Winter Break

Journal #1
January 1st, 2024

Productivity

This is the most productive I've felt in a long time.

So far over the break I've built this website, nearly completed the preprocessing for the pnemonia model (which I'l hopefully finish by the end of today), made several jungle beats and expanded one into a full track (just need to mix and master), applied to internships, and I've been moonlighting as the sound guy for Superstar Crush.

I was also deathly ill yesterday and now today it's almost completely cleared up. Last year I was getting sick for months at a time and I was misreble.

I imagine a big part of my productivity boost is not having any video games around and not having to cook for myself since I'm at home with my parents. There's also the fact that during the last week of exams I was not eating healthy or excersizing or really leaving the apartment at all, and the change in scenery probably triggered the change in my habits. I've also just been really excited for a chance to work on all this stuff since I've been so worried about school.

Overall this break has felt like such a weight off my shoulders. I have almost no stress and that in turn has allowed me to pursue everything I've been putting off.

Christmas

Christmas was okay this year. I only spent money on a gift for my mom, and she bought presents for my dad and sister on my behalf since I do not have much money atm (I need a job). I got a really nice record player, Depression Cherry on vinyl, Men I Trust on vinyl, and a bunch of clothes which is awesome. I think I was in a crappy mood around Christmas since I was still very worried about how I did on my exams. I was also really insecure about how I looked since I needed a haircut. It seems pretty stupid looking back but whatever. You can't control how you feel. I know it's corny but Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year, just a day where we all gave eachother presents. Despite that I'm still gratefull and still had a good time.

Superstar Crush Toronto

Superstar Crush is the band my best friends have together. They played in Toronto and I came so I could meet up with one of my good friends from Queen's. There was only one guy who worked at the venue, and since he was bartending they needed a soundguy so the band volunteered me. It's a lot of fun and the bartender said I was better than a lot of guys who went to school for it. It's good for me to feel like I have a part in the band.

Superstar Crush Hometown

The band also played in our hometown, at their elementary school. They organized the concert themselves. I was yet again called on to be the soundguy, this time with one of our other friends helping me out. For the first two bands, Iceberg and Meteor Heist, I thought the sound was great. When Superstar Crush came on things started getting out of control. There was some crazy low end resonance only in the middle of the room and so I was freaking out trying to solve it, and some random dude came to our table and stood behind us giving suggestions that were not helping. I ended up basically turning off the bass player's sound and fucking everything up until we realized that the monitors were too loud. Things started sounding better in the last couple songs but I still felt horrible. In the end though no one cared, they thought it sounded great and the concert was a huge success.

What's Happening Now?

Like I said I was super sick yesterday, and while I feel much better today I'm still recovering. I'm going to finish the preprocessing for the pnemonia detection model I'm working on, maybe apply to another internship or two, practice piano and then maybe start mixing this song? The rest of the week I should probably spend making this website and my GitHub more presentable because again, I really want an internship this summer (for the experience of course but also I need to pay rent). It would be a major bonus if I could go thrifting and find something cool since I always have bad luck with thrifting, but I have a good amount of clothes so it's okay if that doesn't happen.

And with that, I think this post is complete. If you're interested I encourage you to check out my friend's and their bands. They're all genuinely very talented.

Sam Hansell (Superstar Crush Lead Guitarist): Spotify

Meteor Heist: Spotify

Iceberg: Bandcamp

Alright that's all for now.

Goodbye!

-- Declan