Ready Or Not
Always in the muse…
Creativity is constant. Our creativity is constant.
We don’t ever really “close” our eyes or “empty” our minds. The light and the thoughts never stop even when we try to put them on hold.
So we don’t need to wait for the Muse to bless us with some new revelation.
We simply acknowledge the river that we’re swimming in.
The Muse has already found us.
Ready Or Not.
nb. Mostly not ready, it has to be said.
From Another Perspective
Messy?
Grass grows. We cut it and it grows again. If we don’t cut it the grass continues to grow and other thing grow as well. If nature is left to itself everything changes.
It becomes unkempt. Messy.
Or, From Another Perspective, it becomes more vibrant and diverse.
Like many humans I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to change things. Anything and everything. I think that, at heart, I’d like to be the kind of human who, instead, develops “another perspective”.
Everything Is Unfamiliar
Can anybody hear me?
Everything Is Unfamiliar.
New equipment and a new environment. I’m all fingers and thumbs. My brain is confused and I’m trying to get my bearings. The heart rate increases. Panic is trying to sneak it’s way in.
It’s not exactly a Mars landing.
But for some of us using a new piece of computer technology gives us a taste of what life is like for an astronaut.
For those reasons alone, this short blog came to you at a cost. And took quite a while to write. And probably to post too. Let’s find out.
Scheduled For Tomorrow
All being well.
Scheduled For Tomorrow
If tomorrow ever comes
It’s gonna be in your inbox
As sure as I’ve got two thumbs
(Which I have)
It’s scheduled for tomorrow
Tomorrow is another day
And I hope there isn’t a meteorite
Heading our way
(I think we’re ok).
It’s scheduled for tomorrow
For tomorrow isn’t here
But I won’t have time tomorrow
So I’m scheduling it here.
(If you’re reading this…tomorrow arrived. Yay!)
Ps. Speaking of “inboxes” you can sign up to receive this blog in yours, if you haven’t already, and you' are reading my blogs regularly. It’s encouraging when you do. Thanks.
Discover Fee Scheduling It For Midnight
Remember This
It’s on the tip of my index finger…
I was having one of those many moments yesterday, when something, I can’t remember what, was on the very tip of my conscious. But still sub. Oh it was almost within in reach. But not quite. So I wrote a song (lyric below) as a reminder of that moment. Though not of the thing I was trying to remember itself.
Remember This
I think I forgot something
Coz there’s a little elf sitting there
In the corner of my tiny mind
He’s trying to remind me
But I think he’s taking the piss
Coz he keeps on whispering (very quietly)
”Remember this”
I think I forgot something
Coz the little elf sitting there
In the corner of my tiny mind
He shouts, “are you blind” (very loudly)
But he’s taking the piss
Coz he keeps on whispering (very quietly)
”Remember this”
But I can’t
No matter how I try
I think I’m gonna cry, cry, cry, cry, cry
No I can’t
I think I’m gonna cry
So I’m heading to church
And the little elf sitting there
In the corner of my tiny mind
Says “there’s something to find”
But he’s taking the piss
And the bastard keeps on whispering (very quietly)
”Remember this”
But I can’t
No matter how I try
I think I’m gonna cry, cry, cry, cry, cry
No I can’t
I think I’m gonna cry
So I’m taking a pew
And the little elf sitting there
In the corner of my tiny mind
Well he’s on the wind up
Oh he’s taking the piss (“don’t swear, you’re in church”)
When he keeps on whispering (very quietly)
”Remember this”
Then he says “look in your pocket”
But my pocket ain’t got it
Now I know I’ve forgot it
I forgot the frickin’ rings
And the little elf sitting there
In the corner of my tiny mind
Smiles, but not in a kind way
He was taking the piss
When he kept on whispering (very quietly)
”Remember This”
He said “look in your pocket”
When he knew I hadn’t got it
Now I’m in for a rocket
From my previously best mate
And his beautiful bride to be.
Discover Fee Remembering Back To The Very First “Fourth” Recording
A Happy Accident
Not as smart as I thought
Oystercatchers aren’t as smart as previously observed in this blog.
I once mentioned how I followed a small group of them as they fed close to Campbeltown sea front. For a couple of times they kept flying away in the direction I was walking. And then one of them “realised” that flying behind me would stop this happening, as I would now be walking away from them.
I now think that this was A Happy Accident.
Yesterday I was walking along a long beach and those particular Oystercatchers repeatedly had to move as I approached. One, hilariously, couldn’t be bothered to fly very often, and simply ran very fast. This carried on down the whole length of the beach.
