So the contest this time ended up being between me and my brother and my brother's friends. This is because all the other songwriters I know are either a)lazy or b)afraid. Oh, except of course there's El Esposo, who--though a wonderful non-lazy non-afraid human being, has been busy with "other stuff." And I better come out with this: My song is not really MINE, though I did perform it solo. It belongs to the band Minus Dave, which consists of former members of the band The Curators, excepting co-lead singer and little brother, Dave (in other words Me--who wrote the melody and half the lyrics, the Drummer and Future Senator--who wrote the music, and the Enigmatic Bass Player--who wrote the other half of the lyrics).
FYI, Little Brother's friends are actually pretty darn good. This is going to be a hard vote. Just like American Idol!
For your listening pleasure, entries by:
Dave
Minus Dave
Jordan
Spencer
28 February 2009
26 February 2009
Minor setback, down in flames, or into the sunset
So far I have received two entries to the songwriting challenge. I am told there will be two more. I am still working on mine. I've got the beginning and the middle, but I can't decide on the ending. I am torn almost equally between the protagonist experiencing a minor setback, going down in flames, or riding off into the sunset. I have always felt this way, but ever since seeing the movie Stranger than Fiction, I feel even more the burden it is to decide the fate of made-up people.
Here's a question: Would some kind of two-way radio device work inside a hot air balloon with the other party several miles away on the ground?
If yes I can totally finish the song.
Here's a question: Would some kind of two-way radio device work inside a hot air balloon with the other party several miles away on the ground?
If yes I can totally finish the song.
18 February 2009
I think I'm converting
(Don't forget the Songwriter's Challenge.)
To the VRE, of course! I've spent the past two and a half years taking the bus and metro every day and now I'm turning my back on all that. This would never have been possible without the sponsorship of my dear employer, who is now reimbursing for travel expenses as the VRE is only a hair cheaper than parking downtown everyday.
In total the VRE is not really faster than bus/metro since it doesn't stop that near to my office. However, there are other pluses.
#1. Built in Exercise. I really mean to exercise more but I don't usually. When I get home I usually start working on a side project I have going on (because I love love work). The VRE stop is somewhere around eight or nine blocks from my office instead of the one block I used to walk from the metro. Not only that but I get to walk across the national mall when it is relatively peaceful and gee, it's kind of pretty. Also, when I get up early enough I can also walk to the station from my house.
#2. It's Comfier. It is easier to both sleep my way to work and, if I choose to, work on my laptop, as it is less bumpy and the chairs are a wee bit nicer on the bottom.
#3. More Reliable. I know VRE has not won any awards for reliability so in general it may not be more reliable than metro. But it is much more reliable than MY bus route. I have missed the morning bus on an average of once per week since I moved. I was probably spoiled where I used to live as the bus route was one of the most reliable in the system, but I just can not deal with standing outside for 15 minutes in the cold for no reason at a rate of once per week when no other buses are coming because the last bus of the morning came five minutes early! So far the VRE never comes earlier than I expect, and if it's coming later at least I KNOW I haven't missed it due to the other hundred people at the station.
#4. There's a bathroom AND you're allowed to drink water. I don't think I need to explain this one, but just say Hallelujah.
Don't get me wrong; there are things that bother me about the VRE, not the least of which being the tomb-like silence that pervades. Sometimes I wonder whether anyone would make a peep if I started having a heart attack. You think the metro is quiet? Try the VRE. However, this morning I met a nice woman named Patricia, and the tomb-like silence was broken.
To the VRE, of course! I've spent the past two and a half years taking the bus and metro every day and now I'm turning my back on all that. This would never have been possible without the sponsorship of my dear employer, who is now reimbursing for travel expenses as the VRE is only a hair cheaper than parking downtown everyday.
In total the VRE is not really faster than bus/metro since it doesn't stop that near to my office. However, there are other pluses.
#1. Built in Exercise. I really mean to exercise more but I don't usually. When I get home I usually start working on a side project I have going on (because I love love work). The VRE stop is somewhere around eight or nine blocks from my office instead of the one block I used to walk from the metro. Not only that but I get to walk across the national mall when it is relatively peaceful and gee, it's kind of pretty. Also, when I get up early enough I can also walk to the station from my house.
#2. It's Comfier. It is easier to both sleep my way to work and, if I choose to, work on my laptop, as it is less bumpy and the chairs are a wee bit nicer on the bottom.
