Big Changes Once Again

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So I got back from Scotland last week. I miss my friends there. The post-graduation blues settled in for the long term back in June; still waiting for those to dissipate. As it's time to become a responsible adult, I'm now trying to find a full-time job in Akron, where I'll be living with my parents in order to start paying my loans off more quickly, for the foreseeable future.

There are several positives to this arrangement, beyond the financial: I'm only 2 hours away from the Alphaboys now, rather than an ocean apart, or 13 hours as for the last three years. Also, my unbelievably lovely parents are letting me use not one but two rooms, so I have plenty of space to make things.

Part of the making things involves building my studio. This will include a modest recording station, with a computer I hope to build myself, which will dual boot Ubuntu Studio and Windows (blech). Since I sold my keyboard this spring I'll need another one of those. Probably an 88-key M-Audio MIDI keyboard first since they are cheap, then a stage piano with MIDI, or, if I suddenly get rich or decide to put myself into even more debt for awhile, an 88-key Nord synth. This music store on the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, Red Dog Music, had a line of Nords which I shamelessly tested up to twice a week all summer. I still can't decide if it's worth the expense to get something compact, that doesn't need a separate computer, and comes with a zillion incredible voices, rather than the cheaper but unwieldy and cableful MIDI-keyboard/laptop/synth-software combo. We'll see.

Other planned studio elements include a decent commercial-grade flash camcorder, for, among other things, music videos. I've been unimpressed so far with Linux open-source video editing software, and do eventually want to get a Mac, so I can use Final Cut Pro and also because I just won't feel nerdy enough with fewer than three operating systems.

Another, longer-term part of building my studio involves collecting more instruments. Right now I have a cello named Dominique Lucas who needs an A string; Geoffrey the ukulele; Adolphus Accordion, who has a couple of broken reeds; half of Jackie O the electric guitar, whom I share with Forest; Hermione Ernestine the Wurlitzer upright piano; and Melody Melodica. I hope to eventually add to this collection (some time in the distant future when I have not only money but ample space) a harpsichord, harp, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, air organ, Optigan, singing saw, Theremin, vocoder synth, toy piano, and about sixty other instruments I can't remember.

If you haven't noticed, Sneaky songs have been unusually pessimistic this summer. I apologize for that. They've been quite personal as well. I promise I'm usually a much cheerier person, and will be again as soon as I can afford to be, and make some new friends. The personal nature of the songs is something I've maybe decided I like. This is all very new and strange.

The parent-living situation should last until Forest graduates in the spring, at which point the band will come to some consensus regarding where we will all live. It won't necessarily be in the same city but god willing it'll be closer to each other than previous arrangements. I still have my eye set on Boston.