Win in Arizona, breakdown in New Mexico

(Pic: Yamato rehearsing in Mo Val last week)
Hi, Jim here again. Doni called me this morning for an update. I miss her, but as long as I get daily updates it's good. Doni had some good news, and some not-so-good news. First the not-so-good news. In New Mexico in the middle of the night, about 200 miles west of El Paso Texas, the biggish truck that was pulling the kitchen trailer (a dang big trailer) suffered a major breakdown. In the rain. Eddie-san, the director of eveything besides music, and Doni's boss, was driving it. They couldn't repair it there and then, so they hitched the kitchen to the RV that Doni and the rest of the kitchen staff are living in, and drove on, down one truck. This had two effects: it really stressed out Eddie-san, and really smoothed out the ride in the very back of the RV, where Donita and her co-worker and new friend Liz sleep. So they got a really long and exceptionally deep night's sleep. Sleep is good. The other bit of not-so-good news is that Doni has been waking up with numb hands. We think it must have something to do with the amount of work she's been doing with her hands, but are concerned about them. Hopefully no permanent damage, etc. Doni was going to put a call into David Leece, her brother in law who is a doctor. I hope he can tell her what to do to alleviate the situation and make sure it gets no worse.

On the good news front, Yamato came in 1ST PLACE at the Glendale Arizona Show!

I'll update again after I hear from Donita again. - Jim

RCC show

This is what the band looked like while performing their show on Friday night. Paige is playing mallets near the center front, third from the left in front of the beefy judge-guy. Click on the picture for a larger version. (I edited the picture to get rid of the obnoxious back of a head that was in the bottom middle of the picture, but the band is outside of the edited area.) They are performing "The Elements," a four-part piece based on air, water, earth, and fire. Very cool and lots of neat mallet playing. But everything sounds great! They are very precise and the horns are very in tune, and it's got great energy. They came in third in their "class" at this show. Just an awesome show.

I want to once again thank the friends and family who came to see the show including Stacey and Scotty and their kids, and Drew and Mindy and their kids, and Stan, Rory, Kyle, and Lindsay. I know that it meant a lot to Paige to have you there while she performed the best she ever has.

You might be able to watch this film clip. I apologize if it is unviewable on your computer. It is a 25 MegaByte short Quicktime clip of the pit section rehearsing at Moreno Valley: Click here for video clip.
(I hope to be able to post a few more videos once I figure out how to handle some of video's idiosyncrasies.)

Next: update on the Arizona and New Mexico legs of the tour; Stuff happened!

Pix from Paige's BDay

Hi, Jim here again...

Here are some photos from around lunchtime on July 24th, Paige's birthday, at Valley View High School during lunch at a Yamato rehearsal.

Here are some of the female Japanese band members mugging for the camera while waiting for their lunch. They are so cute!

This is Isaac, the chef, and Uniko (sp?), a Japanese girl who, although she's a band musician, is part of the kitchen staff this year. Isaac is 24 years old, and a very good, creative chef. When he cooks for Yamato on tour, other bands come by and ask to eat with them. The other bands tend to have more mundane food on their tours. Doni said that Yamato would like to have the Food Network do a Drum Corps Cookoff show next year, and thinks Yamato would win it.

Here is Paige with a new friend. I think it was her birthday, too. The little festivity at the bottom of the shot is on a crepe that they birthdayified for Paige.

Shots from the Riverside show next...

The Big Show Is Tonight!

Hi, Jim here again (that last post was Donita, in case you didn't notice).

The big show at RCC is tonight! Donita says both Yamato and Paige are fantastic in their show, so I hope many of you can make it! The details are here.

It was really nice visiting with Doni yesterday. I was already missing her, and the next two weeks I'm really going to miss her. But the outlook for the tour is good; she's having a good time, and working her butt off, literally!
I just talked to Doni; she's enroute to RCC. I'm going over there to drop off a few more things for her. She says it's still going well.

Good news about Kyle's car, it looks like it'll only cost him around $750 to replace the head gasket. It'll be done tonight or Monday.

I hope to see you all at the show; box office opens at 4:30, gates open at 5:30, show starts at 6:30, and Paige's group is on at 8:30.
See You There!!!!

- Jim

Home for the night

I'm home right now and I'm exhausted. I've never worked so hard in my life! It's almost non-stop. We get up at 6am and head down to the "kitchen" (which is the snack bar next to the football field at the highschool) and fix breakfast. This is breakfast for 60 people. Then we clean up and if we're lucky we'll get about an hour break. Then back to the kitchen to fix lunch. Then (maybe) break and then dinner. Then break (maybe) and then snack. Isaac, our chef, is young, energetic and creative. Damn, the food is good! But it's also labor intensive and creates a LOT of pots to wash. I'm the slavey. I do most of the cleaning. There's also another cook, Liz, who is Isaac's friend. She and I got off on the wrong foot but now things are pretty good. She's a Mojave indian. She's kind of like the indian Rosie O'Donnell. She's pretty bossy and crude but she can be pretty funny and she has good intentions. She and I work well together.

Ah yes, the heat! Holy shit! We've had several kids come to the kitchen with heat related problems. Yesterday on of our favorite boys came to us and said he had stopped sweating. We whisked him off to the band room, which is very well air conditioned. We put ice packs on his neck, head and under both armpits. We put wet towels on his legs and set up a fan to blast his with air. He cooled down pretty quick but it was a scary situation.

Keeping the ice chests stocked is a difficult task. There's a lot going on at the school with painters, testing, cheerleading practice and public swimming. Doors that are supposed to be unlocked are frequently locked. Policies change with every custodian you meet. I'm telling you, it sucks. Especially since we need ice so badly. Our kids are working very hard and it's been ridiculously hot. Yesterday I was ready to kill somebody if we didn't get ice soon. Finally a couple of the cooking staff went to buy some. We have to be able to cool the kids down when they get too hot.

They're doing full run-throughs now and the show looks great! Paige is an absolute demon on those mallet instruments now. Those of you who come to the show on Friday will get to see how amazing she is.

That's it for now. You probably won't hear from me until after the tour. I'm soooo tired and my feet hurt but I'm having a great time.

prskml- a rhythmic passage, kind of like a paradiddle but more chaotic.

Less heat and getting ready for visit with Doni

Hi, Jim here again.
It's about 99 degrees on our back porch by our thermometer at the moment. This is cooler than it's been in about a week. It'll probably clear 100 today, but not by much. I'm sure that this is good for Paige and Doni.

Tonight is a "free night" for Yamato staff, Donita tells me, so she gets to come home for the evening. I'm planning to pick her up at 5:30, take her out to the restaurant of her choice (probably BJ's, she said) and bring her home to do laundry, shower, and sleep in her own bed. I imagine she'll check her email and perhaps blog a little. This is all good. Today I'm handling a few things, including getting our powerful "air mover"-type fan working (the switch had asploded) for the Yamato kitchen trailer, re-recording some CDs that turned out too soft (???) for her trip, and clearing the laundry area so she can easily do laundry when she gets here (I need to buy some bleach). It'll really be nice to have Doni around. And I'm sure it'll be nicer for Doni! She's been living a somewhat acetic life, working, napping, working, napping, sleeping in group on the floor, etc. We both think it's a really cool thing she's doing for both herself and Paige, but I'm absolutely sure she'll have had way more than enough of it by the end of the tour.

Stan called me at eight this morning, and said, "could you do me a favor?" to which I foolishly replied, "sure, what?" Never do that. Find out what the favor is to be first. He wanted me to accompany him to the front of the farm and count bugs in a trap, because he feels that Bud's people under-counted. Luckily, Bud called just after we finished his morning meds and convinced Stan that the numbers he has are reasonable. Stan trusts Bud, but doesn't trust Bud's people to do a reasonable job. Doni has warned me repeatedly to not get involved in farm-related tasks, so I'm glad I dodged that one. Bud's coming out to spray for bugs tomorrow. (By "bugs" I suspect Stan means pine-tip moth, but he never used any term but "bug".)

Kyle and Lindsay visited yesterday, and we did a lot of calling around to find a semi-trustworthy mechanic to look at Kyle's car, which probably has a blown head gasket. After numerous phone calls (Kyle's dad even interviewed a couple of mechanics, which I'm really thankful for, because it was a lot on my shoulders; this repair is certain to be upwards of $1000 and Kyle has about a month's worth of savings before he may be forced to get a job as a medical file clerk, which could alter the arc of his life; I sure don't want to do anything to bring that event closer to occurance! However, I think that Kyle's dad will take up a substantial portion if not all of the cost, whew.) Kyle and his dad and I all agreed on a mechanic about 10 miles from here (in MoVal) who seemed to be knowledgeable about such matters as well as being honest. We called the tow truck, and led him out to the shop ("The Honda Shoppe," heh), talked with the mechanic (he seems like an aging hippie type, sharing his business with his son; kinda cool), and then came home. Stan had left a message that he urgently needed to fax some EDD state tax form to his tax guy; I'm pretty sure it could have waited, but I couldn't convince him of that, and he wanted to go with me (to get out of the house and the heat) to fax it. So I took him to Kinko's and battled fax technology there for about a half hour ("don't you have all this at your house?" "No, I don't have faxes from home set up." "Oh, well I do.." ahem... "what do you do when you have to fax something?" "I almost never do, but I use Kinko's". "Oh.") then dropped off Stan, called our mechanic who had been replacing the front brake pads (and rotors; I waited too long to have 'em serviced), so now the van works good again, which helps. Then I got Round Table pizza for Kyle, Lindsay and I and then they left for Kyle's house and I went to bed. Fretful night; I just didn't feel comfortable, so I didn't sleep much. But I'm doing okay today.

Anyway, maybe Doni will post here tonight, and I'll post tomorrow for sure. Ta ta...

Yamato blog

Hi, Jim here again.
Yamato's director, Eddie, seems to be keeping a blog here.
I don't know if he'll keep it up once the tour is underway, but he is adding to it this week, anyway.

