New Year, New Me, [Not Really]

Hello Universe, 

How is it going out there in the free world? It's a new year, happy 2024! It's time for all those happy go lucky social media posts where people make their new years resolutions, like to get a better body and become more healthy and sexy and find their dream spouse, and get a lotta money, amiright? I'd like to jot down some thoughts on what's been happening with me, my personal activities, working in retail, and more. 

First, I moved into a new house recently. It was a hard move that was strenuous but now that it's done I can finally relax. At the end of the month I took time off from work just to get settled into the new place and unbox everything. The new house is in a better location to get around on foot or on the bus if needed. I've been waking up earlier, going out to lunches at nearby establishments, going to the library, and more. I'm still working at the grocery store and it's going well. Since the holidays are over, things have slowed down there, for now. Covid still lingers there from time to time, so I've still been wearing my facemask.  

I kept up playing piano and drums. Now, I'm finally making good progress on piano, at least trying to move from beginner to something like intermediate, although it will take a while. My dad decided to keep our late step-mom Maureen's Yamaha grand piano, so I've been playing that piano. Today, I recorded an eight minute grand piano solo, [which you can hear piano solo no. 1] With the piano, I'm trying to focus on playing jazz chords and improvising. I practice everyday, and actually have preferred practicing piano as of late, because my guitars and amp are all backed away and it's easier to just play the grand piano for now. 

Likewise, I've been keeping up with drums. I go to guitar center and just play the drums there. You can hear my most recent drum playing here.

Second, I'm still reading a lot and doing a lot of AI art. You can check out my Instagram page here. The picture featured at the top of this page is an AI art creation. At the end of last year I read a lot of science fiction novels by Iain M. Banks, who died early in his 50s. Terrific writer, but he writes terribly long science fiction space opera, albeit it's amazing writing and great space opera, but the some seven books I read of his were definitely time consuming and not easy reads. Space opera for the literati. Right now all my books are packed away so I just bought for a dollar, a paperbacks editions of Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. I'm keeping up with the western canon, now I've read about 300 works. But I feel like I've barely scraped the surface in terms of what can be learned within knowledge, within the realm of imagination, and the curiosity of man himself. 

At the end of last year, I kind of went into deep hibernation bear mode. The bear knows when to sleep but the bobcat knows when its time to hunt. I find getting up earlier and going out more has been better for me, being productive keeps me energetic, and I'm liking the atmosphere of the new house better and more easily able to adapt to this. Sometimes on Mondays I go to this open blues jam at the bar, and I sit in and play guitar. I go out to dinners with family on my days off work. 

Lastly, I've found that life is made up of thoughts, actions, and plans for the future. There's a lot to do. Work is still time consuming, but with a schedule for the day, the week, the month, the next three months, the next six months, the next year, things are much more manageable within a smaller timeline and with hard goals split and separated into smaller and more manageable goals.

I want to get better at piano and be able to play jazz standards on it, keep reading, write more short stories and perhaps a novel [I actually have written a novel, but nobody's seen it], keep blogging about everything, and keep up with my guitar and drums too. Work has been good, the hard work keeps me awake. 

That's it for now, see you later, space cats. 

In sylvan realms where twilight's whispers creep, The bear, a sagacious entity, seeks a somber keep. As autumnal regalia, the leaves cascade, He intuits the impending winter's serenade.

With fur of resplendent aureate hue, He embarks on a quest for a snug haven's view. A sanctuary, where crystalline brooks freeze, In dreams of honeyed combs and berries with ease.

Yet by the babbling stream, where moonbeams wink, The bobcat prowls, a phantom feline in sync. His eyes, aglint with nocturnal savoir-faire, In stealth, he traverses the tapestry of air.

For as the bear in dormant repose lies, The bobcat, vigilant, neath the celestial ties, Stalks in the silent hours of night's embrace, A sovereign of shadows, embodying grace.

