candlesayshi

So.... I've been thinking a bit about how to put together this idea I have for another album. (inbetween being stressed and busy as fuck, of course). I've been thinking about how to piece together this thought of looking back over all the things I've done, the decisions I've made, a longing for the things that could have gone better, and a fear of the things that could have gone worse. All those glimpses of pain, fear, love, regret, sadness, delight.... And I think I might have an idea. The inspiration came to me from a conversation and a rediscovered love. So, here's a couple hints of what could possibly be expected:

 I don't think you need one more person talking about how awesome the Skinny Puppy show was... so, I'll leave that alone.

However, I had a good time. Had some Jack & Coke, ran into Paul and Shannon from Tympanik and Kevin from Cyanotic. Shook Kerri around during the verse of Politkil. They played Worlock during the encore, and I came. Also, Pro-Test, but not I'mmortal. Which was sad, but it was cool nonetheless.

Was fun, and I don't have to work until Saturday. So, fuck yeah!

Also, I'm playing with Millipede on the 25th at Morseland. So, I'll pop in with more details about it when I know more.

 Things I hate:
Having to have multiple IM clients open at once

Things I also hate:
Pidgin and Trillian. Fuck them.

 So, how was everyone's Halloween?

I'm jealous in advance, I assure....

My night is mixing chicken ramen with shrimp ramen to pretend it's phoenix and dragon, and playing Planescape: Torment. I figure it's a good Halloween game.

Seriously though, how was your Halloween?

I feel positivity shattered.

Well, I got an invite to Google Wave with a bunch of invitations to send out to people so that I can actually use it.

So, do any of you want an invite to Google Wave?

Alternatively... Have any of you already gotten in and want to add me as a contact?

Sweet.

Turns out I can't set up a new checking account unless I fuck myself financially the American way, by putting myself under pathetically crushing credit card debt.

Money sure is awesome, amirite?

Apparently, the expiration date for the last batch of manufactured Polaroid film was yesterday.

Hmmm....

Also, it seems that my doubts about the SensMe Channels on my PSP were completely misplaced. SensMe Channels is one of those little auto-playlist things, mostly categorized by mood, like "Mellow", "Upbeat", etc. Anyway, there's a channel for time of day, too. So, being that I can't sleep, I went out for a short walk, and I didn't know what to listen to. So, I figured I'd try out the Morning SensMe Channel. aaaaaand.....

Boom. Instant perfect morning music.

The first twenty minutes was:
Access to Arasaka - Beach
Gridlock - Voiceless:Vcam:RMX
Autechre - Dropp
S:cage - Vapour

It was quite cool.

So... I guess props to Sony for the firmware update. I never make my own playlists. So, it's nice to know that I can get some use out of this.

So, something that I find funny happened yesterday. We were all sitting at our respective computers, and Geramie was listening to Last.fm on his computer in his room when he shouted out, "Wow! You've got to hear this song!" So, I of course say, "What song?" "It's called Gift of Nervous Methods, by a guy called Totakeke." "Ah yes, I know that one," and I walk into his room and he's bobbing his head and whatnot, and lifting a side of the headphones to show me. "It's awesome!" he says. So, I walk over to my CDs and pull out eLekatota. Then, walk back into Geramie's room, and hand it to him. He grabbed it and turned it over, and there was a little sparkle in his eye, and he said "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat, why didn't I know about this?" Then, he did the little shaky eye thing and ripped the disc to his computer. He listened to it all right after.

So, now I'm wondering what else I have that he might have heard but has since forgot about, or hasn't heard. 

 I really, really, really wish there was a new S:cage album coming out. This stuff is so brilliant.

 Here's a quick short little list of some things I've done since moving:

1. Got a job.
2. Finished my album.
3. Got a driver's license purely by accident.

Off to an awesome start I say.

I'm still waiting on the call for them to tell me when my orientation is. I already did their background check and drug test and whatnot.

Also, I'm getting some pretty good feedback on my album so far. So, it might be ready to send up the line soon.

I am back online and wired into the internet.

Glad to be back.

Things are looking pretty good. After an interview yesterday, I got a job today working in the electronics department of the Target downtown. So, cool. Also, I'm taking the fact that I was the first of us that moved to find a job a sure sign of the apocalypse.

All in all, it's not as bad as I was trying to put off to everyone around here that it would be.

Anyway....

I'm pretty well done with my album. So, I'm going to send it out to a few people for critique before I call it good and done. If any of you want to check it out and let me know what you think let me know.

So... it's been a bit I suppose. Anyway....

I'm finally getting settled into Chicago. I like it so far. I live only a block away from an Orange Line station, so, it's really easy to get around anywhere in town.

I'm hanging out at the library right now. I should have internet back on at home later this week, and probably the phone sooner than that.

However, not having the internet has done an awesome thing for me, as it's removed at very big distraction.... aaaaaaaaaand as such, and to relate how much of an impact that losing the internet is having on me... I'm almost done with my album.

I even have the tracklisting set up, well, barring any changes. If you're curious it should be:
Internally Threaded
Penumbra
Raison d'être
R5-D50-R8
Imperfect
Wintermute
Icarus Descending
Kerrianne's Spine
Someone, Anyone

Well... I suppose I'll write a better entry later, when I'm not wondering when my battery's going to die.

