So recorded some music, came back later, made up some lyrics and added vocals and made a draft of a song I now call Comfort and Fear. Came back later again and changed the melodic 6 string guitar part.
Made this 25 second miming my vocal as a joke using OBS and my webcam. I am doing a VOYAGER DOCTOR like thing in the above joke video with over emoting it all, trying to be human. I am not going to be doing any lip sync videos, that is for sure.
Didn't spend long on the lyrics. Just trying different words, with a theme. Actually 2 themes then try and sing them. Sounding right as a song is better than having the right meaning as text.
The vocal chain this time doesn't use my VintageVerb, but ReaVerb with a LEXICON 480L plate IR. I can't hear the difference though. But I have a 2 echo stereo slap back delay before the reverb in this, rather than in parallel via sends the way I have done. Will keep this new way as my vocal chain till I get sick of it.
My vocal delivery is probably more "musical theater" than rock or metal, as I try and make the lyric very clear. Even if the words themselves end up being ambiguous.
The 8 and 6 string guitars used:
Made this DRAFT music+ comic on it about 2 stories around PTSD. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 心的外傷後ストレス障害
I may change the lyric after I play it a bit and get completely sick of it, like I normally do. Having Nightmare twice in a verse seems wrong, and I may change it to something else. EDIT: I did in the version that will get put on Bandcamp.
Years ago I used to fuss about the mix and mastering of my tracks. Was it close to "commercial releases" or not and what to do to fix that? I don't bother any more. If the mastering, slow, spectrum looks reasonable, and it sounds reasonable to my (poor late 60s ) ears that is good enough for me, the one that will actually play them.
Comfort and Fear can be interpreted in various ways. I have observed foreign residents in Japan all over social media having that "Comfort & Fear" thing. I did the first time I was here in 1987 to some extent, but mostly from "I don't know how things work here" for the first years. Changes to the Japanese VISA laws with new "language ability tests" for PR is sure to bring out the fear in many... I have PR already, so don't expect any issues, but they can always change that too.
More singing, for a bit of it anyway. More like an instrumental with vocals in the chorus. I already put the track on Bandcamp earlier in the week, but to get more views have made a too long SHORT.
In your late 60s, you are very aware you are in your final chapter of life. This year is 50 years since last year of High School. Grand children and health issues are normal. This is pretty much aimed at the class of '76.
Living your life as you need too
Far from the noise and the chaotic view
The pace of life is up to me now
In this final chapter we’re not looking back now
For those of us with health on our side
In this final chapter we run as we please
Here's cheers to good health
Not having to work at a career was a huge relief, and being above to do what you want is really great. For me that is mostly going to a certain kinds of art exhibitions a few times a year, making my own silly music/ comics (with other hobbies) and go to cafe's once or week or so. It is said your 60s are the best decade and I agree. No work and still healthy enough to go out and do things and get around.
Our cat is such a significant part of each day now. He is 10 years old and spends most of everyday, 22 out of 24 hours, close by me. He is in the chair next to me as I am typing this.
My wife is in Poland with an old school friend and avid traveler for 10days. My wife will meet the polish girl she has been a pen pal with since junior High School. It was my wife's friend that suggested they go. She has been so many places recently and usually goes on a tour by herself. Her husband doing his own thing.
I know of a few people my own age with terminal illness, and that the end comes to us all eventually. Sounds a bit grim, but I don't think it is. I think the thing to hope for is just to not suffer at the end. Stay as fit as possible, for as long as possible. And have fun in your remaining time and do what keeps you a happy camper.
This is Heavy 8 string guitar with Neural DSP Modeler , cheesy string machine, Inception synth lead. Has Metal guitar sounds but it isn't metal.
The "CLASS of 1976" reunion images in the short are AI generated. I have played with AI a bit. It is another tool if used correctly. Shame most don't use it that way. Very little it generates is useful to me in all I have tried. I could do something similar myself, but that would take hours and the ROI isn't worth it. It gets across this aging thing well enough. It is actually the music that is main, but that is not what SHORT viewers are after.
It may seem I am implying I don't have long left, but I will probably have another 20+ years. The song is mostly about living your life the way you want till the end, when ever that may be. But I really didn't spend much time thinking about the lyrics. Some of the original words I used couldn't be sung, so I changed them, to something that rhythmed better, and becomes more obscure.
e.g:
Chaotic viewimplies career, city commutes and the stress of working for a living.
I was more worried about my singing and the mix than the actual words though, so they really aren't something I deeply considered first!
