Nothing on my car was damaged, the only thing that ended up damaged was my ego, my masculinity, and the pride I had in being an owner of a Honda HRV (Hi-Rider Revolutionary Vehicle). Luckily my mom contacted her brother (my uncle) to come pull me out of the field. He arrived shortly after I gave up on pouring kitty litter under my tires to attempt to gain additional traction. My uncle is a very intelligent but blue collar guy, he's the kind of guy you could learn a lot from. Me and him don't talk a lot, but he is a cool guy and I'm eternally grateful for him and my mom today.
Tuesday through Wednesday of last week was not that interesting. The only things of note was my reemerging interest in the subgenre of Harsh Noise music called Power Electronics. A lot of these bands I won't be linking to because they have long and controversial histories that I don't care to elaborate on more than just what I found interesting and is also out of the scope of my intellect and this blog's purposes. I've been listening to several different albums alongside reading several lyric forms from Genius. A footnote referred to the lyrics of a specific Power Electronics song as utilizing "neurolingusitic programming." This was interesting to me, as I find most lyrics tend to be rather anecdotal, political, or motivational. The "programming" in question to these lyrics refers primarily to targeted anecdotes to eliminate the habit of individuals to exclude themselves from positive change due to feeling their own issues are different than other individuals who have already underwent the gurly task of positive change. This is most likely wrong in the context of NLP, however I do believe it is accurate in some way that someone could take something away from. I believe the direct "programming" within the lyrics of Power Electronics (specifically songs like Cut Hands Has The Solution by Whitehouse) aim to target audiences by addressing issues within the confrontational nature of Power Electronics themselves.
On Wednesday, I decided to do research into Motivational Interviewing. You're probably wondering why I named this website and I do not have a good answer for you. If I was confronted by a professor of MI, I would probably socially flounder. The specific reference is to a Matt Orchard video about Russell Williams who was a serial killer, however William's interrogation is famous for the way Detective Jim Smith masterfully draws a full confession out of Williams. Within the intergation of Russell Williams, the lead detective utilizes Motivational Interviewing to help lead Williams to acknowledge his guilt. I have linked the full video from Matt Orchard here. However, here is the full quote:
"The approach of asking Williams if he agrees the fact that detective Smith has just gone over create a connection to him, rather than simply asserting it, speaks to something that makes this interrogation very different from most others you'll see.
The broader interrogation method that Smith is largely drawing from in his approach is not actually an interrogation method at all. It's called motivational interviewing, a school of counselling that's applied in many contexts, most notably addiction treatment.
The general approach of motivational interviewing is to put more of an emphasis on conversation than confrontation. With the example of an addict for instance, rather than stress upon them the damage they're doing to their lives, you would ask questions designed to bring them closer to reckoning with that themselves as they answer. The thinking goes that a lasting commitment to change is far more likely to occur if it comes from within.
Forensic professionals such as Smith and those consulting with him in his approach to Williams believe the same holds true for confessions."
- Matt Orchard - Crime and Society, The Strange Psychology of Russell Williams.
This quote was my first exposure to Motivational Interviewing. Neurolingustic Programming (mentioned in the previous paragraph), has been controversial within the greater psychological sciences community, whilst Motivational Interviewing is a strategy that has been widely accepted. While MI is a great tool for counselling and is utilized by counsellers but also general practitioners when trying to get their patients to actively make pro-health choices in their life, such as quitting smoking, exercising or eating healthier, adhering to medication, etc. the reason I chose Motivational Interviewing as my title for this website was because I saw myself actively just telling people my advice on what they should do rather than discussing with them ways to help better address and find solutions to their problems. The title Motivational Interviewing is a cheeky nod to my favorite youtuber (Matt Orchard) but it's also an acceptance that sometimes stating problems does not provide solutions, sometimes the solution needs to come from within the individuals you are speaking to directly. I am not sure what this means, but it sounds correct. I have linked this great presentation about MI here.
On Thursday, I had deaththreads. practice. I was very excited, I had been cooped up at my house and needed to have some form of social interaction. Me, Dave, and Caleb had practice at about 5:45 PM and it was great. It was my first practice with Graffiti Yellow Squier Precision Bass, which sounds very good, Dave has an orange archtop guitar which reminds me of my two favorite starbursts - yellow and orange. Caleb (who is our drummer) has really got the songs down and it has been awesome. We started to round out our set and we worked on our closing song, Bea Aboo. I think it's going to be a great closer to our live set. Once we had band practice, I closed up shop while Caleb waited for his ride to drive him home. He's a sweet albeit shy kid and I'm really excited to see how he progresses through these practices and shows. deaththreads. is his second band but he's a great drummer and he's a great friend.
