What does takeaway mean?

There are always Intangibles. But I haven't written about any in awhile. I just realized that I'm writing articles and columns and books that thousands of people have read, perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands have read. And wow... that's cool.

However I just came back to earth and started thinking. How many of these people not only read these things, but... <a big pause here, I want to build it up...>

.... but remember them.

Incredible isn't it? It started a chain reaction in my head. How much DO I remember of what I read? How much is fluff that goes in one ear and out the other? Will you, beloved CS reader, forget this? My wife remembers a heck of a lot, more than I do, but even she forgets. I read a great deal, and sometimes when I read I get inspired. But it might as well be like listening to a song. You really get inspired sometimes by a song, it takes you away from traffic or something else you'd rather not deal with. Almost as surely as alcohol I guess. Anyway. Back to inspiration. Think about the last time something inspired you, and then think about how that inspiration fizzled out.

My inspiration sometimes comes from music, sometimes from IT, for different reasons. For music, it is because I want to write something cool that other people will like as well, sometimes because I am just plain vain. There's a good deal of emotion involved, passion for writing, singing, playing, all of it. For IT, there's an awful lot of emotion too, but not as pure, there's some thought inolved that sparks the emotion, not as much pure "feel" as music has.

I was reading an InfoWeek (here we go again, right?), and I know there were four terms in there that I never heard before. Then I remembered that the last issue of InfoWeek had something similar going on, and another end article by Rob Preston. Each consecutive read grew a feeling, and the feeling was "do any of these stories ever resolve?"

THAT is the connection, as thin as it may be, between music and IT. Music resolves. Not one of the things I read in IT resolves. Nothing says "BPM... just look at what it has done!" Theory, not practice. Not that there aren't success stories. We hear all the time about how much money people have made provided it is in the millions. We read every week about how many copies of Oracle have been sold or how many million users are projected to use RFID by the year 2030. Awesome.

I want to read more references. I just achieved a reference by reporting BACK on how well game audio education has progressed in a year and directly referenced specific schools. You'll read it in this month's Mix. However I haven't yet read in InfoWeek about something that was revisited as either a success or a failure. Slow down. Or at least let me meet the people who don't want it to slow down, and figure out how they can process so many new techs and new directions and new people in the world of computers. Or does one person just read one part of the magazine and write down the things that have any relationship to each other in a practical way?

To anyone who was able to read this and understand it... thank you. Let me boil it down for you: take that which has inspired you and try to keep track of it, IF it is important. Only you can decide if it is important. If it is, hold on to it, or try to remember it.

A great invention would be not just a personal organizer or a reminder system but something that tracks your inspirations and follows them to their fruition, either in failure or success.

Comments

[suneel]

"...How much DO I remember of what I read? How much is fluff that goes in one ear and out the other? Will you, beloved CS reader, forget this?...." i cant say for the rest, but people who where moved by your music would certainly remember some of your articles.

"....To anyone who was able to read this and understand it... thank you. Let me boil it down for you: take that which has inspired you and try to keep track of it, IF it is important. Only you can decide if it is important. If it is, hold on to it, or try to remember it...." that would eaisly be your soundtracks from unreal/ut/deus ex. It screams passion, intelligence and love. A gift to humanity to those who can feel it. It does not have a "let me fill it with something here so there is some sound..etc". Its really a massive work of art, which so many themes and tunes spread out. i know i might be sounding a bit redundant to readers here, but let me tell you even to this day unreal/deusEx inspires me, more than the top tracks made from hi-quality gear floating around now. I often come back to unreal/deus ex music once an month and listen to it in mod format and its really something else. I wish i could compose like that. Respect, Sir Brandon & members of straylight, the real musicians!