Work is kicking my butt lately, and I guess it's fair to say life might be too. But I suppose I ought to update my faithful followers, so here goes a dash through the week.
Sunday
Played music for kids ministry and had a good meeting about that. It looks like I get to be somewhat helpful to the people at church, so that's exciting. I also think I'm going to be responsible for a ton of planning, so that will be fun.
I also went out for a drink with my friend Ryan from my building and a new guy named Sergio. He also works at Microsoft. He is also 22. We might as well be clones. Me and all the other hundreds of 20-somethings working at Microsoft and living in Seattle. I feel so special
Monday
I had my weekly small-group thing with the guys. It was my turn to lead the group, and it made me realize what being a PM has done to my life. Seriously, I want to call out action items on every meeting and every second I feel like I'm wasting time bugs me. Like.I'm.Doing.Now.
Well I might as well finish. Anyway, the point of that story is that I like to "PM" the crap out of everything lately until I remind myself to be a normal person again.
Tuesday
Went to the Belltown Community Council meeting to make a park on Bell street from 1st to 5th. I really love the idea. I really didn't love how negative and pessimistic everybody was. But I do love my neighborhood. It's so quirky and I love it. Anyway, safety is a big deal here and Bell street isn't the poster child for the kind of place you want to hang around at night. So hopefully the neighborhood sees that doing nothing other than complaining hasn't improved a damn thing, and perhaps we could use this movement to do some good on Bell Street. We'll see.
Wednesday
Band practice got canceled, so I worked on a spec and a prototype for work all night. Thrilling.
Thursday
Frantic rush at work to get things done. Bad day. Realizing half the crap I designed isn't going through. I was pretty low on sleep at that point.
Later that night, I got invited to a random jam session and drove to Lord-knows-where in SoDo (south Seattle) to find some practice space that looked like an abandoned warehouse. I haven't actually gotten to play guitar with a group in a while--I always end up playing bass. I haven't been in punk mode in a while either, and I feel like I've drifted so far into my jazzy/indie/technical mode that I might not know how to do punk anymore. Well, I figured something out and it was fun.
Friday
Hell. I just need to make it through work and then we'll see what is worth writing about. I want to try to make it to the Belltown art walk tonight, and it would be nice if my plans to hang around and watch movies with some friends at my place go through.
The rest of the weekend
I am taking a group from my building to volunteer at FareStart on Saturday. Turns out recruiting at the McGuire is harder to do than I would have hoped. But that is what I get to do tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it. I think some people I know are having a wedding reception-type of deal (even though the wedding was a few weeks ago and not anywhere close to here) in the afternoon.
Sunday, I'm just planning on doing kid's music stuff again and trying to reclaim my life.
Wish me luck!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Hello people on the 545. I am, in fact, not dead
I haven't written to you folks in a while. I'm still there every day, but somewhere between being incredibly frantic to get things done at work and desperately grasping at the notion of feeling settled in my not-work life in Seattle, I forget to acknowledge you.
The collective "you" that is one of the few constants in my Seattle social scene (...SNAKES--because the chance to continue the alliteration was just too tempting)
So one time last week, I actually got to speak to one of you.
Girl that works at Nintendo and was reading a book in Japanese: it was a pleasure to meet you and I want to thank you for being one of the first women on the bus to acknowledge my existence.
To recap for the rest of last week, nothing else happened.
One thing I have started to notice: the best way to keep an open seat next to you is to make eye contact with everybody that comes down the aisle. It's like all of a sudden I have the power to make a person realize I exist and I'm not just a warm mass of tissue next to an available seat. 545 commuters, and Seattle in general at times, seem to really just be uncomfortable dealing with you when you exist in their social experience.
Or maybe I'm just that unappealing. Who knows. Either way, I have figured you out and now I get to sit by myself most times :)
It certainly helps in my now almost-certain pass out sessions on the way to and from work. Sleeping on the bus used to really weird me out, but now I kind of love it.
But I'll certainly always wake up the next time Nintendo woman comes or some equally friendly soul walks down the aisle. I seriously doubt every individual that happens to be male on the bus is as creepy as you seem to think they are.
