Noisevember Reflection

Noisevember was a failure. That's just the reality. After such a successful October with the Rocktober-Inktober double pivot, hopes were high that Noisevember would be an exciting month as well. And while November wasn't a bad month as far as months go, Noisevember had terrible execution in its implementation. I am not too big to admit it. The gimmick just didn't pay off. As the old saying goes: "you win some, you lose some." Balance.

The thing I've learned over the last few months on the road trip of life © is that our the road trip of life ©s are made up of both victories and defeats. You shouldn't ignore stretches of highway that are bumpy or under construction. They are all part of the journey--the refreshing scenic vistas and the congested smog-infused concrete jungles. For example, without the time I spent in jail (a failure), where would I be today? Low points can be high points, or at the very least help set us up for reaching the high points ahead. And when there's this much road stretching out before you*, there's no time to get too hung up looking in the rearview mirror.

Adventure awaits.

-Frank

*I estimate a minimum of 82 more years for me personally.

Time is...

Time is cyclical, in a way. Of course, it's linear (as we perceive it), but there is also a cyclical nature that we can perceive. We're approaching December again is what I mean. And while it's a different December, it's also still December. 31 days, winter (for part of the world), holidays, end of the calendar year. The list goes on. ..

There is a sense of finality to December--the last chapter of each year. The beginning of something new.

-Frank

I like to buy things online

So sue me. I like buying things online! You might remember, I previously shared "6 reasons I am totally addicted to online shopping" (you can check out that post here), but I never directly said I liked it, just that I was totally addicted!

I will admit, my original 6 reasons... 7 months later, they all hold up.

I like that you can do it from anywhere. I like that you can do it on anything. I like the anticipation. I like the absolute mystery. I like that every box that's it opened by someone was also packaged by someone. I like supporting the boys in blue. 

I've got 8 different packages en route to my location as we speak. The logistics are enough to salivate over. UPS, FedEx, DHL, and, most importantly, USPS. All working together seamlessly. A flowing, enchanting choreography. A great dance.

These packages are all out there, flowing through the very veins of humanity's greatest achievement. Their origins are diverse--as scattered as the stars--and I am their shared destination. I am the center of a great web. 

Cherish your packages, my friends. They have made a great journey to be with you. And you can never be sure what you may find...

-Frank

Volume 1, Issue 2 deadline

Tomorrow is the final day to get in any articles or art pieces for Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2. This is your last reminder! It's as easy as emailing your submission to frankdotcom.webmail@gmail.com! Any additional instruction/information will be communicated to you if necessary. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I think you guys are really going to enjoy this issue. In my humble opinion it is the best one yet, and that's before taking into account any other submissions that are floating around out there. We are in the final stretch.

Can you guys feel the excitment? It's palpable!

-Frank

Hahahahahahahahhahaahahhahaha

Was just reflecting on the past year (something we will be doing a lot of in the coming weeks with our one year anniversary approaching) and I started thinking about bitcoin. 

Remember bitcoin? I had forgotten about it. If you remember the last time I remembered bitcoin I said the bottom was going to absolutely fall out. 

Guess what...

It's at $3,736.66 USD. Haha.

I know many investors and east coast hipsters lost their jobs and homes and families over this, but you just have to laugh. It's either that or cry. 

Forgive me for my dark humor, but it does feel good to know I've still got it--even though I stepped away from the big business world. It feels good to be right.

-Frank

Honesty

Honesty is a good policy, which is why I am going to be honest with you, my loyal readers. I did not post yesterday. I have been pacing back and forth and nearly ripping out all my hair wondering and wandering.

I have been going through Noisevember with an anxiety. This anxiety is connected to the fact that a few of my bands sent out demo tapes to music producers and record companies in the last week of Rocktober/Inktober and the first week of Noisevember. (The demos were for the bands Saints and Spiders and As the Stone Flies in particular, but I did mention to the various producers and record companies that these band names are not yet definitive and could still change.) Long story short, I hadn't heard anything back about these demos I sent out. Not even an email saying: "Hello! Thank you for your demos. At this time we aren't interested in representing you, but we appreciate what you have created and the effort you took to reach out to us. Keep creating. Love, [name], representative of [x company]." I received nothing of the sort. I received silence.

