2018-01-01

Nothing changes on New Year's Day...

For 2018, I've decided I'm going to write a 'blog post, a short one, every day of the year. Many of the posts will probably be more like journal entries than 'blog posts, perhaps giving me a chance to look back upon my thoughts and my frame of mind with a little context. Or perhaps not. At any rate, if I've got something longer than a sentence or two to say, I'd just as soon write it here and then link to the post; Facebook and Twitter are beginning to weary me again.

Don't worry: it's not always going to be a #resist post, or a rant about New Jersey Transit, or a squirrel picture... or a reminder to buy or listen to my album, I'll Live. As important as those four things are, there is in fact more to my life.

Forward into 2018! Well, I do still need to add two or three dozen December 2017 pictures to the Gallery... of Death! The Gallery now goes back as far as 1990, and I expect I'll have all my photos scanned and cleaned up within the next few months, so that's a project I'll be pleased to finish. Other than the pics, though, I'm trying to look forward, not back. May the future be brighter for us all.

Peel Slowly and See

My Web site was finally overhauled yesterday, and I'm happy with it. Not only have I simplified the design and menu, I've updated pages in sore need of it, brought back some content that was lost during previous "upgrades," and even added a few short stories and poems that hadn't been on the site before at all. It turns out I've written over 35,000 words in my short stories, essays, columns, and poetry, and I've penned the lyrics to 50 songs now; you can read all that online. There are also almost 6,000 photos in the Gallery... of Death! (with larger thumbnails now), so the non-readers have something to check out, too. Heh-heh. The old Frequently Asked Questions page is now a WTFAQ, I've added a few stories to the Anecdotes, Greta's Unmentionables has a page at long last... and, if you look for them, you can even find the restored Foogar site, my old New Jersey Transit Blecch!, and Skinny the Foo's ravings. I've made the original recordings of "Human Thing" and "Troll Doll" available again on the Originals page as well. It's taken quite some time to make all the changes and updates, and it's not lost on me that I could've used a lot of that time to create content, but this was long overdue.

In the process of cleaning and updating the site, a lot of memories were dredged up, happy ones as well as unhappy. Some things I've written in the past make me wince in the present. Nevertheless, it was my past, and I wouldn't be the person I am now if I hadn't seen and done and said and written and felt all that I had then. If you're at all interested in who I was and who I am, feel free to dig in; the menu's right there at the top right.

There's more to come, of course. I'm still writing (and recording) songs. There are a handful of old essays and high school newspaper articles (and my salutatorian speech, if I can find it) I intend to post, and about five incomplete short stories I've stumbled upon that need finishing. Lately, I'm feeling a bit of a poetry itch again, too. And photographs... there will always be new pictures (check out my cousin Helen and me, and the Samichlaus beers we had Friday night!), but there are thousands of old ones yet to be scanned and added to the Gallery... as well. More visitors come to my Web site looking for "man walks into a bar" jokes or the mixed martial artist than for me, but I find that humorous rather than upsetting. I just hope they, and you, will take some time to look around, and maybe even to interact with me.

Words and Guitar

I got to see Sleater-Kinney in New York this past Thursday and Friday, and although my calves and shins are still protesting, they were both terrific shows!

Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, and Corin Tucker: Sleater-Kinney!

Corin, Carrie, and Janet put out a lot of energy rockin' Terminal 5 (not NYC's best venue, but I really don't understand all the hate people have for it), and the new material holds its own against the old. Personally, I was thrilled to get to hear them do "Good Things" and "Little Babies" and "One Beat" again, but I was just as excited about "Bury Our Friends" and "Price Tag." I was even inspired to pogo to a few songs the second night, in spite of myself; the crowds on both nights were pumped up and movin' around regardless of how tightly packed we were. In fact, I conceived a new song (and hopefully nothing else) Friday night, to be called "Inadvertently Intimate." Yes, that tightly packed.

I still have a few other ideas to write up, such as a more electronic-sounding tune I'm going to call "O Povo na Rua" ("The People in the Streets"), but this morning I found myself suddenly wanting- no, needing to work on a song I wrote nine years ago. I always had a rough idea in my head of how "I'll Live" would sound. The lyrics were inspired by the Who's John Entwistle and the dark humor behind some of his songs, like "My Wife" and "I Feel Better." Somehow, though, I never got around to recording anything for it, not even a demo... but today while the snow came down again, I got about half the song done, and using an alternate guitar tuning (DAFCGD, a whole step down) on my old Strat knockoff for the first time. I'm liking the way the song is turning out. Maybe you will, too.

I really can't wait for this winter to be over. I'm trying not to let the weather and my fluctuating moods keep me locked up indoors for too long, however. Next weekend, I'll be checking out Tania Stavreva in another piano performance. The weekend after that, Greta's Unmentionables will finally get our asses back in the studio to rock out "The Bite." The weekend after that will find me taking in Stephanie's final concert with the Dessoff Choirs, and a few days later I'll be at Rockwood Music Hall to witness a 75% Serious Pilgrim reunion! I'm also going to see "Nevermore - The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe" off Broadway with Laryssa, and I'm planning on catching up with High Teen Boogie in Williamsburg, too. I'm still working on the Gallery... of Death! as well, and recently added 2002 to the mix, and of course there are a lot of S-K pics in the 2015 gallery now. And then there's all that running...

Busy March, now that I think about it. It's better that way, though. Hopefully, I'll be too occupied to pay too much attention to the weather, and it'll start to warm up before I notice. Of course, I do have a trip to warmer climes scheduled for next month... Woo-hoo!

And now, back to words and guitar...

Pensamente

What a nasty Groundhog Day it's been here in the Northeast, but then it is winter. The winter of my discontent... or is that "The Discontent of My Winter?"

January was harder than even I had expected. My sweet tortie, the pretty kitty Preeti, succumbed to illness early in the month, and then my Uncle Danny passed away early on the 22nd. Death and winter and discontent aside, however, I'm feeling a little more stable lately, even if I have had dreams on three consecutive nights involving two ex-girlfriends. Odd dreams, neither happy nor sad, really. Some would no doubt read plenty into them; I think maybe I've just been dredging up memories by spending a lot of time going through so many old photos and updating the Gallery... of Death! It's slow-going, not least because of the nostalgia. So far, I've got everything as far back as 2003 posted and captioned, and I'm working on 2002 now.

Staying away (mostly) from social media has been good for me, I think. It's given me more time and more focus. Clearly, you lot don't miss me, and that's fine. I've run at least a mile every day in January, and last night I beat my best time running five kilometers on the treadmill (27m47s, which is no medal winner but is a sign of improvement). I've picked up the guitar again, and I'm determined to finish recording my second album this year. While I'd long intended to call it Tougher Than Flannel, and even worked that phrase into the lyrics of "Drabbard," I've recently decided to go with I Can't Possibly Give More Than I Can Give instead. It's partly a rebuke to those who insist that we should "give 110%," but mostly an acknowledgment that I've felt emotionally spent for longer than I'd care to acknowledge.

I am planning on getting together with some friends (and hopefully some family) this spring, in a warmer place than New Jersey. Definitely looking forward to that. I'm also excited about seeing Sleater-Kinney later this month. The new album, No Cities To Love, is pretty damned great, and it'll be awesome to hear "Bury Our Friends" live, as well as the older stuff I've loved since getting into the band in 2003.

There's more I could say, about Charlie Hebdo and the "Islamic" "State" and Ukraine and 'Net neutrality and Israel and Palestine and... but you're probably not really listening anyway, are you? And that's fine, too. Most likely, you go your way, and I'll go mine.