Pacing Yourself

I'm not going to say that I'm doing too much, but I've been considering it.  It's taking me a lot longer than I expected to finish the books I've been reading.  Although technically I would be finishing three books at once, I'm in different places in all of them and they're all different lengths and I read them at random amounts (one I hardly read at all).  But it has been longer than I thought it would take.  I'm not trying to race through anything, but I have to make sure I don't lose interest either.  It's very difficult to pace yourself enough to make sure you stay interested and keep moving forward.

First Jam

My first jam session is not official "in the books".  I think that I did well for a first attempt.  Things definately did not go "well" overall.  My first take a forgot to hit the record button.  The second take I missed a few notes at the end.  But I like where things went.  I was able to play along with the beat without too much trouble.  I was even able to wrap things up around the end of the beat I had recorded.  I think that the overall flow was memorable and interesting.  I think that I did a few cool things that I will be able to reproduce later when I try to get rid of those missed notes.  I could probably add a bit more complexity later when I have a better track recorded, but no ideas yet.

Popular Music (observations)

It seems like about time to start talking about my observations from popular music so far.  I've noticed that there's a way that things fit together.  I'm not sure how to explain that part, but I'm sure that with enough practice timing starts to become something that naturally develops.  As for the mass appeal part, that's definitely still a bit mystery.  People just like you for some reason.  Probably has something to do with skill, but who knows.  I guess I would also call the most popular of the music I listened to as very "clean", "polished", or somehow shinier than something I would make.