Songwriting

 

I sat today in my study editing demos I have recorded over the past six months. One song was written as recently as two months ago. Another I used to sing around in churches almost twenty years ago. As a songwriter, nothing is more fulfilling than finally getting all of the ingredients poured into a song---really poured in so that it has legs and begins to take on a life of its own. I now have these little children running around, like I have never seen them before---with many more of them scrawled in secret code on various charts in my study.

With a complete and independent CD release so close I can smell it, I began thinking today about the elements that have bound most of my writing together in one cohesive collection. My early Christian home, church life, teachers and mentors all served to play a part in everything I write about. Even my vocation in life, as well as, years spent directing music and choirs serve as a backdrop to many of my songs.

These are songs of a simple man. I have never wanted much more than to be a good husband and father and make a comfortable living for my family. I just wanted to see my children grow into adulthood with a sense of purpose built on the foundation of a loving home. I get the greatest enjoyment out of grabbing a lawn chair and watching the sunset on my back porch---or maybe even a walk with my dog. Simple.

I look forward to releasing these demos as a complete CD this year. They have all been recorded on my days off in my study. Nothing musically profound about that. To the very trained ear, the amateur mixing and engineering may emerge. But to the sincere listener of lyric, a familiar, yet simple man will come into view. Not a man looking to hock music or make a reputation for himself. Just a reflection of another man I came to know once.

Finished

I sat in the testing center yesterday taking my last exam of the semester. This was my first one back after a long break. It has been really amusing to me how the brain learns differently as I have gotten older.

High school's learning tactics for me were no strategy at all really. I was blessed with a good memory and preparing for tests was no huge challenge. But somewhere in my adult life, I began to pick up tricks of association that helped me remember certain things..that is, when I remembered to apply them.

So I recall smiling several times yesterday as I tackled the 110 multiple choice questions that were my final. One answer specifically involved the mental image of a dog and a potato. Another image was fireworks and a flag, go figure.

I'll admit that I was more than a little apprehensive at the beginning of the semester. Would this old brain be able to keep up? Would this former A student crash and burn when put to a new challenge? I got a really good feeling after finishing this one semester. Working "smarter not harder" is the blessing of experience.

Variable

I sat on my back porch this morning and watched the sun come up. Funny how it could have been a scene from 100 years ago.  No one ever told nature she was behind the times and needed to catch up. This orderly sunrise and crisp routine seems to still work for her.  I watched a cardinal flash streaks of crimson as it raced between the cedars.  Hardly noticed was the female, hidden by her brown coat just a couple of branches away.  Nature has a system in place that accomodates the safety and well-being of even it's smallest partners.  The man who is unaware of this is the obnoxious variable in nature. 

Maybe it is the free will thing.  Man has it, and Nature does not.  So Nature follows the design and Man is not constricted to it.  If Man chooses, he can build his house on the edge of a 900-foot cliff in a remote part of northern California---his choice entirely.  God-given common sense would tell most everyone that this was a fool's paradise.  However, should his house collapse one day on top of him, the odd tremor will get the entire blame.   

Gandhi once said, "Earth provides enough to satisfy man's need, but not everyman's greed."  That ugly counterpart to Man's good nature drives atrocities and the destitution in the world that leaves us shaking our heads in disbelief.  Some of the carnage is produced indirectly by Man's unwillingness to recognize the order of things.  He is the one out of line.  And no one likes a line cutter.  He is the variable to order, but it is his choice entirely.

Order of Things

My pear tree is in full bloom. Just a few weeks removed from the last snowfall, I suppose it felt safe enough to trust an early February prediction by a groundhog named Phil. The Farmer's Almanac gave the all-clear as well. No hint of a pre-Easter freeze anywhere.

I am usually a guy with an aversion to hype. So why am I excited about an early Spring? My pear tree is in it's sixth Spring. I am unsure when it will start producing pears. But the possibility of this year being the year has created a little school-boy glee in my otherwise laid-back demeanor.

Things ordered and set in motion fascinate me. Things ordered give incredible credence to incredible design. That my little pear tree is producing white blooms for the first time in it's short life, makes me think again---this could be the year. And if it is, one more of my theories about nature's order of things will be proven correct.

Supportive...After All



 Well, I was up to my eyeballs in angst earlier today,with the computer issues and all.  Support proved to be outstanding and restored my keyboard companion to full operation.  A joyous celebration here.  At many points during the long ordeal, my mind wandered to a perfect world---free from computer viruses and other such looming maladies.  I entertained the idea of changing operating systems or possibly computers altogether.  After I polled some friends and acquaintences, did a little research and cooled off a bit, I am determined to stick it out with my PC.  After all we have a history. 

I read what a friend of mine said today about life's little dips in the road. She was referring to the changing seasons and their effect on our psyche.   Days like today, with agendas flung out the window and productivity buried beneath mounds of necessity, make you wonder if these days weren't carefully orchestrated.  Brought into full view by a need for balance.  The universe, after all, operates on such a clever system.  The sun comes up, goes down, shifts to the north, wanders to the south.  Each movement has a differing effect on us all.  Morning, night, summer, winter---the ever-evolving, clandestine changes make us human.  They define humanity. 

As I prepare for a new day, I am aware that I do not hold tomorrow.  I can't even say for certainty that it will come.  A leaf is blown, with no power over the wind that blows it.  Neither does it have a hand in it's choice of variety, whether oak, or spruce or elm.  And certainly it has no say in the matter of which day it will fall.  After all, who would sympathize with a simple leaf for being cut loose from the tree?  That's just a part of nature.  But the leaf, small and insignificant as it may be, still plays a part in the wonder of it all.   And whether it remains high in the tree or falls to the ground it has a role to play...and tomorrow is always a new day.

Computer Support



Out with the Windows?



I started a new blog called Out The Window. Before starting, I looked at other blogger's choices and the blog page title options were endless. My title was appropriately chosen to reflect my current world as I view it. It became suddenly and horribly apparent this morning that the title was also the course of action most prevalent in mind as I sat in front of my frozen PC. I wanted to throw something out the window alright.

Five hours later I still sit watching tech support drag my mouse cursor all over the screen and drop hieroglyphical commands in the run prompt. And I say this next part needlessly, I've had plenty of time to think.

Do I need to say, " Out WITH the Windows." For a long time I never knew there were other options. But Mac users look at you like you're from another planet when you even mention Windows. Apparently there aren't as many virus and support issues with a Mac. I really can't say. I haven't done the research. I haven't needed to. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe when tech support DOES fix this, I need to look out the window at other options. 

Mobile

Who knew? I'm a mobile blogger. After setting up my first blog ever, I am now doing it on the fly. Getting ready now for a long weekend. Later.