Today's report reads:


"As members of Yamato moved into their camp facility, you could sense the excitement by both members and staff to get on with the camp and finish the show before the first competition. Day 1 of the camp started at 9 am with the visual block to learn the closer drill followed by the afternoon music block and ended with the evening's ensemble block. Unlike most years, Yamato's staff decided to work their way back from the closer to the opener. Commenting on his first impression of this year's corps, music coordinator Tony Lanzino said, "this is the most talented group of kids we've had in the six years I've been with Yamato. Its going to be an exciting season.""

Paige's big Yamato show this Friday

Paige's only performance with Yamato in Riverside is this Friday.
Having heard what she's doing and knowing the group she's in, this is sure to be an amazing show.
If you want to see it, here are the details.

The show is Drum Corps International's Western Corps Connection II.
It is this Friday, July 28 at
Riverside Community College WHEELOCK STADIUM
(that's their newly-renovated football stadium on the northwest corner of the RCC campus
at 4800 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA)

At 4:30 pm the Ticket Booth Opens, and at 5:30 pm the Stadium Gate Opens.
Paige's corps, Yamato, is scheduled to perform from 8:45 to 9:00, and perform an encore at 9:30.

The show is $10/person, and you're supposed to be able to order tickets by calling (951) 924-9215, but there seems to be a modem or fax machine attached to that line. You're also supposed to be able to get tickets on the web here:
yamato Riverside show tickets page
but I don't think that they tested their interface. I told Doni to tell the Yamato director, but I think I'll just get tickets at the door.

The web page for this event is here.

Saturday intense weather and a visit to Doni.

Holey Moley it's hot!

Wow! What was that???

At 7:30 this morning, the thermometer read 90 degrees.
By around four, it was 112 degrees at my back porch.
Donita had called earlier in the day with a list of stuff for me to buy or bring from home for Paige and her, and I was going to take it to her in MoVal. I had said that I was planning to be there around 2:30, but I also tried some repairs on the big fan she wanted. Anyway, just before I was going to get in the car, the thunder started. I had been considering what to do with the dogs. Once I heard the thunder, I decided I couldn't leave them out alone in the heat with thunder, so I put them in the relatively-cool studio with the A.C. on a little bit. When I went out to get in the car, the thermometer read 115. Never in my 20 years in Riverside do I recall it reaching 115. I'd be curious about record highs, here, I guess. As I got in the car, I heard thunder and saw occasional lightning. As I drove by the Plaza, huge raindrops started to occasionally fall, muddying the car, and the lightning and thunder intensified. When I passed Chicago and Central became Alessandro, the sky started turning intense yellow. Then the wind got stronger, and all of a sudden several tumbeweeds flew by the car. Then the road got really yellow-dusty, diffusing the landscape. As I got to Mission Grove, the wind really kicked up, and the van was swaying. Then that calmed down as the T&L started going off all around me; the thunder sounded like the really loud fireworks booms from a mile or two away, I'd guess. Then it really started pouring; rivulets were running down the road. The temperature suddenly dropped from 115 to probably 95. Being up on the MoVal plain made the lightning a bit more... ...thrilling. Anyway, when I got to the school, it was probably 90 degrees there by then because of the weird storm.

I talked to Doni for about 10 or 15 minutes. It's mostly going good; some painters that are painting rooms they use are messing with them by locking doors and gates to make it impossible to get to places like their sleeping quarters. But it's getting handled. Doni's keeping a journal, I'll let her fill in details when she gets back. Mostly, she thinks it's going to be a really good experience. Today was so hot that the meal crew almost couldn't handle it. Doni helped herself and a few other people by making neck coolers for them. I took her a box fan and Paige two battery fans. It was cooling down and breezy as I left. I think they missed most of the storm, but it was moist, windy, cooling and weird there too.

When I got home the thermometer read 100, the pets were fine (Katie was in the studio too). There is debris everywhere, but it's mostly small stuff. The air smells like a musky pine forest in a thunderstorm, which I really like.

It was a long hot day. I'll probably go out there again Monday, Paige's Birthday (sweet sixteen!). Goodnight,

- Jim

Donita incommunicado and general update.

Hi, Jim here. Donita is now officially "on tour" with Paige, although they are actually residing at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley until next week. Doni and I decided that I'll blog to her blog about topics usual for this blog in her absence. I'm a "guest blogger," I suppose.

Yesterday morning, we dropped Paige off at RCC so that she could go with the drum corps and welcome the Japanese musicians at LAX as they arrived. Then we took Doni's dad to the Loma Linda VA hospital for a foot checkup with a podiatrist. In the VA parking lot, a guy with cerebral palsy lost control of his electric trike, and Doni rescued him. She might have more to say about that when she returns. Anyway, Stan's feet are okay, no diabetic neuropathy evident, and they asked him to come back in a year.

We dropped Stan off at his home, and then Doni and I went out to BJ's for lunch on the way to dropping her off at Valley View HS. It was a very nice moment alone for us. Then I dropped her off.

Donita left a message this morning (while I was at a restaurant with Stan) and said everything's going fine.

Lindsay and Kyle just returned from the San Diego Comic Convention, where most everything went well for them.
Kyle started for home, but his car is having coolant problems, so he's on his way back.

Stan is watering the Christmas trees, which is supposed to be handled by Bud Lyons, the Christmas tree farmer who is working with him this year. I'm not about to tell Stan what to do in that regard, but his water bills for the last two months were both around $1000 (mostly due to plumbing leaks which have been fixed). I understand that Bud feels the trees only need watering a couple of times a week, and Stan feels that they need watering almost continuousuly in warm weather.

Yamato tour schedule

Thursday the Japanese kids arrive. Then we start a week of "Fun Camp". Gonna be intense. Then...

Friday, July 28- RCC show (A on map). Yamato is hosting the Western Corps Connection event. Eight bands will be performing. Immediately after the show at 11:30 pm we'll head out for Glendale, Arizona (B on map). And away we go!

Saturday, July 29- Arrive in Glendale 5:00 am. Breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, dinner, go to stadium, do a show, 11:00 pm depart for El Paso, TX (C).

Sunday, July 30- Arrive El Paso 5:00 am. Breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, dinner, pack and load, depart for Odessa TX (D).

Monday, July 31- Arrive in Odessa at 1:00 am. We don't know where we're sleeping yet. Get up at 8, breakfast, rehearsal, POOL PARTY, lunch and dinner in there somewhere, 10:00 pm depart for Frisco, TX (E).

Tuesday, August 1- Hmmm, arrival time at Frisco not on the schedule. Get up at 8:00, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, pack and load, head for stadium, show at 7:00, dinner, depart for Van Buren AK (F) at 11:30 pm.

Wednesday, August 2- Arrive Van Buren, AK (F) at 4:00 am, University of AK Fort Smith, wake up at 8:00, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, pack and load. head for stadium, show, dinner, depart for Jackson TN (G) at 11:00 pm.

Thursday, Aug 3- Arrive in Jackson (G) at 6:00 am. Breakfast, rehearsal, pack and load, lunch, head for stadium, show, dinner, depart for Ottawa IL (H) at 10:00 pm.

Friday, August 4- Arrive in Ottowa (H) at 6:00 am. Breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, dinner, LAUNDRY! Depart for Dubuque IA (I) at 10:00 pm

Saturday, August 5- Arrive in Dubuque (I) at 12:30 am, sleep in an elementary school. Get up at 8, breakfast, rehearsal, snack, pack and load, lunch, head for stadium, show, dinner, depart for Michigan City IN (J) at 10:00 pm.

Sunday, August 6- Arrive in Michigan City (J) 2:30 am, sleep in another elementary school. Wake up at 9, breakfast, rehearsal, pack and load, lunch, head for stadium, show, dinner, head back to elementary school at 11:00 pm.

Monday, August 7- Wake up 8:00, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, pack and load, dinner, depart for Reedsburg WI (2nd A) at 7:00 pm, arrive at 11:00 pm. Go to bed.

Tuesday, August 8- Wake up at 7, breakfast, rehearsal, pack and load, head for stadium, lunch on bus, show, go back to housing, dinner, rehearsal, go to bed.

Wednesday, August 9- Wake up at 8, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, head to Madison (B), competition, LAUNDRY AGAIN, pizza for dinner, go back to housing, go to bed.

Thursday, Aug 10- Wake up at 6:30, breakfast, head to stadium, Semi-Finals, lunch, Quarter Finals, dinner in there somewhere, back to housing, go to bed.

Friday, August 11- Wake up at 9, breakfast, rehearsal, lunch, rehearsal, pack and load, dinner, head to stadium, Semi Finals, dinner, Go back to housing and go to bed.

Saturday, August 12- Wake up at 8, breakfast, head to stadium, Finals, lunch, finale and awards, dinner, depart for Foxboro, MA (it says this in the schedule but it CAN'T be right; probably Foxboro Wi (C)), DCI World Championships at 6:00, go back to housing. Ok, this is screwed up.

Sunday, August 13- Yamato Banquet and free day in Milwaukee. Um, what do I reeeeally want to see in Milwaukee? Go to a beer and cheese museum? I'll be in Wisconsin, home of James Sensenbrenner and Bernie Griffin (Jim's dad's mega-bitch girlfriend). Two people who should never have been born. Just hearing that accent makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

Monday, August 14- FLY HOME!

Tuesday, August 15- Crawl into bed in my darkened bedroom (A) and sleep forever.

(Jim here; I added references to the map points on July 31. I hope they help.)

Another great Yamato weekend

No big emergencies this time. Just lots of hard work and sore muscles.

I took some strings of fairy lights and put them up on the easy-up over the food table. The kids liked them. They made the late-night snack more festive. I'm going to take some on the tour along with some other decorative trinkets to add some fun to mealtimes.

