so much time...

...so many events have occurred between this post and the last one. I think: don't bother to update, what's it to ya? And then I read what I've written thus far, what I started when I came back from my vacation in Greece in 2005 and started a weblog that all my friends were into (I am a conformist in some respects, yes.) I feel that it would be good to write, and if anyone reads it, well then, good for me. I have it in the ether.

Last post I had finished one cruise ship contract, headed for the second in a month. This time around, I finished the second (with a two month stint as Bandmaster. It not only gave me a salary boost, but now I have a better salary to get normal musician contracts with if I wish), and with a three week break in between, finished a third contract. Now on break for two more weeks, next month I start my fourth. It's a short one, too. I get to be home for Xmas and New Year's, which I haven't done in two years. My brother's kids are growing up, and so fast is not a figure of speech. Six months is a considerable amount of time, and in the case of babies growing into infants, infants into toddlers, the fast forward button is much faster than 32x.

One thing that I cannot get over working/living on cruise ships the last 21 months, is that I feel "incomplete". Bad or good, with a job on land my family is always there, never too far out of reach. On ships, it may as well be a prison, but I'm not saying it is one. It obviously isn't. Lack of "easy" communication with family is difficult, and in some cases, unbearable. And it transcends "missing" them. The vindication, the validation from them that even if it's not the right direction for you at the moment, they are RIGHT THERE. On a ship, the telephone or computer is the closest link to that family connection, and...you better pray there's a satellite signal.

That's why there needs to be a higher direction one can take. My music skills are such that I feel I can if not make an impact, then carve a niche and a catalog of work with national artists that love my playing and know that my enthusiasm and pocket playing is exactly what is needed for this session, or show, or concert. Stagnation, plateauing in your work can easily spell disaster for advancing. The moving has to go up, else you're not moving.

to be continued...

So much for starting a blog post on the 1st!

So...yeah...I'm going to start posting more...I promise....about what's going on during "vaca" but also getting ready for "Cruise Ship Contract #2" which henceforth will be called "CCC2" aa well as a "days left" indication.

Not much more time until I start work again. Thank the Lord, get me on a ship! Seriously!


Later

...it's as if the last six months of my life on a ship did not exist...

...were it not for the myriad of pictures I took, with my Canon SLR...and my Canon SLR...and my Macbook...and my Zildjian 20" K Custom Medium Ride cymbal...

back at home, and back to thinking maybe I should post here more often...we'll see how bored or lonely I get, or both.

See you next year! Thank god I'm not a sitcom...

Wow, I haven't been here in ages....

Hey....whoever is reading (not many...yet),

Long time no post. Well, that will soon enough change.

(Soon to be President) Barack Obama talks about Change. Change with a capital "c", like when the writers of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution wanted a word emphasized, they would capitalize the first letter. These days, for emphasis I capitalize the entire word or words.

CHANGE.

Including my new job as a cruise ship musician. I find whatever little info I have found about it good, but I still have questions. I hope to find the answers, and I will post them here. I hope to enjoy my job, too, while having a good time, and playing well and improving as a musician.

Plus, what else...? I dunno, anything I feel like spouting out about. Like moving back into my parents house so I can ease my transition when I leave for Venice in October. Italy, not Florida.
It has NOT been fun...and I've only been here 3 days since I gave the apartment keys back to the landlord.

3 days down, 47 or so to go. Wish me luck. I'm going to NEED it.

C H A N G E .

2007 and ...maybe I should...post...something

Hey all, if there is anyone reading (I never know, but safe to say, there is only an audience of one, but anyway)

This blog looks so lonely without some new updated posts about me and my life. It goes to show how uneventful a life like mine, in fact, really is.

Yes, I could do less with the self-deprecation. Unfortunately, I can't do much else these days.

So...what did I do lately that I can post about....ah! My trip last month to California!

There we go, then. Next post will be about the NAMM convention in Anaheim.

STAY TUNED, as they say in the business...

