I’m sitting in a comfy chair in the Hobart State Library, writing this entry on my brand spanking new iPhone. There’s not really any compelling need to do it this way – I’ll be back in front of a “real” computer in about half an hour, and I don’t have anything particularly pressing to divulge – but I’m still riding that wave of novelty-factor that Apple products provide so effectively.
We had a t3e get together on the weekend, and pit down some drum tracks for a little song wer’e planning to have ready by Christmas. Felt good to be working on something that people are actually going to hear.
Actually, I think I’ll pick this up later, as I’m getting a sore index finger from typing…
Archive for the 'Personal' Category
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Well, as of this morning it looks very much like we’ve just bought a house – yay! Nice little 3-bedroom jobby in Blackmans Bay, with a garage under which will transform very effectively into a studio for myself and my nefarious requirements.
Rather exciting!
It’s a slightly scary time to be hoisting quite that much debt up onto our shoulders (I’m listening to a news report with the Treasurer being quite pessimistic as I type this) but ultimately it was something we’ve wanted to do for a long while, and there’s never going to be a perfect time. Fingers crossed and all that – and at least we’re not going to be pouring money into somebody else’s investment.
Save for a bit of wood-working and an LCD monitor (which will have to wait a paycheque or two) the studio is complete once again.
Oh, and a rubber foot for my left side monitor.
I’ve set up the EMU and the Pro Tools box, as I’m determined to get back up to speed with Pro Tools. I only bought the thing back in ’07 because I thought I would need the platform under my belt for my current job, only to find they’d bought a SADiE in the meantime and there was no Pro Tools knowledge required at all! But I’ve been hearing some very good rumours about the imminent arrival of Pro Tools 8, and it’s encouraged me to give it another spin.
I have to stay at home all day tomorrow to await the delivery of our new fridge (thank you to all who gave us Harvey Norman vouchers at the wedding – defrosting is about to leave our lives, thank goodness) so I think I’ll take the opportunity to update all my RTAS plugins and record a couple of vocal demo tracks I’ve been meaning to get to.
An exciting life indeed…
Ahhh, the indescribeable joys of house-hunting. What started as a whimsical “what if…” discussion a week or two ago has snowballed into a fully fledged procedure. Almost a plan if you can fathom it!
So we’ve been talking to financey folks, and to real-estatey folks, and generally getting frustrated in all the ways that one normally gets frustrated in this situation. Disagreements over details, money, over-zealous family members, balancing notions of “conventional wisdom” against doing what feels right… Actually it’s a lot like planning the wedding, now I think about it.
And that worked out pretty well 
Toyota Corollas are generally pretty good, so goes the conventional knowledge.
Except when they spit the dummy over 200 km from home and you need to get your long-suffering dad to come and collect them on his car trailer, then pay for a hire car to get home because Dad’s truck is only a 2-seater.
We weren’t going to have anything to drink that night.
Then we changed our mind
T3E drummer extraordinaire turned 30 last week, and of course we all celebrated the auspicious occasion by getting stonkingly drunk and playing dreadful music in front of unsuspecting friends.
I’m not kidding, it really was quite bad - in a fit of insanity I decided to record the proceedings, thus enabling me to prove to myself beyond reasonable doubt that I in fact do not sing better when I’ve had a dozen beers.
I know! I’m as shocked as you are!
No, you don’t get to hear any of that.
The alleged cartoon job became miraculously tangible again this week, which was quite a relief. There was a touch-and-go moment where I sortofalmostkindof accepted a job elsewhere, and then found out this one was actually on, and then might have rather annoyed some people with my vascillating.
But such is life… I hope the other fellas find someone good for the position, and there are no hard feelings over the long-term.
Musically there has been a bit of a trickle of progress on T3E#2, but mainly Knotty, Cornel and I have been working on this new groovy laid back (*cough*coverband*ahem*) thing we’ve been toying with. That, and preparing for Knotty’s impending rehearsal-themed 30th birthday bash on the weekend.
It’s been bitterly cold the last few days, after a brief mild spell. I actually love cold weather, but I’m about done with this winter to be honest. We’re very nearly out of firewood, and I am a little worried about the power bill which should be in the mail any day now.
