Paul Schattel

What's up in July?
What's up in July? Going to Alaska and New Mexico for work. Learning to shoot and edit hi-def on my new camera ... which of course means a new hi-def TV will be on its way soon (hey, it's for my job, honest!). Fixing up our house in preparation for moving ... as soon as we get up off the couch...

What is one thing you learned in June?
That painting the deck is harder than it should be: power washing, stripping, sanding, painting, trimming, then painting and trimming again. That the color charcoal in the store mysteriously becomes the color blue when you spread it out all over. That eventually the hard work does get done and then you have a nice new-looking piece of something to enjoy. It's amazing to me how long it's taken me to learn (and relearn) that basic fact.

I also learned that once you hit 40, birthdays become times of stress rather than celebration. Ouch!

How about those New Year’s resolutions?
I wanted to lose weight (I lost about fifteen lbs., but now they're creeping back up on me.) I wanted to be more cheerful and confident in general, and have done well on both those accounts. I also wanted to make more money, and have attained that, as well.

Things that didn't happen? Well, my movie is still being held hostage in NYC by a very indifferent entertainment lawyer, so that's a major non-event.

Anything else?
Nothing too exciting. Alaska will be cool, I've never been there. LA in September with the family for a working vacation. I've also been learning to sing, believe it or not. I've been playing guitar for forever, but have recently had to unlearn my incorrect way of singing and relearn a more correct method (my pitch was pretty bad). It's literally been years of practice in front of my computer, preparing for the day I can leave this veil of tears behind and become a rich rock star. I have a cool setup, complete with an official 'good, cheap' microphone. I do digital recording, with effects, that really dresses up a naked voice and guitar. I also play my '83 synthesizer (think Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls ... but without the hair gel).

Sometimes Christine and I sing duets, like Gram Parsons' and Emmylou Harris' version of 'Love Hurts.' Poor Jake has to listen to Mom and Dad warble out old country songs from across the house.