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Buddies
Warking awrt?
HOME! Finally. It's been a very long tour. To go into detail about why this is won't really make a whole lot of sense to most of you, but the tour yeilded many awesome connections and we finally hit some markets that we've missed out on for a very, VERY long time. Tennesse and Kentucky for starters. Good stuff!
I just added a "Fitness" category to Rawrb.com here. Bottom line: it's time to get in shape and stay there as long as possible. Couple of the dudes in Powerglove are fitness buffs (har har pun) and I picked their brains about what works for them. I learned quite a bit and am looking forward to trying some stuff out. I'll probably be talking about it more here as I progress. I've got a few months off from touring to be able to focus on it for a good hour a day or so. That's really all you need - people who go to the gym for more than an hour a day are honestly wasting their time. I'll rant on that one later along with the science behind it. Yes, it's not me thinking they're jerks - it's very BAD for you.
We're also starting on preproduction on the next Psychostick CD. FINALLY! The process of preproduction is probably going to take the longest. We've got so many songs written and tons of ideas to turn into songs. Then there's a DVD I'm going to start putting together. I'm gonna aim for an August release date for that there DVD, but I can't be for sure just yet until I get all of the footage pulled and organized. There's about 20 hour long tapes and probably a good 200+ clips from Anthony's digital camera.
That's a lot. Hurray for external hard disks.
Jeez, there's so much going on Psychostick related that I can't talk about yet. :)
Anyway, happy 4th and stuff. Gotta find a way to get ahold of my own PS3 and 360. Lots of awesome games came out lately and I'm lacking! Awrgh!
Taking out the trash.
I've been home for a few weeks now from touring. I'm usually the busiest when we're not touring due to all the stuff that piles up. Preparing for the next tour takes precedence, then comes new merch designs. We got our store back up, which is really good, but more options are needed. We're also looking into accepting credit and debit cards at shows. Once I get a few more time sensitive stuff wrapped up, I'm gonna tackle that one.
Posters, done. Flyers, done. Website revisions, mostly done. The rest are just sprinkles on the e-cupcake that is Psychostick.com.
*long pause*
I miss writing. E-cupcake. That's just awesome.
*even longer pause*
Now I gotta get all philosphical.
Sometimes the answers come just as quickly as the questions. Seems that all the weird little concerns that I had since I've been home have been pretty much solved or simply dismissed. Now there's another phase I've moved into, which is more of an attempt to take a much closer look at my thoughts and where I'm going. I'm not about to go into specifics, but I simply must mention how grateful I am to having the friends that I have. It's nice knowing that no matter what happens with me, or how dumb I get, they've got my back.
"Don't worry about the future. It'll get here soon enough." - Albert Einstein
One interesting outlook is how far away "normal" life seems to be. How easy would it be to go back to that? It's easy to get a job with a fixed income. EASY. Compared to co-running this band, it's about as easy as breathing. The reassuring thing is that I'm never alone in this massive endeavor, especially since the really hard part has long since past. If I fell, I would be picked right back up. Even if this band things falls apart for whatever reason, I will be able to take any idea and turn it into something huge. It's freaking awesome knowing that.
Is being comfortable and "safe" worth risking your happiness over? You can have your cake and eat it too. Whomever said you can't needs a face-punching.
As I "take out the trash," I'll probably be blogging about it. Of course, blogging has a funny way of not being rhetorical, or just simply one-sided. I get a bit misunderstood... but I can understand how.
"Hey, I read your blog. You okay?"
Yes yes yes, I'm just fine.
A few closing thoughts:
- Buffy is such a stupid show, but I really enjoy it.
- Where the HELL is Dragon Quest IV DS? It's already TRANSLATED.
- Warcraft 3 = Sex
- Most DVD menu templates are lame.
- Stevie Wonder is a badass.
- Tech N9ne is amazing.
- I'm pretty sure age is just a number.
- Jagermeister loves us.
That's all.