#3. More Reliable. I know VRE has not won any awards for reliability so in general it may not be more reliable than metro. But it is much more reliable than MY bus route. I have missed the morning bus on an average of once per week since I moved. I was probably spoiled where I used to live as the bus route was one of the most reliable in the system, but I just can not deal with standing outside for 15 minutes in the cold for no reason at a rate of once per week when no other buses are coming because the last bus of the morning came five minutes early! So far the VRE never comes earlier than I expect, and if it's coming later at least I KNOW I haven't missed it due to the other hundred people at the station.
#4. There's a bathroom AND you're allowed to drink water. I don't think I need to explain this one, but just say Hallelujah.
Don't get me wrong; there are things that bother me about the VRE, not the least of which being the tomb-like silence that pervades. Sometimes I wonder whether anyone would make a peep if I started having a heart attack. You think the metro is quiet? Try the VRE. However, this morning I met a nice woman named Patricia, and the tomb-like silence was broken.
17 February 2009
Fiscal Responsibility and Rock
Though I may have been called a liberal, politically, I am quite fiscally conservative in my personal life. El Esposo and I just bought some musical instruments the other day, but the money we spent is completely accounted for within our budget and no credit was necessary. Little things like taking lunch to work, making my falling apart boots last one more winter, holding onto my "allowance" money like a miser over the months, often using the "cash back" feature of my credit card to pay for our entertainment (yes, I am THAT cheap), and El Esposo saving every last penny of the tip money he has made (very much in the style of obsessive compulsive) over a couple years playing gui-tar at a certain place every week, make it so we can afford a new keyboard:
and the guitar El Esposo has been drooling over since birth:
We also shopped around A LOT before dropping the cash and made a list of must have and nice-to-have features for the keyboard, did a cost-benefit analysis, and voila.
On the other hand, we are fiscally lucky to the max. Neither of us has lost a job as the economy has been tanking and the money we lost in the stock market was pretty small potatoes since we're young. My raise last year was perfectly the amount we needed to buy our new place with enough money down so we won't have to worry as much to pay the mortgage, which is technically less than the rent of our last relatively affordable one bedroom apartment (not including taxes and stuff).
So, this is where our fiscal luck starts to run out: Because we bought our house a week before the end of last year instead of this year, we will have to pay back the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit we get this year. But, the truth is, that's more our style anyway. Though I would like to add a provision that since we are paying our tax break back, our children owe $8000 less towards the deficit, but instead I guess we'll just have to try and teach them fiscal responsibility so they can handle whatever is asked of them.
In this attitude, I went to the recovery.gov website and left this comment, which possibly no one will ever read:
"I really like the idea of this site and hope that it lives up to its promise to track how the money is spent and how the recovery is manifest. We have all heard a lot about accountability and transparency from President Obama, and I am sure that he realizes accountability means not only reporting on the good stuff. What I would really like to see added, either here or elsewhere as a .gov site is a way to track how the stimulus/recovery is being paid for. I realize it is not being paid for up front and the government is essentially taking out a gigantic loan to be paid for by our future prosperity. I'm not going to object to that idea as I have not done enough research to counter it. However, since all loans need to be paid back, I would like to see that activity tracked. I understand that the immediate focus is economic recovery, but following quickly on its heels has got to be balancing the budget and reducing the deficit. I would love to see the connection made between the two. I supported President Obama in the election and especially identified with his talk of responsibility. Why not use the government to model the kind of responsibility we all need in our own individual households?"
And, if you'll excuse me, it is now time to rock.
P.S., THE CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING THROUGH FEB 28.
and the guitar El Esposo has been drooling over since birth:
We also shopped around A LOT before dropping the cash and made a list of must have and nice-to-have features for the keyboard, did a cost-benefit analysis, and voila.
On the other hand, we are fiscally lucky to the max. Neither of us has lost a job as the economy has been tanking and the money we lost in the stock market was pretty small potatoes since we're young. My raise last year was perfectly the amount we needed to buy our new place with enough money down so we won't have to worry as much to pay the mortgage, which is technically less than the rent of our last relatively affordable one bedroom apartment (not including taxes and stuff).
So, this is where our fiscal luck starts to run out: Because we bought our house a week before the end of last year instead of this year, we will have to pay back the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit we get this year. But, the truth is, that's more our style anyway. Though I would like to add a provision that since we are paying our tax break back, our children owe $8000 less towards the deficit, but instead I guess we'll just have to try and teach them fiscal responsibility so they can handle whatever is asked of them.