Hearing nothing hurt. I thought about how I would rather celebrate NOvember than No-Noisevember. But apparently I didn't get the memo about No-Noisevember (since I got the silence treatment).

Then I realized something else... I remembered the allegory of the spider in the cell, and I had an epiphany that, in this instance, I had created my own cell. These music demos; this desire for a record deal; this nervousness about big labels liking my music--I had shackled myself.

Now I say this: forget about the noise, forget about the lack of noise. Put that aside. Did we not just celebrate all the incredible things for which to be thankful? We've got a digital zine to enjoy and a year of blogging to reflect on--the ups and the downs. This is our the road trip of life ©. Are we going to sit stagnant in the car, out of gas? Or get out and push.

Settle in and enjoy the scenery.

-Frank

Rebecca Black Friday

Just made the realization shared with the title of this post. Hm. Some would say it's a mere coincidence, but I am more liable to think it's something more. Connect the dots, and you see that Rebecca Black's "Friday" is actually a song about the crazy bustle and hustle of post-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping. It's about how noisy, loud it is on this"holiday" of consumerism. Maybe we've got it wrong.

Something to think about.

-Frank

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. Here are a few of the things for which we at Frank's New Blog are thankful:

- Our loyal readers
- Friends from the past and present (and future)
- Our health
- Creativity
- Fellow passengers and other travelers on our the road trip of life (c)
- Rocks and strong foundations
- Jumping jacks (aka jumjaxTM)
- Cool Things
- Daisey Ridley, Natalie Portman, Kate Beckinsale, Emily Blunt, Ryan Gosling, Evangeline Lilly, and Amy Adams and Rachel McAdams
- Our memories
- The potential for time travel
- Big business and small business
- Wikipedia
- Second, third, and further chances
- The allegory of the spider in the cell

These are just a few of the things for which we here at FNB are thankful. 

Last but not least, thank you, and happy Thanksgiving.

-Frank (sched.)

Turkey Time

You probably are aware that tomorrow is Thanksgiving--a day people in the US celebrate with family and friends. I'll be heading out of town for the holiday, but will still make time to share some of the things we at Frank's New Blog are thankful to have on our the road trip of life (c). 

Keep in mind list will be limited to only some of the things. Otherwise we'd be here a while, ha ha.

-Frank

Deadline Approaching

There are 8 days remaining to send in your submissions for Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2. Please email your submission to frankdotcom.webmail@gmail.com. Many formats accepted, including articles, art, etc. Feel free to be creative; or, at the very least, excited. The second issue will be published on December 5th, the one year anniversary of FNB.

If you have any questions feel free to comment below or send them to the email listed above. Thank you.

As of the writing of this blog post, the FNB tech support team hasn't had the chance to correct the presumed embedding error on the second album of Noisevember. Thank you for your continued patience. This is a situation where I wish I had a time machine and could go forward a few days and listen to the album. You can guarantee I'm making noise about this situation.

See you soon.

-Frank

Album Issue

We have been made aware of a playback issue occurring with tracks from our recent album. It is currently uncertain if the problem is on the "embed" or "upload" side, but rest assured our highly skilled team is working diligently to solve this issue.

Thank you for your patience during this time. We will keep you updated on the situation and be sure to let you know when a fix has been applied.

Yours truly,
-Frank

Cool Thing 47 / Noisevember Album 2

After a week off with illness, here's the next volume.

COOL THING 46:

A great album of tracks, titled Everyday Sounds, just for you. I haven't decided on a band name for this yet, but I was thinking maybe "Just Your Standard Guys" or "Nothing Special." 

Enjoy.

01. Alarm Clock

Time to get up. That's a familiar sound.

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02. Cereal

Wouldn't want to miss the most important meal of the day, now would we.

