Author: chipperdreher

Post Malone/Mental Health/4 Hour Workweek

Wow how about that new Post Malone album huh? As is the case with all of Posty’s music, he makes some of the best good vibe jams I’ve ever heard. He has an ear for catchy melodies that is unmatched and I don’t see him declining in popularity any time soon. If anyone is going to rival Drake for the top spot, I think it is going to be Post. He doesn’t make deep or very thoughtful music but he still makes tracks that we can all connect to each other with and there is definitely a large demand for an artist like that, as shown by his astronomical sales.

I wasn’t as crazy about beerbongs and bentleys as Stoney, but with this new release I reignited my love for that crazy dude. Hope he can live long enough to keep making albums though. The way he smokes and drinks makes me think that it isn’t a very sustainable lifestyle and his super unique voice can only take so many Marlboros.

Sorry for the late post, it has taken me a while to find time for myself just to process how life has been going for me lately and I gotta say; it’s going fantastic for once. Just half a year ago, I was struggling big time and couldn’t see an end in sight but I promised myself that I would never give up.

So instead of calling it quits, I made a list of what I wanted accomplished that would make me feel better about myself. Then I created a plan (since I am goal oriented) and created a list of steps to reach these goals. I’ve been knocking them off one by one and looking back and seeing this progress and how far I’ve come just in six months is immensely satisfying.

Everyday is still a struggle not to slide back to being who I was but I’ve found that focusing on my strengths and aiming for that next goal is what keeps me going forward. Good music helps a lot with that too I’ve found. I used to only listen to emotional, depressive music and it didn’t do a whole lot for my mental health. Now I try to consciously listen to happier things if possible and it definitely has helped me stay on top of everything going on in my life.

If all else fails, I still can have a beer.

I am finally getting better at improvising on guitar and I think it is the most fun thing I have ever jumped into. I still have not officially learned the scales but I can see a pattern once the song has started and its just a matter of trial and error. I know that this is a terrible way to learn guitar and if any real players are reading they are probably disgusted but in the meantime it’s way too fun to stop. I put my speaker right next to my guitar and make up solos and melodies for each song to harmonize with the existing ones and it has gotten to the point where I play for hours on end just making stuff up. It is fun to try to guess what the key of a song is and I can tell it is improving my ear as I can start to understand what chords are what and then create my own tabs rather than having to look it up on Ultimate Guitar.

I don’t even like playing regular songs anymore because it is just not as fun. Why would I try to play chords when I could make up a solo for an existing song that doesn’t need it?

I have been rereading 4 Hour Workweek and really trying to take it to heart this time around. I have always had a problem working for others, my current job being no exception, so I am looking for ways to automate and work for myself so I can have more free time because I realized some time ago that what I value most in the world is my time. Nothing is more valuable to me than being able to choose what I want to do, when I want to do it. College has really helped me realize that and I understand now that what the rich have and what others don’t see as the real luxury is time. My whole life, I have not had the ability to dictate my own schedule until just the last couple years and I realize how much I want to be able to retain this freedom my whole life.

For those in my major, they usually follow the same track of graduating and proceeding right into the agency life in which “junior” employees will work 80 hour weeks for pathetic pay and no credit and end up leaving in 3 years due to exhaustion. I have seen the path and I realized I want nothing to do with it. I chose advertising for two reasons: I would be able to write and the growth in this field is astronomical so I would always have a job. Once I got into my university, I then started to understand what life after college in this major would really be like and I’m uneasy. I want to write and I want my free time and this major won’t guarantee both.

I am trying to understand how freelance writers get into the business and maybe I would be able to travel and write like I have always been wanting to. This blog has really helped me just to write more and improve upon myself so that might be the first start.

Later.

Communicating, Bon Iver, Hurricane Dorian

 

What’s Good?

I thought I would try writing twice a week instead of just once because I usually have so much that I need to get out of my system. I really need to schedule them to come out on certain days but I just get so busy that I forget.

How are some people born with the gift of gab?

