In the Mind of Nate

Hello all, Well, I can say for sure that if there’s one thing consistent about this is blog is inconsistency. Or the consistency of not being consistent. Or perhaps being consistently sporadic. No matter which way you look at it, I should try to give you more to read more often. There’s the word I was looking for. I really don’t know what to make of this latest absence. We always find readily used excuses that seem to be given effortlessly such as “I was so busy”, or “I just can’t”. These are so overused and accessible that they make us feel no guilt of wasting energy better spent finding a solution than coming up with reasons why we can’t do something. A tool I often find readily available once I smell the unfortunately familiar scent of bullshit being served to me by someone incapable of getting passed their own thoughts. Ok, enough of that (for now). This is an indirect admission of guilt on my part. Bes...

Hello again, I would like to start by thanking everybody who reached out to me last week. Especially those who shared having similar experiences growing up. It makes a person realize that they shouldn't feel ashamed over but they've been through since other people can relate to it. but here I go, stating the obvious again. This past week I had much more time on my hands, and for the most part that was a good thing. I did find myself overthinking or going into a negative pattern with all the empty space around me. It is very symbolic of somebody's passing. You go to a place or enter a room that the person that is no longer with us once occupied and there is this ominously empty feeling it goes along with what you see there. Especially if a person had died suddenly. I was really mindful of this after seeing the scene in "the Men with" Marlon Brando (his first starring role infact), which was set in a VA Hospital and one of the guys there went in for a ...

Hello, in my last entry it may have insinuated that I found it easy to overcome some of the mental health issues that were either pre-existing or happened to develop during the pandemic. anything that goes untreated is going to become worse and you will not simply go away overnight. So even if it's so you can do I encourage people to just do one small thing in the direction towards recovery. Even researching where to find counseling is something. We are all aware of how the mind works, so what I am going to speak about will certainly not come as a shock to most people. This week I suffered a loss in my immediate family. For my own reasons, I would like to keep some details private. I was not close with this person, even though they helped raise me. When they were at their best of course. Even with all the bad things that transpired their was some good. For the most part everyone has some good in them if you look hard enough. We would talk about music, like most people in tha...

Hello again, you might have noticed that I then a little bit more consistent lately. And I must admit it's because of the wonderful feedback I've gotten on my writing. I do appreciate when even one person takes the time out of their busy day to read and give feedback. It makes me want to keep sharing more with all of you. And for that I am very grateful. After all, a decent of the time I am speaking from a personal perspective and not a journalistic one. At this point in my life I've heard many sayings and parables that were created in order to teach people how some wisdom. One that certainly sticks out is one I heard from a dearly departed friend and mentor Alan Tynes . He said "God gave us two ears and one mouth because we are supposed to listen twice as much as we are supposed to talk". He wasn't talking directly to me but since I was within earshot [sic] I took note of it. Another saying that has been on my mind is of course "Less is more"...

Hello all, I just wanted to share something that happened yesterday and my thoughts about it. Today started out pretty much like any other weekday, I had to get up early and go to my day job (yes us ambitious types still call it that regardless of how much they pay or how old we are) even though I'm not a morning person I trained myself to look forward to everything that's in store for me throughout the day and of course remembering to be grateful that I am even here to do so. Pretty much a quiet day, didn't really hear from any of my friends even though I had plenty to say. I know that most people are unable to talk during the day but I was able to reach out to a select few just to check in and see how they were doing. I know for me (especially what all that's going on these days) that goes along way to know someone was thinking of me and decided to time out of their day to reach out to me. This wasn't the point I was trying to get at but i...

Now that the Holiday consumerism fest is over, those of us that have their sights set on accomplishing projects can finally get down to it. Although, it may be a bit harder the first weeks with all that extra Holiday weight you maybe carrying around. For myself, it is a very difficult part of the Holidays having to drop everything and trying to celebrate with not even one major task out of the way. Although the New Year does bring us hope that we can make things better for ourselves and many believe how you enter the New Year is how you shape the rest of it. As I'm sure you noticed by now, this a downtime for the entertainment industry as a whole. Show attendance and club events usually don't have as many numbers as they do in the months prior to the Holidays. The music industry actually shuts down and all business starts up again in the New Year, as there are many behind the scenes things happening and many trade shows in January, such as the NAMM show. So what is th...

Hello again, I'm sure most of you that live in places the have seasons are already braving the cold or may have come down with one already. This time of year just sneaks up on us. Not to mention having the Holidays and the pressure to spend being forced on you. And of course all those Christmas songs, which I'm sure you have heard so many times that you may have created your own parodies of. After all " its the most annoying time of the year " lol. It is nice to spend time with family and friends during this time and celebrate after working all year. But the cold weather does make us more run down, unmotivated and more prone to over eat. A few things that are poison to anybody that is trying to focus on being successful in any field, especially in music. I decided to post this entry since this time of year is an easy one for us to lose focus on working towards our goals. Many work overtime if they are stuck in retail, and not to mention the music industry does...

Hello all, I should be focusing on the fact that in a few hours I will be seeing one of my biggest musical influences live. I have seen them before, with original drummer Bill Ward. And yes, I am one of these people that get bent out of shape when a reunion is missing one member(maybe its just an OCD tendency,idk). By now you should have guessed that I am going to see Black Sabbath . So here I am putting on a You Tube playlist of songs from Sabbath(yes in hopes that it will help me get through this entry) recalling stories of how they wrote some of their albums in the studio and came up with one of their most popular songs, Paranoid on a whim only because they had an extra three minutes on the tape to record with. Like I may have stated in older entries, I discover Sabbath as a Child when my Uncle had been listening to them(even admitting to truly subconsciously screw me by putting headphones on me in my sleep lol). Nevertheless, they have been engrained in me and keep me wri...