Hi anyone. :3 I've been offline a lot and pretty out-of-touch, and so I wanted to drop a line to those who are curious about how I'm doing. Look out it's rambly!

I've been house sitting for a family friend over the past few weeks. I've taken this opportunity to woodshed like crazy since there isn't much to do except chores, hang out with Ayato, and take care of the animals (chickens and cats). I've been practicing guitar -- a lot. I don't recall ever feeling more focused on developing my skill on an instrument to this degree. The feeling of focus, it's a wonderful feeling, one that I haven't had very often in my past. I'm finally actually giving myself the excuse to feel "focused" on something that I actually want to do, without letting anxiety creep in and drive my decision making.

I've been running the Frank Gambale chop builder video, you can find snippets of it on youtube. It's super challenging and worth spending some time with.

I decided to go back to school this spring quarter, which starts in a couple weeks. That decision has helped me make better use of my time, because I know that I'll be learning programming/game design things in just a couple weeks. So since that's on its way, I've been able to just sent aside my apprehensions about practicing, set aside the desire to write songs, and just hunker down and work on my technique. It's been a very welcome experience. I feel like my technique is keeping my music stuck inside my head, and being able to play better will help me unlock my musicality and let it out with less effort.

I want to keep some form of regimentation in music as I go forward with school, because the feeling of having played so much guitar is already starting to make some very minor but welcome improvements in my playing. It's kind of addictive! And I'm feeling very excited about my music in general as a result of just seeing the little improvements from day to day.

I'm actually feeling optimistic! Wow :V

I've also been playing through all of the Wario Land games, and I'm surprised how much I've enjoyed that series! I've finished Wario Land 1-3, now I"m moving on to Wario Land 4, and picking up a little Wario Ware on the side. :D