Ever since I moved in May of last year, my drums have been at a music complex about half an hour from my apartment. Not ideal, and certainly not as cushy as I had it when I lived in my house. But it is what t is, and that’s the best I’ve got for right now.

Up until this week, I’d only been going there once a week, usually on Friday nights after work. They recently changed their hours, so they’re open much earlier all the time, so it’s slightly easier to go on Saturday morning. It’s also a lot quieter on Saturday mornings, too. Friday nights are hit or miss. Since there’s close to 100 rooms in the place, sometimes I get there and there’s no bands rehearsing. Sometimes there’s a bunch. And as soundproof as they built the place, it’s still pretty loud. Thankfully once I put my headphones in and start playing, it’s tough to hear any other musicians, so that’s okay. I think, but haven’t confirmed, that I’m l the only musician there that’s not in a band and just plays for fun. That’s probably because of the fact that the place is kind of pricey if you’re by yourself. Since most of the other renters are in bands, they get to split the costs between them, whereas I’m by myself.

Starting this week, I’m going three times a week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. Not only does this make financial sense, but it’s good for my mentality and physicality, as well. It’s no secret that I’m out of shape, and have been for years. And it’s also me secret that I can’t go to the gym consistently. The only form of exercise over the years that I’ve ever been able to manage has been my drums. So why not take advantage of it?

I got myself an iPad mount a few weeks ago, which has worked wonders. I used to,play along to my iPhone in my pocket, but that wasn’t working out so well. If a song came on that I didn’t want to play, I’d have to reach into my pocket and take the iPhone and change the track. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you’re trying to play along to songs that may start instantly, it’s too to get the iPhone back in your pocket before the song starts. Now the iPad sits gingerly to to the left of my hi-hats at a height that I can not only always see what’s playing, but I can reach over and swipe to the left or right to change tracks. It works out way better this way.

Here’s a gallery of my drums. Because this post is really long right now, and your eyes could use a break from reading. And because you’re probably curious about what it looks like if you haven’t seen it before.

I’ve also been experimenting trying to play some songs that I’ve never tried before. I’ve always tried to stick to albums and songs that I was confident I could play, but that’s getting kind of boring. So why not try new stuff? I’ve got a playlist on the iPad that’s just called Drums, with tons of songs that I either know I can play, or that I want to try to play.

People often ask “Can you learn to play this song?” And drumming isn’t really something that you can learn. Either you hear what the drummer in the song is doing, or you don’t. Granted, you could read the sheet music, and play it note for note the way the composer did, but that’s usually not likely. More often than not, you just play along to what you hear. You may get to a part that’s hard to hear or too complex, and you improvise. Most of drumming is improvising. At least the way I play it is.

I’ve had this particular drum kit for almost a year and a half now. I bought it for myself in September of 2011, as a birthday gift to myself. It’s my dream color, Pearl’s Ocean Sparkle. I’m a hit miffed that there’s two different shades of blue, but it happens. I got such a good deal on Craigslist, I couldn’t really complain. Perhaps some day I’ll replace the mismatched drums wit matching ones. The issue is that they don’t make this particular line or color anymore, so I’d have to custom order them. Price isn’t a big deal, but there’s around an 8 month wait for custom ordered drums from Pearl.

In short, or to sum this whole thing up rather, I’m going to start playing more. Not just because it makes me feel good, but because its good for me. I love drums.

I noticed something the other night while blogging about Friends, and subsequently Full House — I’m more apt to blog when I’m not at my computer.  I wonder why that is.

Perhaps it’s because I spend between 8 and 12 hours a day at my computer, and no matter what I’m doing it feels like I’m working, even when I’m doing something as simple as blogging.  I think there’s some subconscious  thing happening that prevents me from blogging about anything when I’m at my desk.  Yes, before you ask, that’s where I am right now.  But even now, only 75 words into this post, I’m having trouble thinking of what to write.

Maybe it’s not the computer — maybe sitting in front of the TV helps me write about things?  I don’t know.

I’ve been keeping myself busy the last few days, trying to help a friend get her website up and running for her business.  That’s been consuming quite a bit of free time, on top of my day job, and my freelance career.  People keep telling me that I have my hands in too many pots, and I’m starting to see what they mean.

Don’t get me wrong, I love keeping myself busy.  It helps keep my mind sharp.  I much prefer being working on something than sitting around not working on something, that’s for sure.

I booked a trip to Vegas in June which will mark my first vacation in five years.  I think not only am I overdue, but I also deserve it after all this time.  I can’t wait to get away to somewhere sunny, hot as hell, and full of touristy things!  It should be a great time, that’s for sure.

That’s what I keep telling myself today.  If the day before is a bad day, telling yourself that today is a new day is a new way to start over. Start fresh. Let your mind reset itself, and try again.

I posted this as a Facebook status earlier: “Today is a new day. Today is a new day. Today is a new day” and a great comment to the effect of “the brain can be tricked. Replace “new” with “good” and see what wonders it’ll work.”  Which is amazing advice.

It’s amazing what you can do if you set your mind to it.  Just telling yourself that you’re going to have a good day can do for your mentality.  Just telling yourself that you’re going to be positive actually works.  I’m trying that as my mantra for this week.  Be positive. Stay positive. Act positive.

I’ve been keeping busy this last week, which is why I haven’t updated much.  Lots going on, and my hand in too many pots at once (as usual), and trying to stay above water.

I finally booked a vacation after 5 long years of not having one!  Trip to Vegas in June with friends.  I rented a house, ’cause that’s how I roll.  Go ahead, be jealous.

Oh, and I finally finished my taxes.  Having to repay the government the $8,000 First Time Homebuyer’s credit was rough.  Apparently the law is that you have to live there for 3 years. Even though I still own the house, and rent it out, I had to repay it.  That took a big chunk out of my refund, which hurt. But c’est la vie.

