Cue that annoying song.

So, yesterday I got to go to the dentist for the second time in as many weeks. (Hooray.) I officially got my first cavity ever, so yesterday I got my filling. Just a teeny, tiny little thing -- I didn't even need novocaine, they just barely did any drilling. The cavity was located right at the gumline where a couple of my way-back molars meet. (The "perfect spot", everyone kept saying.)

That's not the interesting part, though.

This is: I've been going to the same dentist for as long as I can remember. Well, they got a new dentist working there now; I didn't meet him last week, but yesterday he came in to do my filling...

And it was a guy (I want to say kid) that I went to middle school with. I guess it can't really be that much of a "small world" thing, when we both live in the same area we grew up. But still...having a kid from middle school give me a filling ranks way up there on my list of Surreal Life Experiences. :)

Musical Monday: Kiss it Goodbye!

Here's a catchy little ditty from my third album. I don't recall exactly what it means; something to do with the consequences of waiting too long to make some decision or another. It's fun to sing, though.

» Kiss it Goodbye!

duration: 1:43
file size: 1.58 MB
written: 1994
recorded: 1995
instrument: piano
recording medium: cassette tape
album: Kiss That Baby Goodbye!!!
lyrics:

We've had our good times
And we've had some bad
But we've stayed together
Through the love that we've had

But just be careful what you say
Our fragile love might fall away

CHORUS:
Just like the birds up in sky
Have you ever wondered how to fly?
Don't stop too long to question why
Or you can kiss our love goodbye

Now the hard times
But we'll pull through
Just as long as I am
Here with you

But just be careful what you do
Else our fragile love falls through

CHORUS

There's a purpose to this song
I can show the world if you'll
Bring me along

CHORUS

Or you can kiss our love goodbye
Or you can kiss our love goodbye
Or you can kiss it goodbye

Musical Monday Archive

Musical Monday: Middlenight.

I wanted to write a new song using some of the new ideas that I'd been trying out lately, so I actually sat myself down and forced myself to crank this piece out. The result is probably my favorite of all of my instrumentals, ever. The original working title was "Midnight Interlude", a reference to the structure of the piece, but I liked the sound of "Mittelnacht", the German word for midnight. I wanted an English title, though, so I settled on the literal translation of the German word

» Middlenight

duration: 1:22
file size: 1.25 MB
written: 2004
recorded: 2004
instrument: piano
recording medium: computer
album art: Yet Still

Musical Monday Archive

Musical Monday: When You're Around

This song was actually written as a poem for English class my junior year of high school. Or, more acurately, it was written as a song, and used for a poem, if that makes sense.

» When You're Around

duration: 3:08
file size: 2.87 MB
written: 1996
recorded: 2003
instrument: piano
recording medium: computer
lyrics:

Staring at your picture
I suddenly feel alone
I wish that you were
By my side tonight
I've waited such a long time
For a love to call my own
I know this can't be wrong
It feels so right

When you're around
I feel a mile off the ground

There's something in your smile
That tells me this was meant to be
And don't you know
That's what I want to hear
There's something in your eyes
That shows me all I want to see
I can feel it
Every time I hold you near

When I'm with you
It's like a dream come true

CHORUS:
When you're around
My worries are over
When you're around
My night turns to day
And when you're gone
It takes so much
To go so long
Without your touch
I've fallen hard for you
What else can I say?

Drifting off to sleep at night
I conjure up your face
Your picture is engraved
Inside my mind
I dream about the next time
I can feel your warm embrace
You're everything I'd ever
Hoped I find

When you hold my hand
I'm the luckiest guy in the land

CHORUS

When you're away
All of my blue skies turn grey
But when you're by my side
I feel the heavens open wide

CHORUS

When you're around
My troubles are over
When you're around
My night turns to day
And when you're gone
It takes so much
To go so long
Without your touch
I've fallen hard for you
What else can I say?
I think I love you
What else can I say?

I think we're perfect
And let's keep it that way

Musical Monday Archive

A clean sweep! Feels good.

So last night I finished reformatting the computer, a process I started Wednesday. (The preparation for which actually began over the weekend.)

We'd been running into performance issues, usually when on the Internet. I downloaded the free antivirus and anti-spyware software from AVG, which found a lot of crap and cleaned it up, but Internet Explorer was really dragging a lot of the time -- even when just reading my personal web pages off the hard drive!