Also, less that 4 weeks until W-day! I think everything is pretty much in-hand, although I have yet to buy a suit, which I think will be fairly much mandatory. I was considering suggesting a jeans & T-shirts affair, but somehow I suspect not all parties would be on board with that one.
The last few weeks we’ve been in a bigger, nicer house than ours, looking after the place (and the dog). On Wednesday we have to go back to our much pokier, less fancy house.
And I can’t bloody wait.
There’s something about your own place – everything where you want it (or if you’re messy like me, at least you know where it should be, even if you can’t be bothered to put it there), that is very comforting.
Plus I’ve been contending with a very makeshift little music rig here, and I haven’t managed to get a lot of work done. Which is frustrating, because I finally had it set up nicely at home, then I had to pull it all apart and bring the guts of it elsewhere to set up on a dining table.
So bring on the Wednesday!
There always seem to be jobs going in that field… I wonder why the attrition rate is so high?
I’m supposedly starting a new contract with the cartoon people this month, but the last nine weeks of inactivity have made me a little cautious when it comes to signing up for things that hinge on so many external factors. Government grants, distribution agreements… if any one of them goes belly-up, then so does my job for the next 12 months. And even if not, presuming all goes well, I still find myself in the same career purgatory after the next series is done. It’s not just the finances either (although that is becoming more and more of a consideration as the weeks drag by), but the self-esteem takes a bit of a knock when you’re not actually really doing anything useful with your days.
Enough.
So I’ve been looking at alternatives – and I have to say that while the allure of the television industry was a very strong one in the mid 90s when I started down that road, it hasn’t left me with a set of skills that is terribly portable to other fields.
Actually scratch that – it has left me with a surfeit of useful skills, but very little in terms of being able to prove them. I’m worried that prospective employers are going to be inclined to exclaim “camera, sound, editing, graphics, yes yes that’s very nice. But where’s your degree and your minimum 5 years of demonstrated experience in marsupial husbandry and what not?”
Which I sort of kind of don’t have. Well, I have 83% of a degree, which is not quite the same.
It’s helped my crafty resume-writing no end. I almost said “creative resume writing”, but the thing is, I’m not being in any way misleading. I’m not applying for anything that I don’t honestly believe I could do very well, it’s just that it’s a challenge making a case that I can do “X” when my practical experience is in “Y”, which while sharing a lot of pre-requisites with “X”, is not, in fact “X”.
It’s almost tempting to point to the application itself as an example of demonstrated skill. Marvel at the deftness with which I distract from my shortcomings and exaggerate my abilities!
But perhaps that’s a little too forthright.
Wow, it’s been a long time between entries.
Again.
In my defence, I couldn’t be bothered. I realise that’s not much of a defence, but it has the resounding ring of authenticity.
Biggest thing to report – and not really musical in nature – is that Clare and I got engaged in December. Yay! Nuptials are set for September, and I’m looking forward to it immensely
Band-wise, things continue to trundle along as allowed by other committments – eg. not particularly quickly. I should have a great deal of extra time come March 12 as my current employment contract runs out, thus clearing me of the obligation to spend 40 hours a week away from home. On the flip side, it also removes the impetus for Blue Rocket to make regular deposits to my savings account. That may be a problem.
I have something in the works that will hopefully allow me a great deal more time for music – but in the spirit of not jinxing things, I’ll make no announcements just yet.
Alright, back to the grindstone – 26 12 minute episodes to mix in 2 weeks. It’s frustrating having to rush this stage when you consider all the down time I’ve had in the preceding months. I guess that’s the inevitable result of being toward the end of the production chain. Every deadline missed by someone before you in the process leads to your time disappearing. To make matters worse, the SADiE’s lovable and endearing little tics and quirks are proving themselves to be incredibly fucking annoying when I’m under time constraints. It reminds me of my Dad’s Alfa Romeo GTV. It’s not reliable, ergonomic, comfortable, or intuitive, but you get a sense of satisfaction from driving it – it’s a real achievement and it does perform well when it’s all going properly. But if you just want to get somewhere it’s not quite as much fun to put it on the hoist and tinker with the engine as you get more and more late for an appointment.
Actually SADiE are a British company aren’t they… probably should make it a Jaguar. I wonder if Lucas were involved in the wiring at any stage?
I think I should stop typing before I stretch the analogy beyond breaking point.