March Madness

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. How's it been? I've been silent on the writing since the new year. I feel the need to write as an outlet because I believe reading and writing is the greatest tool for communication as a medium. Sure, I talk to friends and family, but you just don't get to really say everything you want to say with friends and family. That's why I've had this blog for so many years. The blog is a good outlet not only for creativity but also to say everything I want to say. I haven't really been too busy or anything, but I do think I had some slight writer's block that lasted all of February. But I've been good. I've been reading, working, and tonight I was playing guitar and electronic keyboard, just practicing, and improvising. 

I've been on a roll since the new year 2026 reading a lot of books. So far already since January I've read 10 books: The Mammoth Hunters [by Jean M. Auel], Van Gogh The Passionate Eye [Pascal Bonafoux], Plato's Symposium, Caesar's War on Gaul, Lolita by Nabokov, Words of Wisdom, The Nibelungenlied,  Cousin Bette by Balzac, The New Grove Mozart, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I'm also currently reading The Portable Medieval Reader and A History of China. My reading has stayed mostly in the realms of fiction, non-fiction, western canon but I will sometimes still read science fiction, more modern day science fiction as well as the golden age sci fi stuff. 

All the reading has been keeping me sharp and keeping me going. The state of our country isn't good and now all of a sudden we're on day 5 in a war against Iran with our partner Israel. What does reading all these great books of the western canon tell you about the political nature of the times we're currently living in? As Hegel would put it, "We learn from history that we don't learn from history." As bad as Trump and the MAGA Republican tinfoil hat crowd are, we have seen this before and we have been here before. 

Even this war against Iran. We're shooting at them with all these airstrikes and we're hoping for a regime change with no boots on the ground as of yet, which is unheard of and has never happened before. Well, this scene looks a lot like Bush's declaration of war in Afghanistan, but at least Bush got approval from Congress to go to war. With Trump, he declared it and we were instantly in war. It's an interesting time to be alive in the United States, being someone of my age, of my education, of my economic and social class. 

You see, you could argue that Americans like me, American citizens with good education, good family structure, they're doing okay economically, they're eating well, they're exercising, they're getting entertained, they have friends and family, they read books, etc, well you might say that Trump, what Trump does, and the new war against Iran, maybe it might not affect them as much as you think. 

The reality is that the Trump regime has had a profound influence on practically every facet of American culture, politics, entertainment, and governance. I believe, personally, that ever since President Trump was elected, since even the first time, American culture has largely degenerated and gotten worse and worse. I could even see it among the largely minority employees and management at the retail grocery job I worked at for years. You could see that because they loved Trump and praised him, they wanted to become like Trump, which included becoming more hateful and full of cruelty towards others around them. For them Trump wasn't just a symbol of American conservatism, he was the example to show them that it was okay to be a racist, to be hateful, to be cruel, and show it anywhere and anytime they wanted. Yeah, it was that bad there folks. That was just a market. Imagine how people who love Trump would act in a mob [January 6], or in Congress as leaders in the White House. Houston, we have a problem.

Which brings us to the end of February 2026, a new war with Iran. This war is like the perfect foil for Trump because he was already in trouble for the killings of two US Citizens with his gestapo-esque police force ICE [Rene Good, and Alex Pretti who were called terrorists by Kristi Nome leader of Homeland Security] and in addition Trump was in trouble for his too close ties to child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Also, there's the fact that the economy under Trump has slowed down a lot, there's a lot less jobs, food and gas prices are very high, and companies are putting more and more money and effort into AI [stupid idea] when in reality, Americans are struggling to pay rent, eat well, and find a job that gives them enough cash to live in a house or apartment. Trump's problem as President as always, has been affordability, as Democrats would say. Trump inherited a robust economy from Biden, and now when you go to Fatburger you're paying $24 for a burger, fries, and a soda. 

It almost seems at times like what Trump does is seemingly random. Which makes you wonder what is really going on in this world, what systems are controlling what's going on behind the scenes. For example, you notice how not once has Trump pushed back against Putin despite Putin's war crimes against Ukraine. So it makes you wonder, what does Putin have on Trump? Is Trump really a pedophile rapist like the newly reported story said? If its true, then we have to seriously discuss and decide what kind of a country we are and what kind of a country we should be. Because if we allow a guy who's done that to be our President and get us into a war then we have fundamentally failed as a democratic experiment. 

It helps to be somewhat of a cynic right now. In a way, to stay informed, you pretty much have to read the news every 24-48 hours or watch the news on TV daily, just to stay up to date on basic information, but in reality, you still have to question everything, not only Trump and his administration and their actions, but also the news and media itself, as well as yourself. Henry David Thoreau has this great quote where he says all the news stories are all things that have happened in other super old news stories from other times and years. That was a stunning revelation because in some sense, yes, it's very true. 

But why is this, why is that quote true? I think a small part of being a cynic is the feeling and knowing that something is amiss, something is not right, even though you don't know what it is, something like a conspiracy, who's to say that there isn't something like that going on right now and/or has been going on since the foundation of this state. Like I said, you have to question everything, even yourself and your own beliefs, even if you have a low education level, play videogames, and are more concerned about being 'turnt at da club.' There's something undeniable about the current times we're living in that has an eerie similarity to the past, something we don't understand, or perhaps will never be granted the right to understand. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!

Things I learned From Playing Guitar Live in Los Angeles

 

So what is it like, playing shows live onstage at small bars and clubs in Los Angeles, from the guitarists' perspective? 

First, you have to realize, that playing guitar live onstage in Los Angeles is very common. There are a million guitar players in Los Angeles. Why? Because its a warm climate and guitars do much better in warm climates than in cold climates. Therefore, there are a million guitar players in Los Angeles. So, you must realize that if you want to play guitar in Los Angeles, you are competing with a million other players, many of which, may be good, very good, so-so, and/or amazing. 