Anyway. I'll try to come up with something more interesting to report soon.
The collective "you" that is one of the few constants in my Seattle social scene (...SNAKES--because the chance to continue the alliteration was just too tempting)
So one time last week, I actually got to speak to one of you.
Girl that works at Nintendo and was reading a book in Japanese: it was a pleasure to meet you and I want to thank you for being one of the first women on the bus to acknowledge my existence.
To recap for the rest of last week, nothing else happened.
One thing I have started to notice: the best way to keep an open seat next to you is to make eye contact with everybody that comes down the aisle. It's like all of a sudden I have the power to make a person realize I exist and I'm not just a warm mass of tissue next to an available seat. 545 commuters, and Seattle in general at times, seem to really just be uncomfortable dealing with you when you exist in their social experience.
Or maybe I'm just that unappealing. Who knows. Either way, I have figured you out and now I get to sit by myself most times :)
It certainly helps in my now almost-certain pass out sessions on the way to and from work. Sleeping on the bus used to really weird me out, but now I kind of love it.
But I'll certainly always wake up the next time Nintendo woman comes or some equally friendly soul walks down the aisle. I seriously doubt every individual that happens to be male on the bus is as creepy as you seem to think they are.
Anyway. I'll try to come up with something more interesting to report soon.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Some thoughts on playing bass
Last night, I helped out with a friend of mine who is trying to put a band together. By "helped out," I mean I got asked to sit in since apparently nobody plays bass, but it seems like these guys are planning on making this long term, so I may be "helping out" for a while.
I have always thought of myself as a guitarist first. My first instrument was a bass, but I always ended up playing guitar more and it's generally a lot more interesting to play when you're by yourself.
I started playing bass back when I listened to Blink 182 and the like pretty religiously. As a result, my bass technique was boring, I grew tired of it, and I gravitated toward guitar. As I grew up, I started listening to more interesting music and realized there was a lot more to bass than I thought, so I went back. Since then, I've learned tons more technique and playing bass is actually a ton of fun. It is maybe one of the less glorifying roles in a band, but most music producers or "HOW 2 B IN A BAND, FOR DUMMIES" books will tell you it's a pretty key role. So here are some things I picked up.
When I play bass, I often feel like I am playing what the drummer plays, except I'm also playing notes and making less weird faces. My bass playing got immensely better when I started jamming with talented drummers. Conversely, I always found it incredibly difficult to do anything mildly interesting if the drummer was boring.
Listen to the drummer's kicks. Are you hitting the core notes there? Are you emphasizing the beat, driving the rhythm, and defining the progression with your bass?
Listen to the snares and cymbal work. Are you accenting in a tasteful way?
Listen for the drummer's fills. Do you have a run to complement?
Make sure you pay attention to the drummer. There are times when I shut out the rest of the band and just interact with the drummer and that's really all I need sometimes. It helps when your drummer is cool person because I think there is an important connection between those two roles in a band.
Last night I had the pleasure of jamming with a really talented drummer. He ended up telling me he hadn't jammed with a bassist who accented his high-hat work while also syncing up with the bass drum stuff. I really hadn't thought about that, but it just felt natural and it was actually a lot of fun.
So as a bassist, we're worried about rhythm, but we also can play notes. This part is actually kind of fun if you jam with people who can articulate what they're trying to do. Knowing what movement feels right and what chords or colors are being played helps as a bass player. There is actually a lot of potential to add interesting tension, runs, complements and other musical terms that I was never taught. Bass players don't have to be stupid. Know what minors, modes, scales, and keys are. In my experience, learning to play just about every instrument in the band not only makes you awesome, but it makes you a more complementary musician regardless of the role you fill.
Ok, there are times where it's appropriate to be boring. I think I make this mistake a lot where I want to play something cool and it just comes out sounding busy and annoying. So maybe you don't need to arpeggiate through the progression or add slap/pop to every song. I've heard recordings of myself where I was playing what I thought sounded really cool but then it just sounded annoying when I listened to the mixed playback. Remember there is an overall sound that you should support, not dominate.