Other Things
The last few things I have done all have singing in them. Moral Constipation, Dragons Of Our Minds and Final Chapter say something, even if obscure and the lyric could be interpreted in other ways. Story Shaped Beats is even more obscure! I like that, and want to continue, but probably comes across as mansplaining. But so much of the lyrics in music I have ever heard doesn't have anything significant to say other than I love you and lets have a good time.
It adds a more interesting dimension, and expands the comics I put with the music. I had been feeling I was doing the same thing over and over again, but lyrics changes that.
There are so many things to try...
Next want to put in DUBSTEP sounds as well as heavy 8 string guitar.
COSMOS the TV series is available to watch on the INTERNET ARCHIVE. I have recently been referencing things Carl Sagan said or wrote and I though I should revisit COSMOS.
So bought the too book:
Some weeks ago watched the movie of his novel CONTACT on Netflix too.
To KIX Airport. The Typhon this week, estimated to come through the KIX airport area the day she was to leave ended up moving on early so we had a rain free trip to KIX Airport by train. She had worried about that a lot for a week before she was to leave.
The "joke" picture I posted to X with myself, wife and her friend at KIX airport. She says this will be her last International trip. It is around 2 hours each way home to KIX airport and I helped her carry her things. Glad I didn't have to catch an International Flight myself. That is just too tiring and tedious these days.
We had never used the train before. All previous times we had used a Limousine Bus from a nearby station instead. Unfortunately those services have now all been cancelled. It used to be a much more comfortable and faster trip.
We catch the train to the Airport at Kyobashi station on the Osaka Loop. The same train also later goes to Wakayama, but what they do is the first 4 carriages go to the airport, and the last 4 go to Wakayama. The train gets divided at Hineno station, the stop before KIX. Never seen this before.
It was also the first time to see the Enshittification of the once glorious tool Google Maps. Now it doesn't give you the cheapest easiest route by default! 😡
Back doing some Illustration concepts this week.
Cooking isn't something I do very often now. The kitchen is my wife's domain. Gyoza and boiled eggs have been about it for my contribution for the last few years, but with wife away have done mashed potato and steamed broccoli to go with chicken and it is a nice feeling. At least for a short time. Can buy many prepared foods at the local supermarket and 7/11, but really simple home style isn't one of them.
Moral Constipation is a track and SHORT did a few weeks ago using my old dynamic microphone. Compared to the last 2 tracks using the e945, the vocals do sound much dimmer to me now.
A recent X discussion was metal songs have lyrics with dragons 😀
Carl Sagan's 1977 book discusses "The dragons in the dungeons of our mind", related to the "lizard" brain will still have. That isn't quite how they discuss the brain these days, but it works for some song lyrics with dragons that isn't cliche.
The evolutionary oldest parts of our brain is responsible for the lowest level fight/ flight/ pattern finding aspects of ourselves. The pattern finding appears to be the thing responsible for Superstition. And in recent years "Conspiracy Theories".
Lyrics: The Power Of IntellectPower riding the sky Power taking you high The mind taking control Superstitions will fallPower riding the sky Power taking you high Feel the current rise Beneath digital skies The dragons in the dungeons of our mind Bowing down to magical thinkingThough dragons still linger inside, Across the cosmic ocean, we stride.
I want my lyrics to mean something. Freak Kitchen and Rage Against The Machine have meaningful lyrics, but most bands don't. The only old Deep Purple song that meant anything was Mary Long, but their hits don't really say anything. The recent albums in 2025 and 2026 have changed that though.
But is my song here "metal"??? Sections with more RAMMSTEIN-ish riffing would help..
It isn't any common metal genre I know of. The guitar tones are metal though...
I keep coming back to Carl Sagan's writing. The pale blue dot. The dragons in the dungeons of our mind. Maybe as his TV series COSMOS had such a big impact on me when it aired in 1980?
The music here started as trying out YouTuber Glen Fricker's EQ before and after NEURAL DSP MODELER on a quick 8 string guitar thing.
I did like the result I was getting. I then came back and added a little 6 string to the synth and drums. I made a MUSIC+COMIC and that, that included the above screen shot of reaper.
So expanding that with lyrics was my next thought. Something Cyber PUNK was my first thought, but the discussion on X a few weeks ago that much of metal had Dragons in the lyrics or something else cliche had kept coming back to that thought. DIO had a lot of that, and "kill the king" too. I had also drawn an original dragon and posted it to that thread.
