The last two days have been significant, in that I've finally hit the practice pad. I've been less than thrilled with where my drumming is as of late. While the level of activity has been good (and increasing, but more on that later), the quality hasn't been there. I can feel the sloppiness and the inconsistency. I can't get inside the beat where I can control it properly. Kevin and Mike were somewhat taken aback when I told them after a rehearsal that I wasn't happy with my playing. That's always a good feeling. Nitrous Foxide, in general, has been a big boost for self-confidence, in case I needed one. I don't know that I do, but it's still nice.

Anyway, I went back to the big rudimental warm-up that I got from Steve while we were sharing a practice space. Getting a copy of that may be one of the biggest benefits of that whole deal, because it's a great workout. Okay, hanging out backstage at big rock shows is a big benefit, too, but it's not helping my playing at all. So that for technique, some progressive accents for strength (which I need to put up on the Drumming page of the site), and some Chaffee stuff for both timing and reading have been the set of exercises. It's covering a lot of bases, the only downside being that I don't have anywhere to practice on an actual kit, so my feet are suffering.

And now I'm up to six musical projects, although most are still in the planning stages. Lindsie Reitz is the only active concern, but cover band Nitrous Foxide is getting close. I should be picking up some gigs with original rock band Marigold Engine in the near future. And now there may be both a cover band an original project with some of the guys from the Tuesday open mike at Vaughan's. Plus, my friend Scott and I want to do something, although I don't know what just yet. It could be a revived Clusterfunk, which would have serious income potential, as well as being a huge amount of fun.

Once these get out of the planning and rehearsal stages, I may not have to worry about finding a new day job. Until then, the waiting is killing me. I've got so many pieces in play here, but they're just not quite far enough along to be actually keeping me busy, and only one of them (the project with Scott) is directly in my control. So what to do? Practice.