Hello all. I just wanted to update my Soundcloud with some new recordings. Here are six new tracks from my jazz duo. We've been practicing together for about a year. I've definitely learned a lot about jazz and improvisation through the project. How to truly improvise, given on the time of day, your mood, your heartbeat, the lunar cycle, the sun's position in the sky, [lol, you get the idea].
Basically, it's been good mutual musical growth. Enjoy the tunes.
Orlando Figueroa, Guitar
Jason Thomas, Alto Saxophone
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/voice-0063
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/voice-0043
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/voice-0044
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/voice-0054
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/voice-0055
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Saturday, February 15, 2020
What's up!
What's up, everybody? I thought I'd take a little time out to write a post.
Things have been pretty good. Except for the fact that I have a sore throat cold. I still have high energy most of the time but damn the sore throat makes talking a real chore. I've been working consistently 40 hours every week, which is good. Especially considering the fact that a lot of peoples' hours got cut recently. You know how it goes in retail. Blah, blah, blah...
I'm still doing a lot of morning shifts but now they're at least giving me some night shifts so potentially I can be at the store at any time. I actually think that if you're one of the special chosen ones to work early mornings or even like 9,10, 11, 1130am, that they want you there early because you're one of the better workers. Everyone fights for those early hours because they all want to get done with work and go hang out with their girlfriends, wives, families, whatever. The morning shifts at work are a much more adulting shift than the late shift.
In other news, I've been doing the open mics at the Sugar Mill Saloon on Ventura Boulevard. That happens every week on Tuesday nights. Sometimes I sing solo with just acoustic guitar. Simple songs like Hendrix. I've been doing Purple Haze and Hey Joe. Other times I do instrumental jams with another guitarist named Dave. He's a great player, a true acoustic player.
I've also been reading a lot. Since finishing Kant's Critique of Judgement and the Critique of Pure Reason, I've also finished John Crowley's Engine Summer, and just last night on Valentine's day I finished Cecelia Holland's The Angel and the Sword.
Holland is a historical fiction novelist with some twenty novels written. I learned about her through my dad, who vouched for her one and only science fiction novel, a feminist [joanna ross' the female man] space opera called Floating Worlds. It spans twenty years and five hundred pages. It's a true epic, one of the best science fiction novels in the canon. Check out my review for Floating Worlds here.
Anyways, The Angel and the Sword is a great novel about Roderick the Beardless, a 9th-century European story about a Princess named Ragny, of the blood of the last rightful ruler of Spain. She runs away from her father who tries to force her to marry him. She disguises herself as a man, becomes a knight, and saves Paris from being overrun by Vikings. She even falls in love. This story has everything folks.
The remarkable thing about the Angel and the Sword isn't even the great, realistic historical aspects and the non-psychological character stylings of the characters [the Hemingway model, the action is plot]. Rather it is the main character herself. Ragny/Roderick is simply a captivating woman. She struggles hard in a fierce world dominated by men [and Vikings], and she faces down every obstacle in her way. Strong female lead!
Next, I plan on reading The Republic by Plato. Finally, after reading so much philosophy, I'm reading the original texts of Plato. I'm a modernist but in a way, I think Plato was a modernist too, of his time. Everybody knows about the allegory of the cave. That is such a modern concept, especially in a postmodern world.
Just finding the time to write more has been a struggle. I'm usually really tired after work and now that I'm working mornings too, half the time I have to go to sleep somewhat early. Oh, the agony! How I wish I had more time to read books, write, and play guitar. However, it's good to just sit down and write, whatever. Writing anything seems to suffice, I get a real thrill out of just writing down on a blank canvas and seeing what turns out. Sometimes the writing is meh, but oftentimes there's a little something, a little flair, that I see, and I say, "Hey, that's pretty cool." To more flair!
Things have been pretty good. Except for the fact that I have a sore throat cold. I still have high energy most of the time but damn the sore throat makes talking a real chore. I've been working consistently 40 hours every week, which is good. Especially considering the fact that a lot of peoples' hours got cut recently. You know how it goes in retail. Blah, blah, blah...
I'm still doing a lot of morning shifts but now they're at least giving me some night shifts so potentially I can be at the store at any time. I actually think that if you're one of the special chosen ones to work early mornings or even like 9,10, 11, 1130am, that they want you there early because you're one of the better workers. Everyone fights for those early hours because they all want to get done with work and go hang out with their girlfriends, wives, families, whatever. The morning shifts at work are a much more adulting shift than the late shift.
In other news, I've been doing the open mics at the Sugar Mill Saloon on Ventura Boulevard. That happens every week on Tuesday nights. Sometimes I sing solo with just acoustic guitar. Simple songs like Hendrix. I've been doing Purple Haze and Hey Joe. Other times I do instrumental jams with another guitarist named Dave. He's a great player, a true acoustic player.
