Dad’s having a day.
I’ll go and check in on him.
I hope all is well.
Author: robertjames1971
I'm wicked tall.
A Day to Celebrate Me
Today, August 12th, is National Middle Child Day and it’s all about me.
Lisa, my sister, was born in 1968. I was born in 1971. John, my brother, was born in 1977.
I was the baby in the family for six whole years. Six. Whole. Years. Just long enough to really get used to it. Then, as the story goes, on the day I got on the school bus for my first day of kindergarten, as the bus pulled away my mother turned to my father and asked if they could have another baby. They did.
Thus I was no longer the baby, I was now the middle child and I suffered all of the slings and arrows of misfortunate that went along with it. My sister was always in charge of everything. My brother got away with everything. I was just there in the middle getting overlooked.
Fortunately, all these years later, I finally have a day that allows me to proudly embrace my middle childhood. Sure I am a screwed up mess of a human, but at least I get a whole day. What does it really mean to be a middle child? I haven’t a clue. Click the link and read about it there.
Unrelated, today is also apparently National Vinyl Record day. So not only did I get overshadowed by my smarter, funnier, better looking siblings… I also get overshadowed by vinyl records. Okay. I get it. That’s just how it is.
You know this is all sarcasm, right? I don’t have to explicitly spell that out for everyone, do I? Wait… I think I just did. Damn it.
No Playing This Morning
I’m working in the office today so there was no time to spare to sneak in any guitar playing before work. I hadn’t actually realized until just now though that even if I had had some time to play I don’t have any 50/90 challenge songs that need guitar tracks at the moment.
I have eight songs with rhythm guitar parts done whose next step is to write lyrics (yuck). I have an additional eight songs that I’ve finished tracking completely and just need to mix them down before I can count them as finished.
That’s it. I guess it’s time to start writing lyrics and adding new ideas to the list. Get crackin’, Red Head!
2024 50/90 Challenge Day 39/90
Day 39 was a good day. Four songs got vocals. Those four songs and two others got lead guitars. One of the songs that got both was also mixed.
Because I am insane and the challenge to write 50 songs in 90 days is not crazy enough, I also give myself the additional challenge of doing an RPM Challenge rules album in a month each month. That means I need 10 songs that are written and recorded entirely in each month. The song I mixed is the first song that qualifies for August. I had 20 in July. Of the 17 songs still in progress now, I think nine were started in August and should qualify (assuming I finish them in August). The rest were started but not finished in July so they don’t count.
Bed Time Music
21 songs down, 29 to go. The 50 songs in 90 days challenge is one step closer to finished.
I mixed this tonight while more or less falling asleep. Now that it’s done and I am happy with the finished song I am going to sleep. Good night, everyone!
Stomach Dance
Me and my stomach have been doing that gastric bypass patient dance all day today. We’re having trouble getting along. We need to work together but today we’re causing problems for each other.
I have eaten three meals. Each meal came with a stomach problem of varying degrees.
I had a protein bar for breakfast. I went a little too fast and felt that blocked/stuck feeling. It wasn’t bad enough to become nausea or to produce large amounts of extra saliva that I have to spit out. I tried gagging it up but nothing came. I had to pause eating for about half an hour before the blockage was gone and then I was able to finish.
I had a burger (cooked on the grill) and some french fries for lunch. The burger went down without any issues. The fries though. I only had about four of them and I should have stopped at three. I felt a little blocked again. I think I was going too fast this time as well. It was never bad enough to require any spitting up. I don’t know how long it took to pass, but it wasn’t long. As soon as I declared myself done with lunch I was off to my father’s so it was probably a couple of hours before I even thought about eating or drinking anything else.
I had a big piece of chicken and a little bit of white rice for dinner. Well, it was big for me. about three ounces. The chicken went down fine. The rice felt a little off. I only had two small fork fulls. I was okay afterward though. I stopped in time to avoid any problems. When I finished dinner I was a smidge below my daily protein goal. I waited about 20 minutes and then had a little tiny protein bar snack. It went bad. I think this time I took too big a bite and it got stuck for real. I gagged up a tiny bit of it and have been spitting out saliva for about half an hour now.
So there we have it. All summed up. Three meals, three stomach issues. Yippee. My doctor told me that in almost every case when there is a stomach problem after eating it’s really the patient’s fault. In all three cases this was my fault. It actually makes me feel better knowing that. If it’s something I did rather than something going on with my new stomach, then it’s something I can control.
220 pounds lost since the surgery. Yeah, these sort of things are 100% worth it. Absolutely.
More Music
I just put lead guitars onto six 50/90 challenge songs, including all four that got vocal tracks this morning.
My ears are dead from wearing the headphones and one of my finger tips is about to fall off, I think.
Not a bad afternoon’s worth of musical work.
Happy Birthday, Woz
My first computer was an Apple IIe. Thanks, Woz!
Morning Music and a Quest
I screwed up my morning routine today and I don’t know how I am going to recover. No details needed, as they are neither important nor really noteworthy, but I did manage to straighten it out enough to get a couple of things done.
First things first, car music. I put vocals on four 50/90 challenge songs. I was hoping to get to five, but I didn’t have time to add another song. I didn’t do particularly well today, and a couple of the melodies were a bit more complicated than my no-talent self usually gets. We’ll see how it comes out when the songs are done.
After the car music was complete I went on a quest. My father asked me to bring him a newspaper. I had a paper route back in the 80’s. Long time ago. I tried to remember the last time I bought one… given that the newspaper industry is effectively dead and the fact that they still exist is laughable. The last time I bought one was… I think… 2007? When the Red Sox won the World Series I bought a Boston Globe. I think I did it in 2007. I know I did in 2004. Let’s just say it’s going on 20 years.
Where the hell do people buy newspapers? The one my father wanted isn’t one that you could ever regularly find near my home (we’re in Lawrence Eagle Tribune country and he wants a Lowell Sun). I went to my old home town, Tewksbury, thinking there were a couple of stores where I might be able to find one. The first store I went to does not carry newspapers anymore. Big surprise. The second… is now a dentist office. Again, not a surprise. I finally decided to just hit any grocery store or convenience store I saw and I found one.
Quest complete. Newspaper acquired.
Now some random pictures… just because…
Finally… cats.
2024 50/90 Challenge Day 38/90
On day 38 (yesterday) I worked on five songs. All five of them got rhythm guitar tracks. Two of them also got a melody and really shitty lyrics to match.
I have four songs ready for vocals. I hope to do some singin’ in the car on day 39 (today).