In this attitude, I went to the recovery.gov website and left this comment, which possibly no one will ever read:
"I really like the idea of this site and hope that it lives up to its promise to track how the money is spent and how the recovery is manifest. We have all heard a lot about accountability and transparency from President Obama, and I am sure that he realizes accountability means not only reporting on the good stuff. What I would really like to see added, either here or elsewhere as a .gov site is a way to track how the stimulus/recovery is being paid for. I realize it is not being paid for up front and the government is essentially taking out a gigantic loan to be paid for by our future prosperity. I'm not going to object to that idea as I have not done enough research to counter it. However, since all loans need to be paid back, I would like to see that activity tracked. I understand that the immediate focus is economic recovery, but following quickly on its heels has got to be balancing the budget and reducing the deficit. I would love to see the connection made between the two. I supported President Obama in the election and especially identified with his talk of responsibility. Why not use the government to model the kind of responsibility we all need in our own individual households?"
And, if you'll excuse me, it is now time to rock.
P.S., THE CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING THROUGH FEB 28.
04 February 2009
Challenge #3: Story Time
It's songwriting challenge # 3!!! Ladies and gents, you know the rules. 1)Write a marvelous song that involves singing (or something like it) and an instrument of some kind based on a prompt, 2)record that song using the most basic of equipment (e.g., garageband on mac or whatever you can download free on your pc) on one track if at all possible, 3)email that track to rocktastica at gmail dot com, and 4)then we (participants and the huge audience at rocktastica) vote. For this one you get until Saturday, February 28th.
The prompt: Write a song that tells a story. A song that just sort of refers to events that might make up a story does not count. This should be a regular beginning-middle-end type of story. For examples, see Springsteen's The River or Clem Snide's Mike Kalinsky.
The prompt: Write a song that tells a story. A song that just sort of refers to events that might make up a story does not count. This should be a regular beginning-middle-end type of story. For examples, see Springsteen's The River or Clem Snide's Mike Kalinsky.
03 February 2009
Of wasteful spending and stimuli
On facebook, one of the many people that signed up to be "friends" with me because el esposo refuses to succumb to facebook . . .
(both of which are fine, by the way -- 1) there's a very good reason to stay away from facebook: the like i need more ways to waste time online argument, AND 2) people I don't really know might want to someday see pictures of our future progeny to satisfy their curiousity and whatever that's probably ok as long as el esposo knows that you are not a psycho). . .
anyway, this guy, posted this article about what's wrong with the stimulus bill currently under debate.
I don't doubt that there may be some things wrong with the stimulus bill, but I do think that we should take time to get past the semantics that make something seem bad (let's face it; anything can be made to seem bad or good) and understand the programs we are talking about before getting all smug and sneery about the horrible wasteful spending or anything for that matter. It's called critical reading, my friends. I'm sure YOU all understand that anyway, but I don't think everyone does. And politicians often count on the fact that we aren't critical readers and prefer sound-bytes for rallying around. Have I ever fallen for this? Almost definitely.
For example, on their list of offenders is this beauty: $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
I cringe to hear the term "paid volunteers." Isn't that an oxymoron? How can this be? And look how they put it in quotes! The ultimate shame.
But wait, I've actually been a "paid volunteer" before, haven't I? In a program that fell under the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Americorps, called the Student Conservation Association (which gets a lot of their donations from individuals and some of their donations through Americorps). I made a cool $42 per "paycheck" (every two weeks) so that I could buy dirt cheap groceries for myself. I also received an education award at the end of my three-month stint for $1000.
In return I was a park ranger and led student groups on tours and educational activities, sometimes taking kids that had lived their whole lives inside the city on a hike in the mountains, and teaching all ages about the world around them. The experience really changed my life and I like to think I helped change the lives of some of the children, who got to learn in a different environment for once, and maybe become interested in biology in a way they never had before. Most of the SCA volunteers I have known, though, are workhorses, while I in comparison was a bit of a wuss. They are doing hard labor maintaining and updating trails all over the country. And of course Americorps sponsors all kinds of volunteerism, from conservation activities to community development to youth programs. Last I checked, a year-long volunteer in Americorps programs got a teeny-tiny stipend like mine and an education award of around $5000. These kind of programs serve mainly college-age young adults, but it varies, and they provide the opportunity to do something good for someone else on a full-time basis and not have to get an extra job on the side to afford it.
So that's a "paid volunteer." Just in case you were wondering.
