I should write more often.

So here I am, enjoying my third fall here in Portland and trying to prepare the endurance necessary to survive another dark, drizzly winter.

Our summer was unreasonably short this year. We had on and off rain and cool temps well into June, when it would normally be arid and warm. Luckily, we've been having a bit of an Indian Summer. The air is crisp, cool, and we've had plenty of sunshine for September and October. But soon, the inevitable will set in and it will be time to hunker down, bundle up, and waterproof your shoes; Put away the bike and ride the bus, shoulder to shoulder with other downtrodden commuters.

I think I'm actually looking forward to it this year. I started early in my preparations. I've got my room fully set up for recording in every fashion...guitar, piano, vocals, whatever I feel like doing on any given day. In just two weeks I've managed to put together three new songs instrumentally and get vocals started on two others. When it's cold and rainy, and there's not much else to do, I'm at my peak of productivity.

That period after my first finished album was hard. I wasn't sure what to do with myself in my spare time and decided to start working towards the next almost immediately, but I wasn't in the mood and my first few songs came over the span of many months. Even since the beginning of this project, my sound has evolved quite a bit, matured and expanded. I've become a better piano player, albeit not exactly in the conventional sense. A real pianist would laugh if they saw me in action, but it's results that matter, no?

Comparing Recession, Depression, Progression to the tentatively named Full Moon Mourning is definitely apples to oranges, but Full Moon is clearly more refined, with tighter vocal harmonies and more artistic nuance and special effects. I've finally become excited about this record, now that I can hear it all put together and get a feel for the piece as a whole. I really think that this one is going to get legitimately printed and be available for sale. The question is, will I be sitting on a fat stack of CD's and lose all of my money or will people actually buy it? I guess it really doesn't matter very much. I need to get this out there for reals, no matter if I lose some money on the deal.

So, all in all, I'm feeling pretty up at a time of year that I usually feel quite down. We'll see how I feel after a few months of cold rain, but even depression can be channeled into good, and music is the perfect medium.

Sincerely,

Schmo

I had forgotten about this

My newest roommate has spurred me on to do a little bit of blogging. I'm not sure whether or not I'll follow through with it. It wasn't that long ago that I told myself I'd start utilizing my livejournal, which I really haven't. It's not as if anybody reads this, which is the whole point of a blog, is it not? At the same time, it's a nice feeling to know you have a little bit of privacy in these matters, mostly because nobody cares.

So, how is life? you ask.

Life is bad and life is good...but it's been mostly bad these last few months. I won't get into details, but my entire life was, once again, thrust into the air and left to fall in random sequence. It seems I can't assemble any sort of regularity, a safety net if you will. There's no way anybody could keep up with the changes. Hell, I sometimes forget who I am and how I got here.

I'm living in my fifth house in less than two years. Every person I knew before is completely out of my life...Courtney, Wally, Eric...all enemies. It's hard to say whether this is all my fault. I like to think that it's not, but how could it not be? I had to have done something wrong in all of this.

I still work at Plaid, though, only two days a week. I'm downtown three days a week on the PSU campus. It's a glorious, yet sometimes boring, job as a cashier at the new Greenline Market. Beautiful women stroll past in spandex; jogging, biking, buying water as I gaze helplessly into their eyes. It's unbearable. I think I've been hit on a few times, but it's hard to tell...I'm bad with signals.

I have recorded a full length album. It's taken me six months of dedicated work, but it's more than I could have ever hoped for in both content and quality. I'm currently finishing up the mixing process and will hopefully find a record label to help me with mastering and printing costs. If not, well, I'll dig myself a little deeper in debt. What's another $1000? This album is almost all I live for these days. The one bright, shiny spot in my life. It's worth the debt.

I call it "Recession, Depression, Progression".

And with that, I bid you goodnight.

Schmo