(no subject)
Okay. So it's been months since I've updated this thing; it's been months since I've even logged onto it to keep tabs on anybody else, too.
But I've decided to try and start doing it more and more often; a decision motivated, largely, by my sad inability to keep in touch with anybody. There are a lot of people I really wish I talked to more and more often so maybe this will help bridge that gap a little better.
So, largely due to word of mouth, Brooks' hustling, and a new myspace page, Machine Gun Designs is on its way to blowing up. A few weeks back, I did a shirt for War of Ages (Facedown's newest addition), I just finished a design for Nodes of Ranvier to take out on their tour with Still Remains, and I'm waiting to hear back on a design id just finished for Flee the Seen (another new Facedown act who I think will do pretty well). Stretch Arm Strong has the design I did for the up in their webstore as a t-shirt and as a zip-up, so that made me happy.
I still want some bigger bands though. I'm really happy with all that's happened lately, but I have this wishlist of work that I want to do and I think a lot of the bands on it are a little more unreachable because they have management and agents and labels and whatnot that handle most of their business for them. Every Time I Die, for instance, I can't get in touch with those guys for anything. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster would be that way too, if I wasn't already friends with those guys, they've got somebody for everything but wiping Josh's nose. I guess that's how you get onto tours with P.O. f'n D. So I guess it's good to get in with a band on the ground floor, and hopefully some more work will come from them soon.
What else?
I find that, as I've gotten older, my desire for stuff has gotten so much more expensive. Not any more intense; it's not that I'm more materialistic or I have this foreign desire for things and possessions, if anything else, I want LESS things. It's just that the things I want are large, significant items. Like this past Xmas, all I wanted was an iPod. I just didn't care to get anything else, but the one thing I wanted cost $400. Now it's moved on to a new bike. I haven't had a bike since my Specialized HardRock got stolen and I really love mountain biking - but the bike I want runs about $1500. I could get a less expensive one, but that's the one I want.
I guess the redeeming factor in all this is that I'm willing to sacrifice and do without and save money so that I can get the things I want. It's not that hard when you don't really want too much else; but, as a professional, working in an office full of people who eat lunch out every day and eating dinner out most every night is so much easier it does take some measure of discipline. It's little things like that that can suck your budget right out from under you, and I'm pretty disciplined about expenditures like that.
It just occurred to me how boring a read this must be, so I'll wrap up. As I said earlier, I hope to be updating this much more often (at least a couple of time a week) and I'm eager to build a friends list and read your comments as a way of talking, more often, to those of you that I miss.
Later,
Shane
But I've decided to try and start doing it more and more often; a decision motivated, largely, by my sad inability to keep in touch with anybody. There are a lot of people I really wish I talked to more and more often so maybe this will help bridge that gap a little better.
So, largely due to word of mouth, Brooks' hustling, and a new myspace page, Machine Gun Designs is on its way to blowing up. A few weeks back, I did a shirt for War of Ages (Facedown's newest addition), I just finished a design for Nodes of Ranvier to take out on their tour with Still Remains, and I'm waiting to hear back on a design id just finished for Flee the Seen (another new Facedown act who I think will do pretty well). Stretch Arm Strong has the design I did for the up in their webstore as a t-shirt and as a zip-up, so that made me happy.
I still want some bigger bands though. I'm really happy with all that's happened lately, but I have this wishlist of work that I want to do and I think a lot of the bands on it are a little more unreachable because they have management and agents and labels and whatnot that handle most of their business for them. Every Time I Die, for instance, I can't get in touch with those guys for anything. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster would be that way too, if I wasn't already friends with those guys, they've got somebody for everything but wiping Josh's nose. I guess that's how you get onto tours with P.O. f'n D. So I guess it's good to get in with a band on the ground floor, and hopefully some more work will come from them soon.
What else?
I find that, as I've gotten older, my desire for stuff has gotten so much more expensive. Not any more intense; it's not that I'm more materialistic or I have this foreign desire for things and possessions, if anything else, I want LESS things. It's just that the things I want are large, significant items. Like this past Xmas, all I wanted was an iPod. I just didn't care to get anything else, but the one thing I wanted cost $400. Now it's moved on to a new bike. I haven't had a bike since my Specialized HardRock got stolen and I really love mountain biking - but the bike I want runs about $1500. I could get a less expensive one, but that's the one I want.
I guess the redeeming factor in all this is that I'm willing to sacrifice and do without and save money so that I can get the things I want. It's not that hard when you don't really want too much else; but, as a professional, working in an office full of people who eat lunch out every day and eating dinner out most every night is so much easier it does take some measure of discipline. It's little things like that that can suck your budget right out from under you, and I'm pretty disciplined about expenditures like that.
It just occurred to me how boring a read this must be, so I'll wrap up. As I said earlier, I hope to be updating this much more often (at least a couple of time a week) and I'm eager to build a friends list and read your comments as a way of talking, more often, to those of you that I miss.
Later,
Shane