February 28, 2013
February 21, 2013
El & Eddie: Unfortunate Felines
When I tucked Riddick in he informed me that cats only have nine lives. Poor things.
February 01, 2013
Retrospective: Day 10,805 - My First Blog Post?!
Out of curiosity, I just checked to see when I began this blog, because I was pretty sure it was in '03. My first post was on February 26 of that year. Ten very long years ago. It's a very brief post that paints a vague picture of how different my life was at the age of twenty-nine. For you...trivial, but for me...mindblowing.
Day 14,433 - "...and never sleep for wanting hours..."
A First of February blog post. Ah, this month --the shortest of the year and seemingly longest as well with no small part being how bleak the weather can be this time of year. We're lucky to have the sun shining today, but it is definitely frigid out. I am loathe to run in it, but really need to if I am to commit to some sort of consistency.
This seems to be the month of personal reparation after licking my Christmas wounds for seemingly all of January. The after-holiday lull in the restaurant business was the greatest killer, along with the school holiday break leeching into a greater part of the month than usual which meant less subbing jobs. I had too many free days and nights, and suffered a smashing head cold after my trip to Chicago. Simply put, January plain sucked as far as cash inflow.
Now I have an onslaught of work in front of me. My days are a delicate juggling act of when and where to work. With the current flu season, professional development seminars, and continuing educational obligations for my teaching friends doing grad work all in full swing I am in high demand for subbing gigs. At the same time, I am part of a very small construction crew that has just started a new house. My friend whom I have worked for on and off since '99 is very accommodating to my busy schedule. Basically, if I am not working elsewhere he just wants me to show up on the job site. However, at this early and crucial stage of the project it is very necessary for me to be there as many days as possible. So, I love being in the classroom and helping out my teaching friends in need, but building calls --and pays almost three times as much. On top of all of that, my good friend and landlord is at his wit's end to finish up the renovation of a farm house that he is desperate to move his family into. Unfortunately I can only give him my day times on the weekend, and this is very difficult on the weekends that I have my children. Add to all of that my night jobs. The Hideout will be picking up due to Valentine's day, and any given night around that holiday can prove to be extremely rewarding monetarily. I also have several upcoming bartending gigs booked with John Brown's at the Pavilion. It should come as no surprise, but these are always my greatest financial boons. I do not pass up those opportunities if I can help it.
After saying all of that, who can question why I haven't publicly displayed any creative output? I've not been happy in that regard. Make no mistake: I am desperate to play out. This drought in being on a stage can have an adverse effect on me psycho-emotionally. Being a performer is who I am, and when this has happened in the past, I have felt like my identity has succumbed to a slow and deadly deterioration. Thus, I hate it when this happens. Now, since August I have been compiling a great many songs. I am at no loss in that realm which does excite me greatly. My ever-fractured personal life does me true in that I haven't had a period of writer's block in years. I was able to record five songs as demos in September, but have yet to hit the studio since. Scott is going to just let me borrow the Akai deck to record at my own leisure; I've just yet to make time to go pick it up. It also may come as a shock, but I have not been in the same room collectively with the other members of Heavy Wishing since we played at John Brown's last May. In fact, I ran into Oliver about a week ago and almost didn't recognize him as his hair had grown at least six inches since I last saw him. Both he and Joe have been hard driving with their own bands respectively. With any of you that have a family or busy personal life outside of work, consider if you had to commit one or more nights a week to a hobby in addition to your other extra activities. That's what it takes to be in a band, even if to just perform a handful of dates a year and put out small a decent studio effort (which can take weeks, months, or years.) Out of respect for those guys, it's very difficult for me to ask for them to squeeze Heavy Wishing rehearsal into their already packed schedules. So unfortunately, the band is dormant and indefinitely so. This isn't a death throe though; the band has always existed outside of our other personal creative endeavors. In fact, the band went through an extended hiatus from the spring of '05 to late summer of '08. Because of our current stillness, I'm inclined to record what songs I have and release them as a solo effort outside of Heavy Wishing. If I do that, I may tread outside of my usual stylistic waters and shape the project in a way that is different than how I would approach something with the band. This is not to say that the songs would not be reworked later by Heavy Wishing. The band is always welcome to anything that I've written as I'm the principle songwriter; but the band has always operated that way, culling from offerings from all members, since we're all seasoned veterans of our craft. Regardless, I am going to commit to the early production stage of releasing something on my own.
I'm excited to be hitting the pavement again and would like to get more mileage off road as well. I didn't run much in December and almost not at all in November. I got in several runs in January which at least got me past the heavy legs. Now with spring races just around the corner, I feel like I have a good start on conditioning, whereas last year being my first as a runner I did not start until mid-March. My goal for this year is to run my first street marathon and would love to do a trail marathon as well. I ran the Bernheim trail half-marathon last year and wanted to do the full trail marathon this year, but it's on a kid weekend, and I really hate not being with them. If I can't switch out with their mother, I'm definitely not doing it. I sacrificed a weekend with them to audition for The Voice, and that about killed me. I don't think I'm quite ready for anything over 26.1, so the 50Ks and other ultras will have to wait until '14. I'd also like to think that I'll be able to go for the Spartan Trifecta, but I'll just have to see how I sit financially leading up to the Super and the Beast. Outside of that, I'd like to hit a Tough Mudder, but it's lower on my running short list than the marathons.
