I've been busy as all get-out the last couple weeks. It should settle down by the end of May, at which time I'll have a whole 'nother set of projects on which to work.

But in between learning Atomica keyboard parts, rehearsals, lugging equipment around, battling technical difficulties, and squashing bugs for my dayjob (I hate bugfixes more than anything), I managed to whip up a time-saving device for myself: a Web Design Toolbox.

Basically I got tired of doing google searches for Lorem Ipsum greeking text, scrolling down, entering the number of paragraphs I wanted, then copy-pasting. If you regularly do design mock-ups, you know what I'm talking about. So I decided to put the stuff right up top on a page where I can quickly get to it and copy it. Then I added a bunch of other resources I look up and use a lot, until I got the result you see at www.dunakin.com.

That used to be my portfolio site in times past, but I haven't done freelance work in a long time, so dunakin.com has just redirected to Bounte.com. But now it's doing something useful for the design side of my creative process.

It's been very relaxing to learn the Atomica keyboard parts. They're so pleasant, it's nice to just sit and play the keyboard part alone, in a brooding, contemplative fashion. Chords for a rainy day.

You may have noticed that Bounte songs are not really dance songs; they're more like listening or grooving songs. I guess that makes them IDM. One reason for this is because I think about their structure and elements A LOT, and I feel more pride in my work when I've put a lot of thought into it. If one of my songs doesn't have 30 tracks or more going, then it usually feels incomplete.

But I've noticed that I can fart out dance-floor tracks in about a day. So I may do a quick and dirty little side-project dance album. I don't know if this will be full album, or EP, or even a Bounte release, but it should be a good brainstorming/warmup/technical exercise. Maybe it will entertain some people at a club somewhere, and hopefully provide further ideas for all my work.

...is finally here!!! Go download Grayscale at Positron Records. I heard some of the tracks already, and it's KILLER. Seriously, it gives me chills. Plus I contribute some turntables. KILLER turntables.

I received my first ASCAP check the other day, for those tracks that were on MTV. While the amount doesn't break the bank like you might think for a song on MTV, it's enough to whet my appetite for a little more. Which means I need to publish more.

In that light, I handed a disc to Wade last night with the production tracks for the first song of Bounte's next album. Like Bounte:One, the next album will be a mix of vocal and instrumental tracks. I plan on bringing in guest vocalist(s) again, since I still don't sing melodiously, but that's how I write the parts. You can expect the usual smorgasbord of electronic styles seeping out from carefully-crafted tracks, but overall this album may pick up where the first album ended, with a dark whistful tone.

Turns out I actually have 5 songs pretty much done, which is more than I thought. And by done I mean written, demo mixed, and ready for production mixing. But that still leaves a few songs to write.

I've been fleshing out some of my demo songs for Bounte Two (2? Too? II?). Right now I'm trying to assemble the guest musicians I'll need for some of the songs. Guitars and vocals, mostly, since my own proficiency at those is "passable" at best. Maybe Wade will have some additional ideas for guests when he starts looking at the tracks. Maybe some of my other musical friends can do something that I can use. Use your friends wisely.

I'm getting a little sick of the songs from One being the only Bounte songs out there. Although there are some remixes and extra stuff floating around. And a new Bounte remix is due for release sometime this month. Maybe I'll assemble all those into one playlist sometime.

While we're on the subject of Flagrant Records, I've noticed that there are references to CA all over Wikipedia, but they don't link anywhere. Wikipedia lacks a Christ Analogue page. Or rather, lacked.

I went ahead and created a Christ Analogue page the best I could. Now, Wade doesn't discuss CA much with me, so I'm no authority on the subject. Plus most of it happened over ten years ago, so I have no idea where all the reviews and interviews or other sources might be located. I found a few that lend credibility to the article, but it could use more sources and more information

If you're a Christ Analogue aficionado, and a decent writer, the page could really use your help, so go edit it.

BTW, The Atomica Project doesn't have a page either.