Hooooo lordy, it was hot! On Saturday afternoon I had about 3 hours to kill so I decided that Yumiko and I should go swimming. Heh, heh! I basically forced her to do it. She speaks almost no English and she's so compliant it wasn't too hard. She hadn't brought a swimming suit so I grabbed Paige's bathing suit top and let her borrow it. She rolled up the legs of her pants and we headed off to the pool. I climbed right into the deep end and she followed me. I saw that she was hanging onto the side and I realized I might have made a big mistake. I said, "Yumiko, can you swim?" She smiled real big and shook her head no. Ok, let's go to the shallow end and hang with the splashing, rotten little kids. I showed her how to float and tried to teach her how to tread water but you couldn't really call it a good swimming lesson. Still, it was refreshing. We spent about a half hour in the pool. When we got out I gave her my towel (I had to strongly insist) and gathered up my stuff. My sunglasses were gone. Grrrrrr. Some asshole stole my sunglasses! I had to spend the rest of the weekend working in the bright sun with only my hat. Oh well, at least they didn't steal my bag.

I don't get to see much of Paige when I'm working Yamato. I say hi to her in the food line and I'll see her when I'm walking back to the band room to take a nap. I try to make sure she's got enough sunscreen on. Other than that, I'm not doing the mom thing. Sometimes I'll watch them practice. I'll tell ya, Paige is turning into a kick-ass musician.

These two band camp weekends were good for figuring out what I'll need on the tour. Paige and I need to go shopping. We've got 3 days to pull it together.

I came home last night and went through my e-mail and was treated to Kyle's latest song. Awesome! I can't wait to start working on it! I'm taking my uke with me on tour so I can practice. It's a long drive so I'll have plenty of time. Oh! Here's another piece of news. All of us support staff were going to ride in a 12 passenger van but Eddie has gotten us a big ol' motor home instead. Ok, fabulous comfort and luxury BUT there are 3 men and 3 women riding in this thing and we have 3 double beds to sleep in. Hello! I'm sure we'll work something out.

Jim took care of Dad this weekend. He had a bit of a hard time making sure he got all of his meds. Dad was out with Drew and Stacey going to ball games and even when he was home he didn't follow directions and take his pills.

The fog is getting thicker. When I went over there this morning he was pretty confused. His pill box wasn't in the bathroom. When I asked him where it was he said, "I don't know! You took it about two months ago and I haven't seen it since!" I told him no, it was here yesterday. I found it in the kitchen. When I tested his blood he kept asking what we were doing. He wants all the steps of the glucose testing written down and taped to his mirror. He was worried that Jim might not be around to help him in the mornings. I told him Jim will be here and he said, "But what if he isn't?!?" I told him that we've got it all worked out and that Jim is planning to come over and help him every morning. "But what if he isn't here???"

I wonder how long Dad will be able to live on his own. I also wonder if Jim will be completely nuts by the time I get home from tour.

The Japanese kids are arriving on Thursday. Everyone is going to the airport to meet them. I had Yumiko write my name in nihongo (japanese) on the brim of my sunhat. Looks kinda cool.

Julia and Jill (and Stan)

Last night we saw Julia Sweeney and Jill Sobule at the Largo. Oh man, it was a great show! Jill played guitar and sang and Julia told stories that sort of related to Jill's songs. Jill is a kickass guitarist with a dynamite voice. There was another guitarist there, don't remember his name (sorry, dude, you were really good). She's a pretty amazing songwriter.

Julia is, well, Julia Sweeney. Her performance was similar to the way she is in God Said Ha!, but more animated and high energy and totally spontaneous. Her stories were fun. She dished some SNL dirt. Cool! Both she and Jill are just as cute as can be. We laughed our asses off. Maybe Jim, Lindsay and Kyle will post some comments describing the show.

They're doing another show in August. I hope we can go.

Today I took Dad to the VA. His elbow is acting up again. It was a typical VA hospital ordeal and it took hours. Dr. Griffin drained his elbow and sent us home with Vicodin, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and a lot of bandages. Jim will have to deal with it this weekend. I'll be at Yamato band camp.

When I took his evening dose to him we had a bit of a fight about the meds. He wants to keep everything at his house but I know how that would go. He'd either OD on something or he'd lose everything. I left his late night dose in a little plastic bag taped to his mirror with a note explaining what it was. He called me twice asking what he needed to take tonight. It doesn't matter how simple you think you're making things for him, he'll still find a way to fret over it.

He keeps getting foggier and foggier. Today he was fretting aobut the trees getting enough water and I reminded him that Hector was taking care of it. He said, "Oh yeah, Hector's on Bud Lyon's payroll now." I said, "Yeah, but Bud isn't going to pay for Hector to fix your plumbing." The other day Dad had Hector here for HOURS ripping up his bathroom trying to find a leak. Turns out the leak was coming from the outside faucet and seeping inside.

Jim, Lindsay and I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie today. It has some pretty good moments. Great special effects!

Yamato this weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

The Lorenz's come to Riverside

We just spent a wonderful weekend with Dave, Nancy and Amelia. What a great time we had!

They came down to drop Amelia off at CalArts for a 4 week art program. They arrived Wednesday evening. We did a little hanging out at our house and then went to dinner at BJ's. Then they checked in at the fabulous Turn Of The Trick Hotel on University. Oh dear. Nancy said the action went on all night long. She was pretty tired the next day. We went to breakfast at Simple Simon's and then Nancy and I hiked up Mt. Rubidoux. It was soooo hot. Still, it was a good walk and Nancy got to have a Mt. Rubidoux experience.

They checked out of Hotel Hell and got a very nice room at the Marriott. Jim and I joined them there in the afternoon for a swim. Ahhhh..... That night I fixed a big dinner. Paige was at Yamato practice so I sent Lindsay and Kyle to pick her up. I was trying to work out the timing so they'd all be home in time for dinner but it turned out that Paige had to stay late to help load equipment. They showed up at around 10. Lindsay and Kyle looked pissed. Um, ok, let's go to Disneyland!

So, that's what we did yesterday. It was a great day! First we went to the new and improved Pirates of the Caribbean. They added a Jack Sparrow puppet. It's pretty good, it moves just like Johnny Depp. Just before we got to the first waterfall the boat snagged. We were stuck just under the chattering skull, the one who says stuff like, "Avast ye mateys, there be danger ahead, dead men tell no tales...", stuff like that in a piratey voice. Then, with the skull still chattering the voice changed to a somewhat high-pitched, kinda gay male voice that said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please keep you hands inside the boat and we'll be getting underway shortly." It was hilarious. Then a guy came out and gave the boat a push and off we went. THEN we got stuck at the second waterfall! Everybody in the boat started shifting and scooting around trying to dislodge the boat. It was funny as hell seeing everyone bobbing around all at once. We got it loose and went down the waterfall. I love it when things go wonky at Disneyland.

Later we went on Splash Mountain. We didn't get a Fast Pass so we waited a very long time in line. Dave, Nancy, Amelia and Paige were in one boat, Lindsay, Kyle, Jim and I were in another. Maybe the boat was weird, maybe there were just too many fatties in it, but where most people just got splashed, we got DRENCHED. I got the worst of it. Lindsay and Kyle were pretty wet, too. I looked like I had actually fallen out of the boat. It was pretty funny. My shoes were squishy. We were dripping wet. Not so bad on a hot day.

But then we went to the Tiki Room. The air-conditioned Tiki Room.

All day we had fun together. When we went on Space Mountain they sent our car into a maintenence bay and then had to bring a ladder to get us out. They said that car had a problem with going too fast. Hmmm, maybe bs. Then they put us in a special car on a part of the track that moves sideways to get it back on the regular track. Another cool, wonky Disneyland moment.

Later we split up for a little while. Lindsay and Kyle wanted to go to Toon Town, the Lorenz's and Jim went on the Matterhorn ride, Paige went off on her own and later met up with them and I got myself a frozen yogurt and sat on a bench and had a good rest. After that we went to California Adventure.

The Tower of Terror was first. I love, love, LOVE the Tower of Terror. We all screamed our heads off. It wasn't crowded so we went again right away. Then Dave, Nancy and I went on Soaring California. Very nice ride. Nancy loved it. We got off that ride just in time for the Electrical Parade. The Lorenz's had been to Disneyland a couple times before but they had never seen that parade. They really enjoyed it.

After that we were going to ride California Screamin' but it was shut down. The only disappointment of the day. We watched the fireworks and then went out to the front of California Adventure to wait for Paige. She had gone back into Disneyland to buy some trinkets and got stuck in the crowd. I think we were there about 45 minutes. Well, we got a good rest. We were pretty well wiped out by then.

This morning we all slept in. They got here around noon. We played the Kyle songs for them and then we all had a nice little uke jam on The Hawaiian War Chant. Nancy was on soprano, Amelia played her bari and I played my tenor. Dave was on dumbek, Jim played softly on keyboard. Sweet sound!

And then they left. They had a big day ahead of them at CalArts. They'll start back this evening. It was such a nice visit. The biggest bummer about moving away from Santa Rosa was leaving our friends. Dave and Nancy and Amelia are so special to us and we miss them very much. It was great seeing them again.

And so it begins...

This evening Paige and I will be going to Moreno Valley to spend the weekend at Yamato band camp. Paige will be working on music. I will be cleaning a trailer and preparing meals. Dang, it's still pretty hot.

After this weekend I should have a pretty good idea of how this will all work. Today I'm going to gather up a bunch of cleaning supplies and take them with me. I don't want to have to hunt down their cleaning supplies, if they even have any. All I saw in there the other day was a greasy rag and a ratty broom with a short handle.

I'm glad I can do this close to home and in plenty of time before the tour starts. I want to have everything in place before we hit the road.

Man, I hope they can park the trailer in the shade.

Raptor luv

There were two pairs of hawks on Mt. Rubidoux this evening who were doing that in-flight mating ritual thing. Way, way cool. They'd glide together for a while and then one would drift closer. Then they would both turn and try to grab ahold of each other. Every time they twirled around a little but they were never able to make a good connection. Except for one time. They were soaring in the updraft of hot air blowing up the side of the mountain. Then they grabbed on and went spinning up like a hawk frisbee and disappeared over the top of the rocks. It looked amazingly awesome (dude), like a multipronged boomerang made of feathers.

After a while the activity slowed down. They moved higher and held still, riding the thermal wave. I moved on down the road. Another Mt. Rubidoux treat.

Dental appointment tomorrow. Later, I'm getting an estimate on having that sofa and chair that we found in the trailer reupholstered. I've never done this before. I figure of it's under $400 it's a good deal. We'll see.