So obviously slap/pop is the cool thing bass players "need to learn," but there are other little tricks that are also cool to know. I recently learned what I can only describe as a weird finger slip over strings that lets me play triplets and do string skipping.
For some examples, the bass player from Portugal. The Man does something cool like what I described in the verses for "Lay me back down". The classic crazy bass line that taught me a lot comes from Rush in the song "YYZ".
The bass player from Pinback is also pretty awesome and has a very innovative and unique way of playing bass. Here's a cool song called "Penelope" by them that is a good example. He almost strums it (you'd have to watch something on YouTube to see what I mean).
This final song is called "Roundabout" by a band called Yes. This is an example of going crazy without sounding annoying. The song is absolutely epic and absolutely long, but you should at least listen to what they have (or had?) going on.
Listen to different bass players for the bands you listen to and find out what cool tricks they do. Then learn them. Seriously, watch a lot of YouTube. Even if they don't teach you the techniques, half of the battle is finding out these techniques exist and then working at it until it becomes your own.
This should be a given for any musician. Listen to everything. Find out what you like and don't like and internalize everything into your own personal sound. The fun part about being versatile is you can walk into almost any band and contribute something cool. The absolute best is when the band can put multiple styles into one song and still do it tastefully. I think Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground does that very well. In fact, I'm even going to ask you to watch this video to see how a band that big can still put a consistent sound together.
WATCH THIS:
Mmmk, so I drove to work so I don't have a fancy bus post, but hopefully this was somewhat interesting. Granted, I doubt most of you play bass, but maybe you should learn! I have an extra one if you're ever interested :)
THAT'S IT FOR THIS POST.
I have always thought of myself as a guitarist first. My first instrument was a bass, but I always ended up playing guitar more and it's generally a lot more interesting to play when you're by yourself.
I started playing bass back when I listened to Blink 182 and the like pretty religiously. As a result, my bass technique was boring, I grew tired of it, and I gravitated toward guitar. As I grew up, I started listening to more interesting music and realized there was a lot more to bass than I thought, so I went back. Since then, I've learned tons more technique and playing bass is actually a ton of fun. It is maybe one of the less glorifying roles in a band, but most music producers or "HOW 2 B IN A BAND, FOR DUMMIES" books will tell you it's a pretty key role. So here are some things I picked up.
Learn to think like a drummer
When I play bass, I often feel like I am playing what the drummer plays, except I'm also playing notes and making less weird faces. My bass playing got immensely better when I started jamming with talented drummers. Conversely, I always found it incredibly difficult to do anything mildly interesting if the drummer was boring.
Listen to the drummer's kicks. Are you hitting the core notes there? Are you emphasizing the beat, driving the rhythm, and defining the progression with your bass?
Listen to the snares and cymbal work. Are you accenting in a tasteful way?
Listen for the drummer's fills. Do you have a run to complement?
Make sure you pay attention to the drummer. There are times when I shut out the rest of the band and just interact with the drummer and that's really all I need sometimes. It helps when your drummer is cool person because I think there is an important connection between those two roles in a band.
Last night I had the pleasure of jamming with a really talented drummer. He ended up telling me he hadn't jammed with a bassist who accented his high-hat work while also syncing up with the bass drum stuff. I really hadn't thought about that, but it just felt natural and it was actually a lot of fun.
Learn to think like the other musicians in your band
So as a bassist, we're worried about rhythm, but we also can play notes. This part is actually kind of fun if you jam with people who can articulate what they're trying to do. Knowing what movement feels right and what chords or colors are being played helps as a bass player. There is actually a lot of potential to add interesting tension, runs, complements and other musical terms that I was never taught. Bass players don't have to be stupid. Know what minors, modes, scales, and keys are. In my experience, learning to play just about every instrument in the band not only makes you awesome, but it makes you a more complementary musician regardless of the role you fill.
Learn when to be interesting. Learn when to be simple
Ok, there are times where it's appropriate to be boring. I think I make this mistake a lot where I want to play something cool and it just comes out sounding busy and annoying. So maybe you don't need to arpeggiate through the progression or add slap/pop to every song. I've heard recordings of myself where I was playing what I thought sounded really cool but then it just sounded annoying when I listened to the mixed playback. Remember there is an overall sound that you should support, not dominate.
