March 2012
1 post
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I haven't forgotten about making one thing a month
jamiek:
I’ve just been busy. And from that busy-ness comes March’s thing.
Yesterday, I was part of the team that put on BarcampICR. If you don’t know what a Barcamp is, it’s a user-generated conference. People show up, pitch ideas, attendees vote, and the most popular talks are scheduled throughout the day. I was asked to help out in January and it was a great experience.
I shot about 25...
February 2012
6 posts
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So I've been thinking
I might stop using this sub-Tumblr and move my thingamonth posts over to my main site and just tag them with thingamonth. I feel like I’m not paying much attention to this site as I’m wrapped up in actually doing the things rather than writing about them. Thoughts?
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Lessons for Feb. 12
I can mess up sewing even more quickly when I use a sewing machine!
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It's February, so it's on to the next thing
One of the (many, many) skills that I’m lacking is the ability to sew. I can re-attach a button, given enough time, but other than that, I’m useless with a needle and thread.
Part of the reason is because my mother and my aunt are both skilled seamstresses. Another part is that I’m lazy.
So to remedy my lack of sewing skills, I am going to make between five and 10 pocket...
January 2012
14 posts
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January's lessons
Ten years ago, as I was getting ready to graduate from college, I had no idea what I was going to do for a job. I knew I loved music, but that I wasn’t good enough to be a professional singer or guitar player. I loved my campus job of running live sound for events, though, so I applied to the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Ariz. I got in, which I don’t think was...
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So here it is: My thing for January.
I covered...
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Some early lessons from this month
Things have been hectic at Chez OTAM, but I have all the tracks laid down. I’m likely going to re-record the vocals tonight, then mix it and should post it soon. But I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned. I don’t think everything we do teaches us a lesson, but I have gotten a few out of this month.
1) I’m not sure how to blog about the progress I make on a...
The trick is to commit
whether that’s a vocal track or a poetry reading or a home improvement project.
I just need to remember that.
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Quiet doesn't mean I haven't been working
It’s been a long time since I’ve spent this big a chunk of my waking hours with a single song. When it’s quiet, I hear parts of the song in my head. I’ll post a final version of the song this weekend, and then it’ll be on to my next thing.
Speaking of which: I have about 20 possible projects and 11 months left to make them. The problem will be choosing.
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I've been somewhat absent
And somewhat distracted. I realized after a lot of effort that the sound I was getting from using MIDI wasn’t the sound I wanted for the song. So it’s not entirely back to the drawing board, but that was a false start.
I might have a rough edit done by this weekend, though.
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“There are an infinite number of boring things to do in science, he told me. But...”
– David Eagleman and Mysteries of the Brain : The New Yorker
Take out “in science” and you have part of the rationale for the existence of this site.
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Our first submission: The Mister's Sweater
From raiselm:
I’ve been promising him a sweater for close to 20 years. I just finished the front and he thinks it’s on the small side (I disagree). Anyway, I will rip out a bit at the top and make it longer at the V up to the shoulder line. It is a gorgeous plum wool/cashmere/silk marled yarn. It will take me more than a month.
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Tell me about your thing →
So I’m hoping that some of you will come along on this ride, and if you’d like to let others know about the cool things you’re doing, well, I just made that easier for you.
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Some lessons I've learned tonight
You should start building up hand strength before you have to worry about learning a song.
Going more than five years without regular practice means your skills come back very slowly if at all.
It’s easy to copy someone else’s arrangement, but much more challenging to develop your own and make sure it works well.
I hope every thing I make this year is as much of a stretch goal as...
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Forgive the terrible logo
I was sick of the default tumblr icon and figured worrying about logos is just a distraction from the task at hand.
And huge thanks to Toni/Makearoo for mentioning what I’m trying to do here. I’m excited, and I’m thrilled people want to watch as I try this out.
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I'm still working on the structure for this
But I’m going to go ahead and say what my project for January will be.
(I’m sure you’re all breathless with anticipation.)
I’m going to cover “My Ride’s Here” by Warren Zevon. This is something that’s in my wheelhouse, or was 10 years ago at least.
More to come as I figure out an arrangement.
December 2011
4 posts
sbergus asked: The way the rules are written, it sounds like the thing is most likely going to be a written/performed piece. Is this the intention, or could the thing be baking a loaf of bread (which could take a month, if you tried to make the starter from scratch,) building a micro still or making a needlepoint thingy?
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More rules
I wanted to add some more rules for my project, in service of keeping me honest.
Kits are cool, but they don’t count. This is a project to make things that have never existed before, not follow instructions. Building things is fine, but they need to expand on their designed use.
Learning skills is part of this project, but not an end in itself. Learning to weld so I can make a sculpture is...
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Some rules
This is a project dedicated to making me stretch and pushing me to create cooler things. So to that end, I’m making up some rules to keep me honest.
First thought, best thought, and all, but no thing is final until it’s been edited at least once, and likely more
There aren’t any restrictions on the types of things I can make, but they will be complete and all major work will be...
This is a thing to hold other things
I don’t usually indulge in New Year’s Resolutions because, let’s face it, I’m awesome enough as it is, and, let’s face it, my follow-through is not the best.
But in mid-December, I had a fantastic time making a thing with some other people. And it got me thinking that I should make more things. All different kinds: photos, recordings, stories, essays, videos,...