I'm pooped!

Today I worked at the drum and bugle corps competition that was at RCC. This is part of my obligation for Paige's tuition for the Yamato tour. For most of the day I was standing around looking for something to do. There were just too many people and not enough jobs to go around. But that was at the start of the day. Later when the competition got going and people got hungry and thirsty it got crazy fast.

At first they had me working in the food booth. I was setting up drinks when someone said they needed someone to stir the chili. Ok, fine, I can stir chili. I go over to the pot and some old guy everyone calls "Grandpa" came over to give me special instructions on how to open a can, pour it in the pot and stir. He actually kind of yelled at me because I didn't use the handy tab on the top of the chili can to lift the lid. Then he had me open a big can of nacho cheese and pour it into another pot. I had to have special instructions for that, too. He said, "You have to add two ladles of water to it and stir it in!" Again, almost yelling at me, like I was stupid because he had to tell me to add the water. After I had stirred the pot for about oh, maybe ten seconds he said, "So, how's it look?" I said, "It looks like cheese with water in it." He said, "Well, you gotta keep stirring!!!" Ok, I know the whole food booth thing must be his gig. I'll bet he's been doing it for years. But Grandpa must have a touch of the ol' AD because he was acting just like Dad. So, you can probably guess that there was no way in hell that I was going to hang with Grandpa for another minute. They had too many people working in there anyway.

I took a little time out and went to find my cousin, Daniel. He teaches percussion with the Denver Blue Knights. They were just pulling in when I walked to the parking area. They were in 4 huge busses plus a couple of semis. I found him and said a quick hello and then a quick goodbye. He had a lot to do and I had to get back to the Yamato booth.

Paige sat at the will call ticket table all day. She handled the job well. When I got back a little girl came up and asked me where she could buy water. The only place we sold water was at the food booth and it had a line a mile long. I felt bad for her. It was HOT. She was discouraged and went back to the stadium. I wish she hadn't left so quickly. I was going to get her some water. I talked to the woman in charge and suggested we set up a table for water sales only. We set it up quick with a big cooler and a cardboard box for cash. I started with a case and a half of water. We sold out almost instantly. Then I had to sit there with 20 people in line all waiting in the heat for a dinky bottle of water. Then someone showed up with 2 more cases, which sold out in a flash. This old guy (one of the RCC people) told me there was no more water and the store was closed. At 6 in the evening??? He said Smart and Final was closed. I said, "Well, I'll bet RALPH'S is open!" What a dope. I was getting pretty well fed up with old people at that point.

Someone did go and get more water and ice so we were set for a while. I went back to the food booth to help take orders from people standing in line. I saw that we were running out of water again so I started telling people in line that there might not be any water when they get there. Most people were cool with that, they could buy soda or iced tea to drink. One guy started chewing me out over it. He said, "I've been waiting in line for water! Why didn't you tell me they were out?" I said, "I'm telling you now." He said, "WHY didn't you tell me BEFORE?" Jeez, who the hell am I? I moved on. The guy behind him was really nice.

Things started to calm down after that. The competition was almost over. I missed the Denver Blue Knights but I did get to see the last two groups. Paige and I stood up at the top of the bleachers and watched. Man, it was hot. Sweat was pouring down my face. The Blue Devils were the last group to perform and everyone wanted to see them. The stands were PACKED. They won, of course. After it was all over I grabbed some trash bags and started cleaning up. Since we were hosting the event it was our job to clean the stadium. It took a while for the kids to start helping but eventually they grabbed bags and started picking up trash.

After that we all went to clean up the food area. Lordy, that food trailer is FILTHY! This is the trailer I'm going to be working in for 3 weeks on tour! I asked Eddie-san, the director, if there will be an opportunity to clean and organize the trailer before we leave. He said, "Yeah, you could do it next weekend if you like." I said yes, I would. I got the feeling he had no plans to have that trailer cleaned. So, next weekend during band camp I'm going to clean that disgusting trailer. I hope this heat wave is over by then.

After we got all our stuff picked up there was a big pile of food equipment left that wasn't ours. Just as I was about to ask who it belonged to I looked up and here comes a huge motor home and GRANDPA'S DRIVING! Run away! Run away! Yes, it was time to leave.

I'm home. My feet hurt and I need a shower.

It's the little things

I bought new underwear yesterday. Funny how a little thing like that can give you a lift. I've been putting it off because 1. I've been losing weight and 2. the underwear I really like is only sold at Walmart and I don't shop there any more. But since I'm going on this Yamato tour I really didn't want to take along my disintegrating underwear. We'll be on the road for 3 weeks with very few opportunities for doing laundry.

Happy dance! Jockey makes a style that's very similiar to the Walmart brand. AND I'm down to a single digit size. I'm going back to the store and get 3 more packs of undies. I'm set! Life is good.

Now I just need to get a new bathrobe and a couple nightgowns. And air beds for Paige and me. And a bunch of other crap. So, I guess I'm not all set.

My song

I forgot to post my song. It kinda relates to my previous post. I don't consider myself to be a songwriter but I'm kind of proud of this one. Someday I'll perform it.

Bosom

Things have gotten so bad and you're feeling so sad
You've got the blues? Hey, I'll help you lose 'em
Just come hither, dear, and sit down right here
And plant your face in my bosom!

You can have my lovin' arms and even my legs
All I ask is please, don't abuse 'em
I'll make you feel better, so come on, take a header
And plant your face in my bosom

Just park it right there on my pillowy pair
Relax, take a nap. Wow, you've got nice hair
We can sit here all day. Um, are you ok?
Do you need to come up for some air?

Ah, everybody wins with these soft, cushy twins
All you gotta do is choose 'em
I fed two babies with these, now they flap in the breeze
I DARE you to plant your face in my bosom!

A healthy woman I am (I had a recent mammogram)
I'm able and ready to give you good cheer
I'll love you like no other. Don't be shy, come to mother
I've got sweet comfort in my black lace brassiere

The charms are quite ample. Give me your hand, I'll give you a sample
They're real! No need to excuse 'em
It's great to be alive! Be a man, take a dive!
And plant your face...in my bosom!

Mt. Rubiboobie

What a great walk I had last night! Lately I've been walking up one of the trails. It's a pretty walk and it keeps me in the shade for most of it. Just as I was reaching the top I saw a woman coming up a different trail that ends in the same place. She had the biggest, most painful looking boob job I've ever seen. These were huge, melon-shaped, antigravity boobs. They looked weird, they moved weird and looking at them made me feel afraid. I fell in behind her on the road.

As she was rounding the corner I saw a man coming in the opposite direction. After he passed her I could see his face. He looked stunned and confused. Those boobs were like those sonic blast grenades that the cops use in hostage situations. As we got closer he saw that I was smiling at him and he burst out laughing. He said, "Boy, you just see everything up here, don't you?" I continued on behind her for a while. Every time she passed a man his face would take on the same expression. Totally confused and amused but too scared to really enjoy the moment. After a while she continued to the top of the mountain and I followed the road down the hill.

Now, I don't really have anything against boob jobs. I've seen some good ones. But sheeeeit!!! Shame on the doctor that consented to that mammular trainwreck. Just because a RETARDED woman hands you a bag of cash and requests a disfiguring operation doesn't mean you have to say yes.

When I was almost at the end of my walk I glanced into one of the back yards that are all along that road. I noticed some movement but I couldn't tell what I was looking at...for a second. Holy crap, it was a family of skunks! They were about 30 feet away, two adults and four babies. They were ambling along, very low to the ground, just a squirming mass of black and white fluff. Since they were fairly far away I didn't feel threatened so I yelled, "Hey skunkies!" They immediately stopped and in a FLASH arranged themselves in a circle, noses in, butts out, tails raised! It was freakin' amazing! They held this position for about 6 seconds and then the mom decided it was better to just get the hell out of there. They ambled off into the bushes. I'm standing there, totally alone with no one to share the moment with. You know, that's happened to me several times in my life. Something exquisite happens to me and I have no witnesses, no one to talk to.

Then, BONUS! I continued on my way and was soon passed by a woman jogger who was wearing black shorts with white stripes with a black tank top and a white tank top underneath! She was attired in skunky perfection! It was the perfect capper.

Man, I love Mt. Rubidoux.

A great practice

Today the TV's Kyle band had a very productive practice. Fun, too. My fingers hurt!

So far we have 14 songs that we're working on.

Arica- A musical pep talk for a friend who was down.
Babaganoush- Not about Babaganoush.
Beaverduck- Part beaver, part duck.
Bennendann- Instrumental. Good for kicking off the show.
Bob From Accounting- About one of Kyle's highschool teachers.
Bump- "Where is the car in the parking lot?"
Dizzy Spells- Can a pill cure love's dizzy spells?
Joe's Java Jungle Cafe- Getting mellow with a cup of Joe
Let Me Crazy- Pickin' up chicks in the boba shop
Lindsay Is Totally Centered- Written for Lindsay's birthday last year. I do believe he was courting her with this one.
Rated G Life- No, I don't think so.
Tri-State Area- Touring the countryside and crashing his Vespa
Why Not?- The answer to "why?"
You're My Pal (And I Like You)- Happy and evil.


Arica, LIndsay Is Totally Centered, Rated G Life, Why Not?, and You're My Pal are pretty much performance-ready. This is fun. Every time we practice I feel more secure about our ability to do a good show. I'm really looking forward to the day when we get to practice with Ben (drummer from L.A.) Gotta work out some kinks first.

Speaking of working out the kinks, I'd better get myself up Rubidoux. It's been a few days...

Who's blog is this, anyway?

My husband, my walking buddy and my daughter's boyfriend require fresh posts. It's just that nothing interesting has happened lately. So, I'll blog about boring stuff and try to make it sound interesting.

Dad was visiting the Leeces last week in SLO. Jono graduated from highschool (congrats, Jono!). Today I drove up to Ventura to pick him up. Ventura is about halfway between here and SLO. David was driving him down. I got there a little early and took a quick detour to a yard sale. I bought a bookcase for Kyle for $5. Score! Add that to the $1 file cabinet I got for him from another yard sale. Kyle's room needs organizing and these two pieces will help a lot.

