Makin' mistakes.

When you're part of a community that revolves around a single band, and that band's been going for over two decades, you're bound to run into posts like this:

Some folks are just going to be that way. You can agree with it, disagree with it, whatever. What you don't expect, however, is for someone from the band itself to personally respond:

How about that? Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Travis! That's sure to get some conversation going. Let's read on.

Huh? Okay, that's weird. I don't think anyone in this thread mentioned Billy specifically ..... did they? Maybe I'm just blind as a bat, I combed the thread a few times and don't recall seeing anything of that nature. That's an unusually specific point to address in thi—

Wait. If Travis is a member of this group, then he's probably not just reading this one post. Of course, he's a busy dude, he's not spending all his time on the internet, but I assume he keeps tabs. So that means that very quite possibly, he's read a few other recent posts ..... including one that said something pretty close to what he describes in his comment—something along the lines of:

Oh, heeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Now, I could be imagining things here. For one thing, to assume that that second remark was leveled at me and/or something I said says some less-than-flattering things about me: it makes it look like I have a pretty high opinion of my own negligible influence, and it betrays the unattractive paranoia of self-absorption. Nevertheless, whether it was aimed at me or not, I think it's safe to consider my face well and duly egged.

But hey, that's part of the mission I signed up here for. Work things out on the screen, learn lessons along the way. I thought they'd be more related to the craft, but this is just as valuable, if not more so. With the fresh perspective, I can see that what I said was rather gauche. Not only is it easy (and tempting) to play armchair quarterback, but when you've been listening to a band and closely tracking their ups and downs for 13 years, you might convince yourself you know more than you actually do about their inner workings. I'd say I overstepped some boundary with what I said. How on earth can I presume to know what those guys are actually feeling? I used to work with a guy who was a theater major, but profiled people as if he was a psychology major, and he annoyed the crap out of me. In future I'll stick to what I see at face value and try not to get too carried away with reading things into the narrative that may not be there. As the commercial says: you live, you learn, and you get Luvs.

Keep it greasy, friends.

A Single Step

Hello, person! If you're reading this, you're on the ground floor of Cheese and Pixels, the little corner of the internet I plan on using to quietly hone my craft. And this elevator ONLY GOES UP oh my god this is already terrible

Anyway, my aim is to talk mostly about... well, mostly about video games and music, is what I would guess at the outset, since those are generally the things that light up my brain and make me responsive in a longform kind of way. That's where the title comes from—the cheese part, from the String Cheese Incident (my favorite band—probably going to be a looooooot of jam band talk on here, not gonna lie), and of course pixels → video games. In a more general sense, just whatever's on my mind, unless it's political, I prefer to keep that to myself.

As for why now: I got psyched up after a poetry/novel reading I attended with my wife for one of her college classes, and I remembered, "Oh yeah, I like writing and I like to think I'm pretty okay at it, and those guys reminded me how awesome it can be when it's really good." I've actually had this page for a while, though I'll give a dollar to anyone who remembers anything that used to be posted here before this[1], but now I feel the time is right and I'm diving in.

I can tell I haven't exercised these muscles in a while because this took like two hours to write and I'm exhausted now. So I'm going to wrap it up with my one exhortation: if you don't read what I write, and/or you don't like or care about what you read, then at least think of someone you think might and tell them about it. Bookmark it, spread the word, talk me up to your friends and family and coworkers and connections with venture capital. I promise to at least try to entertain you and put some insight out there that someone might consider worth reading.


—Jess

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[1] Not really.