“Black History 2026 Day 51”

“Don’t Over Think It”

Been a minute since my last post. Had something I needed to finish and also my creativity was lacking focus. I’ll get back to my Black History posts but for now I have something else I’m gonna share.

I’m the type of person who thinks a lot. Once my mind gets an idea it tends to want to consider all of the details. Just a part of my personality. There were times in my past when I may have been considered a procrastinator. Maybe so, but it wasn’t intentional. I admit to wasting time due to overthinking every now and then.

So fast forward to the current century (Yes, I’ve been alive since the 20th Century…..). When the Year 2020 came around I decided that I wanted to be more of a “go getter”. So I made some life changes to give me a personal boost and to set my foundation. So far so good. But…

I still emphasized “thinking through” the process before proceeding with action. Had to change that. So, December 2025 I wanted to sing “Christmas Time Is Here” with my family. Before I knew it Christmas Day turned into Christmas Night and I hadn’t even practiced the song. It was 8pm. I sat and thought about it and then realized that I WAS SITTING AND THINKING ABOUT IT! Not Again. Nope not this time and not about my music.

Go put on my favorite red sweater. Grab my newly gifted hat to tame the glare of my partially bald head. Turn on the PA. Turn on my beautiful Deluxe Reverb amplifier. Plug in my Inspired By Gibson ES335. Grab the mic. Let’s do it. No thinking. No practice. Hit the record button on my S23, run a couple of takes to remember the words. Done. Whatever its gonna be is what its gonna be. Okay boy…!

After ten minutes of editing it goes straight to The Real Life Corner and to my near dormant YouTube channel @savagemusic26. No hesitation. Didn’t even think about it. That was a personal challenge for me.

See, I try to be too perfect sometimes. It gets in the way. As a more seasoned man I have intentionally changed that philosophy. It took a little help. Read some articles and studied some of my favorite human success stories. And then…..I asked AI. AI stated: create your own motivation by taking action once the idea is clear. Any unnecessary thought delays essential early progress. Small steps one step at a time. Point taken.

So no hesitation when I wanted to sing and share two of my favorite songs. Should have learned my lesson from 2020. It was 2019. I had not played electric bass for more than ten years. I hadn’t even owned a bass guitar for several years. I walk into a music store and pick up a bass. Next thing I know I’m plugged into an amp playing loud (and mostly wrong..lol). My wife encouraged me to buy it but I say that I’m only owning musical instruments if I play well enough to earn money.

Next thing I know I am gifted that very bass for Christmas 2019. Time to get a gig. I contact a few bands and churches and send out audition videos. With only a couple weeks practice I wasn’t optimistic about my chances. Got four offers to play. Had a gig by the end of January 2020.

When I posted the recent videos I had no expectation of getting offers to play. I am using these videos as a means to practice for a future “audience”. Well, I received a few offers to perform with other bands/ artists. Flattering.

I KNOW that I am not a great singer. I don’t practice. I dont look at myself in the mirror. I don’t know that many songs. But I am gonna keep singing simply because I love to do it. Thanks for all of the encouraging words. And for those who find some “unintended” humor in my singing no problem. I’m laughing at myself too.

Get ready for the next video. As soon as I decide what to sing. Dammit! Here I go overthinking again.

“Clandestine Operation”

You have no idea how many secret trips I had to make so I could sneak this Coke soda into my house. I am not allowed to drink soda, particularly dark soda, because it is unhealthy.

Well, I balanced it out with some home-made chocolate chip muffins with some chocolate chips on the side. Don’t worry. I’ll finish it all before any body even knows it was here.

“Black History 2026 Day 50”

“Why Shouldn’t (A)I?”

The Golden Age. The Golden Age refers to the peak period of interest for a specific “thing”, i.e. the Golden Age of Television, the Golden Age of Rock or the Golden Age of Computers, etc.