In nature's ballet, a harmonious ballet, The bear succumbs to rest, the bobcat to ballet. One cradles dreams of vernal rebirth, The other, a custodian, prowls the moonlit earth. [AI generated]

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 3

Wau! So we're finally at part three of our little series. So far I'd been writing about the doom and gloom of the situation. Mostly outside in the world and at work especially. For this post, I'd like to focus on quarantine life and positivity. What is life now like, now that for the most part, America is on a national lockdown? What advice do I have for quarantine life?

Well, for starters,  you should maintain some sort of schedule. You should have a list of things you want to do every day and do them in whatever order of your choosing. For me this resulted in a creative spike: writing, guitar playing, even playing video games can be creative, at least for me, depending on the type of game and/or gameplay style. Really? Said the non-gaming naysayers. 

I'm still working five out of seven days a week. A typical workday for me is like so. My late shifts are better than my morning shifts as I don't get supremely tired on those days. So I wake up around noon or later [oh wau!], I clean up, brew some coffee, and read the latest news about the virus. Sometimes the NYTimes articles get depressing but I always read them to the end because the NYTimes is covering the pandemic with precision and skill. In fact, I trust their view on the coronavirus because they're looking at it from the very big picture whereas something like the LAtimes is covering just the state of California. 

While reading the news and occasional op-eds about the virus, I'm listening to a lot of jazz and classical music, so as not to have lyrics be too distracting. I've discovered a lot of lost 1960s hardbop/bebop music through this. Then I may play video games to put my mind off things. And I go to work. Usually, I close the store at one am but considering that the store closes at eight pm now, most of my managers are allowing me to leave at midnight. Kudos!  

One thing that should be put into consideration is that you should go out and enjoy nature. Go for a walk or a hike. Even when it's raining and I'm getting wet, I don't seem to mind it as much. Nature in and of itself is beautiful and relieves stress. I can't stress the importance of nature enough. The dark ominous clouds before the rainfall. The bright oh happy day of the afternoon sunshine. Love it.

When I come back to work I play acoustic guitar to keep up my chops. I play songs and jam. Then I play video games for a while. Then I go into writing mode. Currently, I'm working on a short story or possibly novella. Again, this zombie apocalypse virus has really spiked my creative endeavors. After this thing blows over I hope to spice up my writing skills and get a writing gig somewhere. Difficult I know, but not impossible. During the current moment of crisis, as a creative person, I've found that words, sounds, and images have taken on much more severe importance. It's become much more visceral. It's all changed really.

Then I go to sleep and do it all over again. Every night before I go to bed I read. Even if its only twenty pages or thirty, I always read something. Currently, I'm reading The Plague by Albert Camus. It is truly a masterpiece in fiction. I'm inspired by the pandemic.

Sometimes I have morning shifts and that changes the dynamic. My schedule happens in reverse on those days. So you should maintain a schedule. My schedule is going to be different from yours, it goes without saying, but I believe if I keep doing what I'm doing I'm going increase my creativity, improve my writing and guitar playing, and save lives by practicing social distancing and staying away from others, only going out to get food and work, thankfully located at the same place. 

Next, tip number two. Always do things that are fun. Just dumb fun. For me, that includes playing video games to relieve stress. Video games are now one of those things that people can still do with others [online as opposed to in person], that still connects everybody, and is still fun. Voice communication in gaming has become more important during this time. It's a connection with others. If you don't like gaming you can catch up on shows you like. For example, I'd like to binge-watch Game of Thrones.  

Next, keep in touch with friends and family as much as you can so as to avoid too much self-isolation. The best way for me to keep in contact with friends is through phone, text, email, and social media. Every time I contact friends and family I feel a sense of relief, knowing that I'm not in this alone. Their well being is important to me and just knowing that life goes on for them without having the virus, their safety, it's a boost in our collective spiritual unity.

Lastly, you could learn something new. You could learn to play the guitar or the piano, how to cook a certain dish, a new work skill that will be more in demand after the virus goes away [if it goes away], or write a song, poem, blog, or op-ed about your thoughts during this historic moment. Even though technically the country is on lockdown it doesn't mean that life doesn't go on. 

"Nothing you can do if you want to sing the blues, but you know it don't come easy."

Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most

It's been a while since I wrote something like this. Psychology, self-help, vlog-style, that kind of thing. Spring is here in 2019, life is moving by fast. In California, there's only really spring and summer. The weather doesn't change much except in summer when it gets super hot. This makes for a continuous summer year round. This is why people like living here. However, it makes time move by uber fast. The last six years were a blur. So it goes.  

I've been focusing on playing a lot of guitar, shedding [jazz musician slang for improving my chops], working, and playing with my friend Jason, an excellent alto saxophonist. I've also been reading a lot of books. And by a lot, I mean a lot. Sometimes I can finish a book in two or three days if I marathon the book. Other times I take it slow. I've even been working out too, trying to shed some pounds. Somebody could come along and say, "Why are you wasting time reading books and playing music? If you go to college you could end up making more money in the future." 

That's always fair. The one thing that they don't realize is that everything you do could and will help you at some point. You just don't know when or how. This is why you have to believe. Believe in your own willpower, karma, God, yourself, whatever. When you stop believing in yourself you start to underestimate yourself. All those books and music have helped me to develop an interior life away from my family, friends, and work associates. I have my own world to seek refuge in. Video games do this as well but not nearly as well because video games are tainted by online experiences with people who may and will abuse the multiplayer experience [if said game is multiplayer]. 

Where does that leave me? Well, there are good days and there are bad days. Hopefully, there are more good days than bad days. I think every millennial is in crisis in a way right now, rich or not. The problem is that wages are stagnant, rent is increasing, and companies just don't need as many people as before. People just aren't needed as much these days. More and more things are becoming automated. It's cheaper for companies to have a small workforce with a high turnover. 

I've been in the retail trade for ten years now. I started working at Sentry's food store in Wisconsin back when I was eighteen and I've been working ever since in mostly grocery stores. There's not much of a future in the grocery business but it's still the best job I've ever had and I'm still making enough to get by most of the time. Where do I go from here?

For millennials in general I think there's a much bigger issue than my own personal one. The legislative and executive branches of government are at war with each other. There's no leadership, on either side. Nancy Pelosi and Biden represent the old school Democrat but the fresh younger Democrats say its time for a change that doesn't include them. The Republicans are complete idiots, perhaps even evil. They'll say anything as long as they stay in power. There's no winning really. And will there ever be? Starless and Bible Black, as that King Crimson record was called.

Not only that but a lot of millennials don't even seem to care. They prefer to drift off into a life of entertainment and leisure. Can you blame them? Their entire world is crashing and burning around them, and all they care to talk about is End Game and Game of Thrones. It's no wonder America is in decline. No future indeed as Johnny Rotten sang in the Sex Pistols. 

I could go back to college, rack up 40k of debt and get a better job and career in 4 years. But will that really make me happy? I'd rather keep playing the guitar, reading books, running, and see where life takes me. It's risky not going to college but I'm not really the college type. I'm a hipster jazz and rock guitarist. Guitar players don't need to go to college. Just ask Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. 

Spring can really hang you up the most. It's such a beautiful seasonal change. But when things aren't going that great, and don't appear to be improving anytime soon, things get pretty bleak. Like a black metal record. Except I actually enjoy that. Times like these call for fortitude. You gotta believe in whatever it is that you believe in and push through, into the beyond, rather than into the void. Don't underestimate yourself. Everything you do has an aftereffect, aftershocks of karma, zen, and transcendence. 

I was feeling kind of blue before I wrote this but then I realized that writing really helps me to overcome my negative thoughts and emotions. This is why I'm such an active writer, writing nonstop for seven years now. I've been working on a memoir about my life which is currently 75 pages long. I look forward to continuing to work on it and finishing it sometime in the immediate future. If you think you had a bad day, a bad year, a bad decade, don't worry, you're not alone. We're all in this together, in this one universe. 

[title inspired by saxophonist Melissa Aldana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsD0H9MCQ1U]

Working for Something

Just read a short blog post that inspired me to write another vlog style motivational post. What are you working for? Most of us have jobs so that we can spend our free time doing the things we want. Leisure and all that jazz. However, because we only have one life we have to make use of our free time wisely. 

