I’m Not Dead Yet

Hi there. This is still here, because the bloggery nonsense in iWeb is, well, nonsense. You can’t seemingly update it from anywhere except actually in the iWeb that you originally created it in, and frankly that’s just not good enough. I mean…how often am I at home on my laptop to blog?!

So I am leaving this little portal open for now until Google and some friends can give me some answers on getting it all going properly. No idea on how long that will take, but at my pace, “glacially” is a kind term.

The Website Goes Live

Last week I put my website live. It will be the home of all my future creative endeavors, and I hope it gets hugely popular and all kinds of stuff appears. So this pretty much means the end of this blog, as it will most likely be folded into that space.

Dark House is here.

Ars Prolifica!

And with the last post about my Macbook, I have now officially posted more in the month of August than any other month in the past four years!

Good. It's about time I started writing more. I wonder what I should do to get more people reading my stuff though.

My Macbook is fixed!

I got a Macbook back in 2006. It's a lovely black 13" one and I've used it for tons of stuff and over the years it's served me well. However last year the display started flickering and I took it in for service as I have AppleCare on it. They told me it was a bad inverter cable and they “fixed” it but it soon started doing the same thing. Well, fast forward a year - yes, I have been lazy and lived with it - I decided since my AppleCare expires on Aug. 31 that if I don't get it fixed now it won't ever be. So I took it into Onyx yesterday. The guy told me it would not be looked at until probably Monday or Tuesday of next week, meaning I would be without it for nearly 5 days. No big deal, so I left it.

Then this morning - half a day later! - they called and said it was ready. They replaced the inverter board and, most excellently, replaced the top case which had developed a nasty crack. So now I have a non-flickering computer with a brand-spanking new top case, keyboard and touchpad, which is brilliant!! It looks practically brand-new now so I will be ordering an iSkin to keep it pristine from now on.

So yay for my sort-of new 'puter!

Of course, don't tell it I've been looking at Macbook Pros…

Twitter

No, I do not want to follow you on Twitter, thank you very much.

The Company Name

After years and years and countless thousands of logos and hours spent musing on the subject, I have finally decided on a name for my Creative Production company - covering films, artwork, music, whatever…which I will only teasingly talk about now. I have only told one other person and once I get the logo done and the website up and running then and only then will I let everyone know. I'm thrilled to bits though. And yes, for me, this spells the end of Shipwreck Studios. Probably.

Oh and the fact that I've gone a bit dark here might have something to do with the name…

Ze Party

Well I finally met up with my old friends Herb (and his wife Kim), Dan and long-lost Dave this past Saturday night. It was a long night of homemade pizza, reminiscing, new ideas (SPACE COURT!) and a huge amount of fun. It only takes one of these to remind me just how much I've missed these most excellent people. I am going to redouble my efforts to stay in better contact with them, I promise!

The Amp Has Arrived

I forgot to tell this place…which I may rename The Void (!) but I purchased a lovely barely-used guitar amp last weekend. It's an Epiphone Valve Junior and it doesn't appear to have ever been used. Bought it cheap cheap off of Craigslist! Couple that with the Digitech Hot Head distortion pedal I also bought off Craigslist (brand new for $15!!) and well…

…all I need is that Telecaster and we're good to go! Well, that and a good bit more practice.

I was startled to find that it didn't have a headphone jack though. That kinda sucks.

Astounding Pictures & friends

By the way, if you haven’t checked out my links, please do. They are all very amusing and fun and even useful places, run by great people and longtime friends. Herb runs Astounding Pictures and that stuff is a peculiar type of wacky I hope you all enjoy. Chris H. is behind Making Movies in Flyover Country and it is his blog about filmmaking in Texas. A great read with lots of insight on what happens behind the scenes. And Shouting Into a Well is British humor at its best, courtesy of my friend Chris A. Check them out. Anna runs Squeezebox and is a brilliant photographer, so check her out if you need a photo shoot.

Yes, this is a shameless plug.

Well, maybe not

I got everything back to reasonably normal now and even gone a bit dark. So it’s a change, yes, but just not the one I was wanting. Oh well…back to the drawing board!

Well *that* didn't work…

Well I got a lovely new template and it destroyed everything. I have lost all my links to other blogs and everything has vanished. No idea what happened there, but I am honestly tempted to bag this whole thing now because it's just completely not worth the time, trouble and effort to get it back to where I want it.

This sucks, and will probably be my final post.

Okay well maybe it will be…

The Refocus Comes!

First…the facelift!

Prepare for it shortly. This one will be much more me.

Off to Houston!

Well, this is weird. Last week I was on vacation and now this week I find myself at home alone. Literally. Yesterday I took Lisa and Jackson to the airport. They are visiting her friend Priscilla until Saturday, so I am at home until then.

The sucky part? I don't get paid until tomorrow and I have *ZERO* dollars.

