Demonstrating the revolution that IS the internet… Here’s my first ever videoblog.
The fact that I’ve finally got around to working it out so I CAN record and post is kind of a big deal. Now if I only had something to actually SAY…
Alright, I think tonight’s the night. A brief videoblog online. But first, a textblog.
Things have been really great lately. I’ve been practicing putting out the positive vibe into the universe, even when things have sucked. And they have. July and August were the bookend spasms of an intense summer. But things have really opened for the fall. To briefly recap, I’m >< close to signing a contracting gig with a company I can't disclose just yet. But I'm very psyched. It's a really good fit and it'll be bringing some abundance into my life. It fits in perfectly with my primary job's needs. They actually complement each other nicely, I think. I'll be busy, but I'll still *technically* be working "part-time" with both jobs weekly requirements. So it looks promising to me. And the perfection with which this job showed up in my life! Man. I’ll tell that story sometime. Maybe tonight. Bought a new car, cool guy in distress needing to unload his car in the 72 hours before leaving California for good. I got a really good deal. Mechanic John says it’s all good. I’m thinking I can make a profit on the resale, and use that to buy a reliable, outfitted truck for my primary part time job. Got a very satisfactory settlement with my insurance company about my Camry getting smacked in the ass and donked on the nose. Poor thing. Anyway, used that $ to get the new car. Pretty good, huh? What else… studio’s looking great. I’ve been working on rennovating/reorganizing/decluttering. That’s why I can’t really blog for long. So much to say. Looks like I’m gonna drive up to Burning Man Thursday night. Crazy. Well, I’ll just think of it as a very long art-car ride. Going simple, $100 budget, not including gas. *ugh* Yeah… Well, I’m gonna go if I can look at whether or not I can leave in good conscience. I’d started out this week with a solid list of accomplshments to be completed in lieu of going to BM. I kinda feel a karmic responsibility to get my shit done. Or maybe I just like to work. A lot.
Yeah, there’s something pretty revolutionary happening. Video on the web. Not talkin Youtube per se. It’s more about personal, low cost video being available to and from everyone anytime (so goes the trend). It’s also VERY much about live videoconferencing. The eye-chat for the masses. And it’s going to change everything.
What kind of social impacts did the telephone network have when it was possible to call someone far away? Or wireless two-way radio? Surely the internet will be interpreted by historians as impactful to humanity as alphabets and the printing press. Here’s my trend-end scenario: Long after your cable TV is available over IP (as opposed to your IP available over your cable), the wireless, ultraband network is ubiquitous. Massive amounts of data from an infinite number of data generating/networked devices fly through “the tubes” (why is it so wrong to say “tubes”? I’ve been saying “pipes” for longtime. I digress). Fullmotion “full view” video. Be there. Now.
That’s what’s comin, in my farsighted opinion. In the meantime, be lookin for my videoblog, coming to a screen near you.
Wow. What a week it’s been. Intense. Had a day-long mediation to resolve a real estate transaction dispute, I drove by human remains spread along a freeway offramp (a homeless person had wandered onto the ramp and was apparently run over by a series of cars – not mine, thank God), my car was totaled in a 4 car pileup (my boss and I switched cars a few months ago after he had leg surgery and couldn’t drive a stick shift). My boss seems to be alright, but I know from the experience of being rear-ended in March that whiplash injuries don’t necessarily show up right away. Anyway, he’s fine, and the car (while still driveable) is not. Haven’t talked to my insurance company yet about it, but the damage to the vehicle is more than it’s worth… I’ve been fighting a sore throat-kinda illness for the last couple weeks. Never quite bad enough to warrant going to the doc, and never quite going away. The last couple of days have been better. I’m feeling kinda worked. In other news, I met Cameron today for a recording session, and finished one song. I didn’t sleep very well last night and was just off. But the sound quality’s really good, and I like Cameron. Hoping to use the tracks for the long-awaited Bedroom Sessions re-recording as well as a booking demo. Gotta get out there.
Not in that way. I woke up this morning to my hands doing accupressure on my head and neck. I’ve been taking classes to get certified (need to close that income gap) as a massage therapist. Or more accurately, an accupressure therapist. Accupressure is the use of touch instead of needles to stimulate the points and meridians along the Traditional Chinese Medicine map of the body. Accupuncturists put needles along these points. In accupressure, we use just the right amount of pressure from our fingers, palms and elbows. It the form that most closely matches my style, or perhaps I’m just learning in my head what my body already seems to know. Often in learning the accupoints I notice they’re places my hands gravitate towards when I give a professional massage.
There’s a lot of language I don’t get (“chi flow,” anyone?). But I have to say it absolutely works. Still not clear on HOW, but y’know…
If you’ve ever seen someone wearing one of those wristbands for sea-sickness, it is putting pressure on what’s called the Pericardium 6 point. I’m undecided/unsure about the whole Chi phenomenon. I just know it works. So, hey.
Anyway, it’s on the soft, inside part of your arm, two finger-widths up from the wrist crease. If you put your ring finger in the center of your inside wrist, your index finger will be “on the spot” as they say. When you feel naseous (as in motion-sickness as well as stage-fright) you can press this point and experience relief. And, it actually works.