That’s all I’ve got for today.  That’s as interesting as what’s happened in the last week. Sue me.

Today’s Valentine’s Day.  Or, if you’re like most men, it’s “Oh, shit! I forgot!”  Hence the image of a heart to the left there.  There’s nothing else in this post about Valentine’s Day.  Sorry if you’re now let down.

I’ve been keeping myself extremely busy the last few days, working on some new projects.  Some of which are old projects, in fact.

I dug out the legal storage container full of my song lyrics, that’s now sitting next to me on the floor.  Staring at me.  Saying “You should finish typing us. You only got to the letter S.”   Staring at me with their hanging folders, and handwrittenness.   I’ll get to those eventually.

Work has been keeping me busy, as well.  Tons of work going on there, which is good.  It’s helping me save a ton of money.  The more money that comes in, the easier it is to save excess, right?

I think I’m at one of those places in my blogging life where I have nothing else to say.  So, that’s it.  I’m done.

That image there is the least graphic representation of a train wreck I could find. I didn’t want to use a real one and offend anyone.

Let me start by saying that I’ve been “online” since the late ’80s. Back when internet was dial-up, and you paid by the hour.  That’s to say that I’ve been around the block for many years, and am not some person in a third world country that just got a computer.

The longer I’ve been online, the easier (and more affordable) it’s become for anyone to get online.  Any by “anyone” I mean people who have less intelligence than I feel should be required to be online. Granted, “the internet isn’t a spelling bee”, or whatever other lame excuses these people use for not knowing the difference between their, they’re and there.  It’s just sad, and frankly a little appalling how uneducated some people can be.

Granted that there can be a difference between making a typo and simply not knowing which version of a word is correct, but c’mon.

I went through my Facebook wall the other day, and was viewing some of the “Friendships” that Facebook lets you peek into — you know where you can see various things that you’ve posted back and forth with a specific person.  It made me do some more digging into some folks that I have known for many years.  And what I found wasn’t impressive.

Not to single any one person out, but I went to a Technical high school.  That’s generally seen as a school where you learn a trade, and the focus isn’t on academia.  That doesn’t mean everyone that goes to a technical high school is a moron.  I went to one, and I feel I turned out pretty well, and somewhat above average in the intelligence pool.

What I found by digging into some friends from high school (I’m going to use the word friends loosely as the people I’m secretly referring to here weren’t really my friends — I didn’t have many of those back then. Still don’t, but this time voluntarily) was that many of them come across as being dumb.  Sure, people type on their phone and fat finger things.  People are in a rush to comment on something.  Whatever the excuse is, certain people just come across as dumb.

The prime examples I’ve seen are comments that have no punctuation.  Every time I see this, I flash back to seventh grade English class, where we watched Flowers for Algernon, wherein the “dumb” guy (who becomes really smart.  Come to think of it, it’s quite the great movie) is presented with a sentence:

that that is is that that is not is not

This a test of his intelligence.  It’s only when he’s “smart” he can decipher that the sentence makes no sense without punctuation.

For those following along at home, the sentence reads correctly when you punctuate it: That that is, is. That that is not, is not.

See what a difference two commas and a couple of periods can make?

I wish some of these people that I read comments or posts from every day remembered that movie as well as I did.  Perhaps they’d realize that not only do they come across as dumb, but also their posts and comments are almost unreadable.

Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a sweeping statement of the people I’m connected with on Facebook.  Most of my friends are quite intelligent, and actual people I wouldn’t ignore if I ran into them in a grocery store (which I’ve honestly done in the past).  It’s just amusing the things that you can find online when you look around.  I, apparently, find unintelligence amusing.

I’d include some other amusing things I’ve found online over the years here, probably some photos of funny things. But let’s face it, I’m lazy, and this post is already long enough.

… I’m posting another blog post!

I also made a change to my theme since the old one was a bit stale.  The same content’s here, with the addition of 5 new songs that I wrote last year and never got around to publishing.  You can check those out on the 2012 Music Page.  Not my best work, but it’s fine to try to get back into the swing of things after years of being stagnant in life and not writing anything new.

The new theme’s not completely finished yet, but it’s close enough. It’s also responsive, which is a new and fancy way of saying that it automatically resizes itself based on the size of the screen viewing it.  View it on your  iPad to see what I mean. It’s pretty awesome.

It’s Friday, which means I get to head to my drum studio to smash expensive shiny things (the drums, der) to relieve some of the frustration and stress that builds up during the week.

That’s it for today.  Nothing exciting. (Which could be said for the entire blog here, but whatever.)

It seems like every year, along with the rest of you, I tend to make resolutions for the new year.  And, like you, I hardly ever do any of them.

This year I decided to try something new.  I made silent resolutions.  I didn’t tell anyone what I was resolving to do or change about myself.  I’m not sure I did this, probably to avoid having to be reminded when I inevitably fail at whatever said resolutions are.

That said, I will let you know that so far in 2013, I’ve been doing pretty good at my resolutions.  Of course they’re secret, so I could be lying to you right now. (Don’t worry, I’m not.)  While not perfect at the things I promised myself I’d change, I’m doing the best I can, given the hand that I’m dealt with.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month already in 2013.  It really is true what they say when you’re younger — time flies faster the older you get.  It seems like 2012 flashed by in the blink of an eye.  Not that it’s a bad thing. 2012 was a pretty terrible year, on the whole.  Sure, there were some good things that happened, but for the most part, it wasn’t the best.

I’m going to continue trying to keep my secret resolutions, and try to get out of this rut that I’m in.  There’s only one direction to go, and that’s up. (That sounds really tacky to write, but it’s true.)