Week #1 Update: 10/30 - 11/3

Hello gang, I'm going to attempt to do quick journal entries for each day of the week on Saturdays.

Monday 10/30

I spent Monday making a demo for a new Ren & Stimpy reboot theme song. It's a weird job, in that I don't actually have the job. They asked me to make the demo and I'm waiting to hear if they want to move forward. I'll likely repurpose it into something else if they don't want to use it. I haven't signed an NDA or anything, but I would like to keep this development behind the patreon walls for now.

Tuesday 10/31

Halloween! And the last day before my self-imposed social media banishment. I finished the Ren & Stimpy demo and attempted to edit some of the Spirit Halloween footage but I ran out of time before trick or treating. I ended up wearing Phil Braun's janitor wig and beard. People kept asking who I was supposed to be and never came up with a good answer. But others guessed Sasquatch, Tom Hanks from Cast Away, and Jesus. My daughter was Rapunzel and my wife was Mrs. Frizzle. We continued the tradition of trick or treating in Jon's neighborhood (disrupted by last year's trip to The Roxy).

Wednesday 11/1

We kept my daughter home from preschool because she has a cold. Lots of cuddling and laying on the couch watching bad kid shows. Weird time to go offline as this would have typically been spent scrolling on my phone. Instead, my undivided attention was given to Catie's Classroom and Bounce Patrol.

Thursday 11/2

Sage was feeling better so my dad took her for the day. I spent the day bouncing around from one idea to the next. I'm trying to switch things up whenever I begin to feel stuck creatively. I started off playing acoustic guitar by a fire outside. I didn't come up with anything I'm super excited about, but there are a few ideas that might be worth revisiting later. I went inside and played around on bass. I've written a lot of songs that started with a bass riff (Sideshow, All Shook Up, Shadows, By & By, Predator, Cherry Red Medicine). That wasn't going anywhere so I opened a logic session and started playing around on keys. Eventually, I started building a drum loop that I eventually started hating. I exported an audio file of it titled "garbage drumb" then I imported it back into logic and started stretching it out and slowing it down. I laid down some midi string keys over it and made a voice memo with some melody ideas. Then I plugged in my electric guitar and started switching gears into another idea.

I finished the day without any major creative breakthroughs. But I felt good knowing that days like these were necessary. And I had three new ideas in my voice memos to revisit another time.

Friday 11/3

I opened the "garbage drumb" logic session and was immediately pulled in. I got straight to work tracking bass, guitars, and keys over this drum loop. I wrote two full pages of lyrics about how "noise" makes it difficult for two people to communicate properly. I could write an essay on that alone but I'll save that for another time when you're able to listen to it. The working title is "Come Again."

That's my time. Talk next week!