On Friday there was a bad snow. I arrived at work at 8AM like usual and then I was informed the whole building was closing at noon, which I was excited about. At about 10:30AM I received an email from my college regarding a relatively difficult and expensive exam I will need to get accepted into the later stages of my education. I am not looking forward to this and it has caused me a great deal of stress. Upon leaving work, I went to Walmart. I needed to buy some Sandpaper and look at different stains for my guitar I’m building.
I was semimanic while walking around Walmart due to the stress of the oncoming snowstorm and my exams. I checked out and headed towards K’s house. I decided to spend the night at her house. I drove in the snowstorm and it was honestly awful, the roads were slick and traffic was at a standstill due to how slushy the roads were. Me and K had ordered Cheddar’s for pickup prior to my realization of how the snow was. When I arrived at K’s I asked her if she had already ordered the food and she said that she did. I decided it would be an adventure and we drove to and from her house to pick up the Cheddar’s and return home. This whole adventure took about an hour and some change and whilst I was pretty relaxed - there was still an awfully high amount of cortisol within my bloodstream. I did get stuck in the snow for a brief moment on K’s road, however I was able to drive myself out. By this time it was about 2PM and I was ready to relax. Me and her relaxed and we had a nice sleepover. We watched the 1st FNAF movie which was pretty good, and then I doom scrolled while she did her makeup. She wears this cute pink bonnets that I really like, her voice is really pretty too. Eventually we went to bed and it took me a minute to fall asleep.
I woke up to total darkness, K’s Xbox had shut off during the night. Me and her both woke up around the same time and we turned on some a narration channel that was reading r/NoSleep stories overlayed with Minecraft footage. The Narrator read “My Dead Girlfriend Keeps Messaging Me On Facebook” which is an amazing story with some of the most depressing lines I’ve ever heard in literature. My favorite line from the story is: ”She wasn’t an affectionate girl, and it always embarrassed her to exchange ‘I love you’s, cuddle, talk about how much we meant to each other. She was more comfortable with it when I was boozed up. I got fake-drunk a lot.” It’s a great story and I encourage my readers to look it up. It was listed as the #1 Internet Creepypasta in this old, unlisted blameitonjorge video that I remember listening to while my dad tore down our old shed prior to my parent’s divorce. I have linked that video here.
Upon leaving K’s house, I warmed my car up. It took a long while for me to begin to be able to see and I honestly should’ve brought a scraper. I listened to a narration of the Creepypasta “Ten years ago, I taught sophomore creative writing. Two student stories still haunt me to this day.” It’s a very good story and I have linked it here. When I arrived home I worked on schoolwork for a brief period of time and then I took a nap. It was extremely cold and I slept in a stationary position with my hoodie’s hood up and my socks on.
When I woke up I played Minecraft for about 2 hours and then I went to my buddy Erik’s house. Me and him hung out alongside my other buddy DJ. It was really chill, and I’d really like to hang out with Erik again once all this snow and college stuff settles down. Me and Erik and Dave have decided it would be cool for Erik to record the scratch tracks for Motivational Interviewing (the album by deaththreads.). I’m looking forward to this, I really like his albums. Specifically I listened to his album Gentle the other day and I really enjoyed it.
I stayed at Erik’s until about 8PM when I left. I played Minecraft for about an hour and then went to bed. I have linked Saturday’s stream here.
On Sunday, I woke up and headed to my dad’s house. Me and him have started working on a Jazzmaster partscaster that I’ve had in the works for about 6 years. The guitar body is a maple/walnut body that reminds me of something Les Claypool would play. Me and my dad screwed the bridge on. I put some junk nylon guitar strings and attached the guitar neck onto the guitar. I very quickly realized the guitar needed a neck shim. My dad routed some drill holes for the volume and output jack alongside marking off the pickup cavity outline and cut off some pickguard material that was in the way of the bridge. From this point me and my dad decided it would be best to borrow a router and make the pickup cavities the following weekend. I’m hoping we’ll also be able to smooth out that bridge cutout as well.
I went home to my mom’s at around 1PM where I would unknowingly park my car in a way that would later cause my car to slide into the field the following morning. I spent the rest of my evening doing college work and then I fixed the neck for my Jazzmaster and then sanded the guitar’s body from 60 grit sandpaper all the way up to 320 grit. I’m really looking forward to putting the guitar together and staining the guitar. I’ve decided I want to do a black wood stain and most likely a lacquer finish or tung oil finish. This guitar body has been through a lot - I’ve had a lot of bad ideas such as filling the bridge cavity with a bunch of random wood bits. The lipstick pickup I bought sounds really good so I am very excited to getting this guitar to be all it can be. I have linked image files of what I did on Sunday here.