Dear Friends,
2007 has come and gone; and, just as many others are doing, I am reviewing this last year in an effort to cherish what good came of it and to learn from my mistakes.
We started January uncertain of our future and with many competing goals. Michelle and I started a 3 month dieting contest last January. The stakes were high and we gave our all. Both Michelle and I lost around 30 pounds in the first 3 months of 2007. I was ahead by five pounds and so won my prize of a Taylor 355 12-string guitar.
In January and February I played a few shows at local coffee houses. I soon decided it was more trouble than it was worth. Also, Michelle decided at this time that she wanted to go to grad-school in England. We began making preparations and severing various ties in the area. January also brought the creation of my first moderately long stop-action animation to Tom Adamson's "House of Cards". You can view it on revver here:
http://revver.com/video/285508/affiliate/91058/house-of-cards/
In February, my grandmother passed. It was a time of reunion with my family and a time of reflection and grief.
In March I decided to change my musical direction and sold my first guitar on E-bay. I also continued to collaborate with Sam T of Ebolaworld on his Dubya-Doo series (
http://ebolaworld.com/flashpage.php?series=dubya&episode=02 )
April was a turbulent month, as I remember. I resigned from my job and Michelle and I were unsure about our futures. I created a few small things (mainly jewelry).
In May, Michelle got a great job as the office manager for a civil engineering firm in Kalamazoo. She decided to work for a couple years before going back to school for her masters. This led to my decision to re-enroll in college and finish an undergraduate degree.
In June, The Automatic Rhythm Section began recording their latest album. The session was great and the work I did at home mixing and mastering was fulfilling as well. It was great working with Barry Funderberg as an engineer again. Also, Jake Miller of Islands in the Sky (
http://www.myspace.com/islandsinthesky ) added a lot of sauce to the tracks and was all around a great guy to work with.
The summer brought the creation of my "live for the internet" final concert which I posted song by song on revver (
http://revver.com/u/danielml/ ). I also helped with yet another Dubya-Doo in July (
http://ebolaworld.com/flashpage.php?series=dubya&episode=03 ).
In August I did various web-design work for a couple clients and began gearing up for school at WMU (majoring in Literature, minoring in Music). Final touches were put on The Automatic Rhythm Section CD which was released in September (
http://danielml.com/index.php?pg=music&item=mus011 ). I turned 29 in August and began contemplating the quickly approaching three-zero.
September thru December was all about school. What a trip. I worked very hard and was more studious than I've ever been before. Unfortunately, this meant I had to cut back on a lot of things. I dropped my web design clients and put all personal projects on hold. I made the difficult decision of not taking any commissioned work until May of 2009. I studied hard, attended all my classes, took notes, read the assigned reading and completed all my homework on time. I ended the semester with straight A's and some budding friendships with classmates and teachers. Not bad for an "old guy". :D I am looking forward to the next few semesters where hopefully I can pull 4 consecutive "repeat performances". I will try to do my very best until I graduate.
I may try to squeeze in a few personal projects this next semester and definitely over the easier summer terms. I would like to do some small thing every week; music, writing or art – but we'll see how that goes. I also would like to re-instate my monthly newsletter. Again, I'm very focused on getting my bachelor's degree, so updates may be spotty in the next year.
I hope 2007 has brought all of you many blessings and that 2008 will bring even more.
With Best Wishes,
Daniel
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