So I did a quick test with 2 verses and liked that. Used my old dynamic Aston DM-50 microphone (a cheap Shure SM-58 look alike that isn't available any more) I had bought in a kit with a mic stand when I started using Reaper some 15 years ago. It was promising.
I had bought an "amazing for the price" Condenser Audio Technica AT-2020 many years ago as it was recommended in Sound On Sound Magazine and in Sydney Australia I had a large space and some acoustic treatment to use it in. Used for a fair few things, but found it kind of resonant with my voice in that space, even if "bright and airy". It picked up all the noises in the room though.
Now in Japan, in a tiny acoustically untreated space, I thought I should get a better dynamic microphone and see how that goes. Noise inside and outside the house is also a problem. The SM7B is the go to for everyone now days, but I didn't want to spend ¥64,900 as an old retired hobbyist. I did consider carefully a SM-57 ¥15,253, rather than a SM-58 though.
Had looked at the prices of candidates on Amazon and Soundhouse and was considering them all. Then after a trip to a Mall Cafe, I visited the Shimamura Music there and they had the Sennheiser e945 for as good a price as anywhere, in stock, I could take home with me. Another live vocals microphone, a bit brighter than a SM-58, that I had preferred in the few mic comparison videos I had seen on YouTube. More expensive than a SM-57 or SM-58. A more condenser sounding dynamic, but with the restrictive pickup pattern I needed.
So bought that.
Seems good to me, so that is what the above MUSIC+COMIC uses.
I probably need to investigate vocal setups more, but me actually singing is the biggest struggle. I "can sing", but part of being a real singer is the breathing, and that is something I haven't got a hold on. I record a verse at a time, and have to edit out all the huge taking a breath sounds I make. Another rabbit hole to go down.
Double tracking the vocals gives a tighter sound than triple tracking them. One track just seems too thin, without lots of processing. I have only a light vocal plate reverb on these.
But what really struck me about how I sing the verse "Power riding the sky Power taking you high " is it having a Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull sound to it!
Could anyone tell the difference between the vocals in my MORAL CONSTIPATION and this with a different microphone? I think I can. It is a bit brighter, may even cut through the mix a bit better. No one else would notice though.
So will I get more serious about the singing side? Yes, maybe... still not bothering with a registered record label, associated costs or Spotify though.
In my GENRE, I am number1! I am also the only one my genre!
Other Things
Wife is off with an old, well travelled, school friend to Poland for a bit over a week. Hope that all goes fine. She has had a Polish pen friend for 50 years and will finally meet her. International flights aren't something I want to take anymore!
After the 50th Anniversary of Fairlight Instruments, some of the people behind the ill fated 30th Anniversary CMI 30A have introduced the FI-50 CMI during the week
What is in the process of being released now is a CMI I-II-IIx "Raspberry PI" on a CMI compatible card that replaces the CPU, Floppy, Graphics & MISC boards of original systems and can drive original channel cards with updated and modernized version of the last CMI IIx software release. The system software and sound library all fits on an SD CARD.
An original Fairlight programmer wrote a script in his spare time, over the last almost 2 years to convert the original 6809 ASSEMBLER SOURCE to C++, handling all the memory mapping, and floppy drive schemes the original system did, and get it to run on a Raspberry Pi. He said he didn't implement a 6809 emulator at all, and left much to the modern C++ compiler to optimize. He then added a few new pages and features appropriate to the UI all existing computers use, but the CMI didn't.
This all runs much faster than the original system did.
Now that would be nice for maybe the 300 CMI IIx owners that still care about their ancient system, but doesn't seem like much of a win to me.
BUT, they also demoed a CMI II in a 3U 19" box during the 50th Anniversary Party they had in Sydney, that also has CMI-I channel card simulation (probably a single card) , including optional switched capacitor lowpass filters.
Technically interesting, but I was never a CMI owner or user. I developed some of the boards of earlier systems and the core electronics of the CMI Series III, but I feel rather distant from the cheering of this new version. I don't need it. Doesn't have anything to do with me.
REAPER does all I can use.
The EX-APPLE Designers EV car is here. It does not look as much like an Apple mouse as we had expected in 2022. Expect the charging port is underneath though 😂... (That would explain the tanking stock price!)
The cartoon I did on the day it was released, referencing a page from my 2022 HEAVY METAL GARAGE comic:
Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Art has the Ghost In The Shell Movie artwork exhibition from 2026/07/27 ~ 2026/08/30. Will be going to that, and the is a ROYAL HOST after, on the way back to the station😎.