So you've decided to play a guitarist in Los Angeles? Okay, so here are the next steps in your sound once you get on stage in whatever capacity: in a band, in a cover band, or in an original band, or just playing a jam session. 

Second, the type of guitar you use is important. So when you get onstage, the type of guitar you bring to the performance matters most more than anything. You need a cheap but comfortable guitar that you can play at any moment's notice. Cheap, because most bars aren't the most safest for your good gear. And comfortable because you need to be able to play very well in any moment's notice. 

Third, the type of amp matters a lot too. Let's say you're playing in a metal band. I would recommend some cheap solid state amp [digital] that you could haul easily. If you're playing country and western then you want something older like an old small tiny Fender tube amp that you can really crank up. Classic rock? Well, you could do a solid state amp [digital], or a tube amp. 

Or, there's another option. You could run the guitar through the PA, and have the sound technician turn up the guitar loudly. But this is a last resort option, only if somehow you have no amp and you must perform. 

Fourth, you as the player matter. What kind of styles of music are you more inclined to? If you're a metal player, you might play fast three-notes-per-string scales like Malmsteen or Steve Vai. If you're more blues, you might be sounding like Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page. If you're more country you're going to sound more like Joni Mitchell backing up Emoulou Harris. So, you, as a player matter a lot. 

Moving forward, you must ask yourself, why am I playing guitar in bars in Los Angeles? Do you need money, do you play for fun, are you trying to be famous, or are you just trying to chill and have a good time? You must have a purpose to what you're trying to do. 

However, because there are a million other guys playing guitar in bars in Los Angeles, you'll find that its difficult to make it in the business. Especially because the music industry and music business has changed so much from when I was a kid [2011] to now [2025], so you'll find its tough no matter how good at guitar you are. 

So, you'll learn that guitar in Los Angeles isn't the most necessary or important, or required instrument in bars. Because the music scene here is so oversaturated with guitar players, you'll find out that its better to be a multi-instrumentalist instead. 

Next, you'll find that you'll have to wear many hats and know how to play musical chairs. 

In conclusion, what do you have to do in order to be a musician [guitar player] in Los Angeles? This will take all of your musical abilities start from whatever age you first became attracted to music. Most musicians get interested in music around the age of 9 or 10 years old. 

So you'll find that you'll have to be a multi-instrumentalist. Most bands won't need a guitarist, so you'll have to be able to be a singer [while also strumming piano or guitar or bass or drums at the same times], or a bass player [non-singing], or a drummer [non-singing], or piano [non-singing] and you must also have the ability to be able lift heavy sound equipment for your band. 

Lastly, you'll also want good old fashioned sound engineer ability as well. For, as you see, its very complicated playing guitar at bars in Los Angeles. 

Rent-Due, Still Playing Clubs

Christmas 2022

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, 

Merry Christmas! This year has been busy on the job but I've surprisingly been able to make time for a lot of reading, practicing different instruments, as well as writing.

Christmas is that special time of year. Why? 

"Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated by many people around the world, and it holds great significance for many people. Here are a few reasons why Christmas is so important:

1. Christmas is a time of love and generosity: Christmas is a time when people come together to celebrate the love and generosity that exists in the world. It is a time to give gifts to loved ones, to spend time with family and friends, and to show appreciation for the people in our lives.

2. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus: For many people, Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who is considered by Christians to be the son of God. The birth of Jesus is seen as a miraculous event, and the holiday is a way to remember and honor his life and teachings.

3. Christmas brings people together: Christmas is a time when people from all walks of life come together to celebrate. It is a time when people put aside their differences and focus on the things that bring them joy and happiness.

4. Christmas is a time of tradition: Many people have long-standing traditions that they participate in during the holiday season. These traditions help to create a sense of community and bring people together.

Overall, Christmas is a special time of year that is important for many people around the world. It is a time to celebrate love, generosity, and the birth of Jesus, and it is a time to come together and create lasting memories with loved ones." [openchatGPT]

I've been somehow able to have a great time this year despite working nonstop with no vacation. You see, it all starts with the individual. I'm happy despite working all the time because I have the capacity for happiness. I've created time outside of work to create a persona, the persona of an artist, that is what I've done.

I've started doing a lot of AI art, ever since the AI art generators came out two months ago. I've even started using openchatGPT here in this blog post, practicing drums, piano, guitar, singing, writing blogs here and there, as well as reading a lot, the latest edition being historian Will Durant's Volume 2 of his Story of Civilization Series, The Life of Greece. So I seem to be awash in activity, but the activities give me a sense of who I am, and help with my capacity for happiness.

It seems that the older I get the more I realize you can't escape from pain in this world. But you can learn to be resilient and improve your capacity for happiness to live through it. Work seems more vital than ever, especially in California, where every man seems to have to prove his worth by having to earn more and more money, but I've also realized that work is essential to the intellectual artist outsider life as well.

"Work is important for many reasons. It provides individuals with a sense of purpose and meaning, as well as a sense of accomplishment. Work also allows people to contribute to society and make a positive impact on the world. In addition, work provides people with financial stability and the ability to provide for themselves and their families. Finally, work can also be a source of personal growth and development, as it allows individuals to learn new skills, gain experience, and expand their knowledge and understanding of the world." [openchatGPT]

On Christmas Eve I was joking around with a customer and he liked my sense of mirth on the holiday and he tipped me $100, not too shabby! This year the family and I ate lobster at a wonderful Chinese restaurant. If you need me, I'll be practicing drums and piano or reading more of the Will Durant series.

image ai generated

verändert sich durch Sein und Zeit

Gute Abend, 

Things are changing so much and so rapidly it's almost as if time itself is a blur. In the blink of an eye, we are born, we grow, we live, and we die. 

Mortality and fate are intertwined, although the moderns have never been able to quite explain or understand it no matter how far they get in doing so. The Ancients had an easier way of trying to understand it, but they too failed in this fundamentally human question. 

