I’ve been feeling a touch insignificant lately. It’s not that Shay doesn’t pay attention to me or that I’ve been shunned by my coworkers or anything like that, but I have been reading a collection of essays by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson called Death by Black Hole. There’s something about diving into a book that focuses on the cosmos that makes a person feel tiny. It’s very interesting and makes me want to buy a telescope.
Nothing that exciting has happened the last couple of weeks. I finally got a new bass amp, the Fender Bassman 150. I was originally looking for a Bassman 100, but Axe Music had sold the one they had the day before I was there, and that turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. Even though I spent about $100 more than I wanted, the 150 has more tonal controls than the 100, which means I can more easily fine-tune the sound I get from the amp. I must say that tI am quite happy with the amp- it has great sound to it and my Thunderbird sounds like I think it should. I haven’t been able to dial in a decent sound with my Washburn, but I haven’t a)really tried and b)been able to get a good sound out of that guitar with any amp, but perhaps I will tinker with it one day.
I jammed again with Adam, Mike and their friend Matt, who was playing drums. It wasn’t nearly as productive as the first jam, but it was still fun to be there. They’re great guys to hang out with and like I said previously, they are incredible musicians that I feel privileged to play with.
This past weekend was somewhat busy for Shay and I. Saturday we went to Bootleggers with some of her coworkers to watch the Flames game and listen to some karaoke. It was an okay night minus the shitty service and a drunken douchebag boyfriend (not me). Sunday afternoon we went to Market Mall so I could pick up iLife ’09 from the Apple store. Each program has some great new features, and while I am most excited by Garageband, I’m looking forward to playing around with everything else. One of the things I am considering doing (again!) is using iWeb to design a website. Even though I used to rail on the idea of using WYSIWYG editors (which is what iWeb is), with my desire for a good looking and easy to customize website and my lack of HTML/CSS/PHP etc knowledge, I think iWeb is the way to go (the irony is not last on me). We will see what I can come up with, how much Apple’s MobileMe service costs to use, that sort of thing.
Another thing I want to dive into is the piano and guitar lessons in Garageband. I think it is a fantastic addition and hopefully they’ll help me out. I swapped my electronic keyboard with my brother for his acoustic guitar, but we still have Shay’s keyboard and I will eventually buy a USB/MIDI keyboard for us in Garageband, as well as a USB hub for recording live instruments. Even further down the line (like when I am decent at 6-string), I want to buy a couple of nice electric guitars and some stompboxes so I can figure out and record some stuff I’ve had sitting in my head for years.
I started replaying Mass Effect the other day. The teaser for Mass Effect 2 piqued my interest in the game again, and so did the fact that I’ve encountered a game ending bug in Fallout 3 that has not been patched and that I can’t get around because it happens during a loading screen in the middle of a quest. Was I was using multiple saves? Of course not. Regardless, I’m taking a break from Fallout to play Mass Effect again. Bioware’s goal with ME2 is to bring forward save data form the first game so the story will reflect the choices made by the player in Mass Effect. Is it ambitious? Absolutely, but if they manage to pull it off, it has the potential to change how stories over multiple entries in the same videogame series. I hope Bioware makes it happen- there are a few pivotal moments in the first game that require some tough choices on the part of the player, and those moments make each players experience slightly different, so I hope that gets reflected in ME2. In anticipation of this, I am replaying the game to shape my character’s abilities how I want them to be (no wasting points on pistols this time!) and making the choices that I want to see reflected in ME2.
That pretty much sums up the last couple weeks. Shay and I are both sick now and a bit miserable, but I think we will survive.
Look Lively, Little Ones 