I finished the last track for the record tonight; that took some of the weight off. I had hoped to be done much sooner than this, but, alas, it was not to be. I'm thinking that I could get the finished product (I still have to mix and master it) out by maybe the middle of November, but, well, we'll see.
I have four web site projects to work on and no time to do them all.
I sold a copy of my book on Amazon. Woo Hoo.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
It's Not Even Halloween Yet...
... And I saw a house tonight that was completely bedecked in CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!
You know, it irritates the hell out of me when, having not even fully digested my Thanksgiving dinner, I am forced to take in resplendent spectacles of Holiday Spirit (pardon me whilst I vomit), but WHEN THE KIDS HAVE NOT EVEN GONE TRICK-OR-TREATING YET?!?!?!?! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!
I called my college advisor on Monday. I didn't want to, but I had to. You see, he wanted me to drive into Coeur d'Alene for a 10-minute meeting. That's a 90-mile + round trip for me. With gas at $3 per gallon, and my car getting about 15 MPG, that's about a $15 trip. No way am I spending that kind of money to talk with that buttwipe for ONE minute, much less, ten. Besides, that would work out to $1.50 per minute. No way in hell. Anyway, so, I call him on Monday to talk about my Bachelor's research project, and he says that he is too busy to talk to me. He says he will call Wednesday. He didn't call me today. I will e-mail him all the information and questions I have about the project, but I won't hold my hand over my ass waiting for him to actually DO anything about it.
I have begun to think I never should have written that book. Nobody has read it yet, and nobody wants to, either. It is depressing.
Record's progressing nicely. I may have a listening party here soon to decide what changes should be made.
You know, it irritates the hell out of me when, having not even fully digested my Thanksgiving dinner, I am forced to take in resplendent spectacles of Holiday Spirit (pardon me whilst I vomit), but WHEN THE KIDS HAVE NOT EVEN GONE TRICK-OR-TREATING YET?!?!?!?! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!
I called my college advisor on Monday. I didn't want to, but I had to. You see, he wanted me to drive into Coeur d'Alene for a 10-minute meeting. That's a 90-mile + round trip for me. With gas at $3 per gallon, and my car getting about 15 MPG, that's about a $15 trip. No way am I spending that kind of money to talk with that buttwipe for ONE minute, much less, ten. Besides, that would work out to $1.50 per minute. No way in hell. Anyway, so, I call him on Monday to talk about my Bachelor's research project, and he says that he is too busy to talk to me. He says he will call Wednesday. He didn't call me today. I will e-mail him all the information and questions I have about the project, but I won't hold my hand over my ass waiting for him to actually DO anything about it.
I have begun to think I never should have written that book. Nobody has read it yet, and nobody wants to, either. It is depressing.
Record's progressing nicely. I may have a listening party here soon to decide what changes should be made.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Long Day
I didn't get to bed until around 4 AM this morning, and got back up at 9 AM. I was GROGGY, I'll tell you wut. I wore a long black skirt and a gold turtleneck sweater with hald sleeves to my meeting, seeing as how I could NOT find my white blouse ANYWHERE. I put a blazer over it, and called it good. Put my hair up and left. I did my makeup in the car while Kenny drove. He was quiet. He said his stomach hurt. Anyway, got to the meeting and the gal is super nice and very friendly and very apologetic about not getting to me sooner. And she said she would refer me to some medical friends of hers who need some web site work done. Cool.
Went out to eat. Kids at the table next to us were LOUD. We didn't talk at all. Went to see my advisor and informed him that I had just gotten back from a meeting with the director of the NPO. He said that he needed to talk to me about something, but that I should go first and tell him what I had come there to tell him. I asked him for what had been talked about last week (while I was getting my tattoo; I'd told him I had a migraine). He told me. We talked about my Bachelor's research project. (He likes my idea, but thinks it's too broad; I don't.) We talked about journal articles for my literature review and then about his newly adopted daughter. So, then, I ask him what he wanted to talk to me about, and he asks (And I am not making this up): "Did you ever meet with anyone from the NPO about your internship?"