I know I go through this every once in a while, but after giving a quick run-through of the tracks I'm working on for the album I'm trying to put together, maybe I'm not as bad of a musician as I keep convincing myself that I am. The ideas I'm trying to express seem to be coming along well, and when I go back to give it all one cohesive flow, it'll probably flesh out together pretty well.

Anyway, speaking of that, can anyone suggest a good Reaktor ensemble for a nice haunting choir? Or really just choir, I suppose, I can filter and effect and whatnot to make it sound haunting on my own, if need be. But I want to add a choir part to this song I did called R5-D50-R8, and I want to stick to the rules that I laid out for the song when I originally made it, and I could probably get a nice sound choir out of the D-50, but that's in Chicago right now. Thanks in advance.

I pretty excited about the next version of SONAR, or should I say extremely, pants-wettingly excited. Especially about the Matrix View. The only reason I never used Project5 on stage, even though I'm more comfortable with it than Ableton Live is that Project5 is so.... weak, and was never optimized for multicore processors, but SONAR is, and SONAR I know like the back of my hand. Soooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooool!

SONAR's Active Controller Technology is going to fucking rock when I'm on stage. I can't wait.

Sorry, if none of you care, but I do... so, sorry for making you deal with my excitement.... and since yesterday I mentioned the thing about Cakewalk unveiling a new feature everyday for SONAR via Twitter, you probably saw this coming...

Anyway....

Cakewalk is putting Project5's Groove Matrix into SONAR!!!!!!

( Picture of features so far after the cut... )

I'm excited. Super excited.

After this announcement, I wonder what they'll announce tomorrow... and the next day... and so on.

General rant:

So, I'm one of those people that didn't "get" Twitter, until I actually tried it out. I didn't see the point, or the use. Now, I do, of course, as I still use it.

...and of course, I thought "Hmmm.... I don't care about this. Damn. Some people are really stupid." Then, I realized that instead of whining about it, I have the awesome power to ignore those people, and on keep up on things and people I'm actually interested in.

Neat.

Anyway, starting tomorrow, Cakewalk is going to update their Twitter every day with a new feature that's going to be in the next version of SONAR. I thought, "Cool! That's pretty awesome!"

Then, I apparently became stricken with Alzheimer's, and forgot how hard I facepalm every time I go to the SONAR user forum. I leisurely wandered over to the forum stricken with excitement, and walked right into a puddle of whining. "Why do we have to check that damn teeny-bopper fad!? Us adults aren't going to use that kid's stuff!" Someone from Cakewalk followed up quickly, of course, saying "You don't have to sign up to Twitter, all you have to do is mouseover Community at the top, and click on Twitter. Seriously, it's just one click." I could almost hear the sound of someone is Boston rubbing the bridge of their nose as I read that. Then, the user followup was, of course, "Why should I do that? Then I'm looking at something I'm not interested in!"

Ugh. So.... once again, I facepalmed, and remembered the way I feel about the SONAR forum.

Are all other software forums struck with the same stubborness, arrogance, stupidity, and sense of entitlement?

Hmmm..... I like going for walks in the rain. I hope that doesn't make me a "suspicious character".

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/14/bob-dylan-mistaken-f.html

So, the house is clearing out at a pretty quick rate now. I can't wait until this is over.

I haven't been able to work on music in a while, and it's fucking shattering me. I haven't quite had the time or motivation. Ugh. I hope that things will come along a lot faster after this move.

Bryan just came over with a kitten and handed it to Storm, and she had the saddest, most "can I keep him" look on her face. So, she's whining about hoping to get another cat soon.

Also, I started a new character because it had never crossed my mind before to use my GFWL gamertag with it. So, as useless as it is (as it's the only Live-enabled game I have, and it's not multiplayer) if anyone let's me know their gamertag, I'll add you.

Well, I've got a lot of stuff to do today. According to a note from Storm, at least. I did get the dishes out of the way. So, at least there's that.

I've still got to go through my stuff and see what I can lose, and I've got to take the consoles off of the Monolith to pack them up. Apparently, Blaze is going to take the Monolith after that.

...and I think I'm going to sell my old "dick around on the internet and retro PC gaming" computer. So, I've been installing games on my Windows 7 machine to see if everything will run okay. The only problem so far is some random crashes in System Shock 2, but it's doing fine otherwise. I'll scour teh interwebs for a fix in a bit. I haven't installed Thief: The Dark Project yet, and some others. So, I hope those take just as well as the others.

Buuuuuut, since Storm's going to be gone all day, I'm going to try and squeeze some time in to put some work in on my next track (Icarus Descending, if you're curious) without feeling like I'm a burden to existence. Maybe I'll also start go back and fix some things in prior tracks too, because I want to have at least half of my album done to show people, and say "Look! I'm making progress!" before the move takes place.

On that note, I had said before that the album was going to be 11 tracks, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Due to the length of the tracks, and the evolution of ideas and concepts throughout the flow, I might cut it down to 9. We'll see when it's done of course, but if that's the case then the album (barring some tweaks here and there) is more than half done already. Not to sound like Nintendo of Eidos Montreal (how about some new Deus Ex 3 info, eh?), but it'll be done when it's done.

This is Xerxes. Why do you persist in your loneliness?