Today is the International Day of Peace. Of course, conflicts are raging (or threatening to) in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, the South China Sea, and other parts of the world, and the United Nations, who designated the day, is fairly powerless to do much about it...
It's also the last day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere... and, additionally, the date on which Laura and I were supposed to have been married last year (which is just a few days after the date on which we first started dating). Yes, I can't help but remember things like that. A year ago today, instead of going to the Zeppelin Hall Biergarten for what we'd planned to be a fun and casual ceremony and reception, I found myself traveling alone, first to the New York Renaissance Faire, where my BulletHole Heart T-shirt made a little green fairy sad, and then to Lovers Leap State Park in Connecticut, where I had one long, hard think about dying as I gazed down at the Housatonic River from the cliff.
A year later, I'm more balanced, and... well, I wouldn't say I'm happier, exactly, but I suppose it'd be fair to say that I'm a bit less unhappy. Laura and I are on friendly terms again, and even got together for a fun day in New York City last month. Still, September's hard for me now, between those two anniversaries and my birthday. I never viewed September 29th with any trepidation, and age is still just a number to me, but I'd let myself get used to the idea of having someone to spend that day with from now on...
So I channeled some of my angst and ennui into finishing the lyrics to "The Discontent of My Winter" and writing the music and lyrics to "SeptSomber." I recorded a short demo of the latter a week ago:
and I finished recording the actual song with my Kona acoustic/electric... today. How's that for keeping busy? I've started working out the music to "Discontent" as well, and hopefully will get that song and another done before winter truly arrives. Of course, I'm keeping busy in other ways, too. My new iPhone 6 arrived on Friday, and since it'll be at least a few months before I get my hands on an Apple Watch, I decided to get a Jawbone UP24 band and start monitoring my activity again. In just under two weeks, I'll be running my first "normal" (non-obstacle) 5K in Bay Head; gotta hit the treadmill again later this evening... I went back to the Renaissance Faire two weeks ago; while the plan had been to get a group of people out there together, all but one of my friends (Barbara) ended up not making it. (Well, Judie, too, but she was going to be there regardless. ;) We had fun anyway, and I even got a picture with Judie and the Vixens En Garde.
Thanks to a friend who ordered concert tickets, then found out that she wasn't going to be able to go after all, I'll be seeing Paolo Nutini at the Apollo Theater on Tuesday night (still trying to find a likely lass to accompany me there), and Lydia Loveless and Xenia Sky at Webster Hall a week from tonight, hours before my birthday. October brings Within Temptation (a band Laura turned me on to) at Terminal 5, while I'll catch my first Bob Dylan concert at the NJPAC in November. With any luck, I'll manage to see my musician friends Mart Rivas and Goli in New York soonish, too. And, considering everything else I've accomplished this year, I'm going to take a real stab at NaNoWriMo again in November. If I focus, I can do it.
So, yeah, my life's not quite what I'd thought it would be, and I'm not quite the same person I was a year and a half ago, but I feel like I would like me if I met me. The struggle goes on.
It's also the last day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere... and, additionally, the date on which Laura and I were supposed to have been married last year (which is just a few days after the date on which we first started dating). Yes, I can't help but remember things like that. A year ago today, instead of going to the Zeppelin Hall Biergarten for what we'd planned to be a fun and casual ceremony and reception, I found myself traveling alone, first to the New York Renaissance Faire, where my BulletHole Heart T-shirt made a little green fairy sad, and then to Lovers Leap State Park in Connecticut, where I had one long, hard think about dying as I gazed down at the Housatonic River from the cliff.
The leap
A year later, I'm more balanced, and... well, I wouldn't say I'm happier, exactly, but I suppose it'd be fair to say that I'm a bit less unhappy. Laura and I are on friendly terms again, and even got together for a fun day in New York City last month. Still, September's hard for me now, between those two anniversaries and my birthday. I never viewed September 29th with any trepidation, and age is still just a number to me, but I'd let myself get used to the idea of having someone to spend that day with from now on...
So I channeled some of my angst and ennui into finishing the lyrics to "The Discontent of My Winter" and writing the music and lyrics to "SeptSomber." I recorded a short demo of the latter a week ago:
and I finished recording the actual song with my Kona acoustic/electric... today. How's that for keeping busy? I've started working out the music to "Discontent" as well, and hopefully will get that song and another done before winter truly arrives. Of course, I'm keeping busy in other ways, too. My new iPhone 6 arrived on Friday, and since it'll be at least a few months before I get my hands on an Apple Watch, I decided to get a Jawbone UP24 band and start monitoring my activity again. In just under two weeks, I'll be running my first "normal" (non-obstacle) 5K in Bay Head; gotta hit the treadmill again later this evening... I went back to the Renaissance Faire two weeks ago; while the plan had been to get a group of people out there together, all but one of my friends (Barbara) ended up not making it. (Well, Judie, too, but she was going to be there regardless. ;) We had fun anyway, and I even got a picture with Judie and the Vixens En Garde.
Judie, Atalanta, Athena, me, and Calypso
Thanks to a friend who ordered concert tickets, then found out that she wasn't going to be able to go after all, I'll be seeing Paolo Nutini at the Apollo Theater on Tuesday night (still trying to find a likely lass to accompany me there), and Lydia Loveless and Xenia Sky at Webster Hall a week from tonight, hours before my birthday. October brings Within Temptation (a band Laura turned me on to) at Terminal 5, while I'll catch my first Bob Dylan concert at the NJPAC in November. With any luck, I'll manage to see my musician friends Mart Rivas and Goli in New York soonish, too. And, considering everything else I've accomplished this year, I'm going to take a real stab at NaNoWriMo again in November. If I focus, I can do it.
So, yeah, my life's not quite what I'd thought it would be, and I'm not quite the same person I was a year and a half ago, but I feel like I would like me if I met me. The struggle goes on.
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