It would be nice to think that our learning, the smart apes that we are, is a lot more in control than that of the Oystercatchers. But if I look at my own learning experience, a lot of the most important things I’ve picked up about life and living, have all been more like happy accidents, rather than the result of my great insights or mental endeavours.
In fact I’m starting to be done with the idea that I’ve earned any of my alleged achievements at all. Mostly, if not completely, it just happens.
There’s a freedom in that. And a responsibility to show compassion to myself and others for the very same reasons. Especially when we fail to achieve. For the very same reasons.
What Did Change?
It wasn’t me.
So What Did Change?
Why do I play a song, for instance, with freedom and reasonably good technique when I’m alone in my room singing to the furniture, but start getting various degrees of anxiety and twitch when even one person is listening.
I know it doesn’t have to happen like that. I’ve had moments, even gigs, when it almost doesn’t. In those instances, I get into the right headspace. And getting into the right headspace always involves accepting the headspace I’m actually in right now. Even the bad space.
The fact that I feel my heart beat increasing in anticipation of “Me” being watched? Let it. Notice it. Feel it fully. Like every feeling ever, it doesn’t define me. It’s literally a few neurons acting up in my head because of millions of years of evolution.
And it’s not “Me”. I didn’t do that. I’m literally not responsible for it.
The good news is that our brains are malleable. It’s patterns can change. It can learn new patterns. This is the current science, but it’s also our experience if we think about it.
For now though, at this moment in this sentence, THIS is what it is putting out there. And until I accept what it’s doing now, I tend to find that what’s it doing now becomes what I’m attached to. Which is how the old patterns continue.
So I accept what it’s doing and watch it change again. Because, unlike Me, my consciousness, likes to be watched and given its due attention.
And it likes to change.
Discover Fee Letting The Clouds Drift On By
So What Changed?
Was it me?
What happens when no one is watching?
Does it change when someone is watching?
Would it change again if ten thousand people were watching?
Most of us would acknowledge that the answer to the last two questions is yes.
Many of us would like those answers to be no. We would like to be the same person in each situation.
But the truth is that we always are the same person.
So What Changed?
Discover Fee’s Change
Feet Tunes!
Have you found your niche?
Yesterday I promised you a funny summary of my music website as provided by a new AI search engine called Perplexity.
I’ve managed to lose the original text it provided. And when I tried to repeat the search, it came up with something far more sensible and appropriate.
I wish I could have shared the exact words with you, but the shorter gist of what it originally said was this:
”feetunes.com is a website featuring musical audio made for people who have a foot fetish”.
Feet Tunes! Anyway it cracked me up, and I am now very tempted to write a song that feetures feet. Or fetishes. Or footishes.
What do you know? It seems I could have finally found my niche.
Discover Fee’s Niches Being Discovered
Perplexity
Lost or found?
I was introduced to an AI version of a search engine called Perplexity. It does interesting things like providing, very quickly, an excellent suggestion list for a seven day trip to Kintyre. I asked for that, so that I could vouch for it’s usefulness. I also asked for the very impressive summary of this Homesong website you can read below, which it provided pretty much immediately.
So far so good. But come back tomorrow for the truly hilarious response I got when I asked for a similar summary of my own music website. In other words, reserve judgement for now.
Perplexity Describes This Website
Homesong is a grassroots initiative based in Campbeltown, Kintyre, Scotland that aims to promote small music gigs and artistic events in people's homes[1]. The concept revolves around "HomeSong" gigs, which are intimate performances where artists showcase their creativity in someone's living room to an invited audience[1].
Key aspects of Homesong include:
1. Connecting local artists with attentive audiences in a home setting
2. Encouraging community engagement and fostering friendships
3. Providing a platform for original music and creativity
4. Offering financial support to artists through audience donations
Homesong invites people to get involved by hosting gigs, performing, or simply being part of the audience[1]. The organization also hosted nearly 300 online gigs during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring mainly original material from about 50 artists[1].
For those interested in hosting a Homesong gig, the website provides a 10-step guide, including tips on inviting artists, setting up the space, and managing the event[2]. Homesong emphasizes the community-building aspect of these gatherings and encourages hosts to create a welcoming environment for both artists and attendees[2].
Discover Fee Summarising Homesong
Nothing For Money
That’s the way to do it!
Money For Nothing said the fella shifting the colour TVs while watching all the rich Singer/Songwriters on the screens he was shifting.
Times have changed.
The update of that song will be called “Nothing For Money”.
And the roles will also be reversed to a large extent.
