First turkey ever and the to-do list...

I now, finally after all these years, understand how holidays can be stressful to some people.  In just under a week, I will be cooking my first Thanksgiving bird for my girlfriend and her parents.  I bought a 12 lbs.  turkey at the Park Slope Food co-op yesterday and am planning on cooking the poor thing in my own kitchen...which means also hosting the dinner at my apartment.

So naturally, I'm in organizational mode and have been taking on more than I can handle, it seems.  Lukcily, I was able to outsource the pie and some of the sides to my girlfriend and her parents.  But Meanwhile, here's a few of the things I've decided to make:

Sweet potato and turnip mash, because we went back and forth about whether to have mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes or one or the other, or turnips, or not turnips and then this recipe surfaced:

Gluten free rolls, which I'm going to adapt to be as close to my mother's onion rolls that she would always make on Thanksgiving.

And as for that pie I'm outsourcing, Alexa found this.

Now, it's all a matter of cleaning up the apartment, planning the timing of everything I'll be cooking, and somehow, finding two extra chairs.  Thinking about seeing if I can borrow something like that from my neighbors or buy cheap ones.  As it stands I have 2 kitchen chairs, a piano bench, an office chair and two sofas but I think I'd rather have everyone sitting on something as chair like as possible.

The trick to all this is to do lists and time management.  I've found them to be invaluable all these years for the enormous amount of stuff I try to accomplish in the 16 or so waking hours I have every day.  Without to do lists my brain would melt into an incomprehensible pool of obligations and deadlines and I wouldn't know what to do with myself.  And without time management, I would never get anything done...or at least I wouldn't get nearly as much done.

My current remixing project would be nowhere without the lengthy to do list I have in place as there are multiple pieces I'm working on.  It's fluid and each piece has it's own sub-to-do list, with tasks to complete before I get to the creative phase of changing things around (tasks like separating out all the individual tracks and putting them into a new project file in Logic).  I'm changing things daily and deciding which songs I should cut as well.  Hopefully, with the technical stuff out of the way, I'll be getting on with the creative aspects, which are better taken care of in the lair, i.e. when I'm at home.  So I'm doing all of the technical stuff while I'm on the move and here at work.  That's time management.

With that said, I need to take care of a few more of those technical things before I leave tonight.  And then figure out the seating arrangement for Thanksgiving dinner.  Wish me luck.

Time management...

A lesson in time management today, I think.  Wanna know how much I got done today and I've only been up since 2pm?  A lot.  And it's not just how much but the manner in which everything timed out so I was able to several things at the same time and was able to leave the apartment a little early and, once again, get some time to work in my "office."  You wouldn't believe how quiet it is back here.  Well, I mean, I'm playing music on the laptop as I work.  What I'm really talking about when I say quiet is lack of outside distractions.  No one is likely to come back here at this hour of the night.  Not even sure anyone has any idea I'm back here.

I digress.  I woke up at 2pm as I said, and managed to get in an episode or two of whatever was on my DVR while eating my breakfast.  Made some tea to go, had time for a stroll to 4th Avenue/9th Street to take the F directly to yoga, instead of connecting from the R train.  Managed to scope out a restaurant that I'm planning on having brunch at in DUMBO on Sunday with a friend who's visiting and even wandered over to the waterfront to check out Jane's Carousel, which is now open and operational.  All this before even laying out my yoga mat at Abhaya.

After yoga, I scampered back to the apartment, put in two loads of laundry and got right to work recording some scripts for Edge Studio's weekly contest.  Finished that in just the right amount of time that my laundry was ready to be moved.  Plus, since I made enough dinner yesterday (planning ahead here), I was able to heat up leftovers and do a little job hunting/resume updating while simultaneously watching an episode of Good Eats (the Alton Crown affair where he shows how to make a crown roast with a rack of lamb).  Then, I put together a lunch while simultaneously washing dishes and finished in time to make it down to the laundromat slightly before my load was done in the dryer.  Folded laundry and managed to input the main melodic idea for the choral piece into Sibelius on my laptop so I could work on it tonight, all with enough time to swing by the food co-op to pick up some things that my lunch was lacking.

Got here at around 10pm and was able to apply to a job on Mandy.com, join voiceregistry.voicebank.net (which I was reading about earlier this afternoon in one of my emails from Edge Studio this afternoon) and do even more job hunting.  And now I have about 15 minutes left to mess around on the internet and type this blog.