I've lived in Los Angeles for ten years, have had a great life, made some friends, partied and chilled with a lot of people, became a better musician, and even became a part of these rock and roll after hours parties by playing Hendrix for drunkards and druggies. 

Life is good. But fundamentally I realize I'm right back where I started when I first got here. Trying to make it in Los Angeles through music, my own wits, and whatever talents I may have in any other areas. It's rough. It's rough for anybody out here. 

The pandemic made life for a lot of people much worse. Their children have become stay-at-home malcontents that can't handle working, or worse, they just do drugs and alcohol and have no hope of ever succeeding in life, let alone holding onto a job without switching every 2-4 years. 

There are new strains of corona out there and there's more of the threat of respiratory diseases for infants and young children. Politics have become embroiled and republicans are content to make fun of Pelosi's husband pretty much getting murdered. 

To be alive in the bitter sea. 

What's a guy to do?

Run the changes again. 

Play the same old song but in a different way. In order to live in this decline of western civilization, you must learn to find a new way to live. 

For everyone, this will mean something different. For me, I had to learn to stay away from problem people and their problems, and stay focused on my job, music, reading, eating better and losing weight, and maintaining, making, and improving relationships. None of it is easy. In fact, it' grueling and mind-numbing. 

For years and years I used to be content to sit in my room and play video games, not caring about anything going on outside my window. Then the pandemic kicked in and somehow I became more serious. I realized how fickle life can be. 

I started taking music more seriously, deeply trying to understand everything I read, rather than just reading for pleasure. I started learning languages like Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. I learned how to play jazz guitar so I could get out of my rock guitar virtuoso lizard brain. I started playing piano and drums and even singing. I even did a lot of open mics where I was playing electric guitar plugged into a PA, and singing along to my guitar. Scary! 

Today, I took the bus to guitar center and bought a pair of drum brushes, brushes, used to play more mellow soulful jazz patterns and ballads, even swing.

So there you go. Find your way to live. The meaning of life is that it is meant to be lived. 

You got this. 

[photo is ai generated, created with stable diffusion, android playing jazz saxophone] 

The Summer Drum

Summer's almost gone, you Doors fans, dang hippies!

The summer is almost over. And what a hot summer it was. Too hot. The planet is experiencing the worst global warming ever. But that's not the point of this blog. 

Today I went to guitar center to play some real live drums, a real drum set. The first week or so I've only had a practice drum pad, which was too expensive, 30 bucks! For wool. 

Okay, so I've been intimated by drums forever. 

In fact, when I first played drums the first day at guitar center I was so self conscious that when people came into the room I stopped the cymbals and silenced them with my hands like Bill Bruford LOL.

But you can learn to get confidence on a new instrument. I just started playing the best I could and somehow they were impressed. The guy even asked to hold my stick to see if there was magic in it. He tried it and he wasn't that good. 

Two weeks later I went back more determined but when I sat on the kit I was still self conscious and fearful. 

Then I remembered some rock song with a 16th note hi hat pattern, it was like a Zappa thing or something. Or like Deep Purple's Ian Pace. So I hit the 16th note pattern on the hi hat, then copied it across the entire kit, from the hi hat, to snare, to toms, to cymbals, and walaaaaaaaaaaah, polyrhythms are born! 

Then suddenly I was playing lighter and faster, and I was starting to get more jazzy. 

Just goes to show you that you need practice really to have the confidence. They go hand in hand. 

I don't have much time to practice, what with working 48 hours at the retail gig, but the time I do use, is spent with great listening and patience, that I sort of can copy things somehow. Must be all the practice from guitar. 

Get me a different drum for every different emotion, it's go time. This is like therapy lol. Cathartic. 

Autumn Leaves [in the key of A major]

 

So this is what you call sushi?

Autumn is upon us! This is one of my favorite times of years because it represents the changing of the seasons, the Four Seasons, like the famous Vivaldi piece. This is a good time of year. It always reminds me of childhood and growing up in the Midwest. Memorial Day and this tie dye shirt I always wore. It represents to me schooling, learning, coldness, newer and more crisp air around me. It's also my birthday at the end of the month. 

At this point in the pandemic if you haven't become used to quarantine and haven't found a new way to live within this new paradigm, then you're very far behind. It's a time of healing, renewal, learning, growth, spiritually, mentally, physically, all of it, it's kind of a big deal! Get with the program if you haven't heard that the bird is the word.  

I've become entranced in my own activity. Although I have friends and hang out with them, it is really only within myself that I feel the Muse at its strongest and best. The muse is simply what keeps you going in your life. What do you really enjoy? Do that thing a lot. And find other things like it. And so on until you find what you find fulfilling in life. It could take 10,000 hours, it could take forever, or it might never happen if you don't search for your own meaning. 

I've been playing a lot of jazz guitar and have found some improvement in the jazz playing genre. A steep learning curve was simply just playing different chord voicings over the same chords as substitutions. Nothing fancy but it keeps the beat going and sounds super straight ahead. In a guitar/saxophone only duo it works really well and keeps us grounded within the saxophone solos. 

I've been reading a lot as well. My goal for this year on Goodreads [https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56122996-og-space] was to read 50 books, but a las, it's getting nearer and nearer the end of the year and right now I'm only at 34 books. We'll see what happens. I recently finished reading Ulysses by James Joyce and right now I'm reading Plato Dialogues selections, an old copy from an old man, a customer I met at work. He gave me his copy of this Plato book [as well as my copy of Ulysses, which I specifically asked him for], it's from 1927, the Modern Student's Library, Philosophy Series. I've been getting a lot out of the book and I've been spending time ruminating on the various ideas within the dialogues. Sitting beneath the warmth of the fire.  

I've also been eating very well but also making sure to eat and live in a healthy way. Food has been one of the best things in the world to me [lol] and I've been very lucky to live in California where the cuisine is literally everything and anything I want, reasonably within affordable price ranges. 

