Staying Positive, the Role of a Muse, and Good Books

Yooo. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's crazy that people do enjoy this. It makes me happy. Life. Man, life. I'm still convinced it's not real. Perhaps it's all one giant dream. I'm the Forrest Gump of the music game I think. On the positive thing, I'm not sure. I've always been that way. I feel super lucky for that, but I am a firm believer that you get back what you send out. I think energy is contagious, so if you are that hater being negative about everything, all the people around you are gonna be the same. It takes more energy to be like, "Nah, that's dope" whenever everyone else is like, "Fuck that," and I feel the same way about positive thinking. If you are emitting some good energy, everyone's gonna want to join in. Energy boomerangs or something, I dunno. At this point in my life, I think I love more now than ever before. Also, after growing up in a small-ish town and actually moving to New York and doing something where all the odds were against me, it never gets old. Whenever I ride across the bridge, walk into my studio, or learn something new culturally, it blows my mind. There's really no secret. One thing that's fairly new to my regimen is exercise. It's not even for the physical, but for the brain—it makes me feel like I can accomplish anything and I feel like it opens up new ways of thinking that I didn't have before. I definitely agree that loving is easier when you are young, just because your references are smaller. But I think if you put your work into finding the light, it's everywhere. In my case, I would say a muse is more inspiring than being "in love." The allure of having something, wanting something, needing something, that's what makes you strive in all aspects of your life to become better. And the term muse doesn't have to apply to the opposite sex. It could be music, something someone did to inspire you that stays with you. I love the hunger of that. It definitely drives me hard. Books—I've been reading *The Savage Detectives* by Bolaño for the last few months. (I wish I was reading more.) Roald Dahl's short stories got me back into reading. I'm also into *Bicycle Diaries* by David Byrne and *Here Is New York* by E.B. White. *Column 26*