Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels

I've literally been staring at this blank text box for fifteen minutes, so I guess this sentence is the best jumping off point that I can offer. BAM! Inspiration...nope, still not there.

Let's see...my week...this week...hmmmm...

God this going to go badly...

It's cool, Tyler. Just go with the highlights. You can do it.

School has been going well. I just finished my Intercultural Business Negotiations class this week, with the submission of a fifteen page paper based on a half page article having to do with the acquisition of a Spanish company by the subsidiary of a slightly larger French company. Fun, right?

I missed the excursion to the Euro Institut due to a strange allergic reaction to the Chateau's laundry detergent, so um, yeah, there's that.

I guess the bottom line is, I'm just bored. I can't plug my amplifier in to the wall due to wattage conflicts, I'm down to my last set of guitar strings, I've finished all of my books, and I haven't been inspired for quite some time. You might say to yourself, "Who the hell cares?" Well, you know what? I do, and it's driving me absolutely insane. I haven't been nearly as musically productive as I typically am, and it is slowly eating at my soul. A slow kill in the cold.

I did, however, stay up rather late last night writing a new song on guitar, hoping that my rusty strings didn't snap. It is initially a fast piece which will be accompanied by blistering drums, stopping suddenly and developing into arpeggiated finger picking which molds itself into a drudging melodic breakdown of sorts; Much like my experience in Europe thus far. After this, I ran into some trouble. When I write music, I prefer the melody and rhythm to tell a story. I want the emotional content of the song to far out way it's technical complexity. The lyrical and instrumental processes are left completely separate until the very end, which is when I finally choose which lyrics to apply to particular songs, based entirely on the mood and pace of the melody. In this case, I believe that this tune should serve as a memoir of my time in Europe: My thoughts, feelings, triumphs, defeats and ultimate exodus. At this point in the song, I am trying desperately to apply a riff, one that is both rich in emotional content and bold in its demand of picking hand skill, that I had written almost four months ago, into this new song. There is a reason I had never put the riff into a song, however. It switches from eleven to four and, being not only an odd time signature, but also a rather technical melody, it has yet to find a home.

Following this problem-section are several more riffs which I desperately want to be in the song, but which lack the essential pertinence to the mood and key of the music. I'm frustrated, but I know these are the makings of a decent song. As I've learned, song writing is much like love: It happens when you least expect it. Therefore, I know that with a little bit more playing time, I will find the glue which will subsequently hold this piece together.

I read an interesting article in Popular Science this week, detailing "The Worlds Spookiest Weapons". This list contains weapons that only the truly insane could conceptualize. From armaments that are installed on the fins of dolphins to bombs that literally alter the sexual preference of a human being, this article contains just about every batshit crazy idea that the U.S. government has ever considered adopting. Speaking of bats, prior to "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" in 1945, were you aware that America began working on a project called "Operation X-Ray", in which thousands of bats would be strapped with incendiary devices and dropped over Japan? Theoretically, the bats would roost in the wooden and paper structures of Japanese buildings and detonate with the push of a button. Luckily, as we all know, the U.S. went with a much more logical approach with the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki... Their rationale behind the abandonment of this idea: It would take over a year to strap these bats with enough explosive devices to do any real damage. Even better, the idea was first thought up by a dental surgeon from Pennsylvania. This gives me even more career options than I ever thought imaginable! Maybe I could draw up the blueprints for a bomb that will give thousands of people horrible breath, or make them sweat profusely! I could be a billionaire! Oh wait, these are all conceptions previously considered and put into development by the U.S. government. Damn, this article covers just about everything. I would strongly consider reading it.

I'm done. Hopefully next week will more interesting.