Learn different techniques
So obviously slap/pop is the cool thing bass players "need to learn," but there are other little tricks that are also cool to know. I recently learned what I can only describe as a weird finger slip over strings that lets me play triplets and do string skipping.
For some examples, the bass player from Portugal. The Man does something cool like what I described in the verses for "Lay me back down". The classic crazy bass line that taught me a lot comes from Rush in the song "YYZ".
The bass player from Pinback is also pretty awesome and has a very innovative and unique way of playing bass. Here's a cool song called "Penelope" by them that is a good example. He almost strums it (you'd have to watch something on YouTube to see what I mean).
This final song is called "Roundabout" by a band called Yes. This is an example of going crazy without sounding annoying. The song is absolutely epic and absolutely long, but you should at least listen to what they have (or had?) going on.
Listen to different bass players for the bands you listen to and find out what cool tricks they do. Then learn them. Seriously, watch a lot of YouTube. Even if they don't teach you the techniques, half of the battle is finding out these techniques exist and then working at it until it becomes your own.
Learn to listen to different kinds of music
This should be a given for any musician. Listen to everything. Find out what you like and don't like and internalize everything into your own personal sound. The fun part about being versatile is you can walk into almost any band and contribute something cool. The absolute best is when the band can put multiple styles into one song and still do it tastefully. I think Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground does that very well. In fact, I'm even going to ask you to watch this video to see how a band that big can still put a consistent sound together.
WATCH THIS:
Mmmk, so I drove to work so I don't have a fancy bus post, but hopefully this was somewhat interesting. Granted, I doubt most of you play bass, but maybe you should learn! I have an extra one if you're ever interested :)
THAT'S IT FOR THIS POST.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Dear "People on the 545 route" the morning of 10/21/2009
I fell asleep most of the way.
Sorry guys!
Also, yesterday evening I started playing with the Korg Kaossilator on the bus and lots of people asked me about it. One guy told me he was a DJ and a Producer and wished me luck after he asked me tons of questions about it. Ok.
Last thought. To you children on the bus who have been told sitting there with your mouths hanging open is ok: I'm sorry. It's not.
Or maybe that's the way kids let others know they're cool these days. Maybe I'm wrong.
But I don't think I am. Close your mouth unless you're sick and you can't breathe through your nose.
Sorry guys!
Also, yesterday evening I started playing with the Korg Kaossilator on the bus and lots of people asked me about it. One guy told me he was a DJ and a Producer and wished me luck after he asked me tons of questions about it. Ok.
Last thought. To you children on the bus who have been told sitting there with your mouths hanging open is ok: I'm sorry. It's not.
Or maybe that's the way kids let others know they're cool these days. Maybe I'm wrong.
But I don't think I am. Close your mouth unless you're sick and you can't breathe through your nose.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Dear "People on the 545 route" the morning of 10/20/2009
Can you believe it's almost the end of October? Holy crap.
We had a crowded bus today. I hope those of you who had to stand as we barreled through the fog on the stretch of road spanning Lake Washington have a wonderful day to make up for the inauspicious start.
And I have to thank you for being a little more chipper about the situation than a gentleman on the bus yesterday evening. The bus driver on the way home last night was kind enough to stop for me after he had already pulled out of the Overlake Transit Center bus bay for the 545--even though I sneakily ran around the back way and caught him as he was leaving in my direction. Apparently, the normal long bus had broken down and we were on a normal downtown bus. A little more cozy than normal, but still convenient transportation nonetheless.
Well one fellow saw the bus as we pulled up to give him a ride and he immediately made a point of displaying his disapproval with nasty looks before he even got on. He immediately complained to the driver about "the tiny bus" and shot nasty looks at everybody as he shook his head in disgust. Of course, he ended up standing right in front of me as I also stood in the back of the bus.
Was this free transportation really that bad? Was this situation that far beneath him that he needed to let us know just how disgraced he was? It was really starting to bug me. And then he started being rude to people around him and wouldn't cooperate as we tried to work together like a human Tetris game to shuffle people in and out of the bus. He was seriously a jerk and the way he was treating everybody else was starting to get me mad.
