August 16th, 2005 - new photos.
The last time I checked, I was feeling The current mood of ice.crystal at www.imood.com.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
I added new photos.

Friday, August 12, 2005
continuation of the isolation
Yesterday, I neglected to mention that in addition to removing the comments, I also removed all contact information from my website.

I'm not a very social person, and pretending to do so wears me out. I'm not a big fan of meeting new people all the time. It's just the way I am! Maybe I should add that to the long version of my profile, too.
I don't know if this past week played any role in this decision or not. Ever since Saturday, I've been in a weird mood of hating people for no reason.

Anyway, now I feel truly liberated! My audience may seem more mysterious to me now, but perhaps it's better that way.

Thursday, August 11, 2005
I started this blog back on a boring evening in December 2000. I wrote my thoughts and feelings freely. I find blogging exhilirating, because you never know who's going to read what's on there.
This is why I refused to put a comment system on my blog for such a long time. I liked the feeling of writing something and sending it off into the void of cyberspace.
I think it was last year or the year before that I added commenting. It was fun, but it felt like I did not have as much freedom to write whatever I wanted... I felt like everyting I wrote was up for discussion, like a forum. It didn't have the same feeling as writing a message in a bottle and sending it off into the endless sea.

Long story short, I've taken off the commenting system. More later...

Thursday, August 04, 2005
Since it's summer, I usually sit at home and watch daytime television. I've recently been watching a cartoon called Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on Cartoon Network. Obviously it's made for kids, but I love watching it. I love the artwork, and it's actually pretty funny. I just downloaded the theme song for it, and I'm addicted. I want a shirt!
I googled it a bit, and realized it was made by Craig McCracken, the same guy who did the Powerpuff Girls, and who had worked on Dexter's Laboratory. So it's no wonder that even people of my age can enjoy it. Meh, besides that, no other good cartoons are on TV anymore.

I have a strange fascination with taking pictures of Reed. I must be really annoying, because I'm always trying to get a good shot of him. He gets angry sometimes. You know how there are some people that you just want to photograph? Reed must be one of my most-photographed friends.
Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I will update the photo section, and you will see a lot of photos of him, along with others.

I like this quote.
One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
-- J.D. Watson, "The Double Helix"

This is so true.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005
I took my first driving lesson today! It was exciting. I drove a car all over the town for two hours. I guess driving isn't as hard as I expected it to be, but I'm still having trouble doing my turns right. My next lesson is on Monday, and I hope to keep practicing until then.
Anyway, onto different topics....
I used to think that I knew exactly what I wanted, but as I'm going through life, I'm realizing that it's not the case. I always had a pretty concrete idea of what kind of guy I wanted, but so far, all the guys I've liked fit completely different descriptions. Now I've realized that the type I've been after is obsolete. Part of the reason is that I'm not the kind of girl I thought I was. I used to think that I would be the most romantic girl ever. Now I know that even though I'm romantic, I'm also controlling and manipulative. I might have a big conscience about some topics and act nicer and more tolerant than most people, but other times, I'm a great big bitch. The details of the story are too intricate to write in this entry, so I might mention them later, but these are the conclusions I got out of them.
Other than that, I wanted to hang out with Reed, Jocelyn, or David last night and tonight, and they've all been busy both nights. I've called them in the same order, both nights! You'd think that at least one of them would be available, but nope. It's okay. I like sitting at home, but I don't feel like this is the ideal way of getting physically and mentally energized before the most trying semester of my life. I used to read around 10 books every summer; this summer, I've barely read two so far. Anyway, enough of this self-pity!
Despite what all my friends told me, I took a brief drive around the neighborhood with my mom today. I was expecting her to panic, so I was not surprised when, at times, she screamed at me to stop the car, and grabbed hold of the steering wheel when I was least expecting it. Let me tell you, it's really hard to concentrate on the road when there's a hysterical woman by your side, holding her hand near the steering wheel as if I'm about to lose control any second. If a beginner's driving a car, you had better speak calmly instead of panicking and screaming directives, okay? I've been told that all moms are like this, though. That's....... comforting?

Sunday, July 31, 2005
This morning, Jocelyn and I went to Anastasia's Asylum for breakfast. Jocelyn and I go there every time we're in town. I've been hearing from many sources that it is the best cafe in Santa Monica, and I'm beginning to agree.
We shared two dishes: the scrambled eggs with roasted red peppers and goat cheese, and Anastasia's Quesadilla with feta cheese, spinach, and kalamata olives. Jocelyn had a chai tea latte while I tried out the weirdest-sounding tea on the menu: Egyptian licorice. I thought it was going to taste bad, but it was very good.
One review on the menu said that Anastasia's had the fluffiest scrambled eggs. Today, Jocelyn and I verified that statement.

Saturday, July 30, 2005
happy birthday jocelyn
Now that I've given her Jocelyn's birthday present, I can post it online:



I designed and did the needlepoint while I was in Turkey. I bought a frame for it last week and framed the work last night. She loved it!
Jocelyn's 20 now.

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Beginnings...

Our group - SongSpring - does not do much touring. We play locally and do most of our work in our studio. However, we wanted to see the three years of work that went into our first effort - a theme collection of original instrumental music - see fruition as a finished, shrink-wrapped, distributed CD.

