small thought # 2

There are many ways to write a song. You can make the music first and write the lyrics. You can write the lyrics and find a theme and the song evolves around that idea. Improvisation helps. After a few minutes it all come into effect. Computers and 4-tracks help things out a bit.

so I'm going to write some music soon. I want to finish something by the end of the year.

unwanted noise

What happened to music? People go on and on how things that were popular twenty years ago will always come back and be the "new thing" again. 90's alternative has gone the way of the buffalo, and with a few exceptions, most of the groups that were vital in making 90's alternative what it was have disbanded. What is found on the radio these days is the ever evolving mix of what is left of rock music. People complain that music isn't "emo" enough, it isn't "indie" enough, it isn't "alternative" enough. What surprises many is that they begin to like the same music that everyone listened to ten or twenty years ago. Check the radio, the next time you hear something from Franz fedinand or The Bravery, you'll know what this is all about.

Is there a lack of originality or are people just prepared to listen to what they like from twenty years ago? Are things going to come full circle again?

Technology can be blamed. Because music is so accessible to the impressionable 13 year old, it is easier for one to get into music today. The internet itself is an endless jukebox of techno, polka, and salsa music. With a computer and a new ipod that you got for Christmas, you can fill your brain with over 13 hours of music at a time before the batteries start to die down.

Studies have shown that more younger people are experiencing hearing loss than ever before because of the constant music from personal stereos. Are we plugged in all the time? Since the popularity of the mp3 player more and more people are walking through walmart and school campuses with those white earbuds in their ears. No one is paying attention anymore.

chances are

Thousands of people are lining up in front of gas stations to purchase their powerball tickets. The prize has risen to $340 million and many people are itching to get their hands on that mountain of cash. Many pick their own personal lucky numbers, such as family member's birthdays, to increase their chance of winning. The news has publicized this as one of the biggest lotteries around and many are sure that this is the big one. Everyone wants to win the big one. Whenever people look through their junk mail, they believe that they will be standing in their pjs on the front porch watching publishers clearing house hand over a big oversized check. Most people expect to win prizes.

Everyone has been to one of those pizza places when they were little. They were all the same basic concept: crappy pizza, crappy pitchers of rootbeer, crappy animatronic beavers moving and singing to whatever was on the radio and tons of video games to siphon more money out of your parent's wallet. Those places made bank on little kids with the prizes they gave out from games that rewarded the player with tickets. skee-ball and other games give tickets to redeem for awesome prizes ranging from little candies and plastic jewelry to the am/fm clock radio and the coveted 13 inch color television. Of course the TV cost like 15000 tickets and there was no possible way to get that many tickets. Ever. No matter how bad you cheated and ran up the skee-ball ramp to put balls in the middle hole, there was no possible way to earn 15000 tickets for the TV or the radio. I'm sure if kids could add it up it would be cheaper to go out and by the crappy TV than spend 15000 tickets worth of quarters. Leaving the place with nothing but a finger trap and a half eaten pizza was nothing compared to the kid who saved enough tickets to buy the dust covered 13 inch television.

odds of winning are 1 in a billion.

small thought #1

The mind is capable of remembering everything. Time goes by, things move on, but something inside of you can remember what it felt like ten or fifteen years ago when you had a good experience with a friend, or the first time you ate ice cream. One day you could be reading the paper or driving to work and that memory will instantly be there. All of this information is stored somewhere in the dark recesses of the mind, and often they are recalled for no reason at all.

where do these things come from, and who controls these memories? Is there a way?

useless

There are many inventions that have been made to aid humanity. Vehicles have made transportation much easier, and computers and telephones have revolutionized communication. Hundreds of little gadgets have made small inconveniences an afterthought, for example, my roommate has this small desk lamp that is touch sensitive, eliminating the need to reach up and twist a knob. Electric toothbrushes make brushing arguable more fun. These types of gadgets make everything a little more convenient, and more efficient.

so why do some inventions backfire? Idealisticly they are supposed to make things better. self-checkouts at grocery stores are a great example. They were designed to cut checkout times and get more people out of the store. When have they ever worked properly? Every time I try to use one the machine blares in a loud female voice," PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAG!" then something starts to beep and the teenager at the command center looks at you like you don't know what you are doing. Items don't scan, and people behind you are getting restless. By the time everything is finished you could have been through the line with the cashier. They never work the same way twice. Sometimes it is better to just stick with what works, rather than screw things up with a new invention.

There isn't enough crap anyway.

not a lemon

I purchased a small truck from my friend when he left to move to the east coast. It was a truck that he had worked on with his father, not a good looking thing by any means. The body looks ok, I mean I don't care if the hood is a different color or the fact that there is a mean pink pinstripe running the length of both sides. Eh, whatever. The inside is clean, the tape player works. Everything mechanical sort of works. I've driven it around, and haven't noticed many bugs.

I was talking to a friend of mine. He owns a 4-runner and takes meticulous care of his vehicle. I had opened the hood of my truck and was examining the guts, looking for things I could do to make it run better. First thing I saw: no coolant, and the oil filter looked melted. The oil itself was blacker than coal. So... Yeah. There was much I could do.

I decided to work on the truck by myself. I don't have a great knowledge of mechanics, but I can tell what the different parts do and what they are hooked up to. I have the complete repair manual, and with step by step instruction was able to change my oil, and tear out my radiator for flushing. And clean the insides. Not bad I thought. Maybe it'll pass safety and emissions. Who knows.

cake and icecream

When you bake something, you have to remember all of the ingredients. Leaving something out can be the critical error that turns whatever was being made into something inedible. Baking is a science, and compared to cooking, it is an exact artform. there are so many variables to choose from before the desired result can be made. Living in a higher altitude can make things tricky if certain steps are overlooked. Take a cake for example: baking may take less time, and may require more liquid to make it turn out like a cake by the time you take it out. Certain element are adjusted to create what was desired. By following a recipe anyone has a good shot of reproducing what was intended to be made. Most recipes are the product of trial and error. By the time all of the kinky are ironed out, there is a messy kitchen full of burnt, exploded, gooey, and melted cakes.

sometimes its more important to decide what the intended result will be rather than understand which steps are needed to get there.

I always forget to turn the oven off.

paid programming

Saturday morning cartoons are an important part to a child. Getting up early, at the crack of dawn to watch thirty minutes of pure cartoon action was a weekend ritual. Cartoons were hilarious, but it always seemed like the good shows were cancelled for no reason at all. Trying to find these shows was made easy with the arrival of DVD collections, but to me it just isn't the same anymore. Watching the He-man DVD made me realize that the show was crap, there was now plot, inconsistencies and the only reason I watched it was because I fit perfectly into the age demographic.

Saturday morning cartoons have two main goals: to advertise for toys, and to make you buy as much sugar coated cereal as possible. Kids don't even notice what is happening, but they want the toys and they eat the cereal. Back in the 80's it was all about kids playing with Cold War action figures in their backyards and blowing up twigs and the enemy's hidden fortress. That would be followed by a live action shot of a kid falling down or something and a big cartoon tiger or leprechaun giving them the cereal they needed for the strength to do what they couldn't when they fell down. All the advertisement jingles were memorized and are still recognizable years later. Maybe children are being taken advantage of by toy manufacturers. Not everyone can afford to buy everything they see on television. There is always some kid that has the toy you always wanted. Jerk. Eating cereal all day will make you sick. Somehow the thought of Saturday without animated uselessness or carcinogenic corn puffs doesn't sound like Saturday to me.