Reality again, but this time...
There's that turmoil feeling again. *rolls eyes*
I tell you one thing though, I ain't gonna whine about super personal stuff publicly anymore. When I do I look like, and feel like, some tool who's crying for attention that isn't necessary. It's just stuff I have to deal with in my profession. Gotta get over it.
So anyway, still busy. I'm oh-so-close to finishing this huge project that I started a couple weeks back. I really hope to have it done this week, then I'll post the results of my handiwork. Feels like I'm getting better at this web stuff. I was always hard on myself for that due to lack of clear direction, but now I have a much better grasp on the technology and results-driven mindset that was lacking in the past. Owning your own business, not just SAYING you own your own business, makes a huge difference. Does that make sense? Actually living off of your own business rather than starting a business and not living off of it is completely different. Drastically different. It seems painfully obvious, but to actually experience the difference is an entirely different... experience.
Yeah.
Pluh.com X (version 10 - how clever of me, no?) is slowly moving forward. Database design looks done, now I'm working on integrating it with vbulletin. Fun. Their code is so... hieroglyphical. Not only that, but I had to dig like crazy to find out how they used a simple insert query to add a user. It shows that 1) I have a lot to learn and 2) there's more to just a simple task when you have an enterprise sized application. I guess they want it that way to make it harder to hack? Probably not, I suspect. I'm sure it's all about being object oriented and super efficient. Looks like I'll have to learn more about OOP. AAAAND... I'm attacking AJAX too. I shall be KNOWLEDGE MAYUNN!
Josh picked me up from the airport yesterday. He talked about this zip code based e-mail app that I wrote for Psychostick's e-mail list. He called it "brilliant" and said I should "package it up and sell it." Hmm! Tempting. I forsee one minor detail, but I really think I could do this. Who knows. The app isn't that complicated, but then again, many awesome apps aren't at all complicated. They're USABLE. That's the secret to a good app: Usability! I are learned.
Also, we talked about the drastically changing music industry. Turns out that many artists are leaving their labels and working directly with distributors to release their music. The need for a record label is diminishing? How nuts is that! Madonna, Prince, and a few other big names are releasing their upcoming stuff for free. FREE. Itunes is about to change their distribution too; something about DRM being cheaper. I dunno the details, but the industry is changing. The old business model is failing; label bred stars like Britney Spears and Ashlee Simpson are no longer "cool." Radio generally sucks. MTV has nothing to do with music anymore. I'm just glad we, Psychostick, are in the position we're in. We have so much freedom it's nuts, and we plan on keeping it that way... goddamnit!
And... it's about fucking time the industry started changing. Things were WAY too label favoring.
In addition, CDs are becoming more of a hassle to me. Having all my music on one, 80 gig iPod is so much more preferred that hauling a case of CDs everywhere. I really look forward to movies being the same way; no more DVDs. Hell, games are moving in that direction too via apps like Steam. It'll save money, time, and use less materials overall. How awesome is that?
Anyway, I picked up Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion Wars for the PSP. Good conversion with some slowdown issues. Stil fun as hell. So I'm gonna go play that now.
Shut up.
Any awesome recommendations for an iPod classic 80 gig case? I can't find one I like. They're all either lame looking or non-functional. Reply in comments with a link!
The road and it's forking forks.
Man. I tell you, this whole struggling thing needs to end. We seem to be caught in some sort of loop where we have a good row of shows, then we have to drive so much all the money we made goes to gas, then we get low paying shows because they weren't booked far enough in advance, then we run out of money and blah blah blah...
It's dumb. However, we have a plan of action to take on that. I'll not get into it because it's mostly internal business stuff that really ain't your business, ya nosy jerk! :D
Nerd update: E3 is totally going apeshit right now. I want these games:
Castlevania: Dracula X:
Contra 4!
