If It Feels Like a Chore Then...
There are days when I truly miss the period in my life that I updated my Livejournal on pretty much an every other day average. Like so many, I've seen that kind of consistency fall by the wayside, as the social-network-that-shall-not-be-named offers more instant gratification and, quite frankly, a higher number of people I've actually met face to face.
(Please note: Someday I truly do want to meet face to face the people I've grown closest with via LJ over the years. You know who you are and if you're ever in the Pacific Northwest you know the coffee and tour guiding -- if you want it -- is on me.)
The summer days are waning and the kids in this region don't start school until after Labor Day. Just the same, I can feel things shifting. Both kids have had soccer practices for the last few weeks (I'm assistant coaching Gavin's team and I love it!), both are gearing up for their respective 5th and 8th grade years, and I think both my wife and I are ready for the new school calendar. It's been a good summer, even though we didn't travel much. The forthcoming trip to Las Vegas (first weekend of October) will remedy that and we did have a fabulous staycation, seeing and doing a lot Portland metro stuff we'd never done before.
The kids are definitely more aware than ever of the plus side of living closer to the city. We saw Old 97's in concert, we'll be seeing The Gaslight Anthem in less than 3 weeks, being closer to the airport makes the Vegas thing easier, and in October and November they'll be going to WWE Smackdown and Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, respectively.
Fall is also when things tend to crank up a bit for me at work and there are a number of projects on the immediate and longer range horizons. Oddly enough, I've spent part of the summer months working on a holiday program and it is extremely hard to do a Charles Dickens-related project when it's sunny and hot outside my window! I've heard that artists who record Christmas albums rarely do so in the winter months so they often lock themselves into the studio, blast the AC for cold, and will even decorate the place to create a mood. I've thought of that a few times but I think in the end I'll just have to enjoy the oddity of editing Christmas stuff in the Summer. Aside from that, the long stretching claws of fund raising will be back to reach for my jugular soon and I'm bracing myself for it. And somewhere in this next fiscal year I'm going to create a true "pilot" for what was once Soundtrack that will evolve into something different but still have music as a component and it will get a different name. Some LJ writers/music geeks are prime candidates for my demo so don't be surprised if I'm in touch at some point! :)
I read two books this summer. That's it. And one of them was a re-read. And yet I recommend both highly: One Day by David Nichols (which is being made into a movie with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as we speak) and The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (also in film development with Steve Carell and Sandra Bullock rumored as the leads).
I've bought a lot of CDs in the summer months and there are new releases forthcoming from bands that are "staples" of my musical diet (Old 97's, Jimmy Eat World, Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title, Kings of Leon, etc.) and a lot great albums have already come out this year (The Gaslight Anthem, Butch Walker, David Wax Museum, The Hold Steady, The Young Veins, to name a few) so already I'd say 2010 has kicked 2009's ass when it comes to really good music. On a semi-related not I utilized eBay for the first time in my life to get an import-only CD all the way from China. I won't disclose what it is because a) it's actually kind of embarrassing and b) I overpaid for it and c) I was actually more fascinated by eBay being the only place I could find it for a reasonable but still overpriced tag and the fact that the seller is in China made it all the more interesting.
I am still swimming but the summer pool schedule at the Y was designed to give the local swim team top priority so morning hours (pre-work) were harder to come by so I've been swimming less. This week things are back to normal and it was really nice to be able to swim at 6AM. Yes, you read that right. It was nice to be in the pool at 6AM! Kelly and Gavin are also swimming now, on Sundays. They're both going through what I went through about 9 months ago: Waking up muscles you're not used to using and finding out your endurance is for hell. It takes time so our Sunday sessions are mellow. I just take it very easy and do slow laps while they work toward increasing their endurance and pace. It's been really nice. Bailey will join us eventually but his soccer practices and training, including conditioning on Saturdays, have his worn out by Sunday so he has opted to sleep in. I can't blame him.
So now I've updated. I feel much better about the existence of this entire journal now. :)
J
(Please note: Someday I truly do want to meet face to face the people I've grown closest with via LJ over the years. You know who you are and if you're ever in the Pacific Northwest you know the coffee and tour guiding -- if you want it -- is on me.)
The summer days are waning and the kids in this region don't start school until after Labor Day. Just the same, I can feel things shifting. Both kids have had soccer practices for the last few weeks (I'm assistant coaching Gavin's team and I love it!), both are gearing up for their respective 5th and 8th grade years, and I think both my wife and I are ready for the new school calendar. It's been a good summer, even though we didn't travel much. The forthcoming trip to Las Vegas (first weekend of October) will remedy that and we did have a fabulous staycation, seeing and doing a lot Portland metro stuff we'd never done before.
The kids are definitely more aware than ever of the plus side of living closer to the city. We saw Old 97's in concert, we'll be seeing The Gaslight Anthem in less than 3 weeks, being closer to the airport makes the Vegas thing easier, and in October and November they'll be going to WWE Smackdown and Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, respectively.
Fall is also when things tend to crank up a bit for me at work and there are a number of projects on the immediate and longer range horizons. Oddly enough, I've spent part of the summer months working on a holiday program and it is extremely hard to do a Charles Dickens-related project when it's sunny and hot outside my window! I've heard that artists who record Christmas albums rarely do so in the winter months so they often lock themselves into the studio, blast the AC for cold, and will even decorate the place to create a mood. I've thought of that a few times but I think in the end I'll just have to enjoy the oddity of editing Christmas stuff in the Summer. Aside from that, the long stretching claws of fund raising will be back to reach for my jugular soon and I'm bracing myself for it. And somewhere in this next fiscal year I'm going to create a true "pilot" for what was once Soundtrack that will evolve into something different but still have music as a component and it will get a different name. Some LJ writers/music geeks are prime candidates for my demo so don't be surprised if I'm in touch at some point! :)
I read two books this summer. That's it. And one of them was a re-read. And yet I recommend both highly: One Day by David Nichols (which is being made into a movie with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as we speak) and The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (also in film development with Steve Carell and Sandra Bullock rumored as the leads).
I've bought a lot of CDs in the summer months and there are new releases forthcoming from bands that are "staples" of my musical diet (Old 97's, Jimmy Eat World, Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title, Kings of Leon, etc.) and a lot great albums have already come out this year (The Gaslight Anthem, Butch Walker, David Wax Museum, The Hold Steady, The Young Veins, to name a few) so already I'd say 2010 has kicked 2009's ass when it comes to really good music. On a semi-related not I utilized eBay for the first time in my life to get an import-only CD all the way from China. I won't disclose what it is because a) it's actually kind of embarrassing and b) I overpaid for it and c) I was actually more fascinated by eBay being the only place I could find it for a reasonable but still overpriced tag and the fact that the seller is in China made it all the more interesting.
I am still swimming but the summer pool schedule at the Y was designed to give the local swim team top priority so morning hours (pre-work) were harder to come by so I've been swimming less. This week things are back to normal and it was really nice to be able to swim at 6AM. Yes, you read that right. It was nice to be in the pool at 6AM! Kelly and Gavin are also swimming now, on Sundays. They're both going through what I went through about 9 months ago: Waking up muscles you're not used to using and finding out your endurance is for hell. It takes time so our Sunday sessions are mellow. I just take it very easy and do slow laps while they work toward increasing their endurance and pace. It's been really nice. Bailey will join us eventually but his soccer practices and training, including conditioning on Saturdays, have his worn out by Sunday so he has opted to sleep in. I can't blame him.
So now I've updated. I feel much better about the existence of this entire journal now. :)
J