I have one resolution for 2018: chill the f*ck out. As in, stop letting the perceived ills of the world affect me quite so much. Not to mean I intend to stop caring, but more a realization that the intertwining of outrage/social media/politics can be extremely toxic to the psyche. Funny thing about aging is that you really start to understand how little you know, how little the world makes sense, and how indifferent the world is to one's own moral compass. So, more music, more dog petting, and more positivity is my own prescription for 2018.
How about you?
More dog petting FTW!
...and drop about 20lbs :-\
Quote from: madbean on January 02, 2018, 01:08:48 AM
I have one resolution for 2018: chill the f*ck out. As in, stop letting the perceived ills of the world affect me quite so much. Not to mean I intend to stop caring, but more a realization that the intertwining of outrage/social media/politics can be extremely toxic to the psyche. Funny thing about aging is that you really start to understand how little you know, how little the world makes sense, and how indifferent the world is to one's own moral compass. So, more music, more dog petting, and more positivity is my own prescription for 2018.
How about you?
This is 100% true. I find myself almost never going on social media nowadays. After the last election...well let's just say I can't stomach all the bitching and complaining. So I choose not to listen / go on FB or Twitter. I use Instagram and this forum more than anything now.
Personally this year, yes, more music please. I would love to get into a band again. It's been years since I played music with friends. I would also like to learn how to focus my time a bit more. My ADHD gets the best of me and I find my self all over the place. Maybe a schedule or monthly goals would be good to set.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: flanagan0718 on January 02, 2018, 03:35:27 AM
Quote from: madbean on January 02, 2018, 01:08:48 AM
I have one resolution for 2018: chill the f*ck out. As in, stop letting the perceived ills of the world affect me quite so much. Not to mean I intend to stop caring, but more a realization that the intertwining of outrage/social media/politics can be extremely toxic to the psyche. Funny thing about aging is that you really start to understand how little you know, how little the world makes sense, and how indifferent the world is to one's own moral compass. So, more music, more dog petting, and more positivity is my own prescription for 2018.
How about you?
This is 100% true. I find myself almost never going on social media nowadays. After the last election...well let's just say I can't stomach all the bitching and complaining. So I choose not to listen / go on FB or Twitter. I use Instagram and this forum more than anything now.
Personally this year, yes, more music please. I would love to get into a band again. It's been years since I played music with friends. I would also like to learn how to focus my time a bit more. My ADHD gets the best of me and I find my self all over the place. Maybe a schedule or monthly goals would be good to set.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was pretty stubborn toward Instagram. Now it's my favorite platform. Pictures of kitties and guitars all day, everyday!
Honestly, I want to get more sleep and take a little better care of myself this year. I'm not even sure if my personal needs were in the top ten of my priorities last year.
I'll echo mike, getting in a band again and making some new music would be great.
This forum is about as social media as I get. I left Facebook three years ago at this point, couldn't stand it then, can't imagine what it's like these days. I know other people have different opinions than I do but I find that with most people if we don't focus those things too much then it's not a problem.
Yay for 2018! I have a new career to focus on, kids to pay for and some long term goals to work towards. I wanna be a good husband and father, meet my KPI's at work. Hopefully I'll pick up a guitar more regularly, and I have a couple pedals to build. I miss this forum, seem to only get time to peruse these days when I'm not working. Wishing y'all the best this year :)
I'm hoping to finally replace my aging computer. It has an original Core 2 Duo processor and DDR2 ram, fer cryin' out loud!
Every previous year, something has always come up to eat my savings...
Well, I am starting grad school, and will be finished in 2019, so I guess about 3/4 of my masters is a good goal.
That and finishing a few musical projects I have about...
...and generally being a better husband and daddy, because Lord knows my wife and kids deserve it :)
I feel very much the same and I've abandoned social media in its entirety.
Now all I need is a dog.
I don't recall ever being particularly afraid of the horrible things people could do when power and hate are combined until 2017. This past year has definitely been toxic to my psyche too. I'm hoping this year will better, or at least not a lot worse, but perhaps more detachment from the events of the world and more guitar playing would do me good as well.
I discovered this year that there was a time that the only place I like getting news about certain things is from Stephen Colbert's monologue. It's just on to late to stay up most nights.
I want to get a few things done in 2018:
• Record an original song (or two)
• Downsize my guitar collection
• Finish a FV-1 project (or two)
• Lose some weight (15-20 pounds)
• Reduce alcohol consumption (which goes nicely with the above item)
I'm working on our place, putting time into the gardens, clearing overgrown areas, learning how to care for my pecan trees. Goals for 2018:
Get the exterior of the house painted
Plant, grow, and harvest fruits and veg for the family
Swing the axe as much as possible/build a huge wood pile
Wind more pickups than 2017
I'm glad I've managed to abstain from social media so far. As I get older I find that my viewpoints harden and I have less and less patience with the obsessions and outrages of the day. Best to avoid that stuff and learn to be more zen.
