Month: October 2023

So I’m going into my 3rd week at my new job. I like it a lot. It’s a lot of stuff to learn, but it will take the usual 3-4 months to start really getting the lay of the land and the hang of how things work there. My co-worker in the office and the supervisor seem like really cool guys. The tech that works with me in our office is a funny guy and I like his attitude towards IT work and things in general. He doesn’t seem to outwardly stress the small stuff and he’s kind of just a chill dude. The supervisor comes off very stoic and serious, but when you talk to him, he’s a cool dude too. He’s been a gamer in the past but has a kid now so “adulting” tends to monopolize his life.

The work itself is typical IT stuff, its jut a matter of learning their processes and systems of how they get things done. They do a lot of SCCM stuff, where I worked with that at a previous Desktop Support type role, but the managers there were really stingy with giving us too much access. They wouldn’t even let us order equipment, and this company I’m at now is giving me a Dell Premier account to order from, and a CDW account to order from. There’s an approval process to it, but they are giving us more responsibility than my previous job did and I like that.

I’ve been Djing and making beats when I can after work and on the weekends. Last weekend I really went in and made a couple of songs. I feel like not having a lot of time forces me to focus more and get it done because I know when Monday comes I won’t be at home to mess around with it until the evening. I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but work life balance is very important to me. I don’t function well with nothing but free time, nor do I function well with being over-worked. There has to be a decent balance there for me to be “happy”.

Anyway, there’s a record show coming up that I want to go to, but my wife isn’t feeling well. If she’s not up to going, I’ll just go by myself and mask up. It sucks that she doesn’t really like to go out much. She works from home mostly, but she needs to know that she needs to get out and get sunlight and move around to feel optimal. Even when I was working from home and not leaving the house a lot, I didn’t feel my best. I go for walks at work while I’m waiting on systems to image or just when it comes time for lunch or a break. As a black person, its very important to get sunlight. Our skin doesn’t retain vitamin D from the sun like a caucasian or asian persons might, so we need to get those rays. I’m also taking a vitamin D supplement which immediately helped me with not feeling so fatigued all the time.

I’ll try to post more often, so until next time, enjoy your life, be easy and stay blessed. L8r!

So I recently have been using a Numark controller just to check it out and try out jog wheels again. I started on my Numark Mixtrack Pro 1 back in 2018 and I had a lot of fun using it at the time, but I was new and green as all get out. I quickly upgraded controllers and eventually landed on a DDJ-SX2. I got some turntables as a gift from my brother and I loved using the moving platters. I’ve been a two turntables and a mixer type DJ for the longest time now. Trying the jog wheels recently, its a lot easier to do different scratches on them than it was previously. The crossfader on the Numark controller isn’t very good, but it’s serviceable.

I’ve noticed that when coming back to moving platters after scratching on the jog wheels, that my scratching on that is a lot better. It’s almost like being hampered by the poor crossfader and static jog wheels, helped my ability with a proper crossfader and moving platters. I’m going to record some scratching I’ve done recently and put it up on my Youtube page, just to show viewers how much further I’ve come in my ability. There’s still a TON of scratches I need to learn, but the ones I know I’ve gotten pretty nice with.

I think any DJ that has been DJing on turntables for a while, that likes to scratch, could benefit from picking up a cheapo jog wheel controller with an average crossfader on it. Play around on it from time to time, and I bet they’ll notice that their scratching is better when using their normal setup. Also, its very important to do exercises that help with scratching. I have a wrist/forearm machine that works pretty well and is helping me get stronger in those areas. When I use it, it’s a lot easier to scratch I’ve noticed. Some DJs don’t believe it helps to exercise, but DJ Rob Swift from the Executioners told me on Twitter (X) when I messaged him about it that it does help.

That’s about all I wanted to say on that, I’ve updated the scenes and transitions on my Twitch stream, so make sure you check me out at www.twitch.tv/3rdEyeViZi0n . I plan on streaming on there a bit more often, even after I start my new job. Me and my bro Aaron are planning on doing a podcast on Youtube as well, so I’ll post that on here as well when it jumps off. Stay blessed, stay focused, and don’t sweat the small stuff. L8r!