Just decided I’ll make accupressure points a regular feature in my Newsletter/Announce Email.
Yeah, so kinda trippy. Hands seem to have a life of their own sometimes. Always good, I have to say.
I know. I should have one of my own. It’s on the list. In the meantime, I was interviewed on Darren Main’s Urban Mystic podcast. It’s pretty highly compressed, so it makes me sound like I’m talking wiv a lithp, but I’m really nod. It was a fun interview and another first. Hope you like.
Dear Myseterious Influence,
When I look back, I see all the times when you’ve saved me from disaster, brought me joy in pleasure and lessons from the pain. I see all these amazing, beautiful reflections of you, and yet I have no idea what you look like. I hear you speak to me, and yet I never hear your voice. You fill my heart with love, which feels like being filled with some kind of “You” drug. And yet you feel so real. What’s UP with that?
First of all, I want to say Thank You for, um, Everything? The enormity of it all overwhelms me sometimes, but I think that’s how it’s supposed to be, right? I just want you (and all your um, angels?) to know that I’m practicing gratitude for, y’know – Everything.
I banged my head really hard, had a back spasm, wrist pain and my foot was killing me. Broke a mirror I need for work, had some intense personal interractions, and it seems like it’s taking twice as long to get aything done.
Then I thought “Could be due to the fact I’ve not been getting enough sleep.”
So on that note (and
I’ve been beating back the techno-interruptus, and I’m not yet ready to declare defeat, but I’ve gotten pretty hogtied in the recording/music-making department in the last couple weeks. Everything was going fine, then one by one, shit starts breaking down on me.
Two weeks ago, my MacMini’s video crapped out, so I now have a 1.25 Ghz Mac I can’t see. This was my ProTools machine. Since then, the friend who’d been loaning me the Digi 002 (the ProTools hardware accompaniment to the software running on the Mini) retrieved the box for another project. I told him I probly wouldn’t be needing it back, since I could never really get that setup to work, anyway.
So i’m left with my old 400Mhz G4, which won’t even launch Garageband it’s so slow. And the audio in (Apple ruled for making stereo input a standard feature from day 1) only lets in the left channel, so I’m effectively limited to recording on just the left side.
Not a good day for an aspiring musician. The irony of my admiration for musicians who preceded the technological age is not lost on me. Johnny, Ray et al didn’t have home recording. Of course, they had contracts with recording labels.
I’m still writing, the danger is in those passing moments of inspiration being lost for lack of recording capability, and the promise of selling homemade records is shelved for the timebeing.
I’m not *entirely* recording-free (yet). I can still record on the left channel, and I suppose that’ll have to do until some providence blesses me with funds to upgrade my setup. I need about 2 grand. ‘Nother argument for getting a fulltime job. ugh. The very thought…
Until then, I’m going to press on with what I’ve got. I have a mono-recorded home demo that will have to suffice for the purposes of booking gigs. I’m feeling a little like I’m getting an unrequested, huge portion of humble pie served to me. I’d much rather be “going out” trying to get gigs with a decent recording, but this is all I’ve got, and at this point, all I’m GOING to have for a while.
Definitely feels like I’ve taken several huge steps back. Guess this is what they call “payin’ my dues”. Lemme know when I win the microwave. I’ll sell it on ebay and put the proceeds into the New Computer Fund.
Not all things are brought to pass
In the moments from which we call them
Despite the might and mighty tasks
You heave for having all when
Really all that needs be done
Is your best then rest while
The lotus floats and carves
The river’s curves
On its way into
Your wet and
waiting hands.
Recovering from a bit of burnout these days. After the debut, I worked on getting Semper Fi out the door, and then started working right away on getting a demo together, promoting Semper Fi and found that I was sleeping between 3-5 hours a night. Over time, that sleep deprivation becomes a kind of drug – sorta like the opposite of Paxil, but nothing like Valium. Except maybe a subtle and persistent sense of numbness.
June’s been about getting back into balance. I’m sleeping more regularly, or even just MORE. Paying more attention to what kind of food I’m putting in my body and generally feeling a lot better these days. Sleep can really make a difference. Who knew.
Just came home from a night at the Rockit Room, my new favorite joint. It’s two blocks from my house, the sound system is totally sweet, the sound guy rocks not only as a cool, mellow cat who knows his shit but also come to find out tonight, as a drummer as well. Plenty of sick breaks – it was supercool. The Tuesday Night open mic has been really interesting. Lots of really great talent! Open mics have a rep for being hit or miss, but my experience there thus far suggests a lot more hits than misses. And unintended pun aside, it would be great to see/hear more women singing.
Be that as it may, I got to play on that stage for 30 minutes or so after the open mic and jammed on with a guitarist named Adam and soundguy Tib. After we went through the list, I popped back up and sang a couple songs then jammed. It as most excellent and I had an absolute blast. Had a bunch of folks out to support me at the appointed hour, which RAWKED (thank you!).
I had a moment on stage at the end of the night, playing to an empty room (even the sound booth had been abandoned for a seat behind the drums), when I became aware of the fact that I was playing to a totally empty room. And I thought “Man, this is SO much better than singing in my apartment!” And then I thought “Now I just gotta figure out how to fill this room”.
And so the gears started turning and churning again.