For example, I stopped playing video games hardcore and now I have a lot more free time for reading books-news-articles, listening to music,  playing guitar, and hanging out with my friends. I stopped hanging out with my friends more than three times a week because I realized that we need more space and time between us. Absence makes the heart fonder.

At the end of my workday [1 AM shift, been on this schedule for 6 years now], all I really have time or energy for is to read books, write, and possibly play guitar [I need to play more, but that's another post]. I wouldn't even have the energy to stay up all night to play video games because I'm already staying up half the night ending my work shift, and then reading until I crash and fall asleep. 

What am I working towards? Generally speaking, I'm working towards enjoying leisure reading as well as increasing my education through great books, weather they are science fiction, classics, philosophy, history, historical fiction, and poetry. I'm also working towards becoming a better writer. Lastly, I'm working towards increasing my musical chops, learning Sequenza by Berio, as well as learning more jazz standards. It's a lot. 

There are other goals I have that seem more difficult. Like finding a girlfriend. However, the goals I have now are things that I love and would be happy to keep working on 5-10 years from now. Most of my free time needs to be spent in gainful activity. I have an addictive personality and I'm wired most of the time. Once I start something, I really get into it, mastering every bit and piece of it, until I can call myself some kind of master, even if not a 'true' master of said art. I've been doing this with the guitar, with reading novels and trying to with writing. 

I've got to keep pushing myself. You've only got one life to live. If you work hard to get just a little slice of heaven, then you need to make sure every visit is worth it when you get to the Gate. 

Spring 2019 Goals

Hello ladies and gents. Here I'd like to go on a short motivational speel about goals. Personal mostly but this can apply to anyone relatively speaking. Spring 2019 is here. Life is moving by quickly. Have you been working on all your New Years resolutions? Are you getting everything you want to be done? 

First, my biggest New Years Resolution [only one really] was to work out more. In the beginning of the year I was working out super hard. In fact, during the first week I ran 2 miles everyday for five days. That was way too extreme. Hurt my legs. But I felt great in my mind. I had a strong mental mindset about the whole thing. Then, the California winter was super harsh, so I didn't run because of the rain and cold. Now, spring is here so I have no excuse. I'm not going to go hardcore. In fact, I'll probably run one day, then rest the next. End up running 3 days, resting for 4 days. My weight is still the same, which is not good, as I'm above 200 pounds. I have a lot more work to do. 

Second, I need to learn how to eat less. Contrary to what Americans believe, it isn't the fact that I don't exercise much that I'm overweight. Its the fact that every day I'm eating too much, overfeeding my body, too many calories. If I can learn to eat less [and drink less soda, drink more water], I can lose weight the natural way, by just allowing the weight to fly off, by letting my body be hungry more. This is more difficult than working out for me because my friends all love to eat out all the time and they sure as hell don't eat healthily. In fact, they're all getting overweight too. I was doing this for a while and I managed to lose twenty pounds. Unfortunately, I went back to bad eating habits and gained the weight back. This is the most difficult task for me. My number one goal.

Third, finish my novella and show it around to some publishers. I've been working on a novella [long short story] and my goal once I've finished it is to show it around to some publishers and try to get it published. If I can't get it published its no big deal. In fact, I think just learning how to write better in the process is worth it just by itself. My goal is 100 pages. I currently have 28 pages. So I've got a lot more writing and editing to do before I even really discuss it with anyone.

Fourth, release an album for sale on Bandcamp. I've been working with an alto saxophonist named Jason Thomas. He says he can get us free studio time. Our end goal is to record at the studio and release the best tracks as an album on Bandcamp, a music website people use to sell their tunes. I also want to perform live with him more whether it just be open mics or real gigs. Hopefully real gigs. I also want to find a bass player so we can have a legit jazz trio. The guitar, alto saxophone duo is cool but we really need that bass for the low end, as well as having the complete complementary instrumentation. 

