Month: July 2004

Categories
Meander

Upsetting sock anecdote

*This was copied from my diary sometime in 2008*

Karen has been pestering me to throw out my holy socks for some time now. I resisted, for a while, as I knew that though I currently have a lot of pairs, once the culling began then there would be no stopping, and we would find out exactly how many, or rather, how few intact socks I own.

But because I love her, I obliged, and yesterday I began the process, terrified as I was.

The girl is a darling, though. This morning I opened my sock drawer to find five new pairs. Excitedly, I decided to forgo an old pair and wear a new one today, to show my appreciation.

Here’s where it gets horrid. I grabbed some scissors to cut the plastic frob that holds the socks in the pack. However, my incision was slightly off target.

The sock that I wear on my left foot became the first sock in my history to have a hole in it before it had ever been worn.

Categories
Music

Minds as weapons

Pertaining to the previous post, it has all become clear.

There was a time when I used my mind as a weapon. It was an unpleasant time, because there were unpleasant wars to be waged, but it was also a good time, because I had something to fight for. I used my brain to produce the words and thoughts that I needed to fight with.

Now, I’ve successfully made things easy for myself. It took a lot of work, but I managed it. And I was pleased with myself. But now, years later, I miss the thrill of battle, the excitement of clashing intellect with opponents known or unknown.

I see only one thing for it. I need to invent an opponent. Even if they only exist in my head, at least I’ll have a nemesis — a reason to never grow complacent, a reason to strive to continually produce better and better output, a reason to always force myself to learn more.

Playing the guitar well is largely a matter of practice. The more I play, the better I get. But is songwriting the same? Should I write hundreds of songs, in the hope that there will be diamonds in the dungheap? Or should I allow myself a few weeks or months between each attempt, in the hope that I will have amassed enough original concepts in my brain in that time to produce one really really sterling piece?

One thing that I do know for sure – I need more feedback. I need to record these demos, put them up as MP3s, and get opinions back from those whom I can trust in such matters.