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Fitness: So after checking my body fat percentage Wednesday night and seeing it at an all-time low of 15.8% (yes!), I went up weight yesterday to 206. Then, after an exhausting day at the office, I came home instead of going to the gym. I had a couple of beers and a couple of tacos and some refried beans before bed and lo and behold, I was 204.4 this morning. I love the human body. On to inspiration! |
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As you may have guessed, it’s rather easy for me to find inspiration in things. I’ll freely admit that I’m a workaholic, but I’m a workaholic because I’m inspired to work on many projects and create things – be they songs, albums, websites, or blog posts. Inspiration in Music A great song can provide so much inspiration. In my vast library of music, I can’t even tell you how many songs that I’ve heard which have inspired works of my own. For example, the most recent [Philistine on the Sidewalk] track, “A Scenic Thoroughfare” was inspired by crossing Eluvium's “Taken” with one of my own songs under my [Natthimmel] project entitled “Pico Gets His Groove On in Port Town”, which is a very loose interpretation of the Port Town music from the Super Nintendo game [F-Zero  ]. The time signature is the same as the Natthimmel track and the drumbeat is only slightly modified.The F-Zero track was inspired by the Port Town music from F-Zero (obviously) and an older [Natthimmel] track entitled “The Great Beyond”, which itself was inspired by repeated listens of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon”. I could give many more examples, because music has been so inspirational to me for so long. Inspiration in Fitness When I was younger, I was inspired to have the build of a professional wrestler because I watched it all the time and thought pro wrestling was the coolest thing ever. Yeah, it's basically guys talking tough, then coming out to the ring in mildly-stereotypical costumes and proceeding to put on a stunt show, but who doesn't enjoy a good movie-style fight? It's not nearly as wild as the stuntwork coming out of Thai movies these days, but it's still rather enjoyable at its best. In any event, I changed my mind on that after I read about how high-maintenance their physiques really are. You can prattle on about steroids all you want, but the wrestlers still have to put the time in at the gym to look like that. A lot of those guys spend 2-3 hours in the gym a day training and most folks don't have that kind of time, unless bodybuilding is their main way to get enjoyment out of life. Also, as I got older and realized that I'd been bulky (in the wrong way) for most of my life, I wanted to be lean. I currently find my inspiration for exercise through wanting to attain the physique of a mixed martial artist. I don't have any inclination to compete in the sport, but the level of fitness that the MMA competitors achieve is definitely inspirational and Muay Thai is a rather enjoyable discipline to practice. MMA competitors tend to walk around with around 8-10% body fat, so I've still got some serious work to do before I make it to that level. Losing 6-8% of my body fat was fairly easy at the beginning, but it's been rather tough at this point. Thankfully, I'm determined to get there no matter what, as espoused by my previous blog post. Inspiration in Gaming One might not think that gaming would be all that inspiring, but playing a game with a good soundtrack can certainly be inspiring to musical creativity (as I mentioned earlier with F-Zero), and unwinding with a good game can lead to inspiration in other areas since it allows the opportunity to relax and let the imagination flourish. Playing the right game can be a great stress reliever too, which can lead to being more inspired to be creative or productive afterward. I know I've had more than a few good gaming sessions where I've finished up, then hopped on the computer or on an instrument and started sequencing, riffing, and/or recording. Also, gaming inspired me to create my own gaming site close to ten years ago called [Nintendo-A-GoGo]. It's been dormant for over four years, but I'm almost ready to relaunch it with revised content and new perspectives. I'm hoping to get it up this weekend as there's some new content ready to go, but I have to finish the coding. Inspiration in Beer Beer is inspiration in a bottle (or pint glass, can, etc.) and if it’s not, you’re not doing it right. I know I’ve recorded more than a few songs under the influence and it really loosens up the playing and frees the mind to explore sounds and ideas that might not arrive while totally sober. At least a couple of the reverse reverb guitar improvisations for Philistine on the Sidewalk songs have been done under some influence. I know alcohol affects folks in different ways, but beer always makes me happier and more conversational than usual. I'm not afraid to apply it liberally and let things unfold as they will, because I know a good time will ensue. Granted, I generally drink on the weekend (Fri-Sun), because while it helps my mood, it certainly doesn't help my belly fat. Inspiration in Everything When I find something I greatly enjoy, I want to either tell the world about it or use the positive influence I receive from it and incorporate it into my own works. Hopefully my blog posts and Philistine on the Sidewalk songs and everything else I've been doing and posting about on Twitter and Facebook and everywhere else have been coming off as useful and enjoyable, but only time will tell. So how am I doing? Let me know! Discuss this post at [The Forum of Jason Vincion]! Posted on February 5th, 2010. |
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