It was nice getting a week's break from dealing with Dad. Thanks, Dede and David! Jim and I got the rest of our stuff out of Dad's downstairs. We're slowly getting things moved into the trailer. Right now the studio is blasted. Things await sorting. We're getting rid of lots of stuff.

(Warning! I am about to talk about "female trouble") Ugh! I didn't have any hot flashes for a couple months but now I'm getting several per day. Big drag. Fortunately, they don't last long. Dang! I've heard that this BS can drag on for 10 years. As I'm sitting here I keep switching the AC on and off. I just can't reach a comfortable temperature.

Father's Day. I'm going to church with Dad. He played the guilt card. He's being pissy about it, too. The service doesn't start until 9 but he wants to get there at 7:30 to make sure we get a seat. I told him I don't think we need to get there an hour and a half before church starts and he said, "Fine! I'll get a ride with someone and save a seat for you." Yeah, I wonder who's going to be willing to give him a ride that early. I told him I'll go to church but I'm not hanging around for Sunday school. I'm not looking forward to being paraded around like I'm some kind of trophy. He'll be like, "Look! I got a kid! It's Father's Day and I got a kid!"

I know I should be more generous about this. Church is a big deal for him. Out of five kids, only two are practicing Christians and they both live out of town. If he shows up at church alone on Father's Day it will look pretty bad. I don't know what Stacey and Drew are doing and I don't know if he asked them to go. Probably not. But what I do know is him dragging me there is just for show. Really, I'd much rather take him out for breakfast.

Paige has Yamato practice. Kyle will be here in the afternoon. We gonna practice.

But first I have to clean this studio!

A summer of music and hard work

Holy cow!

Paige is going on this drum corps tour and I'm going with her. I'm going along as general support staff. I'll be driving a 12 passenger van, cooking and cleaning in the food trailer, running errands and generally being on hand for whatever generally might come up. The tour is 3 weeks long but there will also be some weekends and a week-long band camp where I'll be needed to help out.

Hoo-boy! It's gonna be interesting. Good for me, I think. And great for Paige. There's an American group and a Japanese group that will combine and then tour together. There are 2 professional chefs who are going along so I won't be doing much actual cooking, just cutting up a lot vegetables. Big relief there! I think we'll be eating a lot of Japanese food. Big bummer, eh?

Paige looooves this group! She says the attitude is much better, much more mature than in Ramona's band. The music is more challenging. These people are there to work, not screw around.

When I'm not working with the drum corps I'll be working hard on Kyle's music. We had a great practice last night! Very productive. I think we all feel encouraged that we'll be able to do a good show with our pared-down group. I'm getting better on ukulele. Totally digging that.

Rats! Blogger is having trouble. More later...

Oh, the pressure!

I've been told I must update. Umm.... what's the haps?

Yesterday went to a party at Stacey's. She's looking pretty good considering she got konked in the head with a baseball bat last Monday. Yep.

Tori and Audra were practicing their swings close to where Stacey was bending over working on fixing a piece of equipment. Somehow their positions shifted a bit and Stacey's head ended up within Tori's range. She caught it on her forehead just above her right eye. She was lucky it didn't get her in the nose or eye socket. But it did give her a concussion and a nasty shiner. She's supposed to be taking it easy but that's not her style. It's Memorial Day weekend after all.

It was a fun party. Mostly their friends from softball so there were a ton of kids there. After a great dinner we all played softball, kids against adults. They whooped us. We left not too long after the game ended. I talked to Stacey this morning and she said the party lasted until about 11:30. Long day!

Jim and I have been workiing on getting the workshop cleaned up and organized. We're s l o w l y getting things moved into the trailer. There's just way too much crap to go through. We put this off for too long. But it feels good to get things moving.

I've been practicing the uke a lot lately and I'm showing some improvement. Jim bought a pickup for it so now I'm amplified. Oh yeah! Right now it just sticks on the outside but we're going to install it permanently on the inside. I really like how it sounds. Jeff sent me some great sites that have a lot of songs and chord progressions. I've been spending a lot of time on those.

Tonight I'm going to open mike. I don't think I'll perform, though. I'll just go to listen and hang out with the Odiens. Tomorrow Stacey and Brendan are coming over. I'm going to help B make a dragon for a school project.

Ok, Kyle, how's that?

Better now.

Nothing important happening. I just wanted to write. Jim's been bugging me to blog.

Let's see, what haven't I written about? We've all decided that the Kyle band is going to be just us four for now. That's Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and me. The other guys just weren't able to make the necessary commitment. Also, we had drummer issues. We're going to work on the songs and get them polished enough to perform. Then when we're ready we'll bring in a drummer friend of Kyle's. It'll be a bummer not having a bass player but we can deal with that.

I think I've dropped a few pounds. The jeans that were too tight to wear in January are now too loose. Happy dance.

Paige and Rory went to the prom last weekend. We had to do a lot of last minute shopping but we managed to pull everything together. Paige looked just beautiful. I'll post some photos when I can get Jim to help me. I always forget how to do it.

Dad's doing ok but he always seems to be at the edge of a freak out. As long as things are going smoothly he's fine. But he does get flustered easily and he's become more forgetful. We might be seeing the beginnings of a slide.

Jim and I have been working on cleaning out the big trailer. We're going to use it for storage and get rid of the container we've been renting. On Monday we built some shelves that will hold about 20 of those plastic flip top bins. We can start moving things in now. Drew and Mindy had some furniture stored in there, including a sofa and chair from the 60s. I think they're pretty cool looking and they said we could have them. They need to be reupholstered of course. I'm going to do some calling around and find out how much that would cost. They seem pretty solid. Jim and I sat on the sofa and it didn't fall apart. Good sign!

Moving our storage into the trailer will really help things get organized around here. Right now we can't really use the workshop because there's no room. This will be a good opportunity to get rid of some stuff. I want to do a major purge.

Friday is Kyle's 27th birthday. We're going to the Trucker show. Happy Birthday, Kyle!!!

Sigh...

I took Dad to the doctor this morning. I called him before we left and he suggested we take his car. I told him we couldn't because it's not insured anymore. He flipped. I told him to stop yelling at me and ended the conversation. When I picked him up he started yelling at me again. He accused me of reporting him to the DMV and "starting this whole mess". I stopped the car and wasn't going to move until he stopped yelling. I told him the doctor was the one who reported him and he said, "Oh yeah, blame the doctor! JUST DRIVE!!!" He shut up and didn't say another word until we got to the VA. We didn't talk much during the whole visit. I think he knew he blew it.

When we were waiting he kept asking me why we were there. I explained several times that he needed to get all his meds up to date and he needed to have the doc look at his toe. When we went in to see her he started going off about his car. I had to keep explaining that he couldn't get insurance because he didn't have a license. He kept yelling that "they" can't keep him from owning a car. We went in circles with that one for a while. She asked about the anxiety medication that she had prescribed before Christmas. We never gave it to him because it had some nasty side effects and the problem went away on its own because the stresses of the Christmas season ended with the tree sales. He smirked and said, "Oh, there was no stress at Christmas!" (I can hear you all now. You're saying waWAWHAT??????) Dr. Griffin kept looking at me like she knew exactly what I was talking about.

After we left her office we went upstairs to the lab. Dad didn't have any current blood work and they needed it to renew his prescriptions. Then we came home, still not talking.

I was talking to David the junk guy the other day. He said that Dad again asked him if he knew anything about where his big trucks went. These trucks had been stored out in the junk yard and most of their essential working parts had been stolen. They were pretty much worthless. The pink slips were signed and turned over to David and he cut them up for scrap. We've told Dad this many, many times. Anyway, he asked David about them and David said he didn't know anything about it. If he had told Dad the truth he would have gone off. Dad said, "Well, my daughter must have given them to someone."

This is the pattern. Any time Dad doesn't have an answer for something he thinks I did it. I'm the one who reported him to the DMV, I'm the one who got rid of his trucks, I'm the one who told Ruth and Molly that he has AD (he did!), I'm the one who took all his medication (they were in his medicine cabinet). I hear this kind of thing over and over again.

I swear he's slipping again. Things were stable for a while but now it's pretty noticeable that he's not doing as well as he had been. There are some goofy times ahead.

Work to do

Yesterday's performance was..... not good.

Lots of reasons for that. We didn't get to rehearse on Thursday. Trying to do unfamiliar material without rehearsing is a big mistake. Some of Kyle's songs we did ok on. Some we butchered. Also, this bar was NOT the right scene for Kyle's material. The audience was waaaay too old. They did enjoy the Casual Sunday stuff. We're pretty sure we'll be playing Worthington's again. It just won't be the place for the Kyle show.

It's a teeeeny bar. We were totally squished in. A couple times Ken had to move aside to let people in the front door. Ken had the levels set high for the sound check and didn't turn them down again. We started out loud and we stayed loud and I HATE that. I used ear plugs for most of the day.

After the show I wanted to get the hell out of there. I felt bad that Kyle's songs didn't go well. I was wrong to have set my expectations so high. Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and I went to Marie Callender's afterward for comfort food (pie). By the way, I highly recommend the quiche and salad combo. Ham and broccoli quiche with a Waldorf salad and a spinach salad with candied pecans. It put me in my happy place.

Anyway, after a hot bath last night (good for mulling things over) and talking about it with Jim and Ken and the kiddos I think we all feel better. There may be a personnel shift and some instrument swapping and there certainly will be more rehearsing and studying. Also, we want the rest of the band to go see some L.A. shows so they'll see what we're aiming for. We gotta tighten this baby up fer sherr.

On Saturday we went to the Trucker show. Good golly, that was fun! T-Bones was there this time and he was a total hoot. And the Trucker was more naked than he was the first two times I saw him. But he held that guitar firm and he never turned around. Dang-o-rama. Afterward we all went out to the House Of Pie. Andy, the drummer, sat with us. He said he had Gruber's "junk" in his face the whole night. He now calls him "Dimples". Nuff said.

Today I am goofing off. I'll get dressed in a little while and go walk the Rube. I need it. I had pie two nights in a row.