Fifth, read more books. Reading is my spirit animal at this point. Most of all my blog posts are about novels. I love reading with a  passion. Maybe even as much as music. Or more? Not sure. I want to finish reading The Illiad, read the Aeneid,  the Odysee, finish the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, more Hemingway novels, more philosophy, in particular, finish reading Heidegger's Time and Being. Hopefully, I get to all those. Its a lot but I've got the discipline and reading habit to actually do it. I'm a reading machine.

Sixth, think about finding another job if my family doesn't end up moving. The family plan is to move to Chicago but I'm not sure when if ever that is going to happen. I love California and I'd love to stay here but its too expensive to live here on my own. If we end up staying in California say, another year, then my plan will be to find another job. Retail can only take you so far in life. They're not giving me that many hours anymore. Sometimes its good to know when to pull the plug. 

Life is full of distractions. In a way its good that my friends are busy working most of the time. I've found that seeing my friends only once or twice a week is a lot better for our friendship. Time makes the heart fonder, as they say. Not only that, but I enjoy more free time by myself, where I'm able to work on all my goals. A lot of my friends have moved away and others have drifted apart. Sometimes you have to realize that some people will only be in your life for a short while. Such is life. In the meantime, I'm going to keep pushing myself, and fight the good fight, so to speak. 

2019 Motivation

Its two weeks into 2019 and like me, you've probably come to the sudden realization that life is tough, and that if you want to keep your new years resolution, and do more, and be better, and accomplish more in life its going to be a mother fucker. Life isn't easy, in fact its hard, and more often than not it sucks. "Life's a bitch and then you die," said the Chairman. This is my riff on Chairman Mao's "life is struggle and contradiction" quote, something my dad told me a few years ago.

I've been having these mini awakenings since 2019 started. 

I have to work out to lose weight. Daily.

I have to stop hanging out with my friends so often. Absence makes the heart fonder.

I have to spend more time by myself, and away from work to smell the roses. Money isn't everything. Money can't buy you love.

I have to work on music more, record more, learn how to use Ableton software to make better drum tracks for my music, and finish learning Sequenza by Berio for classical guitar.

I need to write more and become a better writer. Which I've been working on a lot!

I should learn a new skill, like how I've been doing programming tutorials, just to see if I even like it at first.  

I need to quit and lose any bad habits I have currently.

These are all very difficult things to do. In fact, just for me to realize that if I wanted to achieve my goals, that I had to do all these things, it was pretty damn difficult to accept. There is a cost to everything. Time is an important factor. Energy. Emotion. Drive. Etc. 

So the next time you think about taking time off and away from your 2019 goals remember that life's a bitch and then you die. You might as well make life your bitch and then die on your own terms. 

Go for it. 

The Wagner Connection

I've been listening to a lot of classical music. I've found myself listening to more and more classical music after my vacation to Chicago last year, where I saw a quartet (from DePaul University) perform Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (check out my review for that performance here). That changed my attitude towards classical music and expanded my musical horizons. Messiaen is much different composer, albeit just as amazing as Richard Wagner. However, it has been Wagner's music that really strikes a chord with me.

Where do I start? I first heard various parts of the Ring Cycle in college, around 2011, however I didn't listen to it seriously until recently. I'm partial to favoring the instrumentals-the Overtures, Preludes, but the actual opera itself is quite a masterpiece. I plan on listening to the entire opera (many hours long) soon when I have enough time away from work, which proves to be extremely difficult this summer. 

Anyways, Wagner's music opened new doors. I've been reading the score for Tristan and Isolde, trying to decipher it, figure out how he gets the Tristan chord sound, how he arranges, how the melodies intertwine with the bass and the melodies. Serious stuff you know. I'll never look at heavy metal the same way again. Wagner's music sounds like heavy metal to me, that's what initially got me interested in college. The music is heavy but there's beauty in the melody, sometimes dark and other times tugging at the heartstrings, not just crushing chords. 

Because Frank Abbinanti, a new music composer that has been mentoring me from Chicago has sent me some pretty difficult scores for me to work on and play, I've been able to read music much better to the point where I can read and understand Wagner's score, albeit in a much less refined way than a classical musician or composer. I think about the chord voicings, how it would sound on guitar, piano, try to imagine the sound in my head as I read the notes. One of my goals is to one day be able to look at a score and know what it sounds like without hearing it on record or playing the notes on an instrument. I may never get there. But its a goal.