Sigh.  Notice that I even worked in leisure time during the day. Time for walks and yoga.  Keeps me sane.

Teletextile...

Did I mention I've been busy? Yes, of course I have. Of all the projects on my plate, one that I didn't mention last time and one that is starting to take precedence over everything is that I'm currently doing some arranging for one Pamela Martinez and her band Teletextile. It's been a fun project so far, mainly arranging her background vocals for her rehearsals. Her recordings are well produced and rich with instrumentation and harmony so she's been looking for a way to get that translated to the live show. On November 20th at 8pm, the band is playing at Pianos on the LES, so if you're in New York you should try to come see it.

Excitingly, and as previously mentioned, that same weekend on Sunday morning, Bill Peek will be playing a piano sketch of mine titled, "The Way We Dream" as a prelude to the morning service at the First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn. Service starts at 11am sharp for those interested in coming just to hear the piece.

This morning I'm working the second to last overnight shift before I go back into my regular schedule. And I'm lacking a great deal of sleep right now but I feel pretty alive nonetheless. Quite surprised actually to not be rubbing my eyes as I type this. It's been a struggle to manage my time over the past few weeks but I must say that I'm coming out on top of that struggle. All thanks to the sense of routine that my yoga practice has instilled in me. It's remarkable how dedicated you can find yourself to something if you're paying for it...and here I was avoiding getting a gym membership thinking I didn't want to pay for something I wasn't sure I'd find the time for. Then I realized that simply making time for something that grounds me in some kind of routine helped everything else to fall into place.

Now, I don't know how much I've said about the Anusara Yoga studio in DUMBO that I've been a member of for almost two months, but it's a great place and all the teachers are really nice and experienced too. The location is nice too (I can gaze out at the Manhattan skyline from the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges on up to the Empire State Building and the rest of midtown from the wide windows on two sides of the studio). I've been deepening my practice as well and finding out I can do things I never imagined I could do...like Wheel Pose or Urdhva Dhanurasana for example. The first time I got up into that pose, I just felt this incredible rush and I was so aware of my body when I came out of it. Also, learning about proper alignment in these poses has really helped me get around problems I've been having with my knee. I'm finding that it's the best form of exercise for me, much better than running or lifting weights or even doing yoga on my own at home.

Another part of my routine is the Park Slope Food Co-op, catering to my need to be environmentally conscious and at the same time, not pay too much for organic groceries. It's not too far out of my way, in fact, closer than Trader Joe's and much more convenient to post yoga class grocery trips. I've worked two shifts there so far stocking and processing produce in the basement and enjoyed it both times, despite being so out of it the last time from having just woken up that I knocked over a box of mushrooms and spilled an entire crate of hot peppers within the first hour of my shift. Yikes, right?

So, my new routine has certainly helped with productivity and I've even had some great networking opportunities in the past week alone. On Sunday, my friend Anne, the co-owner of Tate Street Coffee House in Greensboro, NC, came to the city to run the NYC Marathon and later took a bunch of old coffee house employees out to dinner in the East Village. At the dinner I met the wife of one former employee who is an actor/dancer and we chatted for a long time and exchanged cards.

On Monday, I went with a friend to a silent auction for Forward Motion Theater and met another UNCG Alum who is a choreographer. Also exchanged cards.

And working with Pamela's band I've met some talented musicians too. I'm excited because any number of these connections could be beneficial and I can see new projects popping up everywhere.

Anyway, tomorrow morning, er, afternoon, when I wake up, I'm going to jump right into finishing the background vocal arrangement for Pamela and will probably meet with her at some point to go over some things. For now, I get back to work. And sleep is thankfully not far off either.

Performances soon!

Been a few days and I thought I'd drop in and update. Since the last blog, I finished that piano piece that I was sitting on for two years and emailed it to my choir director at the UU Church. He's looking over it now. Says he likes it so far. With any luck I'll be telling you it's being performed soon.

Speaking of performances, next Friday and Saturday, the 8th and 9th of October, Where We Fall is performing at Triskelion Arts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and one of the pieces on the program features my music! It's been a long time waiting for this one as I started writing the music back in the earlier part of the year and finished in July. I'm pretty excited this being the second premier of my music in New York City in just over a year and a half of living here.

