Fantasy Magazine debut

I submitted a review to Fantasy Magazine for "Legend of the Seeker."

http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=1908

Moved In / STEAK

I've completed my move.  This is my first time living near things that I want to be close to.  For the majority of my life, I have lived 10-15 minutes outside of Thomasville.  This was broken up by one year at Andrew College, which was in the middle of nowhere, and near nothing.  (Albany and Columbus do not count--there's nothing there for anyone.)  Now that I'm that much closer to things, it makes a difference.  I can get to places much more quickly, without having to account for as much travel time.

Since anyone that reads this blog probably already knows the mundane details of my life, I'll get back to the important topic at hand:  I had steak on Friday, and it was glorious.

I have a few months of chewing to slowly catch up on, so I'll see you folks later.

Bass Facts

Here they are.

• I started on piano and went to bass because it was less to focus on, and it looks cooler.
  
• I play bass without a pick.
  
• I got a few bass lessons from Kirk Waters, which began my interest in funk and slap (even though I couldn't slap at the time).  This also began my fascination with five-stringed basses, and my first bass after that point was a five-stringed Ibanez Soundgear.
  
• Another thing Kirk taught me that I still keep in mind today:  If you can't sing it, you can't play it.  I've found that the opposite is true, of course--if I can sing a bass part, I can play it.
• The first album that really began to shape my bass style was "The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek" by Relient K.
• As I began to listen to things outside of the Christian market, I found my style and tastes for music expanding, but the things I admired most were inventive basslines, regardless of the style.
• My penchant for bass pedals comes from watching Chris Hall.  I guess that's pedal envy?
• John Moss interested me in the area of custom-built guitars, and that prompted the construction of Stella, my current bass.
• While I can slap with more ease on Stella, I can't slap that well yet, or consistently...instead, I just play with the pickups to get a different tone if a song or band requires that sort of style.
• I don't know much about "the great" bass players like Bootsy Collins, Victor Wooten, and Jaco Pastorius.  I also don't spend much time watching other bass players play.  I don't know if this is strange.   I do watch lead guitarists, but that is because I am addicted to the eighties.

There you have it.  Things you may not have known.

Agenda for the Year

1.  Make a new album with Icarus Aquanaut.

This is the one I'm most excited about, and expect to actually accomplish this.  I don't expect to embarrass the last album, but I would like to improve on some things.  We'll have the luxury of time.

2.  Write a novel or at least a series of short stories for publication somewhere/somehow.

I'm also very excited about this.  I have several short stories (vignettes, really) that I've created over the past couple of years.  I think I'm going to start small.  I already have vignettes figured out.  I send them to an author friend of mine to edit them before they are posted on the world wide web.  My next step is to pick something to write a short story about.  I have a world that they are set in already--just need to create or locate the characters.

3.  Get some sort of certification in a field I work in/or begin work on a degree in a field I work in.

Most of my friends are either still in school or have graduated from it.  I don't particularly care for school.  I will do a program at my own leisure, though, if it will assist me in doing work that I want to do.  If item 1 or item 2 make a great deal of money (doubtful at this time, but one can hope/dream), I won't have to worry about this, I suppose...but it's always good to keep learning.

These are the big three for the year.