Another great place for food was Chicago, I used to love Chicago hot dogs, polish sausages, hot Italian beef sandwiches, and pizza Chicago style with real bulk sausage instead of diced sausage. It makes a big difference folks. 

Last night I had a superb meal at our favorite Korean restaurant, I had the ginseng chicken in hot broth. You add salt to the broth for flavor or you can eat it as is, which is pretty bland, but very delicious. Not only that but a customer gave me a Persian dish the other day at work and I ate it for my lunch. It was small pastries with meat inside them, they reminded me of pate, which my great Aunt used to make when I was a youngster. The stories within food is incredible and it'll keep you inspired till the end of time. 

Keep hitting those high notes! 

31 de Agosto

Good evening, ladies and gents. 

Today is the last day of August and it's been one of the best weather days of the summer. Its only 67 right now, cloudy, cool, and not humid at all. In all aspects, it's just perfect. It reminds me of the Midwest, especially Chicago. Here I'd just like to jot down some general thoughts on life. 

First, work under covid has been stressful per usual but I have a good spirit. As those raggedy Andy dolls from Liverpool sang, "it's getting better all the time." In most respects it is getting better. For me, the store, and other coworkers. 

The work hours are grueling but it's nothing that I can't handle. Nobody at the job has caught covid recently and my cashier station is pretty boxed in, keeping me socially distant from customers. It's strange working in a box for eight hours, but hey, c'est la vie. 

I've been spending a lot of time reading classics of the western canon and philosophy. As well as playing guitar. And the daily hangouts with friends, mostly one or two at a time to keep things small and socially distant. I've met some new friends here and there, and I've been getting out of my gamer shell more and have begun to meet more people.  

However, the main event here is how are we all really doing under the new reality, el nuevo realidad? Are you adjusting to this new life? Covid has taught me many things about life and the world in which we live in. The most important lesson being that you have to find a new way to live and do just that---live. 

You can't just go on living life the way you did before covid. Everything's different now and you have to adjust your mind, body, and spirit to really enjoy life to the fullest now. Simply put, it's different now, and if you can't readjust to that difference, you're going to get left behind. 

What does finding a new way to live mean for me? 

It means finding yourself, finding out who you are as a person and developing that inner self, enjoying nature and solitude, enjoying Beauty in the world, good books, good music, good people, good conversation, good food, good friendships, good relationships, etc. How do you get to that level? Practice, practice, practice. Mucho practico todos los dias para divertirme. Remember to live life in every moment as opposed to the same old, Sein und Zeit existiert im Moment. 

Sometimes I feel as if all I need is a garden and a library [as said by Cicero]. Of course there's more to life than that but being content for a little while is okay. To have the capacity for happiness. To truly love and be loved. To enjoy Beauty ad infinitum. To find joy in solitude as well as in the company of others.

These are a few of my favorite things. 

Photo uploaded by BlueBlackRose on Pinterest

Merry Christmas! [Eve]

Greetings everyone, 

It's the holiday season. Christmas is here in eight hours. I've already an enjoyable day. I woke up early around 10 am and went for a walk. I proceeded to come home and play the acoustic guitar on my balcony. Then I played some overwatch and started reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, a very good book! I've decided to take some time to write another work/life update regarding the holiday season and covid. 

The market has been tough this holiday season. The morale of the workers' is the lowest it's ever been in my eight year career. Employees are getting fed up and some of them have quit and/or gotten fired. There's been another one or two isolated incidents of covid but it hasn't spread, or at least, we haven't been told that it's spread. Disconcerting to say the least. 

As regard to my health, I get my temperature checked daily by my father [although the managers at the store should be checking employee temperatures as well but they aren't doing it] and I've never had too high a temperature nor developed any covid symptoms. I guess I should count my blessings. Some of my friends weren't so lucky. Especially the ones that work in retail and/or warehouse work and management. 

My whole goal when going into work now is too completely relax and not overreact to anything or anyone. It's sort of like a Zen mediation attitude to working retail. Every bad interaction can be cancelled out by realizing that there is neither praise nor blame attached. The things the Buddha taught.  

The customers at my store this year have been very tough on the workers. I've had a lot of complaints from customers simply because I'm an employee standing near them. They want to complain to the store director or supervisor but they're also content to let out their anger on just any old employee, that may or may not help them as a response. To be alive in the bitter sea. 

In terms of my music and keyboard playing I'm still at it very often. I've also been reading a lot too. In a short period I've read Plato's Republic, Writings by Aristotle, Ovid's Metamorphosis, War and Peace, and this book about Johannes Kepler called Kepler by John Banville, the best living writer from Ireland. In addition, I have a couple heroes of the storm pc game teams that I play with, and I still play overwatch and team fortress 2. I've even been studying Spanish for a month now. All in a day's work! 

I've been working so much yet somehow I'm still getting a lot done in all my free time. My favorite new activity has been going out on long morning walks and even night walks. During the day, I like to go to the park and read a book sitting on the bench in front of the duck pond. Sometimes I get up and stare at the shimmer of the water's reflection, the shimmer staring back at me. 

Merry Christmas 

On the 9th day of Christmas

The holidays are here. And the time is right to start shopping for Christmas gifts for your friends, family, loved ones, and acquaintances. It goes without saying that this Christmas is going to be a lot different. Hell, even Thanksgiving this year seemed to lose some of its intrinsic holiday value. However, I am firm believer in Christmas and the holidays. It's a happy time, so be happy! Some people have it rough this time of year so remember to be extra kind to everybody you come across. You must never underestimate the power you have in your word with others.  

Work has been slow. Hours have been cut across the board but my hours have been consistent. It's like a ghost town over there at night now. Nights used to be as busy at the day time shifts but now that quarantine and curfew is in effect, there's hardly anybody that comes by at night now. The work has become a lot easier simply because there's nothing to do, because there's no customers to help. This is why management cut hours.

