Easton Connell

I started this blog at the beginning of last year and told myself that I would use it to get back into writing regularly. I figured having an outlet through which to share my writing with people would help motivate me to make the time to write. I neglected to factor in all the other areas in which I planned to invest my energy. 2015 came and went and only my initial blog post saw the light of day. It can be easy to get discouraged when you look back on an entire year and see that you have very little written to show for it. But 2015 was not a year spent idly – it was a year spent doing much that didn’t involve having a pen in hand.

I started a record label. My buddy JayMorg and I have been putting out tapes together for a few years and we put out several last year. I decided to create a platform for releasing these collaborative tapes and tapes with our other friends, a name and an insignia to connect these independent releases. The legendary Ten Tigers of Kwangtung were each masters of different styles and grew and developed as artists by studying each other’s styles. The same is true of 10TIGERS, the moniker for collective efforts. We have two tapes out bearing the mark of the tiger and are about to release a few more this month. I’m currently reading a few books about the history of Lookout Records, one of my favorite DIY labels, and it’s giving me plenty of ideas for 2016 and for the direction of things to come.

I spent much of my time studying martial arts. I earned my yellow sash in Lau Kune Do, the first of the three ranks in this style of kung fu. I was able to travel to the main temple in Long Beach to train with fellow students of the art from around the state and was able to demonstrate at the 40th Anniversary exhibition. I’ve been studying tai chi for a long time and the past two years of studying a hard style of kung fu have been wonderful. I feel pretty blessed to study under such an exemplary and talented teacher and to be a part of a strong martial arts community in such a remote area. I experimented in the past year with muay thai and kali escrima as well, and while I enjoyed studying those styles Chinese martial arts have a special place in my heart.

I read a lot. A lot, a lot. I kept track of what I read as usual and will post 2015’s titles soon.

I continued working at the local independent business I’ve been lucky enough to work at for so long. It can sometimes feel exhausting to work forty hours a week and still try to fill your life outside of it. Working at a local business that meets a need for the community, with good people, and for a boss who genuinely cares about her employees makes it much easier. Those who work full time in the US spend more time at work than we do outside of work (if you don’t count sleeping, which I don’t) and having the right job helps you keep your head up.

I squeezed in some adventures as often as I could. Largely traveling to the city to see live music, but also trips out to the river and elsewhere in the Shire. (The Shire being Humboldt County, for those unfamiliar. Even when just passing through on the 101 the similarities are obvious.) Speaking of the Shire, one of my favorite excursions was down to San Jose to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy at a symphony hall with a live orchestra and several choirs performing the score in real time, with the films projected on a large screen behind them. It was incredible. Howard Shore’s score is already operatic, moving, and iconic, and seeing the films with the music at the foreground really underscored how much of the story is told through the music. I only hope that someday soon they give Star Wars the same treatment.

Henry Rollins has said before that he has his inhale years and his exhale years. A year spent reading, soaking up everything, and stewing on it, and a year spent creating, touring, expressing, and getting things done. 2015 was spent breathing in deeply, and 2016 has already begun to be a year breathing out.