Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

More Car Music Fun

I snuck out for some more singing in the car this morning. I only had three songs ready to go and I finished all of them. That’s two days in a row. Can you believe it? Now I have to start writing lyrics again. Ugh.

The view from the “studio” today:

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Obligatory clock pic from the drive home:

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Finally, when I got home I saw this. The fire hydrant in our front yard is in a bag. There is writing on the bag that you can’t see here that says leak detection test, or something like that. Interesting? Maybe. Maybe not.

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What Bothers Me

Daily writing prompt
What bothers you and why?
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I would like to give a sarcastic answer to this question. What bothers me? Yankees fans. Why? Because they are Yankees fans. I can’t though. I have to give a serious answer.

What bothers me? The rise of fascism in the United States. My great uncle fought in the second world war. My grandfater fought too, but he walked out on my father’s family in 1950 so I don’t put a lot of stock in him as a human. My uncle though, he was good people. He fought against the fascists for years. He sacrificed so much, but not nearly as much as those who went to war and didn’t come home. Our entire nation stood together against fascism and won.

Now? Half of the population is willing to support clear nazi policies and tactics with smiles on their faces. I’ve said this many times before but all the nazis had to do was be patient. All they had to do was wait and eventually the US and many of the allied nations would just naturally come around to their way of thinking. It’s disgusting. It makes me want to vomit. I go outside and there are safe odds that one out of every two people I see are at best nazi sympathisers. The Constitution of the United States? It only applies to them, not to everyone. Fascists. Evil.

That’s what bothers me.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 14/90

I made some decent progress for a Monday, I think. I put vocals on three songs. I also added song #19 with a complete song form worked out, and lyrics and melody.

That’s all for today. Fingers crossed for some car music tomorrow. I have four songs ready for vocals. Can I get them all?

Mountains of Who

How about an update on the massive Doctor Who binge watch?

The new series is proceeding nicely. I started season four (of 13, so far) over the weekend. Each season is 13 episodes plus an extra special episode or two (or three), usually a bonus episode around Christmas time. The show changed actors playing The Doctor after the first season. From there it’s three seasons per actor. The next season that airs (I don’t know when that will be) is going to bring back a prior actor for the first time. I don’t know if that is going to be confusing or not. We’ll see. I have a long, long way to go before I have to worry about that.

As for the original series… holy shit is there a lot of stuff there. Not only are there 25 seasons (I think) but the first batch of seasons have over 40 episodes! FORTY! They are only about 25 minutes each, and at some point the seasons drop to 20-something episodes each, and eventually 13-14 (for the couple of later seasons I spot checked) each.

I think I am 22 episodes into season one, so about half way. There isn’t a lot of similarities between the first season of the original show and the current show. There’s a guy named The Doctor who travels through time and space in a police box, but as far as the character himself, they are pretty different. I read somewhere that they will change direction at some point, possibly as early as season two. That will bring things more into line, I think.

There is also the small matter of some episodes are missing. I believe it is down to something silly like the BBC taping over some of the video. Someone somewhere has tried to recreate the missing pieces. Either using audio tracks that still exist, combined with still photos taken from set, or maybe some animation? I have seen one audio-only story arch so far but I think there are animations coming in the near future. I should also mention that the show (in season one, at least) operates like a serial. There are 42 episodes but there are longer stories made up of multiple episodes. It’s actually kinda cool.

The main point of what I am getting at with this discussion is that it is going to take a long time to plow through the original show. I mean a long time. We could be talking years here. It’s beyond crazy how much there is to watch. I did find a podcast that appears to cover every episode of both series so I have someone to follow along with. Still… it’s going to take a very long time.

A very long time, indeed.

Morning Car Music

I was able to get out to the movie theater parking lot to do some singing in the car. Success. Well, success-ish.

I had five songs ready to record. I was hoping to get to all of them, but I only had a little more than an hour and that probably isn’t enough time for five songs, even when I work with my super low standards. I got through three of the songs and then had to go home. I had time remaining, and I still had some voice left. I wasn’t tired, I could have kept going. Unfortunately, one of the roadblocks you encounter when you’re mentally defective and can’t sing when other people are around and therefore have to go to an empty parking lot to sing in the car when you have voice parts to record is that if you need to go to the bathroom, you need to go home.

Too much information?

The view from my recording studio this morning!

10 Things

Daily writing prompt
List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.
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10 things? Are there really 10 things of which I am absolutely certain? Are there 10 things of which I am subjectively certain?

  • I love Jen
  • I love Harry and Bellana
  • Healthwise, gastric bypass surgery is the best thing I have ever done for myself, even though it is a complete bitch to maintain.
  • Historically, chocolate and coca~cola are my two favorite foods to eat and post bypass surgery I cannot eat either one anymore without getting seriously sick.
  • Boston, Massachusetts is my favorite city on Earth but I am willing to accept the possibility that the reason I feel that way is because I was born and raised and still live 20-30 miles north of the city and therefore I am just biased toward the place where I live.
  • I can say without a doubt the finest electric guitars ever made are Gibson Les Paul Standards made between 1958 and 1960. I, however, am willing to admit that I say that without ever actually having played one.
  • All of my favorite cameras are Nikons, but I am willing to admit that they may not be the best cameras. I just like ’em.
  • I have written literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of songs and not a single one can objectively be described as “good.” Having said that, I do not care.
  • This is the ninth entry on this list of 10
  • The Rush album catalog stands as the high water mark of popular music post-Beatles.

There. That’s 10 things of which I am absolutely certain. Bring on tomorrow’s question!

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 13/90

I worked on six songs today. I think I can remember what I did on each of them.

I put rhythm guitars on three songs and lead guitars on two. I then added lyrics and a melody to one of the songs that got rhythm tracks. I then took one song idea that was just three, eight bar phrases and worked out a song form and added lyrics and a melody to it. That makes six songs, right?

I wanted to do some car music today but the rain was terrible (again) and I went back to bed. I hope to try again tomorrow. There are five songs ready for singing. We’ll see how things unfold in the morning.

Sunday Guitar

I put rhythm guitars on three songs today, and lead guitars on two. I went direct, even though it’s not nearly as much fun as using a speaker. Oh well. I could hear Jen talking on the phone upstairs when I started playing and I didn’t want to disturb her. I figured I’d be a nice guy and keep things quiet.

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Security or Adventure?

Daily writing prompt
Are you seeking security or adventure?
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Interesting question here. Am I seeking security or adventure? The answer is yes.

I am seeking security in that I want my family to be safe and secure in terms of health and finances and safety and everything. I want that for all of us. I really need it for all of us from a mental health stand point. I’d go friggin’ nuts otherwise.

I am also seeking adventure. I mean, in all fairness, family life is an adventure for me. Not only that, it is an adventure that younger me was convinced he was never going to experience. I was 36 when I met Jen. Prior to that I had no hint in life that I would ever meet someone and fall in love and get married and have a family. I didn’t think I was physically capable of any of that. So that’s the main adventure for me.

On top of that, Jen and I are constantly planning trips and mapping out ideas for new experiences. Just yesterday we bought PowerBall tickets. Jen decided she was going to manifest a win and I jumped right on board. She planned out all of these wonderful things we were going to do when we win. It was silly but it was fun, and we WILL win eventually. I don’t think we won last night’s drawing, so maybe the whole manifesting thing just takes more practice before it works, but we will win.

We’re going to Florida again, that’s an adventure. We’re going to Maine for a long weekend next month, that’s an adventure. We might have a trip in October that is work related, but we could turn it into an adventure. So the answer is yes, we’re seeking adventure.

There you have it. Are we seeking security or adventure? Yes, yes we are.