Mario Galaxy:
There's like a bunch more... like Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion Wars for PSP. Talk about exactly what I need for the road. :o)
Looking forward to unwinding for a couple weeks in August after this tour ends. First, I'm going fishing and hopefully camping... something like that. Need to seriously get some family time in. After that, I'm gonna go home and try to make some extra money on the side doing some nerdy work... I hope I remember how to code. :) I also get to hopefully do some hush hush recording. AND I get to hang out and do absolutely nothing with my girl, which is long overdue already. She's lucky I'm so awesome. :p
Maybe someday I'll have something more constructive to write about. At the moment the whole "refine your system to eliminate stress" thing is in full effect. Solutions are so close, I can taste it. Tastes good. And I have two books I wanna write. I write so good.
O where to move, sayeth Rawrb!
Nerd alert: I just finished Phantasy Star IV on the PSP re-release. Good times.
So yeah, moving! The past couple of days I thought a bit about where I want to live. I've been in Phoenix since 2000 and I think my time here is up. Nothing against Phoenix or AZ, of course. Lots of great people and wonderful memories here, but I see absolutely no compelling reason to stay.
Of course, the actual move won't happen for a while. I've got a lot more touring to do and a shit-ton of stuff in storage that I can't relocate just yet.
Plus, heh - I'm not exactly sure where I'm going. I've got a few destinations in mind, like maybe going back to Texas. I love it there. I have a good amount of time to decide, so I'll see the country once or twice more before I choose. I don't like moving around too much, so I want to make sure my decision is the right one.
The Secret!
I think the most frustrating thing about business is waiting. Right now there are two HUGE Psychostick announcements that are on the brink of... being announced. One of them is a tour, and the other I can't mention. The tour announcement is freaking awesome and HUGE for us, but I have to wait for the "OK" to post it officially. It sucks waiting. The best way to describe it is being the 1st in line for a brand new roller-coaster, and you're sitting there watching the staff put some finishing touches on the ride. Something like that. OR, it's like you've waited 6 years for a game to come out, and you're 1 hour away from going home to play it.
Speaking of games! Half-life 2: Episode 1 came out yesterday. I started the download last night, so it should be done by now. I hear it lives up to the series and leaves you with more questions. You know, kinda like X-Files did or most animes do. Anyway, I plan on locking myself in my room tonight and playing through it (it's supposed to be about 4 to 5 hours long). That's right! This is how I'm spending my Friday night: Video games.
I was also on Shacknews the other day actually interacting on their community. Every day they have a couple of news posts where most of the community asks general questions ranging from "video games" to "what to buy your girlfriend for her birthday." Anyway, every so often you'll see some highly obscene posts from some kids on there, which is pretty common in any community. I see these all the time, and the moderators usually leave them alone for some reason.
Anyway, I posted a question about online dating. Something like, "Where are the good free places because I have no clue where to look?" I got a lot of responses and the thread was positive and going really well. Then out of NOWHERE, a moderator deletes the post. This isn't the first time this has happened there either where my legitimate posts are deleted. Maybe the post wasn't "legit" in regards to Shacknews being a gaming site - but then again, some kid was talking about how he saw some lady wank in a grocery store, and they let that go.
I wasn't exactly angry (I got the info I wanted), but that didn't make any sense to me. I quickly asked who was moderating the forum and no one responsed. So, I promptly cancelled my Mercury account (which costs $5 a month). The owners lost my business because of inconsistent business practice. What are the posting standards? Why was it deleted? They didn't even tell me! "It's okay to post stuff about public masturbation, but a more legit post like dating is strictly forbidden!" So, I blacklisted Shacknews from my "sites to visit." I don't blame the owners; they're too busy running the actual site than to scan thousands of posts a day for content. To combat this, they "hire" a bunch of elitist kids to delete posts they personally don't approve of.
Oh well. More time for me to do something more constructive!
As for online dating, I have been researching that here and there for a while now. It failed for me a long time ago, but I decided to try it again. I picked up more DeAngelo material regarding it and absorbed the information. Turns out I had been doing everything backwards. The critical counter intuitive strikes again.
