Pluses (+) and minuses (−) of this day

[OCG]

Well, YouTube no longer has character limits so feel free to comment on his video

[incognito]

I'm sorry That was a little uncalled for. I'm actually trying to stop cussing.

*siiiiiigggghhhh* A lot of Tom and Jerry fans say the 1992 movie sucks. But what do they have to compare it to; the freaking Fast and the Furry?!?!

Tom and Jerry: The Movie holds a deep positive childhood connotation for me.

Hey, im a Tom and jerry fan Too i have all the tom an jerrys since Tom s'name was Jasper !

Really? All the way back then? Wow!

But have you seen the very first Tom and Jerry movie? The one in 1992 with Robyn the orphan girl? The one where they talk?

I think i saw it many years ago.

[Adsolution]

+ I've been volunteering as an ambassador at the Kiwanis Music Festival this entire week, usually taking the 13:30-16:30 shift. It's awesome! I get to hear all these amazing performances on piano and violin, my favourite being today, the 28 and under Provincial Nationals, it's blowing my mind.

+ Got a new black, five-leg desk from IKEA and a 7-guitar stand. My old desk was actually about to collapse, the right wall had broken off and was literally being leaned on the entire time. A month or two ago it actually did collapse, and I just managed to support it in time before all my screens tumbled off! This new guitar stand is beautiful too, and clears up so much space in my room.

+ I finished a remix project I was doing for the Sarah McLaughlin School of Music (I had to take six acoustic songs some students recorded and remix them into 40-second electronic tracks), and got paid $400!

[Earth Gwee]

+ I found out I did much better on my third art history exam, which bumped me up to a passing grade in the class.

- Still have to do some extra credit, but it should be easy.

[Adsolution]

+ I'm utterly intoxicated by Romantic piano music. Every time I hear any, I end up sitting at the piano for the next six hours practicing.

- Unfortunately, I'm doing so many things at once. I wish I could just suspend/put on hold everything so I could only focus on one thing at a time. If I could drop school and focus entirely on getting my piano ARCT for the next year, then I'd gladly do so. Since that likely isn't a possibility though (dropping school), I'd love to drop everything but school and power through that crapfest so I can get to the piano. This would include game development and other dedications as well, even though though I want to complete those simultaneously. I can only just imagine how productive someone could be if all they did was focus on one thing, day in and day out, every day, which I would love to do more than anything.

[incognito]

+ I'm utterly intoxicated by Romantic piano music.

I dont think its a plus.

[Adsolution]

I dont think its a plus.

Why's that?

[incognito]

I.think its not.productive. Waste.of time.

[Rulez]

+ I finished a remix project I was doing for the Sarah McLaughlin School of Music (I had to take six acoustic songs some students recorded and remix them into 40-second electronic tracks), and got paid $400!

And it's amazing!

- I'm sick and still as busy.
+ I've been working on a full cover of Unintended in D (live at Wembley), I think I did well with the drums and organ. I've finally learned the whole thing on guitar so I'll record that today. I actually wanted to record the piano (in place of the vocals) today, but that slightly didn't work out. I've still got a week though!

[Shrooblord]

- I don't want to see my family, it's one of the things I dread every day, but especially when I'm feeling the way I am now.

+ I've gotten paid about $450 over the course of the last week for various music-related things.

I feel for you, Addy. :c
But wow you're getting real lucrative, aren't you!
.. wow-ow reading your more recent post, you're getting REAL lucrative - good for you! Shows what devotion to a hobby and passion for what you do can achieve.
And yes, that is just the trick - balancing out the different aspects of one's life with obligations, hobbies and personal joys, be those social life, work, school, art - anything, really. How easy would it be if we could just devote our life to one single thing and get better and better and better at that without having to worry about the rest. But, I think at least, that's exactly the fun of it all - getting things done that need to be done (and getting them done properly, no sloppy-joe'ing this!) and still finding the time to do what's important to you.

