Winter

It's been a long time since I've posted anything and today seemed like an appropriate day, not only because I actually have time, but because its the first day of winter, and also the darkest day of the year! Anyway, not a whole lot has changed since November. I still work at the same place and I got extended so it looks like I will be until this other job comes through, which is hopefully soon because it is way closer to home and pays a little more. Nonetheless, I'm thankful to have anything in the first place.

Right now I'm sitting in Lexington, MA at Christine's aunts place waiting to go out and celebrate Christmas with her grandma who won't be able to make it to VA this year. Tomorrow morning we leave for VA where I'll stay until the 29th when we will leave for NY and spend a few days finishing up the Bone Fragments album and also celebrate New Years Eve. So yea, 2 week vacation pretty much! Kinda exciting because I never expected to see that again for quite some time now that I'm done with school, unless of course I become unemployed...

Music-wise lets see... Very excited about this new release as I feel it demolishes the demo in every way. There have been four days of recording thus far, in two different sessions in November. It was quite stressful to say the least! My style of writing music tends to create a lush texture of guitar harmonies.... it works both in a symphonic and atmospheric aspect depending on the context... but yea many guitar parts, and recording them all in such a short time took its toll. I was so worried that we would not finish what we needed to especially since we are recording in NY and not NH. These last two days will be vocals, keys, and mixing, which is a squeeze but I am very happy everything else is complete. My brother Phil was a monster on the drums and whipped his lines out in no time at all. I was very impressed considering all he had to learn from was MIDI on a cd I gave him, not to mention the complex song structures. I had basic drum rhythms written but I told him to do his thing and he definitely did! Christine also did her bass lines and additional guitars faster than I expected, and thankfully too since it took me such a long time to get all of mine done! One song, the finale, took over 4 hours just for me to lay down the guitars. Ridiculous, and I have learned a lot about how I write music to make the recording process more efficient and easier in the future through this experience. However, it has been a lot of fun seeing the songs transform from simple MIDI video game sounding to their final form.

I haven't been listening to much new music lately, just a lot of Paysage d'Hiver and Blue Stone every now and then. I have listened to many cds I used to spin frequently, and to my dismay do not like them as much as I used to. But, I can't say I'm surprised. I am just wondering what is next for me in the music world, as more and more it seems lately there is not much that I get really excited about anymore.

Religion wise, still trying to sort things out, as I am sure will be a long process. I have been reading Orthodoxy which is very interesting and I have been marking all the things that struck me so I will have a list when I'm done.

This past week it got down to 2 degrees one morning, which is the coldest I have experienced. Not so bad though, as basically I just walk to my car, de-ice it, and walk into work. And I have this awesome L.L. Bean jacket so that keeps me nice 'n' toasty. I also drove down the big giant hill with ice on it a few times and luckily I am still alive! One day I had to turn around on my way to work though because it was snowing very heavily and the roads were not being plowed yet. It was nice to have a wednesday off though.

I guess that's it for now. I'm excited about a lot of things right now, especially seeing people in VA. Give me a ring if you want to chill.