Entry by Nathan Rill. This entry needs artwork!

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

That thought… that one thought is all that’s letting me hold onto my sense of self right now. Whoever this person was before I took his place, he was not a lucky man. He found something, some secret that he wasn’t supposed to find. A secret hidden from the public, from the world, maybe even from God Himself; but this poor soul found it. I don’t know what it is, I don’t want to think about it, thinking about the secret makes it so much harder to hold on and write this down.

the secert thinking abou out it I can’t focus, it’s starting to affect me physically; I feel hunger that I can’t satisfy, I thirst even as Idrink anythin I can find. I know he hadn’t slept for days before I took the weel for his life; but I’ve come to feer the darkness behind my own eyelids. I can feel it, I can hear it; it’s always there, ever waking moment, even tick-tock of the clock, it’s there; it’s always there. I don’t want o know what it is, I don’t want to know the secret, the secret haunts me; it sings it’s sweet song of lies in my ears and tempts me to think about it and worn it’s way into my mind.

It would stay with me, I know it would; no matter how many lies I jumped into, no mater how far I run from it, it would stay in my mind until it had done to me as it had done to him.

Tempt-tempt-tempt; it’s rinng in my ears; it wants me to think, it wants me to focus on it’s secret existance. Why haven’t I left, why am I still here? I should hav gone, should have lept out of this night mare by now. It’s keeping me here, it’ll hold onto me until mind is gone. But I’m smarter, I’m so so much smarter; it can’t get into a mind that’s not there; see how smart I am? I’l get rid of the mind, Ill make sur it cant get into me I

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

I… I can’t believe I nearly did that. I don’t know who the hell gave this guy a gun, but he doesn’t have it anymore. Maybe he stole it, maybe he had the same ideas I had and was about to blow his brains out before I took over. It doesn’t matter anymore, I’ve gotten some control over my thoughts again and I’m not going to let it beat me. I’ve had some times that were longer than others, this isn’t any different; I’m not going to let it kill me!

I stepped outside today; I don’t know how long it’s been since this guy last saw the sun, but it had to have been a long time from how pale his skin looked. It’s pretty close to my area of time, only a few years more advanced. There’s some rumors of a political tensions here and there, but I didn’t really pay attention to them; it’s becoming an active effort to not think about It. I can feel the secret of it’s existance, the great and terrible truth of what It is constantly niggling in the back of my mind; I can’t wait to leave this behind.

Part of me knows it’s selfis to think like that, that this guy- whomever he is- might actually be feeling sane for the first time in God knows how long somewhere and I want to take that away from him again. but I don’t care right now; I can’t take this, I’m not going to be a martyr for some guy I’ve never met. It’s almost disturbing to know that I can think like this if I’m pushed to this point.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

It’s been nearly a week. I haven’t slept, I’ve barely eaten; I can feel this body wearing itself out, it’s not going to last much longer. part of me wonders what will happen to me if I died in this body; if I’ll leap into the next one like normal, or if this is it. I haven’t been back outside; it’s not safe anmore. It’s out there; in the faces of those strangers, in the darkness of the alleyways, in the middle of the crowded streets; they can’t see It, they never could, but I see It. I can’t see anything but It; and I still don’t know what It is.

I’m still holding off the secret, I still refuse to think about it now; not out of willpowr, that ran out a long time ago. This is spite; pure and simpe spite. If it does all end here, if this thing kills me by forcing me to live like this, then I want to have something to hold over It. I want to be abl to laugh at It wih my last breath and say that it couldnt make me think about It; its a stupid thought but I dont care. It makes me feel better.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,556 different people.

Tired I’m so tired. It is still there. It still wants me to think about It. I wont think about It. tired so tired I wonder what will happen to this thing when it die. This journal has away comes with me. Will it come into death to? what is after death? will it be itneresting to write about? will they find it and just toss it out? I dont want them to throw away my journal. so many stories in it they should read it they should know. they should no not to think aout It.

My name is Dexter Jared Peterson. I am 26 years old and I live in New York City. In the last seven years I have lived as 11,557 different people. I am so tired. so ver

It’s amazing what the letter S can do to technology. No, this is not a post about the iPhone 4s or the Nintendo DS or even a mythical iPad 2s (and now I watch as SEO nerds’ heads explode). No, this is something more traditional that I recently added to Matthew Ebel dot net: a single letter.

Yup, I finally migrated Matthew Ebel dot net to its own server and bought it an SSL Certificate for Christmas. I really should have done this from day one since I’m hosting a site that involves usernames and passwords, but I honestly didn’t know how long it would last. If you’re not familiar with secure vs. unsecured websites, here’s the practical upshot of what I’ve done:

• Every interaction with Matthew Ebel dot net is now encrypted so your passwords and user info are much safer.
• Matthew Ebel dot net is now its own account on its own server, so if something happens to Matthew Ebel dot com it won’t affect the members-only site.
• Most importantly, Matthew Ebel dot net now accepts Google Checkout as a payment option. Paypal haters, the line forms over here.

Granted, some might say I’ve traded one evil (Paypal) for another (the Goog), but they’re just wrong. I haven’t traded anything, I’ve added an evil. Paypal users won’t have to change anything unless they want to. I do hope to add more payment services in the future, but for now these are the big two. Anyone on the internet knows about Paypal and anyone with an Android phone or tablet has a Google Wallet if they’re buying apps. I’m not ready to start taking credit cards directly yet (or ski down the mountain of legal paperwork that would be involved with that), but that’s the ultimate goal.

