NOT GOOD!

My stress level is going through the roof right now. On Saturday, Crista and I went downtown and visited a bunch of stores (including picking up my wedding ring). Somewhere during those hours, I managed to lose my folder of papers.

This particular folder (well, laminated manilla envelope) contained all the lyrics to every incomplete song I've been working on for 2 years. 35 or 40 songs, in various states of completion, plus the only complete master list of all the new songs.

I've called everywhere we went, but it hasn't turned up. Each negative answer drives my stress up closer to the roof. I'm still not quite frantically panicking, but I'm getting close. These papers are completely irreplaceable, and represent an absolutely vast amount of work over a long period of time. To lose them would be the worst "stuff" loss in many many years.

Anyhow, I have to go and get ready to go out. If I could, I'd go downtown now and search in person, but I have to go to a couple of meetings. I hate going to meetings when I'm preoccupied with having lost something important.

Take care
-J-

Well, I'm doing something that I haven't been able to do for 11 months, even though I was supposed to: I'm wearing my wedding ring on my ring finger.

I bought it last June, while attending a convention in Quebec. It was too small for me, but the only one of its kind there. So between then and the wedding, I got it resized. Unfortunately, they made it too big. The wedding happened, and for many months, I wore it on my index finger, since we couldn't afford to get it resized again. Finally, we took it to another jeweler (since we obviously weren't pleased with the previous place) and it turned out that in addition to making it too big, the previous bunch had also damaged the gold, necessitating a much more expensive repair (more than the original cost of the ring). So back onto my index finger it went, while we decided what to do.

Finally, we decided to bite the bullet, and took it to yet another jeweler, this one not a chain, but a family-owned place run by the same man for the past 80 years or something. He spotted the damage, and proceded to fix it (which involved replacing over 1/2 an inch of the band) and resize the ring. The cost was 1/4 the amount the other place had quoted, since he liked us and gave us a deal.

And so, here in its proper location, is my wedding ring. It's going to take some getting used to -- I had finally gotten used to it on my index finger. There's a dent and a callus where it was, which shows no signs of lessening after a week and a half, though I'm sure it'll go away eventually.

And it only took 11 months from the wedding

Take care
-J-

A fascinating little musical anecdote:

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While the body of Harry Nilsson was awaiting burial in early 1994, an earthquake hit the funeral home in California. Nilsson's coffin disappeared down a chasm and colud not be recovered; consequently, the coffin at his funeral had no body in it and had to be weighed down with stones.
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Isn't that odd? What an exit! A showman to the end.

"Real" entry soon.

Take care
-J-

Fiction is extremely important. Stuffed animals are important. Lying on your back and starting up into the sky and the clouds is important. Music is important. Running is important. Wind is important. Thunder and lightning are important. Seeing something larger than the mundane is important.

Take care
-J-

It's not exactly that my musical tastes have changed, but the type of music I choose to listen to regularly has changed.

My taste in music is extremely eclectic. I like to boast that there's something in my collection of 500+ albums for everyone to hate .

What I like and what I don't like depends on a number of factors, none of them concrete or definitive. I value instrumentation, vocal, and lyric. I generally dislike fake, unskilled, bland or spiritless instrumentation. I'm very picky about vocals, and a voice has to grab me. I doesn't have to be beautiful or technically skilled, but there has to be something about it. Lyrics are tricky. I value a firm grasp of language, evocative imagery, strong perspective, and honesty. I don't generally like overtly political, religious, or social lyrics, nor do I generally enjoy lyrics which glamourize aspects of life which I don't feel are deserving of glamour. If you're going to try and teach me or convey a strong message, you're going to have to be one helluva good musician to grab me and keep me. But then again, I don't like fluffy music, and I would consider my favourite music to be extremely pertinent and relevant to the important aspects of the human condition.

There are more exceptions than rules. It really comes down to whether it grabs me or not. Sometimes I'll love the voice, but hate the production. I hate sterile production. Music should sound like it's made by humans. I prefer acoustic instruments, and generally abhor synthesizer, especially when it's used (as it most often is) merely as a lazy substitute for a "real" instrument.