By the way, I'd love to be able to listen to some examples of what you did! I've been missing your musical endeavours, lately. Your style speaks to me in a way not many people's do.
---

+ I'm getting better at piano with every frantic song I practice. I'm purposely picking out intensive Japanese songs I like (such as Senbonzakura and most recently Marisa Stole the Precious Thing) and practicing them until I'm satisfied with what I can achieve. It's especially useful for finger techniques since Japanese electronic music, moreso than what I'm used to from Western music, is incredibly frantic at times, yet not unplayable. Hitting all those notes correctly at high speed gives me an incredibly satisfying feeling.
+ It makes me think back to when I was just starting to play the piano and I was trying to play for example the Cave of Bad Dreams theme from Rayman 2. Oh, how difficult it was. But I knew back then that if I'd keep trying, I'd easily be able to get it at some point. Just played it the other day after quite a few weeks of not touching it (I regularly play R2 music on the piano) and was surprised at how basically flawless it was in comparison to before I had learnt to play Marisa.
- I'm still crap at switching styles. I have this tendency to fall into one particular style of playing, be it a certain set of chord progressions, a specific sort of harmonies, etc., and then not switching from that style until I find a new style to fall into. The least happy I am with my basslines, which are, nowadays, basically just chords' root notes (in octave) and their fifths.
+ However, I have my off moments where I create a new song that's completely different and it makes me all the more excited about thinking of it, because it'll be so 'outside' my then current paradigm.

+ I was recently a bit dissatisfied with how my life was going, but today I looked into the mirror and remembered what I love about it, myself, and others around me - all my troubles washed away! How cleansing.

+ I came here! I do miss this place sometimes.
C'mere, you guys, give ol' Shroobie a hug!

PS
- I did a Shrooblord again and made a massive wall of text. Oh well, enjoy reading!

[Master]

A hug, eh?


Hehe, always a pleasure to have you by.

[Shrooblord]

MAWWWWIKI come here you big softy!

+ Hugged MAWWWIKI

[OCG]

Didn't know you are Yu-Gi-Oh fan Master.
I am but I only like Japanese Season 0, 1st series and GX. I don't like others to be hoest.

@Shroob
Eh, I rarely hug but why not

[Shrooblord]

I liked watching Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid. I'm a real fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged series by LittleKuriboh though. They're pure genius.

[OCG]

That is better than original one

[Master]

Yeah, that was a reference to Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged's Melvin/Yami Marik.

[Imco]

- I've been really busy the past few days, so I didn't have any time to visit the forums
+ Leaving for Malawi in 5 days :S
- I've got a maths test in 2 days

[Adsolution]

I.think its not.productive. Waste.of time.

And I think you're homosexual.

And yes, that is just the trick - balancing out the different aspects of one's life with obligations, hobbies and personal joys, be those social life, work, school, art - anything, really. How easy would it be if we could just devote our life to one single thing and get better and better and better at that without having to worry about the rest. But, I think at least, that's exactly the fun of it all - getting things done that need to be done (and getting them done properly, no sloppy-joe'ing this!) and still finding the time to do what's important to you.

Mhm! It's primarily a few small things, such as school, that are keeping me from being content and as productive as I could be. Once those are solved, I'll be high on true lucrative activity!

By the way, I'd love to be able to listen to some examples of what you did! I've been missing your musical endeavours, lately. Your style speaks to me in a way not many people's do.

Sure, I can share them on Skype if you'd like. They're really not all too special, as I only spent about an hour on each one (production-wise, they're far from perfect). A couple of the tracks that I had to base them off of were rather plain in my opinion (though surprisingly creative for having been written by young students), which shines through in some of the chord progressions. I was also a little bit restricted in certain areas, such as in one of them where I had to create a relatively 'generic dance beat' to go in the background of a house party scene, and another where I had to make the six-minute closing sequence that had to be really up-beat and feelgood, but subdued somewhat. But all in all it was great and, in reality, I was given quite a lot of freedom.

I actually took heavy influence from Demon Days on the production style for them, since the dirty-yet-organic sound seemed to fit well here.

