Summertime

Absolutely my favorite time of year. It's lovely and hot and time for beaches and fireworks and ice-cold watermelon and grilled burgers and dogs. Ears of corn with butter and salt and oh yeah…bikinis.

What more could you ask for?

Wow.

I said two posts ago that for me, glacially would be a kind way to put my progress on writing and creating, and man, I wasn't kidding. It's already June - nearly July - 2010 and I haven't written a single word of any story, or really done that much artwork. I haven't really been playing the guitar either, just mostly been working and working and working and working and for naught because we never have any money and I hate it forever. I feel like if I don't change this NOW then I never will, so I'm trying desperately to get things going.

I know, it sounds fairly depressing, but honestly I still believe in myself and will keep working at it. I think the secret to success is to keep working at something you love long enough to get really, really good at it and then people will flock to it. At least, that's what I keep telling myself!

So to all the people out there who aren't reading this, one day you will. And be happy that you did.

Ready for a revamp.

I have tried and tried and tried to make a blog. It's not that I'm not good at writing; I'm good at *continuing* to write. So I've alternatively done this, tumblr, and iWeb. Nothing seems to work, but I'm going to keep at it somehow. Plus I've really not been very funny on any of them, which was the original intent.

So I am continuing to fiddle with all this stuff until I find the right balance and design. The process continues.

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.