Wagner's music has much emotion. I tried to explain Wagner's music to my co-worker when he saw me reading the score on my break. He asked, "What does Wagner's music sound like?" I thought for a long time and explained as best as I could. I said that the music has a heavy feeling to it, like a lot in your head, but melodies that make you see the beauty in that which you didn't know exist. I told him to listen to the Tannhauser Overture and that he would know what I mean. 

I've gone down a very untypical path for a guitarist that first learned to play by playing the Ramones and Black Sabbath. My tastes have evolved eclectically and I'm all the better and smarter for it. My interest in jazz is still strong but now I have the entire classical canon to refer back to, a gift that I didn't know I had access to until recently. 

Most of the music my friends and associates listen to is not classical, nor jazz, or classic rock even. None of the stuff I'm into. Like regular young adults, they listen to whats popular, new, current and "hip", for lack of a better term here I use the word hip rather loosely because for me what's popular will never be hip in my traditional jazz musician's sensibility. I've realized that music for most people is just background noise. Co-workers listen to rap on earbuds while they work. My friend listens to death metal when he's driving fast down the freeway. My other friend listens to indie rock as he drives casually down the boulevard. I've realized that music for me is much greater, and more profound. Music for me is art, nothing to snicker or sneer at, and definitely not background music. In fact, I only listen to music on my computer when I'm sitting down, either reading , or just listening doing nothing else. 

I've found out that to be a musician is a hard life. I can't even get a band of guys together that are willing to meet once every week, let a lone a jazz group. I had a death metal band a while ago but when we didn't make money within three months the singer and bassist called it quits. As Frank Zappa used to say, "Strictly commercial." Most music these days is cheap (hence why the singles thing has become the new medium), just like our culture. We want things fast, hard, and easy. This is what I've come to find out. Life isn't easy, and making money with your art is even harder. 

Even if I never fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a famous hotshot guitar player or make a ton of money playing music I will be happy knowing that the music served it purpose, it opened the path for great artistic achievement and endeavors. And for that I am entirely indebted.

Student becomes Le Better

So my buddy just got back from Coachella and said he had a blast. He said he spent a lot of time playing ukulele and when we jammed today with both of us on guitars he was significantly better. He can actually jam with me and improvise (albeit at a beginners level). The fact that he can keep playing and jam for extended periods of time without running out of ideas or getting hand cramps means he's made an important milestone in his guitar playing. I want him to work on songs too. He's been doing Sum 41's With You on uke and the first little short tune I showed him how to play on guitar was the Adventure Time Theme.

Pretty cool that he can jam out now. I was doing a lot of jazz stuff based around his improv. I also did a lot of chromatic stuff based on jazz harmony changes and it sounded really good. I think he underestimates the fact that he can jam a lot better now. Now we just need the bass player (our friend) to actually play the bass sometime. 

I've been talking to a drummer and and a guitar player about doing some collaboration. I also want to work with my former band's singer on stuff. He's in New York but I was thinking I could just send him tracks and have him do the production end of everything.

The good thing is that my friend is getting better which means I might have somebody to play music with. it also shows that my teaching has had good results. There's a chance that he could surpass me one day on the guitar. I better keep up my chops! Haha.

Exciting! 

Time to pump iron ya string bean

So I finally got around to working on one of my New Years Resolutions. And that is exercising. I started last week with a friend doing a pretty hardcore workout. It was about a 2 mile run without stopping going at a pretty moderate pace. Honestly I was surprised I could even keep up with him without stopping the whole time because I haven't worked out in a super long time. Now is the time to change that!

My main plan at the moment is to work out every other day and keep things pretty moderately aggressive. Don't want to go all out like that day with my friend last week and be sore for two days. The workouts I'm doing by myself are enough to make me sweat hard even though its cold but give me enough room to work with that I'm not completely sore for two days afterwards. One thing I learned from starting last week is that you don't want to push yourself too hard on one day alone because this is something I want to do daily.

