Thursday, January 22, 2009

Bruins, RPM, FAWM, and Dentists

For the first time this year the Bruins came back to win a game that they were trailing after two periods. It was also a rare event where they won in a shoot out. They beat the Maple Leafs on the road last night 4-3. Click here for the highlight video.

The first half of the season (as denoted by the all-star break) has come to a close and the Bruins are tied with the San Jose Sharks for the most points in the NHL with 73. Boston has played two more games, so the Sharks winning percentage is better... but still... tops in the NHL at the all-star break. I am, of course, stunned. What a year! Let's hope the break will give them time to heal up some of the injuries so they can come back strong in the second half and continue to stun me.

February is right around the corner. Less than two weeks away. That means it's time for me to start thinking about writing music again. For the last couple of years I've tried and failed to complete the RPM Challenge. That challenge is to record an album within the month of February. It doesn't have to be perfect or anything, all that matters is that on January 31st it doesn't exist and by March 1st it does. There is also another songwriting event that happens in February called FAWM, which is short for February is Album Writing Month. The idea there is to write 14 songs within the 28 days of February.

There once was a time when I could have hammered out both of those things easily. When I was in college (the last time... the seven year time) I twice made up challenges for myself to write and record one song per day during spring break. I nailed it both times I tried it. 1999 and 2001. Five days off, five new songs. It wasn't quite easy, but it was definitely doable.

I first heard of RPM in 2007, just after it started. I was very far from being in good playing shape so I decided to take the challenge once using old songs, and then after I had my chops back I would do it again with new songs. I ended up with 10 new recordings of old songs, and 7 unfinished recordings of 7 new unfinished songs.

In 2008 I was playing okay, but I had a girlfriend in the first time in... well... forever and ever, and I was much more interested in being with her than doing anything else. I had planned to work on the project on any evenings I didn't spend with Jen, and on the nights I did spend with her I would work on the project after our dates (we weren't living together then and I was still going home at night). When it was over I had 3 unfinished recordings of 3 unfinished songs. None of the total of 10 new songs has had any more work done on them since the respective challenges ended.

I also took a shot at a different challenge this year called November is Solo Album Month, which challenges you to write and record a complete album by yourself during the month of November. That one ended with one unfinished recording of one unfinished song.

This year I am waffling between wanting to try RPM again and not giving a shit. I don't have time to do it, it's that simple. I leave for work a little after seven in the morning and I get home a little before seven in the evening. When I am home I have no interest in doing anything other than spending my time with Jen and the kids. That's it. I'll do anything, any time, so long as Jen is doing it with me, and if it's a kid night I want the kids doing it with us too. Weekends are the same. I want to spend as much time as possible with Jen and the kids. If something comes up that keeps us away from each other for a while that is okay, so long as we spend as much of our free time together as humanly possible. I can't help it. I'm in love with Jen and I love her kids as if they were my own. So that pretty much eliminates my chances of completing any songwriting challenge goofiness unless I take time off of work.

But this year I thought I came up with a good angle on it. If not during the day, and if not during the evenings... what about the morning? What if, instead of getting up at six in the morning, I got up at 5 and spent an hour a day working on music? I'd have to stick to a headphones only set up so as not to disturb the neighbors, and that would probably mean I'd take a vacation day or two to do anything that makes actual noise, (aka singing)... but I could do it.

I decided I would spend January getting up early a couple of days a week and working on those unfinished old songs (there are the 11 already mentioned as well as 3 or 4 more that came up on their own) in order to get into playing shape, and get used to getting up early. Then come February I would do it as often as my sleep schedule would allow. I would also set my arrangement goals a tad lower and spend less time futzing with my drum machine, and maybe try to keep my horrible lyric writing at a minimum and leave a few songs as instrumentals. It seemed like a good plan. I was all ready to give it a shot.

And then January came... it is now January 22nd and I haven't gotten up early once.

There is still time, and I could always just start cold on February 1st. I really want to... but I also really don't want to. Who knows. We'll have to see if I can get my motivation up and try something. I'll keep you posted.

One more thing before I post. This morning I woke up with a song stuck in my head. It is a song I honestly haven't heard in years. It's from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It's the little theme song that gets sung at the end of the Lemming of the B.D.A sketch. I can't even begin to imagine what it was that caused that particular little song to get stuck in my particular little noggin on this particular little day. The only thing I can think of is that I must have been having nightmares about Dentists. (notice I said nightmare, not dream. I can't imagine anyone anywhere ever having a dream about Dentists that isn't a horrifying nightmare.)

Here's the sketch. Enjoy.


"There. Poor Flopsy's dead, and never called me Mother."

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