Thursday, April 7, 2011

4 + 7 = 11

Guess who's back?  Andy's back!

I haven't 'blogged in a great long while.  Vitriol, which started as a column in my long-defunct 'zine (do any 'zines have funk anymore, though?) the Extreme, eventually found its way to my Web site, andersensilva.com, and though I didn't think of it as a Web log at the time, I suppose that's what it was.  That was replaced by Being..., and over time that was replaced by my own space on LiveJournal.  Once I stumbled headfirst into Twitter and Facebook and Brightkite and Pownce and their ilk, however, I became more interested in microblogging and posting short updates.

Now I've decided that I need to start writing things that require more than 140 characters again.  That means essays, short stories, songs, poems, and yes, 'blog entries.  I can write, and I'm going to start doing so again; it's been too long, and while yanking chords from an overdriven electric guitar is a great release, so is hurling words and phrases.  I've done it before, and I'll be doing it again.  Don't call it a comeback.

So, speaking of guitars...  I just got a new one yesterday!  I'd been planning on getting an acoustic/electric for a while, mainly because I want to force myself to go play some open mics and get used to the idea of people watching me perform my music (and they generally prefer acoustics).  There was an Ibanez that had caught my eye and received great reviews, so for a few weeks that was what I'd intended to order.  When I felt the time was right to order last week, though, I considered the price again, and started browsing online a bit more, finally coming to a guitar from a brand of which I'd heard once or twice before, Kona.  The K2 certainly looked sweet, and it was a thin body, which I prefer to the dreadnoughts, but I was a little hesitant.  In the end, many great reviews swayed my decision; everyone seemed to be very pleasantly surprised at how good this fairly inexpensive guitar looked and played and sounded.  And so far I'm in agreement with them all.  Say hello to Serenity!


My new colleague, Nicole, found the guitar really cool, too.  Turns out she's a left-handed guitar player as well!  I'm always thrilled to meet (or at least see) another southpaw guitarist, and it was a nice surprise for us both when she was being introduced around on Monday and noticed the guitars on my MacBook Pro's desktop and started asking questions.  She high-fived me upon learning that not only do I play, but I play lefty.  Heh…  I recently saw another lefty guitar player, too, Mary Bichner of Box Five, who played at Caffe Vivaldi the same night as her friends (and neighbors) Goli.  I didn't get a chance to talk to Mary that night, but we're Facebook friends now.  One of my favorite singer/songwriters, Aimee Mann, is not left-handed, but I'm going to see her tomorrow night anyway.  Haven't been to one of her shows in… forever.

I've finally come around to the idea that I should be posting separately to any 'fans' I have, because maybe they don't want to hear every goofy exchange between a long-time friend (or two) and me.  I already had a Facebook Page set up for my music, but now I've got a Twitter account dedicated to that kinda thing, too.  Apple graced me with my own iTunes Ping artist account, as well, though no one seems to be flocking to that.  Maybe I need to slag Lady Gaga or defend Chris Brown or something to get some attention.  Anyway, if you're interested:


My old roommate and long-time friend Jon and his wife Karin are having a baby!  I'm really happy for them, though I haven't actually spoken to Jon since I heard the news (via SMS from Karin, complete with sonogram picture - yes, this is the digital age).  I'm not generally a big fan of phone conversations these days.  I think a job in tech support does that to one.  I do have to call him.  I found out this week that my old 'bus buddy' Alex is also expecting.  Nice…

Work's been keeping me especially frazzled lately.  The good news is, I'm getting a mini-vacation out of it.  Next Wednesday morning, a few colleagues and I are flying to Costa Rica for four days!  I am looking forward to warm weather, ziplining over the rain forest, scuba diving... and getting away from the office.

Lastly, but not leastly, I'm in a relationship again, though it's (for the moment, anyway) a long distance one.  OK, Facebook has us down as "it's complicated..." but it's not, really, it's just far.  Pam is a wonderful girl, and a Mac geek like me, and she appears to be able to put up with my zaniness, most of the time anyway.  We've known each other a long time, and she's come to visit me (and New York City) several times over the past few years, and I went to visit her this past New Year's, and... well, we decided to make it official on Valentine's Day.  Changing your relationship status on Facebook makes it official, right?  Heh-heh.  Pam will be heading back out to Jersey in the fall, and we're both looking forward to her next trip.

This concludes today's 'blog entry.  There will be more, however.  There will be more...

1 comment:

  1. Welcome back! I'm happy to see that you're wanting to blog and write again! I'm looking forward to reading more -- especially the stuff about me! Just kidding. ;-P

    ReplyDelete