Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Getting Stupider and Stupider....

Because of the imperial to metric conversion and our rising dollar no doubt.

Our dollar is too now!

You gotta keep that brain limber hoss! Use it or lose it.

I met a very famous songwriter/producer named Jerry not too long ago (when he was living here in Atlanta) and I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon at his home studio. He was so sharp and vibrant. Still gets up everyday and works harder than most people a third his age!

Best of all, he still creates and listens to music with incredible passion. He's also witty, hilarious and quite profane. Chain smokes freaking filter-less cigarettes and has a beautiful wife a lot younger than him. Of course, he is filthy rich. I bet that helps a bit with the quality-of-life-living thang.

I truly felt like I was the old man in his presence!

But he inspired me immensely. If he can muster such wide eyed wonder and enthusiasm at his age, what the hell do I have to bitch and moan about? I'm only 48! I'm just starting to grow up.

You have to have passion. I realize that life has a way of kicking the $hit out of you though. I also realize that I'm very lucky that I do what I love for a living. Most people do not have that luxury. So I will work until I drop dead or can't. The idea of retiring sounds ludicrous to me. That would be death in my world!

It's getting harder to focus attention in a world that is becoming fast, shallow and overstimulating (in all the wrong ways).

Listening to music (really listening) is a luxury these days.

Learn to unwind and relax. Yoga, wine, herb, meditation, etc. Whatever works for you.

As much as I love material things, they are useless without friends, family and love. These things are essential to a healthy lifestyle.

And so is music, woodworking, cooking or whatever. I think the act of creation (whatever your "medium" may be) is divine.

And always keep reading and learning.

I think the moment you stop learning is the moment your brain starts to atrophy.

Ditto, like, totally.

Indeed. And if you don't put your attention to "hot" topics, you feel behind. Even if you're learning incredibly.

I think there's a very interesting correlation between the compression of music albums and our newly "compressed culture."

Compressing music takes the dynamics out -- drums become muted, other sounds are more emphasized. Nuance, attention, depth, detail, and subtlety all get lost. So they are right now in a mass-marketed culture.

Enjoying a well-recorded album may be the best reminder of the truest form of human expression, focus, and interpretation. It is for me!

The moment you stop learning, you start dying.

Lolz. That's me in the recording studio!

Mark, I'm seriously envious of your woodworking endeavors. I would love to learn that beautiful art. I can see that being a great way to unwind.

Building and creating stuff is such positive energy.

If society ever fails, your skills will be much more practical and useful than mine, that's for sure!

One other thing, if you can unplug (for a bit) from corporate media, I think that will really help to un-clutter your brain meats.

And as much as I loves the internet, it's also a time wasting, brain numbing pursuit if you don't take a break every once in a while (as he types on an internet forum).

Thanks John! I have a few freinds who also like to play, but as with anything nowadays, time is difficult to find.

Mark, buy yourself and Joyce a couple of nice bicycles and do some riding this year, aside from clearing your mind, it's relaxing, enjoyable and doesn't feel like excercise although it is. Take Buddy with you too!

Actually, going through the dying process is quite educational.



Unless you get hit by a bus or are shot in the head and die instantly. Then you learn nothing.