March '25 'Whenever' Diary

I am told that wikiloopers are enjoying the Diary - Contributions may be low but content and quality is definitely high. It would be good to draw in others so remember you can contribute as little or as much as you like whenever you can :)

WIKILOOPERS MAKE IT DAILY, WEEKLY, OR WHENEVER

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Ill give it a go:

*went home today after work, instead of the gym as planned I went straight into my man cave.

*I bought a couple of chassis parts that have rusted on my Nissan, came from Japan. When they arrived I saw that they were brand new with original Nissan stickers, but small rust dots everywhere. Turns out these are probably 20 year old new parts... so I had to grind the rust off, primer and paint them :( Picture shows all rust spots removed.

*Mrs. Gee went to a birthday party of our very old friend, I did not go because of her husband, can't stand to be in his vicinity. Used to be my boss many years ago.

*My glass fills slowly. Reeeeallly slowly. It takes time. Years even. Drip drip drip. But once it's full, it's full. There is no way back from that. People tell me "oh you should not be like that, it's not this, it's not that - but I can't help it. Once I am done with someone, it's done for life. Old school, what can I say.

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TeeGee attached the following image:

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Edited by TeeGee on 28 febbraio 2025 alle ore 23:20

Thanks TG, I appreciate your entry... you used lots of the 'prompts' too, although I don't think you needed them - I must say, the little honest rant at the end was perfect :)

Wikiloopers, you don't need to start a new thread for anything now you have the Diary :D... but if you do, why not post a link here!
Whether you're a 'Daily Diary Devotee' or simply a 'Weekly Woohoo Wikilooper' - come join the party when you can :)

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So I don't keep an actual diary so sharing here will serve as such. Today I woke up feeling overwhelmed, angry, sad and a little hopeless. At many things. I'll get through it because I always do. But I'd be lying if I said everything was fine. I know that there are lots of us who feel this way and still put on a mask and smile so no one worries. I'm feeling that this mask is becoming a permanent part of my face. I've got lots of manual labor to do with tree removal and cleanup from recent storms. Chainsawing, splitting wood...at my house AND our small business. We have a seasonal pumpkin patch that we own and operate where we see anywhere between 25-30,000 people visit our farm in just 2 months out of the year for family traditions. We have people who came to our business as children who now bring their grandchildren. We have school field trips and last year we had over 8000 children come with schools! We have hayrides, a giant barn for kids to play in, a 10 acre corn maze, air powered corn cannons that shoot an ear of corn at over 200 mile per hour, a concession stand, gift shop and of course we sell pumpkins! We have the only wheelchair accessible hayride within a 200 mile radius and we also get lots of special needs homes and nursing homes. This is our 39th year in business and we have put so much of ourselves into this business and it is in shambles right now due to ice storms. We are only open for Sept and October but work 16 hours days for two months straight with no days off during our open season. But we work year round to make it great for our community. March 4th and 5th we are scheduled to have a possible tornado outbreak so there is no point in beginning cleanup until it is finished getting destroyed. I'll have happier diary entries eventually, but if honesty is the goal- I'm exhausted mentally and feel the weight of the pressure to make sure all those 30,000+ people have a place they can go this year. So hopefully by the end of this month I will have better news, and feel some control over my life. ..maybe. 🤷‍♀️🥹 good things: my son turns 15 this month! My grandparents celebrate their 71st wedding anniversary on March 19th-at 91 years old! ♥️

This is a cover I did of Mazzy Star's into dust long ago. I feel like I may be turning "Into Dust" so it's relevant.

Listen to Into Dust- Mazzy Star Cover by Kells on #SoundCloud
https://on.soundcloud.com/4RcxceeU9WJXHB32A

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- I bought good rosehip tea at the store, so it was a good day.

Caffeine makes me restless and I don't like that feeling. This is a good alternative to coffee.

-I uploaded the song to Wikiloops today. It sounds terrible, but I like what I played.

-I'm ashamed, I haven't written in the diary. I promise to stop being lazy and will be active again.

-The first signs of spring can already be seen outside. It cheers me up. Another moment and people look beautiful and sometimes you can see a smile on their face. Enough of being serious in the dark, welcome summer.

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Kells, it sounds like you're having a rough time, hostage to the bad side of Mother Nature and all she throws your way but I admire your fortitude :)

Aito, you have to stop telling yourself you're terrible, no-one believes that :o I read that Finnish folk were the World's biggest coffee drinkers - I can't imagine you playing loud Rock and sipping rosehip tea ; does that mean we can expect some soothing ballads in the future ? :)

I'm up at 3.30 am because my back is hurting, can't get comfortable - I'm writing while kneeling at me desk right now - tea sounds like a good idea, it will have to be Chai or Earl Grey to wash down a Paracetamol.

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-You are right. In Finland, we drink a lot of coffee. On the other hand, I read somewhere that it is changing, because young people don't drink coffee as much as older people. It will also be affected by the price in the future, because the price of coffee is rising all the time.

- It doesn't matter if I say that my songs are bad. As long as I notice that my playing is improving, I'm happy. 🙂

-I'm a bit shy, but people say I'm a nice guy. I get angry once every ten years and I don't complain about small things.

