In other news, I have, in the last several days, wrote and recorded a nifty piece of music and wrote a nifty piece of poetry (I have a bunch, which I've written spur-of-the-moment fashion at work).

Here's the music:
Test Pattern

I'll try to post the poem soon.

lesson learned

I formally quit smoking two years ago.

Since then, I've smoked a number of times. I did earlier tonight.

This is wrong and disgusting, but not as much as this: I've maintained that I haven't, even when asked point-blank. In other words, I've lied.

Being a liar is worse than being a smoker. Smoking just destroys your voice and lungs as it slowly kills you; lying destroys your credibility without taking a single minute off your life expectancy, so you get to live with your shame that much longer. Unless someone decides to get even by putting a few slugs through your crop.

So I've resolved never to do either again; and if I fail and smoke, I will not lie about it, but rather be straightforward and tell the truth. And on the outside chance that something--anything--might compel me to be dishonest, I will confess that too.

This smoking thing is an exception. I suppose I reacted like a three year old with his hand in the mayonnaise jar--I was afraid of punishment. But I realize now that the punishment for lying is much more severe and long-lasting. I'm being honest from now on. I promise.

I have a very special person to thank for setting me straight. She knows who she is. I love her very much.

Good shit, bad shit, it all looks like shit to me

Okay, first off, I don't get why I need to hit Back and Forwards in my browser so that I can get my cursor in the compose window.

Things seem to have cooled off at work. In fact, I've pushed my design into pleasingly unexplored directions, which made everyone smile. Now, the challenge is to stay on top of that pedestal. To do that, it'd probably help if I got enough sleep every night. Another result of this brouhaha is that I'm even more pumped than ever about freelancing, because I know I can do awesome shit if I just try.

I've also been trying to play with n-Track, with mixed results. Digital recording is great if you can just get it to work correctly and keep working correctly. I got far enough to record an insipid partial cover of an old Asteroid No. 4 single. It's a start. More later; the floor is hard, and my ass hurts.