Here we are, five days in and there's birds falling out of the sky... already been around 160 murders in the US... but I guess that's nothing compared to 500+ in India, so far... $750+ MILLION DOLLARS has already been spent in the US on the "war on drugs." Are you fucking kidding me? That's roughly $1,600 PER SECOND... and what have they reaped, thus far? Well, I don't know, but it sure as hell isn't worth the money... roughly, already 25,100 people have been arrested in the US for drug offenses... in the first five days of the year. That's about one person every twenty seconds... by the time I'm done writing this, thirty people will be arrested for drugs. Is it overzealousness of the "drug war," or is the US really riddled with nothing but a bunch of junkies? Well, probably a bit of both, actually... but, c'mon... the "war on drugs" is ridiculous... and irritating to read about. Yeah, drugs are illegal for a reason and all... but fifty billion dollars a year (on federal and state levels combined) to do basically nothing but put people in jail (granted, many that deserve it, but many more who need something entirely different)? C'mon. And to think that there are things out there that do just as much damage, physically and emotionally (read: alcohol), that are legal, that doesn't get essentially any money thrown at... kind of sickening, really.
I so do not get it.
Anyhow... 2011 has had a pretty good start for me, personally, I suppose. Musically, things have really stepped up, a wonderful carry-over from what seemed to be an awesome second half of 2010... the film I've been scoring is almost finished... I'm writing rock music, again... I'm writing not-so-rock music, again... I'm writing acoustic music, again... I'm working with some absolutely great people on music that is just really great to write and play and record and collaborate and... well, it's just really fun, again. I think a lot of it has to do with the people I'm collaborating with... and the fact that they want to collaborate with me is awesome beyond words. To think that it all started with a "hey, how have you been since I last saw you about fifteen years ago" message... then a meet up and hilarious bit of shopping in NY in August... and the phone calls and emails... and before you know it, bang... doing guitar clinics and writing music together... which leads to more hookups with more awesome music folk... which... man... the possibilities are really opening up for awesome things in the future... Work is finally to the point where I wanted it to be... everyone seems to work pretty well for me, which was important. If they all would just lay down and fuck off, I would have to be a prick... which I'm sure will happen in the future (I can already see a couple situations that will not go on much longer) and I really want to avoid that... they already have one of those to deal with, but in the meantime, the good workers still work, the naggers still nag... such is life. lol ... I've got my house choices narrowed down to a very small list... I don't think the one in my old neighborhood is going to pan out to be the best choice - not enough house for the money they want... the other one from the guy at work, though... it's shaping up, nicely... very nicely, indeed. There's also one right up from Ragu that's really nice, too... wouldn't be a bad thing having him as a neighbor, either... I know a lot of people don't like him, or whatever... but he's my friend, we hang out outside of work and all that... and he'd make for a good neighbor in the land of possibilities of completely shitty neighbors to end up having.
Hopefully this year will be an up year on the personal end of the spectrum, as well... I just want what I want... I can't help it. It's just how it is... no denial, no fighting... just how it is.
