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Rick was writing in his notebook, waiting for the Greyhound to carry him back home. 

He'd been watching, observing, looking at the people around them and seeing them. Not merely picking them up with his eyes as you might pick up an object. He saw them, the bright colourful trails of their past inscribed on everything about them.

He loved them, he loved all of it, enough to want to tell the universe about it, to give it thought, sense, structure. To bear witness.

It was good to write again.

'Whatcha writin' there' asked a voice. Rick didn't look up because he had to finish. the thought had to be concluded.

When he looked up, he had forgotten about what he was writing and the people had gone. 

'Yeah you've been writing a while, I didn't want to interrupt you'

Rick nodded. 'Thanks' he said. 'I was writing about you' he said also.

'Yeah I saw.'

'I wondered what you'd say, if you were here, if you saw what I saw'

The lanky man with a ponytail sat down beside Rick on the bench, propping himself up with his elbows on his knees. 'Hard to know your own mind, let alone someone else's'

Rick nodded.

'Well I guess you can ask direct' the lanky man said with a smile. 

Rick shrugged. 'Maybe it's only important that I ask the question, maybe.'

The Lanky man nodded.

They sat in silence, in the empty bus station, until the lanky man asked. 'Say, would you mind if I asked you a question?'

'Sure' said Rick.

'What would you do?'

'I wouldn't do anything' Rick said instantly. 'I'd let them be who they are, what they are.'

The lanky man scowled. 'I tried that. Look at what it got us'

Rick laughed gently. 'Like you're responsible for everyone else? We're responsible for ourselves, one way or another. The sooner we realise it, the sooner we choose what happens'

The lanky man sat quietly for a moment.

'Come's a reckoning though. Sure enough. The wind rises and the storm with it'

Rick nodded. 'Well, I guess that's in the other direction.'

The lanky man smiled and stood up, dusting a wide brimmed hat. "Sure. I've kept you talking long enough, you take care now Rick'

Rick nodded.'You too.'

Rick watched as the pale rider mounted his horse and rode off into the storm.

Apparently the pause is as important as the action, thank you Yoga Yoda.

I couldn't get any tracking organised this week, instead, Ben's off to do a review of SC10 and commencing a mix.

As far as I can see, here's where we are at:

SC10 - Safe Harbour

1 additional element to track, a new second part of the Dawn piece by Rosie. He's come up with a name for it (both halves) but no naming until I see some additional recording. Yeah that's right.

Reviewing Brave With Your Heart parts 1-4. This isn't the first time we've explored themes within one song. JC thought the Dome/Guitar version was Boring, Bill agreed and added a melodic element.

We also tried some Banjo for BYWH, hmm, not sure we got it. Ditto with the Kockle.

Other than that, we're in mixing.

SC11 - Rogue State

One in a million, Minor Miracle are in lyrical consideration.

I'm not committed to the current vocal takes vocals on at least one or two other songs.

Jo has to do her bits and I'd like to hear her do another chorus on Soul Thing.

Guitar overdubs. Solos. Rhythm elements. 

Additional instrumentation.

Additional guests.

Hmm...at a quick glance, based on our current speed, that's a few elapsed weeks in tracking alone.

Plus mixing, mastering. Yeah there's still a fair amount to do.

Several of my recent experiments have reported results that could be, depending on your viewpoint, considered 'Fail', or from another viewpoint, 'thus far unsuccessful'.

In a way, any experiment that does not destroy the universe as we know it, is probably 'successful' in some sense. 'Fail' is data, no?

Three of my current attempts have hit dead ends, I'm puzzling over the next method.

SC10/11 Mixing/tracking is going well, slowly but surely. Finding the right stuff to add is challenging.

As Mr Wizard will shortly learn, going on holidays while we're tracking may lead to unexpected Banjo.

If we're lucky we'll get another tracking session in this week. 

Technical Discussions

Cellar Dwellers Pete D and Montman have been getting my tech stuff going in discussion. It has led to reading and so much googling that now, all the ads in my media are about recording equipment.

Big Brother is on sale. Gear is amazing. the new stuff is amazing. I can see a strong possibility of us playing with well chosen technical items and seeing what we get.

Sydney Identity project.

Ah yeah new project starting. I'll post some details about it. It's the visual element for SC11.