Finishing. It’s not an easy thing to do for me.

All my life, the closer I've gotten to a finish line, the less motivated I become. And whatever prompted me to race toward a goal in the first place has long receded into the past, and my immediate memories are almost always of boredom and frustration. Worst of all, as I near the end of whatever I am doing, I am almost always thinking of something else I would rather be doing. Always, be it at the end of a run, at the end of a vacation, the end of a career ladder and, most pertinent to my situation today, at the end of a recording project.

Lately, it's been new songs, but since starting this project way back in late 2006,  I have taken detours for countless reasons: to produce an album for a friend; to get married; to take on a health insurance company; to work for ad agencies as often as I am physically can; to write and record an EP with another friend; to swap older songs for newer ones; to rewrite songs and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

So yesterday, I reserved a full day at Hyde Street Studio C with ace engineer Jaimeson Durr to do something I have struggled with all my life: FINISH. I am pleased to report that thanks to a technological marvel called a To Do List I got a lot done We checked off many file management tasks, we finessed a drum track or two, I even did a bit of a harmony singing, which I love to do but dread because of how dizzy I always feel afterward. (To manage this inevitability, I did my singing mid-afternoon and spent all my time pre-vox and post sprawled on the couch.)

Net net: I am now almost ready to put together a final To Do List and barring any unforeseen disasters and assuming I can resist the ever present pull of the Shiny New Object I will finish my album by the end of September. Not quite ready to commit to that yet, but wanting to in the worst way. And TRYING to stay focused.