Baby don't believe it,

Oh, it's in your eyes.

I can see the weakness,

You don't have to hide.

I can take you under, under my wing

'cause your voice gives me a song

That I love to sing...

"Build You Up" by Nelly Furtado, Folklore (2002)

Off Days vs. Days Off

Yesterday, I experienced what I like to call an "off day" with a client of mine. It was simply a day where creativity, energy and motivation were at a low. It happens. It's happened with most every client I've worked with. It's a part of the process.

Creativity is a funny thing. It can wake you up in the middle of the night, pounding on your brain to take initiative... or it can be an elusive foe, hiding just beyond reach. You can force it, often with so-so results. You can even fake it, again with a lackluster outcome. One thing is for sure - you can't ignore it. You must take advantage of it.

So what do we do on a day where crativity chooses to take a vacation? We quit! That's right. Turn your focus somewhere else. If you start to feel like you're beating your head against a wall and nothing you do is coming out right, move on. Go somewhere else and do something you want to do. Something you know won't be taxing on the brain. I guarantee that in a few hours time, creativity will come out of hiding and dance in front of you.

P.S. The same is true with motivation and energy. Quick fixes for these? Respectively: procrastination and caffeine. :)

Music

"Teaches us the art of forming concords, so as to compose delightful harmony, by a mathematical and proportional arrangement of acute, grave and mixed sounds. This art by a series of experiments, is reduced to a demonstrative science, with respect to tones and intervals of sound. It inquires into the nature of concords, discords, and enables us to find out the proportion between them by numbers."

- from Lightfoot's Manual of the Lodge (Texas), 1934

An Exclamation Point is A Gift from Above!

I studied Spanish in High School, and even what little college I actually attended. It's always been a fascination of mine, and I've continued my study of the language in my own time. Recently, however, I've had the desire to use it. I've rarely had to speak it, and I always clam up when the potential for conversation arises. I'd love to be confident enough to strike up a conversation with a native speaker. Also a fascination of mine has been Portuguese. The language is similar to Spanish in form, but very different in pronunciation. I've taught myself a handful of Portuguese words and phrases and spent a substantial amount of time learning the ins and outs of the language's quirky phonics. The language has a rich cultural history and the lexicon is a cornucopia of origins. Thirdly, American Sign Language (ASL) is a language I long to be fluent in. I've had a number of friends throughout my life who use ASL frequently and have taught me a lot. What a beautiful thing! To be able to communicate without speech.

I'm not sure where my appreciation for language comes from, but one thing I'm determined not to forget is that English is an amazing language that gets taken for granted by its native speakers. Of course, a language is something that grows and evolves over time, and can even grow into a region-specific dialects. That said, I think it is very important to preserve as much of the language as we can. How often have you seen this sentence: "Wut r u doin?" More and more, I see similar (and sometimes more severe) perversions of the English language. It makes me sad to think that some people don't know the difference between they're and their. I don't believe it's a product of poor education, but it's a result of the growing phenomenon of the way kids communicate with each other: texting, email, blogs, etc. Words have become approximated and their meanings expected to be interpolated. Are we witnessing a degeneration of our language? I'm sure we're all guilty of it. Most of us say "gonna," "wanna," and "k" (instead of okay). But we know that writing those words as we say them is... well, incorrect.

I always say that it must be frustrating to be learning English as a second language because of the examples we choose to elevate in our pop culture. Song titles and lyrics are littered with poor grammar and intentionally misspelled words (guilty!). I believe that there is a place for such "cutsieness" in pop-culture. After all, one of the wonderful things about our language is its flexibility and readiness to adapt. But let's draw the line! Let's take email and texting back! Let's use capitalization and punctuation the way they were intended! English is rich and full of expressivity. Instead of using smilies and various onomatopoeic expressions (like "ugh"), let's use English correctly! Let's use it to its full potential and stop using shortcuts when we write.

Come on in...

Hi there!

It's a cold and gloomy January morning and I'm sitting alone in my office in the quiet. Only the gentle drone of the refrigerator in the kitchen, and the soothing blow of the heater coming from above. Why is this so calming?

Running a recording studio, it only makes sense that I listen to music all day long. Whether it be creating it, editing it, or simply admiring it, I'm constantly bombarding myself with a steady stream of noise. In the background while I'm checking my email, in the car on the way home - it's everywhere. Lately, I've been seeking more 'peaceful' music to surround myself with when i'm not working. Things like tradtional Chinese instrumental pieces and Portuguese Fado. While I've discovered some hidden treasures in Earth's musical history there, it hasn't fulfilled my need to hear something genuinely tranquil. There are times where I'll take an entire 30 minute trip home and not listen to more than 10 seconds of any song. You'd think that with an iPod full of every type of music you can think of, I'd be able to find something to listen to! What do I do when I find myself in this position? Turn it off.

Have you ever wonrdered what the universe sounds like? What does the Sun sound like? Does it make noise at all? We consider the universe as a grab bag of whirling dirvishes of sizes beyond our comprehension, pulsing to a cosmic rhythm. If we were to stand in front of a collapsing star, what would it sound like? Would it be deafening? Or eerily noiseless. I've always heard that sound doesn't travel in space. Since sound is a mechanical energy, it needs a medium to travel. And since space is a vacuum, imagine how quiet it is. We have become accustomed to the low frequncy buzz of computers and cars, passing trains and low flying planes. We attempt to counteract this by investing in water features, wind chimes and zen-centric soundtracks; only to add to the unnecessary decibel blitz.

Silence can be more powerful and cleansing than any form of music. It's a wonderful "reboot" for the parts of our brain devoted to auditory processing. It's certainly something my soul has been longing for. To turn off the noise, to stop and just exist in complete silence. It's amazing what you'll hear.