Hey y'all!

In case I forget to say this the day of, which is likely because I'm sure it'll be a fairly busy day, Merry Christmas!

As that classic yet overplayed popular song says, it is the most wonderful time of year. The colder weather, time off from school, exchanges of gifts...

Hope y'all have a great Christmas! :D

-- Dustin aka SirIgnotus

I got whitelisted for Geometry Dash!! I'm really excited to try out my own songs for levels.

Hey guys!

I was looking back at some of my old tracks to compare with what I've recently released, while picking out a handful of tracks to recommend to RobTop in a message requesting to be put on the Geometry Dash whitelist.

Anyway, I noticed that I've *really* improved. My older tracks have very loud violin presets that don't sound particularly pleasant, and they often have long intros featuring the chord progression repeated over and over with slight additions until the melody is finally reached. Take Wanderer, for example -- it's at least half a minute of just the chords, then the drum, then the violin and *finally* the main melody.

Proud to say that, although I'm kind of churning out tracks again, they're much better quality.

See ya 'round in an even better future,

-- Dustin :P

(hopefully I get whitelisted for GD lol)

Hey guys!

I decided to un-publish my audio releases of me singing my own songs. Part of the reason is because I might share my Newgrounds releases on Facebook, which I just got, and I don't really want my family to hear/see those tracks because the fact that I have a crush is not known to my family and I'd like to keep it that way. The songs never really got recognition here anyway, and it's nicer to have just my BeepBox audio showing because that's really the main purpose of my Newgrounds account.

EDIT: I made a new account that I'll post my other content to! Check it out: https://fourdoors.newgrounds.com/

I don't think I'll record any more of my songs in the future, but if anyone's interested here's the lyrics to my most recently written song, Nothing to Do:

The chance of a lifetime, three letters away

But I had not the courage to speak

What've could've been my greatest day

Is now just another day in the week

At best it's already left your mind

At worst, you'll think I wanted to say no

Yet again, I wish that I could rewind

'Cause I'd love nothing more than to go

But it's too late

I had a chance, a gift of God

But it's too late

I threw it away, regretting that you're lost

To be with you would be three words away

If I'd the strength to give love a try

More likely I'll be left with just one word to say:

That terrible, dreadful goodbye

Is it too late?

I don't wanna see the time and you go

But it's too late

'Cause now I've nothing to do with you

Every time you ask me to a dance

I'm too shy to take that chance

I'd sooner let the time pass me by

I'd sooner be just another guy

I'd sooner say a heartbreaking goodbye

Than say I love you while I can

Is it too late?

I don't wanna see the time and you go

But it's too late

'Cause now I've nothing to do with you

Backstory: my crush asked me to homecoming because she needed a friend to go with. I was concerned with the idea that my mom could easily make a joke about me liking her, if I explained that she had invited me as a friend, and I didn't know how I might react to that considering that it would actually be accurate. [EDIT: forgot to insert the following important note.] As a result of this, I basically said no. (Actually, I was silent until prompted again to speak and then I managed "I wasn't really planning on going to homecoming...".) It was really stupid of me.

The "every time" part also refers back to when she invited myself and my friends to the JCL State Forum dance a few months back and none of us actually partook in the dance. That's actually what started my journal.

Hey guys!

I made a Discord Server a little while back when I first got Discord and wasn't really able to get any traffic. If you're interested in joining, I've made it look a bit more professional, with some roles and information channels set up. Come check it out!

I'll probably post updates whenever I have new songs released, and maybe we could collaborate? BeepBox is really good for easy sharing of songs.I also just think it'll be fun to have some of you fine people to interact with there.

If I ever gain a following, this'll probably become bigger and better. For now, you could come claim a *free role* for joining real early! :P lol

https://discord.gg/Z8QRH7pENE

See ya 'round,

-- Dustin

I was scrolling through my BeepBox bookmarked pages folder, so here's some unreleased stuff, as labelled in my bookmarks bar:

"BeepBox Composition" - my first somewhat decent composition, made around the same time as Deeper Callouses. I had about 37 tabs on my old phone that were all really short BeepBox things, and they should still be on there chillin'.