Stuff

No real news. I'm blogging just cuz.

Just got back from walking the Rube and I be pooped. I don't understand why some days are easier than others. Yesterday I zoomed up, today it was hard. Oh well.

We're still dealing with Timio residue. It's going to be that way for a while. Today David the junk guy found some cockatiels in a cage that were left behind. Are thy coming back for them? We don't know. They had water but all the food had been eaten and there was nothing left but empty seed hulls. The cage is this weird home-built thing that looks like it's never been cleaned. I gave them some wild bird seed that I had. David says he has an aviary at home so he's going to take them.

I called the guy who owns the cement truck that's been parked out in the junk yard for a year. He came over to check it out. It's been geting vandalized and parts have been stolen. He's going to bring a battery for it and fix the tires so he can get it out of here. He also says he paid Dad for the back rent. I dunno. He seems like a nice guy, maybe he did.

Scotty said our realtor is going to put a sign up to advertise the property. It's funny but that bit of news gave me a little emotional jolt. I don't think I'll like seeing a For Sale sign hanging on the fence. But I'll get over it.

Let's see... Friday we're going to see Ramona's production of Once Upon A Mattress. Paige is playing in the band. Saturday we're going to see Naked Trucker and T-Bones. There might be a band practice in there somewhere. We might be playing at Jessica's bar on the 7th or the 14th. It'll be the first time in a looong time that Casual Sunday has performed. And it will be the first time we perform all the Kyle songs we know. Yeah, baby! We're gittin' a show together!

That's about it, I think. Next, a hot bath. My feet hurt.

Naked Trucker and Open Mike

Jim had a gig on Saturday. He played with Dave Hockett's band at a posh party up in the hills near Temecula. He said it went really well and the house they played at was huge and awesome.

Lindsay and I went to Naked Trucker. We drove down early and met up with Kyle and Arica and had dinner. Chris came later. Again, a fun show. Jill Sobule was a special guest. I enjoyed her a lot. Her songs were intelligently written and she rocked on guitar.

After the show we went to House Of Pie. Gruber (the trucker) and Andy Paley (composer who wrote the Moobeard music and a bunch of other stuff) showed up later with two girls that I had met earlier. We had a fun time with them. Gruber picked up the tab for everyone. Nice. I was hoping I'd be able to talk to Gruber and Andy about the TV's Kyle show but it wasn't the right scene. I'd like to get their input on doing live shows around L.A. Another time. I got home around 4am.

Sunday we practiced the Kyle stuff at Ken's. It was a good rehearsal, very productive. Then Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and I drove to Claremont for open mike. This one wasn't nearly as good as last month. Most of the performers were snoozers. We screwed up a bit. Jim and I flubbed a few times and at one point Kyle forgot the words to the song. This time Kyle didn't play accordion and I played dumbek instead of the uke. That left Jim to carry the song on keyboard. We sounded kinda puny. So, it wasn't the big bang we gave them last time but it was a good learning experience. Next time, more instruments and more practice. They're letting people take 7 minutes to perform now so next time we're going to do 2 songs.

This afternoon I worked on cleaning out the big trailer we now have parked behind the house. It's a 40 foot container van that we're going to use for storage. Dad came out just as I was finishing up for the day. He saw the oil that had been spilled on the ground by out back gate. He said, "Hey, don't let anyone do that again. That's bad!" AAARRGH! I've been bitching about Timio's oil spills for 2 years now and his attitude was always hey, no big deal. Then he'd tell me about how much Timio has done for him. Well, now Timio has moved out and left a ton of crap and numerous oil spills AND a litter of kittens in the barn! Dad said, "Next time you see him here follow him home so we'll know where he lives." Yeah, right.

I'm going for a walk.

New Post!

I seem to be blogging after the weekends lately.

Happy Easter, everybody! On Saturday we had the boys over for dinner and egg dyeing. I left them to it and went out to the studio to work on mosaics. I'm kinda into that right now. I just finished covering a couple styrofoam balls with broken bits of ceramic. They look pretty cool. These are practice pieces. I want to do a table next.

Late Saturday night I played Easter bunny and hid the eggs and put baskets together. Now, earlier I was enjoying a mellow evening doing my little art thing and sipping tequila. But it wasn't THAT much tequila. I hid 21 eggs but they could only find 15 of them. I'm thinking probably some critter got 'em. But I couldn't remember all the hiding spots so we'll never know for sure.

I gave Rory his Easter basket when he went home. Kyle spent the night. It was a little strange setting out 3 Easter baskets on the mantle. It was the first time ever that we had an extra kid (?) for the egg hunt. Yes, we still do egg hunts. I'll be hiding eggs when I'm 80 years old and pushing a walker. This year our egg hunters were ages 15, 21 and 26 (almost 27)!

Sunday afternoon we worked on some more Kyle songs. It's always a pleasure working on these silly, fun songs. Kyle said he talked to some friends in L.A. who might interested in having us open for their band. Cool!

Timio's been moving his stuff out. The back alley is almost clear. We're still waiting to see what he does with the barn yard. I'm betting he'll take his tools and working equipment and leave us with all the crap. At this point I don't care. I'm just happy to see them go. We're working on a new land deal (The first one fell through. No surprise there.) so being able to get back there and clean is a good thing. We can toss with reckless abandon.

And now I'm going to grout a ball.

Recovering on Monday

Whew! What a weekend!

Saturday we were supposed to ride the bus to go to Paige's last drumline show. When we got to Ramona there were a lot of parents there who decided to go along on the bus. That worked out well for us because we really needed the day to work around here and get ready for Lindsay's birthday party. We decided we'd go to the show (it was in Rancho Cucamonga) and then come home and work on the house. Turns out the bus never showed up but there were enough parents there to take the kids to the competition.

Jim, Lindsay and I got there just before Ramona went on. I was glad Lindsay got to see the show. The kids did really well. They had added some more movements to their choreography which made their routine much more interesting. They came in 3rd.

Friday and Saturday we spent most of our time cleaning and working on party food. I was so wiped out. That was a lot of work! Sunday morning we hit the ground running. More cooking, more cleaning. We piled everything into the truck and the van and took it over to Ken's. I ended up having to make another trip to the store and to home but mostly we had everything together. But I can't help getting totally scattered. Too tired, brain no work.

The kids actually showed up early (!). No time to decorate. Sherri had some leis that we hung up around the yard. Instant festiveness. Ken and Sherri had taken Jessica out to brunch (it was her birthday, too) and showed up just before the guests
arrived. John and Joe came a little later. After a while we all went into the studio and played the 4 Kyle songs that we practiced. The crowd went wild.

We barbecued mass quantities. I got way too much food. We had ribs, chicken, killer beans, salad, artichoke dip with bread, chips, salsa and fruit. Carrot cake, chocolate cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Brought most of it home. It's ok, I love leftover party food. After dinner we played the songs again. Then we threw everything into the cars and brought it all home and continued the party here. Pinata time!

Jeez! I think Lindsay and Kyle bought a kevlar pinata. It weighed a ton, totally stuffed full. I thought it would break under its own weight. After beating it with a wimpy plastic wiffle bat we switched to a wooden one and finally got it bashed to bits. Way too much candy.

The kids stayed until 11:30. Everyone had a great time. Lindsay has a good group of friends and I enjoyed being with them. Today I didn't do ANYTHING. Well, I did go up Mt. Rubidoux. I HAD to after eating all those bad carbs yesterday (yes, I fell off the wagon). Tomorrow, back to normal.

Ha!

The weekends

It's getting to be a regular thing here. Rory and Kyle come over, I'll make a big dinner and we'll do some pleasant hanging out. Watch a movie, play music, draw, whatever. Kyle spends a night or two. I'm enjoying these weekends with the boys here.

We had some good rehearsals this weekend. On Saturday Jim and I went over some songs with Kyle. On Sunday we practiced for the first time with the rest of the band at Ken's. It was great!!!! The songs came together fast. We're going to play them at Lindsay's birthday party next weekend. We're doing Why Not?, Lindsay Is Totally Centered, Arica, and Beaverduck.

I'm encouraged. This weekend made me feel like we really could get this thing off the ground. We's makin' a show!

What a great week!

And a wonderful visit with Dean. I drove her to the airport last night. That left me in a bit of a weird emotional state. The week went by too fast. (Heh, heh! I just found a sunflower seed shell on the desk. Yes, Dean was here!)

Monday we had a goof off day. We searched the barnyard and came up with some items to mosaic. Dean wanted to learn how to do it. We always seem to find an art project to work on when we're together and this time it was mosaic. Dean did a galvanized bucket and I covered a cement cone. She used tiles and broken dishes, I used mirror pieces and flat marbles. Using broken mirror pieces is a little scary. It was the shiny cement cone of DEATH.

On Tuesday we rode the Metrolink to L.A. That was pretty cool. Not the most scenic ride but it's better than driving and parking. We went to Olvera St. and had breakfast. We had a good time but it would have been much better if it hadn't been raining. That put a damper on things. (Sorry) But we still had a good time. We shopped along Olvera St. and I bought some trinkets for the girls.

Wednesday Dean and I walked up Mt. Rubidoux. The view was beautiful but the mountains were obscured by clouds. Dean never got a good view of the mountains the whole time she was here. Danged weather.

Yesterday she finished her mosaic. Turned out pretty well for a first piece. She left it here for me. I just grouted my mirror thing a little while ago. It's taking a long time to set up. The air is a bit damp today.

Last night we had band practice. Dean always enjoys that. She even sang a song with the band. She also did some filming with her new camera. That camera got a workout this week.

It was a good visit. Too short, tho.

I wonder if that grout has set up yet?

Open mike

This Sunday is open mike at the folk music center. We're doing a Kyle song. I think it's a good way to get the live TV's Kyle show going. So far we've got Kyle, Jim, Lindsay and me. Haven't heard back from John yet. Ken might be joining us. That tiny stage is gonna be full!

I'm practicing ukulele like mad. Trying to get the mush out of my fingers. There's a chord change that's kinda hard. I probably won't have it down by Sunday but I'm going to keep practicing and get it right for future shows. It's only one chord that's a problem and it goes by so fast I can skip it.

