It has been a long time since my last post. Every post up until now I did while bored at work at the Walgreens Data Center in Mt. Prospect. The day after the last post on June 29th, I quit the gig at Walgreens and took a week off before starting a new position at Navteq in downtown Chicago.
Not with ten days off nor all the more regular free time I've had since then did I decided to work on this blog. At work I honestly try to work. When I don't have much to do, I'm happily entertained by a large pool of potential distractions-- not only is nothing blocked (Gchat, Facebook, Youtube, Craigslist, MySpace, etc. all blocked at Walgreens) but we also have a pool table in our kitchen (about 50 feet from my cube) and a private gym in our building (four floors below me).
As for the rest of my free time, well let's just say I've been taking full advantage of the normal schedule, the raise in pay, the single lifestyle, and of course, the smorgasbord of entertainment that is Chicago in the summertime. From indoor shows to Millenium Park shows to music festivals, from beach volleyball to midnight bike rides to fall softball, to drinking outside to drinking on bikes to drinking at campsites to drinking at ND football tailgates, I've never had a busier summer, but I've probably never done so much damage to my body, seeing as by my count I haven't taken more than a day off from partying since I quit my old job on June 30th.
In addition to the change of job and an even more active lifestyle, I have on top of it all relocated to boot. I am still in Chicago, but in very different neighborhood, especially given the fact that I only moved about two miles from my old place in Lincoln Park. Wicker Park is on the whole cheaper, more diverse, more artistic, and simply put more interesting. I pay less and get more in my three-bedroom coach house, where I live with two new friends who are as big of media nuts as I am. Instead of bastardized IBM-compatible wares they are pure devotees to Apple, and instead of music junkies they are TV addicts. We all like movies though as well as drinking and talking to Samson, so I think it's going to be a pretty decent situation. Unlike my old roommate who was never home, they're around a lot, which means I don't get to walk around naked, but then again I don't need to be doing that anyway. It's more worth it to have other people around (I can still walk around naked in my room).
Since I've spent considerably less time indoors and therefore not at my computer, working on anything music-related has been minimal. I barely have time to read about, download, and listen to new music, let alone build my new music library, experiment with mixing, or last but not least, write in this blog. Only the first and last of these can I do at work, and I am at least keeping up with the former. Downloading has become easier thanks to getting into Waffles, but listening to music has become more difficult since my MP3 player got rained on while camping. The move slowed down my music activity at home, but I am hoping to get completely set up with integrating my collection in our house's hardware setup, and I also soon hope to get my friend's old controller he is selling so I can finally dabble with some more sophisticated mixing.
And so last but not least now I am hoping now to revive the blog, since I do find myself bored a bit too often at work. Today is the slowest Monday I can remember, and all find myself thinking about right now is all the new music I have managed to fall in love and great shows I've had the fortune of attending as of late.
But this isn't my attempt to break into the music blogosphere in any way to at all compete with other writers. I don't make it work to listen to something new as soon as it comes out, and listen to it so as to overanalyze completley it before you even hear the first beat drop. Nor am I anywhere near as good of a writer or as knowledgeable about music/history as many people who spend every day doing this without pay. Yet I do keep my ear to the ground for new artists, new releases, and new shows, and I spend a good amount of time listening to a wide variety of music and going to shows in Chicago, so I feel like I want to share at least a little of my appreciation for what is my personal rock in life. If I only help a few friends discover new music and a new appreciation for music through my incessant consumption and enjoyment then I believe Omnaural to be worth the effort.
That said, I'm hoping to get into a regular routine of reviews. Again, I don't make it my job to listen to new music, but rather listen to things as they come or as I find myself ready for them. In an ideal world I'd have time to listen to everything, and listen to it enough to feel somewhat confident assessing it formally for the world to see. But I don't want to turn music listening into that much of a chore for myself, not just because of the time but more importantly because I don't want it to become a less enjoyable or wondrous experience for me. So you will probably be hearing mostly about what I'm into at the moment, or at least what I might have found interesting or compelling as of late. Or I may just post BS just to get a post up...
Well that was far more long-winded than I anticipated. The funny thing is that after all this, I ran out of time at work to post an actual review. So unless my plans to watch the Bears tonight totally fall through, we'll just have to wait until tomorrow.
Until then, keep that beat goin'...
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