Doubt that anyone is even reading this blog anymore since I never post.
Biopsy was positive. Third cancer surgery in as many years this summer. Followed by an external radiation treatment. Pretty much everyone who needs to know knows this now and probably some others who don’t. I can’t really keep it to myself. Guess I’m one of those people who just has to send out the message whether or not anyone responds. Luckily, most people I love do send messages of support and that is a big help. Just the three words ‘thinking’, ‘of’ and ‘you’ can bolster me long enough to get through a week. France simply has not created the resources to help cancer patients deal with the psychological problems or isolation, unlike the UK or US. The UK, especially is exemplary through Cancer Research UK. France needs to get off its high horse and take notes. There is no Gilda’s Club here. But I’ll create one if a winning lottery ticket ever comes my way. Given how much I wanted to be her as a child, it seems fitting. Of course, I should have been more specific. I meant that I wanted to be a comedian not a cancer patient.
Now that I know about the upcoming surgery and treatment, I feel like I can get back to writing again, oddly enough. Information is power and so on. Starting with some short stories to get back into the swing of it.Will share some bits here probably and we can all have a good laugh. So far the two I am working up are rather bitter, but I hope to make them funny as well.
Theory lessons have been going really well. My guitar teacher is pretty impressed with me, but not as impressed as I am with my ability to retain everything he’s been throwing at me. Memorising chord progressions has never been a bother for me. I have been doing it since age 10. I was blessed with a decent ear. It’s all the other stuff. Like flatting the 7th of a D scale makes it a G scale. That stuff makes me laugh out loud (MUSO!). He makes the whole process really fun, like a big puzzle. He’s not only teaching me improvisation and music theory, but also a whole new way of thinking. The guy’s a genius. I used to play around with music theory a lot right before my first cancer was detected; I guess I was 16 then. Basically building chords the way people play Sudoku. So much has happened since then that I am relearning everything, but it’s sticking. Really sticking. I think associating the learning with laughter helps.
In drawing news, I am working up the gumption to finally do some proper pen and inks, though I will love my Sakura Pigma Microns forever. This means a trip to some art stores. Heaven forfend.
Filed under: music
A classic Harry Nilsson song from his story record The Point. A forever favorite. Recorded on my iPhone with FourTrack. You can hear where I jostled my phone a bit. Sorry about that.
So busy at work that I am not blogging much. The abstracting/translating interface we use at my job looks sort of like an Add New Post page. Kills my desire to update once at home.
Instead, I play guitar and garden, though not at the same time.
No new songs, but no biggie.
My really big news is that I might be buying a 1946 Gibson BR-3 lap steel from my friend Tim in Austin. The problem so far is shipping to France. UPS wanted almost $450 for shipping and insurance, which is insane. Any higher than that and I might as well fly to Austin to pick her up and bring her back myself. Her name is Claudene — says so on the case and on the body. She is one hot mama. I played her through a tube amp in Tim’s music room once and it was a blast. We got on like a house on fire from the start. Tim wanted to sell her to me in 2002/03, but I was getting ready for a move to Paris. He still has her and offered to sell her to me again this week. It is a rare second chance that I do not want to pass up. I have few regrets so far in my life, but not buying Claudene was a big one. Just hope we can figure something out for shipping. If we can’t, and Texas really does outlaw the TSA in Texan airports, hell, I might go spend some time in my home town and bring her back with some Ruby’s BBQ sauce and plenty of Herdez salsa as well.
Been a month since I posted and I decided to make a bunch of posts private. They were kind of preachy and annoying.
Thinking about recording some songs this year and putting the results on Bandcamp. The novel writing is not really working, so I’m switching to something else. We’ll see where this goes.
Will be getting my first electric guitar soon, an Epiphone Dot Studio. This may lead to a burst of creativity or just a bunch of noodling. Either way, I am pretty excited about it.
Filed under: music
I wrote most of a song yesterday and recorded it using FourTrack on my iPhone. If I could go back in time to my six year-old self and tell her that, she’d totally believe me and ask to come back with me to this magical century.
Update: The song is pretty much finished. There may be slight tweaking, but there it is. I have written a whole song for the first time since 2007.
Filed under: music
This was recorded in 2005 in my brother Kelly’s basement.
Filed under: music
My father loves The Rolling Stones. Really, really loves them. I am not what you’d call a rabid fan. However, when my dad requested a Stones song, I recorded one for him.
(Must say that I am really pleased with my guitar work on this one.)
Filed under: music
Couldn’t get my mind focused enough to write anything today.
So here’s a tune. Again, it’s from the 5-FU EP made for my dad when he was undergoing chemo.
World Turning by Fleetwood Mac.
Ok, this whole writing five minutes a day thing is not working as I had hoped. The first obstacle is the book itself, which gets pretty self-helpy in parts. This is not something that appeals to me. The second is that I spend all day writing at my job and my eyes are pretty worn out by evening. So I’ll let this blog post of excuses serve as a writing exercise for today.
And here’s a tune to make up for it.
Filed under: music
Not feeling up to a writing exercise this evening, so here’s a tune. My dad requested ‘Remember’ by Nilsson for the 5-FU EP, but I couldn’t transpose it into a key that would work for my range. Instead, he got this.
