This guy the musician

Today I estimated on how long it's been since my last post. With a guess of 8 months I was nearly right on the money. I hadn't intended to give up on my blog. In fact, I'm not sure what made me stop posting for such a long time anyway. Part of me didn't think there was much of interest to share. Another part of me realized that most likely none of my readers paid any attention to this anymore anyway.

Then there's the part of me that hopes and dreams that maybe something in this internet gig will be significant enough to be worthwhile. Could my writing or videos give me some fun and interesting direction for my life? Could it impact others? Two guys who made it doing something as nothing more than a pasttime are the creators of XKCD and Questionable Content. I commend these guys for doing something they enjoy creating, I enjoy reading, and they can actually make a living off of it. Plus I like their webcomics. Check them out.

I think what I was about to hint at was that in order for this blog to snare any kind of following it needs to have focus. I don't see too many people taking up reading my blog on a regular basis unless they know me personally or have identical interests as myself. Oh, and my quality should probably need to improve. Especially on the videos. Sorry, but my camera is crap.

NEW TOPIC
In other words, if you started zoning out, this paragraph is different and therefore offers new prospects at being interesting. I recently bought a violin for the cheap, bringing my instrument count up to 7 (2 trumpets, a cornet, clarinet, piano, guitar, and now violin). After practicing on it for a few days I've come to the conclusion that it's a really fun instrument to play.

At first I was daunted by the 4 strings, comparing it to the guitar. I started on trumpet, so I'm used to treble cleff, one note at a time sheet music. Sure, I'm able to wrap my mind around chords and song tabs, but it hasn't been quite so easy for me to implement. Despite the 4 strings, my practice material for the violin only has me playing one note at a time. It's actually one of the easiest instruments I've played also; not needing to know how to blow into the mouthpiece or remember tricky fingering positions.

It's a much more visual instrument; I can see what note I will play based on where my fingers are positioned, whereas on a trumpet multiple notes can take the same fingerings. And unlike the guitar, the sheet music is presented on a staff which is much more familiar to me and I can more easily relate those notes to positions on the fretboard of the violin.


On a completely unrelated note, I tried out Disney's Epic Mickey last night, and was really disappointed. It's been some time since I've tried an action/adventure/platformer like this. Does my memory fail me or are they usually this bad? The graphics are as typical as you can expect from Wii/PS2 type of graphics. Also, I'll admit that the game is supposed to take place in a "dark world" of sorts, but it just wasn't fun to look at.

The paint/thinner concept of painting in or removing certain items in the environment is an interesting gimmick. But while I wanted to run loose exploring this quirky gift, the story presentation or annoying guide character kept tripping me up to explain something that I either already knew or would have figured out eventually.

The last thing I'll complain about is the story. This game takes place in a Disney "mirror world" of sorts. In a nutshell, a land where all of Disney's rejected ideas come to live. Rejected, meaning that most of the characters are unknown. The only reason I picked up the game in the first place was because it featured a character I knew well and I was interested in where the game might take the Disney universe. In fact, that's why I play most over-hyped games, like Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong (don't get me started on DKC Returns!).

Play the game if you want. Tell me what you think by leaving a comment. Play the violin!

New toy for Tommy and me

Watch the video, then follow this link:
XKCD Comic regarding lasers

Outdoorsy Work

I decided to grab a pair of work gloves and have a go at a bunch of dead stuff around my house. I may be a single guy who doesn't care about the way his stuff looks, but that doesn't mean I don't care about the way my stuff looks.

First off, here's a rose bush that's gotten severely out of hand. It was out of hand when I bought my house. I decided to hack away at some of the dead stuff still clinging to the rest of the bush and I still think it's out of hand. Ridiculous!

Behold my miracle tulips! I didn't do anything to make these babies grow. I don't even know who planted them, they're just a pleasant surprise. I didn't notice them last year because I didn't move in until June/July. It's strange to think that a year ago this time I was house shopping.
Most of the work I did today involved hacking up a big dead bush that you don't see in the upper-left quadrant of this photo. It's gone now.

This is Tommy's all-time favorite spot: on the back of the couch sitting in the window. Of course, he could see me outside taking pictures and I assure you he was trying his darndest to break my heart with all the whimpering and whining I could hear through the window.

Just a better shot of the tulips. Why not, right? Clearly I still have plenty of work, getting rid of a bunch of dead grass and whatnot. Want to come over and help?

Shameless photograph of Tommy.

Donut day

Today in the office we had a meeting to be introduced to our new head of office. I showed up to the meeting a couple of minutes early and there were plenty of seats to choose from, so I took one right in the front row. I figured the room would be packed and people would crowd around me out of necessity. I figured wrong. It was the slightest bit awkward sitting in the front row by myself.

On the plus side, this occasion was a good excuse for the company to buy an excessive amount of donuts. I got two and am calling it lunch.

VBlog - Ode to Tommy 2 Toes!!!!!!!