Dean's coming in tomorrow morning. Saturday we're going to Paige's drum line show in Valencia. We'll be back by early evening and Kyle will be here so we can practice. I'm really looking forward to it. Every time I hear these songs I can imagine what they'll sound like live. It's exciting!

Ok, back to house cleaning....

Lunch with Rhoda

Rhoda Fickle sent Dad a card asking him to meet her for lunch. Today I drove him to Tustin and the three of us had lunch at Mimi's. Rhoda looks just great! She seems very much the same as she was when I was a kid. So funny and full of energy. After lunch we drove over to her old house. This is where we used to go every July 4th when I was growing up. I loved it. The house was beautiful and Larry and Rhoda were great hosts.

We'd always start the day by meeting at Irvine Park for a picnic breakfast. We'd spend a few hours there (Irvine Park is gorgeous) and then head over to the Fickle's. They had a great swimming pool, a garden and horses we could ride. The food was always really good. After dinner we'd go out the front yard for fireworks. Every family would buy a big box of them so we always had loads of pretty explosives. Their house was up on a hill above Anaheim so we could also see the fireworks shows from Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium. We always looked forward to 4th of July at the Fickle's.

Now the neighborhood is unrecognizable. Many of the old houses have been torn down and replaced with huge mansionoids. But the Fickle's house is still there. It was a big house to begin with (Larry and Rhoda built it) so there's not much reason to tear it down. There's a guest house where the garden used to be and a new addition is being built at one end. But it's the same house. I'm glad I got to see it again.

I'm also glad I got to spend some time with Rhoda. The last time I saw her was at our wedding. Larry was still alive then although at the time he wasn't doing too well. He was a sweet man.

Blogs are useful

Last night I read over my earliest entries, especially the ones after Dad was diagnosed with AD. Hoo-wee, we've been through a lot! And we're not even into the nitty gritty of Alzheimer's yet. These days Dad is actually doing better than he was a year ago. Medication, I guess. Still, there's nothing that can give me that sinking feeling in my chest like a hard day with Dad.

We're kind of in limbo here. We don't know for sure how long we'll be here on the farm. We don't have any idea at all where we'll live after we leave here. We'll stay in Riverside until after Paige graduates but if the land sale is complete before then we'll need to find a house to rent where we can have our 3 cats and 2 dogs. And then what? Where will we go?

This is the thing that makes me feel like I'm staring into a deep, black hole. Eventually we'll get it figured out and I doubt we'll end up pushing a cart, but for now it pretty much sucks to try to plan for the future.

But I do have some things to look forward to. It's looking pretty good for the band. I'm optimistic about our new drummer. It will be fun to start getting some gigs around town.

I'm really looking forward to getting into some real work on the Live TV's Kyle Show. Jim's been working on transcribing some songs and I've been studying the vocals. I'm going to try adding in some ukulele on some songs. The guys in the band are enthusiastic about the show. Lindsay says Kyle is excited about it. I'm glad because at first I felt like I was railroading him into it.

Dean's coming on Friday! Her visit will be theraputic for both of us. It's good for her and I to get a dose of each other at least once a year.

Open mike is next Sunday. Kyle, wanna do a song?

So, even though I have a cloud of uncertainty hanging over me I try to stay positive. Doing fun stuff helps, meditation class helps, exercise helps a LOT. This blog really, really, REALLY helps. Between this and the weight loss blog I get to talk to some wonderful people. Thanks, you guys!

I missed 3 days of exercise.

Feeling blobby. But I went up the Rube today so I'm good.

Had another nice weekend. Kyle was here. We're starting to work on putting together the live TV's Kyle show. Didn't get a whole lot done, just gathering some lyrics. I'm looking forward to really getting to work on some music.

I grilled some steak and chicken on Saturday. It was going to be a nice dinner with Paige and Rory but Jim had to run off and deal with another car crisis. Lindsay clipped a curb and got a flat. The Grand Am has fancy wheels that are a pain to deal with. Jim was gone a long time. And what made it an even bigger bummer was it was sooooo cold outside. So Paige, Rory and I had dinner and a real nice talk.

Kyle pitched Weird Eddie for us. I love watching these pitches. Kyle said he's pitched Weird Eddie eight times and no one was interested. I'm not sure why. i guess the cartoon execs know what they want and Eddie didn't cut it. Had me laughing, tho. Jim was going to video the pitch but he couldn't get the camera to work. He'll have the bugs worked out eventually.

Had a small blow up with Dad this morning. We were talking about Timio leaving and he said he's going to ask Bud Lyon if one of his guys wants to move in out back. When I tried to tell him he shouldn't do that he got nasty real fast. I ended up walking out on him. He can go from zero to abusive in a split second. Gotta talk to the sibs about this one. I don't think it's a good idea to have someone new living here. But hey, whatever.

The vibes

Dan and Carol gave Paige a set of vibes for Christmas. This is one happy girl. For a while we had a set of Ramona's vibes in the studio. They took up a lot of room and since the studio sometimes resembles Grand Central Station she didn't get to practice much. Now she has these vibes in her room. She puts in a lot practice time every day. I'm often amazed at the runs she's able to play, very fast and accurate.

Thanks, you guys. You are too good to us.

Remember them crawdads?

Some photos

Lindsay stuck on a rock.


Lindsay and Kyle on Mt. Rubidoux.


Donita and Kyle on Mt. Rubidoux. Kyle is showing you his apple slice.

Cripes!

Everything is falling apart! The valve on the washing machine is leaking. We have a big puddle on the laundry room floor. The slow drip of the bathroom faucet has turned into a stream. The auction cars' repairs keep mounting. Lindsay's laptop is in the shop. The bed in the studio has collapsed (ahem).

Fixing the bathroom faucet is a problem because you can't turn the valves all the way off. Same problem with the main house valve. There's always water running. We haven't ripped into the washing machine problem yet.

The frame for the studio bed is a cheapo trundle frame. Might have to trash that thing altogether. Ah yes, mattress on the floor. Just like the good ol' days. We'll get that taken care of before Dean comes to visit.

Dean's coming to visit!

That's a motivator. Let's get this crap handled.

I've been told I'm neglecting me bloggy.

So, I'll write about the weekend so far.

Yesterday we cleaned house and shopped and cooked a big dinner. Kyle is here for the weekend and Rory was here for dinner. Them's my boys. We all had a lovely time. Jim and I found a box of videos that included some early footage of the girls. We watched Lindsay's first birthday party, Paige's birth (not the actual birth, just the bits before and the bits after), Lindsay's ballet recital, Paige's first Christmas, Sally's run. I don't think the girls had ever seen these videos. I loved seeing my babies again and I think even the boys got a kick out of them.

We had ribs for dinner. I'm good at ribs. Paige made dessert. This was a dessert that could seriously injure you if you are anywhere near being a diabetic. We're talkin' brownie with chocolate and vanilla ice cream and Dove chocolate sauce. I skipped it.

Kyle brought Spiral. He getting to be a big boy. Gracie just can't leave him alone. She looooves kittens. He's getting used to her now but if he wants to get away from her he has to walk around on the tables and windowsills.

Later today I'm taking Lindsay and Kyle up Mt. Rubidoux. Paige and Jim might come, too. We'll see. We're going to put a little picnic together and have lunch at the top. This won't be an exercise walk. This will be a leisurely stroll.

Dad came home yesterday. Drew took him to a ball game. Right now he's at chruch. I know he'll be wanting to come over and tell us about his trip but I'd rather spend this time visiting with Kyle and hanging out with our little family. So, I'm glad Dad has activities right now.

We've got both of the "new" cars in decent shape. The Taurus still needs some work done on the brakes and shocks and it needs a new windshield. Lindsay has claimed the Grand Am (Jean-Claude Grand Am). She slapped some flower stickers on it. We're talkin' Rickie-tickie Stickies from the sixties. She installed her dashboard critters.

(Wow. I was out here alone. Now everybody is here except Kyle, who is in the shower. I have an abundance of company.)

That's about it for now.

Naked Trucker and a couple-a cars

Fun, fun show! We laughed the whole time. The Naked Trucker wasn't totally naked. He wore a loin cloth (an American flag loin cloth) and had his guitar positioned in the usual place, which would have kept him covered in the event of a loin cloth malfunction.

Saturday's show was a little different. Usually it's the Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show but T-Bones wasn't there this time. The Naked Trucker is Dave "Gruber" Allen. He's doing one of the voices for Moobeard. The drummer is Andy Paley, who is doing the music for Moobeard. Yes, there's a Kyle connection here. They also had some special guests performing. There was Andy Kindler who did some stand-up. He's a semi-regular on Everybody Loves Raymond. He had a kind of "insult the audience" act that was pretty funny. There was a guy (didn't get his name) who did a bit with a girl that was freakin' hilarious. He was dressed like Esteban with the hat and sunglasses. She came out holding a guiro and was striking poses and saying, "Meleeeeenda" into the microphone like she was the most fabulous woman on the planet. He kept saying, "She's not supposed to be out here" and she kept posing. It's hard to explain. I guess you had to be there. It was funny as hell. Later the two of them came back and recited some rude haiku. But the trucker's songs were the best. It was a great show.

Afterward Lindsay and Kyle introduced us to Andy Paley and Gruber. Andy is a chatty ball of energy. Gruber was very nice and mellow. I swear he must be 7 feet tall. We couldn't talk much. Too much after-show activity. I hope we can meet them again sometime.

The next morning Jim, Lindsay and I went to the OC auto auction. This time we got to preview the cars. Not a great selection. We ended up buying a '93 Taurus wagon. While Jim and Lindsay were inside waiting in line to handle the paperwork I went back out for the drawing they had at the end of the auction. They were giving away a tv and a car. We didn't win the tv.

We won the car. Don't get all excited. We won an auction car. It's a '90 Pontiac Grand Am. A total grandma car. After getting the paperwork handled, which took FOREVER, they brought out our cars. The Grand Am has one window that came loose from its frame and the other windows won't roll down more than a couple inches. There is no rear view mirror. Jim drove the Taurus home and Lindsay drove the Grand Prize. I followed her home. The Grand Prize was really smoking, especially when she accelerated. Jim said the Taurus clunks like the engine isn't properly mounted. Oh yeah, we brought home a couple of gems. Tomorrow they're both going in for service.