As a GenXer I’ve lived through a few Golden Ages. Hip hop, Rap music, the computer, the Internet, VCRs, CDs, DVDs, Cable TV, social media, streaming and the mobile phone to name a few.

It is important to recognize and appreciate these periods as you live through them. It really is and I’ll tell you why. Whether you realize it or not these respective Golden Ages can open the gate to the elusive and much desired “fountain of youth”.

As we age we tend to lose patience and interest in the culture of the younger generations. Many times it is the younger generation of innovators that advance society forward. Those who are reluctant to study, learn and appreciate the inevitable changes usually get left behind. Like it or not, this phenomenon is also known as aging. It happens to us all.

I’ve missed a Golden Age or two. I admit it. So, nowadays I try to keep my eyes open for the latest greatest and the next best thing. Enter artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence, or AI as it is known, has actually been around for more than 50 years as a government and military resource. By AI’s own account it began to become a public resource in the early 2000s. Sometime around the COVID pandemic is when I started paying attention to the increasing usage of the technology. Totally ignored it though. And then……

I noticed that any time I’d ask my sons questions about anything they would have these long detailed answers that I was not accustomed to hearing. Whenever I would search for anything they would have the information much faster than me. Then my oldest son told me he used Chatgpt instead of traditional browsers. My response was “What? What is Chatgpt? This was a few years ago and my sons were in their early twenties. I was over fifty at the time. See what I’m sayin’?

I started using AI tools mainly as an informational resource. My fascination grew somewhat reluctantly. My perspective changed as I allowed myself to realize that AI wasn’t diminishing how much I used my own brain, it allowed me to use my own brain faster and more efficiently, therefore saving me time. And guess what? One of the affects of aging is losing time exponentially, meaning two things: having less time to use AND needing more time relative to tasks to complete. See where I’m going with this?

AI is all over the place now, living and functioning in every instance where humans interact with technology. I’ve used it for math, history, to create flyers and images, to seek health habits and exercise plans specific to me, as a daily planner, for professional and educational forecasting, financial planning, you name it.

There is a limit however. I do not use it for creative purposes. Absolutely none of my writings, stories, poetry or music contain any AI generated content. When I express my thoughts, my emotions, my vision and my heart, I don’t want them to be sanitized by being processed through what amounts to be essentially a series of electronic ones and zeros with no human soul. There is an AI tool for musicians called Suno that literally can create a song from scratch for you using very minimal input. I have not used it and certainly do not want to hear a commercially released song based on it.

But as a tool to assist with a required task AI has become indispensable. It is the present and the future. It saves me time while also increasing my productivity and learning capacity. And while it had absolutely no reasonable answer for how I could make myself instantly look younger the next time I looked into a mirror, AI provides more time to complete tasks while simultaneously demanding less time to do so. Having more time is the essence of wanting to be young again, right? So why wouldn’t we use AI?

“Black History 2026 Day 49”

Mathias De Sousa

“Thank You”

The state of American politics is a little contentious these days, to say the least. If you know me, you pretty much know where I stand. If you dont know me let me be clear: I STAND ON THE SIDE OF TRUTH. Simple. Okay enough of that.

Frankly I’m tired of complaining about (T)Rump and feeling like there is nothing that can be done about his inept administration. So I asked myself what COULD I do as my life is currently constructed. Well, I wrote to every one of my elected officials at the county, state and federal level, thanked them for serving the community, and then asked what I could do as citizen to support our democracy. As it turns out there was something I could do.

My U.S. House Representative sent invites for a Town Hall where the County Executive and my district’s County Council Representative were in attendance. Let me tell you it was well worth the time. I got an instant education from the very people on the “inside” who fight for our rights every day. I have a newfound sense of empowerment and hope as a result.

So if you feel like you want to do SOMETHING to change the current state of politics in your community I encourage you to contact your representatives and seek advice. You may be pleasantly surprised. You’ll have a better understanding of things that affect your daily life and may be encouraged to serve your community as well. Let me know if you do.