I've also been reading a lot. Since finishing Kant's Critique of Judgement and the Critique of Pure Reason, I've also finished John Crowley's Engine Summer, and just last night on Valentine's day I finished Cecelia Holland's The Angel and the Sword.
Holland is a historical fiction novelist with some twenty novels written. I learned about her through my dad, who vouched for her one and only science fiction novel, a feminist [joanna ross' the female man] space opera called Floating Worlds. It spans twenty years and five hundred pages. It's a true epic, one of the best science fiction novels in the canon. Check out my review for Floating Worlds here.
Anyways, The Angel and the Sword is a great novel about Roderick the Beardless, a 9th-century European story about a Princess named Ragny, of the blood of the last rightful ruler of Spain. She runs away from her father who tries to force her to marry him. She disguises herself as a man, becomes a knight, and saves Paris from being overrun by Vikings. She even falls in love. This story has everything folks.
The remarkable thing about the Angel and the Sword isn't even the great, realistic historical aspects and the non-psychological character stylings of the characters [the Hemingway model, the action is plot]. Rather it is the main character herself. Ragny/Roderick is simply a captivating woman. She struggles hard in a fierce world dominated by men [and Vikings], and she faces down every obstacle in her way. Strong female lead!
Next, I plan on reading The Republic by Plato. Finally, after reading so much philosophy, I'm reading the original texts of Plato. I'm a modernist but in a way, I think Plato was a modernist too, of his time. Everybody knows about the allegory of the cave. That is such a modern concept, especially in a postmodern world.
Just finding the time to write more has been a struggle. I'm usually really tired after work and now that I'm working mornings too, half the time I have to go to sleep somewhat early. Oh, the agony! How I wish I had more time to read books, write, and play guitar. However, it's good to just sit down and write, whatever. Writing anything seems to suffice, I get a real thrill out of just writing down on a blank canvas and seeing what turns out. Sometimes the writing is meh, but oftentimes there's a little something, a little flair, that I see, and I say, "Hey, that's pretty cool." To more flair!
Monday, February 3, 2020
When everyone wants a piece of you
Hey, what's up ladies and gentlemen of the internet. Coming back at ya with another blog post. Wow, another one so soon.
Here I'd like to talk about an idea that I got from the Beatles. They were being interviewed and they were upset because as they said, "once you're famous, the whole world thinks they own a piece of you, and that you have to give it to them." Well said, Paul and John.
This brought me to my own plight. My own dialectic, if you will. I'm not famous, I'm not even particularly good looking, but I am unusual, talented as a musician, and love to read but there's a profound sense that wherever I go there will always be people who want a piece of me.
What I mean is that there's a need that everybody has, and sometimes they want me to be a part of it in some way, which may or may not be meaningful to me or them. This is a hard concept to pin down and explain. Some of it is self-explanatory.
For example, I work as a cashier at a store. Nonstop all day people want my help. Nonstop all-day sales managers want my help. Sometimes co-directors want my help. Rarely but still sometimes even the store director wants my help. Sometimes when I help people in the checkout line we have short, succinct talks that are actually meaningful. Meaning they've walked away with a better understanding of who I am, and if they see me again, they will have more to say, share, and appreciate. They've taken a piece of me. This also happens to me in public places like the coffee shop.
A lot of this has to do with social skills and interaction in the world outside. Outside of myself. Using the best of your abilities in terms of your social skills you can create a universe for yourself that can benefit you in a multitude of ways. It isn't just a job. It's an ocean of opportunity where you can meet anyone and everyone somehow even. Making connections. Making the universe a better place. Becoming something like a saint. All my reading has prepared me for this.
I'm just the philosopher in checkout five.
Here I'd like to talk about an idea that I got from the Beatles. They were being interviewed and they were upset because as they said, "once you're famous, the whole world thinks they own a piece of you, and that you have to give it to them." Well said, Paul and John.
This brought me to my own plight. My own dialectic, if you will. I'm not famous, I'm not even particularly good looking, but I am unusual, talented as a musician, and love to read but there's a profound sense that wherever I go there will always be people who want a piece of me.
What I mean is that there's a need that everybody has, and sometimes they want me to be a part of it in some way, which may or may not be meaningful to me or them. This is a hard concept to pin down and explain. Some of it is self-explanatory.
For example, I work as a cashier at a store. Nonstop all day people want my help. Nonstop all-day sales managers want my help. Sometimes co-directors want my help. Rarely but still sometimes even the store director wants my help. Sometimes when I help people in the checkout line we have short, succinct talks that are actually meaningful. Meaning they've walked away with a better understanding of who I am, and if they see me again, they will have more to say, share, and appreciate. They've taken a piece of me. This also happens to me in public places like the coffee shop.
