Five random things and stuff

Hello, faithful readers. Good to see you here again. As you know, most of my blog posts are about something, but this one isn't! Here's a series of random thoughts that might mean something to someone.

1. NEW SONGS
Yes, I have new songs. They're coming together well, though I wish a couple of them would hurry up and get out of my brain. It's sort of like having a baby (minus the pain and amniotic fluid) in that you can't push the song out before it's ready, but by the time it does come, your patience is at the end of its rope, and you are exhausted from the attempts to deliver it.

Working on new songs: effort is big, payoff is bigger.

I've recently performed my newest complete tune, "Go Easy On Me" a couple of times on my StreamJam show, and it seems to be well received. However, I have another 6-7 songs that are basically done, but need some work on lyrics here, on a bridge there, and so on. Damn near every day, I start to work on those songs, and realize that I'm forcing the process (which tends to result in a sub-par finished product), and I stop. If it goes anything like previous attempts, I'll end up wrapping up a bunch of them at once. It'll happen when it happens.

2. LIVE SHOWS
Because of my shows on StreamJam, I have been really negligent about scheduling shows in Second Life. There could be more to it than that, I suppose; I've been harboring some passive-aggressive feelings about SL in general ever since Viewer 2 came out, which really disappointed me in its obvious lack of support for live events. But regardless, I've never stopped enjoying the actual shows themselves, so I decided to get off my ass and book myself at a few places, with more to come.

Here's a list of upcoming Zak Shows (all times are Pacific):

• Wed 8/18, 7PM: StreamJam on Facebook
• Sat 8/21, 1PM: Special Secret Show in SL
• Mon 8/23, 5PM: Molaskey's Pub (SL)
• Wed 8/25, 7PM: StreamJam on Facebook
• Tue 8/31, 4PM: Bryant & Stratton College (SL)
• Friday 9/3, 3PM: Buy Me A Rose (SL)

I will, as always, post more details about these shows as I can.

(Schwarzenegger voice) Hey SL... I'll be back.

3. Cali
Please. I don't ask for much of you. But this one thing is important: STOP SAYING THE WORD "CALI" when you're describing my home state of California. Absolutely no one in California says Cali (except those who just moved here and don't know better), so automatically, you paint yourself as someone who doesn't know anything about this place when you say that word. We don't call Texas "Texi", or Florida "Flori", or Massachusetts "Massi". You probably already know that you shouldn't use the term "Frisco" to describe San Francisco, nor do people in Manhattan call New York "The Big Apple". Those who do are tourists, and are disdained by the locals much more than if they just called the place by its actual name. Please, for the love of God, eliminate this heinous term from your vocabulary. If you have to abbreviate, use the official state code of CA. Also acceptable: NoCal (for anywhere around Santa Cruz and northwards) and SoCal (for anywhere south of Santa Barbara). But never, ever say or write "Cali" under any circumstances. I thank you.

Seriously. No.

4. Food
I know I'm already late to this party, but as I continue into my 40s, I become more and more aware that depending on who you talk to, all food will kill you. Seriously. There is absolutely nothing to eat that someone won't tell you is going to cause a horrible and painful slow death. Even the most innocuous things -- lettuce comes to mind -- gets an occasional news report of 18 people getting salmonella poisoning from eating it, and dying. My dentist told me to never drink soda or fruit juice, leaving my choice of beverages as either water or water. Red meat will stop your heart, sushi will give you parasites, fish is full of ocean contaminants, chicken and pork will fill you with bacteria and botulism. Seriously, there is nothing left that is safe to eat, ever. The unfortunate side effect of buying into this philosophy is that the things that really are bad, i.e., those full of saturated fats and empty calories, get lumped in with the stuff that's generally pretty good most of the time. The other side effect is that going through life eating horrible-tasting crap is no way to live.

You wouldn't want to eat my steak au poivre every day if you want to live very long. But a life without it (or other delicious meals) would be miserable. Moderation is the key.

The real fact of the matter is that I do eat healthily for the most part, and get plenty of fiber and vitamins from natural sources. Hopefully those won't kill me. That would be an ironic meal indeed.

5. Blogging
Wow, we're getting meta here. I'm blogging about blogging on my blog. But I do occasionally wonder why I do this. I've always been a diarist, going back to my grade school years, so I guess it's pretty normal that I'd use a modern paradigm to do essentially the same thing. I don't try and promote this blog, or make any revenue from it. Why do it? Do I have expectations that there are people out there hanging on my every word? No, in general, I know that only a few people check this blog out from time to time, and I'd do it even if no one ever looked. BUt I have found it to be a good way to keep track of stuff I've done in the past, and every so often it gives me a reasonably valid excuse to stop doing other things I'd rather not be doing and do this instead. I know that's not much a reason to write, but there are worse ways to spend a little time. Trust me, I know.

Here's a pic of my blog on my blog, courtesy of the Department of Redundancy Department.