In 1999, I largely quit being a musician. I had a few brief stints playing bass in Chicago, but I was no longer self-assessing as a bassist; I became a bookkeeper, a finance associate, an IT specialist, and several other semi-invented titles as I stumbled around my early thirties. Breaking up with music wasn't easy; for a long time I was too uncomfortable to see music live, and over time, I started listening to podcasts instead of music. Until I started learning Japanese, I felt at sea, without some kind of passion. But learning Japanese is a different muscle and it fulfills me in a different way.
My goal is to bring back music into my life, as much as possible. The way I felt listening to music is what pushed me to play. Music can make my heart explode. It was a jarring realization that aside from iTunes, I had no real way of listening to music in my apartment, so I remedied that. I still don't know what to listen to in terms of new music, but I am exploring. WFMU is my new favorite station.
I have a guitar and keyboard now, and bought some monitors that are way too big for my apartment, so I almost have a music studio. It's 8:30 on Sunday morning. I am drinking hot coffee. I am listening to "Nothing But a Child" by Steve Earle. Thinking about San Francisco, Chicago, North Carolina, Japan.