Ian and Chas,

It sounds as if both of you need another outlet for your leisure time. I'm fortunate in that I go sailing, fly fishing, and have a huge lawn to care for.

In Ian's case, residing in the wilds of Canada with its endless winters, outdoor activities are somewhat limited.

Chas, however, has lots of sunshine, the Gulf Of Mexico, and lots of nearby lakes that offer a lot of great opportunities for outdoor enthusiast.

Good luck to both of you and have a Happy New Year,

Gary

I find the magic number is 60. I also turned 60 this year and I feel good, have no problems and am not a glass half empty kind of guy. But....my priorities and attitudes have also changed this year.
Almost overnight with no conscience effort on my part, as a matter of fact it seems to sneak up and surprise even me at times.
Nothing drastic, but I don't care if I play anymore. I want to be entertained, no more nights, weekends, and holidays. I want to just enjoy.
So many things start to seem petty and not worth the trouble.

So I also raise two fingers (thumbs up in my case) to all my fellow SZ members and wish us all a happy new year.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 12-31-2009).]

I belong to a club that tells me I should not be doing inventories of other people's character defects whether they are real or not and I should concentrate on correcting my own defects of character. I may not always correct my own sometimes old habits die hard. I'm not trying to say anyone is right or wrong in whatever they post on the board.

what I can say is I speak to Donny every now and then as I do with other members of this forum. I spoke to him twice this week about a purchase he's about to make not related to musical gear. He's nothing but a gentlemen to me and in the process is always willing to share with me tips that has made him the success he is in the music business.

Happy New Year everyone, peace!

Nigel, this is the time of year when we use to leave bad stuff behind and start up
the new year with clean paper to draw on.
What about give amnesty to members who is on the "ban list" and let them start at
new unwritten paper as well?

If we see more unwanted behaviour who may need action like banning, well, then it's
done in purpose and you can just ban again with no pardon.

Regarding Donny, I did not see if his tread went off worse after the 3 - 4 first
posts, because it was deleted. It probably did, that's sad, because if it was to
express bad feelings about past ban it could maybe been done in a more diplomatic
way.

Anyway, even I get frustrated sometimes, and then 2 fingers will not do, I rise all
5 at both hands at the same time!


Come'on guys and gals, you know the song 'Mercy Mercy Me ....'

Happy New and Peaceful Year 2010
Cheers
GJ

I constantly struggle with being satisfied just playing an arranger. Now that I only do one-hour NH gigs, I feel I have no real need to pull out my XK-1 or invest in some other type keyboard. But I am happiest as an organist (player) occasionally playing a piano or keyboard. Maybe chas has the right idea with his C1, I don't know. I do know that I give a lot at my gigs, but I don't want to take on any more equipment than I need to.
The arranger is often a vehicle for inspiration, which is a big plus. The styles and sounds do lend themselves to song creation, but I miss that interaction with other musicians. I'd also would like to find that joy and hunger again.

I think we all go through these little times of questioning what we are doing, and why. I've never been in this situation before, but it will pass, as surely as other things in my life worked out.

I'm actually glad to have New Years off and be okay financially enough to take the whole winter off, so I am grateful for that blessing, plus my health is excellent, other than a few surgical scars, so I count my blessings there as well.

It gives me time to choose another path, or strengthen my resolve to stay on the same one after some changes....60 was kind of a necessary wake up call.

It will work itself out Cassp...you had a close call yourself this year, and are doing okay...some of our friends weren't so lucky...I lost three good buddies this year.

The rough times only make us stronger...like the saying, "A calm sea does not make a good sailor."

Ian

I’ve never seen such candid remarks as I’ve seen in this thread. No one trying to best the next person for a change.

Ian,

This is a great post you did here…..for me anyway. Up to now I’ve been thinking I’m the only one on the planet who felt this way (about most of what you wrote). And I’ve also been too proud to talk about it.

I never thought I’d get to this point myself. I’ve played every day for the last 40 years. I’ve always done this for a living and up to a few years ago, I couldn’t live without my daily dose of music. Suddenly, I don’t care either if I play anymore. I mean like…when I sit down at the piano, I can’t tear myself away from it. But, more times than not, I don’t ever even make it to the piano.

Is it too many years of entertaining in, what I call, a plastic world? …something like living every day in DisneyLand. Is it meeting and conversing with hordes of people on a surface level only and then never seeing them again? Is it having to ignore many other things I enjoy doing like reading, “listening” to music (rather than playing it), spending more social time with friends, travel, meditating, etc.

Or is it, as I suspect, the rubbish music that exists today and that people prefer over what used to be? I think this is the straw that broke the camel’s back (me being the “camel‘s back). Everything else was just leading up to it!

This has been a first for me, to admit to anyone that’s I’m getting tired of playing music. As I said…I’ve been too proud. But since you guys have already been so forthcoming, it feels good to let it out.

Again…..it’s been satisfying hearing some of you reveal true feelings about playing instead of talking about the latest OS, etc.

Lucky

Mike.....another good post. I can relate to everything you said. You guys are on a roll with this thread!

Lucky

i guess its like anything. I used to play semi professional basketball. I used to eat sleep and drink it for the last 20 years , played every day except sabbaths 2-3 hours a day and loved it. then i turned 35 and over a short period of time just lost interest. I still enjoy watching the NBA but i couldnt tell you the last time i held a basketball.

What i am saying is that if all you have done for a long time is one thing and it was your passion in life and then you make it your profession , then after a time that hunger and passion will diminish. That hapens with absolutely anything. I think they call it diminishing marginal returns.

Well I did do that very thing Gunnar and lifted Donny's ban early to bring in the New Year only a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately he then crossed the line again after I did that which resulted in me re-banning him once again. One amnesty was quite enough.