In a nutshell that's what's going on with me outside of my personal life. In case you overhear me say, "Oh, not much" as a friendly response to the rhetorical inquiry, "What's been going on?" you can smile, because you're in the know. If you respond in kind to me asking you the same, know that I know that you are probably every bit as burdened as I am with everyday life, but would rather save your breath for laughs and good mindless conversation as we enjoy our interim between days.
On your side,
Derek
This seems to be the month of personal reparation after licking my Christmas wounds for seemingly all of January. The after-holiday lull in the restaurant business was the greatest killer, along with the school holiday break leeching into a greater part of the month than usual which meant less subbing jobs. I had too many free days and nights, and suffered a smashing head cold after my trip to Chicago. Simply put, January plain sucked as far as cash inflow.
Now I have an onslaught of work in front of me. My days are a delicate juggling act of when and where to work. With the current flu season, professional development seminars, and continuing educational obligations for my teaching friends doing grad work all in full swing I am in high demand for subbing gigs. At the same time, I am part of a very small construction crew that has just started a new house. My friend whom I have worked for on and off since '99 is very accommodating to my busy schedule. Basically, if I am not working elsewhere he just wants me to show up on the job site. However, at this early and crucial stage of the project it is very necessary for me to be there as many days as possible. So, I love being in the classroom and helping out my teaching friends in need, but building calls --and pays almost three times as much. On top of all of that, my good friend and landlord is at his wit's end to finish up the renovation of a farm house that he is desperate to move his family into. Unfortunately I can only give him my day times on the weekend, and this is very difficult on the weekends that I have my children. Add to all of that my night jobs. The Hideout will be picking up due to Valentine's day, and any given night around that holiday can prove to be extremely rewarding monetarily. I also have several upcoming bartending gigs booked with John Brown's at the Pavilion. It should come as no surprise, but these are always my greatest financial boons. I do not pass up those opportunities if I can help it.
After saying all of that, who can question why I haven't publicly displayed any creative output? I've not been happy in that regard. Make no mistake: I am desperate to play out. This drought in being on a stage can have an adverse effect on me psycho-emotionally. Being a performer is who I am, and when this has happened in the past, I have felt like my identity has succumbed to a slow and deadly deterioration. Thus, I hate it when this happens. Now, since August I have been compiling a great many songs. I am at no loss in that realm which does excite me greatly. My ever-fractured personal life does me true in that I haven't had a period of writer's block in years. I was able to record five songs as demos in September, but have yet to hit the studio since. Scott is going to just let me borrow the Akai deck to record at my own leisure; I've just yet to make time to go pick it up. It also may come as a shock, but I have not been in the same room collectively with the other members of Heavy Wishing since we played at John Brown's last May. In fact, I ran into Oliver about a week ago and almost didn't recognize him as his hair had grown at least six inches since I last saw him. Both he and Joe have been hard driving with their own bands respectively. With any of you that have a family or busy personal life outside of work, consider if you had to commit one or more nights a week to a hobby in addition to your other extra activities. That's what it takes to be in a band, even if to just perform a handful of dates a year and put out small a decent studio effort (which can take weeks, months, or years.) Out of respect for those guys, it's very difficult for me to ask for them to squeeze Heavy Wishing rehearsal into their already packed schedules. So unfortunately, the band is dormant and indefinitely so. This isn't a death throe though; the band has always existed outside of our other personal creative endeavors. In fact, the band went through an extended hiatus from the spring of '05 to late summer of '08. Because of our current stillness, I'm inclined to record what songs I have and release them as a solo effort outside of Heavy Wishing. If I do that, I may tread outside of my usual stylistic waters and shape the project in a way that is different than how I would approach something with the band. This is not to say that the songs would not be reworked later by Heavy Wishing. The band is always welcome to anything that I've written as I'm the principle songwriter; but the band has always operated that way, culling from offerings from all members, since we're all seasoned veterans of our craft. Regardless, I am going to commit to the early production stage of releasing something on my own.
I'm excited to be hitting the pavement again and would like to get more mileage off road as well. I didn't run much in December and almost not at all in November. I got in several runs in January which at least got me past the heavy legs. Now with spring races just around the corner, I feel like I have a good start on conditioning, whereas last year being my first as a runner I did not start until mid-March. My goal for this year is to run my first street marathon and would love to do a trail marathon as well. I ran the Bernheim trail half-marathon last year and wanted to do the full trail marathon this year, but it's on a kid weekend, and I really hate not being with them. If I can't switch out with their mother, I'm definitely not doing it. I sacrificed a weekend with them to audition for The Voice, and that about killed me. I don't think I'm quite ready for anything over 26.1, so the 50Ks and other ultras will have to wait until '14. I'd also like to think that I'll be able to go for the Spartan Trifecta, but I'll just have to see how I sit financially leading up to the Super and the Beast. Outside of that, I'd like to hit a Tough Mudder, but it's lower on my running short list than the marathons.
In a nutshell that's what's going on with me outside of my personal life. In case you overhear me say, "Oh, not much" as a friendly response to the rhetorical inquiry, "What's been going on?" you can smile, because you're in the know. If you respond in kind to me asking you the same, know that I know that you are probably every bit as burdened as I am with everyday life, but would rather save your breath for laughs and good mindless conversation as we enjoy our interim between days.
On your side,
Derek
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