Thursday, October 27, 2011

Very Scary

I don't watch all that much scary stuff-- But every now and then, I just wanna!  And since it's October, I guess I wanted to get all spooked out.

So I've heard a little about this show on F/X called American Horror Story.  My friend Valerie, who keeps a great blog, mainly about TV shows she indulges in, wrote about it recently (Read it here!).  She seemed pretty affected by it, so I decided to watch it.

It's about 4 weeks into the series, but fortunately, between Dish on Demand and F/X running repeats, it's not too late to jump on at the beginning of the series.  Amerian Horror is a pretty intricately weaved story, so it could be quite confusing it you don't catch it from the beginning.  So I watched the first one.  Alone.

Then I told my husband he too had to watch the pilot so that he would also get sucked into to the evil web of American Horror Story, and we could watch them from that point on tegether.  Because I'm not sure this is a show that should be watched alone! 

Last night, we got caught up on all the episodes that have been on so far.  (Which means, yes, we watched waaay too much TV last night!)  But oh.  My.  Gosh.   Every time I see the names of the writers and creators of the show I think to myself, "Those are some pretty sick bastards to be writing shit like this!" 

And to them, I am grateful.  What a crazy show.  And so fun to watch.  With someone! Have a happy and spooky Halloween!


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

TIMBER!

Due to this crazy drought we experienced all summer, I watched one of my 65 foot trees fall in the backyard the other day.

Lucy and I had just come inside from playing in the backyard.  I heard branches rustling, and thought a wind storm had come in out of nowhere.   So I looked out our window, and although I didn't see a storm of any kind, I did see one of my beautiful trees fall. 

The tree took the power lines down with it, caused a little firework display, and knocked out everyone's electricity on our side of our street.  It ripped the power pole and box off our house. Our neighbors got electricity back by the end of the day, but it took us a little longer to get our power restored because we had to call an electrician.  It's not easy to find one over the weekend!

The hammock we love to lay in was destroyed.   

And our fence was hit, but only by the brush, and was left standing- although in need of some repair.

Of course, I am so sad to lose a beautiful tree that provided such nice shade in my backyard.  But Fermin and I look stupidly happy in the pictures below.  I think that's because even though we lost something, we realize we could've lost a lot more. 

None of us were outside. No one was napping in the hammock. Lucy and Ricky were both safe indoors.  Our house miraculously didn't get hit.  It fell in the most perfect direction it possibly could have.  It did hit another big tree as it fell, but the damage was minimal.  If we had planned to take this tree down, I don't think we could've done it much cleaner.

My tree guy, Randall, is the greatest.  He came out first thing the very next day to clear things out enough so that we could get our cars out of the garage.

He used a stump grinder to fill back in the big, gaping hole with the roots and soil.  So in a way, our tree is buried in that hole now.  At least parts of it.

The rest we're using as stumps to sit on in the backyard, firewood for our friends, and a plant stand to showcase the pumpkins I just bought!

The brutal summer of 2011 is over, and most definitely left it's mark.  But we're all safe and sound. 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sparkle and Shine

I think I've actually posted another version of this song on the blog before, but a man named Stephen E.Potter did such a great job capturing this video and putting some cool effects on it, I just had to put it up!  Ironically, he sorta did what the song is all about, so I've posted the lyrics below...

I like the way you see it, and the way you make it sound
There's something about the music, it's just better when you're around
It's just a slight improvement, just a subtle little change
And there's something more to look at, and I like the broader range


Chorus:
It was good before, but you brought a little bit more
It was perfectly fine but now it sparkles and shines

It's always unexpected, what you've got up your sleeve
A little bit of magic, that I'm starting to believe

Chorus

The colors bloom, the stars are out
My heart swells when you're around

Chorus

Monday, October 3, 2011

I Crossed The Finish Line!

I did it!

I completed the challenge I set out to do about 3 months ago.  I wrote 50 songs in 90 days!
The space and tools I used in writing 50 songs over the past 3 months  (Minus my guitar and ukelele!)
I sort of figured I could do it, because it's actually my 4th year to take on (and complete) this task.  But almost because of that, I was a little unsure.  I get nervous that maybe my best is behind me already.  Or even worse, that my creative well is going to dry up completely.

About every 9 days, I had to make sure I had written and recorded 5 new songs.  I posted every single one of them up on the 50/90 website.  Which is a scary thing to do~ to put something out into the cyber world for others to hear before having a chance to do any editing.

No one said I had to do it that way.  But somehow, adding that element to the challenge kept me very accountable that all songs were complete and weren't completely horrible.

Now that the challenge is over, I'm taking down all of those songs for  anyone's ears but my own for a while.  Perhaps some of them will find their way onto a CD.  Who knows?  But those raw, naked versions are going to be set to private!  I feel like I'm getting to put some clothes back on!  And just in time for Fall!

Sometimes finishing a big project feels a little unsatisifying.  We can ruin it for ourselves worrying about the "What now?"  Well, for me, I know that answer to that question.

Now...
I'll start listening to those songs and see if any deem worthy of some re-writing.  And I already know there are at least a few.  I want to learn a new recording software called Logic, and learn how to use MIDI, so I figure working through some of these songs will be perfect for that!