/blog: life updates

updates after my move.

published on: 2022-12-16

a very happy holiday season to you, reader. one of my in-laws caught COVID, and i’m spending the holiday season quarantining in another state. i’m coming up on about two months of living in the guest room of my in-laws, and i’m surprised i haven’t driven them both completely nuts with my eccentricities. this post isn’t completely related to making music, but it kinda explains where my head’s at while making things.

the house

i got the news today that the house wouldn’t be ready by the beginning of the year. (understandable, given what time of the year this is.) currently we’re looking at moving in near the end of next month. one upside to the delayed move was that the shed that was supposed to be mr. weeks’ workshop has now gone to me for use in whichever way i choose. and naturally, it’s gonna be my own real-deal home studio. i’ve still gotta brainstorm the layout, whatever cheap furnishings i can grab, and how the logistics of childcare and internet and nosy neighbors factor in, but it’s exciting to know that after a few months of trying not to be too disruptive with the music making process, i’ve finally got a space where i don’t have to feel self-conscious about making sound.

bass lessons

maybe a day into me moving into my in-laws, i sought out a local luthier to fix this incredibly unfortunate bow i had in my bass neck. i learned three lessons that day. the first was to not fuck around with the truss rod without knowing what i’m doing. the second was that the local luthier and his staff were pretty cool. the third was the name and number of a dude that really knew his salt when it came to stringed instruments. i’ve only had a couple of lessons so far, but already i’m seeing some improvement in my technique, as well as how i approach writing bass lines. (roots and fifths baybee!!!) to force myself to keep practicing, i’ve been trying to incorporate more live bass into the stuff i write.

writing

i got back into poetry again! or rather, i joined a local writers group and have used it as motivation to start writing again. before doing the songwriting thing, i wrote a lot of prose poetry that didn’t rhyme, and made it my thing for close to a decade. ever since i started writing lyrics regularly, i’m finding it harder to get myself to not do some cheeky seussical rhyme in my work. i hate it and i’m doing my best to work around it or find better in-line ways of doing it. it’s always hard when you find out that something you used to do with ease doesn’t come as “naturally” as it used to. i don’t think my writing would ever go back to the way it used to be. and yet, i gotta remind myself to embrace change and embrace the jank.

adjustment

my in-laws are great. the neighborhood seems pretty nice. the drivers are less aggressive on the highway. work goes pretty seamlessly and for the most part, all of the administrative stuff that comes with moving to another state is mostly settled. i still feel like ass, though. i’m the farthest from my family that i’ve ever been, i’ve gotta make a whole new set of connections, and on top of that, the administrative stuff that isn’t settled is the most fiddly to deal with. i’m starting over with a new therapist, since the new old one isn’t licensed in my state. so far it’s going all right. i’m freaking out a lot less now.

moving forward

my songwriting and the other things i dabble in are gonna have to take a bit of a backseat, unfortunately. 2023 is set to be pretty hectic. i’m in the last half of my masters program, and due to the move i’ve gotta take a class over the summer to catch up. there’s more fiddly administrative nonsense i’ve still gotta deal with, and won’t be done with until (probably) halfway through the year. fingers crossed. collaboration was something i was somewhat open to, but given the current circumstances i don’t think i’ll be available for quite some time. there are a couple of projects/collabs i’ve got lined up/for the next few months to eventually knock out, so i’ll largely be focusing on those. if i already said yes to a specific project for you, i swear i’m still down! i’ll make time for you!