So, driving to work with the windows down is fantastic, but I’m starting to think about fixing up the bicycle and using it to get there. I would already be doing this, but the ride involves a lot of crossing traffic.  It would probably be worth it, just need to try it some night when traffic isn’t so bad. And find a place to drop off the bike.

Losing more weight though. Down to 236lb last night.  If I can get under 230 soonish I’ll know that my food changes are working. Here’s hoping, yeah?

I miss the mountains. So cliche, but so true.

I spent many evenings at Josh’s house, playing Starcraft and listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers when we weren’t practicing breakdancing and looking at car magazines.  We desperately wanted good cars.  It felt like our whole future was ahead of us, and yet I had no idea how hard the ensuing ten years would be.

Part of me wishes I could go back and talk to myself.  I’d tell young-me to cherish these times, don’t get frustrated, and know that no matter what happens, I make it through ok.  I’d teach myself to be more self-confident, and a little more responsible.  I’d push gently towards self-reliance in hopes that the scars wouldn’t be quite so bad.

I’d like to at least go back and watch some of those times, even just once, to remember some of the things that happened that have passed from memory.  I’d push myself towards music more, and try to be more decisive.

So many stories left untold, so many memories lost to the stalwart march of time.

I find myself concerned with my future, concerned that I won’t remember these times; times of financial hardship, insecurity, and emotional dichotomy.

And then, the reality of the masses hits me.  Everybody must feel this way.  Everyone must have these same casualties of recollection.  If the count for myself is in the millions, the things lost for all must be staggeringly astronomical.  I could fill a thousand lifetimes skimming through the lives of people, watching their darkest times, their happiest times, and the growth of personality.  It seems a crime to have such short lives when so much of this is missing, yet it gives some hope for Heaven.  Some wonder what eternities of afterlife would consist of, as surely any single hobby would grow startlingly tiresome after eons.

I like to think we’ll spend our time watching stories of the past; the stories of other people, and then maybe we’ll truly learn respect.

In the mean time, please sort out your use of “there”, “their”, and “they’re”.  Seriously.

SoundCloud is my new favorite website. I spend almost as much time there as I do facebook. It’s like youtube for musicians.  Everyone posts their music, people comment on each other, it’s just great.  I highly recommend it.

Some notables on SoundCloud:

Jed Whedon – Composer for Dr Horrible (and brother to Joss Whedon. If you don’t know who this is, google it.)

Chymera – Some random musician from Germany who I stumbled upon his awesome remixes, including this one.

Jody Wisternoff – Half of Way Out West, amazing DJ. Updates frequently.

John Axon – Awesome video-game scores and stuffs. Great style. Makes me want to game more.

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The new album: well, I’ve got a lot more work to be done by Friday, but I’m gonna pull it off, I suspect.  Will announce the title and webstuffs on Friday.  Hope to get some graphics done tomorrow. May have to sketch it up at work.  Oh well, it’s not like I’m constantly busy at work. Lord knows I’ve written enough songs to fill a couple albums while waiting for the cursed phone to ring.

Anyway, I booked a DJ gig back at Club Whisper (I know, the same building as the strip club), and I’m super excited.  I’m going to have to find some killer music. May mix it up a bit, stray from some glitchy-tech house and back into prog, or maybe even dub.  Not sure, really.  I have no dubstep yet, that’s for sure.  Maybe I’ll do some custom-remixes and some of my own music. Who knows. Any ideas?  What do you guys wanna hear?

Also, Singer. I’m calling you out, fool. You haven’t seen me DJ in years. Seriously. You’d better show, or I’ma call you Josh.

In the mean time, I’m going to try to make it available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, and a few others.  We’ll have to see how it goes. Looks like the release date of Oct 1st is solidifying a bit, but it has to be complete by midweek to do it.  Here’s to cramming, right?

So, Naomi’s been home lately, and that’s been totally rad.  She’s been great, and I’m pulling for her to get a solid job so she can get motion towards her dreams. Also, so we can afford to travel more together.  Did I mention that we went to Colorado last weekend?

