A conversation with a friend recently and also the video that in my last post have really got me thinking about what I am trying to accomplish as a musician. Especially right now that I am even less known than I was when I first started and somehow convinced 1000 spammers to be my friend on Myspace.

Basically, I know that there are things that I need to work on and they are primarily in the realm of vocals and recording. And as I am putting together songs that I want to put on my first official release, I am trying to decide how I want them to sound as well as how the songs are supposed to sound, regardless of what it is that I want for them.

From the very beginning, I’ve been trying to make up for what I lack by adding more instrumentation. I’ve tried everything I possibly could to get a song to sound less like it is just a guy alone in his bedroom and more like a guy with a bunch of guitars and drums and synths in his bedroom. Mostly, I am neither, since I have only two guitars in working condition and a ukulele. Also, I have a wife and two kids around.

And as much as I love them, that simply does not make the act of recording in a noisy house any easier.

So what decision have I come to? I’m going to try and make the most of what I have, with the addition of some better recording gear so that I am capturing the best sounds I can afford, and I am going to keep my song arrangements very, very simple.

It’s time to focus on becoming a better singer.

Today, I learned that I should never combine energy drinks with an empty stomach and a job interview. That was probably the most miserable two hours I can remember at the moment.

Also, I may be able to start recording in a couple of weeks?

So I just read this and it made me laugh a bit. I’ve noticed a lot more of people complaining about e-books and e-readers since I’ve begun to read them with a passion on my Kindle Fire.

To a degree, I can kind of understand it, but at the end of the day, isn’t it all just a different means of reading words? I wonder if people that find themselves attached to books care more about the book as a form than the things that books can hold.

For me, reading isn’t about the experience of holding a block of paper in my hands. It’s about a really good story.

I’ve gotten back into the habit of walking home from work when it isn’t dangerously cold outside. And it can be the best part of my work day.

It’s a chance to have some quiet and alone time so that I can try and get sleepy enough to take a nap when I get home (I work third shift and this has given me a biphasic sleeping pattern).

It’s also a chance to limit the amount of time that I spend either sitting down or sleeping. While my work does have me on my feet for 8 hours, it is work that doesn’t have me necessarily walking around all the time. There is much standing at one station. I care very much about this because I have only so much time in the day to think about getting any exercise at all.

It’s a chance to smile at the face that while I am walking home from work, getting ready to head straight to bed, I am passing drivers on the road that are rushing to work and are likely running late. I walk passed businesses that are getting ready for the days work. All the while, I am going home to rest.

These are small things but they’re significant. And I’m going to try and stay thankful for them as long as I am walking home from work.

I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and it’s really helped me fall in love with reading again. Even though I can go online and play games and watch movies on it, I’m spending most of my time on it reading. It’s definitely a tablet made for people that love reading.

It’s been amazing to have an unlimited number of books available to me and it really suits my tendency to read three or four books at a time. At the moment I’m working through Book One of The Awakened by Jason Tesar, volume one of The Harvard Classics and Grace Abounding To The Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan.

None of those are affiliate links, by the way. Mainly because two of them are free and one of them is a buck. So nobody is really making money there. Anyway, it’s all got me thinking about stories and what Don Miller explored in A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.

I’m reading all these amazing stories and I’m wondering what part of the story I’m in right now. Am I in that bit of the book just before a story begins? Am I in the backstory? Where significant things happen but you only find out about them through snippets when you’re reading the story proper?

What should I be focusing my attentions on right now? Basically, I’m at a bit of a cross-roads so maybe I’m at the part of the story where the protagonist reaches the point of needing to make a decision that affects the way the story ends.

Basically, I’ve got to think about career and the like. What am I supposed to do and how do I get to that point?

It’s resulted in a lot of journaling and a lot of thinking and a lot of wanting to escape into the stories I’ve been reading.

The truth is, I want to try everything. So that’s what I’m going to try and do. Learn as many things as I can until I know what that one, single thing is.

What is it that I’m going to master the art of?

It’s a bit late in the year, somehow almost a week has managed to go by, and I’m just now getting to the point where I am ready to start blogging properly again. I’ve made a lot of changes today, just trying to figure out what it is that I’m going to do with this piece of internet real estate. I’m still not entirely sure.

So in the mean time, it’s just going to be a place for me to write and post stuff. I’m going to use it a bit like you would use Tumblr or something. Maybe.

Maybe that’s what I’m going to do this year. Figure out exactly what it is that I’m going to do with this. Either way, it is no longer going to be me obsessing with trying to figure out how to use it to make money. I have a job to do that. I’m basically done with trying to make money on the internet with things like blogging and I’m done with reading about crap like passive income. They work if you’re lucky and if that is your idea of an honest job.

When I was in England, I learned that I really enjoy working really hard. I spent much of my time working in factories doing very labour intensive jobs. I was on my feet for 8 hours at a time every day. Then, I got a job in a pub kitchen and started working harder than I have ever worked in my life. I was in that room for anywhere from 10 to 14 hours at a time, generally not taking a break and not eating and working and working and working and working. I worked off 50 pounds.

There’s nothing wrong with working really hard. There’s nothing wrong with somehow making an income online. I’m just done with the latter because it depends on so much alchemy and fiddling that I simply do not have the time for anymore.

So in the mean time, I’ll tell you about the music that I’m writing and the books that I’m reading and the bread recipe that I’m trying out on any given day.

Occasionally, I’ll show you how to do something. Maybe I’ll teach you how to knit. It’s really relaxing and it’s a good way to watch tv without sitting there like a mindless lump.

Photo by libraryman