Focus Pocus Part II: A Philosophical view

Howdy yall, what's up? I thought I'd write a bit more about what I discussed in the previous post, which can be viewed here. I explained how I was in a funk after vacation and how I couldn't get anything done, mainly my reading and guitar playing, in a lull. 

Well its been almost a month since I've been back, things have been going good for me. Work has been pretty insane, retail, over 40 hours a week. I'm working from today (Thursday) until next week (Friday) with no days off in between. The crazy thing is that although the thought of that is a little depressing, I'm actually getting a lot done in the sense that I've divided up all my time for rest and only the essentials. What's that pray-tell? 

The essentials for me is reading, writing, and music. Once I realized that I have no time to play video games probably ever! it was a pretty hard thing to observe, and then to get over. I used to love video games but now there's simply no time for it if I'm going to become a better writer, keep reading great science fiction (The Difference Engine) and philosophy (Adam Smith), and learn more classical and jazz guitar pieces (so much practice). Its a full time job all on its own, forget about the retail job, this is my job! 

There's a philosophy to this. Breaking everything down in your life to just the bare essentials. What do you want to accomplish in one day? What do you want to accomplish in a lifetime? Practice it one day at a time until you achieve complete and total mastery. 

My job gets in the way but if I take away the video gaming and stop spending so much time procrastinating on Facebook or playing video games, I can actually get a lot done in a day. Because I stay up very late (sometimes till 4 or 5, reading on my Kindle, which I got from a co-worker for free, retail is great sometimes) I can get a lot of reading done late at night after my late night shift. Everything's turning up Millhouse.

Happiness is a very tangible thing. Happiness is practicing guitar every day, reading, and writing. Find your passion and stick to it. Work is a necessary by-product of monetary situation, but it doesn't dictate who I am or who I will be. The future is ours to decide! 

Focus Pocus

Ahoy shipmates, and welcome aboard. I haven't written anything new lately mostly because I haven't read any new novels or anything, in fact I've been in a funk, unable to focus, until tonight. I've got my mojo back, and even the inspiration to work harder on classical guitar, which I just started working on recently, as in the end of the summer. 

I thought I'd write a bit about it (the funk) for fun. I was really distracted after the Chicago trip, maybe even a little depressed. For a while I was gaming nonstop in between 1AM retail job shifts. It was bad, I had to ease up on the gaming to get a gripe on reality, get back to my reading, and focus more on my guitar playing. 

I was a little down because the drummer I've worked with for the past year or so, we both decided to go our separate ways and no longer jam together. It was kind of sad but it was probably for the best because we're at different skill levels musically. I hope everything works out for him and his new death metal band. 

Anyways, its super easy to get distracted. For a while I couldn't even read the news because I would be thinking about something else. It was like I had ADD or something. Where's the adderal when you need it (lol)? The news and politics didn't help either. The 15 pipe bombs, the synagogue shooting, the Borderline bar massacre, and the Fires going on right in California all made me pretty sad. Even things like that affect my mood sometimes. 

I don't know if there's a trick to staying focus or disciplined. I certainly haven't figured it out. I think for myself I need somebody to push me, not just myself. Its like when I lost a lot of weight. I only lost it because I disciplined myself super hard and didn't eat anything late at night.

On musical terms though now that I'm just doing solo guitar stuff I realized I have to practice more and harder, especially if I'm going to play solo guitar pieces. 

I'm still looking for musicians to play with online but so far haven't found anybody. I'm looking to find horn players, maybe we could get a trio going without drums, play small events, parties, etc. Play straight ahead jazz..or maybe find some freak out free jazz avant garde types, although I highly doubt I would find musicians like that here in the Valley.

With Martin, my former drummer out of the picture I'm not playing death metal anymore, I'm focusing more on serious music-jazz, blues, and classical. The real stuff. 

I'll keep the blog updated as much as I can. I should've finished another novel by now but California has so many distractions-the Bio-Mass beckons. I also want to write more short stories as well. Gotta keep perfecting my art if its ever going to take off. 

I'll be in touch.