Gonna fly now.

Still need to get caught up on the blog.

First off, I bought and downloaded the new Lady Gaga album on Monday since it was 99¢ at Amazon.com (and yes, I had to wait a day to get it like everyone else). Pop, especially today’s generation, is not at all my thing, but The Artist Formerly Known as Stefani Germanotta has impressed me, especially when she does the piano-and-voice Sir Elton thing. She’s a lot like me in a lot of ways: she was a child prodigy who was picked on a lot in youth for looking and acting weird, started playing piano at four, wrote songs as a preteen, majored in music in college only to drop out to pursue a different calling. Only she’s the new Madonna and Michael Jackson, and I’m still waiting to be the new Frank Zappa, the new Charles Ives, the new Harry Partch, the new Danny Elfman, etc.

Anyway, being one of those postmodernists (I guess) who mines ideas from anywhere, including pop/dance, I can get a lot from some of the tracks. Catchy tunes anyway.

I’ve also resolved to get into shape. I’ve been suffering from a chronic neurological illness that has made me tired and miserable, and the medications I’ve had to take have made things worse in some ways (mostly weight gain). Physical fitness is indeed inseparably tied to mental fitness. I’m trying a mixture of weightlifting and yoga right now, since I can’t do much running, just walking. The breathing exercises of yoga have not only helped me relax, but they’ve helped me not get cramps after a workout, which I’ve always had trouble with since I also has asthma and allergies that have made it hard to breathe.

Incidentally, one of the first film scores I heard as a kid was Bill Conti’s for Rocky. That’s some good workout music there. Also, you don’t hear enough fugues in movies.

I’m still fighting writer’s block. If inspiration doesn’t come, I can’t force it. I still need to re-record some music using the better SoundFont file and FluidSynth.