April 1, 2023


 April 1, 2023

    Now as we reach the milestone of our fourth month of publication, we at Notes to Self are determined to keep this ever more widely-visited website advertising-free and available at no cost to you, the discerning reader/listener/viewer. You will never see us build a paywall or hold a fund drive. Our continued existence is entirely dependent on the whims of your attention and through our determination to declare our independence from the corrupting influence of squares, professionals, and the mercenary impulse that seeks to commodify the very pixels of the electronic clouds that gaily traverse the virtual sky.

    This month's essay, The Yoga of Morning Practices is about how learned to get ready for my day by getting up at 3:30 a.m. and doing things I had to write about to explain why I need 3 hours to start to get ready for every day.

     The song of the month is "I Feel" a kind of personal anthem--intended to be played before the opening day of a professional wiffle ball league of the sort I dreamed about after falling asleep while attempting to watch a PBS documentary after a dinner that included roasted potatoes, arguably one of the most effective combined sleep aids yet discovered, which is invaluable when you know you'll be up at 3:30 a.m. no matter what.

 



    The video for this month is the embryonic ancestor of a song yet to be written. A song phrase that was playing in the place in my brain when I woke up and expanded when I put a guitar in my hands and placed a recorder, a piece of paper and a pen in reach. You can almost hear the words of what the song will be, like stem cells, nearly differentiated into organs. Some of the distinct words, embedded among mumbles, may well make it into the final version.  I really like it. It makes me happy to think of how good it can be when I finish it--but then I always like the next song. I also like how when I came up with it, and when I play it, it doesn't just sound like an idea I like, but an impulse I like. I think songs like these are so simple that the value of them isn't the musical ideas, they are about the translation of the person's rhythms and melodies--and we all have them, we just have to have a path to be in touch with them, then making up stuff is as natural as a kid with ADHD drumming on a table. It feels good to him, and keeps him (read:me) out of other trouble.



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