Ideas

Music

Malinconia (from a dream), Snowfall, Lullaby, Paging,
Lightnin' Blues, Museum, Bittersweet, Sonata #1
Nepenthe, Question

Words

Observance, And The It Happens, Monologue, Obituary,
Temporary Insanity, Just Another Day, Landlocked, Good Behavior,
Undefined, Exile, Return(Exile part 2) Addiction Of Two Minds
Sonnet 1 Sonnet 2 Nonsense Wait For It Old-Fashioned Diner

Images

Malinconia (from a dream)
The verse section came to me (as the title suggests) in a dream. In said dream, I was on a rollercoaster (which is odd because I've never been on one) and I heard music playing in the background. While having the dream I thought the music was by Zappa, but when I woke up, (Thankfully still remembering it) I realized it was original and promptly picked up my guitar and finished the piece.
Snowfall
Written during a snow storm in the winter of 2001 (hence the title). I had realized, a few years earlier, that it was possible to play two chords at once on the guitar (three notes in a chord, six strings on a guitar), but had yet to be able to write something using this idea that sounded the slightest bit musical (every other attempt had been unlistenable, self indulgent, gibberish)(no, I didn't record any of them) . On this night, however, I realized that, while I am holding down two chords simultaneously, the trick was to play them seperately but overlapping. I started playing an F# major/e minor combination, and most of the piece was written in about ten minutes. Over the following 2-3 days I finished the rest of it.
Lullaby
Written while recording a demo cd. After attempting it several times, I realized that the piece I had originally written for Monet wasn't going to record well. I wanted to put one more tune on the cd, and was working with two seperate ideas. I combined them and got this piece.
Paging
Named after Jimmy Page. Shortly after I wrote it I realized that it kind of sounded like something he would do (I didn't rip off any specific tunes, just kind of sub-consciously copped his style) so I decided it would be a good idea to pay tribute with the title.
Lightnin' Blues
Written around '91-92 as a show-off piece.
Museum
A series of works inspired by the styles of various visual artists. I came up with the idea while talking with a friend, in a coffee shop, about musical project he was working on (an operetta about baseball). On the wall behind him was a print of a piece by M.C. Escher (don't remember which one), and thus a concept piece was born. More parts to come.
Bittersweet
Written for an ex-girlfriend (again, hence the title). It was initially concieved as a combination of blues and classical. A few weeks after finishing it, I decided that my feelings for her merited more than a single, short piece of music and attempted to develop it into a sonata. To make a not so long story even shorter, the relationship ended about two weeks later, and I had not yet been able to compose any other movements to accompany the initial piece (at least none that were up to my standards). At least I got a decent piece of music out of the whole ordeal.
Sonata #1
Written the week after I broke up with the previously mentioned ex-girlfriend. I love irony.
Nepenthe
Written while I had a 102 degree fever, hence the title.
Question
I started playing an A major7 and one thing led to another.
Observance
No real story behind this one. Just your garden variety, Twilight Zone influenced sci-fi tale.
And Then It Happens
An attempt to write a piece in second person present, making the reader the main character (sorry about the ending, couldn't resist).
Monologue
Written in kind of a stream of consciousness. Not really autobiographical, or inspired by anything in particular.
Obituary
Written in a particularly bitter state of mind, as an obituary for Prince Charming. Ironically, every woman, that I know, who has read it has liked it.
Temporary Insanity
Written as an intellectual perspective on falling in love. I was single when I wrote it.
Just Another Day
Just a simple little poem about assassin.
Landlocked
I was pondering the phrase ship of fools (I sometimes have a tendency to fixate on certain words or phrases. It's weird I know.) and decided to use it in a poem. Voila.
Good Behavior
Loosely autobiographical, no I've never been in jail, but I am the youngest of six so I have gotten away with alot.
Undefined
Written at a poetry reading, for which I had nothing to read. You gotta love free association.
Exile
Written while bed-ridden for a month and a half for medical reasons (as if there are any other reasons to be bed-ridden for a month and a half).
Return(Exile part 2)
Written while, again, bed-ridden for medical reasons (see last parenthetical comment). By this point I was starting to grasp the deeper lesson.
Addiction
Kind of self-explanitory, writtten three days before quitting smoking.
Of Two Minds
I've recently started to become aware of some of my own contradictory thinking. I wrote this piece as a way of drawing that thinking out, to eventually reconcile it.
Sonnet 1
I decided to challenge myself and write a by-the-book, technically precise sonnet. Initially, I was going to write it as a more traditional romantic piece. Of course, I need to be inspired to write that sort of thing (which I'm not at the moment). So, while complaining (to myself) about how restrictive the sonnet form is, I decided to write about just that.
Sonnet 2
Apparently I can write the romantic stuff without being specifically inspired. This one is mostly based on past experiences.
Nonsense
I have no idea.
Wait For It
Written about being on the verge of getting what you want, but still being unsure of whether or not you'll get it.
Old-Fashioned
Written as a response to criticism I've gotten over the years for being a rhyming poet.
Diner
Inspired by nearly a decade of spending 1-2 nights a week in a Denny's.
I learned how to make a picture look antique, and then decided to use this technique on the most fitting subject I could get a picture of.

I took the picture to use as the cover of a cd, and then decided to manipulate it to look like I was behind glass.

I wanted to know what it would look like if I superimposed two different pictures of myself on top of each other. I didn't look very good. Then I adjusted the opacity levels and it kind of looked like I was leaving my body. Neat huh?

My own personal little UFO hoax (IT'S FAKE). The picture was take at the Hoover Dam and the UFO was created digitally.

I've always wanted a Lightsaber, unfortunately those pesky laws of physics make it kind of impossible. At least now I can tell people I have one.

Just a cool little animated spacescape.

The background of this image was designed as wallpaper for a web page. I soon realzed that it was far too psychedelic to be of any practical use in that capacity. After layering and shifting it a few times, it started to look interesting (kind of like a group of irradiated islands. Ok, I'm weird). I then put in the moving translucent sphere.

An attempt a creating a living stained glass window (well a digital one anyway).

It started out as a donut, then I decided to make the donut look like the sky. It got weird from there.

An attempt a a more traditional abstract piece.

Just a cool, kind of alien looking landscape.

Photoshop+too much free time. Nuff' said

Radial gradient circles against a black background. Looks like some kind of bizarre carbonated beverage.

This one started out as just the sky and the sun. I then clicked on the wrong filter and it turned the sky red, and the sun blue. It looked rather evil, so I added the Dante quote.

Once again, Photoshop+too much free time. Nuff' said

I was messing around in Photoshop, stacking layers of green ovals. I realized that the stack was beginning to look like a threaded glass tube, so I decided to see how it would look if I weaved a few of them together.

Once again, I was stacking layers in Photoshop, this time red circles. It started to look like a raft, so I put the water behind it. Then I duplicated the layer that the "raft" was on, and repositioned it next to the original. They also kind of looked like rolling dice, hence the title.

I was playing around with a 3d effect that was intended to look like buttons of various shapes. I started stacking them, and one thing led to another.

I'm a major sci-fi geek, so I like to draw spacescapes.

Yet again, Photoshop and too much free time.

A combination of Photoshop, too much free time, and watching Vampire Hunter D a few too many times.

I was going for a jewel-like effect by changing the lighting on some blue and black clouds. It ended up looking more like a pebble, so I beveled it and added some sand. Then I went a little overboard and added the silver lines and the frame.

A tribute to 80s video games.

You start playing around with enough beveled circles, eventually it's going to turn into knotwork.