Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Operation 365 2… Blog 374

February 7, 2017

Life is in a very interesting space now. I jumped right from the 365 into finishing my CD. Actually, I’m going to try to never use that word again in this context. I may as well be saying 8-track. If I am going to use an outdated term, I may as well choose a cooler one. "Album" or "record" will serve nicely. January was challenging. In a way, so were most days, until a couple ago. Don’t get me wrong. Grateful as always, perhaps it’s a national adjustment in the first days of the uncertain era of Donald Trump. Everything feels different now. This is globally known. Even the Chargers are gone. Change is now. 

I plunged into working on the record. Hours. Hours. Listening over and over. Minor adjustment here. Slight repair there. It’s tedious. I literally did an entire 365 to break up the monotony. Perhaps not consciously, but regardless. "The Best of the Operation 365" will be available soon.

I am realizing as I write this I miss writing. Prose. Thoughts. Feelings. Opinions, Ideas. The moment. Someone will have a birthday. (Happy Birthday Dan Truesdail!) People get married. (Congratulations Patricia and David!) Babies are born. Welcome to Earth Bowie Jeremiah Speredelozzi. I think that if I was doing a 365 they’d have the tunes and tribute their occasions merit. Instead, I take that time and think of other things, business ideas, what to do. Sometimes I sit and snuggle with Nigel for awhile. Something the 365 can get right in the way of. There’s been more time, despite the whole rigmarole of album-crafting. I miss it. Perhaps that’s why I haven’t said good-bye. But that’s not all!

I have organized the 1116 videos (converted to audio tracks) that comprise this 365, the Operation 365 2. I have focused in on the 310 original tunes this project spawned. I have begun the simliarly tedious process of analyzing these ditties to determine which ones I want to continue playing in the days and decades to come. I rank them, very unscientifically, like so:

Nah/Maybe Later
Maybe
Learn It
Typed

The green ones, I’ve already done. There are many of those. Thank God. The yellow ones I will transcribe by hand and ear from the sound recording. The blues and reds I’ll re-visit and make a final call, for now. I can always go back and find them later, but once this is done that is far less likely. Why do this? Am I diseased? Is this an affliction?

When I started studying history, it was because I was interested in things that happened and wanted to know how those things could help us plan and prepare for the future. I learned that you never learn what happened, only what people said happened. Those people call themselves historians. I also realized there was a whole ‘nother arena to this discipline. Archiving. Ever since I was hooked on baseball cards as a three year old, I have taken to organizing, following, collecting and keeping track of bits of information. It makes me a decent sports fan. History and sports, especially baseball, go well together.

When I got to college, right before I started recording music, I traded my baseball card collection for a 1983 Chevy Monte Carlo, on the coy advice of my girlfriend at the time. She said I should get a car and went to the bathroom in my UMASS dorm. By the time she returned, I'd hatched a plan. The cards went to a shady baseball card dealer in Northampton and the car came from a granny in New Jersey. I drove her for fifteen years. The car, not the granny. I didn’t get the first recordings my college band did. First bands are more dramatic than junior high. I’ve made sure to get everything since. It’s been 23 years.


By the numbers, huh? I’m not sure I care. The first 365 was to see what would happen, to see if I could do it. This one was for me, and whoever else chose to enjoy the ride. Thanks to you. I wrote songs. I got my creativity engine revved up. I forced myself to produce. And it felt exhilarating, like I was doing what I was meant to do. No one proliferates massive amounts of original content as quickly as I do, except Major League Baseball themselves, the holy grail of original content. Hope springs eternal in the MLB.

So why count my thousands of hits from Europe? #alternativefacts Why see how far my flag flies? I’m not interested and it’s about me. How interesting is that going to make it to you? I didn’t even read the article about me in the Reader. Don’t tell, Ken. I know about me. I answered the questions for the interview. I got a good idea what it said. I want to read about me when I’ve done something I'm impressed by. I knew I could do this. It was fun. I don’t need to read about it or count.

Maybe I should. Maybe I don’t know. Maybe I’m meant to compare those numbers and see I’m doing a lot more than I know. I guess… Maybe that’s why I should have finished this faster. I don’t have the enthusiasm I did when I was fired out of a cannon in the days after the 365 finished. It’s Trump World now. I want to get things done. It’s a new year. It’s time. Now for more on the how and why... Everything in due time. "We are all perfectly fine.” - Happy Bear

I’ll glance at the numbers and see. I hear parrots. Their cries are far more interesting to me.

By the Numbers 2


When the first Operation 365 ended on November 30, 2011, my Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/jeffersonjaydotcom had 24,018 views. When Operation 365 2 began on December 25, 2015, it had…I just don’t care. It’s boring to me. I have a record to finish, songs to learn, a pooch to snuggle and a sunset to chase. Thanks 365-2sketeers. That two days, one hour, five minutes and forty-two seconds of entertainment that is there for 24 hours, seven days a week, no matter where you are or what you do. That is my ongoing gift to you. 

Kisses!

Peace and Love,

Jefferson


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