Moving on...

The long weekend has been very relaxing, for the most part. Aside from some mediating and hearing some not so great opinions about me, it was nice. I also got my butt in gear and finished making all Kristen's Christmas program material, or at least the stuff that I had to do from scratch. Now all I have to do is make good mixes, get the correct tempo, and rearrange 2 of them for different numbers of verses/choruses, but it is all MIDI, so it should be no problem. I realized today as well, if I were an actual professional, I could charge around $500.00 for all the work I've done for Kristen. Not that I mind, but it does throw it in to perspective, that this is something I could get paid for, which is fun to think about.

Other than that, I've been reading a lot more lately. I finally have gotten around to reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." I've had the book less than a year, but I hate having seen the movie without reading it, especially for such a "cult" book like this. What a dumb term. I hate when things are proclaimed as cult classics, like Rocky Horror and the like. It's a term that tries to make those special followers feel more unique or something. Lame.

Whilst compiling my Christmas list for this year, I found some really cool books that I want. One is the newest by one of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman. I really love his books, they inspire me, and they are such quick reads. Truly fantastic, and I can't wait to read his newest. Another is from an author who seems similar in writing style to Klosterman, Steve Almond. I've read some excerpts online and it seems to keep in line with the informal, funny, witty style that I really enjoy. I actually just remembered another book I saw come out when I was still at Barnes and Noble from another great author, A.J. Jacobs. He wrote the "Year of Living Biblically ( as Literally as Possible.) I plan on rereading that one soon as well. But he just came out with another book called "The Guinea Pig Diaries (My life as an experiment.) Looks good. He wrote "The Know-It-All" first, a book about reading the encyclopedias from cover to cover, which I also wish to read.

The other two I really want are a pair of books called "The Daily Reader" and

'The Daily Writer." They're supposed to be tools to help a writer, well...read and write, everyday. And lately, I have been trying to write daily, but I'm only successful about 1/3 of the time. I've been trying to write under the same idea as I compose, that I need to finish everything before moving on, even if it sucks. That way the bad ideas are out and you can only get better. Also, completing a story/article leaves me with a sense of accomplishment. I think these books will be a good way to keep me motivated. If not, it's not the end of the world, but even in failure, I learn.