Good(?) Morning

I woke up in a mood today. I don’t know what is bothering me. I feel a sense of doom and gloom. Am I suddenly psychic (Robert pauses the narrative to let anyone reading along finish laughing hysterically) and something is on the horizon?

Nope. Just in another bitchy mood. I didn’t get enough sleep last night and it shows. I have a small project at work that is hanging over me like a dark cloud. It’s not a big deal, I just don’t have the energy to deal with it. Crud, right?

The traffic was crappy this morning, but it was the normal level of crappy, not some extra thick level of crappy or anything. I don’t know.

Hey, did you watch the season finale of The Acolyte last night? It was good. I liked it. I liked the whole season though I will quickly admit that the action heavy episodes were by far the best of the bunch. No spoilers, but that scene last night where you actually see the light saber do that thing that light sabers are supposed to be able to do? You know, the thing that we never saw Anakin or Dooku or Maul or Palpatine actually do even though we all saw the end result? Hint Hint Sithy Hint? Awesome.

That should be putting me in a good mood, right? Star Wars is like my own personal dopamine fix. Nope. I was all smiles watching it last night, but today? Grumpy gus. Or should I call myself Darth Grumpy Gus? Does that work better?

No guitar playing today. Maybe before work tomorrow. I did use a guitar for today’s photo a day picture. I think the next time I play I am going to use a different guitar. I haven’t played my Gibson SG in ages and it’s kind of calling to me. My wife thinks that guitar looks cool so that alone should be incentive to play it more often, don’t you think?

Okay. Cheer up, everyone. It’s hump day or some shit. For my personal work week, once I get through the day in the office today, I am working from home for the rest of the week. That should cheer me up, right? Ugh.

321/365
321/365

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 13/90

Not bad for a random Tuesday. I put rhythm guitars onto the only two songs that didn’t have rhythm guitars. Then later I added two new songs (numbers 18 and 19), both with MIDI bass and drums and a full song form.

I’m in the office today so it’s going to be another slim chance of good progress. Maybe I can sneak in a lyric before I fall asleep tonight. That’s the hope at least.

Routine: Interrupted

I overslept a little this morning. Instead of being down cellar doing my daily exercise at about 5:20am, I kicked things off at about 6:30. Not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination, but still… not what I wanted. I have become a creature of routine in a kind of negative way since my weight loss surgery. When I get off of the normal workflow I get bitchy. Sorry about that.

I started my silly running in place thing (pronounced “yogging” with a soft “j”, thank you Ron Burgundy) which should last about 48 minutes. I had to pause the proceedings three times. Two of them were not a big deal and I could easily get over them, but one was just dumb. At the risk of too much information, I had to use the bathroom. Oh come on, Robert. You couldn’t have taken care of that before you started? You couldn’t have held it until after? Ugh. Dumb ass. Instant bitchy.

I was able to get everything I needed to do before work done. I also snuck in some guitar playing. I put rhythm guitars onto the two song ideas I started yesterday. I wanted to add a lead track to a song or two as well, but that was where the time cut needed to happen. Next time. I hope.

Why do I let little scheduling hiccups like having to use the bathroom at a random time get under my skin this way. Grrrrr. I don’t know.

Here’s a couple of guitar pictures, just because. I snapped them while listening to playbacks of the new tracks. Multitasking, as it were.

320/365
320/365

Today’s Daily Photo

Today’s photo a day challenge pic is of the thing that likely won’t be a part of today’s 50 songs in 90 days challenge.

Funny how that works out, right? So many silly internet based personal creative challenges that have no actual meaning to anyone on the planet including me, even though I am the bozo working on them.

But what does it all mean?

319/365
319/365

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 11/90

Day 11 was a good day. I put vocals onto five songs, lead guitars (poorly) onto four songs, and mixed one song.

At this point I have six songs that are ready for lead guitars, four that are ready to mix, and five that are ready for lyrics. I don’t have anything waiting on rhythm guitars and I don’t have anything ready to sing.

Today (day 12) is an office day for me so finding time to work on music is going to be tough. I hope I’ll be able to sneak something in before the day is out. Wish me luck.

One Down, 49 to Go

Here comes the pain, folks. I am going to share one of my super lame songs. This is the first song finished for the 2024 50 songs in 90 days challenge. One down and 49 to go. I’ll do something nice to make this worth your while though, I promise.

First, here’s my shitty new song. It’s okay, I guess. The guitar playing is bad, especially the leads. The vocals are pretty terrible too. Oh well. It’s just supposed to be a demo, right?

Now to sweeten the pot, as it were. Cats. Two of them. I won’t be able to do this every time I finish a new song, but I’ll see what I can do.

Leads

Now that I have a bunch of songs with vocal tracks, it’s time to start adding lead guitar tracks.

I worked on four songs and boy are my finger tips killing me! The more you play, the less it hurts… so what does that tell you about how often I play?

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 9/90

Another decent day’s worth of progress, but probably not as much as I had hoped. I worked on four songs in total. First, I put rhythm guitars onto the only two songs I had left that didn’t have rhythm guitars. Those were songs number 12 and 13. Next I added two new songs, numbers 14 and 15, which have MIDI bass and drums and now also have rhythm guitars.

That’s it. Not a bad day’s worth of work, but I had to spend a lot of time running errands, and my wife and I decided to go for a drive in the evening so there wasn’t time for anything more.

Round Two

I went out and got my hair cut, I got an inspection sticker for the Kia, and I stopped at the sugar free bakery to get a treat for myself to celebrate my 20th work-aversary. Then I went home, made myself some lunch, noodled out a couple of new song ideas, and played my guitar again. Technically it was a different guitar, but it is still mine so I guess saying “I played again” still counts.

Now I am going to start thinking about cooking dinner on the grill for me and my beloved bride, the love of my life, Jen.

20 Years

20 years ago today I started a new job. I am still with that company. I have a different position now thanks to a promotion, but I’m still with the company.

How did I spend my 20th hire-aversary?

Well, so far I have played my guitar. I am also thinking about getting a haircut and maybe getting one of the cars inspected. A super fun day!

316/365
316/365