so for some reason i woke up at 9am. on sunday. i'm so disappointed in myself. lately, i've been sleeping so much on days that i don't actually have to get up for anything that i just assumed when i went to bed last night at 230am that i would just wake up around 1 or 2pm as per usual. nope. i woke up at 9am and just had that horrible time-to-get-up-and-do-something feeling. the bad part is that i don't actually have anything to do until tuesday when i get new papers and such.
yesterday i tried working more on the record. i'm actually getting really, really sick of it. i want to work on writing some new stuff, and i want to work on writing stuff with other people's input. i hate that songwriting has become yet another one of those things that i just sit in a corner of my apartment and do by myself all day. that's the main reason i stopped working on my book a few years ago; just that it's not really that fun to sit by yourself for hours and hours every single day lost in your own little world. i started playing music because it wasn't like that. and now it's getting that way (at least for me). it's partly that and partly that i have a lot of new song ideas and things i want to try out, but my dreams are outpacing my recording abilities. i had underestimated how exponentially difficult things get when you try to record a multi-instrument album. you go from having one mic and a harmonica and a guitar and some words, to having to worry about balancing three mics on a mixing board, placing stereo mics just right for every take, setting the amp tone just right, writing parts for two guitars, a bass, a piano, a melody, percussion, and vocal harmonies all yourself, and recording them all yourself, plus tons of other little details that you never think of until after you've already done 17 takes. i want to do a multi-instrument record, but i don't want to write the whole thing myself. it's not laziness, it's just that hearing yourself coming back at you on like 7 different levels is just boring. i want to go into a situation where i have the basic idea and lyrics to a song sketched out, but then there are people who play all the other instruments who are interested in coming up with their own parts and additions, and who can play those instruments in-studio. for me, music is all about dialogue, and this recording is more like me just talking to myself. it's just boring, and i think you can hear that in the playing. that's why it's taken me since december to record three songs. and it doesn't appear to be getting any easier. i'm going to try again today, but i don't expect to make much headway. the good news is other than final mixing, i finshed and am happy with the first and last tracks on the record ("Crazy Stairs" and the acoustic version of "Love Song In D"). "Crazy Stairs" is a 3 1/2 minute instrumental intro. i'm not really sure if opening the record this way is smart or dumb, but i guess we'll find out. it's got a really weird, almost 80s metal vibe to it, and then there's some crazy, hammering distortion at the end, the kind that literally obliterates actual notes and converts them to raw noise. it's fun.
i'm listening to sun kil moon's new album right now. this is my third listen and i'm liking it a lot. i'll probably have to listen to it a few more times before i can write a decent review though. it's pretty dense (yeah, i know, "surprise!").
i made a point of buying some bananas last night at the store. last week they had huge bags of grapefruit (good ones) for three bucks, but they were gone this week. bananas are a poor substitute, but they work in a pinch.
looks like RA's blog is done (or at least he says it is). it was very cool, and it was really great to be able to keep up with it for so long and always have new posts in the morning (or during the night, as the case might have been). at the same time, i'd imagining maintaining a constant blogging rate when you're actually someone important is extremely difficult. it's difficult for me and i'm not important.
i might have a part-time job. it's not much, but it's better to have a little money coming in come may than no money. i'm going to miss teaching. there's always that last week or so of classes in the spring, where, at least this year and last year, my response is partly "oh thank god i don't have to work here over the summer because i need a break", but it's also partly "i really like doing this, and this could very well be the last time i ever get to do it". so it's a mixed blessing, i suppose. with any luck i'll be back in the fall. or at least somewhere in the fall.
i had a dream last night about this girl i really like (no, not THAT kind of dream), and it's still bugging me. well, this IS america. i guess i just have to plug in an electric guitar and write a whiny song about it.
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