monday lunchtime ramblings

this weekend we had a stomach bug that curtailed our scheduled extra-apartment activities. lexi wasn't feeling well, and i stayed in to take care of her (while all the while being anxious about my own potential for getting sick). never fun. lexi's feeling much better now, though, so that's good, and i ended up fine myself.

for a bit it seemed as if the dinner i cooked friday night (nothing impressive -- just fish sticks, nachos and spinach & cheese pizza*) might have been the culprit, which had me on edge for two reasons:

1) i ate it, too, which would mean that, were it the food, i'd definitely get it, too.

2) i rarely handle the cooking duties. it'd be a shame to have such an instance dissuade me from further culinary adventures.

* goddamn, what a chef i am! seriously, though, i can cook more advanced stuff than that. as a matter of fact, i'm capable of cooking a couple of ridiculously tasty Ethiopian dishes courtesy of my lovely ex-girlfriend hilina. lexi usually handles the cooking duties for our household because she loves to cook and is unfathomably more creative in the kitchen than i.

******

anyway, gastrointestinal distress aside, it was a good weekend. i did a little bit of writing, composed and recorded a new track with an eye on a documentary in production, etc. despite feeling terribly groggy and out of sorts saturday, i managed to be somewhat productive, finding a path from inspiration/ idea to final mix in a matter of an hour and a half for one piece of music. came out pretty good, too.

it's really just so. freakin'. nice to be merely working in the studio of late. after a couple of years of predominantly running mentally from gig to gig, learning these tunes for that band and those tunes for this band, etc., i'm getting to figure out what music is in my head right now. i get to come home and pick up whichever instrument strikes me at the moment, and i get to take my time and explore. haven't had nearly enough of that time for way too long, and i really need it for my sanity.

granted, it is a great deal of fun to get to play with the people i'm extremely fortunate enough to play with. but in each of those groups, i'm playing what they want to play -- it's their gig! after some time away from what's playing in your own head and trying to make it exist outside of your head, you start getting a little nutty and desperate to get back to that.

at least i do.

so that's where i find myself these days, though it's counterbalanced with the weight of composition for film/ tv, which i'm trying to do a lot more of. the thing i enjoy about that is that i have this external impetus pushing me to explore sonic and musical elements i may not have otherwise found myself exploring.

also watched the world series goings-on over the weekend. how about that kenny rogers? i don't think there was anything up with what was on his pitching hand in the first inning of game 2. besides, he kicked ass wholly and completely subsequent to the the first inning. and this was a continuance of his last two pitching performances (unmarred by speculation as they were) to bring him to 23 consecutive scoreless innings pitched in the postseason. twenty-three! i was just reading today that the only streak longer than that was christy mathewson's 27 consecutive scoreless postseason innings in 1905(!!), during which he pitched three consecutive complete game shutouts.

now that's impressive.

i hope the speculation of what was on his hand in one inning out of those 23 doesn't stain what has been an outstanding postseason so far for mr. kenny rogers. i'm psyched for him that he's pulling this kind of intensity out and extracting such an historical performance from himself.