Not Today.

This one's based on something from a TV series called "FlashForward". You may well not have seen it - it kinda flopped out before too long. But basically, there was this club that the main dudes went into, where you had to play a sort of mini-Russian roulette to get in. There was only one bullet in the gun, but it was a dud (from memory). Inscribed on the side were the words: NOT TODAY. You're going to die one day, but not today. That's what this song's about.


Not Today


V1:   / Gm / Bb / F / C /
One day I'm gonna die
One day I'm gonna fall into the sea
One day I'm gonna fly
One day I'll know that you're coming back to me

V2:
One day I'm gonna fall and I know no-one's gonna catch me
No-one's gonna catch me

Chorus:   / Gm / Bb / F / Eb /
But not today because today there is no strife
Not today because today I'm gonna live my life
Not today because today I'm coming home
Not today because today I'm not alone

V3:
One day I know the story will end
No make believe, no fairytale, no pretend

Instrumental  / Gm / Dm / F / C /

Chorus




Tis all. It's quite possible that I've violated Rule #3 by now. I haven't really been keeping track of it, to be honest. :P Oh well.

Meet Me Here.

Haven't done a song in this yet at all relating to Christianity or anything, so thought I might do that, given with this one I reach half-way. This one's challenging the "warm and fuzzy" Jesus/God that some Christians seem to believe in. News flash for you guys: Jesus talked to real sinners, feasted with real prostitutes, healed real lepers.
This one's kinda starting off with a nice-sounding chord sequence, then getting more minor/clashing. That "prosody"/word painting stuff that those music dudes like.


Meet Me Here


V1: / A / D / E / D /
Meet me here
At the place where you are free
And love is all around, just spend some time with me
Let's talk, let's live, let's dance and be amazing
My light will be blazing
Through you

V2:  / A2 / D6 / Em / D6 /
And meet me here
At the place where I see you
And all that you are, the good and the bad too
The great, the poor, the best and the worst
I knew you first
All of you

V3: / Am / D / Em / D /
And meet me here
At the place where you are hurt
Where it's hard, amid the blood, tears and dirt
You give, you help, you try but you can't
You just can't
Because you're you

V4: / Am (add 2,4) / Dm (add 2/4) / Em (add 4th)
And meet me here
At the cross where I died
I was pierced in my hands, my feet, my side
Your sins, my pain, your guilt and my divinity
Complete purity
And love of you

Meet me here


That's it. Will hopefully figure out chords for this one and the previous tomorrow at some point.

Idealist.

I'm a bit of an idealist, I've found. I tend to think and believe the best of people, and of things.

I've often thought, for example, of opening a shop where all the prices are rounded down to the closest $5 mark (up to $50 or something), then to the closest $10, $20 etc. And then halved. Just because I think there should be a shop that does that.

Or a restaurant where you pay what you think the meal is worth. I believe that's actually been done a couple of times; I love the idea.

The problem is, of course, is that rationalism and realism kick in. I know that, generally speaking, people have a lot of bad things about them that I don't know about. And that I probably wouldn't be too fond of said things.

But we're all like that. I'm like that. It'd be silly of me to hate people just for the worst of them. Like I've often said/thought/wrote/whatever: one rotten apple doesn't spoil the bunch.

Long Live The Dead

This started off with just the title, a little idea I came up with. And then I got the idea that it could be a bit of a social commentary, if I could do it right. Don't know quite if I have or not, but I'm OK with it. It's based on the idea that some people will just go back to these historical figures, saying they're the best, and ignoring what great things people say about here and now.



Long Live The Dead


V1: / D / A /
Shakespeare's at the shop door
Selling poems fifty bucks a line
And Bach is in the bar
Writing pieces, twenty dollars for a minute of time
Einstein's in the alleyway
Teaching his ideas to whoever's kids are around
Columbus is on the corner
Telling his stories to those outward-bound

Chorus: / G / D / F#m //
Thanks for their wisdom, many thanks for what they've said
Long live the dead

V2:
People still consult Shakespeare
The old Bard never rests
And very many will tell you
That Bach is always the best
Einstein has his followers
Many in number and type
Even Columbus still has a crew
Can you believe the hype

Chorus:  / G / D / G / D A / G / D / A / G / A /
We lord them for their wisdom, and for their ways
We don't hesitate to lay on them gleaming praise
We don't think to instead turn to those here and now
But instead we always bow
To those gone behind and what they've said
We say; long live the dead

Bridge:  / D / F#m / G / A /
Don't ignore what's now by getting lost in what was then
It's not coming back again
Learn from them, yes, but don't make them kings

Chorus: / G / D / G / D / A /
We can learn from their wisdom, and their ways
And apply it to our own days
For we know the wisdom of what they said
But still we will never say long live the dead

Vids for the past few are up, by the way. Can't be bothered linking them all, but they should be some of the most recent here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ijtro

Motivated....not.