When I saw it on in Tokyo, I didn't think it was worth going to Tokyo for an overnight trip for it. Glad I didn't now.
The Masamune Shirow exhibit I did an overnight trip for last year ended up being in Osaka for a while and I should have just waited and gone to that. The exhibit was great, but the trip just knocked me out and I didn't have any energy to do anything for the time I spent in Shinjuku.
A problem getting old.
Boomerang III Phrase Sampler PCB silkscreen:
"May the music passing through this device somehow help to bring just a little more peace to this troubled world" 😍
A YouTube SHORT scheduled for 8:30AM Japan time Saturday 23rd May, on rating the guitar pedals we still have. I sold my Chorus, Delay and Compressor when I started using a PC based recording production system. Those are applied in the DAW now using Vallhala DSP and other plug-ins.
Mostly using the POD EXPRESS BLACK at the moment. I don’t use any delay or the other effects in any of my patches for it. Just Amplifiers with and without Cabinets. If no cabinet I use an IR in the DAW for more variety.
I updated my last blog about the Sound Messe Osaka 2026 during the week, so don’t need to add more about that. But there were many pedals, and I didn’t try any of them. A guy I met at the evening event is a PEDALBOARD COLLECTOR & GUITARIST, it says on the name card he gave me in exchange for my stickers. A huge collection by the look of it some 2m x 3m when laid out on the floor! The only pedals I have been interested in for many years have been distortion, and am happy enough with the options I have now, and don’t need more.
Last year I did this water color storybook version of my Sound Messe Osaka 2025 experience:
It has had 11 views. I do like the look and character design and have considered doing a Sound Messe Osaka 2026 version of my day. The lack of views isn't a discouragement.
Rick Beato first interviewed Billy Corgan a few years ago and that was when I heard SMASHING PUMPKIN's tracks like Jelly Belly for the first time. I then bought some 3 of their albums. I only got the Orange BIG MUFF some time after that and used it for a few things, then decided I prefer distortion over that kind of fuzz.
The music in this comic, rock I guess, in this short is only 55 seconds long. It has a break in the center, to change the feeling when the synth melody comes in and so not feel as repetitive.
All the stats I have on views is that that this is still far too long, and most bale at 2~ 5 seconds and 18 seconds is the limit for the current POPCORN BRAINED mass population.
But who cares about what morons want?
Thing is, 55 seconds is still a really short piece of music that isn’t just an intro theme and not that satisfying to only be used in a short. But even for this short thing, this is like 8 versions after the quick comic I made with it and posted to X a few days ago. The more I listen , the more I find wrong with it and need to fix it. Loose all perspective on it.
I could come back and make it longer with additional sections and lyrics. We will see how I feel.
Had wanted this to be heavier and more METAL, but that didn’t happen. Maybe next time. Thing is that isn’t the type of thing that is particularly popular to throw on a SHORT, so am conflicted to not reduce a possible audience even more.
Other Things
It took me the week to recover from last Saturday’s Sound Messe Osaka 2026. Not sure I am over it even today. Glad I didn’t catch any nasty lurgies, so that was good, even as the percentage of mask wearers is way down now in such a crowded space.
There are still lots of daily X posts of the demos, products and the happenings taken there. Exhausting following them all. Just gets too much for me.
FB reminded me of an old comic strip I tried:
1)THE UNIVERSE IS A VAST PLACE…
2)LIFE IS EVERYWHERE. EVEN IF MUCH IS JUST AN ORGANIC OOZE CREEPING ALONG THE ROCKS.
3)JUST THING, WE EVOLVED FROM SOMETHING LIKE THIS…
4)AND IN A GALACTIC EYE BLINK, THESE GUYS WILL DEVELOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND BE MOANING AT EACH OTHER…
Having a successful strip in a newspaper would have been a dream come true for most cartoonists, then actually having to do it everyday would become an incredible burden for many years. But then there were many strips that started great, then become something that wasn't worth reading too.
John Carpenter and Band have a HORROR Metal Album and matching Graphic Novel Coming out in August. Love the sound of the current track:
I have bought 3 of their previous albums and need to add this.
Was planning to go to the opening session Friday morning of THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. I hadn’t seen any of the streaming TV, so watched a "YouTube catch up on Mando before seeing the movie" and the endless repeating "set out/ get double crossed/ get captured/ battle / escape/ rescued" with cute baby Yoda got really dull for me. Star Wars setting, Western Tropes and a powerful cute 50 year old baby.
