed-up has-beens go in peace. Six more weeks of winter! I bet. Today everything outside melted, it was disgusting.
Other than that last paragraph, exciting times! I'll tell you what.
_Dr. M
But I already got into my top choice college. What do I care what Temple thinks?
Sunday was my first eight-hour shift at work, which was long but not too bad, anyway it was really random when I found out considering how bad my hours have been lately. Sunday evening I met with Khai and we got to practicing our new version of my song North Winds. He's actually made some good progress, and now after I send him some practice tracks and he really works at it, we'll be ready to record a demo. That's pretty exciting.
Today was the first day of school show rehearsals. This whole first month will be nothing but learning music, which isn't so bad. I just hope our voices can stand it. Now I really need to figure out how I'm going to fit in everything I want to do around school show. I have a pretty good chunk of time between three and six o' clock every day. I should be able to get some stuff done.
Speaking of which, what all do I need to do tomorrow?
1. Practice tracks for Khai
2. Call about guitar lessons
3. Start learning Logic so I can work on my album!
I should be able to do all that in three hours. One and two will take hardly any time at all.
Today was also the first day of photography class. That class will be a breeze of course (so much better than piano), I only need to worry about waking up and getting there on time. The first step to that will be going to bed on time. I don't why that's been such a problem this school year.
I heard something about some kind of important football game that happened on Sunday. Not really sure what it's all about, all I know is nobody at work mentioned it, and in the evening I was with Khai and Khai didn't mention it. Who knows? Oh yeah, and something about Bruce Springsteen. We just can't let our poor washed-up has-beens go in peace. Six more weeks of winter! I bet. Today everything outside melted, it was disgusting.
Other than that last paragraph, exciting times! I'll tell you what.
_Dr. M
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