I honestly struggle with being able to talk and verbalize whatever I am thinking and usually just find it easier to remain in silence. Some people seem to communicate so effortlessly and show emotion that wasn’t allowed in my house growing up. Not that we were Catholics or anything crazy like that, my dad just never showed anything but seriousness and my mom was energetic at her job, but exhausted and in bed by 8pm. I didn’t have any siblings, so I just assumed that keeping things to yourself was the norm. My parents were old fashioned too and told me often to be “seen but not heard” so I think I took that a little too literally and just never learned how to communicate effectively. I still love them though and all they do for me, and the decision to not learn to be a better talker is entirely on my shoulders.

Admittedly, I used to be better at it until about Sophomore year in high school when I just chose to stop speaking for almost a whole year. This wasn’t my greatest idea and set me so far back that it was as if I never knew how to speak at all.

Lately I have been trying to return to form and be better at communicating and just carrying a meaningful conversation. My current job has helped a lot with this, as I have to sell leases and then work with prospective leads in order to solve any problems they may have.

The only way is forward, so I just have to keep practicing. Comedians often have to bomb for years before they actually go somewhere (with the exception of Dave Chappelle, who was good since birth), so I have to use this principle when communicating and just go out there and stumble around until I finally find my footing. That would likely be my advice to anyone in the same situation as me; go out there and embarrass yourself until you aren’t scared of looking silly anymore, at which point you will probably find yourself a much better conversationalist.

 

Anyway(s), like I said on Saturday, I have been listening to Bon Iver nonstop the past week and I think it’s been one of my longest breaks from hip-hop in a long time because I just can’t get enough. I saw somewhere the other day that his albums represent the 4 seasons and it makes so much sense that I can’t believe I didn’t think of that before.

For Emma, Forever Ago– Winter; this seems pretty cut and dry. The minimalist production, the sparse vocals and even the “frozen” album cover represent the loneliness and silence of winter so well and fits perfectly.

Bon Iver– Spring; the songs on this album really feel as though they are coming alive. The opening track “Perth” starts with a quiet guitar slowly building up into a crescendo until it finally takes a life of its own and transitions into a grand production, the likes of which hadn’t been really seen from Bon Iver before. This is similar to the transition of the dead of Winter into the new life of Spring.

22, A Million– Summer; it took me a longer time to get into this album but once I listened enough, it finally clicked and I realized how truly brilliant it is. It would likely be more a summer night album, but it seemed to me to be a realization of everything Justin Vernon had been searching for. The production was rough and gritty, which eventually is what sold the album for me and has some of the most creative ideas in an album that I’ve ever heard. The album remains upbeat and carries positive lyrics throughout most of the runtime, giving me the impression that, like Summer, everything is going right and it is representative of the happy memories he carries from this time in his life. The album closes with 00000 Million, one of the best closers I could imagine. It features a sole piano playing a slow, pensive progression and shows Justin at his most nostalgic (similar to themes from Blond about nostalgia and summertime), while still looking forward for what is to come. He has accepted his past and is now looking to the future with his newfound self-acceptance.

i,i– Fall; this album is his newest and I am still digesting it, but it does seem to fit with the pattern. This album is more withdrawn while still building on the ideas and themes from 22, A Million. The production is more refined in this project, with wistful synths conveying a sense of the need to slow down and self-reflect, something that is often associated with Autumn. I am still going through this album, but I have come to really appreciate everything the group was attempting on this record and, like all Iver albums, can really convey feelings and put me in a mindset in which words could never do justice.

 

If I don’t write again, it is probably because hurricane Dorian has swallowed me up. As of the time of writing this, it is headed directly for us and shows no signs of stopping. But I have a serious issue with taking this seriously, as I can’t stop thinking about JD from Scrubs. Zach Braff’s twitter is full of memes of him coming to Florida and it makes me laugh too much to be afraid this storm. If you haven’t seen them, I highly recommend you go to his twitter and check them out.