What a run so far, don't you think? Anyway, the combination of that thought and the fact that I've picked up momentum with my writing again makes me want to negate a few things in that last blog entry. I know I sounded a little distraught and I didn't apply for that gig but a few weeks before I applied for some other ones (no responses yet, of course). But ultimately, it didn't shake my confidence all that much, seeing the perfect job and realizing I wasn't ready to apply for it.

Anyway, the new website should be happening soon, and by happening I mean I should be starting on designing it soon. Once the logo for the new business is finished and I have all the elements in place, all that remains is to design the interface. Content will all be for the most part the same. Perhaps I'll condense my music reel but other than that, straight up, film reel, music reel, voice over demo, bio, testimonials, etc. Excited to get it underway. Hopefully, then I'll be a little more gung-ho about applying for composing gigs since I'll have a prettier web face, so to speak.

Right now, it's a somewhat painful wait. The design of the logo is all but done, for now I just wait for the next step. The VO Demo is in the can but they're now editing it, adding music etc. I told them to cut me a version with and without music so I can later supply my own.

At any rate, I'd say despite my disillusion in the last entry, I think things are coming along just as they should and with any luck I'll keep up this momentum into next year. Writing the rest of piano piece was a good way to start because it got me back in touch with my old methods and I even started to think of new ones. Remember how I was complaining about my room not being the best place to compose? Well, I found as many ways as I could to get away from the computer during the past few weeks and I remembered in the process why Dr. E was always telling me to not write at the computer. You see things so much more clearly when you're sitting in front of a piano vs. a computer. Even printing the score out and taking my idle time at work to look it over helps immensely. I make notes. I take it back to the piano. I try things. I make more notes. Then, and only then, do I come back in front of the computer and make edits. PDF creation software is awesome too. I don't have to worry about needing a place to print out my scores if I can just email PDFs to myself and to the appropriate parties.

These are the things you pick up when trying to streamline your compositional process. The whole time I was writing (and just about every other time I dive into a project), I was thinking about how much something like a laptop computer would streamline my compositional process. I mean, for starters, I wouldn't have to wait until I got home to make edits. Think of the time saving there! Of course, I'd be lugging around a laptop and risking getting it stolen but man, what I could accomplish. There's that equipment envy though. In time. When I can afford it. Which may not be that far off. I won't say much more about that though.

Sidebar, I worked my first shift at the Park Slope Food Co-Op. Just as I thought, the requisite 2 hour and 45 minutes shift breezes by. I started off helping to stock produce, grabbing boxes of zucchini and kale off of the conveyor belt and rotating stock in the cooler. Then I wound up processing produce, meaning, slapping organic stickers (stickers that say organic, not organically grown stickers) on peppers and shallots, etc. Then I found myself talking to Jesse, a fellow pianist, while peeling rubber bands off of arugula, unusable by both the co-op and the soup kitchen up the street, that was bound for compost and then carrying said compost out back. After that, I spent the last half hour breaking down cardboard boxes and I was out of there. As I had initially posited, such a requirement was totally worth the cheap groceries it has afforded me. In fact, it was slightly easier than I imagined, the only hitch being that I stupidly chose an 8am shift on every fourth Wednesday of the month. I still I think I'm going to like this.

I have to get to work now, that other thing I do with all of my time. See you soon.

On Why I Moved to New York...

A lot of you have heard me say that part of the reason I moved here to New York City and to Brooklyn, specifically, is for a lifestyle change. And I've spent several entries so far elaborating on what I mean by this because it is a multifaceted lifestyle change. Many of the lifestyle changes, however, have centered on the importance of environmental stewardship and awareness of my environmental impact. In the spirit of all that, today I joined the Park Slope Food Co-Op, a Brooklyn tradition since 1973. I had my orientation this morning and met a bunch of cool folks, all who seem to have the same care about, and appreciation of, environmental issues. The importance of sustainable, organic agriculture, the dangers of pollution (in the form of excess waste from product packaging, harmful chemical cleaners and solvents, and other ills found in modern processed food and household items) and the more recent highlight on buying from local farms were all reasons my new co-op friends cited for wanting to join.