My jaw dropped. Hadn't he been listening to me? I repeated that I had just come from a meeting with the director and that I would be building two (that's right: TWO) web sites for them. The look on his face was PRICELESS. I kind of had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to throw me off the trail to get my 9 credits by giving me phone numbers of people who had NO CLUE what the hell I was talking about. The look on his face was kinda like, "What? You THWARTED my devious plan to ruin your career?!?!?!?!" I wanted to laugh, but I didn't.
Went to the library and got some books on morality and politics and sent some journal articles to myself. Then I went to class. Someone asked me about my book (Yay!) and wanted the ISBN number (Yay!) and then wouldn't take the note I wrote the number on (Boo!). (But he was wearing a Steelers' hat and a Hines Ward jersey, and he was leaving class early, too, to see the Steelers' game, so I'll forgive him. I left class two hours early and went to Wal*Mart. Got new ink for one of my printers. Got some cool eyelashes for the next gig. They glow in the dark. Then, we went out to Mom's and watched the Steelers versus the Refs... I mean the CHARGERS. Sorry. I must have been tired 'cause I slept through the third quarter.
Went out to eat. Kids at the table next to us were LOUD. We didn't talk at all. Went to see my advisor and informed him that I had just gotten back from a meeting with the director of the NPO. He said that he needed to talk to me about something, but that I should go first and tell him what I had come there to tell him. I asked him for what had been talked about last week (while I was getting my tattoo; I'd told him I had a migraine). He told me. We talked about my Bachelor's research project. (He likes my idea, but thinks it's too broad; I don't.) We talked about journal articles for my literature review and then about his newly adopted daughter. So, then, I ask him what he wanted to talk to me about, and he asks (And I am not making this up): "Did you ever meet with anyone from the NPO about your internship?"
My jaw dropped. Hadn't he been listening to me? I repeated that I had just come from a meeting with the director and that I would be building two (that's right: TWO) web sites for them. The look on his face was PRICELESS. I kind of had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to throw me off the trail to get my 9 credits by giving me phone numbers of people who had NO CLUE what the hell I was talking about. The look on his face was kinda like, "What? You THWARTED my devious plan to ruin your career?!?!?!?!" I wanted to laugh, but I didn't.
Went to the library and got some books on morality and politics and sent some journal articles to myself. Then I went to class. Someone asked me about my book (Yay!) and wanted the ISBN number (Yay!) and then wouldn't take the note I wrote the number on (Boo!). (But he was wearing a Steelers' hat and a Hines Ward jersey, and he was leaving class early, too, to see the Steelers' game, so I'll forgive him. I left class two hours early and went to Wal*Mart. Got new ink for one of my printers. Got some cool eyelashes for the next gig. They glow in the dark. Then, we went out to Mom's and watched the Steelers versus the Refs... I mean the CHARGERS. Sorry. I must have been tired 'cause I slept through the third quarter.
Monday, October 10, 2005
I Hate Mondays
Actually, Mondays, in and of themselves, are not bad. It's the fact that I have to go that stupid freaking class that I HATE and listen to that superfluous MORON talk and talk and talk and talk forever and ever and ever and EVER, always saying exactly THE SAME DAMN THING as he said ten minutes ago. I mean, seriously, his classes are three hours long because it takes him three hours to make one point! But I am leaving class early tomorrow. I am leaving at 5 so that I can be home in time to watch the Steelers play on Monday Night Football.
I have a BIG meeting tomorrow (today?) with a lady who runs the NPO in Coeur d'Alene about designing their web site. I'm not nervous, per se, but I know that I need to make a good impression. It's not as though I will lose the job; I already have it, mostly because I am doing it pro bono, as it were. But making a stellar impression will make it more likely that I will get some other (paying) work. And, besides, I am getting college credit for doing it. But the issue I have with working on other people's crap is that... it's other people's crap. I mean, it's a challenge and everything to put together something from someone else's vision, and it's probably more rewarding. But there is something about releasing energy and emotion by doing something creative that you thought up all your own, that doesn't require anyone else's input or anything. Anyway, so I have to be up and getting ready to leave in 7 hours, and I have not even typed up my proposal or taken a shower or prepared my "Big-Wig Meeting Clothes" or ANYTHING. I watched TV half the night and ate a couple of cookies. I made my back pop, too. It doesn't really feel any better.
