I need eight hours of sleep.  And if I’m being honest, I could really use eight of sleep and a late afternoon nap to be in form.  I hate that about myself.  Always jealous of those of you who can function normally on five hours of sleep and three Jamesons a night.

Jet lag messes me up.  Caffeine messes me up.

I just got back from Japan.  I woke up this morning around 4:30 or so.  I went to bed around 8 pm.  Technically I got that eight hours, but pretty stilted.  I woke up on the floor.  Makes sense, I went to sleep on the floor. I moved from Chicago to Brooklyn and left all my furniture including my bed in Chicago. I’m sleeping in a sleeping bag (which I’m amazingly grateful for).  I just moved to a new place in Bushwick, Brooklyn.   It’s cold in my room.   Thought the heater was working last night but it was really cold this morning.

So yeah, like I said I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and I feel sort of trapped.  It’s raining and maybe 40 degrees outside.  I can’t get up and just make myself a big breakfast, which is what I want to do, because A) I don’t have any food in the house and B) I think there might be someone sleeping on our couch in the living room/kitchen. I don’t have an internet connection in my bedroom (which sucks) so I just (continue to) lay on the floor and listen to some New Yorker podcasts on my iPhone hoping to fall back asleep.  I listen to maybe four of those.  Don’t fall back asleep.  Get up and Google Map “bagel” on my iPhone.  I find one joint called Glendale Bagel about a 40 minute walk away. I call them since they don’t list their hours on their website. It’s still dark outside but they are open.  I get all bundled up — resolved to just tough it out.  Then I hear about 10 gun shots.  Close.  And not the kind of just somebody shooting a gun to shoot a gun.  Somebody was taking aim.  Methodical gunshots.  Well, fuck.  Where have I moved to?  Maybe I should have just stayed in Japan and become a painter and proof reader?  Four more gunshots.  Same caliber.

Ok, so maybe I’m not that hungry.  Steal a Dark Mocha Almond Kashi TLC bar from my roommate which I manage to find in the dark.  Post a little something on Facebook via my iPhone.  Sort of a pathetic cry for help.  Open up the Pro-Tools sessions I just recorded in Japan with Nori Tanaka.  Not so much to work on them, but just to remind me of something positive.  Listen for 45 minutes or so.  Don’t change a thing.  Haven’t heard any more gunshots, but then again I have my Etymotic isolation headphones on so I probably wouldn’t hear the shots unless they were in my bedroom.  Sun finally comes up, sort of.  Decide to go ahead and head out for that bagel despite gunshots, rain, and 40 degree weather.  Hadn’t counted on the wind.  Maybe 20 or 30 mph wind.  Mangles my Japanese 7-11 umbrella I bought in defense of Typhoon Melor.  Better than a sand storm.  I almost step on a dead cat on the sidewalk because I have my umbrella pretty much horizontally in front of me due to the wind.  The cat is half in/out of two of those ubiquitous plastic grocery bags.  Who the fuck leaves a dead cat on the sidewalk after double bagging it?  Where the fuck have I moved?  Why didn’t I just stick around Japan and learn how to make proper ramen?  The wind is way too strong to walk another 30 minutes for a bagel so I stop in a bodega  (I think that’s what they call them here) and get a cup of coffee, a slice of packaged lemon pound cake, and a similarly preservative intensive piece of banana bread.  Coffee is surprisingly good.  Walk home on the opposite side of the street to avoid seeing the dead cat.

I’m listening to this new mix.  Honestly, I don’t think it’s my best work.  I really like all the tracks, but I don’t think I the mix is as cohesive as I’d like.  With that said, I don’t think I can wrestle with this one anymore.  Just need to go ahead and post it. There’s definitely some good jams in there so check it out and spread the word.  Plus my new roommate has one of the largest record collections I’ve ever seen so I should go ahead and post this before I dive into his shit.

Japan was rad.  I know some really amazing people there.  It was wonderful to catch up with everybody. Didn’t seem as futuristic as last time.  Nor as foreign. I was taking notes on how to my make life more ordered and peaceful.

Brad Loving – Bird and Whale 005:

1. Slim Smith – Blinded By Love
2. La Lupe – Fiebre
3. Smiley Culture – Shan-Ah-Shan
4. Toots And The Maytals – Never You Change
5. Conjunto Condemayta De Acomayo – Altuntan Ripuncca
6. Jah Youssouf & Bintou Coulibaly – Kahlan
7. Lukid – Elthorne
8. Four Tet – And Then Patterns
9. Super Diamono de Dakar – Karo
10. Helado Negro – Espuma Negra
11. Little Dragon – Blinking Pigs
12. Penahi – Dance Music
13. Gilberto Gil – Vitrines
14. Darondo – Didn’t I
15. The Emperors – My Baby Likes To Boogaloo
16. Marimbeiros De Duque de Bragança – Caiuana
17. Alton Ellis – African Descendants
18. The Heptones & Soul Syndicate Band – Daddy’s Dub
19. Alou Fané & Daouda Sangaré – Mousso Niabato
20. Orchestre Hi Fives – Mpempe Club
21. Vum-Vum – Muzangola
22. Zulu – Candela
23. Ensemble Instumental de la Radiodiffusion National – Afrique