The rub is that I'm pretty lazy about this stuff. Am I "MJ the soon-to-be-business-owner Writer" taxpayer generica going to examine the whole stinkin' stimulus bill? Nah. I just hope they don't screw up too bad and that they include some smart energy technology stuff. And okay the $7500 tax credit for homebuyers would really sweeten our deal. But truth be told, I'm not so sure that's a good idea to not make us pay that back. I mean we are going to need to create some revenue at some point, right? Or is that the job of my unborn progeny?
The only real point I have is that not everything is as it seems.
(both of which are fine, by the way -- 1) there's a very good reason to stay away from facebook: the like i need more ways to waste time online argument, AND 2) people I don't really know might want to someday see pictures of our future progeny to satisfy their curiousity and whatever that's probably ok as long as el esposo knows that you are not a psycho). . .
anyway, this guy, posted this article about what's wrong with the stimulus bill currently under debate.
I don't doubt that there may be some things wrong with the stimulus bill, but I do think that we should take time to get past the semantics that make something seem bad (let's face it; anything can be made to seem bad or good) and understand the programs we are talking about before getting all smug and sneery about the horrible wasteful spending or anything for that matter. It's called critical reading, my friends. I'm sure YOU all understand that anyway, but I don't think everyone does. And politicians often count on the fact that we aren't critical readers and prefer sound-bytes for rallying around. Have I ever fallen for this? Almost definitely.
For example, on their list of offenders is this beauty: $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
I cringe to hear the term "paid volunteers." Isn't that an oxymoron? How can this be? And look how they put it in quotes! The ultimate shame.
But wait, I've actually been a "paid volunteer" before, haven't I? In a program that fell under the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Americorps, called the Student Conservation Association (which gets a lot of their donations from individuals and some of their donations through Americorps). I made a cool $42 per "paycheck" (every two weeks) so that I could buy dirt cheap groceries for myself. I also received an education award at the end of my three-month stint for $1000.
In return I was a park ranger and led student groups on tours and educational activities, sometimes taking kids that had lived their whole lives inside the city on a hike in the mountains, and teaching all ages about the world around them. The experience really changed my life and I like to think I helped change the lives of some of the children, who got to learn in a different environment for once, and maybe become interested in biology in a way they never had before. Most of the SCA volunteers I have known, though, are workhorses, while I in comparison was a bit of a wuss. They are doing hard labor maintaining and updating trails all over the country. And of course Americorps sponsors all kinds of volunteerism, from conservation activities to community development to youth programs. Last I checked, a year-long volunteer in Americorps programs got a teeny-tiny stipend like mine and an education award of around $5000. These kind of programs serve mainly college-age young adults, but it varies, and they provide the opportunity to do something good for someone else on a full-time basis and not have to get an extra job on the side to afford it.
So that's a "paid volunteer." Just in case you were wondering.
The rub is that I'm pretty lazy about this stuff. Am I "MJ the soon-to-be-business-owner Writer" taxpayer generica going to examine the whole stinkin' stimulus bill? Nah. I just hope they don't screw up too bad and that they include some smart energy technology stuff. And okay the $7500 tax credit for homebuyers would really sweeten our deal. But truth be told, I'm not so sure that's a good idea to not make us pay that back. I mean we are going to need to create some revenue at some point, right? Or is that the job of my unborn progeny?
The only real point I have is that not everything is as it seems.
02 February 2009
zero to awesome
the songwriter's challenge returns. i bet you thought i'd given up. well, i nearly had but little brother came up with a challenge. i'm just waiting for a return phone call to clarify something and it will be posted here in the rare case that random-person-i'm-not-already-related-to wants to participate.
in other news, minus dave might be getting together soon (aka the curators minus little brother) for a reunion show at my friend's house party.
also, el esposo played a show last friday with such style. it was too short though.
and the band room is ready for action. we christened it with a jam session the other day and i'm thinking we need to bang the hll out of the drums while the townhouse next to ours is still vacant. ideally we need to get really good at the drums, lay down some tracks for the cds we were working on oh a couple years ago or so, and finally be done with it. any tips from drummers out there? zero to awesome in one month?
in other news, minus dave might be getting together soon (aka the curators minus little brother) for a reunion show at my friend's house party.
also, el esposo played a show last friday with such style. it was too short though.
and the band room is ready for action. we christened it with a jam session the other day and i'm thinking we need to bang the hll out of the drums while the townhouse next to ours is still vacant. ideally we need to get really good at the drums, lay down some tracks for the cds we were working on oh a couple years ago or so, and finally be done with it. any tips from drummers out there? zero to awesome in one month?
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