I've been in deep quarantine mode. I play guitar, I play piano, I practice languages, I work, I play pc games, I write, and I read books. It's almost like [gasp!] being an artist/content creator is a full time vocation! [It really is.]  

I've been listening to a lot of the Italian Mozart operas; Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro. I was inspired by this book called Music in the Classical Period, of which I wrote a blog about, which you can read here.

I've been livestreaming my jazz jam sessions with my friend Jason Tomas, a terrific alto saxophone player. Check out our last performance here.

Although it's super difficult to meet new people during covid I've been talking to a lot of new people online, and I've met a very nice girl that I play Heroes of the Storm with. She's a web developer Cali girl, and she also knows Spanish and German. 

I've been teaching myself Spanish and bits of Italian, French, and German through the Google Translate app [to learn the spellings of the words] and YouTube [for the pronunciations and accents]. So far I've been learning for a month and it's unbelievable how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. It's almost like I've become a mini-polyglot already, but of course, to go from beginner to intermediate in Spanish is a lot harder than it seems so I'll stay humble and respect all cultures across the globe. 

Lastly, there's an overreliance on technology especially now in quarantine. I wrote my ideas on the subject. Check out this post entitled Luddites and Technocrats here.

The quarantine makes life simplistic because there's not much to do. Well, that doesn't mean you should sit down and watch Netflix/Hulu all night, or play video games every day of your life, or watch the news 24/7, or watch YouTube all day long, or movies all the time. Too much reliance of these things is bad, and the virtuous man/woman is a moderate man/woman. Remember to rely on the beauty of nature at least a little bit everyday. My closing statement is something similar, realize that the beauty of women is infinite. 

La vie est belle. Pace e benedizioni. Schöne Ferien. Feliz Navidad.  

Thoughts on Language Learning

-These are my thoughts on language learning after learning Spanish for three weeks, he estado aprendiendo español por solo tres semanas pero planeo aprender de por vida.

-You're brain is actually learning something so new, so different, that it's teaching you to think differently, think differently in another language.

-It's like that science fiction movie from 2016, starring Amy Adams, Arrival, in which she learns how to communicate with aliens. 

-Her brain gets rewired, she learns to think so differently, that she learns to think like the aliens and communicate with them.

-The revolutionary philosopher Wittgenstein says, "life is language games," well the more different words in different language that you know, the more you see that this is the case.

-Sometimes when sleeping and upon wakeup, you're thinking about all the new words, phrases, and accents that you've learned. At first this freaked me out because I wasn't used to a cacophony of words of different languages in my head, however, you soon realize that you'll become used to it, and that you've begun to learn to think in those other words/languages.

-It's a fun activity for me, I learn on the google translate app or google translate on my computer, sometimes I learn for 5 minutes a day, sometimes for over an hour, and sometimes 20-30 minutes. Because I'm not being forced to learn against my will, my mind is open and I've even begun to become something of a miniature polyglot. 

-The vast wealth of beauty that exists in language appear to me in the form of Spanish, Italian, and French. However, I do find a different kind of beauty in the languages from the Far East like Chinese and Japanese.

-Upon reaching my fourth week of Spanish language studies, and learning bits and pieces from other languages, you soon realize that all of the information will be forgotten unless the material is consistently repeated and reworked over and spoken aloud with others, speaking the words aloud is the most consistent way to reinforce your memory. 

-Once you learn more words in other languages, the sound of the languages, the sound of the culture becomes a part of you, thus you are able to articulate and understand English much better as a result.  

-Spanish is the best language for me because it is the first language I wanted to learn, then next in line is Italian because it sounds muy bonita, then French because its very useful and also sounds great.

-There is somewhat of a correlation between the thick European languages like German, Russian, Swedish, and say Chinese [Mandarin, Cantonese] and Japanese, although it is very small.

-The root of all my language learning, as what Wittgenstein would call language games is all based on Latin, the godfather of Romance Languages; Learn Latin, and I can finally read Ovid's Metamorphosis in its original format, a true worthy goal of artistic expression and understanding. [Very difficult and would take years]

-The case is that once you start learning you can't stop otherwise your vocabulary of phrases, words, grammar, visual memory of the words, and accents will slowly fade away, so don't give up. 

-An end goal would be to travel across the world and speak whatever languages I need with ease. 

-A much more difficult goal could be to learn Spanish, Italian, and French, and become a translator and do that as a career.

-An easier goal, move to another country that speaks Spanish, Italian, or French [or even China to speak Mandarin], and get a job teaching English, and learning their language from the locals. 

-You're brain is rewired and overloaded with so much new information every time you learn, you must remember to always get plenty of rest. Day naps and night naps are both needed!

-Sometimes upon wakeup you'll think thoughts in Spanish as you get out of bed, at first it's a bit scary and unusual, but you soon get used to it, and recognize the fact that you're thinking in another language but that you're fundamentally the same animal. 

-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote is one of my primary inspirations for my Spanish learning, as Cervantes' has been called the godfather of the Spanish language, for good reason, his Spanish language style is unmatched. 

-After quarantine is over, I want to visit Mexico, and have a blast with Spanish.

-What better way to spend your time in quarantine than learning other languages and appreciating other cultures? The world doesn't revolve around just America or just English. In the brand new emerging world, the times they are changing. 

Holiday Season Covid Edition

The holidays are upon us! Welcome to the holiday season covid edition.

Here's a little what's up on what's been going on in my life. 

I'm still working but very few hours per week. Due to covid my job has given out the least amount of hours within my tenure at the company. I'm still working and getting a steady paycheck but it ain't what it used to be, especially during the early holidays every other year. Consequently, I've tightened my belt and my wallet. All the extra free time from work has left me open to a lot of other activities.  

I started playing the piano hardcore. I've been practicing for two weeks straight and I've only taken off two days of practice so far. Dedication! 