Oh well!

Oh and you can see the guitar I'm getting (or one just like it) here:

Telecaster!

Back from vacation

I returned earlier this morning from a weeklong vacation. It wasn't really a “vacation” so much as it was “stay at home and avoid going to work” but it was definitely refreshing. I tried to do as little as possible in the way of blogging/facebook etc. All that stuff gets a bit much when coupled with everything else. I realize it's supposed to be a creative outlet but a lot of times it feels like time-wasting. But anyway it was fun - my little man had his 7th birthday this past Monday and I tried to fill the week with fun things to do. We had a good time and going back to work after that is always depressing. I maintain that working is a terrible way to make a living.

I still haven't written anything down for the novel and I am still planning to - but every time I try to do it I get bored with it, sadly. I often think that I enjoy coming up with new ideas more than I do actually carrying them out. That part always gets tedious and overlong and over-thought-out and I rarely have patience for it because there doesn't seem to be any real reward. The times I've finished projects I've more often than not thought "thank goodness I don't have to work on that any more" rather than any sense of fulfillment. Never really been able to put my finger on why. Perhaps I am not doing the right things!

Anyway, my wife and son are going to Houston on Wednesday and returning on Saturday, so perhaps I'll have a few seconds to get things in order creatively…at least I can plan to, haha. There is so much to do around the house that I fear the scant hours I have not at work will be taken up with making my supper and sleeping, but I will try.

Guitars and Writing

Hi all (heh),

Still writing and plotting. Well, not really writing, but I have the ideas all mapped out in my head, more or less; now to just put them on paper. I think that Charles Edward Cobb will finally meet the public in short bursts, but for the first time I am actually trying to plot out what happens in the story beforehand. I even know what the final line of the book is!

As for the Fender Telecaster, yes, I did put it on layaway and yes I am continuing to pay on it. I cannot WAIT until I have it at home. It's a great guitar and now all I need is a case and an amp and a strap and a cord and…

hehe.


Next? I want a real Gibson Les Paul. But those are THOUSANDS of dollars. So I'd best save up.

This whole “writing” lark…

I am going to try and make a go of it. I’ve gotten some recent strong encouragement and it has recharged the old creative batteries a bit. So I am really trying to write more and get the REAL career going.

Wish me luck. I will try and post some tidbits for people to read if anyone’s interested. The ultimate goal is to be a published author. Now I just have to focus on one thing at a time!

Oh, and that new guitar?

I'm still going to do it, although now I've changed utterly which one it will be. On June 1st Fender lowered the prices on a lot of their stuff so I'm immediately putting a Fender Highway One Telecaster on layaway this Friday. It's awesome and I can't wait!!

The best part is they ARE American-made, have a cool retro nitrocellulose finish and are only six hundred beans at the moment. Can't really pass it up.

I'm not very good at this, am I?

I keep meaning to refocus and rejigger this blog to be funnier, or be more creative, but I end up just talking. One thing I am constantly guilty of is trying to do too many things, and having too many interests. It ends up costing me in the end because I never seem to get anything done. I mean, I'm trying to write various novels, screenplays, draw, learn to play the guitar, catch up on my reading, plus fitting in work and the time at home. All this while going through the single worst financial crisis of my entire life.

What I really need to do is focus. Focus, focus, focus. It's long been my problem but at least I am aware of it. I just honestly seem to have no way to really force myself into one thing or another, and I end up just goofing off most of the time.

It's depressing, and irritating, and I'm working on it. Bear with me, or offer words of encouragement or whatnot. It's equally depressing because I also see my brother doing the things I want to do and always expected I *would* do but never got around to it.

I will do, then, what I always say I will do and so far have failed utterly, completely and miserably at; reversing the process and getting something done.

I will try and talk about it as I am going on. That at least seems to be therapeutic, and helpful (while simultaneously taking me off task!)

No, I won't!

Still haven't put the guitar on layaway yet. Utterly, utterly no money. Oh well.

At least the family tree website(s) I'm working on are coming along great!

Soon!

I am going to go pick out the guitar soon. Hopefully I will be able to take it home in a month or two!!

New guitar? Possibly…possibly

Well if you know much about me or have been reading this blog at all you’ll know that I won an Epiphone acoustic guitar last year and I’ve been fiddling around trying to learn it. Now that I am firmly entrenched in the awkward stage between beginning and Rock God, I have decided it is time to get another electric guitar. Since I am not going to sleep on a bed of cash every night, I can’t afford to get a nice Fender American Telecaster or Gibson Les Paul. So I’m going to go the cheaper route and get an Epiphone Les Paul Standard through my brother’s music store. I have had no problems with my acoustic, and they’re inspected in the USA by parent company Gibson, so I feel confident that I can at least buy something decent. Plus Patrick can help me pick out one that might be better than the rest, and with the money I save I can upgrade parts of it to the nicer Gibson equivalents and still pay less than one of their USA-made guitars. Don’t get me wrong - I would love to buy American, but in this case it is the difference of about $2000 and I simply don’t have that kind of cash right now.