I think - I can't remember, I've done too many posts - that I mentioned up here before about my psych essay. I pulled it off in one afternoon, the day before it was due. I had all the ideas and such in my head already, and I had the sources, so technically it was more than just that afternoon, but all the writing was done then.

I got my results back today. 29.8 out of 35. That's just over 85, which makes it a High Distinction.

......

When I saw that, I was thinking two thoughts more or less simultaneously. The first one was heck yes. I mean, probably the most negative comment I got on the essay was "You can't really do this" in response to me positing that the difference between internal and external self talk would be statistically insignificant. (Which was the actual result of the report; the research was done before the report was written.)

My other thought was oh great. Just what I needed. Another assignment that I did at last minute getting great marks. Problem is, I have one due next Thursday, and the assignment that kinda led up to it I didn't do too well on. And I have no damn idea where to start with this one, it's annoying me. "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...." Yes, OK, thanks Julie Andrews.

And of course, doing this post is further procrastination...oh, and I've still got L to do today, don't I? :P I'm a damned expert at this...

Let's Start A Band!

I got a surprised/confused comment from Mozart on my most recent song up, so thought I'd better put up a bit of an explanation.

About a year and a half ago, at one of my friend's birthday parties, they mentioned that they were starting a band up with two of my other friends. (The Bradbury guys I mentioned.) He was doing drums, one was doing guitar, the other bass. I asked them who was going to do vocals, they said the guitar guy was. He's not bad at singing, but I don't know if he's quite a lead singer. (Don't know if I am either, but hey.) So I said I'd sing for them. They said cool. Then I asked them what sort of band it was, and they said it was a bit punky.

And I thought, OK... just in case you weren't aware, punk isn't my typical genre. At that time, I had barely heard any. Green Day was about the extent of it. As such, they asked me to listen to Billy Talent, Rise Against, and a bit more Green Day, to get an idea of the kind of sound they were going for/influenced by. Rise Against was decent, Green Day was alright, Billy Talent not so much.

However, because of this, I started experimenting a bit with writing songs that were a bit more in this style. They weren't really me, more based on some sort of cliched persona. I ran them past the guys - apparently I exaggerated the cliche a bit much. :P Oh well. But I've kept doing a song every now and then it that sort of style, and a few of those will/have cropped up in this A to Z. Just to let you know.

As an aside, the band went/has gone absolutely nowhere. We've had one or two jam sessions, our only attempt at recording was a bit of a flop (their attempt at harmonies was....*shudders*), and we've never had a gig, or tried to get one, as far as I know. And I don't think we have a name, even. But there you go :P

Kill Me Now

This one will perhaps sound slightly familiar if any of the Bradbury guys find this blog...somehow, I doubt it, but you never know. Mainly musical similarities, thankfully, though there are differences as well. It's a bit of a rocky one, maybe even a bit punk. I'm not too good with knowing the genres.


Kill Me Now


V1: / Bm / G A /
It's eating me, inside and out
And you know there's not a shadow of doubt
I need to escape this wretched place
You know there's only one way, so watch this space

Chorus: / Bm G / A /
Yeah, kill me now
Before it starts hurting
Well I'm gonna die
So please do something

V2:
It's bleeding me, bone dry
There's nothing I can do as my life flashes by
You know I don't have much time left
So please grant me this one last request

Chorus


Instrumental


Chorus x3 or 4 (from 2nd/3rd time / Bm D / E / )

Tis it. Vid should be up shortly ish.

Just Another Day.

This one's a bit of a laugh at the standard/average/typical idea that people have, I guess. The second verse is based loosely around the N+7 idea, but it's not consistently 7. It's quite possible that I haven't used any 7s, in fact, I can't remember. I just kinda used the ones that worked. It's a bit of a patter song, so the number of syllables in the line is fairly important. I know, said I'd get chords for the other one up today, and vids and stuff yesterday...meh.


