Songs

“I’m on Fire” (take 2) 🎸

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My first cut at Bruce Springsteen’s song I’m on Fire was probably “good enough” for a first solo song done just for fun.

Before “officially” releasing it, I wanted to play around with a couple of other ideas.

  1. Try adding some lead / fill guitar
  2. Try whistling (yes, whistling!) for the “woohoo” parts
  3. Redo the vocals with a wind guard to keep the spitting sounds down 😆

Here’s take #2.

I think the guitar is an interesting addition, although it’s a bit messy and still needs work. I like the whistling but might like the “woohoo” vocals better. It’s still experimental mode here haha.

What do you think?

My GarageBand file has lots of tracks now, with more than half disabled. Welcome to music production, I guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️

GarageBand getting out of hand.
Practical

This year’s best holiday gift guide 🎁

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I’m enjoying this gift guide from the New York Times. It’s beautifully designed, easy to browse, well-curated, and organized by categories like Home & Design, Games & Gaming, Teens, plus a price range.

After spending quite a while ⏳ digging through endless “best of Black Friday” lists full of really generic items (really, a door lock accessory for Christmas?) or extra pricey items (an $1800 computer monitor – on sale?), this gift guide is the most organized and time-saving I’ve seen this year.

Quotes · You

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”

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Searching for some Thanksgiving inspiration, I came across this quote from Willie Nelson, who has been through a lot.

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.

Willie Nelson

I like the idea that gratitude is not just a good idea but is also useful.

Yes, we should pause today, on Thanksgiving, (and heck, every day) to be grateful for the good things in our life. But even more than that, we should make something of it – make it useful.

Use your gratitude to show some love, some kindness, some appreciation to someone, to make the best of your situations and bring the best out of the people you know.

Via The New Yorker

Funnily enough, I found a similar idea from from Neal A. Maxwell, a Mormon scholar and educator.

We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.

Neal A. Maxwell

I don’t know much about the Mormon Church, but this dude seems bright and extremely accomplished across many areas, as well as being noted as a talented writer and speaker.

I’m going to file Mr. Maxwell away along with Timothy Leary as someone I wouldn’t naturally be drawn to but who seems to have some good ideas.