Mar 02, 2013 02:31
Yeah, you know, that guy that ran his first marathon last October. Where is he? J and I are both mush, mentally and physically right now. He's burnt out on work and school, and I'm a bit burnt out with life in general. Today we got together for a run, only deciding on a 5K, and running the thing at a snail's crawl. Then we made excuses for it being slow with the ice and snow, and shrugged it off like it didn't matter.
I've been jump-starting myself with a few random personal projects. I started wondering the other day why I waste so much time reading books that educate me about things of the world, and not enough time reading books that teach me how to do things. So, I'm going to take a crack at spending some time with some how-tos. I brewed a batch of beer last year, so I can do that. I figured now that I know what to do, I'm going to learn why you do everything, and learn some more of the science and art behind it. I'm going to graduate from kits to formulating my own. I'm going to learn styles, equipment, ingredients, and anything else I can. Basically, I would like to have a conversation with my friend Jeff about making beer as a semi-equal. Do I have grandiose dreams of running my own brewery? Of course, but not in any realistic sense. I don't expect anything to come of it. I just want to know what I'm doing, and if Prohibition shows up again in my lifetime I can be really really popular.
Also, I have 5 guitars upstairs. I inherited 2 (my mom's classical and a friend's broken electric Squire that I repaired with pick-ups that put it way beyond its initial incarnation). I bought one (Fender) acoustic, hated it, and replaced it with another. Then I bought a really nice electric. I spent a lot of good time learning songs via tab, but I've kind of set it aside for several years here. A big part of that is because it was what I'd do when I was bored, lonely, or just down in general, and the three of those just don't happen much. I usually have something to do anymore, and being sad and lonely doesn't happen with my wife around. Even if she's gone, the Corgi or Cat will do something silly and make me laugh. If that fails, the internet has become so much more efficient and making photos and videos of really stupid things to make you laugh. Anyway, it makes it really hard to live up to my LiveJournal namesake, because who listens to The Cure when they're fairly happy all the time? I mean, there's always Wild Mood Swings, but that's not even that great of an album.
I'm not saying I don't get frustrated and just completely overwhelmed with life in general. I do. When you're not living for solely yourself, there's a lot of pressure, especially when you know you're soon to be out of a job. However there's just as much to pick you up. It's like being in a state of constant panic, while content, and I don't even have kids yet. I'm looking forward to that, and stabilizing this job situation so we can do that, but I don't think I'm looking forward to all the second-guessing of myself that will come with it.
Anyway, back to topic. As I was saying, I have guitars. I can do things with them. The truth is, though, I have no idea how actual music works. I was never in band, so anything regarding the technical aspects of it, and I'm lost. People have tried to explain it to me, and eventually my eyes gloss over and I go into a "Huh?" coma. So I've decided I'm going to try to slowly teach myself some of the theory and structure to it, maybe learn some of those scales that people talk about. I don't know. I've started, sort of. It's going to be slow-going, but it's something I'd like to understand. I like to believe I have a good "producer's ear" (inside joke), and if I know that stuff, I might actually get some use out of my instruments. If not, I still plan on starting a horrible ska band in my neighbor's basement (not really, but we keep joking about it, and calling ourselves "The Assless Chaptones").
So we have beer and music. I thought I should add in something that's more practical, and I've always wanted to broaden out my computer knowledge. I've dicked around with HTML at times, but never really tried too hard to understand it for anything more than editing a MySpace page back when those were a thing. Anyway, I've decided to throw in a little bit of computer learning. I've always thought it was above me, or beyond my grasp, or that my head was not evolved for it. Usually that was the kind of thing that would make me dive into something immediately. I'm going to start small with some HTML material, and work my way around to other things. It really can't hurt too much. Every workplace needs an unofficial non-IT "IT Guy." You know, someone that just sits next to you and knows the stuff, but has no official computer worker title. People love that guy.
Should I be taking on new projects? I don't know. The idea is that this will jump-start some of my other things. Once I get on a roll of accomplishing things, it kind of takes over on its own. It feels like it's helping. Hopefully it will keep me fresh and positive while I make a push in the job search and get back some of my running motivation. I don't want to run another marathon at the weight I did it last year. It was brutal. The training was brutal, and just the amount of everything needed to maintain shape and through Detroit's 26.2 hurt too much. I'd like to knock off time by towing less, not by running more. Also, you don't realize how much your abs and arms hurt after one of those things. I need to round out my training.
I don't know, maybe taking up these three things is already working. I started making a few resumes catered directly to a couple job openings yesterday. I did actually run with Jason today, when I could have said "screw it" when I got held up at work and cancelled. I even spent my Friday night doing oil changes on both cars. Not bad for a Friday, even if I'm now only typing this and watching Chinese Taipei play Australia. Still though, first LJ update in forever. Count it as a win. Plus, I need to write more about life, even if it's fairly benign and not overly exciting right now, this might be a snapshot of some of the best years. We never really know for sure.