Just Another Day


V1: / Ab / Db Ab / Db Ab / Db Eb /
Get up out of bed make sure your kids aren't late for school
Then you work from 9 to 5 like all those other suited fools
And try to make the marriage work, you put some spice in now and then
And then you talk it all out together or else it is the end

Chorus: / verse / verse but last bar -> / Eb Ab /
It's just another day (rpt ad nauseum)

V2:

Get up out of beef make sure your kilts aren't late for scolding

Then you work from 9 to 5 like all those other suited feet

And try to make the marvel work, you put some spine in now and then

And then you talk it all out together or else it is the englishman

Chorus

Instrumental

Chorus

Time Management.

Said I'd plonk this one up. I made a bit of a list, of all the things I put my time into per week. This is what I came up with:

• Luigi’s (20 hours ish) [work]
• Uni (21 hours)
• Blog (7 hours ish)
• Composing (7 hours ish)
• Playing (14 hours ish)
• Other blogs (7 hours ish)
• Youtube (5 hours ish)
• Facebook (7 hours ish)
• Livestream (5 hours ish)
• Church (2 hours)
• Sleep (42 hours ish)
• Eating (19 hours ish)

The ones in bold are more or less set in stone. The others not so much. The ones for composing and playing are more for how much I'd want to do, rather than how much I do do. The "ish"es are plus or minus an hour or two each. Sleeping particularly plus a few.

Now, here's the gust of it: there's 168 hours in a week. What I've got up there adds to 156. If you add in the "ish"es, you'd probably get over 160. That doesn't have much left over. And realistically, I need close to 20 hours left over. For just random stuff here and there. So I need to take off close to 14 hours. At the moment, I guess you could say I take it out of playing/composing, cause I barely do it.

And so I'm left in a bit of a pickle. I'm not about to give up on my job, sleeping, eating, or church. I love doing this blog, so not giving up that either. I like to keep up with other people's blogs, plus the livestream one of them does. Then there's the Youtube vids that guy puts up and Facebook.

It looks like Facebook and Youtube come in last. So I may be shaving a bit of time off both of those, and try to be playing a bit more regularly. Argh. So much for not being busy...

The five senses.

As an aside, there is actually a sixth sense, called the vestibular. Not too well known, partially because it doesn't seem to do a heck of a lot. Basically, the reason why people can do tightrope walking while wearing a blindfold. Have a look if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
However, I'm going to leave that aside for this, and just focus on the other five.

I believe I possibly did a post before on why I preferred hearing to vision. I'm expanding and changing a bit from that in this post, by giving you how I'd rate the senses, from fifth to first. As in, the one I value least to most. Anticipate surprise. Kind of a dichotomy, but anyway...

5. Taste.
This may seem a bit strange to some of you. I mean, without taste - well eating kinda loses all its flavour. Literally. :P But in comparison to the others, I'd probably prefer to lose this one. Though admittedly, this and the next one are pretty close. Which is...

4. Smell.
Partly because I know that most of taste is actually smell. So if you lost your smell, things would taste pretty bad anyway. But if you lost your taste, at least they'd smell pretty nice.

3. Sight.
OK, now you're really freaking out. Generally, people have sight at number one. Numero Uno. Which is fair enough to imagine; sight is such a prominent sense. It's quite in your face, something we use often exclusively. But I think the other two are more important. I'll detail why momentarily...

2. Hearing.
One of my arguments is this: sight you can stop by simply shutting your eyelids. You don't stop hearing. Earplugs generally don't even block it fully. As well as that, hearing is essential for communication. Changes in a person's voice tell you a lot; sometimes more than their face will. Also, I think I could live without seeing someone's face much easier than living without hearing their voice. But now for number 1...

1. Touch.
This is going to seem very weird for most people. But I think touch is the sense that I value the most. Without touch, heat, wet, smooth - none of these have any meaning. Other than numbers or letters on a page, memories in a mind. As well as that, when it comes to interaction - touch is extremely important. Otherwise, things like a handshake, a hug; again, they have no meaning, mere formalities.
Personally, I treasure these things. Probably more so because they aren't something I have too frequently. As the Romantic poet Coleridge wrote; "and sometimes /'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good, /That we may lift the soul, and contemplate/ With lively joy the joys we cannot share." Or, to put it a bit more simply, as the singer Joni Mitchell sang: "Don't it always seem to go /That you don't know what you've got /Till it's gone," I guess that would be why I treasure touch a bit more than the other senses.


So there you go. That's probably a bit left field for some of you. I think I'll be putting up a post on here soon about planning/prioritisation/time management. Because I'm always doing too many darn things at once.