There are days when I’m unsure of what my current situation is, when life seems to be opening all the wrong doors, yet a few things still hold consistent, and for those things I’m thankful.  I’ve been working on improving my mood lately too, so if I seem irrationally optimistic, or unbearably happy, you’ll know why.  I obtained a habit in the last few years of being easily frustrated, generally irritable, and often pessimistic.  Life may be more ‘real’ now than it used to be, but that’s not a particularly good reason to not be optimistic, in my estimation.

Optimism doesn’t require disappointment at failure.  Intentional optimism is its own springboard.

Doesn’t mean you have to love every second of the day, but it’s a good idea to always have a goal, and pursue that goal. Even if it’s mamby pamby or trivial. I find some solace in maintaining my plants, cleaning my house, working on my car.  Things that have little to nothing to do with music, yet they still bring me peace and joy.

So, I’m going to go about my day tomorrow with careful optimism and keep my goals in mind. They help keep me sane when the work of the day is dragging on my mood.

Also, Dr Pepper helps, but not so much as it used to.

Down to 237lbs now. From 250. FU DrP.

We spent some time in Colorado over the weekend, and as expected, it kick-started my creativity drive, and I’m planning on finishing the album very soon.  I’ve got a guy working on graphics (Thanks, Sammy) and I’m finishing up the mastering this week.  Tentative release date is Oct 1.  Interested? I thought so.

Samples can be heard on http://soundcloud.com/seth-duncan

So, what sparks your guys’ inspiration?  Is it staring at the stars, or watching musicals, or perhaps reading books?  What gets your creativity going; your wonder wandering?  For me, it’s mainly listening to other musicians do their thing, trying to learn some new techniques, and then apply them to my own feelings.  Lots of that to be had in the album.  The name is still a secret, but will be revealed soon. I promise.  Maybe as soon as a week from now.

I spend my days at work excited to get home so I can work on music.  I don’t always get the chance, mind you, but I love it.  The simple chase of musical expression fuels me on to motivation.  It’s quite strange, surreal, yet exciting.  It also makes me feel out of place sometimes.  Being in Colorado helped kick my sense of perspective in the face and pushed me to realize that some stuff is just worthless banter, not to be discussed or bothered with.  Some things are worth spending your whole life on.

Family, friends, music; these are examples of the good things.  Drama, petty arguments, frustration at simple inconveniences; these are so debilitating, yet so incredibly worthless.  I hope you guys have a great day, seriously. Do something nice for someone.  Something out of the ordinary.  Something that will make a statement, even if it’s a small one.

Here’s a clip of a track that needs a lady’s touch.

http://www.sethduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/walkaway_sample.mp3

Opinions GO!  The song is called “Walk Away”, tentatively.  Needs some lyrics too, so bring what ya got.

Lessons are going well, got five regular guitar students at the moment, possibly more on the way.  Loving that side of things, and it’s got the unexpected side-effect of forcing me to clean the house and be organized with lesson plans.

So, what ideas do you have for the future.  I’m thinking about crowd-sourcing the EP, would you guys like a part of it?  Say, donations get you a free song and a name-drop in the cover?  Could be fun! You know you want it.

Back to mastering, then to bed. This whole “work all day” thing is getting tiring, because I end up staying up so late to do music. Someday I’ll be free of this wretched aeronautical tyranny! muahahaha.

Tonight, inspiration caught on.  Today, a glimmer of light showed in the distance.  Perhaps they are related, but probably not.

Saw Future of Forestry play tonight.  I was severely impressed, extremely inspired, and a bit ashamed.  If these guys can do what they did tonight, keeping only three musicians and a helper-helpington running around tuning guitars, then it’s just maybe possible that I could do something like that, with the help of a few select musicians.  I’ve been thinking in-the-box a bit lately, and haven’t considered what could be done if I pursued my musical interests in this style while recruiting help.

Then again, don’t you always want to be in a band like the one you just saw play?  Well sure, but in this case, these guys were pulling off crap I’ve been thinking about for months.  Special thanks out to Dale for introducing me to them, this could very well prove to be a major influence in the future.

