🎧 lo-fi and proud of it. 🎧[steem lifeblog #018]
There’s miles to go and these bags of coins are weighing me down. I need to make it to the Coinstar machine at the grocery store so I can cash in.
This is my new daily Steem Blog, now in beta mode!
INTRO
My goal in life is to start a new genre. To inspire and invoke a new form of art into the world, sending ripples of creativity out into the universe for generations to come.
Right now I'm grinding out the early stages, working two jobs, starting an anarchist art collective, and recording + rehearsing a ton of new music. This daily Steem blog brings you the most useful lessons and ideas that I'm able to extract from each day of my crazy life.
It's kind of like a motivational blog, but with a lot more angst and confusion. Call me the anti-Tony Robbins. Lets do this.
art from my second album, stellar wave
June 2, Walking Towards Cameron Village in Raleigh, 9:30
I can’t find it within myself to do the coin roll-up thing at the bank. Instead I’m headed to the grocery store where they have on those “coinstar” machines, the ones that count your change for you and give you a voucher for money.
The walk is pleasant, the air cool and dry. I’m moving at a slow pace, trying to be restful and present. Still recovering from being sick a few days ago so this long walk is tiring.
On the way to the grocery I spot Liquid State, one of the coffeeshops I featured in my vlogs from earlier this year. It has been a while since I hung out there.
I walk in.
Liquid State, 10:00
Most of the tables and barstools are occupied by loud college students, laptops and baked goods strewn across tables and loud chatter omnipresent in the air.
Barista: Hey man how are you. What’ll it be?
Me: Uh, um, a small coffee please. No room.
The coffee/dollars exchange takes about 20 seconds as the line wobbles anxiously behind me. Grabbing my coffee, I slip thru the two-top tables to my right and claim a barstool at the front, one of the only seats remaining, facing a view of the street.
I’m enjoying that sensation of staring at a busy street without being able to hear it. Shielded from the honking and brake screeching*, a busy street is relaxation to behold.
Raleigh busses have the screechiest brakes
A few episodes ago we talked about writing by hand and journaling. At that time I was writing the most I’d ever written per day.
Now I am writing even more, easily another 30-50% boost in handwritten pages per day. The notebook is about 2/3rds full, which is crazy to me after only a month and five days. I just can’t stop writing! I don’t think that this habit will change any time soon.
Today my writing is for Steem blog content. Sitting at the front of Liquid State, I pound out a 7-page post that feels terrific.
One cup of coffee lasts me an hour, the sign of creative immersion.
Just as fast as that process begins, it ends. I pack up my things and walk the rest of the way to that coinstar machine in the grocery store.
Harris-Teeter, 11:15
Seven minutes of scooping coins into the machine’s chute and I become richer by $70. Not bad! Now I can get food.
I’m trying to focus on buying nutritionally dense foods. It’s too easy to eat the same ingredients over and over, in fact for many people it’s just bread and cheese all day which is a disaster. I need variety to feel healthy.
Today’s shopping including carrots, broccoli, pineapple, coconut milk, beans, chicken, olives, greek yogurt, muesli, and a kombucha. For under $40 it’s a great haul.
The walk back home is often where existential agony kicks in — “why can’t I afford a cab? is this is really necessary?” but I fight those instincts. The key is to relax and move slow, just enjoy that walk back.
One step at a time.
Flux HQ, 13:45
Many thousands of steps later, I arrive back home at the FLUX HQ. Tossing those groceries in the fridge, I still feel good about my choices. When you are poor, grocery shopping is an art form.
Sitting down for a minute I feel the fatigue set in. My endurance for physical activity is quite low due to residual illness in my system. I need to rest for a while.
The rest is easier said than done, my mind is moving fast. Sometimes all I can do is try to rest, to get off my feet and not work for a few hours. If I don’t feel restful or if I can’t sleep, that is ok, I can’t blame myself for it. With rest, you win just by trying.
After two hours I feel ready to return to the hustle. My energy is back.
There’s four hours to go until I have work at the music venue Kings. I have enough time for a home studio session on the indie album.
Home Studio, 15:45
At this point my song “the good life” is sounding great for a demo. I’m strongly considering keeping the drum & bass tracks for the final version.
Listening to Tyler the Creator’s new album IGOR several times last week inspired me as a producer to do my own thing, to make these tracks sounds good & exciting to me and then let the chips fall where they may.
I really want to release this record before the end of 2019. I’m on a one-record-per-year kick now, two years running, and it feels great. These songs are ready to be finished and put into the world. I already have my 2020 album halfway written. I want to keep moving, I’m not into the 2-3 year album cycle.
As a result I am starting to think of this as an unashamedly lo-fi album, working with what I have to make the best sounds imaginable.
Which means I can re-use parts of these demos, when they sound exciting, for the final version.
This whole thing is so confusing, I still don’t know exactly what the album will sound like. I just have a great batch of songs and a creative process that I’m trusting and trying to work hard on.
For now, it’s a lot of practicing parts. Today I work on the bass part for “taken for a ride” for a few hours, then it’s time to go.
Amazing how fast the time flies. Next and final stop for today: Kings, the music venue!
Kings, 19:45
First thing I always do for the door shift at Kings is to count the money. Whenever you are handed a bag of money, count it.
Then I set up at the door. We use an iPad to track tickets and accept credit cards, so I get that into position along with the cash register. Next to that I place a notebook & pen for working on steem posts or even journaling.
Today’s show is an odd one, some jam band and DJ combination. There aren’t many presales but people come thru at the door leading to a room with about 30 attendees watching.
The three sets run for a collective four hours, only one of which features a live band.
It gives me a lot of downtime with my notebook and the iPad. I could do anything. I squander it! Instead of working on Steem stuff or journaling, I just read random threads on the web forum Something Awful. Damnit!
At least I get paid. After some post-show hanging out at the venue, I go home.
Those door shifts are a great opportunity to get digital work done. I’m annoyed at myself for letting it go to waste. Nonetheless, today was a good day. Time for sleep.
BITE-SIZED FUN STUFF
What I’m Listening To: mewithoutYou - Another Head For Hydra
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