GFNPD

Welcome!  I'm officially mostly set up again.  Since the last time you came here I've finished an album!  I love it so much, and I'm really proud of the way it turned out.  I can't wait for all the people to hear it, as I think many people will be into the album.

I've also MOVED.  Packed and moved and unpacked.  I've now been in my house for a total of two weeks, and I love this place.  I have never felt more at home.  Not ever in my life.  The neighbourhood and this house fill me with excitement and I feel like this is where I belong.  I can't even believe that there's a whole floor between my desk and my bed.  And if in case you're wondering, Peanut is adjusting just fine!

I'm pretty tired these days, and I feel a life hangover from all the changes lately, so I'm not going to write much.  I will however, leave you tonight with a ton of pictures from my last two weeks.  As I look through them, I realize that I need to improve my camera skills, as well as my ability to document important life things.

Anyway, here is a jarbbled recollection of my life since the last time I posted here.

 Old living room full of the next day's move.

 Same with the hall.

 And the kitchen.

 I later slept in my room with nothing in it but my mattress.  Acoustically speaking, it was really refreshing.

All the keys to the house!

 MY NEW SUPER DRILL!

Above - Peanut finds the only quiet, comfortable place in the house while I unpack.

Left - All my blades.

 A short break with the family!

 The first blind goes up!

 The bike gets a home!

 The studio space!  Pre-cabling, but I did that all tonight and it is awesome down here.







Below - The living room and part of the kitchen.  I love how open it is, and that I can watch Community while I cook!

 Ana and I at the first annual BBQ (and blues) Festival.  We waited 2 hours to get food, then we went home.  Not what I would call a successful festival.

 Ana gets her tornado potato!













THE WE EAT IT ALL!!!!  Have you all had deep-fried pickles? They are amazing.

 My neighbourhood church, or one of them anyway.

 Just before the tracks.

 A park with an amphitheatre!

 A heritage show home.

 Old books.

 Old Box.

 Old party.

 Best meat sign ever.

 I really like this.

 A river view.

 THE COMMUNITY OVEN!!!

 The end of my street!

 The first day I had free time to do with what I wanted, there was a street festival happening on my street!  So I walked over and met some people!

 Prizes!

 Jazz On Wheels!

 Jazz On Wheels on the street!

 More of that!

A peanut while I work.

 Peanut appears from the table to see what I'm doing.

 A great drawing in my doctors office.

My first dessert made in the house.  Broiled grapefruit with ginger and syrup.












So that's a very sporadic view of my life so far.

Goodnight!

Is This It?

My desk is the last thing to pack up.  Oh, and my computer.  I've spent so much time at this machine I feel a resistance in putting it all in a box.  But it's time!  Tomorrow morning, I get my key's, I get my new house.  I move all my things, and Peanut into a home where I will be for probably the rest of her life.  Big moves.  Time to finish packing.

See you all later!

An Album Is Born

Wow, what a weekend.

So, I finished an album!  This is a pretty big deal for me.  I proved that terrible voice in my head that told me I would never do it wrong!  And in two days, I am moving all of my packed belongings to my new house.  This won't be a long post (I am past the point of exhaustion and my eyes burn from staring at my monitors all day today), but I just wanted to share some great photos from yesterdays final day of recording!

 Ana lays down an amazing bass line for The Eyelids Behind Your Eyelids!

 I make tiny pizzas for the choir!

 I write the lyrics out for the choir!

 The Choir sings on Garland's Moving To Vancouver!

 Liam becomes the song!

 Peanut becomes Liam becoming the song!
















I spent the day mixing all the parts in and retouching some things.  I frantically went about my day both listening and packing boxes and mixing and then more listening and then finally, hours of preparing the files in their various formats.  After a quick dinner with Ana and some of her family, I headed over to my friend Brian's place to listen to it through his system, and it was there that my day ended.   Well, I guess it's ending here!

For those of you who are interested, the track list is as follows...

a.  Breaking Breaking
b.  It Scares Me
c.  Garland's Moving To Vancouver
d.  On Nights Like These
e.  Sleeper
f.  Out The Seams Pt. 1
g.  Chalky Hearts
h.  The Eyelids Behind Your Eyelids
i.  Mouth Alive
j,  Heart Of Cranes

Sometime soon the songs will be available to listen to.  I'm just not really sure how that's going to happen yet.      There are a few ideas for a title, but I'm waiting to hear back about a piece of art I'd like to use for the album, and whether or not I get permission to use it will determine what the album is called!

I'm also not going to be posting for a few days with all the big events happening this week, so I wanted to once again say that, if you reside in Winnipeg, you should definetaly check out the next For The Love Of Winnipeg meeting on August the 8th.  Click on the links for all the deets!

Goodnight everyone.  I'll talk at you soon!

Moving doesn't ever feel like a stressful thing to me.  Not until I realize that one of my main resting place, my couch, isn't going to fit in my new space!  Well, it will fit, but it will take up so much room that the room will suffer greatly.  To add to my frustration, my dining room table and chairs will also make the main living space feel crowded and akward.  So now I feel stressed and anxious.  To further these feelings, my mind decides to run through the list of things to do before I move.

Go to work!
Finish an album!
Pack the kitchen!
Switch installation appointments!
Go for a run!
Pack the computer!
Tear down the furniture!
Repack some boxes!
Go to work!
Sleep!
Write this blog!
Shower!
Brush your teeth!
Take everything off your bed so you can sleep in it!
Put those things somewhere!
Move them somewhere else!
Pack all the things!

I took the day off work because my back is beginning to react to the accumulation of the stress.  I'm the last person to know I'm stressed, but my body seems to give me warning signs to clue me in.  I ignore them, and I continue to move at a pace that is wrecking my sleep, my eating habits, and my emotional state!  I feel frantic and I feel like I need to traverse Kijiji to find the right couch, the right dining room table!  But since doing the Artist Way, I've developed some tools to help recognize when my mind disconnects from my body and they stop talking to each other.

1.  Write down everything.
2.  Talk to someone.
3.  Identify what's causing this reaction (lack of sleep, hunger, obsessing over something I have no control over).
4.  Write some more.
5.  Watch a movie and smoke some pot.  This is especially helpful to me.  The combination of visual, moving art with the train-like speed weed induces in my mind helps me to reach the EUREKA! moments I'm looking for.  I can't even count the number of times I'll come to some intelligent thought or conclusion while using this pair of things.  This is immediately followed by self-doubt and crippling fear.  Doubt in myself and my understanding of my feelings, and fear of never being able to know myself well enough to move forward.  THEN, my heart kicks in!  And it floods my mind with memories of those moments where I did trust myself enough to listen to myself and how well that worked out.

The whole process takes about 10-15 minutes, although time is relative and always in flux after smoking enough dope.  Then I un-pause the movie and continue through it.  This may happen so many times in a movie, that I feel compelled to stop it and work on art!  What a brain.

The problem now is that I've packed my tv and PS3 up and I can't go to my basement to do this and soon I won't even have that couch to relax in and my house will never the good enough for me and I can't afford curtains or blinds and I'll never leave my job and my art will never lead me anywhere and I'll never leave my house.

I did make these tonight though, and boy did they help.

It's been a day, and I've spent money I don't have on things I can't afford, but sometimes a nice pair of shorts is enough to relieve the stress from your head and back, and maybe it's time I stop worrying about things I have no control over right now and smoke some weed and watch some ANIME!

Fact about me - I LOVE ANIME!

Also, come to this!  It will be so fun!