New Years Resolutions… what’s next..

Just a couple of points that I’ll refer to later this year for guidance. It’s funny how a week away from mon-fri ‘work’ clears the mind and really lets you see things as they are. If you want something, go get it… Time is never on your side, the stars will never be aligned – get your finger out and go get it. The end.

Music

LAST YEAR saw only two finished tracks come out of the studio. Fair enough, these weren’t ‘run of the mill’ house tracks, that consist of pretty much the same timbers each time. These were full on studio tracks, vocals, bass, drums, guitars.. with song structures and fuller arrangements.. but even still, two tracks in 52 weeks?? Not good enough.

THIS YEAR I need to free up more time (yes, this means sacrifice going out for lunch on a weekend, or going to cinema on Wednesday for Orange Wednesdays BOGOF, or even just getting back from work and putting my feet up). Even though you can’t ‘force” creativity in this industry, you CAN learn new software, you CAN find new samples, you CAN design artwork for releases, you CAN. Stick at it and good things will come. I remember I had a quiet couple weeks, the closest I’ve been to experiencing writers block, but I just kept at it. New track idea, a coffee, new arrangement, a walk for some fresh air, and KAPOW, in one day I’d created TWO new tracks.. they were named “Forwards” and “backwards”, and featured on set lists and compilations around the world; including Tiesto naming one his “favourite track” on radio 1.

Travel

LAST YEAR We visited Morocco, for what was going to be a lazy/feet up beach holiday. This didn’t work out too well as our hotel was 130 miles away from the coast. Instead, we ended up having a Hovis-holiday (best of both!) sunbathing during the day, and traveling through the souks, seeing beggars, snake charmers, story tellers by night. You can view the photo album here: http://www.michaelburns.co.uk/blog/flickr/tags/morocco/.

We also visited Cuba in November, which was great! One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.. even though we only had 4 days out of 14 of nice weather! You can view the photo album here: http://www.michaelburns.co.uk/blog/flickr/tags/cuba/.

THIS YEAR we’ll be off to Las Vegas as Louise’s mam and dad are renewing their wedding vows for a laugh.. including Elvis music and a mini dance off.. oh god! We’ve decided we only want to spend a short time in Vegas as we’ve been before, and so we’re looking at flying inland to a couple of other states. Like last year, I’m going to be looking for a week away in the sun too (or if we’re lucky.. two weeks!), and so I’m thinking Mexico, Goa, Egypt, or somewhere down west coast of Africa.. who knows.

Food

LAST YEAR I cooked / baked a hell of a lot, but it seemed to fizzle out a tad over the last couple months.

THIS YEAR I want to get into Thai cooking, as everything I’ve tried Thai has been really nice. I’m also going to bake more too.. which means more cookies, more cheesecake, and ultimately more waist (that’s not a type on ‘waste’ either, as there will no doubt be less ‘waste’ resulting in more ‘waist’, and of course, bigger pants)

Exercise

LAST YEAR I worked hard at getting fit. You’d have found me in the gym 3 or 4 times a week, and in the jacuzzi every Friday night for “Friday Night – Jacuzzi Night” Cooking healthier foods on the whole, and eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg meant for healthier looking skin.

THIS YEAR I plan to keep it up. I’m happier with my figure now, I’m happier with this healthy lifestyle (being a member of the gym for 4 years now). At times it’s hard, but I like hard. I like the feeling you get after a workout, where you know you pushed it hard, and the sweat on your kit proves it. I like the aching the day after!

Experience

LAST YEAR I didn’t check a lot off my “things to do in 2008″ list, which I’m a little cheesed about, but I did get some stuff done.

1. I started ‘Wall Climbing’.
2. I bought a new camera (Nikon D60) to take up photography.
3. I cooked more, mastered the risotto and home made soups with home baked bread!
4. I realised I may have developed a minor version of social phobia (or just enjoyed my own company more, depends how you look at it), and so made an effort to ‘get out more’ with friends, be it coffee, cinema, food, gigs, etc. This spanned from producing music 24/7, it was hard work, and intense at times, but I loved it and wouldn’t have had it any other way.. the down side, I didn’t see much of anyone and started to enjoy my own company more than other peoples. This isn’t necessarily ‘complete’, more a work in progress.

Surfing was a to-do, and so was kayaking / white water rafting. So this year I’m doing this stuff:

1. London weekend trip
2. Edinburgh weekend trip
3. Canoeing / Kayaking
4. Surfing
5. Camping out in Wales
6. Beach BBQ in Cornwall (maybe surf too)

I’ll be adding more to this i’m sure, but it’s a start. Even with the global recession in full force (for another couple years I’d say), I still want this year to be a GET THINGS DONE year, less talk, more.. pork? (hmm, pork rhymes, but makes little sense… imagine the word “fun” rhymes with “talk” and we’re happy!)

Happy 2009 everyone, and if you’ve any info on the above that might help get this stuff ticked off, let me know!!

I’m sure I’ve covered Sunday Secrets before (?), but simply put, it’s a public domain for peoples inner secrets. People Anonymously create / send postcards to a real life address to a guy named Frank Warren, who then selectively puts them onto a blog every Sunday – you can even buy books compiled solely of this art work! (see amazon links)

I love the concept, the idea of being able to open up and ‘get something off your chest’ for the whole world to see, without consequence. Personally, I’m a very ‘open’ person anyway, but reading other peoples secrets is a really odd experience!

Here are a couple of picks from this weeks post:

Links:

PostSecret Official Blog:

http://postsecret.blogspot.com

You can read more about how the concept came about here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostSecret

You can but the book here:

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

Lately I’m becoming more and more aware of just how much info we have thrown at us on a daily basis.

I’ve heard the term “life stream”, which is currently a buzz word for social aggregation type platforms, but it seems we’re living in more of a life torrent, and there’s no sign of slowing down any time soon.

Everybody seems to be ready and waiting to jump onto the next big thing, but nobody seems to be enjoying the moment. Gone are the days of buying an album [I could end this sentence here] and listening to it over and over for months.

I’ll openly admit to downloading music, I’m a “try before buy” guy, but I actually DO buy (just this morning I ordered another 2 cds (’Elbow – Seldom Seen Kid‘ & ‘Grizzly Bear – Yellow House‘) – unlike a lot of people I know that simply just download infinite albums, and never reward the artists they like that put their hearts and souls into their work.

For me, buying a new album is still a great experience. Every night in bed I listen to my iPod, playing new material I’ve been working on, or a new download/CD I’m into. I love to indulge myself with new music, and really become engrossed. I have a great set of studio reference headphones to be sure I hear every aspect of the music, I’ll take out the insert and read about the band, the lyrics, the instruments used, who plays what, and the “thank you” section. On top of that you’ve the artwork, which normally adds to the whole ‘feel’ of an album (think Stanley Donwood / Thom Yorke’s artwork for Radiohead releases).

With so much information floating around [and being stuffed into every orifice possible by any vehicle (mail, email, phone calls, answer messages, TV ads, text messages, town square survey vultures, Radio commercials, etc] it’s more and more evident that we have less and less time.

As with anything in such volume & diversity, it’s only natural people will find it increasingly difficult to focus, and so I hope we never loose the ability of finding ways to indulge ourselves in what we love, carve out our own personalities, and enjoy being able to find escapism (in any form) from the day to day grind that is life on planet earth.