I first heard about CreateSpace long after we had temporarily shelved our CD for lack of funds. CreateSpace gave our CD a second opportunity to see the light of day. As a comparative benchmark, the average cost for manufacturing an "Indie" CD (if the CD consists of all your own original material and no mechanical rights are involved) is about $2,200 for a standard CD Case, 4 page booklet insert, and just 1,000 copies. After that, you have a pile of CDs and no real way to market them (unless, of course, you are a touring band, or you are able to sell them out of the trunk of your car!). By comparison, CreateSpace allowed us to publish for free.

Background...

On a trip to San Diego early in Summer 2008, I talked with my brother-in-law, a writer, who happened to mention CreateSpace. He has already published two books using their tools, and their placement of his novels onis giving him both exposure and driving sales. When I investigated further, I found that not only does CreateSpace provide self-publishing tools for writers, but also shrink-wrapped, bar-coded CDs and DVDs for musicians and video producers, with a digital download option made available on Better still, they absorb all the up-front costs of getting your CD out to market! Best of all, CreateSpace was recently purchased by the giant giving unknown authors the same potential clout as bigger players by making their creations visible to millions and by being searchable directly on

We decided to try using CreateSpace to manufacture and distribute our first CD, "Old California - In Search of a Lost World", and found their guided process easy to follow. Using Adobe , we were able to upload all the artwork for the CD, including the booklet, cover art, CD face artwork, and tray (inner and outer). The finished product was submitted as Jpeg files in specific dimensions provided in their guidelines. For me, this process took about 10 days, working on it part-time, but I was learning some of the tools for the first time, including Photoshop. You will need to have access to Photoshop, though CreateSpace provides all of the templates needed, and you can download a free trial version of Photoshop from Adobe, good for 30 days.

Proof Positive...

Next, we were stepped through all phases of the CD creation process, from obtaining a barcode (free), to entering all of the track information. For a manufactured CD your audio files should be uploaded in CD-quality AIFF or WAV files -- we used the tracks from the final Master CD we received from DiscMakers when we first finished the production/recording phase of our CD a year or two earlier. These files needed to be compressed and uploaded to the Create Space site using WinZip or, in our case, the Mac OS X equivalent "Archive" option you get when right-clicking on a group of files.

After everything was entered (including our checking account information so that Amazon and CreateSpace could transfer funds into our account for each month's sales) we received a Proof Copy in about five days. In our case, we found numerous corrections to details we had missed on the first round, so we ended up requesting second and then third and final proofs after revising the manufacturing information and tweaks to the cover design. Side note: we were never charged for these proofs, though subsequent proofs were shipped snail-mail and took about seven days each to arrive.

Once we approved the final Proof, we were able to enable the CreateSpace site to begin selling our CDs on CreateSpace and Amazon simply by logging in to our account and "Approving" the proof online. Instantly, our CD became purchasable on on CreateSpace, and then about two weeks later, it appeared on At Amazon we were provided with our own mini-website where users could peruse the CD, read the descriptions, listen to samples, and choose whether to download immediately for about $8.95 or purchase as a normal CD for $16.95, including shipping. Here's another caveat: CreateSpace and Amazon keep a percentage of the profit for each sale. However, you also have the option of ordering large quantities for yourself directly from the CreateSpace site for a very reasonable cost of about $5 each.

There are Marketing Options as well -- we chose to launch an Ad-Words campaign on Amazon with specific keyw 7142 ords to drive traffic to our site, but we are also using peer networking - related music sites - to gain visibility. In any case, being searchable on Amazon is better than just sitting out there in the void! CDs are all shipped as shrink-wrapped, barcoded professional product.

Some Technical Notes...

CreateSpace uses "Publishing on Demand", an area in which they and Amazon have been pioneers. It does not matter if someone orders 1 or 1,000 copies - the shrink-wrapped CDs are only created as needed, and then shipped the same day. Because of this, these CDs are not the same as mass-produced CDs, but rather are "burned". This MAY render them unplayable on some ancient CD players from the 1980's, but in all other respects the product is virtually indistinguishable from mass-produced CDs, right down to the barcode, on-disk printing, and shrink wrap.

Cautions...

It is wise to register your final proof copy track names with GraceNotes prior to releasing your CD. CreateSpace maintains a consistent "Proof" copy of your first CD, so if you use iTunes (or other products listed at to register all your original track names with the GraceNotes Online Database, all purchasers of your CDs will be able to see the track information on their laptop or iPod. This is a free service and is industry standard - virtually every commercial CD is registered at GraceNotes.

Also, be sure to choose ASCAP or BMI if you are publishing your own CD. Immediately after you release your CD, you can use their websites to track performances of your music on radio and Internet stations - and receive quarterly royalty checks. I am an ASCAP member, and I like getting my royalty checks. As a member, I have the ability to log in and upload mp3 versions of all the CD tracks. This way they have a digital "fingerprint" of each song. I assume BMI has a similar service.

Finally, COPYRIGHT your CD using an SR (Song Recording) form downloadable at the Library of Congress. You can just use one form to register all the songs on a single CD, and last time I checked, the fee was about $35. This legally protects your CD even further, though technically simply releasing your CD on Amazon is an implicit copyright. Still, don't take chances. Go to httpgov to get these forms, or follow the links on ASCAP or BMI.

Sales...

The Jury is still out on the bottom line - SALES - but for getting the CD produced, the process was easy to follow and the response times from Amazon/CreateSpace's staff were excellent, always within 24 hour window.

The link to our Amazon site can be found on our own website at Our CD - "Old California - In Search of a Lost World" - is an instrumental collection of original music.

To visit CreateSpace site, go to

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