I’ve decided that what my continued creativity (musically) requires is, first and foremost, ease. I need to be able to translate as fast as possible any and all ideas from my brain to my hands to a digital recording. Ideally, that process would move as quickly as an idea enters my thoughts, but I think I’d simply have to settle for the next best thing.

What that requires is having a digital workstation at my disposal virtually anywhere, i.e. on my laptop. I have this dream of being able to quickly hook up some microphones in my bedroom and doing guitars and a basic demo then taking my computer down to campus and doing vocals/piano/etc. in the fine arts building studio/practice rooms/class rooms.

The issue for me, since I was in the eighth grade experimenting with sequencers and DAWs, has been money. I’ve never had enough money to bring all of these things together, even now with the (relatively) decent-paying job I have.

So, I hate the idea of gift giving and receiving, but if anyone wants to get me these or this or this or (for my own indulgence) this for the holidays or my birthday it would be incredibly appreciated. I’ll write a song for you or some shit.

In actuality, I loathe pandering for gifts, or even asking for them. As I said, I hate the gifting process and all the anxiety and expectation it entails, so in some ways you could say I detest Christmas (but only the commercial capitalist side of it). Therefore, as the post title suggests, you should disregard this whole thing.

It’s evening now. The apartment is quiet. Just minutes ago there was a board game being played that I’ve never heard of before. Rachel’s friends from home, Tom and Bobby, are here (if you’ve been reading diligently, you’ll remember they were here three months ago). It’s been a full house and kind of a crazy weekend.

This month, though I’ve made more money than I have been making regularly, my spending has been out of control and I really need to curb it. I’m going to check out a television and a desk for my room tomorrow, but I feel like that will be just about it. I ordered some games for the Playstation (one and two) and 360, I may get a wireless adapter for the 360 and 3 months of Xbox LIVE, I bought some groceries and booze, but then my rent and electric bill checks will be due and it’ll be nothing but groceries and coffee during the month of August.

Does anyone out there know how to convert Apple Address Book files to work on a Macbook from a Powerbook? I’ve got all these people I don’t know on my buddy list that I have no idea who they are. And I obviously don’t know them well enough to just ask, but I also don’t want to just go and delete them. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

One of my favorite things in songwriting, though, is the “simple truth.” That line in a song that is so obvious when you just read it, but when a band or singer sings it just right you’re like, “Fuck, you’re so right!” Good example: Someone To Keep Us Warm by The Silent Years.

I received my sixth 35mm film camera in the mail today. God knows if it even fucking works or not. It’s downstairs in the Residence Hall Association office because I left it with Rachel before I hit the studio, but now she’s not responding to her phone. Really, I only want a camera that takes pictures, isn’t made entirely of plastic, doesn’t have a fixed focus, aperture and shutter speed, and has a functioning light meter. I’ve decided if it doesn’t work, I’m just going to take my army of malfunctioning cameras, catch the bus and go to fucking Ballard.

I’m going to consult my physician on Thursday about my hearing problem. Hopefully it’s just one of those things that’s like, “Here’s some drugs, it’ll be cleared up by the end of the week.” If not, I suppose I can handle ringing for the remainder of my life. It’s only going to be, like, another sixty-four years if I’m lucky, right?

I’m trying to take care of a lot of expenses (needless and not) this week. I would like to upgrade to a new laptop and new eyeglasses, mostly. At the very least, it feels good to be somewhat financially stable for the time being. That’s not something I’ve really ever experienced. I’m not saying it makes all kinds of expenses possible, it just makes it easier to consider them.

I’m such a consumer whore.

• Squier Tele Custom
• ETY ER-20  Earplugs
• Sigg water bottle
• Ferrania Solaris 35mm color print film
• Black Chicken Kid tee
• Macbook Pro
• Harvey Birdman, Vol. I and II
• Asahi Pentax K1000