So the goal is to make more music and to dance more to music.
I would LOVE to do the following:
#1 - Build a Marshall JCM head from scratch (Always wanted to build a JCM 800 as retro as possible)
#2 - Learn to play better. (For someone who has been playing since '96.... I SUCK!)
#3 - Build my Mega-Multi pedal that has been sitting stagnant for months :-\
Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on January 02, 2018, 08:27:09 PM
I would LOVE to do the following:
#1 - Build a Marshall JCM head from scratch (Always wanted to build a JCM 800 as retro as possible)
#2 - Learn to play better. (For someone who has been playing since '96.... I SUCK!)
#3 - Build my Mega-Multi pedal that has been sitting stagnant for months :-\
These are some great goals. I need to get back to practicing, too. I've barely touched a guitar in the last two weeks.
Quote from: culturejam on January 02, 2018, 03:51:27 PM• Lose some weight (15-20 pounds)
• Reduce alcohol consumption (which goes nicely with the above item)
I'm trying to lose weight so I don't have to buy new pants so I can resume alcohol consumption.
Interesting trends in this thread, and I'll not make myself an exception to them...
#1 - Practice more and agonize over gear less
#2 - Read more books and less social media/forums
#3 - Maintain/improve my health through good diet, exercise, sleep and less alcohol/caffeine
#4 - Keep building non-necessary stuff but don't buy any non-necessary gear
#5 - Finish my damn dissertation already (this should be #1)
My expectations for 2018:
- Don't be as crappy as 2017.
Which honestly, couldnt be that hard...what a rubbish year it has been. Started with 6 months of colds which turned into a hospital visit and a broken rib. James foot surgery (I still have trouble thinking about that time in our life). and finished with me walking out and leaving my job 2 months ago. Plus a tonne of other stuff, that's really just some of the highlights...
2018 is looking up...
I'm looking to build some digital effects, FV-1 based and tap tempo stuff. One of my goals is to have a board of completely diy stuff so some digital stuff will finish it out. I need to finish building a guitar, I've had the body blank lying around for ages. Lastly I want to build an my own amp, although I'm in less of a hurry to do that since me messing with mains voltages freaks out my wife.
I also want to improve my technique so I'm looking at learning some classically inspired arpeggio based things to work that out and make my left hand movement a bit more fluid.
Also, continue down the pour-over-coffee rabbit hole and see how far it goes.
Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on January 02, 2018, 08:27:09 PM
I would LOVE to do the following:
#2 - Learn to play better. (For someone who has been playing since '96.... I SUCK!)
This.
I spend so much time tinkering with gear and modifying this and that, etc, etc...I don't focus on the most important part: playing the blasted thing!
More dog petting is always a good thing :)
2016 was a shit year for me. 2017 was much better. I had alot of freelance work and I got married in december.
But it was also a struggle.. I was constantly feeling stressed out when I didn't have enough time or energy to do everything I wanted.
My personal expectations and goals for 2018
* Learn to chill out and take better care of myself (I need better sleeping habits)
* Play more music! My new band just got our own rehearsal space. :)
* More long walks in the forest with the dogs
* More gaming (boardgames) with friends and family
Parasit Studio goals for 2018
* Record more bands!
* Keep on building pedals and releasing new DIY projects
? Expand the new DIY projects to studiogear aswell - preamps, eq, komps ect.
* Improve the build documents
* Continue to work at playing guitar (after a decade long break, the past three years of playing have been great)
* Find some people to jam with and perhaps play out a time or two
* Drink more water (1/2 of your body weight in ounces, daily)
* Hang up the 30 piece of artwork in a closet around the house
Oh, and pedal related
* Box or sell the 6/7 PCBs I've populated
* Finish the 2/3 big PCBs I haven't started
* Buy some more builds from Madbeans (once you get the Attack/Decay back in I promise to buy it and a couple more)
I'm either going to build or buy a guitar synth too. So if anyone has suggestions on either end I'd be interested to hear.
2016-17 was a rough couple of years as a few major events threw my personal life in a dumpster fire. I feel like myself and family have pushed through it and came out the other side ok. So my goals for 2018 are:
Better time management for family, priorities & hobbies
Focus on a healthy lifestyle. I need to loose some weight! Its getting out of hand and effecting my daily life.