Lindsay really likes the Grand Am. Unless there's something terribly wrong with these cars we'll probably keep them and sell the truck. Paige will be 16 in July so we'll be needing another car anyway.

After we got home we went straight to Ken's to check out this new drummer. He seems like he's pretty good and I think he likes us. He can't practice on Fridays which is a bit of a problem. We can rearrange things to accomodate him. We do need a drummer. I hope he works out.

We got home around 7:30. It seemed so much later. What a freakin' long day. I was kind of stunned.

Man, I hope these cars won't be too expensive to fix.

Hey! Happy Birthday to Brother Atom Bomb Of Reflection! Happy Birthday Brian P! A late Happy Birthday to Brian K!

We get a break!

At this very moment Dad is winging his way to Galveston. The airport experience was uneventful though we did get there 2 hours early because Dad was feaked out about the possibility of being late. So, we had breakfast and did the people watching thing. Dad HAS to comment on everyone who walks by. I could feel my neck tensing up. At one point he got up to go to the bathroom. While he was gone I tried to meditate my tension away. I didn't do so well. An attendant parked a woman in a wheelchair next to me. She was making noises like she was in constant pain and she was way over-fragranced. I just couldn't tune that out.

It's nice to be home.

Tomorrow I'm taking a precious metal clay class with Virginia. I've seen it demonstrated on tv and it looks way cool fun. I'll post photos of our results.

Then Jim and I are going to a Naked Trucker show with Lindsay and Kyle. Yes, the trucker will be naked.

Sunday we're going to the OC car auction again. Early this time. After that it's to Ken's to try out a new drummer. Another full weekend.

Deviant Art

Every time I tell someone about this I have to explain it's not a porn site.

Got the links listed right there to the right. Give 'em a click. Once you're there you can click on a name and go to that person's page. Dean and I signed up recently so there's not much in our galleries yet. Lindsay and Kyle have tons of stuff. Paige even has a DA page but she says she hasn't been keeping it up. Maybe she'll get inspired to start posting again.

Just one more thing that keeps me sitting in this chair. Blog, blog, blog, blog, Deviant Art!

Here it is again! The weekend!

Band practice tonight. Still no drummer but we've been very productive. When we finally do get a drummer we'll be soooo ready. I'm going to walk to Ken's.

Tomorrow we're going to Paige's drumline show in Chino. We gonna ride the bus! Let's see, shall we embarrass Paige and try to start a sing-along? C'mon, everybody! A hundred bottles of beer on the wall, a hundred bottles of beer....

Sunday is the OC car auction. Oh pleeeeazzze let us find a car there!

I'm still working on my painting. I've changed my mind several times about certain areas and had to re-work them.

Jim set me up with a Deviant Art page. It takes a while to set up the gallery. Yuo can't just dump a bunch of pictures in there. So, go take a look. Not much there right now but I'll be adding stuff every day. You can also get to Lindsay's and Kyle's pages from there. Just click on their names. (Hey, Nancy, does Amelia have a Deviant Art page yet?)

Things are pretty good right now. The diet is going well, I'm getting lots of exercise and generally having more fun than I was a few months ago. Dad has been stable. He's going to Texas next week so we'll be getting a nice break. That'll be a good time to go over to his house and organize the stuff we have stored downstairs.

Tra-la-la...

2006 Milestone Birthdays

I just realized that Jim, Lindsay, Paige and I all will be celebrating milestone birthdays this year. Paige turns 16, Lindsay turns 21 and Jim and I will be 50. Ain't that a trip?

Dean, Nancy, Lorraine, Mary are turning 50, Stacey just turned 40. Rory will be 18. Amelia, too?

Ooh, who else?

Starting the weekend

I walked this morning with Stacey. She kicked my butt. Don't know why. She's only 10 years younger and 80 pounds lighter than moi. It was a good walk. I like my sis.

The painting is coming along nicely. It's a big 3x3 ft. canvas, the biggest painting I've ever done. Usually I'm working on paper. I started it last summer when I visited Dean in Texas. I love it. I want to do more big paintings.

It's a big, goofy Halloween explosion. The main figure is a black cat with its back arched impossibly high and an evil grin on his face. In the background on one side are some green, grinning demon faces. On the other side is an orange and purple squiggly harlequin pattern. There's a big yellow moon rising over the cat. At the bottom on the left is a lake of lava with hot rod flames rising up. On the right is a pile of multi colored Day Of The Dead skulls. Right in the middle under the cat's belly is the central figure from The Scream. Oh yeah, I'm having fun with this one. I'll post a photo when I'm done.

No band practice tonight. John Duke, our bass player, is coming over. I enjoy hanging out with John.

I went to meditation class last night. Another good one. Afterward we all went to Coffee Depot to socialize. Enjoyed that, too. It was nice getting to know some of the people in the class and it's always fun talking to Virginia and Bill.

I'm back to feeling good. I think I've dropped a little more weight.

AND!!!! Dad's gone for the weekend! A break!

Tomorrow morning we're going to the auto auction preview and look at cars. Sunday is the auction. Crossing all fingers and toes. Gotta get a car for Lindsay.

But right now I need to do a little house cleaning.

Stressed out

Dad just informed me that he's going on a church retreat this weekend. He also said he needs to have his car back because he's going to have one of the guys drive it up there. I told him I need the phone numbers of the people he's going with. He got very angry and started yelling stupid shit like, "You're in the habit of sticking your nose where it don't belong!" and "Nobody needs to know anything aobut this!" and "Don't you dare call unless someone has died!"

I said, "You've got a badly infected toe. If you forget to take your meds you'll be skipping a dose of antibiotics and you can't do that. (He said he doesn't forget. It's in the past. Why can't I just let it go?) You're going to be out of town with someone who isn't family. You need someone to help you do what you need to do. No, you are NOT normal and you DO need help. If that infection gets out of control you will lose that toe or even your whole foot. Give me the phone numbers of the people you're going with. GIVE ME THE PHONE NUMBERS!"

He's back in nasty old bastard mode. No problem, I can switch to bitch mode pretty quick.

When I came home Jim told me that Dad had called earlier and demanded that he take the car in by Thursday and have the oil changed. We've been using the car since Lindsay's accident. We're hoping to buy a car this weekend but that might not happen. There's no good reason for him to use it to drive a load of church guys up to the mountains. He's being sticky about us using his car. Thing is, he used our truck for several weeks while he was having car trouble and returned it with the electrical screwed up and we never said anything.

Anyway, I called one of the church guys and told him my concerns. He said he'd help Dad with his meds and he agreed to keep our conversation a secret. Also, he said they're all driving up there in his truck so the car issue isn't a problem, at least not for this weekend.

So, I'm stressed out. I'm going to try meditating. I'm supposed to meditate on wanting inner peace this week. Right now inner peace isn't the first thing on my mind. Right now it's "maim and kill".

Dang, I'm out of Petron.

A very nice weekend

It started on Friday with an enjoyable and productive band practice. Did a lot of vocal work.

Saturday Rory came over for for the day. He and Paige hung out and played video games. Pizza for dinner. Later we went to Lindsay's band concert. There was a very rude family sitting in front of us. Noisy, fidgety kids and the parents didn't do anything to stop them. At the end Jim had some words for them. Weird. Kyle and Jon and Jon's friend Alex were there. Afterward they went to a show in L.A. Lindsay said things were awkward with Jon there.

Yesterday Kyle came over to record some clarinet parts for one of his songs. We basically made a day of it. At first Jim and Kyle were doing the Polar Bear dink-around-with-the-equipment thing. He and Lindsay worked on the clarinet recording for a while. Then we had a big ol' dinner. Barbequed teriyaki steak, chicken, some salmon, a big salad and baked potatoes. I eschewed the potato. Good dinner, lots of laughter.

Then we went back out to the studio for some more recording. Paige added a bell part to the song and I composed a brilliant single-strike finger cymbal part. After that Paige went to bed and the rest of us settled in front of the tv to watch The Aristocrats. Ah yes, good family entertainment.

Kyle spent the night. This morning Lindsay fixed salmon omelettes. I took Dad to the VA for a toe check. It's getting better but the doctor gave him some more antibiotics just to keep the healing going. Later this week he goes in for a shoe fitting.

So, it was a nice weekend. Gonna have lunch and head up Mt. Rubidoux.

Meditation class

I went to my first meditation class last night. I've been wanting to explore meditation ever since I heard on the news that meditation can actually make your brain bigger. Dude, give me a bigger brain! Yeah, yeah, there's also all that stuff about it being good for mental clarity and inner peace. But hey, bigger brain.

I found out about the class from Virginia. She and Bill were there last night. I was glad to have some friends there since I'm a total novice.

The class is being taught by a Buddhist nun. I'd never met a Buddhist nun before and I know so little about the whole thing I didn't know what to expect. When I first walked into the building she was coming down the hall towards me. She wore red and yellow robes and had her hair in a buzz cut so I was pretty sure she was the one leading the class. Just a brilliant guess on my part. She noticed my guitar pin and raved about it. She told me she used to play bass. Now THERE'S a band! Her name is (spelling?) Rokma. Like Rock Ma World. Virginia, how is it spelled?

We did a simple breathing meditation first. Breathing in pure, white light and breathing out dark smoke. (Not literally, of course. That would be scary and would probably violate some kind of safety regulations.) It was relaxing and energizing. It also helped get me settled down and ready to listen. She talked about desire and desirous attachment. Some of it really hit home.

After the break we did another meditation, this time adding in stating the desire for inner peace. If we have inner peace we'll always be happy. So our "assignment" is to think about wanting inner peace and then meditate on it.

I really enjoyed this class. When I had a series of hypnosis sessions a few years ago I noticed that I felt very peaceful most of the time. I think this could do pretty much the same thing. I know it will be useful for getting me through the trying times ahead. Damn, I should have done this before Christmas!