In addition, I started learning Espanol [Spanish], yo hablo Espanol paquito mas todos los dias. The internet said I wouldn't be able to understand Spanish fluently for 8 months, but after two weeks straight I've already been able to understand the basics between coworkers at work. 

This holiday season will be like no other. There will be no large gatherings, no grand parties, no big meals with the family and extended family. This is a holiday season where we must bundle up inside our homes, quarantine, wear masks wherever we go outside, and stay respectful of others by practicing social distancing, especially for the elderly and susceptible. 

In short, this is a holiday season where we have to put our consumer spending habits in the backline, and put humanity, love, life, and the pursuit of happiness in the forefront. 

My job has become a ghost town. The market has never been so empty in my entire retail career. Tonight I spent most of the night reading a Spanish grammar book and toying around with Google Translate, because there was no customers, [hardly any], and there wasn't much to do. It was nice, but I'm seeing that because of covid, people have less money to spend on groceries, causing them to shop less at the market. Some of them are so broke that they can't even go to the market and buy food, and instead, they go to free food banks. Let that sink in. 

I get to live the happiest life of a bachelor. I get to read great books like Ovid's Metamorphosis and look at the artwork of Howard Pyle in his Arthurian Legends book. But for many hard-working, working class Americans, the struggle has never been harder during this pandemic and this quarantine. 

Instead of buying your kid a Playstation 5 this holiday season [or if you have the money to spare, go ahead and do it anyways], think of the working class people that are struggling right now. Donate to a food bank. Donate clothes to Goodwill or a shelter. When you order take out, tip well. When you take a Lyft ride, tip well. When you go to the market, be kind and courteous to the employees and the cashier. Tip your bagger if they help you out to your car. When you talk to your acquaintances, family, friends, and coworkers, don't quibble about everything, instead, just relax and see the good in everything around you. Relax your mind and let it float upstream.

Let peace and love flow through you and all your loved ones this holiday season. 

Peace and Love

Ruminate on that

An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic

An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic is a terrific book written by classics scholar, philologist, and professor David Mendelsohn. Written in 2017, the novel is part memoir, part scholarly insight into the Odyssey, and has its share of philosophy as well. I would compare this sort of writing to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, except this is much more scholarly and that is much more hippie. However, the classic idea of a novel being a memoir, the idea of how you can travel without really going anywhere by going in circles, and the bonds made in the process is what makes them similar. As the Dead would sing, "What a long strange trip it's been."

Mendelsohn compares the Odyssey to his relationship with his father. And it works. His father is a mathematician who regrets that he never got his Ph.D. or ever read Ovid in Latin like he wanted to. David, the son, and writer is a gay man who always wanted to be close to his father but his father is the typical grumpy dad type that doesn't like to be touched even by the wife sometimes. He's the conventional stiff math guy. Mendelsohn goes into great detail what type of man his father was but its a sore oversight that he doesn't say much about any of his mentors in life or his relationship to a female partner whom he has kids with. Yes, you heard that right, a gay man who has a female partner so he can have kids. Until I read this book I didn't even know that was a thing that gay people did, but apparently, it's not out of the ordinary. So yes, although it is great that Mendelsohn can describe his father, mother, and uncle with great detail and we get a sense of who they were, he doesn't really describe himself or any of his mentors much. Which makes the book lesser.

However, despite that, what makes this book truly remarkable is the scholarly aspects and the form, the way it is written; before, after, and future can happen all at once like in the Odyssey. It goes without saying that if you read this book you will know more about the Odyssey, the Iliad, and the Aeneid than everyone you come across. Heck, Mendelsohn even goes into the elements of the Greek language, which is downright informative and good to know even if I could never use or apply it.

Mendelsohn teaches a university course to freshman about the Odyssey, and his father ends up taking the course. Using the class, his father, and his students as a way to explain the many ways you can, should, and should not interpret the Odyssey, Mendelsohn does a fantastic job not only of describing the experience in his book but making it fun, digestible, and easy to understand. The scholarly elements of this book are like gold, the insight I got from Mendelsohn's explanations on every part of the Odyssey not only strengthens my love for classics and the Western Canon, but also makes me smarter, so that when I reread the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, I will read them with a much more sophisticated outlook, one that takes into account how to interpret its many lines, chapters, and books. One of the things Mendelsohn stresses to his students is that you can't just make up interpretations, rather, he has been taught how to look at the Greek classics in a specific way, the way his teachers taught him. In a way, this is limiting to the students, meaning they have to listen and accept everything he says, but on the other hand, I can see things through the more traditional route as well. His father is always there in class to stand up to him and disagree at times.

For an example of some scholarly things I learned, one of them is the idea of the proem, or the beginning of the epic poem. This establishes the entire epic poem in the first couple lines and is so important to the interpretation that you can't understand it without understanding and analyzing the proem first. The last lines are equally important to the interpretation as well. Then there's the famous Homeric Question: Was he a real person? Most scholars believe that there might have been a real Homer but that if he did exist, he did not know how to read or write, thus the idea of traveling poets and bards comes up. Poets and bards who memorize some 15k lines of epic poetry and know it so well that they can improvise new lines and variations upon it while telling the same story. It's history.

Lastly, one of the best elements of the book is that it's an odyssey itself. By talking about and interpreting the odyssey, Mendelsohn takes us on one. And like the Odyssey, the end has to do with a strong bond between father and son. Mendelsohn relates how at the end of the Odyssey, it is the reveal from Odysseus to his father that he's still alive and well, that is truly heartwarming and brings about the final end, the slaughter of Penelope's suitors, who have tried to force Penelope to marry them, taken over the palace, seduced the maids, and eaten all the food.