The closest such establishment to Raleigh, NC that I knew of was Weaver Street Market in Carrboro and such things were a novelty down where I'm from. Plus, I had to drive my polluting stinking car to get there and this one I can walk to in twenty minutes or so. The reason I put off joining for a year and a half is beyond me but what pushed me to join was walking through with my friend Stephanie and seeing how much of a difference their much lower markup makes. They said something like 21% versus a typical 50 to 100% in a regular grocery store. Passing the cheese section, I saw a 6 oz. hunk of good cheese (Morbier or something) was somewhere in the neighborhood of a dollar and change whereas buying it in a regular grocery store or gourmet deli could run you about five to seven dollars. Wow! They only have 65 regular paid employees and the rest of their work is done by members during their once monthly shifts. Therefore, they can do away with the bulk of their payroll and pass the savings on to the members. The produce and bulk teas are especially low priced.

So, I'm in and I can shop starting tomorrow, I just have to pay my $25 member fee and make an investment in the company ($100 that I can get back if I move) and I'm golden. My shift is going to be receiving and stocking on a Wednesday morning in the not too distant future and it'll be repeated every four weeks. Two hours and 45 minutes. Not a bad commitment at all.

Anyhow, I also had my demo prep session at Edge today and that went quite well. We cut down the ten odd scripts I chose to twenty seconds each and I suppose next week we'll record the five or six that we choose to put on the demo and then it's in the can! Getting closer.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks. Some were taken on a Sunday after church when I was picnicking in Brooklyn Bridge Park with some friends from the U.U., the rest were taken last night at Fulton Landing nearby. I was trying to make a yoga class last night at Abhaya in DUMBO because I was given a free week card but I made it there a little too late and opted to do my yoga in the park there and explore the area a bit. Enjoy!

Best of Brooklyn Bridge Park and Fulton Landing

Blurb #19

Was reading a little bit more on Kombucha. Apparently I don't have to worry until about the seventh day if nothing is happening and it also doesn't matter whether the culture sits at the bottom or floats at the top. This is the current state of my Kombucha. Sitting pretty at the bottom and not bubbling yet. It'd be a terrible waste of all that organic tea and sugar, not to mention the SCOBY I spent $10 on (probably could have gotten a free one if I'd waited).

All that aside, thanks for indulging me my anti-Celiac disease rant earlier. I'm happy I made my decision and after a long hard day at work, I'm sitting here chewing on some organic concord grapes (damn, these are the best grapes ever, even despite the inordinate amount of seeds!) that I got from the Park Slope Food Co-op. I'm joining next week I've decided. I was in there the other day with Stephanie and I really took a look at all the prices and decided I couldn't justify waiting any longer. It's going to be so much cheaper and it's all good quality. One 2 and 1/2 hour shift per month seems totally reasonable.

Anyhow, I had an opportunity today at work to meet a new musician friend. A co-worker and friend of mine who does the jobs report on NY 1, Asa Aarons, introduced me to a Bulgarian pianist on whom he did a report, or rather, whom he met while doing a story on a unique job fair in the city. She seems really cool and has a lot of acclaim so far. She's played Carnegie Hall, and tons of other locales in the city. But Carnegie Hall sort of trumps all of them, ya know? I'm sort of hoping we'll be able to collaborate but we'll see. She's headed back to Bulgaria for a while to be with her family.

For now, though, listening to her live CD which she gave me has got me on a piano composing kick. So, on top of practicing voice over in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be making it a point to sit down at the piano daily and improvise. A new piece is born. For now, it's late and I should be sleeping...why do I always end my posts like that?

A slight post script, I've been bad about posting pictures. I may or may not have mentioned a trip to Red Hook to see an outdoor film on Valentino Pier ("Splash" with Tom Hanks) and a subsequent trip to this cocktail bar.

Red Hook is Awesome (Best Shots)

Next, these are shots from the East Village and the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park from last Sunday. Also a few shots, okay a ton of shots, from some of the community gardens on Avenue C.

Charlier Parker Jazz Fest and East Village Community Gardens

Lastly, Stephanie and I went over to Pratt to see the outdoor sculpture gardens there on Tuesday evening. Even peeked into the steam plant for the whole campus. Pretty intriguing. Read about it here. Apparently the guy who runs the steam equipment does a show every New Year's where he takes all of his equipment out and plays music with it. Sounds cool...I must know more.

Pratt

Coolest thing? I took these with the camera on my Droid and it records locations with the GPS so it can tell you exactly where I was when I snapped them. Too cool. And I realize now that this is way longer than a post script and that this blog is way longer than a blurb. Deal.