I want to tell you all about my whiskerino experiences, but I really don’t have the focus, the time, or the energy to get it together. Suffice to say that it was an amazing experience and I made some awesome friends.
Monthly Archive for February, 2006
I retract my statement about being a nerd. I am no nerd. I don’t know if I am smart enough to be a nerd.
I am taking my first steps in experimenting with Linux (Debian) and I am a Linux midget. I got nothing. No skills. Nada.
My lack of knowledge is the main reason I am trying my hand at Linux. What I have always understood– perhaps incorrectly– about many of the various flavors of Linux, is that in order to successfully run the OS (and by “run” I mean just get the damn thing to work) you really need to know a little about hardware, a little about networking and at least the basic Unix commands. These are all things I am, if not totally unfamilar with, very, very, rusty on. So, it’s like nerd cross-training. Usually, the best way for me to learn something is to jump in head first and so I’ve begun ruining a computer that doesn’t belong to me (Bill gave me his old Dell Inspiron 1100). I’ve hit a wall trying to get the drivers for the system to work, but it’s motivating me to learn more about the way everything works.
I mean, heck, I never used CSS or PHP before I put this site together and I’ve learned a ton about that.. so I think I’ve got a chance with Linux.
But from the perspective of a complete newbie with a tendency to romanticize everything down to it’s fundamental awesomeness (I don’t know what I am talking about), the Linux philosophy is something to behold. I installed the basic software and just to get it runnning, and then learned that I could connect to an ftp site to get ANY packages I needed or wanted to run my system. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!! It reminded me of how excited I was when I first starting using the internet. I remember there was this feeling like everything I wanted to know was out there and I could bring it to me.
Nowadays the internet is a very different landscape than it was promised to be, there are very few free information sources, which is something I have become more aware of now that I am going back to college and saw a demonstration for sites like Xreferplus.com and The LIRN Gateway. These kinds of resources may require a paid account or, in some cases can be accessed through membership at a public library (I am getting access through ECPI’s library). The point is, someone is paying them, and even if it isn’t me, I still have to jump through the hoop of getting a library card or attending college to have access to these resources. The good news about the internet is that nothing is written in stone and it can change at any moment.
So I haven’t been focusing on music too much, but not focusing on music all of the time is causing me to play better music. I think this is true for all musicians. You need to step away from it. I would go as far as to say that to be a great musician you need the comfort in knowing that you can drop it at any time and walk away from it forever. That is a scary prospect for a lot of us, believe me. That comfort can pull you closer to the music you make, and take that stressful “I need to do this because..” language out of your head. Trying to create that peace of mind in my life has made me think more about the music I want to make and less about the money I need it to make for me to pay the bills. That way of thinking has been paralyzing and even debilitating for my creativity. It takes the fun out of it. Music should be fun, Even on the professional level, there’s no reason to play music if isn’t fun.
I have the beginnings of a new song, I’m not going to upload anything until it’s really good though. I can’t promise I will have a drummer over to record it but I will do my best to make the drum machine sounds not stink. Stay tuned.