Happiness.
I was about to climb over the rocks this morning to find my little corner on the Bosphorus to warm up and sing…so funny…and the folks that run this digital nomad hotel texted me at that moment because I asked them if there was somewhere I could sing. Perfect timing. They took me up to the roof which is under construction. We did a sound test — they went to various places in the building to listen and I went to a couple of different rooms, just windows, to “sing at maximum.” And it looks like it’s going to work out! Over barbed wire, lol, they’re cleaning it out in the next couple of days for me. It’s totally fine, not messy or dirty, it’s clean and bright, just under construction, but getting there. Windows. They said they might come up and listen to me. I’m working on the — yes, please do, let me invite you in.
Even just singing up there, no warm-up, my voice is clearer, stronger, and it feels so good, so me, so free — to have that back because I guess I really loved it.
I sound great, actually, you know, that’s encouraging to feel. Just thinking back. I wrestled with the past when I started writing about it. I ended up in the hospital for a day…confused as to what happened back there…you see, I got out and came into my apartment like “no, no,” almost like an arrival. I opened up my windows like no, just please, where have I been? I sang. I sang out my windows. Just like, did I want to do this? Okay. I hadn’t opened my mouth in many years. Why? Why? So, that was the start. A couple of years ago. Now, here I am.
That was tough, I guess, in the beginning, because I’m not twenty, and I worked out a lot, so “what was I doing?” I had that question, even if there’s no point in looking back, I settled all that, so I went through that moment. Taking a deep breath. I can enjoy myself, you know, more and more, and ask around, see if I can go find a place to connect with people by singing. I’m freer and freer. I never even explored what I could do which I can now. I can do that.
In the light, a beautiful day today, things open up. It’s always wonderful to get little gifts from the universe. It’s small, you know, climbing up a flight of stairs, to find some space to practice. People making room for me to…I’ll start my TikTok page soon. I just want to warm up a bit more. I found a pianist who I can toss a little money to…to record some songs, I just have to get there…if I want to put up a full song on YouTube. I’ll hopefully be able to go to a cool recording studio or space to sing sometimes. We’ll see. At least I can hear myself. I have a space that doesn’t cost me anything.
So thanks for the gift.
Today, I gotta work on Christmas in Naples — re-read what I wrote yesterday — and hopefully make a bit more headway since I’m hoping it will have a snowball effect, in a good way, since — I got the pieces like this puzzle downstairs in perfect lighting this morning. I’m not going there. I have no interest in this.
I’m thinking about having a blog for each of the projects I have on my homepage — I was thinking about doing something like this:
Also, did I look like Lucio Battisti when I returned to Naples? Maybe. I had a fur and a fro. Sort of. Not that short. But sort of.
I don’t think that’s complicated. To put a visual with text over it, like “I get there.” “I don’t remember who I am.” “Lucio Battisti’s My Song for Maria. “The warmest shade of yellow.” “The Russian thief.” Work on more scenes with that one. “I met Death in a memory.” “Death in the Chelsea Hotel.” “Time bends.” That’s The Oldest Storyteller. “Death in a Palace in Fes, home as cosmos.”
It can exist out of order.
I just did this for Christmas in Naples — quickly. Meaning, a blog page. That’s for desktop. I have these buckets on my homepage. I have photos that I can link to a scene. On mobile, it doesn’t make a difference. I don’t think most people are on their desktops. It might be visually nicer to have one photo though that goes to a page…like that. That way, if someone is on a desktop, they can have a better layout. That to me is easy. I did this blog post, too, in two seconds. Same idea. I would just keep updating that one blog post with more pictures that link to a scene. Putting the new one at the top of the page. I would just have a few blog posts, then, which would show up on the menu on the side: The Year I was Invaded by the Russians, The Oldest Storyteller. That exists at the top of the menu if you wanna just skip this homepage. There’s still a link to the main bucket with a short description that also exists at the top of this page.
So, I’m going to just think about that for a second. Just to determine what would be the better flow.
I’m going to get to work.
Thanks for reading.
I don’t know what to do visually with Christmas in Naples because it’s so large. But it’s family and food, probably, no? It’s like the sport, it’s really a sport, but that’s people, food, I think. I suppose touches of Christmas lights and sports but mostly food and pictures of them and me. Tight. Everyone loves food. Celebration. I guess. Even if they’re blurry, right, it’s a family celebrating. I guess the pictures of the feasts, festivals, what can I say…that’s me blurry face, no? Or maybe I can touches of those types of pictures. But I think that works — just creating one blog page for a project with pictures that just keeps on getting updated.
I’ll think on that and get that set up.