Along with the website change comes the usual caveat: If something seems broken, it’s probably my fault. I can’t foresee all the bugs that come from moving to a new server, so if you’re a Matthew Ebel dot net member and you find something’s acting funny, please let me know!

Killing zombies, spies, and other digital undesirables, of course. I’d mentioned on a few streams that I want to start a weekly game night that’s open to my fans. I think I’ll start that in 2012, but when? All game times would be 9pm Eastern US time and Matthew Ebel dot net VIP’s would get first dibs on team selection, of course.

I’m normally not one for hawking dry goods around Christmastime, even my own, but after working on The Lives of Dexter Peterson for over a year and sitting in the studio for months, I’ve discovered a tool that has made my life a thousand times easier: The Tablet. If you’re looking to spoil a musician friend this year, this is probably the best way to do it.

I’m not going to get into buying advice for specific models since that advice will be irrelevant two days after I post this. Heck, the tablet I’ve got is an HP Touchpad, probably the most unlikely candidate for anyone shopping right now. I will, however, tell you why this thing has changed my life and you can decide if your potential purchase will do the same.

I Can VNC Clearly Now…

Probably the most significant impact on my studio workflow has been a tablet with VNC. For those that don’t know, VNC is what lets you control another computer’s screen- like Apple’s “Screen Sharing” feature. When recording previous albums I often found myself dancing back and forth between the microphone and the computer to set up new vocal tracks, save my progress, mess with effects, and so on. Talk about killing the creative process!

Hardware makers have sold “control surfaces” for years- little devices that look like mixing boards that interface with your recording software. Hell, I own one… but few if any of these will let you create a new track, save your work, undo bad takes, etc. Some of them can run hundreds of dollars and most of them still have to be plugged in via USB cables. My tablet lets me control everything my computer can do and has no moving parts so I can keep it in the mic booth with me.

It’s like recording in Star Trek.

The Digital Stage Hand

If you’ve ever seen one of my shows, you know I’m technologically oriented even when I’m on stage. Most of my shows are streamed live to my own website with a chat room for people to interact. Since my laptop is already working at 100% to keep up with all the effects, plugins, and software instruments I’m asking it to process, I really don’t want to ask it to handle chat rooms as well. Now I keep the chat room sitting right on top of the piano via the tablet. Not only can I interact with the folks in the front rows, I can respond to people halfway across the globe.

If I played covers or wanted to debut a tune I wasn’t too familiar with yet (Lord knows I never forget my own lyrics), the tablet would make a perfect sheet music and lyric reader. Hell, if the venue had internet access (or my tablet wasn’t wifi-only), I could take requests and go search for the sheet music and lyrics online without having to tax the laptop any more. Even in a dark club the backlit display would be easy to read.

Paper Or Plastic?

Thanks to companies like Square and Intuit, credit card swipers are now available for guys like me. While they started life on smart phones, these digital readers now work with Android and iOS tablets. I haven’t had a chance to play with Square on my tablet yet (the last show I played was before I put Android on the Touchpad), but the point-of-sale software I’ve seen really makes use of the screen size.

New fans are a lot more comfortable saying “I’ll take one of everything” when they can put it on plastic, and I’m a lot more comfortable taking their plastic knowing that it’ll be approved or declined on the spot.

Merch Table Magnet

Finally I get to the flashiest part of the tablet- its, um, flashiness. If you’re playing a convention or festival with a bunch of indie band merch tables lined up by the stage, how do you stand out? VIDEO. I can cue up a YouTube playlist of my best concert videos and leave it on permanent loop to catch people’s eye. Hell, the Touchpad case that I bought even props it up like a digital picture frame so all I have to bring is the tablet itself.

If not videos, maybe just a slideshow of photos and promos would do. A QR code as part of the mix could draw in that extra 10% geek crowd, who knows?

If I had another tablet to spare, I would probably set one up as my email signup kiosk. You’d be surprised what some idiots consider “legible” when dealing with a pen and clipboard, but it’s hard to screw up typed letters. If they can’t even type properly, well… that’s their problem, not mine. Either way, it’d save me the trouble of having to manually enter all those names in later. Then again, what will I do in the airport when I’m bored waiting for my flight home?

The Final Word

I know that a tablet is not exactly a stocking-stuffer. (If you consider a $200-$500 device as such, then you REALLY need to grab a Robot Army subscription before you do anything else.) If you’re looking for something that could truly change a musician’s lifestyle, though, a good tablet can streamline any number of processes for the working songsmith.

I’m sure I’ve left out some benefits and I know I haven’t discovered all of them for myself yet. If you’ve got other ideas, please share them in the comments- I’m always looking for ways I can experiment with my system!

If you’d like to grab a tablet as a gift, I encourage you to use one of the links I’ve shared in this article or just visit http://amzn.to/v8qhRU – I will get a miniscule chunk of change from Amazon if you use these links to buy anything. Anyhoo, back into the mic booth I go!

It’s funny. It’s true. It’s also a pretty potent statement about damn near everything that’s right and wrong with this country. I would’ve just chuckled and left this on my morning feed, but the mouseover punchline (printed as the caption for those of us on tablets) transformed this piece from funny comic to political food for thought.

Now go grab some gifts for your friends at the XKCD Store. Merry Christmas.