Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

2026 50/90 Challenge Day 38/90

Nothing.

I got two teeth pulled in the morning, then went home and slept off the anesthesia for a few hours, then watched the third The Hobbit movie with Jen and Bellana and then went back to sleep for the night.

No musical progress, but about 26 hours post-teeth pulling and I don’t have any toothache issues yet. I will take that as a fair trade. Spoiler alert for tomorrow though, I did record some guitars this morning and I may have added the first 12-bar blues of the project. There should be a nice update for day 39 tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it includes more toothache free news.

1.5 Fewer

I have dental issues. I’ve had them for as long as I’ve had teeth. I should say that I have dental issues that are the result of having weird, irrational yet somehow also physical problems with Dentists visits. I’m not going to give details but lets just say that my problem isn’t with Dentists themselves, it’s just something in my head that makes dental work really tough for me to deal with. The final word on all of this being that my teeth are a fucking mess.

Weirdly, my wisdom teeth were not a problem. When I was a teenager my dentist said they could probably come out but given my usual difficulties they could also just as well stay in. So they stayed in. Until today. Well… for one of them.

Years ago my family was sitting around the house at abuot 4:00am waiting for a shuttle van to pick us up and take us to the airport for a vacation to San Diego, CA. I was in the dining room having a snack while I waited and one of the upper molars on the left side snapped off at the gum line. There was no pain or anything, just utter embarrassment and shame.

A couple of weeks ago I started having toothaches and they got so bad that I sucked it up and went to a Dentist. I couldn’t tell them exactly where the pain was coming from. It was somewhere on the left side of my head but it seemed to move around. The Dentist felt it was either the broken tooth or the lower left wisdom tooth. She declared that neither were savable and recommended they both come out.

This morning they both came out. A double extraction. Well… maybe not totally double, maybe a 1.5 extraction. One of them was already mostly gone but the root was still there. Whatever, you dig what I’m saying, right?

It went well. The pain is mild and manageable. There’s a lot of swelling and I’m not terribly interested in trying to eat solid food yet. I’ve had a lot of small protein shakes today to make up for that. Three cheers for the liquid diet, babie.

Anyway, back to work tomorrow. I should work in the office but I will error on the side of caution and work from home. Here’s hoping everything continues to go well and my recovery from dental surgery is quick. The literature they gave me said the discomfort should peak on day four and then you should be back to normal shortly after that. Here’s hoping that all of this shit stops being an issue shortly after Thursday. Fingers crossed.

2026 50/90 Challenge Day 37/90

Not a lot of progress. I had plans but they fell through when my step son in Vermont needed help with something and I came-a-runnin’ even though the drive to him was three hours in each direction. Suffice to say that by the time I got home from my unexpected journey there wasn’t a lot of time left for music.

Having said that… I added one new song. It is song number 35. It has the full song structure, bass and drums, and a guide MIDI guitar to help me when I record the real guitars. It also has a melody and lyrics. It was sort of inspired by an interview I saw on YouTube with Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins where they discussed the writing of the song Turn it On Again. Mike played it for Phil and Phil commented that it was in 13/8 time. Mike thought it was in 4/4. Sometime later they did a one off reunion benefit concert with Peter Garbriel that included Pete’s Solisbury Hill and the post-Pete Genesis’ Turn it On Again. Peter thought it would be fun to play drums on the one song he had nothing to do with. He also thought it was in 4/4 time and sort of shit bricks when he realized it was in 13/8.

This is all relevant because song number 35 is in 13/8 time. That is a time signature that I strongly suspect I will never use again. For now though, fun.

Tomorrow is Gonna Suck

Tomorrow is teeth extraction day. One wisdom tooth and the root of a molar that broke off 100 years ago.

My stomach has been a mess for a few days now. I can’t eat for eight hours before the procedure. My stomach hurts like a mutha if I go more than two hours without food. All of that on top of the apocalyptic toothache.

Tomorrow is going to suck out loud, but if it doesn’t work… fuck-a-doodle-do.

2026 50/90 Challenge Day 36/90

I had big plans for this weekend but none of them are going to pan out. On day 36 (yesterday) I added one song, number 34 which is in 5/8 time again, and I started adding lyrics to one song but did not finish.

I was hoping day 37 (today) would have some car music but instead I have to drive three hours to Vermont and three hours back. I’m happy to do it, I just have to push off car music for a few days. Vermont and back today and dental surgery tomorrow. Boy am I looking forward to that, he said dripping in sarcasm.

What Should I Do?

Tomorrow is Sunday. I get my teeth extracted on Monday. What should I do with my last day before parts of me are ripped out of my head?

Should I work on music and record some vocal tracks in the car in the morning? Should I go into Boston with a bunch of cameras and take pictures of stuff? Should I just sleep late like a normal person would?

I’m leaning toward the car music, but we’ll have to wait and see.

The theme today has been upset stomachs, mild nausea, and insane levels of toothache pain. I am so sick of this crap.

2026 50/90 Challenge Day 35/90

Any day that involves even a little bit of guitar playing is a good day, and day 35 was a good day.

I put rhythm guitars onto three songs, lyrics onto one, and both melody and lyrics to two.

The current state of the project is 27 songs finished, three ready for vocals, and three ready for lyrics. There are 33 songs total at this point.

Crash

I tried to watch this week’s episode of Silo this morning but the AppleTV app on my Mac crashed twice. Twice. IIt’s working on My iPad now though so sigh of relief. No that I’m remedying that issue, maybe I can remedy the whole toothache thing?

2026 50/90 Challenge Day 34/90

Right then, yesterday was day 34. I did a few things and have also already done a few things today (day 35) which are out of the scope of this literary masterpiece. Where was I with the write 50 songs in 90 days challenge when I woke up on day 34?

I couldn’t remember so I went back and read yesterdays recap post. I had 27 songs finished and four songs in progress that were ready for rhythm guitars. Now I remember. Before work I started the day by recording guitar tracks. I got through three of the songs. I wanted to get through them all but I ran out of time. Sorry.

That was not the end of things though. After work, and after my appointment with the oral surgeon (read the previous post and share in my irrational yet total mortal fear), I added two more songs into the pipeline. Songs number 32 and 33. I also added a melody to one of the songs that got guitars that morning (song number 28, I think), but that was where I ran out of steam. My wife and I did some rearranging of stuff in the living room after that and then I went to bed.

So the state of the project after 34 days was 27 songs complete, one song with a melody that is ready for lyrics, two songs with rhythm guitars that are ready for a melody and lyrics, and three songs ready for rhythm guitars.

Considering it was a work day with a scary (to me) doctors appointment, day 34 was pretty successful.

Monday is the Day

My teeth are going under the knife and Monday is the day. I’m losing one of my wisdom teeth and what is left of a molar that broke off years and years ago. Are these teeth the cause of the pain and suffering? Probably? Maybe? We’ll find out. I have had a Dentist and an Oral Surgeon both agree that these two suckers need to go away regardless of whether or not they are the source of the terrible, icky pain… so they are going.

I don’t wanna lose any more teeth. I’m already well below the allotted 32. Whatever, it is happening. I go to the clinic on Monday, take a nap, wake up and have a couple of days eating pudding and mashed potatoes and then hopefully all of this bullshit comes to an end. Here’s hoping.