Discover Fee Keeping His Soul Purified From The Filthy Lucre
First Unlock The Passion
The vital ingredient
For a football fan, there is a lot to be admired in a football match where the technique on display is at a high level. But often a match full of passion (and inevitable mistakes) is more exciting and life enhancing to watch.
Put both the technique and the passion together, and we have a recipe made in heaven.
This holds true for anything we do.
But First Unlock The Passion.
Discover Fee Putting Passion Before Technique
The Import Ant
Just the next delivery
He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders
The Import Ant
Just as well he’s strong as a buffalo
In his Superman Pants.
But he doesn’t always know what he’s doing
Or where he should be quite, right now
Indecision advances like kryptonite.
He feverishly mops his brow.
Now Import Ant
Is in a trance!
Is it that? Or the other? Is it here? Is it there?
He’s aware of some circular dance.
Like a whirling dervish
He spins through the air
Till he finally lands
On all six hands
And
Discovers that
”Important”
Is simply
The next package he has to deliver.
Discover Fee Delivering A Song Anyway
Surprise
Yourself
Surprise. You weren’t expecting that, I’m sure. But there you go. Nor was I.
And how do we keep it all fresh?
It helps to realise that I really don’t know what’s coming, even when travelling down the most familiar, habitual and predictable of paths.
Discover Fee Surprised By A Lack Of Hot Water
It Makes Me Smile
So pass it on….
Here’s the lyric of my latest song.
Where is it?
I put it somewhere out there
For the universe
And everyone to see
Where is it?
I’ve lost it and now I’m lonely
If I could only
Let it be
Then you walk by
With something in your hand.
You said
”I think this is yours
But if you don’t mind
I’d like to keep it for a while, coz
It Makes Me Smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile”
You found it
I put it somewhere out there
For the universe and everyone to see
You found it
Thank you for telling me
No you weren’t selling me
Any lies
So walk on by
Without a scowl or a frown,
I said.
It’s yours now,
As much as it’s mine.
I’d like you to keep it
Coz you really suit it
Yes you’ve found my smile
You wear it with style and
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
Here’s my smile
Pass it on
Pass it on
Here’s my smile
Pass it on
Pass it on
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
It makes me smile
Here’s my smile
Pass it on
Pass it on
Pocahontas
Dreaming of winter?
“Ambition is the fire we dream of building in order to keep ourselves warm.
The fire we build for ourselves can keep others warm too.
But first we have to go and find some dry sticks on a wet day”.
In the words of Pocahontas, possibly.
My Blindspot
You can help!
I am blind
To My Blindspot
I just can’t see it.
But it’s there
Out of view
All the time.
And my blindspot
Doesn’t mind
It likes to stay hidden.
That’s why it
Tends to stay
Blind.
Hey you there
Can you see
My blindspot?
Or if not
Could you help me find
It’s exact location
With your clearer vision?
It’s somewhere
Nearby
All the time.
You see
Though, I’m not blind
I do have a blind spot
I hope you don’t find it
A pain.
You’d be showing me
Kindness
By pointing it out.
So that I can
See clearly
Again.
Discover Fee Fogging Up
It’s Just A Question
Why are we kicking a ball about?
I’m excited about the Euro’s, which begin today. It’s a football tournament (also known as soccer, he says through gritted teeth) in case you are happily ignorant about such matters.
Yes. I’m excited about watching, on a television screen, men, many miles away, kicking a ball about. My foster son mocked me about that this morning, in the same way I tease him about actually “building” things on his computer Minecraft game.
But why is anything we value or enjoy doing, or watching, more important than something else?
Because if we are capable of finding joy in these objectively strange pastimes, perhaps we can also learn to find joy in the various activities that we see as a mere means to an end. Such as repeated physical exercise, or guitar practise, or chopping vegetables for dinner, or mowing the lawn, or…well, you get the drift.
After all, why, in all honesty, throw away any time at all in our lives upon activities we don’t enjoy?
Or, in other words, can we learn to enjoy everything?
It’s Just A Question. (To myself mainly, as always)
Amy Amoeba
Left or right?
Eric’s Dad told him, and I’m telling you.
Back when the first very basic life forms evolved, little Amy Amoeba only did one of two things. She either:
Moved away from The Bad Thing
(The thing that made her sad or frowny)
Or she moved towards The Good Thing
(The thing that put a big fat smile on her little amoebic face)
To be fair, life is much more complex and nuanced in the twenty first century.
But still. We wouldn’t go far wrong by following Amy’s example.
Discover Fee Singing About Ancient Life Forms
Superpower
What’s next?
”Yesterday is history, sometimes I’ve been fool
now it’s time to…..begin again”.
Beginning again is the greatest Superpower of all.