GROWING PAIN'S - THE CURSE !

Sorry to hear about all you aches and pains James.

Here's hoping the heart is OK.

Tennis elbow, stiff joints & colds are trivial crap that most of us have to put up with.

But your heart is a different matter. No matter what the doctors recommend - make sure you abide by it!

I've been hypertensive for about 6/7 years now - 2 tablets a day for the rest of my life.
I've been Type II diabetic for about the same period, this means an additional FIVE pills a day for the rest of my life
Then there's the gout, the tinnitus, the aching shoulder (physio required)

It's all part of growing old my friend - I just consider myself lucky enough to have got this far and still able to tell the tale (58 next birthday)

I think I've said this before.  A doctor once told me:  "Getting old isn't for wimps."  

I'm reminded how true that is every day. 

Good luck with your ultrasound and your health in general. 

James,
I genuinely pray you overcome your heart issues.  That is a serious matter and I know a lot of people lately who have been having heart problems in my "circle" of friends at work, church and here on the forums.  fortunately, tho, medicine technology has improved vastly in the last 20 years especially in regards to heart health.

It's almost common place now for doctors to be able to treat heart conditions and the patient be able to live a full healthy life - much longer than they would have 20 years ago.  Stints and Angioplasty are much easier to perform and much more durable and sturdy than they used to be.

success rate for heart surgery is significantly improved!

aches and pains - yeah.  hate 'em.  we all get 'em as we get older.  the best thing you can do is try to eat right and get some daily exercise and do what the doctor says.

now.....................

I hope I don't regret this...

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regarding your songs and posting on the songs forum and not getting a lot of replies...

James I have twice now refused to respond to you in the songs forum when you post songs for review.  The first time I started responding to you, you chewed me out for making negative comments and "hating" your music.  that truly was not the case.  I did give you clear constructive criticism and it was not all "praise" and "worship" of your music, tho I did (as I always try to) state a comment or two of what I did like about your music.  you chose to focus on what you perceived as an attack on you and your music even tho I was only trying to help.

After a while, your music was getting better and you were seeming to "chill out" a little about getting constructive comments, so I tried again.  and AGAIN you blasted me with negativity and could not believe how much I hated you and your music.  and all I did was give you some constructive comments on how you might make it better along with a little praise of things I liked (but I did not simply praise everything about it).

So twice I have vowed never to comment on your music again and since the 2nd time I was burned for it, I refused to even listen to your music any more.

I was not the only one you posted hateful replies to, so I don't think you were just hating me personally.  You can't take constructive criticism.  You take it personally and think that others are attacking you instead of offering you honest helpful advice.  You become vindictive and post hateful retribution back at those trying to help (remember the number of chords fiasco?).

based on the fact that you cannot accept constructive criticism I have not listened to a single one of your songs since then.  And that's probably been for the last 4 or 5 years.  I would also believe that I am not the only one who has boycotted your music because of the same reason (in fact I'm sure of it, but I won't speak for other individuals).

The last time I tried to talk to you about the difference between constructive criticism and negatively hating your music and you, it did not go well.  You still lashed back at me like I was the devil in blue jeans behind a computer terminal just waiting to tell you how awful you and your music are.

which is the farthest thing from the truth.

I was honestly trying to offer constructive criticism and that's all I have ever tried to do.  The way you take it personally has turned myself and many others off from responding to you.

so bottom line - I believe the reason you are not getting a lot of people responding to your music is because you yell at them if they say anything other than the highest praise of your work.

you may have changed in the last 4 years, I don't know.  and I don't know because I haven't read your music posts nor have I listened to any of your music since I was burned twice and refuse to be burned a third time.

I sincerely wish you the best with your music and I hope you are getting what you need from it.  But based on your past, there's no way I'll listen to it again or comment on it.  I'm sorry.  but that's the way it is.

guitarmikeh


Man, I totally understand. my body if falling apart too.
it sucks to get old, even when you relatively young.

But what do you think of his music?

Hi,

Yeah ... 61 ... and all that ... but having more fun today, even with a couple of aches and pains and what not, than I ever did. I can not play tennis at the competitive level that I used to that had me ranked around 4.5 or so ... but what the heck ... I'm in one piece, and I can still go to a concert and love it to death!

If there is a good thing, and I can not ascertain that it is good or bad, it is that I never married, or had a relationship that went 10, 15, 20 years ... be it that I'm a loner, a writer, or whatever, in the end, I have always been a very quiet inner person that spent a lot of time working on his own expression in writing and other arts.

Will it ever come to anything? I don't know, and for me, the "result" is not the end goal ... and it never has been ... I have always appreciated the process and the work of it all a lot more than the "result". A lot of folks tend to consider themselves professional because they have 74 1/2 songs in their list that they wrote ... heck, I have 130 poems, 6 short stories, 3 screenplays, 2 novels (and working on 3 more!), 4 plays ... and I am not here to call myself a "professional" ... because in the end, the best "professionals" I ever met, were the nicest people you could imagine, they did not have any "star" hairs in them, and they did not go around asking people to kiss their hinies.

For me, it was about knowing, understanding and appreciating ... the "process" ... rather than the result. The results change way too much, and you will even find esoteric, bizarre, off the wall details of things you did, that never come off right ... and in the end, that bit of detail is not as important as your ability to have "done it" and now "knowing" how to do it again and again as needed.

However, I imagine this is VERY different if someone is trying to get attention, responses, or get some acceptance for their work. In general, my experience has been that when that happens, you are always at the mercy of comments, that never sound right, like Beagle's or anyone else's -- even when their intention is helpful beyond measure -- but we can't see it!

There is one thing that I absolutely enjoy more than anything else at my age ... and it is unequivocally important and one of the prettiest things on the face of this universe ... a smile!