After all that I decided the other day that online dating is a bad idea for me right now. Har har! I'm about to tour and I've got so many more important things to work on. There's just no room for it in my day. Maybe some other time. It's great knowing that I know exactly how to handle things in that arena. Heh heh.
Oh, I just saw a movie called The Secret. Fucking amazing. If any of you ever wondered why things happen the way they do, SEE THIS MOVIE. You ever have a bad day? Of course you have. There is a reason for it. GO WATCH THIS MOVIE NOW. It changed my life.
-Rawrb!
Ohhh, more changes!
Wow, it's starting to look like a website now!
Got the mod-rewrite and database backend working now. Gonna do more later, but I'm gonna go play FEAR instead. HAR HAR
Marketing myself is fun
Rawrb.com is officially part of the Pluh.network. Amazing!
So one of my best friends is having a really hard time with a very common annoyance (he's doing better today), and I think all of us can relate to it.
Remember summer vacation? 3 months or so of pure fun and relaxation. Obviously the parentals will have you do chores, but most of the time (at least for me) it wasn't such a huge deal. Then you get to play until as late as you want, do whatever you wanted to do (that wasn't something "bad"), etc. Then it would all end and you would have to go to school.
Then you finish school and you never get a real summer vacation again. You always have to support yourself (or others) by maintaining income of SOME kind, and every now and then you get some time off. But never a full, really long summer vacation ONCE A YEAR. Hell no! Now you're thrown into this never ending loop of work. Work, work, work. Get organize, put together a "to-do" list. WORK WORK WORK!
There is work that can be fun, of course. After a while through, it seems that it transitions into normal bland work rather than fun work. Then what?
The struggle is here: How do you get your summer vacations back? The answer: Financial freedom.
The only "down side" is that you have to create your freedom through something that usually involves a lot of work. This something can quite possibly be work you do NOT enjoy.
And this something rarely makes you rich overnight; often times you have to endure several years of this work to attain your financial freedom. So what's the point? Why bother? If it's work, it'll definately suck, right?
The piece that is missing here is that there is an end to it. I'm not talking about retirement. I'm talking about the END OF BAD WORK. Bad work is work you do not enjoy. Do the bad work, make tons of money, and walk away rich. Then you can take all the summer vacations you want.
But does it always have to be Bad Work that makes you rich? Of course not. Work will always be there in some form or fashion, and it's important to accept this. Ideally we all never want to WORK on something. It's very easy to think that there is a world where you never have to work; maybe for those who are born rich and are pampered all their lives (even they have to work sometimes, believe it or not).
I personally believe that the focus should not be ON the work, but ON the results you create. CREATE that financial freedom, don't CREATE work. Then you can go on vacation and have hot supermodels make you breakfast and give you happy finishes or whatever. Sounds nice to me!
It's hard for some to accept the reality of work (like my friend). Once you accept it, AND you change your focus towards the results and not the work, you are guarunteed success. Right?
Right.
Anyway, things are crazy as usual. I picked up another DeAngelo course. This particular subject I've tried before, but it always failed for some reason. It wasn't so much how *I* was as a person, but how I would present myself. Most of his stuff I understand very well, but this one ought to open a few more doors for me. Looking forward to it.
AND, for those who read my rants, I got both of my computers working. The server is awesome; it's so small and quiet you can't even tell it's on. The big bad machine is great. Quake 4 runs silky smooth and I started drawing some comics last night with that digital sketchpad. It's harder than I thought it would be. I might just use Flash for that since I like how it renders vectors (Illustrator is kind of frustrating). We'll see.
I also have huge plans for Collective Underground, which has been a bit of a wounded puppy sort of thing. Lots of patching up I need to do, and new features I want to pop in there. That will be sweet. Once I have the whole system programmed, I'll have a staff of folks that will maintain the constantly updated content. So many plans! ARRRGH!
Every Thug Needs a Lady.