Flagrant Records, Wade's label, just opened its new site (coded by me) and online store. It may be the only place to get Atomica and Christ Analogue physical CDs and merch. You can read more about it from Wade's blog. It'll probably expand to include Wade's other projects, and perhaps in other ways, depending on the response. So the more you support it, the more it will grow. And if you find any problems with it, let me know.

I know I've said I don't do freelance design side projects, and this is still the case. But Wade is mixing my second album in exchange, so I think it's worth the time. It also ties in with research I'm doing at work about Content Management Systems, and enabled me to learn php, which is basically like every other scripting language out there.

Speaking of my second album, I've exported the tracks for the first song to hand off to Wade. The ball is rolling...

It's 1:30 am, and I'm wide awake as usual. I slept normal human hours when I was on vacation, went to sleep tired, woke up refreshed. I thought it was because I physically exhausted myself everyday, and had a general sense of well-being. But now it strikes me that because of the time difference, I was rather following my normal sleep schedule. Sort of a reverse jet-lag that worked in my favor.

Normally I feel jet-lagged every damned day. No matter what I do, I can't wake up or go to sleep early. A symptom of depression I wonder? Or maybe a cause? I remember when I was researching depression, suddenly everything I read about it set a light bulb off that illuminated my own life. Sometimes you look up symptoms on the internet if you have a runny noise or strange headaches, and end up fearing you might possibly have a brain tumor, but when some description really fits you, like depression does for me, it REALLY pops out at you.

That happened for the second time in my life tonight, after I saw some 20 second blurb on the Science Channel about phase-something or other disorder. I looked it up on the intertubes, and whammo!! Delayed sleep phase syndrome. Not exactly a brain tumor, but THAT's my life.

I'm back from San Francisco, and mostly healthy now. SF weather was perfectly sunny and crisp the whole time I was there, just how I like it. My flight back was delayed because of a snowstorm in Chicago. Not at all unusual for Chicago, except that I wasn't dreaming of a white Easter.

What did I do in San Francisco? Just about everything you can do as a tourist coming from one city to another. Everything was great, so I don't know what to highlight. A couple highlights: taking a limo tour of Napa Valley, a catamaran sail around the bay, biking to Sausalito, seeing a St. Patricks midget mariachi band assembling for a show.

MJ and I naturally spent a lot of time comparing and contrasting Chicago and San Francisco. A lot of the wonder of SF is created, driven by, or enhanced by the nature of the place -- the hills, bay, weather, plants -- whereas the landscape of Chicago is all man-made, except for the lake. Our best plants are even inside conservatories. The biggest difference is of course the hills. They make downtown SF amazingly beautiful and scenic. MJ and I are strong walkers, but where we noticed it most was when biking. Every direction seemed uphill, even the the spots locals described as "flat." Our bikes never coasted more than ten feet.

We drove 4 hours to Yosemite. No comparable thing exists within similar range of Chicago.

Chicago still has the best downtown architecture I've ever seen. But the residential architecture of San Francisco is amazing in comparison. Chicago has 3-4 residential archetypes, and every building is a grey or brown variation on these. But SF homes are bright colors, and built all over the place in all sorts of ways.

I think you have to live in a city for a while to get a true sense of the homeless situation there. In Chicago I can tell who is homeless, and who is just pan-handling. But SF threw my whole sense of that off. First off all there truly are dirty hippies in SF who are maybe so laid back as to seem homeless. And what's with the suburban kids and obvious druggies asking for change (for a "cheeseburger"), most notably in the Haight? And why do half the homeless seem to have dogs there? I get the impression that a lot of the homeless in SF end up that way out of irrational dreams and unwise choices, where in Chicago, a lot of the homeless are just nutso yet still seem to be working hard towards something or other.

Maybe it's because I'm used to Chicago's midwestern work ethic, but SF has some of the worst service of any town I've visited. Workers were quite friendly towards customers, but not really respectful. I'm not looking for a friend when I order a plate of food or ride public trans, I'm paying for good service. SF does have good crab though. And surprisingly good sushi at the airport.

Overall I think San Francisco is fantastic. Startlingly similar to and different than Chicago. I would definitely return. But there are lots of places in the world left to visit.