Check it out and see what you think. It’s still expensive - just not four figures.

Oh and yes, the one I want is hopefully the one you see when you click the link (well, if you click the link which is the title of this post). Why do I want this, you ask, if I’m not really a very good player yet?

The answer, as always, is because. Just because.
:D

Besides, I already have a Japanese Stratocaster, and I want to have something that sounds different.

One Day, I Will Honestly Do This

In other words, I will actually refocus this blog. The problem is that my wife has now taken a full-time job, with hours of 6pm-2:30 a.m. - which means Daddy is working full-time, getting off work, going to pick up little man from his grandparents’ house, going home, cooking supper, helping with homework, making him take a shower or bath, reading book, getting him ready for bed and then finally collapsing into his own bed.

And…repeat.

So I have no time other than work, which I sadly use to actually work. However her job is only a temporary one so until I can get more than 30-45 seconds breathing time (meaning probably not until next month) I will have to put this blog change on hold.

That will probably give me more time to refocus on it; plus I’m still having problems focusing on just one thing at a time. I always have so many ideas or projects that I end up not finishing any of them, and that has plagued me my whole life. I need to finish one thing, and as a result of that I think everything will fall into line. Hopefully.

I normally get a small amount of time after he goes to sleep to do stuff, so I will try and fit this into there. Last night, for example, I was going to work on it. I sat down on the couch and started working on a few things on the laptop and suddenly found myself waking up on the couch…three hours later!

Aha! I have found it.

And what I mean by that is “I've found the means to change what this horrible template looks like and will be doing so later tonight."

With that comes the refocus I’ve been burbling about, or at least provides the (currently missing) foundation for it.


Oh, and thanks for the comments really - it means a lot. I know there’s not much point in my ramblings yet, but as I go along I’ll be talking about writing and other creative projects I have as well as giving excerpts, and hopefully doing funny things that people will laugh at and enjoy, and I’d love to have your input as to what’s working and what isn’t, and what you think of the redesign.

Oh, and this isn’t the redesign; it is just the result of me fooling around with the settings.

And yes, I took the picture. :)

Bits and Bobs

Some random bits of flotsam and jetsam floating about:


1. Is there an easy way - in fact, any way to make your own blog template on this thing, or put a photo up or anything? I like the ease of use, but the design is rather…lacking, to be kind. I will dig deeper; perhaps I have just not paid attention or read what I was supposed to.

2. I forget #2. I just had it a minute ago, but…oh yes! I am getting better at the guitar. One day I hope to be at least partly as good as my brother. I feel I've turned a corner though and that's saying something with as little time as I get to practice. I really need to make time for guitar and writing too. I think if I would work harder at both than something would come out of it that could change my life. Sounds corny, but why not try it? I mean…if I can take time to write in a blog then I should be able to write more on my novel(s) and short stories I’ve had for ages, right?

3. I feel like I also should go back to school but I don’t really want to write papers on things that I don’t care about and will probably never remember anyway. I do want a degree but I no longer know if I have the patience to get one. I feel ashamed of not having one, but until we get some more income at my house, it’s pretty much a dead issue.

4. If anyone, anyone at all is out there reading this, please feel free to leave a comment. If you like.

Still still refocusing.

Ah well. I am trying.

At least baseball has started again and that brings with it, for me and thousands of others the promise of springtime and renewal. Many claim that baseball is boring or takes too long but for me it's the leisurely pace that brings a sense of peace and calm. To me, everything in my life, including and especially work, is always rush rush rush. It is therefore a wonderful thing to sit in a place that smells of hotdogs and peanuts and cotton candy and fresh-cut grass in the warm sun and just soak it all in. To watch the strategy of a well-placed defense or the pure elation of a crushed home run is so much fun that just for a little bit I can forget about what bills are due or whether or not I got the files I was working on right or if I need to change the car's oil.

That I can also enjoy it with my son is an added bonus; I want him to always remember spending time with his Dad and all the fun times we had when he was a kid. To me that is why I love baseball.

Which is not, to say, quite what I was intending on posting; I am trying to develop a sense of place and a rhythm for this blog, but so far it eludes me. I suppose for the time being I will continue to ruminate on whatever strikes my fancy, and see what comes of that.


Or perhaps, as I just told a friend of mine, I just need a really good burger.

Still refocusing.

Yes, I know. It’s still the same and everything. I’m working on it. It’s Spring Break this week for us and Little Man is more important than this thing…

More soon though I promise.

Refocus for this blog.

I used to think it was going to be for whatever I felt like posting, but now it's probably going to be primarily humor based. I'm going to try out different funny things and see what people think.

It's been dormant for long enough that I think that'd probably be best.