NewSc2

In light of my whirlwind life, I’ve decided to focus my thoughts onto something passive. (/emo)

Here’s the first “song” I’ve made since I started this blog. Probably the first “song” I’ve made for at least a year.

I fired up Logic Studio and actually got somewhere this time, as opposed to all of those stupid 3-voice (bass drum, snare, stupid bass loop) shitty drunk experiments I’ve done. (This one has 5 voices!)

I was reading this Deadmau5 interview where he kept saying “everybody thinks they can categorize the Deadmau5 style as 8th notes.” Well, I never thought that, but after giving his songs a run again, I totally picked up on it. Deadmau5 likes to put in alternating quarter melodic notes against the 4-4 bass drum.

Instead of mm-tz-mm-tz-mm-tz-mm-tz, he does mm-Eminor-mm-Eminor-mm-Eminor-mm-Eminor (so mm-dah-mm-dah where “dah” is a melodic interval, and not a hi-hat cymbal). 

So I sat at the keyboard and tried doing that. Needless to say, I didn’t churn out a Deadmau5 piece, but I went off on what I had, cut out notes here and there, applied a few mixing techniques and effects I learned from the MacProVideo.com Logic 404 “Mixing Electronica” tutorial, and spat out this piece in about an hour:

DOWNLOAD LINK:
2008-07-27-Cm-bells-ArpDela

Hm, shitty, I thought WordPress would have written that as a Flash player. Oh well, download it and check it out — it’s only a minute long.

It’s not arranged yet, but I tried to lay down a few basics and work with a lead (the bells). THIS SONG IS NOT FINISHED YET. I haven’t even picked out which of the 3 bell loops I wrote to use. I need to add in another lead voice, maybe some evolving filtered C to G (or Eb) voice, and I need to add in some filtered sweeps to bring in motion. But it’s a start, and I wanted to get something down ASAP.

There’ve been so many projects I haven’t even bothered to mix down to an mp3, and so many more that I haven’t finished arranging, that I’m going to work on this piece for a while. Hopefully in a week or so I can post a much more polished version, and update what I’ve learned.

Saw this while I was at Fry’s picking up Final Fantasy IV DS. It was $3.45, which is a lot more than I’d like to spend on a non-alcoholic drink, and it’s really small (50ml, 1.7oz.), but I stopped to look at it too many times to let the opportunity pass.

Above is a half-drunk sample of the energy drink. It’s since been all-drunk. I guess it’d be good for gamers, but it really didn’t give me a big “buzz.” The product’s website says it wasn’t made to kick you in the face, but instead give you a calm, jitter-free alertness to continue your fragging and raids. Jitteriness is bad for mouse-clicking. Each 50mL serving contains twice the caffeine of an 8 oz. Red Bull, and is supposed to give you 5-8 hours of +160 mana benefit.

I only drank half the bottle each time (it was late), and it did pick me up for at least an hour or two, and probably more. The concept is so cool nerdy that I’d be down to buy a few more for the next LAN party I go to (next year?).

It tastes like Blue Otter Pops — kinda tangy, decently sweet, and got a little sour bite to it. I can’t really compare the energy lift to anything, because I’ve never had those 5-hour Energy Shots, and Red Bull (and its kin) aren’t 1.7 ounces. The Mana Energy Potion gave me a slight noticeable boost right after drinking, and about 20 minutes later I could still feel the initial bump. It apparently has digestive enzymes in the concoction blend to speed up digestion of all of the Doritos you’ve been eating at the computer, and help break down those processed carbs into energy.

That’s pretty much all I can say.

I mean, what more do you need? It’s blue, it’s small, it’s convenient, and it’s a freaking mana pot. Potions like these used to cost 500 gold pieces, and mages would stock their 16-slot Summoner’s Belt of Knowledge full of these.

I need to unplug this gray CAT5 network cable, and make sure my wifi isn’t on. Been spending too much time browsing the Internet and not enough time studying.

———-

I guess because I have a lax-er time at work (lax-er than most people, I think), I’ve felt the need to challenge myself intellectually and creatively when I get back home. Lately, that’s been just reading interesting Internet articles and stories, playing games, and socializing. Yeah, I know those aren’t very intellectual/creative things.

Of course, challenge and work should be one and the same, but my company’s kind of in a growing phase right now, and there isn’t much to do other than wait for revenue to grow, quarter by quarter, which it has been.

Anyway, the summer’s halfway over. A lot of things have happened in the past couple months.

While I’ve done my bi-yearly room rearrangement (kind of a personal soul refresh), and have made progress on the goals I’d set, I feel like the 2nd half of my summer is going to be difficult. I’ve always had problems completing my goals. Too many unfinished books and too many half-finished projects.

I’ve never felt like I had a lack of time, money, or intellect to accomplish the things I want to do in life. It’s a byproduct of my personal philosophy (I won’t get into that here). I’ve always seen B’s and 85% percentiles as acceptable. They really aren’t.

My sense of urgency, and my situation, haven’t really changed, so maybe I need to take the hard (or easy?) way out of this one. Hit the reset button and upgrade. Bump my standards to A’s and 92%’s.

…And I’m rambling… *selects ramble, click Italic* (read the un-Italic text for Cliff notes)

———-

I’m going to set aside several hours a day away from the Internet and entertainment to focus on honing some skills (music, piano, working out, Photoshop, photography, GMATs, business, myself, writing) down. There are so many hobbies and subjects I’ve picked up on over the past few years that I need to at least see a few fulfilled.

I won’t be neglecting this blog, though. I’ve always felt the need to display certain sides of myself to acquaintances and friends so they can better understand the person I am, and better understand me when I’m not at my most accommodating.

One of the best, most motivating short speeches on skill-building, creativity, and diction I’ve ever heard. Ira Glass goes over taste, his own growth as a storyteller, and how creative skills develop. Kudos to his show, too (This American Life on NPR/PRI). Wish I had more time to listen to it.

EDIT: I can’t get over the hand gestures. Ira works them to perfection.

Before: Dell 20″ Widescreen LCD

1650 x 1080 = 1.782 million pixels

After: Apple 30″ Cinema Display

2560 x 1600 = 4.096 million pixels

4.096 million pixels / 1.782 million pixels = 2.3 times the screen real estate of 20″

compared to Dell 24″ or Apple 23″ (1920 x 1200)
2.304 million pixels / 1.782 million pixels = 1.29 times the screen real estate of 20″

While writing this blog, I’ve tended to notice my language choices have changed drastically since I was in college.

After writing this blog, I’ve noticed my language has changed a lot since I was in college.

Gee, my writing style has changed a lot since I was in college. I noticed this after writing this blog.

AAUUGH!!

My writing style seems to be in this quasi-evolving state, going from a structured, essay-style diction to a more free-flowing conversational style. I’ve been running into a lot of confusing sentences during this transitioning phase, and finding out that my sentences often meander and lose focus. My attempts at mixing tenses (properly), starting sentences with “But” and “And”, and adding in other conversational writing techniques seem to be working against the proper grammar I’ve been taught growing up, with the end result becoming a big convoluted stream of thought.

Because I’ve been doing technical writing for my company, my business English is pretty good, but that’s not the style I’d like to master. I guess Bill Simmons’s style is what I’m going for.

Anyway, I’m off to play some Diablo. Been transferring files from my camera over to my computer (3GB takes FOREVER to transfer — 20+ min), and thought I’d kill some time by updating my blog. Level 47 Necro!

Found this while digging through old photos. Evan, Andre, and Me (left to right) @ Beachwood, my home away from home. Pic was taken with a Canon SD1000.