That all changes when I play the bass. Then all hell breaks loose when i play scary sounds.(But only in the music I play). 😁

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Sunday March 2nd

* it was such a fine day I decided that a gentle walk might help my stiff back. I went to a nearby cemetery, it's always quiet, there are lots of benches... and the residents don't bother you :) I just got comfortable (which is hard right now) and I watched and listened to the birds. There were pigeons, blackbirds, crows and magpies I think. The sky was a perfect blue and I saw planes flying way up high, probably flying to Majorca taking people on a Spring break, that's right, Spring has officially started now. Everywhere I looked there were Spring flowers peeping through the grass, purple, yellow and white.
A few people wandered by but every single one had a dog (or two) which they seemed to be talking to but no-one spoke to me. I read a few headstones which is scary when you see many were younger than me when they died :(
There's one bench that no-one can sit on because it's always draped in Arsenal Football Club scarves. People attached plaques to the seat for a man called 'Bear' they said he was always the life and soul of a party and asked him to get the beers in (in Heaven) I guess he died young but he did seen to have lived how he wanted to live, surrounded by friends who still visit him now he's gone.

Oh dear, this is not such a jolly post.... and it started off so well :)

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3/3/25

*been busy with work, and the next couple of weeks, maybe even the entire month of March will be one of the busiest, as a project comes to an end.
*Shamika awarded me a Shammy for a track i did with Lenny and dimeomax. i feel i need to share it with them as well, they drove the inspiration and idea. at work we recognize those who help drive engagement. Shamika definitely drives engagement here at WL, it is much appreciated <3 and not an easy task i might say.
*i have a meeting in 5 minutes, so need to get back to the grind :W
*on weather, it's been a bit cold and rainy the past few days.
*my highlight of the weekend was finding this awesome cranberry walnut bread at costco, i guess they bake it in their bakery area. comes in an uncut loat...and it's so so good!

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wikiloops was magic for me today, so many beautiful new uploads to play - I particularly enjoyed two of the more unusual instruments, Pewi worked on 2 mixes with the flute and there was a great violin add from Jypeka. I'll really have to start adding more to the Shammy thread.

This afternoon one particular room in my home was flooded with bright Spring Sunshine so I decided to plant myself on a chaise-longue for 30 minutes - I just let the rose coloured light shine through my closed eyelids and my mind started on a journey to places in the World that I'd visited and experienced this same warm feeling, Corfu, Sorrento, Dieppe, La Rochelle, Oslo... and of course Torquay and Bournemouth in the UK, places I want to move to right now. Who needs to travel to a holiday destination when you get the same emotional feedback lying in your own back room :)

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-I walked past the bowling alley today and realized how much I miss bowling. I stopped bowling a few years ago because it's expensive.

I wasn't a good bowler (My average was 200 a long time ago), but I miss it.

-I went to the gym today and noticed that my 75-year-old training buddy is stronger than me. Maybe I should try a little harder. 🙂

-For lunch, I ate a few sausages, French fries, and a bun.

Now that I look at the list of my food, I'm not surprised at all that my muscles aren't growing. 😂

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March 4th, 2025

Bit of a quiet spell from me as I`m still busy working on the new album.

What had been intended as a simple exercise in re-mixing already uploaded tracks has turned into a massive re-recording session. Last 4 days were spent re-recording 10 separate keyboard tracks for a single song. The thing is once I start to correct the timing on a single stem - and even if it`s just in the millisecond range - all the other imprefections come through even more glaringly, and that`s without even looking at bum notes.

As it currently stands, I`ve got 6 songs completely re-recorded, remixed and mastered and only 8 more to go :o with the end of month as a target date drawing closer.

Two major lessons learned `til now:
a) Applying compressors, limiters, saturation etc. in a way that benefits the overall finished track is way different from the more hit and miss fashion I`ve used effects to make my individual parts sound half way decent.
b) Listening to isolated tracks is different than listening to them in the context of a album. Even after completing the first 6 tracks and putting them on the mastering reel I found myself going back to the tracks to either eliminate keyboard phrases or sounds that sounded too similar in two or more tracks or to to add identical phrases and sounds to tracks where I wanted a sonic connection.

All this has taken much more time than I had planned for, especially as the album is more or less a pure vanity project with - for the outside listener - probably no added value compared to the original versions of the tracks. But occasionaly I need something to become obsessive about and this is probably it.

As for the rest of my hours....tons of work in my day job, daily pride in my kids and the satisfaction of being able to ignore the idiots that want to change the world I live in just because they think they can.

A friend of mine holds the opinion that if politicians had better sex AND were able to play an instrument, the world would be a better and quieter place. Thank [insert deity of your choice] that Wikiloops offers at least 50% salvation.

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[quote]Shamika wrote:
wikiloops was magic for me today, so many beautiful new uploads to play - I particularly enjoyed two of the more unusual instruments, Pewi worked on 2 mixes with the flute and there was a great violin add from Jypeka. I'll really have to start adding more to the Shammy thread.

Thank you Shamika, we soloists of different instruments often intervene at the end of the templates that other creators of (talent), composers have invented, shaped
WHAT A LUXURY TO HAVE THIS POSSIBILITY HERE...we can never thank them enough...we, the soloists <3

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https://youtube.com/shorts/Okkl67tUo_s?feature=share

This is the first and last video where you will hear me speak. 😁

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Aito, that was great, it must be difficult for a 'quiet, shy guy' to do what you did - much appreciated, a lovely personal touch... and in English too. I'm glad you can smile at your special song :D

PS, you have the right look for a Rock bass player :W

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I got the idea so quickly that I didn't get too nervous. It wasn't until I uploaded the video that I started to wonder what I actually said. 😁

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Why??? You are a natural Aito, I liked the video. And the smile - mde me smile, too :D

P.S. lol Sausages, French fries and buns probably not the healthiest food, but once in a while it's OK as long as it is not every day. I eat that stuff too, but not often.

P.P.S I am one of those annoying old guys in the gym that sometimes embarrass young guys with the heavy weights B)

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awesome my friend! :W

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The audience is asking for an encore!!

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Why?


well..I speak English very rarely, so it's difficult.

But i do know that I can learn to speak English tolerably in a few weeks, if I had to speak English all day. Now it's just badly rusty.

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