December 30, 2003

• Happy 3rd Xangaversary to me! Well, I'm off by a couple of days, but close enough. Lots has changed in the 3 years I've been writing here. I've met a lot of wonderful people, some of whom are still here, while others have vanished back into the online ether. I remember that back when I joined, it was possible to visit everyone, if you felt so inclined. Now, with  tens or hundreds of thousands of users, Xanga is kind of a different beast. But I still love it. My writing style has changed a bit -- I write less frequently and the entries are more like a diary. I don't post as much poetry either. But all in all, I hope it's still a worthwhile place to spend a few minutes of your time. Thanks so much to all my readers, veteran and recent, for dropping by and sharing a bit of your world with me.

  
  

  Hope everyone had a good Christmas. All geared up to make all sorts of well-intentioned yet futile New Year's resolutions? If I was the resolution type, I'm not sure exactly what I'd resolve this year. Everything's so up in the air. On the one hand, we seem locked into this series of unpleasant actions with little chance for self-determination. But then again, a slight shift in perspective and you could look at our current floating aimlessness as the embodiment of the ability to do pretty much whatever we want in the coming year. It's not easy to cling to the second perspective, but that's the one that'll help us to rebuild, so that's the one I'm trying to keep in mind.

  
  

  For those of you wondering, my grandmother did pass away, in her sleep in the early morning of the 24th. My father is now out there, taking care of their apartment, making the plans for the care of my grandfather, and all those other details. I hope it goes smoothly.

  
  

  Been trying to make some headway with a few bits and pieces that need doing. I've made some phone calls to get the wheels in motion for getting some important paperwork dealt with, though they say it'll be somewhere around 3 months before it's all processed. Also discovered something rather disturbing on another front, which means we have to be very careful for the next few weeks.

  
  

  On other fronts, I've been going through the final few rolls of pictures from Korea. It's an emotional task. I'm slowly putting together a package for my ex-students, and I want to include all the class photos I took during our last week. There'll be other bits and pieces too, of course, like candy (can't go wrong with candy).

  
  

   I've also been putting together a whole bunch of stuff for my good friend Byron. I'm doing up a couple of mix CDs, plus one full of interesting video snippets, and one full of demos of the songs I've written since we recorded the first Ticklish Brother CD back in 1999. Since I write so slowly, that only amounts to maybe 20 finished songs, with another 35 in progress... But oh well. I've been recording the ones that are finished, and I'll try to put a push on to finish some more. We're hoping to record a second CD some time in 2004,and since we're in different places, swapping demos is about the only way to start getting familiar with the new material.  Ticklish Brother is definitely an example of something greater than the sum of its parts -- our songs and performances are much better when we're able to work together. But oh well. Time will come. I'll probably post some of the better recent demos online soon.

  
  

  But I think it's time for a walk. I'm a bit stir crazy lately, since the company I work for takes a 2-week break at this time of year. I really can't spare the income, so it's a huge inconvenience. I'm not making nearly enough to begin with, let alone with a hiatus like this. I probably won't be back on the job until Monday the 4th. In fact, I think that if prospects don't improve during that week, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and find another job.

  
  

  Alright. I'm off. Hope you're all happy and healthy. Thanks for dropping by.

  
  

  Take care
  -J-

  • 6:07 pm
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