A lot of this has to do with social skills and interaction in the world outside. Outside of myself. Using the best of your abilities in terms of your social skills you can create a universe for yourself that can benefit you in a multitude of ways. It isn't just a job. It's an ocean of opportunity where you can meet anyone and everyone somehow even. Making connections. Making the universe a better place. Becoming something like a saint. All my reading has prepared me for this.
I'm just the philosopher in checkout five.
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Where's the zen?
Hello, world. Things have been pretty hectic for me at the day job and all but I thought I'd make time before work today to write a post. I actually haven't been writing that much lately. But I have been reading constantly. I just finished Kant's Critique of Judgement, which, although it is half the length of Critique of Pure Reason, is just as technical and demanding on the budding philosophy learner.
The topic of this post is happiness. Where's the zen in this day and age? Most of my retail associates, including management and upper management, don't seem to be happy and they're very vocal about it. To customers, to me, to their employees. The ironic thing is that even though management makes much more money than their employees, their employees are actually happier and nicer to be around, despite making less money and enduring more hardships. It's quite something.
At first, you're kind of sympathetic to these sorts of people. And then you realize you shouldn't be. It isn't difficult to be happy in America. There are bums living in a box who are happier than rich people who would say, "I fucked a girl, but it was a shitty fuck," "I worked really hard at my job but the paycheck wasn't enough," "I'm a manager but its a shit job." There are so many of these people for which nothing will ever be enough for them. Therefore, you can't feel sympathetic to their plight because it isn't real. It's existential.
I complain about the minor details of my life. The fact that they switched me to morning shifts after working night shifts for six years. But I'm not going to go on and on and on about it. I gave it a break after two weeks, lol. Because you realize that you still have to live life, work, and find happiness in whatever malure you are in. That's just the way life is. You have to deal with the hand you're dealt. And some people are dealt the worst hands. And others just love to complain about how bad they have it when in reality they have it better than most.
So where's the zen? Where do you find happiness? Are we all just gray blobs that just run through emotions? Not at all. Naturally, you can only be happy if you have the capacity for happiness. If you lack the capacity for happiness nothing will ever be enough for you.
Personally, I find happiness through art, literature, and music. I even find happiness from talking to others at work or wherever. Just sitting down to write about this brings me happiness because I know that I'm expressing myself from the heart. It's something meaningful. It isn't aimless. That's why I enjoy writing so much. Because I can express myself online in a sort of incognito way.
I'm a happy person. Outgoing socially. In an age of antiquity, I would've joined the priesthood and become a saint. In modern times I'm a hipster artist intellectual musician type. My job isn't great but that's okay. Because I know that if I can't be happy now, I can never be happy.
So where's the zen? It's inside of you. It's up to you. Within you, without you.
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me [Across the Universe/The Beatles]
The topic of this post is happiness. Where's the zen in this day and age? Most of my retail associates, including management and upper management, don't seem to be happy and they're very vocal about it. To customers, to me, to their employees. The ironic thing is that even though management makes much more money than their employees, their employees are actually happier and nicer to be around, despite making less money and enduring more hardships. It's quite something.
At first, you're kind of sympathetic to these sorts of people. And then you realize you shouldn't be. It isn't difficult to be happy in America. There are bums living in a box who are happier than rich people who would say, "I fucked a girl, but it was a shitty fuck," "I worked really hard at my job but the paycheck wasn't enough," "I'm a manager but its a shit job." There are so many of these people for which nothing will ever be enough for them. Therefore, you can't feel sympathetic to their plight because it isn't real. It's existential.
I complain about the minor details of my life. The fact that they switched me to morning shifts after working night shifts for six years. But I'm not going to go on and on and on about it. I gave it a break after two weeks, lol. Because you realize that you still have to live life, work, and find happiness in whatever malure you are in. That's just the way life is. You have to deal with the hand you're dealt. And some people are dealt the worst hands. And others just love to complain about how bad they have it when in reality they have it better than most.
So where's the zen? Where do you find happiness? Are we all just gray blobs that just run through emotions? Not at all. Naturally, you can only be happy if you have the capacity for happiness. If you lack the capacity for happiness nothing will ever be enough for you.
Personally, I find happiness through art, literature, and music. I even find happiness from talking to others at work or wherever. Just sitting down to write about this brings me happiness because I know that I'm expressing myself from the heart. It's something meaningful. It isn't aimless. That's why I enjoy writing so much. Because I can express myself online in a sort of incognito way.
I'm a happy person. Outgoing socially. In an age of antiquity, I would've joined the priesthood and become a saint. In modern times I'm a hipster artist intellectual musician type. My job isn't great but that's okay. Because I know that if I can't be happy now, I can never be happy.
So where's the zen? It's inside of you. It's up to you. Within you, without you.
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me [Across the Universe/The Beatles]
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