Steppin’ up to the plate…

Hola, peoples! Hope everyone is hangin’ in there despite the several crises going on. Things are movin’ along quite nicely here. I know I keep saying this, but the album is very close to completion. It’s pretty much down to writing the last half of my last guitar lead and then doing some minor level tweaks. Strangely, the songs are sounding different on a cd in the car than on the computer. But thanks to the advancement of Roxio’s Toast 8, I can throw a quick equalizer on the songs instead of having to go back and tweak the actual song files in Cubase and re-exporting them. That may be Greek to a lot of you, but trust me, it’s wicked awesome!

The album cover is about halfway as well, and then I get to worry about finding a good print service. Or, if I’m cocky enough, I could try to print them myself on my handy-dandy Epson large format. I’m timid, but it may come down to that. Maybe not.

Anyway, I attended WordCamp this past weekend with Trav and had a really nice time. I went in thinking that I’d be completely lost amongst a bunch of professional bloggers and media geeks, and for some part I was. But luckily I was able to keep up with a good portion of the presentations. The event was set up to give us a little insight into the future of the WordPress blogging platform with new features and applications into the world of digital media. Several speakers gave pointers on achieving success through blogs and I quietly measured myself up against them as far as web design is concerned. I’m doin’ alright with that! Now, I just need to focus on content.

I’ve drawn up a more professional and organized approach for launching this site onto the world in the coming months, which will require yet more designing (don’t scoff, Trav). The center of the attention will be on the navigation of ‘mini-sites’ within a somewhat complex ‘portal’ style. Looks good on paper, but it’s really an attempt to separate my personal side from my professional side, as we all know I tend to rant a bit in my posts. I like it and all, but it doesn’t need to be showcased like it is. So, with this new plan, I’ll have 4 distinct blogs (3 topical and 1 general). My personal gallery will still be there, but I’ll also have a professional gallery of blog themes with which I’ll either provide free for download or set up to buy. Maybe both as the library grows.

Now, keeping up 4 blogs is going to require me to actually post in a timely fashion, and believe you me, it’s a bit daunting right now. But it’s high time I stepped out into the world and kept up with this and that. So, it’s gonna be a culture shock of sorts, but I feel I really need to do it. Trav is trying to talk me into getting involved with the whole social networking thingy, and I just may. I’ve grown tired of the ‘outsider’ persona. Also, with the economy swirling down the toilet, a bit of freelancing could very well come in handy in the future. So, I need to start building contacts, ya know?

Let’s see… what else… well, I guess that’s about it for now. I’m really anxious for the album to be done, simply to not have to worry with it anymore. It’s sounding great and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as well, but I’m just tired of thinking about it. You have no idea how many times I’ve listened to these songs. I keep having to walk away from it for a few days, just to clear my head of all the sounds, and then come back to it later so I can determine what needs to be done. But the end is around the corner. Fingers crossed.

Ciao for now.