So I figured it had been a year since the last reinstall, I still haven't cleaned up all the junk leftover from that transfer, and now I've got some good anti-malware software now, so now's as good a time as any. First I wiped my secondary hard drive (which still had all my backups from last year's reformat) removed the partitions and reformatted the whole thing. Then I moved everything I could (all my media: artwork, graphics, web pages, movies, mp3s, etc.) over to my now-clean secondary drive, and what didn't fit got burned to a handful of CD-RWs. After some time spent making sure I remembered to backup everything I wanted backed up, it was time to reformat drive C: and then reinstall Windows XP Pro. Then it was just a matter of reinstalling drivers and software (the installation files to which I routinely save to my hard drive -- now burned to CDs.) Like I said, I finished that up last night, with various versions of MS Office as well as Adobe Acrobat among others.

It feels good. I got everything looking the way I had it (the one thing I forgot to save was my current Theme.) Everything runs much more smoothly, and all that's left to reinstall are games, which will just get done next time we want to play something. (And I -- hopefully -- backed up all Sarah's user data for Sims 2, Civ III, Warcraft III, etc.)

Honestly, it was the smoothest wipe and reinstall I've ever done. I mean, there wasn't even a hiccup. Not even a little one.

Muscial Monday: Scamper's Quest Theme.

In honor of the rebirth of my webcomic, today's feature is the Scamper's Quest Theme music. Forwards and backwards! I initially wrote the tune for a short Scamper animation I did for Computer Art class my senior year of college. When I ran the theme backwards on the computer, I liked it so much that I used it during the animation credits. When I recorded "Primary Key", I had to figure out how to actually play the theme backwards -- which was fun.

» Theme From Scamper's Quest

duration: 0:16
file size: 251 KB
written: 2001
recorded: 2003
instrument: piano
recording medium: computer
album art: Primary Key

» Theme From Scamper's Quest (backwards)

duration: 0:15
file size: 239 KB
written: 2001
recorded: 2003
instrument: piano
recording medium: computer
album art: Primary Key

Musical Monday Archive

The return of Scamper? Sort of.

Once upon a time, I wrote a webcomic called Scamper's Quest. It was fairly popular (relatively speaking), was published in the college paper for a couple years, and saw semi-regular updates (and close to 200 strips) from 1998 to 2001, before I lost interest and let it just sort of die off.

I've tried starting up new comic strips since then (Bear With Me, The Shape of Things to Come, BAF!, Roads Less Traveled, Buggy, and Catbox, just to name a few) but I always find myself going back to Scamper. In fact, I haven't really stopped writing Scamper strips; I've slowed down to a couple dozen strips over the past 5 years, but the fact remains that I've still been writing them this whole time.

Well, I put the old Scamper's Quest archives online at my new website back in 2005, with the news that I was planning on relaunching at some vague future time. A year and a half later, nothing's come of that.

Now that it's 2007, I've made my new years resolution: to relaunch Scamper's Quest sometime this year. Since going offline in '01, I've actually redesigned the website a couple of times (without ever actually posting the new versions online) but now version 3.2 of the website is up! Click the link on the right, or just go here. A brand-new site is up, with all the archives, plus author commentary on a number of the strips! There's no other real content (cast page, FAQ, etc.) but that stuff's not important, and I can always add it in later. I need to resolve the current storyline before starting regular updates again, but really, that's all that's standing in my way now.

Books read: 2007.

This post is mainly for archiving purposes. Of course, feel free to comment on it if you wish. The most recent book read is listed first.

Star Wars: Triple Zero by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover
Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Star Wars: Inferno by Troy Denning
Star Wars: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Exile by Aaron Allston
Star Wars: Tempest by Troy Denning
Star Wars: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Betrayal by Aaron Allston
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Woodring Stover
Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Chanur's Legacy by C. J. Cherryh
Chanur's Homecoming by C. J. Cherryh
The Kif Strike Back C. J. Cherryh
Chanur's Venture by C. J. Cherryh
The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
House of Chains by Steven Erikson
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Books read: 2006

Musical, um...Tuesday: The Happiest Days.

Now for something a little different! This was the bonus track on my seventh album. A little tune I came up with on my guitar (yes! guitar!) I planned to teach myself to play, but never really got around to it, and sold the guitar shortly after I got married. But I did record a couple songs on it.

» The Happiest Days

duration: 4:17
file size: 3.92 MB
written: 1996
recorded: 1996
instrument: electric guitar
recording medium: cassette tape
album art: Kicking the Bucket