So, coming back to change. Making this current mix tape is demonstrating to me that I'm listening to much mellower stuff than I was a few years ago. Not necessarily surprising, since I'm currently in a very stable time in my life, vastly different from the fast-paced and tumultuous times during which previous mixes were compiled. It's interesting to try and balance out songs I used to listen to with my current tastes. I still like the old songs, but their presence seems a little odd, and maybe even a little insincere.

Anyhow, long blogs seem to kill readers. More anon.

Take care
-J-

"Meaningful" entry will have to wait some more ...

Now for the continuing adventures of the stuff tape. I've pretty much finished adding to the list (which peaked at 98 songs), and am now deeply embroiled in the cutting process. The list is down to 72 songs. I know that doesn't sound impressive, but trust me when I say I'm doing pretty well so far. I am, however, beginning to feel that this one is going to be a double CD. I can't see being able to trim it down to 80 minutes. I've never done one of these on CD before, and I've always used 90 or 100 minute tapes, so 80 minutes is positively stifling

Take care
-J-

For all you online quiz fans out there... I think this one's pretty great!

Don't worry, I'll make a proper entry soon...

Take care
-J-

I've just started work on a stuff tape (what some call a mix tape). It's for a friend of mine.  I'm extemely picky with these tapes, and I make each one specifically for a person. I've only made half a dozen, and I haven't done one in several years. They take a long time (weeks at least) to put together, and extreme care is taken with respect to variety and sequencing...

This one will probably end up as a CD though, not a tape. It's easier that way. I'm not entirely sure.

It's a fun process to go through. In starting this one, I dug out the tracklistings from several previous tapes (I'm a real archivist). The lists reminded me of a bunch of important songs which I haven't listened to for a while. It's going to be interesting trying to balance important songs from my past with my current listening habits.

Anyhow, since I'm sure you'll all be on the edge of your seats, I'll keep you informed as to my progress

Take care
-J-

I posted the following as a reply to a post by the wonderful Liz_A, and she suggested it should be an entry unto itself. So, at her suggestion, here it is:
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I've never really understood the distinction between online and offline friends, at least in the strong sense which some people seem to see. I think that it has to do with the breakdown of the written word as a primary form of communication. It may also have to do with the world getting 'smaller', so that it becomes increasingly possible to meet people in person. I dunno. It's strange. I think it's entirely possible to know online people as much or more than 'real-life' people. Maybe that's because I'm fairly reclusive, and only see people face-to-face occasionally.

To me, communication and contact are very real aspects of my life, whether they involve physical proximity or not. In a sense, I find the kind of considered, thought out and written communication of the online medium to be more rewarding than much fact-to-face contact --  it can be deeper, more precise, and convey a different set of information. Many people find it lacking because they have never learned to parse the written word for its own variety of 'body language', and thus find comprehension and the attendant emotional connections invisible to them...

Anyhow, I do notice when you go, and I keep checking back until you return. I value my online friends, the feedback they leave on my posts, and the pieces of themselves they put forward for the world to see in their own blogs. It's why I take the time to write proper replies when I can, and why I feel something missing when I'm away.

Take care
-Justin-

Tired. Well, sort of. My sleep patterns are still shot. But the inlaws leave Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to recover fairly quickly. Not that I necessarily want them to leave or anything, but I'm really sick of not being able to sleep the way I want to.

Spent the afternoon finally putting a coat of stain on the deck I was hired toscrape and stain back in May. We've only had a handful of 3-day sunny spells, which are needed for such work (1 day to dry, 1 to stain, and 1 to cure before the rain). I still have a day's work there, for the picnic table, garbage stand and front deck, but the bulk of the work is now done. Thankfully. I hope I can get the rest finished before I go to Halifax.

My bandmate Byron has just gotten engaged to be married! This is a fabulously wonderful thing, for a number of reasons. Drop over to his blog and wish him well, if you feel so inclined.

Spent the evening helping set up and decorate for my wife's cousin's wedding tomorrow. It's an infinitely more traditional sort of thing than mine was, and I find myself a little baffled by the traditions and complexities of it all. But oh well. I'm sure it'll be a lovely event.

Anyhow, that's that for now. I need to toss in a poem or something soon, and break up this diary-style streak I'm on...

Take care
-J-