Also, today, something was said at work that could lead to a thing with a thing in the place with some people over there.

Also, it was about as freaking awesome of a night, weather-wise, as it could possibly have been for seeing an outdoor show.

Also, I’m seriously giving guitar lessons.  Like, 6 students so far. Roughly.

There’s been two polarizing events in my life that I can attribute directly to my music career.  One was my Aesthetics of Music class with Doug Riney.  That class convinced me to drop my business degree, which I was loathing as it was, and pursue a music degree.  I mainly have Mr. Riney and his fantastic teaching style, along with a great course layout, to thank for this change.  This set into motion the pursuit of more and more musical outlets.  I had already developed a fairly extensive library of music, themes, beats and ideas, and this started to exponentially grow.  The second event has to be the tour, and the return from the road.  Going back to my job was a wake-up call for me.  I realized that if I didn’t constantly stoke the fire of interest in music, I would risk stagnating into the comfortable day-to-day, IT service desk existence.  This would be all fine and good if I had aspirations to become a network admin or a programmer.  Those things interest me.  They really do.  But it’s like deciding between a Twinkie and the world’s best steak.  Sure, the twinkie looks good, but it’s not going to keep you warm at night.  When you look at a twinkie, it’s golden, fluffy and attractive.  You eat it in 4 carefully planned bites, then you’re done.  When you eat that steak, every bite is amazing, delicious, and gets you riled up for the next bite.  When you’re done, you’re full, and you go take a nap.

Ok, that analogy got a bit out of hand, mainly due to Doug talking about Chester’s tonight at practice.  Thanks, Doug.

The point is: music is sorta my thing.

So, in an effort to continuously billow the fires of musical wonder, I’ve started filling up my weeknights by teaching various music lessons.  I’ve started practicing guitar every day, working on music every day, and reading more and more about music creation, recording, and production.  After all, regarding music, it’s been 20 long years; the fire’s still burnin’.  The wax on the candle melts like tears.  You know it don’t come easy; the road of the gyspy.  Sorry.  Iron Eagle reference.

Besides, if I really turn things around and push hard, then some day I can tell my kids that things really changed when I turned 25.  It’s a good number.

In that dream, there were some elements that obviously came from recent life experiences.  I had just finished Battlestar Galactica, which explains the Tricia Helfer appearance, and maybe even her discussion about being a god, but makes no explanation for the wheatfields, the stable, or the ghosts.  I remember this dream was particularly real to me, which is why I blogged about it.  So, why the wheatfields?  Why the water-tower?  I’m not looking for representation; generally speaking I think that the idea of any particular dream element representing something in real life is a bit unbelievable, and a lot unquantifiable, but still, where’d the dream get those?  Where’d it get the name Amanda F. Adams?  I googled it.  I don’t know any Amanda Adams, never have.  Google was pretty light on details of her, too.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that these particularly vivid dreams come to me in waves.  There may be a week where nearly every night is some grand storyline, or some terrifying escapade.  So, what elements conjure up a storm of nocturnal brain-activity?  Is it something simple, like a combination of stress and imagination?  Seems like a likely combination.  What about something more scientific?  What if it’s something crazy like solar activity, or atmosphere ionization that causes our synapses to fire off.  Something spiritual?  It’s hard to attribute dreaming in general to a purely spiritual source when you consider the huge range of dream types.  You’d think there’d be some sort of theme if it were a “gift”, some sort of message.  Instead, dreams seem completely random.

Every so often I choose to share one of my dreams with a friend, and they respond with their own tale of a dream they had.  I noticed that once in a while, it seems that people close to me will have vivid dreams right around the same timeframe that I do.  This is complete speculation, but what if this was evidence that either a). dreams were influenced and intensified by some environmental variable, or b). waves of dreams are shared through social circles.  Obviously (again, this is speculation, just for the sake of mental exercise) this would be crazy, but what if. 

So, all this being said, what crazy dream-experiences have you had?  What thoughts do you have about dreams?  What crazy ideas do you have about what dreams could be?