{"id":4011,"date":"2014-03-25T09:59:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/?p=4011"},"modified":"2014-03-25T09:59:42","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:59:42","slug":"500-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/?p=4011","title":{"rendered":"500 and counting!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/otter-stare1-1-14.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"340\" alt=\"[IMAGE] otterly staring at me.\" \/><\/p>\n<p><font color=#4F4E81>&#8230;click to listen:<\/font><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/RealAudio\/BioplasmFast.mp3\" style=\"text-decoration:none\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/Biolplasmpg1.html\" style=\"text-decoration:none\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/moregn.jpg\"\/><font color=#4F4E81>&#8230;about the music<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><font color=#346513>Music that&#8217;s otterly fun, and very busy.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-via=\"alex_shapiro\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Well hello!<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s been a while.<br \/>\nYeah, I know, I&#8217;ve been a bit scarce around here.<br \/>\nNot my norm, as seasoned Kelphistos know! I&#8217;ve published this pixel-sonic blog for eight full years without stop [she says somewhat sheepishly as she guiltily glances at the sidebar calendar]. As I logged on to write this entry (geez, finally!), it was either ironic, or just one of those &#8220;mystical signs from the Universe&#8221; that my skeptical self prefers to chalk up to &#8220;random odds,&#8221; that the words, &#8220;500 posts&#8221;  greeted me.<\/p>\n<p>Wow. I&#8217;ve written exactly 500 posts. Since 2006.<br \/>\nWelcome to number 501.<br \/>\nNot bad for a composer chickie who just blogs in order to share all the beauty\/funny\/bizarre\/breathtaking\/mundane things that my website and Facebook don&#8217;t show you.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/rainier-sunrise12-27-13-.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Lenticular cloud on Mount Rainier at sunrise\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Okay, I admit that I did Facebook this pic of aliens landing on Mount Rainier, in all its otherworldly color one sunrise as I awoke. Sometimes I spread the fun around.<\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p> I had never before gone quite this many weeks between posts, (um, seven). Sure, entries have slowed down over the years from the initial blog-frenzy of &#8220;A New Post Nearly Every Day!!&#8221;, to, &#8220;A New Post Three Times a Week!,&#8221; to &#8220;Well&#8230; Twice a Week!&#8221; to, &#8220;How&#8217;s Once a Week Workin&#8217; for Ya?&#8221;. And finally, more recently, I joined the calm, sedate, &#8220;Blog O&#8217; The Month Club. <em>&#8220;Yessiree folks, each new month you can anticipate the joy of some weird offering from Ms. Shapiro in between all the weird offerings that people pay her to create!&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s about the right pace for me at this point in my wonderful life. Once, maybe twice a month&#8230; but always with INTENT. This is the key, for any artist.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/free_tibet-bella.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"352\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Bella\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Bella insists: Free Tibet!!. A kitty with intent.<\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So indulge me in a little reflection, at this 500 post mark.<\/p>\n<p>From time to time I&#8217;ve perused my past sillykelpyalex.com offerings, and I will unabashedly admit to you that happily, I don&#8217;t feel that I&#8217;ve totally wasted anyone&#8217;s eyeball efforts. Whether a short handout, or a longer one, there&#8217;s always something of pith and personal meaning (well, at least to me!) within these screen dots. I&#8217;m just not someone who can waste screen dots on something that&#8217;s NOT worthy on some small level. <\/p>\n<p>Much as I&#8217;ve been an early adopter of All Things Social Media and Tech, and in fact, am professionally known for mastering this happy affliction, I hereby admit: I am not now, nor have I ever been&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/alex-photo-stars-tofino.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"281\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Alex and sea stars\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;a person who can be in the intense throes of LIVING and CREATING and EXPERIENCING and BEING, while able to simultaneously post ABOUT these events, in real time.<br \/>\nNope. Not me.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I can come close, by being a sequential, serial life-liver\/poster (that reads like something from the abdominal disease ward), but almost always, it&#8217;s one,<br \/>\nand then,<br \/>\nthe other.<br \/>\nIn this case, seven weeks apart.<br \/>\nBut: with intent.<\/p>\n<p>So, what&#8217;s been riveting my monkey brain attention and thwarting my post-modern e-life? There&#8217;s been lots of travel&#8211; often every ten days I&#8217;m on a plane to somewhere else. In four months I will have been in Chicago, San Antonio, Kansas City, Kona (don&#8217;t feel sorry for me, not like you would), Vancouver, Los Angeles, and New York City&#8211; twice. And there&#8217;ve been lots of pieces being written under deadlines, and each gets the full and undivided attention of my giddy muses the moment I return to this sacred island I get to call home. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/alexhouse-storm.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"299\" alt=\"[IMAGE] home\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Sometimes my house gets a little damp. Ok, yeah, this pic made it to Facebook too.<\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s been lots of contact with the wonderful music-makers around the world who add my notes to their fantastic recipes. There&#8217;s been lots of speaking and presenting at huge conferences. There&#8217;s been lots of  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ascap.com\/press\/2014\/0305-alex-shapiro-elected-to-ascap-board.aspx\" style=\"text-decoration:none\" target=\"_blank\"><b>service to forward the work of my colleagues <\/b><\/a>  in our challenging field (and this newest appointment is a biggie). And, yes, in my still-balanced existence, there&#8217;s lots of love and an immensely happy home life.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/turkey-vulture-duo400.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"209\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Turkey Vulture couple\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Me, and Dan. You get to guess who is who.<\/em><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>500 posts, and more to come. Promise. The balance of the busy, with the blog, is achievable!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;click to listen: &#8230;about the music Music that&#8217;s otterly fun, and very busy. Tweet Well hello! It&#8217;s been a while. Yeah, I know, I&#8217;ve been a bit scarce around here. Not my norm, as seasoned Kelphistos know! I&#8217;ve published this pixel-sonic blog for eight full years without stop [she says somewhat sheepishly as she guiltily [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4050,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions\/4050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}