Today just started out bad for me.

I wanted some honey nut cheerios, but Nick got to them first. He's a nice guy and all, but I really wanted my cheerios! I had been craving them for breakfast, but then I found out that he had already finished them off before I could. I'm not a happy squirrel right now.

I'll get even with him. Oh yes, I will.

So the boys and I were trying to work on some music yesterday. We were working on this one tune that Nick came up with a few weeks ago, and we were seeing if we could enhance it and turn it into a full fledged song. And then, all three of us, at the same moment, realized one very important thing: None of us liked it! Nothing was coming together the way we wanted it to, we were fighting the song every step of the way, and most importantly of all, we weren't enjoying making the music! That's a recipe for a BAD SONG. You have to enjoy the art you're creating or there will be no joy in the finished product. Even if it's a painful song that rips your heart out, you have to connect emotionally with it. We weren't connecting with this tune at all.

So our 3 or 4 hour long musical excursion was for naught. We didn't end up finishing that tune, and that's why you guys didn't get your daily requirement of P4E music yesterday, even though I know I said you would. Sorry about that. My bad.

But that brings me to an interesting point: as an artist, or a musician, or heck, just an honest hard working citizen of this wacky country, don't we need to realize when it's time to give up and start working on something else? Tenacity is great, and you'll never succeed without it, but I think there's a fine line between tenacity and stubbornness. Why should we be afraid to look at the work we've done and say these simple words: "Well, that sucks. On to the next project."

Pencils have erasers for a reason. You'll never become a good artist if you're not willing to throw away the mistakes you've made, and more importantly, learn from them. Isn't that what progress is all about? You make a mistake, or spend 4 hours working on a song that everyone realizes is bad, and then you learn from it! Now we'll be a better band and better musicians because we have just a little bit more experience than we used to. Robby Takac, the bassist for The Goo Goo Dolls, said something to this effect once in an interview, and it really stuck with me: "If you have to write 1,000 bad songs to get to that 1 great song, then it's worth it." That tune we were working on was one of the stepping stones that will lead us to a great song.

Nick was depressed because he felt like he wasted a lot of our time and effort on his idea, so yet again, the duty of cheering him up feel upon my shoulders. I should have just smacked him though, because he needs to understand -- even when we make art that sucks, we're still making art, and we're still able to learn from it and get even better. Yes, there is such a thing as bad art... but no, there is NO such thing as a worthless artistic endeavor.

But the jerk ate my honey nut cheerios this morning so I don't have any more sympathy for him. Seriously, can you blame me for being upset? They're delicious.

- Sam