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03. Birds Chirping

It's going to be a good one. It certainly is.

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04. Truck Reversing

Watch out! Good morning. Wonder what the neighbor is having delivered.

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05. TV

Just flipping channels. A lot of stuff on this time of day.

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06. Dryer

The clothes are wet, and that's no good. You can't wear wet clothes, or you will get sick!

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*This concludes the album*

There are now 47/52 cool things created in 2018. There are now 5 remaining Cool Things for your viewing, listening, reading, pleasure.

Keep enjoying sounds, everyone.

-Frank (sched.)

Pizza Time

There are multiple pizza times, as I am sure you are all aware. I will list them just to make sure everyone is on the same page:

1. Breakfast 'za Time

Often eaten cold, and usually a leftover as pizzerias haven't fired up their ovens yet.

2. Brizza (brunch pizza) Time

This one flies under the radar usually, but it is definitely a thing. The best kept secret of the Brizza.

3. Lunch Pizza Time

You get a mix of leftover and fresh 'za during this pizza time. Pizzeria's normally start to fire up their pizza ovens.

4. Late Lunch Pizza Time

While technically lunch, it is falling on the back end. It's a late lunch.

5. Pizza Snack Time

You get hungry between lunch and dinner, so you go for a slice or two. Pretty self explanatory.

5. Dinner Time Pizza

Prime time. All pizzerias are operational during this time--dine in, carry-out, delivery, home kitchen.

6. Late Night Pizza Time

For the night owls. If you are lucky your geographical region will have a pizzeria open. If not, home cooked pies are still, definitely, pizza!

I'm in the mood for some late night pizza myself, so I'm going to chow down. I am lucky that there is a regional pizzeria open, so you can bet they will be receiving my carry-out business. It's Late Night Pizza Time.

Also, I was looking at this list and I can't help but notice that there is a lack of pizzerias whom serve the breakfast and brunch cliental. Might have to make an investment or, at the very least, raise awareness.

-Frank

Illness Defeated

Great work everyone! Happy to announce the illness is officially beaten. Why yes, it is a Friday miracle! Leave it to Fridays to totally rock! I think it was the combination of the charged anti-bodies, long sleep hours, and cold medicine. The old 1-2-3 combo! Will definitely break this one out the next time I get sick...if there is a next time.

Really excited about this great success, and now feeling good to take on the rest of the weekend. That's what we in the business call very good timing. 

Speaking of good timing, a reminder that submissions to Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2 need to be in by the 28th (a Wednesday, and the 1 week marker before FNB's 1 year anniversary). 
You can send them to frankdotcom.webmail@gmail.com. They can be submissions in any form: art, articles, etc. Any questions? Just ask!

-Frank

Disregard

My loyal readers,

Please disregard all advice posted over the last few days in relation to defeating illness. The advice is still good advice on a few levels, so you don't have to throw it out entirely; however, you should definitely frame it differently. In particular, take them instead as lifestyle recommendations and not as a solution to illness. They are ways to help your body build defenses, not wage wars. They are meant for times of peace and harmony.

Allow me to explain my experience. Yesterday I went through the multistep process previously laid out for liberating your body from illness. I went through the process 1, 2, 3, 4, and was showered and prepared to start the 5th cycle (I was still sick). I laid down for a single moment and immediately drifted off to sleep. Bare in mind, this was at 5 PM local time. When I woke up, it was 4 PM local time the next day (today).

It goes without saying: that's a very long sleep cycle. So long, in fact, that I missed multiple meals and a blog post updating you on my illness. Be wary: the multistep counter-illness process will wipe you out. I can only assume this is because it supercharged my body's defenses and, in doing so, put the rest of my body into a low power state while it battled on my behalf. Action takes energy, and every action has a reaction. (This is merely a hypothesis for what happened until I have the chance to share my findings with a medical professional.)

Anyway, I woke up and I feel much better now. Still a little sick, but I decided I would just take some cold medicine instead.