 

This turned out way longer than I intended, but I just get so wrapped up in these thoughts. The only way for me to get them out of my head is to get them onto this blog. This isn’t really a self-help or informational blog, it is more just my thoughts on life and it’s not meant to become big or helpful, just to keep me writing. If you stuck through this blog, I honestly give you props and I’m glad to have you here. I know it wasn’t easy. Maybe contact me and tell me what you want to hear me write about and I’ll see if I know enough to say something.

Alright, later.

 

 

Image taken from Zach Braff’s twitter. Please don’t sue.

What’s good?

I have been wanting to make a blog for a long time but never really followed through with it until I had to make this website for an assignment. She requested no blogs though, so I had to wait for a few weeks until now to start writing it. I still have no idea what I’m doing but here I am.

I really want to start writing more but I don’t feel like writing professionally for this blog. If you, through some act of god, made it to this website, you probably want to get to understand me more and get a glimpse into my life so I am going to write about things that interest me and write in the style I prefer. I would rather that no one reads this so I have the freedom to write whatever, so there won’t be any promotion. If you found it, just keep it to yourself.

I thought I would start this blog by writing about something extremely divisive like politics or abortion or whether Seinfeld or Friends is the better sitcom (Seinfeld), but I realized I don’t know enough about 2 of those subjects to really get people going. I try to remain as ignorant and uniformed as possible about the daily news because that is the only way to stay happy. People who watch the news everyday and comment on news articles blow me away because I don’t know how they can stand it. Most of the news you see is not going to affect your daily life and will usually only serve to divide you from your neighbor, so why look at it?

I will usually pay attention to the major events, such as the current fire and deforestation of the Amazon or the school shooting of the week, but I don’t wake up eager to hear about what events happened that night or who said what in the election cycle. I follow news about music, basketball and my favorite TV shows and that is about it. It is blessed ignorance and, while many will hate me for this blog, it is essential to living my life happier.

That isn’t to say I am without a heart because I still attempt to be a positive force to those around me even though I often fall short of that. I just know that I have to be able to know when to help and when to focus on the blessings that I am given as well. Think globally, act locally.

Did any of that make sense? Probably not. But it’s my blog so I get to sit here and write and you can either read or look away. I am just doing this so I don’t forget how much I used to love just writing for fun.

To close this out, I’ll rank my top 4 most listened to artists of the last month.

1. Daniel Caesar- “Case Study 01” is a masterpiece and did not get near the level of credit it deserved. Superposition? Ughhhhh John Mayer and Daniel Caesar is a match made in heaven.
2. Bon Iver- “i,i” is definitely another great edition to the discography of Justin Vernon or Bon Iver. Hey, ma and Marion are the favorites off this album so far but, as is the case with all of his albums, I feel as though I am only scratching the surface and have yet to fully appreciate everything this album was. Worth noting that For Emma, Forever Ago is my second favorite album of all time, only behind Frank Ocean’s “Blonde”.
3. Mac Miller- I still will not get over the fact that he is actually gone and won’t release new music anymore. I listen to Swimming on repeat and it was my most played album of 2018 even though it came out in October. Mac was one of those artists who never grew stagnant and stopped being hungry for more. Every single album showed how much he had matured since the previous and Swimming was no different. It was introspective, it was ambitious, it was melancholy and it came at a time in my life where I needed to hear it. Out of all the celebrities who have passed, his affected me the most and still makes me sad. He gave some classics though. Might have to make a whole blog post on his music.
4. Kanye West- The biggest creative genius of my time, even if he is a little erratic. Every single album is still argued as being his best yet and the fact that an artist can have a career spanning two decades and 8 solo albums and still have debate over which one is his greatest is astonishing. He forever changed hip hop and inspired and created more rappers than I care to count. Every album is different and tends to revolutionize the genre. Will rank his discography later.
5. Billie Eilish- Billie is lowkey a guilty pleasure and makes some seriously creative and unique songs. She has such a distinct vibe and I know a melody is hers before I even hear her voice. “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” was one of my most played albums this year but I feel like there is a stigma against openly liking her music so usually I keep it quiet.

Alright, later.