This is one hellova book. I recommend it to anyone who's read the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. It will give you more than enough new information to last a lifetime. Not only is it valuable for its scholarly and philosophical insight, but its also a decent memoir, and shows that you can write a book that has many styles in one; memoir, scholarly insight, and philosophy, using time in any which way you choose. Recommended to anyone who likes memoirs, the classics, or wants to learn more about the classics. 

The painting above is called The Patience of Penelope, who waited 20 years for Odysseus to come home.

Why there's no excuse for stupidy in 2018

I've gone through a vast reeducation, learning about everything from jazz music history, to philosophy, to ethics, politics, journalism, propaganda, and government. My friends aren't interested in any of that stuff and they don't want to hear about it. I have a friend who is even against reading in and of itself. The rise of anti-intellectualism has been timed perfectly with the rise of Trump. With anti-intellectualism comes racism, and prejudice, like the neo-Nazi rally last year in Charlottesville where one person died to to a neo-Nazi driving a car into the crowd. However, in today's modern technological golden age, there's no excuse to be stupid, uninformed, or uneducated. You don't have to go to college to be an intellectual. But it sure helps to go to school and come from a rich, educated family.

First of all, because the internet is pretty cheap (or free if you go to the library or a coffee shop), that means that everybody has constant access to free information. This free information is indispensable right now. I wouldn't be able to order the books I want to read without being able to look titles up through the library's servers. I wouldn't know whats going on in government if it weren't for the news websites. Its a given that you can learn a lot because of the free information on the net. Use it or lose it. Don't use it just for Instagram and Twitter. The modern thinker uses the internet to strengthen his wits and to engage discourse in ideas, art, and culture. Most of the music I listen to is on YouTube for free. That is how I know so much about music, by listening to it online for free.

Next, the archaic media known as books. Reading wasn't something I was attracted to for nearly twenty years. I did two years at the University of Wisconsin system and the entire time I was there I dreaded reading and preferred to play guitar in the guitar club and hang out with my buddies in the computer science club. It wasn't until the ripe age of twenty that I began my reading career. Technically I'm behind my peers, some of whom already have Bachelors, Masters, and even PhD's. When my dad was my age he had already read most of the best that science fiction had to offer whereas I'm still somewhere in the beginning of it.

Reading isn't something you can force yourself to do. You have to learn to enjoy it, to enjoy the process of prose, and gain intellectual understanding of the text, as well as empathy within the narrative. Its a powerful force. Literature may be more important to mankind than music, and I love music dearly! To finish on this subject there's no excuse to be stupid because books are free and you can learn about nearly anything and everything, provided you have a library card and dedicate the time to improving your mind. You might find that you have a greater appreciation from the world after you've read a lot. I've found that my thinking has become more linear, concise, and forward. It also helped me to become a better writer, something I strive for, especially because I have aspirations of becoming a writer.

Lastly, your peers, friends, co-workers, bosses, and even customers at your work affect you in some ways. Sometimes they can change you for the better, to become smarter by giving you advice, sometimes even when you didn't think you would need it. This guitar player customer taught me a lot about jazz guitar comping when he told me I should play the chords with the pick and fingers rather than just using the pick all the time. Such a simple thing but I never figured that out on my own in my ten years of playing the guitar. Its not rocket science but its helped me a lot.

The more people you know the more advice you'll get. Most of this you can take it or leave it. However, I find that when I look into things that people tell me to do or look up I find myself enriched by that said thing, even if its something small like,"you should write everyday", "look up this political writer", "listen to this classical composer", etc, etc. The list is endless. At the end of the day something your peers or customers tell you isn't going to change your world but it may help you somehow.

These are the reasons why there's no excuse to be stupid in 2018. Maybe instead of lurking on Facebook or Instagram or playing video games you should finally crack open that novel that you bought but haven't started yet. Your mind will thank you later.

My (Hero) Musical Academia

So I've been doing a lot of reading, studying, and practicing of different kinds of music and even instruments. I recently started playing the electronic keyboard. I've mainly been reading about music, particularly jazz history. I finished Paul Steinbeck's book on the Art Ensemble of Chicago and I also finished Stanley Crouch's biography on Charlie "Bird" Parker. Both were excellent entries to learn about the history of jazz, which I love with a passion. I also started reading George Lewis' book on the AACM, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a 1960's experimental music collective formed on the south side of Chicago. A black organization that has stood the test of time and produced a lot of talent, many of whom would go on to have great careers and prestigious positions in musical academia. The book is over 700 pages and is incredibly dense but I'm up for the challenge.

In addition to that I'm also studying music from scores, playing the same jazz standards I play on guitar on electronic keyboard (sometimes with just the right hand), and I've even begun experimenting with classical guitar. I went to University of Wisconsin Parkside for a year and they didn't have a jazz guitar teacher there so I had to learn classical stuff. Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough to gain anything from that-until now. I still have all my classical guitar sheet music in my folder from all those years ago, so I took it out, looked at things, and started working on some of the easier pieces. The classical guitar stuff gives me more of a disciplined outlook on the music and my practice routine. I like the sound of the classical guitar but I don't know if I will ever truly have "correct" technique. But that's not what I'm going for anyways. I'm playing it for the challenge, discipline, and beautiful sound of the classical guitar repertoire. A good a reason(s) as any. Also, I found that if I comp jazz chords with the pick and fingers the way a classical guitarist would play without a pick, the comping style becomes more pianistic-a revelation that occurred to me through practicing simple classical tunes (and also dropping my pick into the acoustic!)

With the keyboard my sound will take months to develop. I'm starting to get the hang of some dense Monk comping and chords but my single note improvisations with the right hand don't really go anywhere yet. I have to experiment more with my improvising abilities and come up with more musical stuff rather than just comping chromatic chord clusters. It will take time and I know I can't expect to become a piano virtuoso overnight.