-Frank

Almost

I can tell the sickness is definitely starting to melt away. I must admit, after the 3rd set of jumping jacks yesterday I did stop the cycle. I only I took 2 showers and technically failed step 4 (and 3 by admitting I'm still a little sick), but I was still so full that I couldn't eat another breakfast. Besides, my antibodies were definitely pumped up and super charged. all that remains now is a runny nose and the cough. They won't last long, especially with me keeping up this pro-body regimen.

Need to trust the process.

-Frank

Antibodies; Pro-body

I am still sickly, so I have decided to pump my antibodies by approaching the rest of the week at a no nonsense level of aggression. Starting tomorrow, I will be 110% "pro-body" by supercharging my antibodies to bring an end to this illness, especially the cough. That's right, it's time to jumpstart my body into good health. Here's how we are going to do it: 

1. A Healthy Regimen of Jumjax™

The king of all exercises will be just the thing to get our blood pumping and our antibodies ionized with positive energy. As our blood pumps faster through our veins, the energy levels will increase 10 or 20 fold via the incredible heat transfer. I must admit, I haven't been doing my jumjax™ lately. (This is probably part of how I became sick. My defenses were weakened enough for the virus to move in.) It's time to step up, no nonsense.

2. A Balanced Breakfast

After doing all those jumjax™, my body will be searching for more fuel--that's where a balanced breakfast comes in. With a special focus on adding massive quantities of Vitamin C and Protein (the 1-2 punch), it'll be lights out for this sickness, and the cough won't stand a chance.

3. Mind over Matter

We will not be sick tomorrow. We will not, and that is just the truth.

4. Rinse and Repeat.

The essential 2R. If, by some miracle, we are still sick after the above 3 steps are completed, it's time to hop in the shower and start back at number 1. This will be done as many times as is necessary to get my antibodies ready for battle.

Tomorrow is liberation day.

-Frank

Got me down

This sinus sickness has really got me down. I'm sniffling and snuffing and huffing and heaving. And all that is without even mentioning the cough. 

What I'm trying to say is I'm going to have to take the proverbial "rain check" for the Noisevember album that was meant to be released today. I am very worn out from this sickness and haven't taken the time to source and export the tracks, but don't worry--I will still be releasing all four (of which one has already been released) Noisevember albums.

Still looking for tips and tricks to defeat sickness. I've tried tea. I've tried cough drops. I've tried sleeping. I've tried hot water. I've tried hot cocoa. I've tried breathing in steam. I've tried eating honey peanut butter.

Hoping to see some results out here.

-Frank

Sick

I don't mean the good kind of sick (like "that's sick"--aka cool). I mean sick as in runny noise, scratchy throat, dry eyes, hoarse voice, and the coughing. It's been building over the last few days, and now I'm really in the thick of it.

It's really getting on my nerves, the coughing.

I've even been following all the essential tips, like drinking water and obtaining vitamin C and sleeping and drinking hot liquids and sucking on throat lozenges! What more can I do!?

Frustrated. Out of ideas. Will keep you updated.

-Frank

Friday French Five

"French" Things, Ranked:

5. Braids

4. Bread

3. Doors

2. Toast 

1. Fries 

This is objective. (Ranking based on equal footing, ie items compared on similar tiers--the best french fries against the best french doors; the worst french toast against the worst french bread, etc.)

How'd we do?

-Frank

Leaves

Somebody has got to pick them up.

Or do they. .. 

They are called "leaves" after all, as in "I will leave them right there, thank you very much."

Just a little joke.

-Frank

The Thing I've Noticed Most

So it's Noisevember, as you are all aware, but, interestingly, the thing that has stood out to me during this first week isn't just the incredible amount of noise that we encounter in our day to day lives; it's also the silence.

Silence is a big part of noise. Silence can be thought of a few ways... most people--myself included--normally think of silence as the absence of noise. I've been paying extra attention to noises this month, and so far, I've noticed that, firstly, silences are not devoid of noise. There always seem to be noises going on even in the quiet moments. Finally, I've noticed silences can be loud. I think you know what I mean, but to make myself more clear, the weight present in some silences is deafening.