My dream project is still to be given entire freedom to compose for a game or film. Arthias, a project an acquaintance of mine now working at 20th Century Fox is designing, is perfect for me. He loves my work (we met back in 2010), and while the project is on hold now, he said that whenever he gets around to starting it up again, he's pulling me right back on board. I don't know when that will be, as it's been on hold for years now, but he updates his portfolio now and then with new concept artwork for it, showing that he's still very passionate about it, which I'm very happy about. It's the first and only other project I've ever joined that I've not lost a single gram of interest in, even after so many years of waiting. Out of all the people on CryDev, this guy has a vision.

+ I'm getting better at piano with every frantic song I practice. I'm purposely picking out intensive Japanese songs I like (such as Senbonzakura and most recently Marisa Stole the Precious Thing) and practicing them until I'm satisfied with what I can achieve. It's especially useful for finger techniques since Japanese electronic music, moreso than what I'm used to from Western music, is incredibly frantic at times, yet not unplayable. Hitting all those notes correctly at high speed gives me an incredibly satisfying feeling.

Oh, please record some of your playing! Reading this makes me so excited for when you, Tomek and I meet up, it's great to hear how well you're doing!

- I'm still crap at switching styles. I have this tendency to fall into one particular style of playing, be it a certain set of chord progressions, a specific sort of harmonies, etc., and then not switching from that style until I find a new style to fall into.

Don't worry, this is really common, a trap I fall into often as well - though, this trap isn't necessarily an all-bad thing. I have a style I've retained for the last six or so years that I've formed, it's generally some kind of neo-Romantic, impressionistic, partially-Rachmaninoff epic with some minimalism and mild elements of jazz harmony infusion, if I had to describe it in a sentence, but it isn't as weird or cool as that description sounds. In the last year or so however, I've started branching out a bit more especially in regards to harmonies, essentially expanding my improvisatory palette.

The least happy I am with my basslines, which are, nowadays, basically just chords' root notes (in octave) and their fifths.

I rarely use those (usually referred to as Power Chords), but when I do, I usually use them low down, not low enough to the point where they sound muddy, but just low enough so that the frequencies blend together in a crisp, brooding way. Interestingly, I would have probably ended up using them like you do if I didn't happen to have large hands, which allow me to easily strike tenths and elevenths. My typical fallback for a bassline is 1-5-10, or 1-5-8-10, which both luckily contains all three notes in a triad, so it gives a very full sound. However, aimless repetition of methods is never the best someone can do, so I empathise with you greatly!

+ However, I have my off moments where I create a new song that's completely different and it makes me all the more excited about thinking of it, because it'll be so 'outside' my then current paradigm.

Same here actually, in fact, I think most of the things I've written just came out randomly and sound very different than what I would normally improvise or try. That isn't to say one is better than the other, it just happens to be that way. Oftentimes I'll then play around with the style of the new thing I've created and familiarise myself with it.

I've been working on a full cover of Unintended in D (live at Wembley), I think I did well with the drums and organ. I've finally learned the whole thing on guitar so I'll record that today. I actually wanted to record the piano (in place of the vocals) today, but that slightly didn't work out. I've still got a week though!

I've been such a dick lately, but it's all done now!

[Keane]

- Tomorrow I'm going to be forced by my counselor to "hang out" with someone I don't even know the name of. I have him in one class, and he's kind of a dickhead if you ask me. I asked why he's doing this, and he told me that "Two weeks ago I asked you if you play video games and which ones. You said Minecraft, and he recently mentioned to me that he likes Minecraft". So yeah, he literally decided he should force this upon me and we'll totally click because of fucking Minecraft. When I first got into this whole counseling thing I was hoping to gain some peace or understanding from it, but I've only grown to despise the meetings and they just make me nervous. At least we're not paying for this bullshit. Anyway, I got some really awkward and extremely forced basic questions and then 20 minutes of staring at a clock counting every second to look forward to. I honestly can't wait until the school year finishes up and I can just get rid of this whole counseling nonsense.

- And as the counseling isn't doing the slightest thing, I'm settling for another summer vacation to be spend in one room, making due with my mother for social interaction.

- I'm honestly just upset about anything and everything again. I feel like bad things are causing chain reactions of more bad thing and It's becoming increasingly harder to appreciate a good day.

[Adsolution]

Counselling at your school sounds like foster care, it's dumb and depressing.

Just out of curiosity, what were some of these awkward questions?