This Is More Like It

Sitting in my room, going through the Photoshop 6 book (an application that my GIMP attempts to emulate. I think that, without actually using the word "plagiarized" they say that it's a free, open source program "that users of Photoshop will find familiar" or something) and I guess I have to take back what I said about myself taking to it like a frog to a pond.

Because,now that I think of it, the app has a boatload of bells and whistles and things that can get out of control in a hurry (see photo left).

This photo, I will call "Jacob and His 100 Pound Gorilla," and is a graphic representation of the power that his laptop has over him, as symbolized by the gorrilla that seems to be spewing "the cloud" out if its mouth.

The next chapter will teach me the dozen of more ways to "select" parts of images, and should propel me forward at a great rate of learning.

Now, I go to prepare another music file to load up here.

Busking has been productive, when I have gotten out there. I have been trying to take Monday through Wednesday off to catch up on things around the house.

Bobby in building C has been pushing me to try to obtain a social security "disability" check.

He is pretty sure that if I go to the same shrink who he sees, and tell the guy about how I have often woken up with a sinking feeling in my chest, like I am on an elevator going down, and how I am struggling to find meaning in a world being quickly overrun by the mass shooter generation with their 24/7 screen time mentality, then the guy could write me up something to take to the social security administration, or for the same lawyer who ran Bobby's paperwork over there to do so, and, within a few short months, I can begin to receive a check for $743 on the first of every month, to compensate me for this disability of mine.

"Imagine not having to go out there and play when you don't feel like it, just so you will have a dollar in your pocket when you wake up the next day!" said Bobby, or words to that effect.

Yes, it would be nice to be a full time artist; cranking out music and drawings and children's books and novels and blog posts and making videos and writing screenplays and lyrics and...

By quitting smoking pot, I could even triple my output and maybe even output an adequate amount of material for someone with a commission like mine...

The song "Impact Words" is just one piece that I composed using the self help dialogues.

I had found another one which I could also only vaguely remember putting together, and had played it for Jacob, who agreed that it was a work of art.

That one was just called "Prepare Yourself," and I was pleasantly surprised to have found it, since I had all but forgotten doing it, but it needs to be cut down a bit from its current 17 minute length.

And then, I did still another work, using poetry that I had laying around the house, which also needs to be edited down from its 28 minute form, called "Lispland," about a place where everyone speaks with a lisp.

What I am finding is that by shucking the guitar and getting on the keyboard, I unburden myself of several thought processes related to having the guitar around my neck which may have been holding me back.

Maybe my expectations from myself are higher when I play the guitar, since it is my "main" instrument, and the one that I am "supposed to be" good at.
The songs just roll off of the keyboard like I am Elton John, or someone. Maybe because the pressure is off me.

Or maybe because today's synthesizers practically write the songs themselves.

I can scroll through hundreds of drum beats, finding one that fits the song in my head; adjusting the tempo up or down as necessary and then, select from a couple dozen bass instruments from fretless to synthesized, and, before I know it, I've got the bass and drums ready to become the backbone of a song.

I am starting to think that this is how Prince wrote his stuff, and why he was so prolific, as it is totally possible to knock out 3 or 4 brand new songs a day using that Casio WK-200 (which D'oh! I forgot to download the user manual for, so I can learn how to do multi-track recording with the thing. Layering all kinds of synthesized instruments over each other...)

Now, to post this up using the hotspot connection, before checking to see how many megabytes will be used up in doing so.

Now, I have only used about 10 megabytes to post this, or about one half of one percent of my alottment for the month..
I guess I can conclude that it isn't blogging that is eating it up in large chunks...