Thanks

In a very brief existential crisis, I wrote a post that struck an overwrought tone. There was no hyperbole, but it appeared like I was considering just throwing in the towel, all too prematurely.

That venting, coupled with the good ol' "sleep on it" method, I've got my head on a little straighter. It's not clear what I should do yet, but I'm much more steeled. And all in all it's not even that big a deal yet.

I asked you for insights from your own lives, which some of you provided, and many of you came out to give me encouragement that I hadn't been expecting. I just wanted to thank you all for come out and saying some neat things that could apply to anyone struggling with decision making, which is awesome.


Anonymous #1, you're right as to how much being one with your own range of ability makes one misjudge just how much play luck has in our lives. And you have a great suggestion with having a chat with those around me: they have done so much for me thus far without my asking, surely they'd be willing to have a little chat. :)

Klisk: A wise friend agrees; he told me yesterday that one should only take on as much debt (or risk, or whatever) as one feels comfortable with. And I know of a few bands who honestly do not have pro-level aspirations and are deliberately keeping themselves at such a small-time level.
You name yourself a failure, but honestly man, it's never too late for anything, and while that may sound like a platitude I totally mean it. According to you, what do have to lose anymore? :)

Volt: Montaigne manages to take a simple, universal truth and put some purty words on it. :) And I read some study recently about how overthinking and not going with your gut instinct can be detrimental in most cases any of y'all wanna link me that?

Scatter in Depth: Yeah I didn't realize the bredth and scope of this mob! O_o

And Riz with the Bukowski! Famous writer #2.

Liath: I'm glad you reminded me that not all doors remain closed.

Second Blossoming: I really like the idea of balance (clearly beause I'm a Libra!!!! no I do not take astrology/etc. seriously in the slightest and the Japanese can't fathom how I don't know my blood type), and I get this really cool feeling of swagger in your words. I shall adopt said swagger and swagger on. :)

Ken: Yeah, mostly my end goal is to be the old grandpa on the rocking chair on the front porch who tells bizarre Big-Fish-like stories to the neighborhood kids. :)

Fuzzurin: Good point; on some occassions others are far better judges of our abilities.

Lisa: I'm so glad you think so; I really appreciate that. As an aside, many of these people want me to play for them sight unseen--by which I mean even at this point only a tiny handful of the people who want to work with me have actually heard me play! They are crazy. Also I guess word gets around. And I'm not too worried about "crappy" jobs; I haven't had a boring job yet, even at their "crappiest". :)

Lemon: And with Johnathan Black we're at #3! But thank you for that Orpheus-like caution. Also for the mention of "beasts", and "small beasts", which has me thinking of kittens, and kittens are cute. I like where this metaphor is going but I think I've got it all backwards by now look what youve done

Kagami: Well I hope you can learn from all these other peoples' wisdom too! :)

Go: Haha! VERY good point. I mean if I wasn't trying to do music at this stage in my life I'd probably be much more in my other career than I am now, so I guess I'm just sort of glad that there is some sort of fallback. And yeah those goth chicks are fun to hang with until, like, 2am, but then what am I gonna do until the first train? :-P Also I'm far less crazy than my surroundings so maybe I should scale UP the crazy?? I DUNNO

Toaster keeps it nice and succinct, as does Anon #2. :)

Stephen is, despite his worries, right on the ball, and I can't believe how that sounds like exactly something I would say. And in the back of my head I've always wanted to give a chunk of money back to the Japanese orphanage I lived in six years ago.

Anon #3, funny you mention X, because I look at my musical output when I was in high school and man, I am GLAD I never pushed forward with that! :-P

Anon #4, you overestimate me! ^_^ That sounds like a good idea, and it would be cool to be the singer/composer in my own project, but first I need to get some basic home recording equipment... I'll keep that idea in the back. :)

Fundy Photographs: Nope, no car, but the Japanese brand of homeless are a hardy breed in a society that pretends they don't exist, but I do not have the fortitude. But thank you for your advice too.
And I can barely stay up past 1am now. O_o

Erin: No mortgage (yet), no wife (I keep forgetting to look for one), and no kids (not my own anyway!), and there'll be plenty of time for that later. And I sure hope this is building up toward something!


And you know, even if not, I've come this far, and that's pretty neat. Maybe not in the cosmic scheme of things, but I certainly never thought I'd be playing music or acting again, as I'd all but given it up in college.


As a thank-you, here's a dinosaur.