I'm an aggressive driver so my default behavior is to is go when and where I can go and drive as fast as I can without getting a speeding ticket. Thing is, I'd occasionally find myself doing this and acting like I'm in a hurry when I really had time to kill. I started noticing this in other aspects of my life: acting like I was in a hurry when I really wasn't. So I started making a point of during any given car trip letting at least one other person go in front of me when I have the right of way. This exercise has the added benefit of making someone else's drive a little less stressful. After a while I noticed that I was doing this even when I wasn't 'exercising'. I also noticed that if I stayed in one lane (even if the person in front of me was driving really slow) it actually made getting through some of the heavier trafficked areas a little less stressful - even if i did miss a light or two.

I'm just sayin'

I dunno if I ever told you this but I made my living on and off when I was younger playing in punk rock and industrial bands - my last band broke up after doing 4 US tours in one year and I stopped making music for about 6 years after that. I was out on the playa in 2006 and on the last night ran into a new friend who became my playa best friend for the night. I was explaining all this stuff about my music adventures and how I wasn't making music now and he told me that many artists go through a dormant period after which they arise into their most prolific periods.

The next new year's I made a resolution to learn to make electronic music. I've since been learning ableton and reason. I kind of messed around for a while. I've got around 30 unfinished pieces and two finished ones. Then just this month I decided I need to start completing material so I entered into and agreement with myself:

work on music every day (even if I can only do 5 minutes - but it's almost never less than 1/2 hour - it's just too intoxicating)
and
create, work on and complete one song a month - doesn't have to be perfect - just get used to completing songs


plus in addition to all that I have a band going with some very very cool, fun open people who are my closest friends. It's all improv - a jam band i guess you could say - and I love playing with them - It's so free and creative and zen and really embodies why i got into playing music in the first place.

so shit bro, looks like I'm back to being a productive musician just like my playa friend predicted. I feel like myself again.