I didn't care to see it after that, or at least bother to get to a cinema for it. It gets reviewed as 2 TV episodes run together, the last one being dull.
I didn’t bother to see the last 2 AVATAR movies either. Just don’t care about some things...
The making of the music was discussed in the last Blog. It is all about the vocal meaning...
The comment on it from an old Jazz Muso colleague, TOM:
"You're certainly moving in to a new era, with your music & lyrics fit. Well done!"
Which is as good as an old musical cartoonist can expect! 😎
Music is just a Hobby, and I am still so new to song writing, even if I sang in school.
Sound Messe Osaka 2026
Out to ATC HALL today for the Messe, which is actually a Guitar Show. Acoustic/ Electric and Accessories like pedals/ amps with a lot of artist performances on several stages and in some of the booths.
I am not particularly interested in those performances and have no idea who most of the artists are. Seemed to me last year that many of the attendees where just there for the performances. Or is that just where the most seats are to take a rest?
Cosplaying today as an oldman. 😁
I have ZERO interest in Acoustic Guitars and will not even walk through that part of the exhibit.
It opens at 11AM, but I have to leave home at 9:30AM to get there by then as it is by the water at Osaka bay. Reason to get there when it opens is to try and get one of the 35 tickets for the 3 guitarists gig in Shisaibashi's MUSIC BAR M from 7:30PM that evening. That was the deal in 2024 to get in. Maybe can just buy at the venue tonight? Not sure now...
That will make it a very long day for me. I expect to crash at my son's apartment for awhile between the Messe and Bar Show, if I get a ticket. It is also expected to be 29°C, so a long hot day. Not sure I will last.
People involved with metal guitarist TOKYO METAL CITY were promoting a bunch of his shirt and hat merchandise . I wasn't interested in getting any of that, but could have made a hat for myself at the same POD place. Like this:
May do that for the next event, but I do have cards and stickers to give away. Having a hat would make identifying me a bit easier. Maybe that doesn't matter at all.
Just strange that way I guess... 😆
UPDATE: 2026/5/18
Attended the event. Much good, but also some that isn't.
2 minutes of what I went for:
The ELECTRIC GUITAR HALL is mostly the ceiling as Japan privacy means I don't want to show people in it. The noise is ridicules as people playing through amplifiers in the booths can't hear themselves, so it gets louder and louder. Many "old style" guitarists need the volume to play and feel it. Guitar/pedal booths need Amp sims and headphones, the same way it is in the PEDAL exhibit area, and the way the German Guitar Show did it this year. They put guitar amps in another location all together.
Fender/ Gibson don't bother with the show. They made their own stores, the way BOSE did to sell their poor audio gear, so customers could not A/B compare to a better product next to it.
There are so many talented guitarists about! Guitar is also such a big thing in Japan.
Seems to me, that Sound Messe is all about low quantity, quality handmade products. Few well known names. Almost COMIKET (self published comics) or WONDER FESTIVAL (models & garage kits) in scope.
The highlight for me though was the event put on at MUSIC BAR M. Brilliantly MC'ed by TOKYO METAL CITY with BABI (Mr. Ishida of Zanshin Instruments, Zanshin Records).
Kelly Simonz is awesome. He seems to be very influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, and I don't know why I had never heard of him till attending last years Sound Messe Osaka.
Luke came down with flu and blues playing Akihiro took his place at the last minute.
TOKYO METAL CITY, as well as being the brilliant MC and interviewer finished the evening. His SANDBLASTER is in the video above. But unfortunately, I had to leave to get home after only 2 of his tracks. Seems the event finished over an hour after I left. These kind of events aren't targeted at those near 70 and over with a long train ride home😂.
I wish TOKYO METAL CITY all the best making his way on the path he has chosen.
I managed to give away a few of my stickers, and even got one in return from ZAKKsan, THE NEXT SOUND.
And after thinking about it for a day or so, these, THE HOT WATER TRADE:
And one in Japanese, お湯売:
Some exhibitors know what they are doing, actually trying to get customers to like them and have them try/ buy their product. BUT not all are like that and some musical instrument companies and staff are just Chimpira (チンピラ)🤬 .
And, just to show how true that thought is, FENDER comes out attacking the Guitar Industry.
TIM PIERCE ( was an LA SESSION player) drawing the same conclusion as everyone else. FENDER is killing themselves in this legal attack, and showing their real problem is they don't make good guitars anymore...
In the late 1980s YAMAHA tried to stop even the originators of samplers from manufacturing and selling their systems. Showed me how really broken the patent system is. YAMAHA would see a demo on an instrument, make a patent on the tech they saw with a trivial improvement, then tried to use that to attack other manufactures.
