CatSynth

As has become a tradition here at CatSynth, we present our end-of-year image.

[Click to enlarge.]

It was a bit of a challenge to decide what to put in, as there were so many this time. But I think these are particularly representative. And it’s also significant that it is more colorful than previous end-of-year images.

The first few days of this year were quiet and a bit dark. That changed quickly, with tumultuous events around the world, and new experiences close to home. It’s the year I finally had a photography show, and by the end of the year I had several. There were new surprising types of performances and the costumes to go with them. I deepened my connections back in New York with friends, music, art and the landscape. And I no idea what I would have the chance to participate in something like the Occupy movement . There were many sad moments as well, with the loss of friends.

In all, 2011 has been particularly rich and productive, if sometimes a bit chaotic. If one had told me at the end of 2007 or 2008 (or 2001 for that matter) that this is what life would be like now, I would have been pleasantly surprised. There is a sense, however, that the patterns of this past year are not sustainable. This will have to be part of the plan for 2012, in particular getting organized, staying healthy and trying to make good choices. We will see how that unfolds as the new year progresses…

Happy New Year and thank you for all the support and warmth from those who read these pages!

We at CatSynth attempt to wake up to the new year…slowly.  Here is our first published photo of 2011:

The theme of this weekend’s Photo Hunt is fuzzy, which is easy with Luna around.  One can easily see the fuzziness of her thick winter fur.  Cats do seem to get thicker fur in the winter…and contrary to stereotypes, we do have a winter season in California.

This may end up being about as much as we do today.

Weekend Cat Blogging #291 New Years Edition is hosted by Pam and the cats at Sidewalk Shoes.

The Photo Hunt is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is Fuzzy.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted by Nikita Cat.

And life goes on…

[Click image to enlarge.]

This is not a convenient day for the year to end.

January 1, 2010, was a calm, and truly monochromatic day, which set the initial tone for the year and the first photo I posted reflected the tone.  It was turning away from the excitement and adventures in 2009 towards a more inward and local focus on creativity and relationships…and finding a new job.  And at the end of the year, much of that remains true: more creative output, both musically and visually than ever, new friends (and deepening ties with old friends), and I did get that new job.  But the pace and energy are anything but calm.  Life has been hurtling forward at a faster and faster pace, with an ever higher density of activity and experience, and that can’t keep going forever.  There are limits.  Limits in time, in resources, and in my body.     Slowing down is not easy, and may not even be necessary, but this coming year is going to be about doing the best I can within those limits. In terms of this site, there is always the tension between experiences and writing about those experiences, and lately I have been erring on the side of experience versus writing about it.  It’s a continuous process to learn how to balance that.

Things don’t always look particularly bright when you’re in the middle of them.  This year (like most) was riddled with mistakes and failures, missed opportunities, and more.  But if, say, “2008 me” got to look ahead and see “2010 me”, he would probably be amazed at how much has changed…mostly for the better.  I saw another interesting perspective yesterday when a friend, in saying good riddance to 2010, pointed around the table and said (and I paraphrase) “your 2010 sucked”, “your 2010 sucked” and then when she pointed to me said “yours was actually pretty good”.

So tomorrow I will simply pick up where things left off today…and keep in mind the phrase from a show I saw at the beginning of the year (by Anthony Discenza), “Everything Will Probably Turn Out OK.”

So this is the time when we choose to look back on the year that has just ended.  Or in some cases, not look back.  It seems that this past year was a difficult one for a lot of people, an annus horribilis or a “year to forget.” For me, that particular title could be better applied to another year that was far more tragic and difficult.

So I feel a little at odds looking back at 2009 and seeing a really rich year, one filled with visual and personal experiences.  I actually learned a lot, about other people around the world, about myself, about what is important to me, and I think that is actually reflected on these pages in a strange way.

I expect this coming year to be more of a transitional one, though I am not exactly sure yet where that will lead.  But in the meantime, we at CatSynth will continue to do what we do…

This past year has had some great moments, such as moving to the city and the recent elections. But it was also a difficult year, not in the same way as 2007 with its many tragedies and personal challenges, but nonetheless full of things we at CatSynth would like to put behind us.

In the spirit of looking forward, here are some resolutions for the new year:

1. Write down everything. To-do lists, shopping lists, story ideas, art concepts, blog posts, reactions to things I see, books and music I want to look into, opinion pieces, random thoughts, and more.
2. Write more consistently on CatSynth. Keep up with posts, especially timely things like music and art reviews, or reactions to news events. Of course, there will always be a focus on cats and music.
3. Maintain the current schedule of at least one significant musical performance per month.
4. Have at least one visual-art (i.e., photography and graphics) show before the end of the year.
5. Join at least one additional volunteer or service program.
6. Make five new close friends within the city limits.
7. Re-make my studio into a space I want to spend my creative time in. That includes removing the clutter, and connecting everything up in a way that works.
8. Remove things I don’t want, with the goal of reducing the contents of CatSynth HQ by 10%.
9. Respond to all personal correspondence in under a week.
10. Release a second album.
11. Keep my financial decisions slightly less stupid that than those of the world at large.

This list may seem like a lot, but at the same time it is far from comprehensive if one looks back at the past year and things that could have been done better. But it’s a start. And a year from now, it will be interesting to look and see how many of these were successful, or at least still valid.

What better way to reflect upon the year than with marginally meaningful statistics?

The following table represents the frequency of tags in all 2006 articles on CatSynth.com (except for this one). Tags are either those funny words at the bottom of every post or the category names that follow the dateline at the top of every post.

With 285 distinct tags during 2006, it is rather difficult to show them all in the graph above. However, most are only used once. As can be seen in the following pie chart (hey, who doesn't love a good pie chart?), the top 15 tags account for almost 50%:

Here are the top 33 tags for 2006:

cats			85synthesizers		54news			34music			33luna			26weekend cat blogging	20worthless kitty		17kitty			17art			17wcb			14new orleans		9photography		9experimental		8electronic music	8lebanon			7modernism		7osw			6emulator x		6stats			6kitties			6e-mu			5beirut			5fun with stats		5podcast 		5jazz			4computer music		4analog			4improvisation		4open sound world	4funk			4sculpture		4mathematics		4resonance		4

Happy New Year!

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