beautiful, funny, sad & true

For the last few years, New Year’s resolutions haven’t been a big deal. I’ve just made a conscious effort to ‘be a better person’, ‘appreciate the good people and things I have going for me’, etc. That’s all great, but this year I have a very specific resolution; I need to either find or create my own recording studio space.

I need a place where I can do My Thing, and invite people over to be involved. My Thing involves playing and recording drums, piano, loud guitars, et cetera. It needs to be a place where I can be an actual professional; it’s time to take the next step up. I need it to be either soundproofed or to be quiet enough where noise from outside isn’t a problem for me, and where the noise I make inside isn’t a problem for others. Perhaps I could have my own room or section of an existing studio? I’m totally open to that idea too.

I’d love to share the space with another person or two, preferably who are already professional musicians and recording people too. I need them to be as responsible and conscientious as I am myself. I’m not ‘married’ to a specific location, but I would prefer it to be in inner NE or SE Portland, or maybe downtown.

If you either know of any leads for affordable space, or a person who you think might be interested in this, please let me know.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy New Year!

As you may or may not have already known, I’ve wanted a camera for a long time now. This was the year that I finally splurged and got a decent one. Here, then, are my favorite pictures from this year.

a beautiful October day in Portlandunder the Fremont bridge in PortlandConstruction site in downtown Boise, Idaho McKinley performing “Jamie’s Got a Gun”, taken from backstage at the Night of the Murder Ballad
another of McKinley at Murder BalladKelly on the waterfront in AstoriaKelly warming up with coffee in Astoriainside a cave in Cannon Beach, Oregon
Also Cannon Beach. A kid knocked them down right after this picture was taken.karaoke night
stormy day in Carson, WashingtonJacob Ray of the Young ImmortalsBreanna Paletta of Rye Hollow

but my favorite of the year is this one:

All pictures copyright 2006 by me.  If you’d like copies or anything, please leave a comment and we can work that out.

I’m sick.

Yesterday I felt all spacy and weird at work, and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed. When work was finally over, I had to go pick up Kelly to get her car out of the repair shop. We stopped to eat and it was all I could do to hold my head up. She got her car, we went our separate ways, and I stopped at my friend Alyssa’s to feed her cat. By the time I got home, I was shivering, and sweating, and completely wiped out. I watched a movie (“Caché”), wrapped up in a blanket, fully clothed, despite the fact that my apartment is almost always eighty degrees.

I went to bed around 10:30, window shut (it’s usually open), in a long-sleeved T-shirt and long pajamas, shivering like mad. Somehow I managed to sleep like a champion, and that helped tremendously. I took naps on both my breaks (both of which had dreams AND drool involved!), had miso soup for lunch, and now I’m home, listening to the news on NPR.

Tomorrow I’m only working a half-day, so I’m going to take my car in for an emissions test (I’m sure it’ll pass, but keep your fingers crossed just the same. . .), transfer the title, get new license plates, and do some other stuff that I never seem to have time to do.

As I was leaving work, I thought, ‘Sure would be nice to go up to Mt. Tabor and watch the sunset. . .maybe take some pictures.’ But I didn’t have my warm coat, the sunset wasn’t looking too exciting, and I needed to get gas in the car, so I decided to give Mt. Tabor a miss and head home to recuperate. After all that, as I pulled up to park in front of my apartment, the sunset turned all pink and purple and I regretted my decision.

What did I learn?

Listen to my instincts.

A couple of mornings ago, I was walking to work and it was really foggy and beautiful. It was about 8:00 a.m. The sun was just coming up, and it was shining onto the KOIN tower, thusly:

I wished I could have walked by around 8:30, because the sun would have been up a little higher, and relected off the KOIN tower like a beacon. Around 9:45 I took a break and ran back up the street to find that it looked like this:

They’re both okay pictures, but I don’t think they’re as exciting as they would have been if I could have stayed out there for the whole morning.

(note to self: Boy, do I need to get a little tripod!)

I’m feeling very proud this morning.

Got up on time, walked to work (in fact, I haven’t driven to work all week!), and even had time to go to Grand Central Bakery to get some yummy coffee on the way.

Today it’s really chill here at work, since so many people took today off for the holiday.

Tomorrow morning, Kelly and I are driving Alyssa to the airport, so she can spend the holidays in Florida. I’ll be watching Lady Jane while she’s gone.

My mom and stepdad were intending to come visit this weekend, but their furnace bit the metaphorical dust, so they had to cancel the trip. Despite that, this weekend promises to be insane. Three family get-togethers, with Kelly’s mom, dad, and grandparents respectively.

Phew!