As sometimes happens, well probably more often than I care for, I had a topic for this post. I started it. I rewrote it. I rewrote it again, and again. Each time it went a bit off the rails. So, I’ve abandoned it. After three tries, if that train doesn’t want to reach the station, it’s not going to. That means that instead, you get random things going on in my world.
I am on holiday from the day job. That does not mean I am on holiday somewhere interesting. Not this time. I’m doing the stay home thing, not that that is much different from being at the day job these days. It does mean that instead of having a schedule I need to keep and other work that takes up my time, I have the day, the schedule, and the time to do as I please. Because of that it can sometimes mean I find projects I didn’t know I had and get lost in those and find half a day gone.
One such project that could do that, and nearly did that at first has to do with my cd collection. My cd collection has begun to grow again in the last month or so adding to a problem I created the last time it grew. A few years ago, just before I started buying a lot of cd’s, I had managed to get everything I had ripped to digital on my computer. Then I bought a bunch of cd’s and didn’t rip them as I got them. Well, I did rip some because I put them on my phone at the time. But a lot I didn’t.
For those who might not know, ripping a cd is basically the process of using a program to copy the file and convert it to a format a media player can read, like .mp3, .mp4 or .wav.
Not having everything ripped hadn’t been much of an issue until recently. I got Air Pods to use with my iPad and iPhone and very quickly discovered that they resolve something that has been bugging me about the cd/record player I have. So first, yes, I have a cd/record player/radio. It is an all-in wonder. But as you might guess, it doesn’t have the best of sound output. It also has this really annoying “feature”. It has auto-attenuation when you plug in headphones. Basically, it won’t let you turn the volume up too loud, I guess for safety. I don’t like this feature. It can make it very difficult to zone in on a pitch, a phrase, or a part because to do that sometimes you have to turn up the volume enough to get to what you’re trying to hear. With my system, at a certain point, it feels like the more I turn it up, the softer it gets, or I turn it up and it turns it right back down. It’s really annoying. So far, my Air Pods have not done that.
Once I figured out that the Air Pods were going to make my listening better, I started using them when working in the art studio and I’m really loving it. It is a little weird if I sing along, and I do, but I don’t have anyone around to be disturbed by it, so I’m not worried about it. While listening this way, I have found that there is stuff I want to listen to that I can’t find on most of the streaming platforms that I pay for. Which is frustrating because I’d love to create a playlist with a bunch of that stuff. So, as you might have guessed, one of the projects I didn’t know I have is trying to catch up on the cd ripping. Which involves, identifying what didn’t get ripped, and ripping it to the computer. It’s going to take some time. I counted last night, and I have nearly 80 cd’s to rip, and some are two cd sets. I don’t expect to finish this while I’m on holiday. I have other things I want to do, and I don’t want to spend all that time sitting in front of a computer. I do that enough as it is. But I’ll chip away at it.
Most of the other projects I may work on this week I listed out last week. I don’t know about you but for me, when I realize I’m going to have time to do stuff, I will make a list of everything that I need to do, or could do since I’ll have a big chunk of time to do it all in. The list is usually longer than I will have time to finish. Though, this time I have managed to get a few of those items knocked out already. However, I haven’t tackled a couple of the ones that are bigger, or at least feel like they are. The nice thing is, there isn’t a room painting project on the list this time. Though…
Yes. It did occur to me to paint or repaint a room in my home. And it would have been a massive project because the room I had in mind is the office with two seven-foot bookshelves that are full. And now, several guitars, as well as an amplifier, not to mention the desk set up that would all have to be moved. Oh, the painting needs doing, And maybe this year, just not this week.
Instead, I’m going to make more art and play some guitar. That is my primary plan for the week. I’ve got a new stippling art piece I’m working on. I’d like to get it done, or mostly done by the end of the week. Amazingly, it’s possible. I used to think every stippling project would take forever, some do, and then I did one over a weekend. It was pretty much all I did that weekend, and I was fairly stiff and sore from sitting in one position for so long. By taking the week, I hope to not have that issue.
Yes, you did read that play guitar is on the list of this week’s activities. I am back to being able to play more again. Yay. I’ve found a handful of songs I want to learn to play and sing so I’m working on those. None of them are new, though one is new to me. A couple of them are old songs that are great sing-along to songs. And I’ve been working on a more robust way of playing a song I already know. I’ve basically learned the intro and the main fill for it instead of just strumming. That’s a bit of a change for me.
It’s not that I never wanted to learn the intros, and the fills, and the lead guitar parts of a song. I just never took the time to figure it all out. I’d want to play a song right away so I’d find the most expeditious way to play it that would let me sound like I was playing the song. While right now, doing this means it takes longer to learn a song, I’m hopeful that as I do it more and learn more songs that I’ll get better at it, and I’ll be able to enhance songs I already know while new songs won’t take as much to learn. Not to mention, I might not need sheet music or video demos as often. That would be so cool. While I work on the new songs, I’m refreshing some songs I already know. Many of them I haven’t been playing for a year or two, even before I injured myself, and for some songs, I don’t have very good notes on how I was playing them.
Other stuff I have planned for the week include a little cooking, going to dinner with a friend, watching a couple of movies, deciding on the next piece of art after the one I’m working on now, and possibly some daytime Taekwondo. Not an especially exciting week off, and definitely not the excitement of the weeklong trip to Paris. Still, it’s time that is mine to do what I want and I am happy to have it. Now, I think I’ll get a workout in and see what I can get stuck into for today. Peace.