All of a sudden I felt like I was offended as he was offensive to everybody else. As if I should be sticking up for people or the defender of the oppressed. Why, I have no idea, but I mustered up the most stone-cold glare I could manage and prayed we would make eye contact.
And then I realized how foolish I was being. Matching hatred for hatred wasn't going to fix this guy. I started thinking about how I have been on this kick of being kind, loving, and gracious to everybody. Especially the ones that make it hard and difficult. And I felt like a hypocrite for throwing it out the window and weak in my own positions for being affected by this freakazoid on the bus.
I had to check myself a lot the rest of the way home. So maybe I'm not totally awesome at being kind to the least deserving, but what makes any of us deserve kindness anyway?
So yeah, it was a good reminder of the following:
So that seemed like a major digression, but the point is that we faced a similar situation this morning and nobody freaked out. Nobody that fit on the bus anyway. So thanks for that guys :)
I also read some really cool stuff about love this morning--what, love? dude you're lame. I know.
Yeah, I still think I'm a ways off from ever figuring that stuff out and how people are even supposed to deal with each other or believe that anybody could love them for no reason. For some people, that just could never make sense and they are convinced they can't be loved and won't allow anybody to love them. Some stare love right in the face each day and can't be convinced that it's real. Others desperately want to believe it's real but maybe can't see it. I don't know. It's all confusing and it's all something I want to believe and understand. So maybe I'll figure it out and then write a disgustingly emotional and terrifyingly boring blog post about it.
Until then, happy bussing. See you tomorrow Seattle-to-Redmond commuters.
We had a crowded bus today. I hope those of you who had to stand as we barreled through the fog on the stretch of road spanning Lake Washington have a wonderful day to make up for the inauspicious start.
And I have to thank you for being a little more chipper about the situation than a gentleman on the bus yesterday evening. The bus driver on the way home last night was kind enough to stop for me after he had already pulled out of the Overlake Transit Center bus bay for the 545--even though I sneakily ran around the back way and caught him as he was leaving in my direction. Apparently, the normal long bus had broken down and we were on a normal downtown bus. A little more cozy than normal, but still convenient transportation nonetheless.
Well one fellow saw the bus as we pulled up to give him a ride and he immediately made a point of displaying his disapproval with nasty looks before he even got on. He immediately complained to the driver about "the tiny bus" and shot nasty looks at everybody as he shook his head in disgust. Of course, he ended up standing right in front of me as I also stood in the back of the bus.
Was this free transportation really that bad? Was this situation that far beneath him that he needed to let us know just how disgraced he was? It was really starting to bug me. And then he started being rude to people around him and wouldn't cooperate as we tried to work together like a human Tetris game to shuffle people in and out of the bus. He was seriously a jerk and the way he was treating everybody else was starting to get me mad.
All of a sudden I felt like I was offended as he was offensive to everybody else. As if I should be sticking up for people or the defender of the oppressed. Why, I have no idea, but I mustered up the most stone-cold glare I could manage and prayed we would make eye contact.
And then I realized how foolish I was being. Matching hatred for hatred wasn't going to fix this guy. I started thinking about how I have been on this kick of being kind, loving, and gracious to everybody. Especially the ones that make it hard and difficult. And I felt like a hypocrite for throwing it out the window and weak in my own positions for being affected by this freakazoid on the bus.
I had to check myself a lot the rest of the way home. So maybe I'm not totally awesome at being kind to the least deserving, but what makes any of us deserve kindness anyway?
So yeah, it was a good reminder of the following:
- Having to stand on the bus is not the worst thing in the world
- Being kind to some people can be hard
- I could stand to gain some perspective and not become so enraged or emotionally affected when I see others wronged. Granted, I still think it's wrong and I still want to get involved, but not with an emotional charge because it changes the way I think
- I really should charge my Zune so I would have something to do when I can't sit and read
So that seemed like a major digression, but the point is that we faced a similar situation this morning and nobody freaked out. Nobody that fit on the bus anyway. So thanks for that guys :)
I also read some really cool stuff about love this morning--what, love? dude you're lame. I know.
