Tag: rem challenge

Doctor’s Appointment and More Stomach Fun

Nothing much came of the doctors appointment. I have to make a couple of follow ups and I’ll be getting an MRI at some point. I’ve been crazy busy at work so I haven’t had a chance to make any of the calls I need to make.

I got home with a few minutes to spare before punching into work, but as soon as I did things got crazy busy. I tried to sneak in some lunch and I ate too fast and my stomach rebelled in a big way. It took two hours to calm down but I did get through my lunch. Granted, lunch stretched out almost all the way to dinner time but what can you do.

I’m drastically behind on both my water and protein goals right now. I’ll make it for both today, but I’m annoyed with myself, especially after I had such a good start this morning before going to see the doctor.

Change of subject: I need to do car music. We’re running out of days in March and I have to finish Record Every Month. I have three songs in the pipeline but I’ll probably only get to two. I am planning to do another album in a month this spring, but it depends on guitar gear. I’ve mentioned that I am about to come to the end of the Analog Man King of Tone waiting list. The first full month after I get my mitts on one of those suckers I will do an album in a month using it on every guitar track. That’s the plan at least. Will it be April? Will it be May? Kinda hope it will be April, but that seems highly unlikely.

What else… Star Trek Picard was good today. The whole gang is back on the show. All we need now is Tasha. Good stuff. The show has been fantastic this season. I really need it to keep up the good work and stick the landing. On the other side of the Trek/Wars coin, I started re-watching The Bad Batch over the weekend. I’m still not sure why, but I will finish the first season tonight (I think) and the second season is going to end next Wednesday, I think. Am I right about that? There are two episodes left but they will both be released next week? I head that somewhere.

I’m tired. I’ve had such a stressful week health wise. Between multiple stomach issues and yet another migraine… I need a nap. A long, comfy nap.

Six minutes left until quittin’ time. I’ll make dinner after I finish work, but I will probably be too full from lunch to eat it right away. We’ll see. 16 ounces of liquid left to go. A whopping 37 grams of protein left to go. I’ll make it to both goals, and then some. It’s just going to take some extra time tonight, I think.

Okay. Signing off. I’ll likely post again later. Yesterday was the lowest page view day I’ve had on this page in over four years. I blame the migraines, but I’ll try to write something interesting that will bring the folks by… or not. Probably not.

Crappy Song Alert

Here’s one of the four awful songs written and recorded in September 2022. It’s probably the best of the four, but that’s not saying much. Maybe I’ll redo it someday in the future when I have an actually functional home recording setup and when I’ve actually been playing the guitar for a while and not on a five month break.

Record Every Month

Remember the RPM Challenge’s Record Every Month challenge thingie that I did all last year but failed to finish anything in March or April this year?

I just threw together a simple, quick, and dirty little thing that could end up being a May submission.

Finally Played Guitar Again

It’s been almost a month since I played the guitar at all. Finally I got some noodling in today. I kicked off a couple of song ideas for the Record Every Month challenge thing and I put rhythm guitars on them. They both suck pretty hard, but it’s okay. Something is better than nothing, I hope.

My new Les Paul through the Klon KTR into the Keeley D&M Drive into the Vox AC15. That’s a happy noise.

As always, forgive the dust.

Music Idea for My Vacation Week

Harry’s home and it’s awesome. He’s in the living room kicking Orc ass in some Playstation Game that I don’t know the name of. He’ll be here today and tomorrow. On Monday and Tuesday he’ll be at his dad’s.

I was thinking about a music project that I could mess with while he’s at the other house. I assume the RPM Challenge site’s Record Every Month thing is on going. At first I thought maybe to try and record two songs each month and call it a single or something. I might do that. That sounds interesting. Then I thought… what about an album in a day thing?

I did it once before, following the rules on this page. I’m thinking maybe start around 8-9pm, write the music using my iPad, write the lyrics and melodies as soon as I start coming up with riffs, then go to sleep for a while. The next morning do a car music and then come home and add the guitars. The trick would be getting all of that done and still having time to mix the whole thing before the 24 hours are up.

I’m still undecided, but I’m thinking about it. It might happen.

Is Record Every Month Complete?

I forgot to post this yesterday, but I mixed the January song for the RPM Challenge’s Record Every Month thing. I guess that means I am done? We did the actual RPM in February, and then I had at least one song each month from March through January. Three of them were also part of the 50/90, and one was National Solo Album Month, and I forgot to submit most of them to the RPM site, but I still did at least one song each month. Hooray.

I also made a little playlist with one song from each month because I get a little obsessive about stuff like this. You know how it is.

Guitar Pain

I hid away in the cellar tonight playing the guitar. I came up with something new for the Record Every Month thing for January. I came up with something last night but tonight’s is probably a little better. I’ll probably finish them both. The thing I worked out tonight was really hurting my left hand. Lots of cramping (arthritis, maybe?) painful pain.

Next I worked on a re-recording. I hadn’t done anything accept setup the GarageBand file. It’s the same file I used when I wrote the song last February. I pulled apart the mix and left one rhythm guitar track and one vocal track as guides. Normally I replace the MIDI tracks, drums and bass, before I replace the guitars, but this time I started with guitar. Why? Because I just didn’t want to stop recording tonight, that’s all.

I probably should have picked something easier because this particular re-recording took my already hurting left hand and amplified the pain by a factor of 50. Damn, was I hurting. I got through everything, though I am not entirely sure I’m happy with it. I’ll have to live with it for a few days before I decide if I want to do it again.

My hand is still a little sore, but mostly I am feeling better. It was really hurting tonight. I don’t like when that happens. I don’t like it at all.

For the record, here is the already super messy desk I’ve been using, complete with the Bruins game (second intermission, leading 3-2 over New Jersey) on my iPad.

Everything Works

I have used the cellar music nook. I put rhythm tracks on two songs, leads on one, and started noodling some changes for one more.

The new wah and vibe pedals are awesome.

I only used the big Fender amp and only on the lower watt channel, but the only thing that wasn’t sounding sweet was the ugly paneling on the walls, babie.

Record Every Month Number 10

The RPM Challenge was in February. The new Record Every Month thing kicked off in March. I’ve had at least one song each month now for 10 months. Granted I did forget to submit a few of them to the website, but I didn’t forget this one.

I am lucky that this isn’t too terrible because it’s the only newly written thing I have this month. Whew!

Nope, Not Today

No car music today. I was up early enough that I might have pulled it off, but I would have been cutting it close to the start of the work day and I just punted. I can’t do it tomorrow because tomorrow is take three of our visit to Vermont. Sunday it is. Or, as the old commercials for monster truck shows used to say:

SUNDAY
SUNDAY
SUNDAY!

…or something like that.

The Braves failed to eliminate the Dodgers last night. Here’s hoping the American League has a similar story after tonight’s game. Houston is up 3-2 over the majestic Red Sox. Games six and seven are in Houston. Given the last two games, I am thinking my home town team needs a bit of a miracle. Two of them. One tonight in game six, one tomorrow in game seven. Yikes. There’s not a lot of optimism around here. Not even the cautious kind.

We need to be in Burlington tomorrow a couple of hours before lunch. That means we have to get up super early. That means I don’t think I’ll be listening or watching the game for very long tonight. That being said, I require the Red Sox to jump out to a 30 run lead in the first inning. That’s probably enough to hope they can hold it. Maybe 40 runs would be better, but let’s shoot for 30, m’kay? I’ll settle for a 1-0 win, of course, but I want to be able to feel comfortable going to sleep early. Can you do that for me, Red Sox? Here’s hoping.

Happy Friday. Hype up for game six, if you can.