Christos

Post surgery - thoughts and...thoughts

Ok...no post in a long time, so...I will now post...

March 7 came and went. If anything, I was anxious. Obviously, I wanted to get it over with. I was also very cynical, and very pessimistic. After 18+ plus months of various therapy, costing well into $1000, you can see reason for my cautious optimism.

So after going through March 7, I can only say one thing: Being AWAKE in an OR (only local anethesia, they only numbed the area they were operating on) is by far the most WEIRDEST and UNCOMFORTABLE feeling ever. Now, I couldn't see anything they were doing because I had a sheet over me, for sterility purposes. But for 13 minutes, I felt in a perpetual limbo, with my left hand tourniquetted and being worked upon. I felt a little faint from the numbing medicine, and they gave me oxygen. While it was happening, though, I couldn't help but feel really lucid. I started talking about...music, drums, how important they were to me...basically, if the nurse that was monitoring me asked me bank account passwords or pin numbers, I would told her them at that point.

So...almost a month later, and how do I feel? GREAT. It feels as if I never had numb fingers, and the scar looks right now like a bad scratch. My issue is, I am still in this 6 week window, where it feels like anything can happen and I shouldn't use it too much. For a while my hand would get tired, but now I don't know if I should kick it up a gear to where I am using it %100 as I did before.

So right now, because of the window, I am only playing once, maybe twice a week, usually rehearsals, and I let them know that if my left hand needs a break it's going to take it. I am basically playing as I was when I had CT. Just now, my fingers don't go numb.

So I guess patience is in order here. Patience and April 25, when I'll be in the clear, as far as the 6 weeks is concerned. After that, I plan to play every day, just like I did when I started. It's like part II. Now, I have no excuses. It WILL be only a matter of time, that I acheive in some way, what my mission statement says.

Now, I only hope my right hand keeps up and doesn't go my left hands route. Not for some time, anyway...

Ok, so I don't post everyday...so what?

...could it be possible that I have people who actually READ this blog, and look forward to any updates?

Cool...that makes me feel important...

Well...I made a mistake of sorts....I bought one of these:



I didn't know what to expect when I bought it...
...I didn't know I bought the media equvalent of CRACK!

....mmmmm, crack...(visions of Tyrone Biggums..)

so...my nights after work, when not in rehearsal, is spent playing the afore mentioned Gamecube. So much so, that I bought Zelda on ebay....the ORIGINAL, for NES, released in '87...

old school, baby...

it even has Zelda II, and the two N64 Zelda games...

A PERFECT NIGHT OF LIQUID MEDIA CRACK...

...why I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend...should be fairly obvious by now. Except to me...and I wonder why I am repressed?

I SHOULD BE PRACTICING MY DRUMS...instead, I'm dreaming of Triforces, boomerangs, arrows, fairies, rupees...visions of beating Ganon dancing in my head...

I will control my addiction, I promise...

SUBJECT CHANGE________________________________________________



This was from a recording session we (the Vedas) did earlier this month. It went really well. I'm getting the hang of recording, and capturing it for the moment. I am always fascinated with drummers like Jack DeJohnette, who can play for the moment and what they play is ALWAYS right. It sounds to me that way, anyway.

The things is, I am real nitpicky. I did not record a take that was 100%. There was a bit of compromising I had to do on my part...but why? Is any musician 100%? Ever?

I had to get over myself...there was no real chance of me being satisfied with a take 100%

When I find a way to post the mp3s I will post them. When you listen to them, you'll probably think...that I was playing Gamecube too long. What could be wrong with my playing, you would probably ask? But we're all our own worst critics. I have to learn to be constructive...concerning my playing. It will take some time, and it won't be 100%, but then again...I would most likely stop playing if I was 100% all of the time...

so...there you go.

....looking at the picture, I could afford to skip a few meals...maybe eat a vegetable or two? It won't kill me...

......and life goes on and on and on.....

Okay, bye!