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.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 12/90

Lots of progress today. I put rhythm guitars on five songs and lead guitar onto one. That’s it. Now that I write it down it doesn’t seem like a lot, but the six songs with progress felt like a super big deal at the time.

The works in progress playlist has been updated. The songs are in order of when they were started, not when they were last worked on.

I have three songs ready for vocals. I’m hoping for car music in the morning. We’ll see if I can get it done.

Fun with Guitars

I recorded guitars for a bunch of songs today. The performances suck to the high heavens, but they exist so… yeah.

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I did not record direct today. I had a mic on a speaker like the old timers used to do. Direct signals are fine and all, but making actual noise is so much better. Every time.

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It’s a Miracle

Today is a car maintenance day. Our Kia needs an oil change and an inspection sticker.

I got a late start and expected a huge line at the oil change shop. Nope, no line at all! I pulled straight in! It’s a miracle!

I think the place I normally go to for inspections might be closed today. We will see soon enough. Fingers crossed. 🤞

Dinner Invite

Daily writing prompt
If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?
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Once again, super vague. What are the rules? Is this an alive or dead, any humans in history kind of dinner engagement or is it just living people?

Regardless, it’s going to start with my wife and step kids. They are a given.

Who else? The Beatles, of course. But which era Beatles? 1964 Beatlemania Beatles? Pre-fame Hamburg, Germany Beatles? 1966 post-weed, pre-LSD Beatles? Probably that one. Maybe. I don’t know.

World leaders from history? Abe Lincoln and John F Kennedy, obviously. Partly because I could go over all of those weird coincidences between their two presidencies and see if they get a laugh out of it. Teddy Roosevelt would be a good one. He was a fascinating guy. Biden and Obama, of course. Not for political reasons but just to witness the bromance in person.

I would invite the three members of Rush, of course. I would let them sit at their own table though, separate from the rest of the group. I wouldn’t want Neil to be uncomfortable, you know? I would invite the classic 70’s line up of Genesis, but I would be afraid the three private school guys would be savagely fighting all the time the way I have heard they often did, so maybe not?

I would consider inviting Trump and Musk and Besos (sp?) and Zuckerberg (sp?), only to kick them in the balls and then throw them out on their asses. That would be immensely satisfying.

This is a pretty dumb question, but it is slightly amusing to think about. I guess.