Yeah, I still think I'm a ways off from ever figuring that stuff out and how people are even supposed to deal with each other or believe that anybody could love them for no reason. For some people, that just could never make sense and they are convinced they can't be loved and won't allow anybody to love them. Some stare love right in the face each day and can't be convinced that it's real. Others desperately want to believe it's real but maybe can't see it. I don't know. It's all confusing and it's all something I want to believe and understand. So maybe I'll figure it out and then write a disgustingly emotional and terrifyingly boring blog post about it.
Until then, happy bussing. See you tomorrow Seattle-to-Redmond commuters.
Monday, October 19, 2009
More music toys
So in my weekend defined by lack of significant accomplishments, I managed to pick up a new racket-making device for my apartment already filled with too many instruments.
I got myself a Korg Kaossilator and it is already one of my favorite things ever. It's this little machine I can fit in my back pocket and all it has for an interface is a touchpad, a knob, and some buttons. (I don't feel like stealing images today, so you may just have to click the link and see for yourself)
I spent most of my free time in my apartment sitting around with my DL-4 on loop mode--because nobody likes being confined to 8 beats--and jamming out. Only on this thing can you have that much fun with two thumbs. Well, I take that back. You can have a lot of fun with two thumbs on a Nintendo 64, but that's besides the point.
I'm not entirely sure how I could use this with a band. I'm starting to get a better sense of where my fingers should go to deterministically play certain tones, and it is capable of setting keys and the scales within that key. But otherwise I just jack around and hope whatever comes out somewhat complements whatever is being played live or looped.
Hopefully I can be cliche and boring and shoot videos of what this can do--like that hasn't been done already. It might spice up this blog better than daily letters to strangers on a bus could.
I got myself a Korg Kaossilator and it is already one of my favorite things ever. It's this little machine I can fit in my back pocket and all it has for an interface is a touchpad, a knob, and some buttons. (I don't feel like stealing images today, so you may just have to click the link and see for yourself)
I spent most of my free time in my apartment sitting around with my DL-4 on loop mode--because nobody likes being confined to 8 beats--and jamming out. Only on this thing can you have that much fun with two thumbs. Well, I take that back. You can have a lot of fun with two thumbs on a Nintendo 64, but that's besides the point.
I'm not entirely sure how I could use this with a band. I'm starting to get a better sense of where my fingers should go to deterministically play certain tones, and it is capable of setting keys and the scales within that key. But otherwise I just jack around and hope whatever comes out somewhat complements whatever is being played live or looped.
Hopefully I can be cliche and boring and shoot videos of what this can do--like that hasn't been done already. It might spice up this blog better than daily letters to strangers on a bus could.
Dear "People on the 545 route" the morning of 10/19/2009
Good morning!
There were only about 10 of you on the bus today. That was kind of weird. Maybe I missed the "skip out on work" memo. It's like senior skip day and only the cool kids knew about it.
Sorry I neglected to say anything toward the end of the week. Wednesday, I actually got to ride with one of my friends, so naturally I was excited--I ended up falling asleep on the bus anyway--and forgot to post. Thursday I drove myself. Friday--err, I have no excuse.
But, today, the fault is not my own. Nobody got on the bus.
I can share with you that I tried out taking a thermos of hot tea from home for the first time. My suspicion that it tasted like soap discouraged me from finishing.
I hope to see more of you tomorrow!
There were only about 10 of you on the bus today. That was kind of weird. Maybe I missed the "skip out on work" memo. It's like senior skip day and only the cool kids knew about it.
Sorry I neglected to say anything toward the end of the week. Wednesday, I actually got to ride with one of my friends, so naturally I was excited--I ended up falling asleep on the bus anyway--and forgot to post. Thursday I drove myself. Friday--err, I have no excuse.
But, today, the fault is not my own. Nobody got on the bus.
I can share with you that I tried out taking a thermos of hot tea from home for the first time. My suspicion that it tasted like soap discouraged me from finishing.
I hope to see more of you tomorrow!
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