Musical Interlude

“And I think it’s gonna be a long long time til touch down brings me ‘round again to find I’m not the man they think I am at home, oh no, I’m a Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone.”—Elton John, Rocket Man

“People always told me that bars are dark and lonely, and talk is often cheap and filled with air. Sure, sometimes they thrill me, but nothing seems to chill me, like the way they make the time just disappear.”—My Morning Jacket, Golden

Man, I can’t find a decent video to “Golden,” which I wanted to share today. Core dump. Instead I’ll have to embed this video, which isn’t anything special, but it does let you hear the wonderful song that I’m talking about.

It’s really quite amazing how music affects some people and does nothing for others. For me, music is a large part of who I am and how I go about my day. When I can close my eyes and listen to the exciting combination of voice and instrument come together in a beautiful mix, it’s like I can feel something working that’s right and pure.

On some days one song may inspire, while on another it could just be noise to me. But no matter what, I have to have music playing if I’m going to be productive. I usually prefer slower, folkier, acoustic sounds when I’m concentrating or trying to be artistic. And for some reason, on rainy days I like to go through my ipod and play songs that are about rain. Sometimes, though, I feel like playing very loud stuff, just to get the fun and energy from the music.

And listening to music almost always makes me want to pick up my guitar or sit down at the piano and play. There’s something immensely satisfying just feeling the frets beneath my calloused fingers as the steel strings are pressed. It’s comforting and unchanging. It’s relaxing and pleasurable. WARNING: YOU SHOULD SKIP THE REST OF THE POST. IT’S POINTLESS. JUST WATCH THE VIDEO AND SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME AND AGONY OF READING THE REST.

I don’t know what the point of today’s post is. There’s no insight, little musing, and a music video. My mind feels like it’s going a million different places at once, like there are avenues of my brain that need to be explored, but I don’t understand. I do like lists, though.

1. My Xbox 360 arrived yesterday via UPS. I set it all up and then the darned thing wouldn’t turn on. Apparently the power supply brick/cord is broken, which is a common problem I discovered. So I get to ship it back to Best Buy and have it either replaced or refunded. Bummer.

2. I made yet another cheesecake last night, this one a simple, plain cheesecake. I’m thinking about putting a spider web design on it for the Halloween party, but I’m not certain.

3. The fan, to my left, sitting on the filing cabinet, above the computer, right next to my Boba Fett bobble-head figure, is wobbling, wobbling wobbling.

4. Do you ever think about the community of bloggers and how cool it is that we can communicate across the world with people? How, in my case, the love for a single book (The Name of the Wind) can connect you with people that have similar, yet different, tastes? It’s amazing, I daresay, what we have.

5. I can see myself sixty years from now being a crazy old man, his mind shot and addled, unable to discern the difference between reality and fiction. Space cars will whizz by me as I walk down the sidewalk, toward the Old Timers Park, where people like me will gather to remember.

6. I’m not in a mellow mood, but at the same time I am. I’m confident that I’m not doing all that I should be doing, but I wonder how I can actually do more. Does that make sense?

7. This one’s right-justified, just because it’s awesome. I signed up for a free Snuggie. I hope against hope that it’s not a scam. What’s cooler than a Snuggie?

8. I think I’m going to try and put a blurb of my NaNoWriMo story up on my author’s page, available here. If you’re interested in following my progress or anything like that, that’s where all the info will be.

9. Beware and abstain from tofu.

10. As a fun, side project, I recently started writing an epic poem. It’s probably the most fun I’ve had writing in a really long time. This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy writing and that I don’t have fun, but this poem is an attempt at comedy, and I’ve found myself laughing at my own jokes, which I think is okay. I’ll probably be sharing that for the next installment of Writing Wednesdays.

11. I had this weird and terribly sad, but ultimately happy, dream last night. We (I’m not sure who that includes, but definitely me and Keisha) were hanging out on this pier with somebody that had made this device that let people fly in the winds. For some reason we decided Stella, our perfect puppy, needed to try it out. As soon as she was in the air the winds picked up and she went flying off into the horizon, leaving me and Keisha screaming for help and a puppy barking in terror. I took off flying after her, but she was too far gone and I couldn’t find her. Far, far away I landed at my mom’s giant mansion on the ocean (we live in KY, so I don’t know how that’s possible) and was tired and sick and sad. Then, all of a sudden, a soaking wet and horribly distraught puppy crawls onto the sandy shore, and when she sees me she breaks into a run and jumps into my arms and starts licking me. Then I woke up. Of course I pulled my puppy close to me and scratched her belly. Man, I love that little thing.

Usually, my Friday posts are a different sort of post. By Friday, I’m burned out and ready for the weekend, and by Monday I’m ready to start posting again. Sometimes I have things to muse on, but usually I just cap-off the week with a crappy post. Dang, I wrote more than I thought. Blah. Such is the life.