My point is this: silence is more than lack of sound. More aptly, you might say silence is tranquility. You can find silence in places ripe with noise just as much as noise dampened chambers.

Something to think about.

-Frank

Less than one month!

Wow! It has been a long time coming, but we are almost to the 1 year anniversary of Frank's New Blog. You can guarantee there will be a big event for such an occasion. There will be a celebration, and there will be Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2! (I know people have been clamoring for that ever since the first issue released 5 months ago.) Speaking of the 'zine, if you have a submission for Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2, be sure to submit it via email before November 28th. All types of submissions are accepted! Articles, letters, drawings, commentaries... Get creative! Submissions can be sent to frankdotcom.webmail@gmail.com. Once your submission is received, our team will email you with any further instructions, or, if all is squared away, to inform you your submission will be published as a part of Frank's New Blog's Digital Zine: Volume 1, Issue 2. Questions? Comments? Don't hesitate to reach out in the comments below or via frankdotcom.webmail@gmail.com.

We've really been through some incredible things together... Wait! Let's not reminisce too early. We're not there yet. Patience.

-Frank

Big day tomorrow

Dear my loyal readers who reside in the U.S.,

Don't forget to vote tomorrow. Voting is important. Without voting, we get things like Inktober. These are things that are ok, but arguably not very well thought out. Inktober?! Ink!?! Yes, I still can't believe how poorly it fits with the month's actual name (October). At least things like Rocktober and Noisevember share more similarities with the names of the months in which they occur. Even if you don't appreciate these unique celebrations, you have to respect them and their levels of creativity.

I must admit, you can end up with "things that are ok, but arguably not very well thought out" when you vote as well. You can also get bad things when you vote. But then if you ever complain it's an empty complaint since you didn't vote to influence the outcome. 

Chose the freedom to complain. Choose voting.

-Frank

Cool Thing 46 / Noisevember Album 1

Some good sounds for you to hear here.

COOL THING 46:

Pow! The first Sunday of Noisevember is upon us! Please enjoy this album of tracks specially made for this occasion. 

This album is titled Weekly Survey. It's an instrumental album from the band "The Geological Society of the Lower Northwest." There are 8 tracks on this nifty little album.

01. Canyon

 

The sun is setting. A brilliant orange hue covers the rocky landscape. It is almost otherworldly, but it is certainly majestic. Observe as the long shadows begin creeping over the canyon.

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02. River Bottom

The bottom of a river is a mucky place. The current flows on: shifting the landscape, bringing new visitors, and unearthing things from the depths. Rocks and debris constantly shift the current's path, and are shifted by it. An interesting dynamic.

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03. Peaks

Snow capped mountains reach to the heavens. They stand as the noble guardians of the valley below.

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04. Rock Slide

It's a rock slide! Toss and tumble, rough and rumble! Run! RUN!

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05. Biking on a Cobblestone Road on a Beautiful Summer Day

The wind is in your hair, the sun is on your skin. Breathe in the fresh air! You're being bounced along as you bike down a cobblestone road. Birds are perched in the fruit trees to your right, letting out cheery little tunes. The berry bushes are absolutely bursting with berries! You grab a handful as you ride along, popping them in your mouth as you are jostled by the cobblestones below.

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06. Rocky Shore

The secluded cove has a rocky shore. Seabirds swirl overhead. The waves crash against the rocks. Over and over. Crash. Crash. And over. The rocks are pummeled without reprieve. These are their lamentations.

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07. Mossy Rock in a Clearing

Just as the song name suggests, there is a mossy rock in a clearing. Little critters go about their lives, unaware of and without a care for the slumbering rock they scamper across.

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08. (Walking down the Sidewalk) Kicking Rocks

You're walking along and you're kicking rocks. 

Just for fun.

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*This concludes the album*

There are now 46/52 cool things created in 2018. There are now 6 remaining Cool Things for your viewing, listening, reading, pleasure.

Hear, hear!

-Frank (sched.)