Right now I've got a short simple regiment where I'm running from my house to the gas station about a mile away. I run back up the hill and its about shy of two miles with a steep grade of the hill. The hill gives you that extra bit of hard work that you wouldn't get running on flat ground. I'm going to keep doing this and adding other stuff to it afterwards once I get used to it.

For example, after running that regiment I'll go inside and do situps and pushups. My friend thinks running alone doesn't remove belly fat so I'm going to add this other stuff to it as well.

Another friend of mine wants to work out but no running for him. He wants to do weightlifting instead. If I do that it will be even more hard work than running because I'll have to keep doing it otherwise the muscle will turn to bodyfat.

My main reason for going try hard into getting into shape is many reasons. I mostly want to be healthy and stay healthy for the future. I also want to be more slim and in shape to have more confidence with the ladies. But in the end it's mostly for my health. I want to live a long fulfilling life and this is one way to ensure that. My goal is to get to my pre-California weight. So if I can get to around 180-200 I will be pretty happy. 

Goku is my main inspiration! Every workout is going to be like training in the hyperbolic time chamber!

Plans for 2017

So I already did a post where I talked about my new year's resolutions and stuff. All I said was that I wanted to get smarter and learn more about the things I like. Specifically learn more about these things on a technical level. Here I'd like to outline some more plans and goals for 2017 that are more general terms and ideas.

• Buy a better laptop for late night gaming sessions
• Start playing Hearthstone
• Learn 10 jazz standards by heart, this includes both melody and chord changes
• Start busking
• Buy a cheap acoustic guitar
• Start a band
• Start gigging
• Losing weight by eating less at work
• Get a better rank in competitive Overwatch 

Learning jazz tunes and chord changes by heart will take a lot of practice but I can definitely do it. Busking will take a lot of work and I will use a cheap steel string acoustic for that as electric doesn't really lend itself well to busking due to the lack of electricity.

I'm in the process of starting a band but to honest with you I'm not too sure if its going to work out so I might continue working with my newbie musician friends in our pseudo band at the moment. Hopefully those two friends (guitar and bass players) can get good enough this year. Who knows, perhaps we could even play a short gig or set somewhere?

Another thing I've been working on is losing weight by eating less at work. I've been eating smaller lunches and watching what I eat during the day as well. I eat three meals a day-breakfast, lunch, and dinner and no meal is that much bigger than any of the others. I've been keeping the weight steady, even losing a few pounds here and there. Just gotta keep it up and I'll lose even more.

Lastly, I wanna get a better competitive ranking in Overwatch. Right now its pretty difficult but I've become so good at the game now that I feel like I deserve to at least be in the platinum-diamond level skill cap. My ultimate end goal for the game will be to hit masters but that will take a lot of competitive game grinding for probably the rest of the year. 

That's all. Sounds easy? Well, it ain't. I'm gonna work my ass off.

A thirst for knowledge

This post is going to be a short irl sort of rant. Somewhere around Christmas I realized I wanted to learn more about the things I do and use, to a more advanced technical level. Perhaps go to school by sometime next year and learn a lot of stuff.

I'm mostly interested in computers at the moment but I'm also interested in learning more about music, rhythm, and harmony. In addition, I'm interested in the science of sound at a technical, scientific, nonmusical level.

So far I've been doing a good job reading up on things online and taking it slow. Friends have suggested that I should learn computers and try to get a job fixing them in the long run. I have tried learning coding but I didn't get very far in that pursuit. Its not that I gave up its just that I took a long break from it and forgot a lot of what I had learned. Its definitely not easy and I don't think just anyone can do it.

I'm not sure if I can learn all this stuff but even if I don't end up going back to school or getting a better job I'm going to learn and read more anyways just for myself. If anything, I want to become a smarter individual and understand the things I care about and use.

I should also learn how to fix guitars. This would be the easiest thing to do because I can just watch YouTube videos and practice on an old axe I have. For example, I want to learn how to replace pickups, setup a guitar, and how to setup a Floyd rose. That way I can just do it all for myself.

All important stuff. To me at least.

That's the end of this rant. My goal for 2017? Get smart.