This one was simply titled "BeepBox" - never bothered to continue it, likely because it wasn't that good.

"the lost melody" - when I was creating Okiru, I first tried this melody, but changed to the newer one. I still wanted this one to be remembered.

"I don't like 3/4 time." - my only experiment with another time signature. I didn't like it, as you can probably tell. Listed between Niramareru and Yaruki.

"in progress song" - it never made it out of progress, I don't think. Well, I suppose it did, it just never progressed to being finished.

"why is it so hard to make 8bit [gibberish]" - yeah, I got a bit annoyed because what I was making wasn't good at all.

"Safeguard 1.0.0" - I wanted to safeguard this in-progress song, but I don't think I ever finished this one. There's some others that ended up in another folder, but I think they were just earlier or later versions of this.

"chiploop" - I really thought I had a song released with this title. I guess not. Weird.

"deeper chiplousses idk" - early experiments with the chipwave presets resulted in my copy-and-pasting of my first release.

"[gibberish]" - idk either.

"roadblock smh" - I was under the impression that 'smh' meant 'so much hell/heck' or something to that effect, but it still works, based on my quick Google search into the acronym's actual meaning(s). I liked what I was working on but ran out of inspiration.

"Deeper Callouses x Oblivion" - the song Deeper Callouses with the presets of Oblivion. Not great, but I loved both of the songs -- my first and my (then) most recent -- so I tried this.

"chaos" - the tune that sparked this post. I originally thought it was nothing but chaos, but honestly it's not all that bad. That shamisen preset is pretty cool.

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(Side note: I wrote a song today but didn't get the chance to record it. Next Thursday I should have some time to do so with. It's called 'Nothing to Do', and I can post the lyrics tomorrow if you'd like.)

Whatever happened to quality music? If you take a look at all the songs I like from the early 2000s that you've never heard of, you'll see lyrics that convey meaning mixed with great guitar and melodies that are actually good.

Look at popular music and all you see are the same trivial themes -- or, if you do find something conveying an emotion, it's the same emotion all the other pop artists feel when they feel feels.

As for the tune, it's always the same slow, uninteresting rhythms with basic descending or ascending melodies. Most popular music is either all background beat or all lead -- no beautiful chemistry of bass and lead guitars, with the drums to make it complete. Just some catchy background or weightless foreground.

Lyrics? Almost anything you find in pop is a cheap love song or some heartbreak. Were it paired with a decent tune, it might be enjoyable. But pop has the same overly-synthetic sound that makes it impossible to imagine humanity behind.

By contrast, independent rock of the 2000s has a somewhat unrefined but personal sound. Pair that with relatable and honest and open lyrics sung from beautiful tunes and real-life singers, you get the last great period of music.

I wish I could've experienced the early 2000s and heard this music fresh and upcoming; all the greatest bands are gone and to replace their short-lived generation is a bunch of mass-produced fakes.

I wrote this sonnet today. I don't really have any further notes on it than that.

To forget yourself is quite a bold feat

To forget others would be greater yet

Compounded, they would make one's self complete

I, empty, have not the strength to forget

Reaction of others is greatly feared

In jest, I know what they'd be keen to say

"What, do ye love?" -- well, she is very dear

But I do not think that I live correctly

Speak, and I will cling to every word

Time could now freeze and there be nothing left

Don't question my love, for I can't affirm

Ask for me, but I sadly cannot accept

God has given love, but I walk away

Confirmation, I have not the strength to say

I don't think it's exactly coherent or cohesive, but it gets across a few points, kinda.

So my song that I titled "Where Are We?" got a really good review from Butterbees, and I've listened to a lot of his songs which I really liked so that's pretty cool.

At one point I wanted to compose Beepbox songs that were meant to tell a story, kind of like how he has his songs centered around an idea for a game.

I never really fleshed out any kind of plot beyond Critical Damage (On Impact) and Chie, though.

so yeah that's about it (I did write a sonnet today but I'll put that in a separate news post because it's entirely unrelated to this.)