THE DX-7 & CS-80 were amazing instruments back in the day, but YAMAHA aren't really relevant to anyone but fan boys and girls these days.
FREAK GUITAR LAB JAPAN
One of the main reasons for me to go to Sound Messe Osaka 2026 was to see how Mattias's Made in Japan guitars were going. I had been interested in buying his Made in Sweden 7 string till I was told it was 900,000yen! That due to poor yen exchange rate and taxes.
Units closer to production were on display at Sound Messe Osaka May 2026. I expect their release later this year. I was told price to be around 380,000yen. The first models will not have True Temperament Frets as that would make them even more expensive. Expect a TTF model later.
In 2025 when I was looking at the first prototype (made by dragonfly) and thinking to myself "that body shape isn't cool", Mattias came up behind me and said, "we are working on making a better Super Strat Shape!" . He read my mind.
So they are a much nicer looking guitar now. But that price is high and it doesn't have true temperament frets, even if the true temperament fret improvement is far too subtle for the way I play guitar to notice.
What isn't mentioned much is true temperament are for STANDARD E tuning, but support down tuning all the strings. Not going to help in Open G or C or whatever strange tunning you may want to try though.
Seems to me they are marketing that to someone who would pay that because it is a low volume, limited edition, Mattias ( an awesome musician and great guy!) product, rather than buy a similarly spec'd Ibanez for 1/3 ~ 1/2 the price. Japan does have lots of collectors.
Note that Tokyo Metal City played a FREAK GUITAR LAB Made In Japan guitar during his set in the video above...
My Best Pick
¥323,400 for the bottom fixed bridge, headless, multiscale, 7 string Strandberg, is "my pick" for current best guitar, even if setting Intonation, 12 fret tuning, is really tedious. BUT, as a retired hobbyist synths & guitarist for 50 years, I still feel like a beginner that can't justify cost/ benefit of it🥴
Was a professional inventor/ designer/ programmer/ manager in the electronic musical instrument industry for 25 years (before changing to safety/ training/ medical things), but only ever an amateur musician. No one cares what I release. Been a "pro" (as in getting paid) cartoonist for 25 years though, hence I feel more comfortable describing myself now as a Musical Cartoonist 😎. The careful/ cheap Scotsman in me I think 🤔
Enfants Terribles
Was out to Nakanoshima Museum Of Art for the Enfants Terribles exhibition of 3 local artists on Tuesday.
It is Yanobe Kenji with his Space Cats, ATOM HEAD suit and such that was the attraction to me though. Even got a 500yen SPACE CAT from a BANDAI Gashapon Machine outside the museum shop, rather than the 30cm tall Orange SPACE CAT artists figure of the 3m tall one that guards the outside of the Museum going for 49000yen!
Was a nice warm fine day. This is the best time of year
Love the whimsical pop art ness of Kenji's work.
It isn't that far out to Nakanoshima, and I only walked around for about 90 minutes total, but came home and slept for an hour or so, I was that tired. This getting old and needing Grandpa naps is very true, and a concern for me. Managing my energy seems to be getting more important as the weeks go by.
I can see how going out far just gets way too much trouble as you age.
映像研には手を出すな！Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
The bluray arrived and this was the first time for me to see that a US region disc would not play in a Japanese player, despite being "the same region". So used a different player...
The interactions between the 3 main characters, each with a skill & a social disability, PRODUCER, DIRECTOR/ CONCEPT ARTIST and ANIMATOR are utterly glorious.
The issues are EXACTLY the same designing and building anything, and I have been all these rolls in my engineering career. All real world issues discussed, but about Animation Production here.
I can see why Elvis Costello, 3 years my senior, a musician, also loved it too.
What a glorious thing Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is.
What Retired People Found
YouTube has shown me so many of these recently. I don't watch many, but found many of the same things myself.
- Not having to go to an office and deal with problems and the people, and the commute is such a huge relief. No performance reviews or dealing with arseholes. The stress from your life vanishes.
- Looking inward, not money or promotion or those types of external goals, makes you realize what is really important to you.
- Sometimes not achieving anything at all in a day is great too.
- So much of the advice thrown out in the world has been by loud extraverts, that does not apply at all to the rest of us.
There is this thing where you can judge someone's character from how they treat the waiters and waitresses and such people. Even possible customers. If they aren't treated with respect, you know you can't trust them. Avoiding those people is a good thing to do.
