Recently, someone asked me why people use LiveJournal. "Is it a diary? Who sees it?" In trying to describe LiveJournal, I realized I had some ideas about it that I'd never directly considered. I'm putting them down here to hopefully solicit some discussion. I don't consider this medium to be a diary. To me, a diary is something intended for one reader -- the writer. Most of the LiveJournals I read are definitely intended to be read by others. On the other hand, I've seen some deeply personal, intimate writing here -- stuff that moved me with its candor. What would inspire people to bare their hearts to strangers and casual acquaintances? The first step in examining the question is, of course, to examine my own motivations. Why do I write in this open forum? Recently, I posted my personal governing values, and the flaws I perceive in myself these values are designed to help correct. What on earth inspired me to put such stuff where anyone in the world could read it? The answer is in the question. By putting such things in a very public record, there's a much better chance that I'll not ignore it all in…

It's Michael W. Dean's $30 Music School. Five hundred + pages of everything the DIY creative person needs to know, from starting a band to writing your own contracts... it's chock-a-block (and how often does one get to use that old saw???) with tips and useful anecdotes that only someone who's a peer with Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins could know. Seriously... some of the stuff you'll know, some of the stuff you forgot, and some of the stuff you didn't know you needed to know. It's all in here. I don't plug often... listen! That's all.

There are So many fucking Christians In this desert town When strangers meet They exchange churches Like kids comparing baseball cards Cell phones Are the boom boxes Of the new millennium The desert encourages Forty year old women With fifty-year wrinkles Brown And Crevassed To wear tight sweaters Short denim skirts And fuck-me boots In a group of ten teenage boys Eight are skinheads Seven are puffy gym-class bodybuilders Four (or five) are white supremists In hip-hop baggies Two Are missing Home, hovering over their laptops Plotting their catastrophic statements And cowering in fear of their peers. NASCAR should have a church here. Seriously. New blue jeans Pressed Equal dress slacks I wonder how the Punks Hippies Pagans Queers Democrats Skeptics Last 'round these here parts? And where do they hide? And where do I find them? -- written from a Starbucks in Victorville, CA, USA

Last time I wrote, I talked about how I was getting into using a planner to prioritize my days' tasks and my short and long term goals. Part of this whole thing involves basing my priorities on the things I really believe in and the person I want me to be. My "governing values." This is something, maybe, that a lot of folks do automatically, but I doubt it. I know very few folks who actively live their proclaimed principles. That's what this is about... setting the bar for myself and living it. Governing Values are meant to be a combination of things you think you are, things you want to be, and things others consider you to be. They're a goal in and of themselves, really. Here are mine. 1. I am truthful. This means I don't lie, and I'm honest with my opinions. This is more of a challenge than you might think... we live in a culture where small fibs and white lies are encouraged. Just the other day, I spaced out and thought I was due at work an hour later than I was scheduled. When I got there, my peers all agreed (without my prompting)…

It's a "blustery day" here in the high desert: the wind is moaning around the corners of the house, and the sky outside my window is striped with steel gray and pale blue. Down the hill, I bet it's raining. In the house, I finally gave in and turned on the heater. We've been trying our best to go the "more clothes, cheaper bills" route, but damn it, I can barely type, my fingers are so cold. It's January 1st. I don't pay much heed to holidays. I don't belong to any of the religions that dictate when banks and schools close, so Christmas, just past, meant little to me other than a light at the end of my retail-hell tunnel. That said, I find myself investing meaning in the turn of this year. We make our own rituals, our own landmarks and signposts on the calendar, too. I've believed that for years. So it's the first of January. I feel it. I haven't made resolutions in some time, and I'm not going to start now. I have, however, set myself some goals for the coming year, in no particular order: -- Finish archiving all the music I've produced from…

I'm beginning to notice something about myself: I've been rediscovering the justice-seeking, idealistic person I once was. It's an odd thing, to notice yourself caring more about certain issues, to seek out opportunities to do something because it's right, or because it needs "righting." I think I'm making up for past lapses in my own ethics. Huh. I'm living the anti-hero archetype. Interesting.

Well, I have withdrawn my troops from the field of operating system ideological warfare. The retreat is a strategic one forced by lack of sufficient resources and field tech. In other words -- I love Linux, I love the idea of "open source," I love the idea that tech is free so that ideas can flourish. Unfortunately, there are some areas (graphics, sound recording and editing) where Linux options are either too primitive or have a steep, steep learning curve. I spend less time creating and more time stopping, downloading, installing, configuring, reading, learning, and settling for a difficult and counter-intuitive solution. I believe in Linux. I want the concept to succeed; I want everyone to use it and open source software. Someday. In the mean time, my own creative needs require that I spend more time doing and less time trying to figure out how to (or if I can) do it. So. It's back to Windows. For now. Damn it.

I just finished trimming my blog-style MWS Media site down to one page. See, I came to the realization that, while I strongly believe in the DIY ethos, and while I'm so into supporting the indie movement that I switched to Linux and I don't use mp3s (go Ogg Vorbis -- it's open source and free of patents!), I wasn't the right person to be hosting a web site supposedly promoting all that stuff. There are others who do it better! What I do is write stuff, edit other people's stuff, and create music. So now MWS Media simply leads visitors to where that's all happening. Learning to focus and hone the edge of my passions is quite possibly my life lesson. Okay, one of them..!

I made a pleasant discovery a couple of days ago -- a two-dvd set from Mike Peters, the old frontman and founding member of the Alarm. Apparently recorded on the twentieth anniversary of the band's formation, it's Mike telling the story of the band from start to finish, with a nifty slideshow and thirty six! songs performed solo acoustic. Yeah, I know -- if you remember the Alarm at all, it's because of their faux Bob Dylan western outfits, their forty foot hair, and the video of "68 Guns." Their music might be a little dated, it's true, but I learned how to play guitar from their first two albums. They showed me that acoustic music can be punk as shit, say something real, and have heart, all at once. Also, they remind me of the bond I had with an old friend, and the music we played together. That friend and I have ideological differences that I think keep us from being too close these days, but we still keep in touch, and I still credit him with shaping much of my musical creative style. We played a lot of Alarm covers those days. When I see Mike Peters…