Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

thoughts

And you are…?

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There is a chance you are arriving here for the first time, launched from Twitter or NaBloPoMo.

If that’s the case, hi. I have an extensive series of bios linked off in that other direction. Oh, and for my first NaBloPoMo I spent the entire month re-telling my personal origin story, so be sure to read that too.

That said, I know we are all couch potatoes on the great lazyweb, so you aren’t likely to hustle around clicking those things. As such, allow me to summarize the current state of me:

I live in Philadelphia and am relatively newly wed to my partner of nearly eight years.

We both work in marketing – me in communications development, she in design. We are also both musicians – she the lead singer of Filmstar, me as a solo singer-songwriter as well as and a member of Arcati Crisis.

We’re also relatively voracious consumers of music, especially within Philadelphia, which boasts an astounding and thoroughly-talented local scene.

In addition to my major three loves (wife, comm, music), it turns out I’m also pretty passionate about non-profit development. I probably wouldn’t have told you that before this year, because it is the first time it has been so patently obvious. I helped to throw a music festival and a 24-hour streaming benefit concert, both of which raised funds for respective non-profits, and both of which nearly intellectually slayed me in the process.

Inclusive of prior iterations of the festival and my wedding I spent every free moment planning an event from March of 2007 to this past month.

Right now I’m trying to be pretty passionate about me. It’s hard – for someone who spends a lot of time working in the public eye and promoting others I have an awfully hard time shining the spotlight on myself. It something I have to improve on to avoid doing a disservice to my songs.

Oh, hey, and to my blog, which has run the longest out of any native Philly weblog – I’m currently blogging into my tenth year of inane, self-centered rambling.

We’ll see how that goes.

Welcome to NaBloPoMo

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November is National Blog Posting Month, aka NaBloPoMo, deemed as such by the blogger behind Fussy in November of 2006.

I am 2 for 3 in NaBloPoMos: knocked the first one out of the park with a reboot of my blog and thirty newly recorded songs, biffed the second one due to distraction from recently becoming engaged, and made a respectable showing in the third with thirty days of posts plus 10 newly recorded tunes.

I make no promises or predictions about attempt number four. One one hand, my blogging has been limp for a few months now. On the other, my life has recently been both simplified and technology-laden to the point that I have parts of my brain to blog with and a minimum of five devices to do it with.

Can I repeat a 30-day streak for the fourth time, and for my third NaBloPoMo? Or, will I blow out, tied up with work, playing music, and cultivating my marriage.

You have 30 days to find out.

underpants have low profit margins

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I think I may have acquired a gnome.

It’s my keys, mostly. They keep disappearing. I’m not too haphazard with them – at least, not in comparison to my other worldly possessions. They go into the same basket every day or, failing that, in to the zip of my jacket.

Except, not this week. This week I have been locked out three times.

That is not my only evidence of a gnome. Guitar picks, all of my .73mm Dunlops are gone. White socks with gray heels, now uncommon. Five dollar bills, suddenly elusive. Bandannas, colors I haven’t worn appearing in the laundry.

Underpants still intact, for the moment, but who knows?

Or – or it could be that I’ve been playing at least twice a week and setting up a digital recording studio in my living room, except for last week when I gave myself a case of hives apparently just on the strength of my personal stress.

I like the gnome explanation better. I am wary of while he might snatch next. Perhaps collecting my various USB modems and flash drives? That would be dastardly.

It’s hard, living day to day without keys, proper guitar picks, heavy socks, money in iterations of $5, and my more attractive bandanas. I’m working on it.

the sitch

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As with any big event in CK-land, the Blame-a-Thon required some recovery.

I can get into the whys and wherefores of the recovery some other time. In short, I stayed up for something to the tune of 32 hours, we raised tons of money for LiveStrong, and by the end of the night I was a meandering, sobbing wreck of good intentions.

The following week I saw partner-in-musical-crimes Gina perform in the Fringe Fest show Fefu and Her Friends, and it was wonderful. Even though I have forsaken acting for music, Gina will always be an actress, and it was inspiring to see her in her element with a cast of other outstanding actresses. (and, those aren’t the idle words of a fan – even the local paper highlighted the strong acting in the show).

In the meantime, Elise’s band Filmstar has gotten good. Really good. Like, each new song is a pretty solid single. And, as of last night, they were voted The Deli Magazine’s band of the month for October.

Pretty wild.

Behind the scenes of all that awesome, though, there is a slightly different story. I’m getting a little frustrated with all of these team successes I’ve been a part of. Yes, the teams are cool, the successes have been memorable. But, I need to find some of my own success. I have this nine year old blog, and I’m the only guy on the team. I have my own 250 songs, and I’m the only guy on that team too.

My birthday passed by with little event this week. Twenty-eighth. I managed to make it through 27, to die without dying, and here I am on the other side.

I think it will be an interesting year.