Changing my mind set that I need to go "full in" on every project/hobby. I need to lean to take it slower and enjoy it more.
I can't say it enough that I love this place and the group of kick ass people we have here. I have built many genuine relationships from this place and hope to make many more.
Cody
I've had pretty much the same shitty 2017 as a few of you other gents I was so glad to see the back of it.
Hopefully in 2018 I can stick to some of the things I failed at in 2017
1 - Stay off the smokes my other half is pregnant with our 1st baby and I'd like to be a lot healthier before he/she arrives in July.
2 - Drop some of the weight I put on in the last few years.
3 - Find a new job in a company I don't think is about to go belly up - which will also help me stay off the smokes.
4 - Spend some more time building pedals and playing music instead of reading about music and pedals.
Here are the things I want to get done this year:
1) Clean the shop (It is an absolute mess, has been that way for about a year now. It will make me and especially my wife happy to get this one done)
2) Finish my Dumble Clone amp
3) Finish my GFS ES-355 I've had sitting for 2 years (I need to paint it and figure out how to do a logo inlay on the headstock)
4) Start a Schutone website and make myself a little more "official" with pedals and PCBS.
A bit too late to the party, but here's my summary of 2017 and goals for 2018:
2017 was a pretty good year. Can't complain.
I did alright with my goal of "finish 1 project before starting 2 more".
Not great, but at least I was thinking of it! :D
So for the new year, ( minus the last 27 days ):
in no particular order
1. get back to recording some music
2. play more guitar
3. lose some weight ( and not put it back on ... which, IMO, is harder )
4. maintain a more positive outlook on life, in general
5. think outside the box ( i just love that phrase ... :D )
Update: I am several weeks into my DNGAF attitude and I can honestly say I feel much, much better. A lot of the anxieties I felt about the world (esp. things happening in the USA) have diminished and I've let go of the constant outrage I was feeling about stuff that is beyond my control. I'm keeping myself informed about what's going on in the world but in a more detached way. Even with events in my personal life. Starting to remember that I used to be much more of a Taoist!
Quote from: madbean on January 28, 2018, 03:18:29 AM
Update: I am several weeks into my DNGAF attitude and I can honestly say I feel much, much better. A lot of the anxieties I felt about the world (esp. things happening in the USA) have diminished and I've let go of the constant outrage I was feeling about stuff that is beyond my control. I'm keeping myself informed about what's going on in the world but in a more detached way. Even with events in my personal life. Starting to remember that I used to be much more of a Taoist!
Glad it's making you feel better.
It has always been the case throughout history that the world needs more people to feel the way that you have decided to do. There's enough poison in the world, and at any given point we have the choice between feeling something negative or angry and feeling something hopeful, exciting, or happy, why choose the former? Even the worst things in life can have a positive aspect if we can only find use our energy to find them. (I say this as someone given to occasionally dark thoughts due to stupid brain chemicals and personal failing, but I don't stop trying.)
1.I'm working on promoting in my company.
2.Buy a house
3.Build more guitars and buy less.
4.Build an amp.
5.Continue to learn to play guitar better.
6.I've been married to my 3rd wife, a redhead, for 3 years. Redheads aren't for the faint at heart, so that's going to continue to take some work.
7. I've honestly been thinking about slimming down my guitar collection, 40ish guitars is really just too much.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
1) Figure out how to slow down time and build a pedal to accomplish it. (The go back 5 minutes to a year and do it again without creating any time loops or causing any unwanted anomalies pedal. Maybe have a jump to an alternate universe switch. Momentary?)
2) Learn to enjoy my retirement more (chill out)
2b) Write more music and finish setting up my rediculasly overloaded with software composing workstation.
3) Figure out how to get into playing live again without all the associated bulsh*t.
4) Figure out how to unsee all the depraved and stupid things I viewed during the 10yrs I worked in Video Forensics.
5) Figure out what the Swank knob does on Rejs Feng drive.
6) Decide which of the 12 dirt boxes I have I want on my pedalboard if any.
7) Figure out why Brians forum software will accept .JPG files and not .JPEG
7b) Figure out why it is so fuc*ing retardedly hard to rename a file or change the extension on a file in Apple's IOS 11x
7c) Figure out why you have to Email a picture to yourself to change the compression/size in IOS 11 (stupidly stupid)
7d) Figure out why I spent so much money on devices that run IOS 11
8) Figure out why the board makes a smiley on number 8
9)
10) Finish the list of 2018 expectations
Any design ideas for the "Go Back” pedal please feel free to post here.
Sorry, my meanderings are getting a little out there due to age.
I would quit facebook and twitter if it weren't for the people that I only really connect with via one or the other.