Also, I've been reading about Zen Buddhism. Zen teaches you to let go. I particularly enjoy the history of Zen in China and Japan, especially how the samurai created Rinzai zen and used it to overcome their fear of death in battle. I was initially reading about it because some of my favorite jazz musicians (Herbie, Shorter, Trane, Pat Martino, countless others) are into it and I thought that if I understood Zen it would help me understand the music and also myself, because as young person I'm still searching spiritually. I think that a lot of the important parts of Zen are ideas that we are initially born with and don't think about, but I would have to research the subject more to confirm this.

I've been occasionally reading some heavy science fiction on the side too. Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a dense hard to read book with heavy detail and big words in nearly every sentence. Yet its also entertaining and fun in a cosmic cyberpunk way. I've owned the book for years but I've got this far in the book before. 

Lastly, there's my band. The band is going really well. We know about 6 songs together, most of which are classic rock covers. We're doing a trio of guitar, bass, and drums with myself and the bass player on vocals. The drummer is becoming a good friend of mine and he's asking me for advice on how to get better (after I showed him some jazz stuff) and he's actually listening. I turned him onto Elvin Jones from the Coltrane Quartet and sent him a how to read drum music page, and the drum music score for Smoke on the Water, a cover song we're working on. My singing is getting better, the songs are getting tighter, and the sound is evolving into great real rock and roll, as well as a harmonious trio.

If I didn't stop playing so much video games none of this stuff would be possible. Now that I'm learning a lot more about my favorite subjects gaming just doesn't seem as engaging.

Thanks for reading
Peace and Love,
Orlando Figueroa 

Playing jazz as an untrained musician

Jazz is an institutionalized art form somewhat similar to classical music these days. It didn't use to be that way. In the old days you could pick up your axe, head out to a club, and jam with musicians all night and learn everything you need to know about playing. Nowadays jazz musicians have to go to University to learn the trade. All the important jazz masters that are still alive have had important positions in universities around the country. Here I wanted to discuss what its like playing jazz as an untrained musician that dropped out of Uni.

Lets start with my brief college career. I did go to college for about 2 years. One year was all requisite basic courses and the second year I took a few music courses, but only for a short while and then I dropped out. The actual music theory courses were a nightmare for me but when it came to actually playing guitar in the jazz band I was pretty great. In fact, the teacher liked my playing a lot. Back then I had a really developed ear. I could playback anything I heard and within moments play the exact same phrases and licks. I learned a lot of licks from the other students this way but I also had my own vocabulary when it came to improvising and chord voicings.

I could've learned a lot more about jazz and music if I stayed but it just didn't work out that way. Flash forward to today and I'm learning the stuff I should've learned in college but on my own. I work much more on actual playing and learning songs more so than musical theory but I still read and work on that stuff as well. There were benefits to learning in college that I missed out on to this day. What I didn't miss was that expensive schooling fee that would've put my bank account out of commission for a long time.

The main thing that I find difficult about playing jazz and being unschooled is that its harder to find other jazz musicians. I live in the Valley, about 45 minutes from Los Angeles and not too many people out here play jazz music. In fact, most of them play pop, metal, or rap. LA is a pop town and I don't think me playing straight ahead jazz will make me a lot of money. But I still want to do it because its my dream.

I spend most of time when I'm busking playing jazz standards. I don't bother playing rock and roll because it sounds cooler on electric and I busk on an acoustic but also because I think jazz is the future for me musically. I'm still down to play in a rock or metal context but I've been training extensively on the guitar to become a jazz musician.

If I stayed in college I would've found other like-minded musicians who would probably have developed bands that could have gone on to work together in and outside of school. Learning would have been easier but it would have been more difficult to find my own voice. What does that mean? Well, it means that the teachers in schools teach all the students the same stuff even if they play and think differently. Consequently this creates more jazz musicians but they all end up sounding like university studio jazz band musicians. This is the problem with jazz today. All the new cats sound the same because they're all coming from the same universities and learning the same stuff. I like to think that because I bailed out of school I learned how to develop my own voice on the instrument faster than I would have if I stayed in school.

These are just rambling ideas but the fact of the matter is that the old jazz masters didn't learn from university and just because I can doesn't mean I should. School is a great place to meet people but that sort of disciplined study isn't for everybody. I still think about going back to school for music but in the end I already know most of what I need to know in order to play well. I know that's quite a bold statement to make but its sort of true. I do know that I need more training and more songs under my belt but I'm good enough and smart enough to cover the basics and then some, in terms of uniqueness and style.

Just some thoughts I had when I talked about the university trained jazz musicians with my pops.

Whaddya want to learn on the guitar?

So I ran into my old guitar teacher and he said he'd be down to give me lessons again. Here I'd like to outline some ideas of what I'd want to learn. These are things I could figure out on my own but it would take me a long time.

First off, I want to build a custom pedal board using my vast array of pedals. I want it to sound perfect and not hiss all kinds of sonic distorted fury (because I could do that on my own). I've actually been against pedals for a long time now because of the fact that there's too much hum going on when I connect all of them together the way I do. I'm not a professional sound engineer by any means but this dude knows how to do that. He has a pedal board where I can turn up to a super high volume and there's no hum. He's a wizard lol!

Second, I'd be interested in learning more about musical theory. I already know a lot but this dude knows a lot more. Music theory is really big for him so this would be an important thing learning from him.

Third, I'd be interested in finding other musicians to play music with. Be it jazz, rock, metal, or anything really. If I can find more musicians through him that would be fantastic. Working with more musicians is always a worthwhile goal and experience in any styles of music that you play.

Lastly, I'd want to learn about modding my equipment. Maybe make my Marshall amp sound different by changing some wires. Perhaps modify one of my distortion pedals in some way. Things like that. I'd also be interested in how to do a proper setup on a guitar. He's done work like this at Guitar Center so I'm sure he'd be down to show me if I asked.

These are all pretty cool things. In terms of guitar technique, songs, improvisation, jazz playing, and chord voicings I will have to work on that little by little every day on my own. If I could learn all these things it would be very beneficial to my guitar playing!