Gig Day: It was almost 7 AM. I went groggily to bed and got woke up at noon while Kenny was loading up the equipment into the band van. I went back to sleep. I got woke up again a half hour later when Kenny brought the drummer over to break down his drums and load them. So I got dressed, got some coffee, and went to work ironing on the transfers to the t-shirts. No real problems there. Then, I started packing for the gig. Magic vocal potion? Check. Cameras? Check. Make-up case? Check. Vocal warm-up CD? Um... Um... Um... the darned thing is not to be found ANYWHERE. I am pretty sure that the Vanishing Drummer ended up with it, since I last had it in his wife's car on the way to a gig (the same time that I lost my cell phone car charger). But I hunted for that for an hour. Finally gave up and went to Mom's for dinner. Gave my Dad one of the black t-shirts (pink logo and all) to wear to the gig. He was really happy. He is my biggest fan. :):):)
Got to the gig. No one could figure out how to set stuff up on the tiny little stage, and no one would listen to me, so I sat and smoked and then talked the drummer through what we'd be doing on the first set (did I mention that we have only practiced with him three times?). The place started filling up. We soundchecked. For some reason, I was shaking and nervous as shit. I had changed the strings on my guitar the night before, and they were still stretching, and, as my amplifier had been set on top of the bassist's amplifier, it was just about shoulder level to me, and I could hear how the strings were stretching during sound check and getting increasingly flat. I tuned the guitar after the first song at sound check, and turned the amp down. Better, but still nervous. Band thinks everything sounds fine. I sit and wait. Meet people. (It's all a blur.) Start the first song. People start getting into it. I start relaxing. Things get better. Drummer's doing GREAT. As the night wore on, we got better and better and more relaxed. We only made a few screw-ups, but that was okay. I can live with that. And then, at the end of the night, the people throwing the party paid us TWICE as much as they had told us that they would. Now THAT was SUPER FREAKING COOL.
So, all in all, it was a busy weekend, but so worth it. I am saving my portion of the gig money to fund the album's pressing and silk-screening, so, now, I only need to come up with another $349 for that... and then $500 for copyrighting (but that can wait until tax time, I figure). My friend David is printing the inserts and CD trays cards for me (bless his heart), so I don't have to worry about that. I DO, however, have to COMPLETELY re-do the insert insides since we dumped The Wannabe and got our new drummer (whom I will no longer call "Piper" since he is no longer doing the thing that made me call him that in the first place, over a year ago). The new album is going to ROCK and be super cool and all artsy and shit and CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!?!
I'll quit now and actually do some work. I think.
I have a BIG meeting tomorrow (today?) with a lady who runs the NPO in Coeur d'Alene about designing their web site. I'm not nervous, per se, but I know that I need to make a good impression. It's not as though I will lose the job; I already have it, mostly because I am doing it pro bono, as it were. But making a stellar impression will make it more likely that I will get some other (paying) work. And, besides, I am getting college credit for doing it. But the issue I have with working on other people's crap is that... it's other people's crap. I mean, it's a challenge and everything to put together something from someone else's vision, and it's probably more rewarding. But there is something about releasing energy and emotion by doing something creative that you thought up all your own, that doesn't require anyone else's input or anything. Anyway, so I have to be up and getting ready to leave in 7 hours, and I have not even typed up my proposal or taken a shower or prepared my "Big-Wig Meeting Clothes" or ANYTHING. I watched TV half the night and ate a couple of cookies. I made my back pop, too. It doesn't really feel any better.
Gig Day: It was almost 7 AM. I went groggily to bed and got woke up at noon while Kenny was loading up the equipment into the band van. I went back to sleep. I got woke up again a half hour later when Kenny brought the drummer over to break down his drums and load them. So I got dressed, got some coffee, and went to work ironing on the transfers to the t-shirts. No real problems there. Then, I started packing for the gig. Magic vocal potion? Check. Cameras? Check. Make-up case? Check. Vocal warm-up CD? Um... Um... Um... the darned thing is not to be found ANYWHERE. I am pretty sure that the Vanishing Drummer ended up with it, since I last had it in his wife's car on the way to a gig (the same time that I lost my cell phone car charger). But I hunted for that for an hour. Finally gave up and went to Mom's for dinner. Gave my Dad one of the black t-shirts (pink logo and all) to wear to the gig. He was really happy. He is my biggest fan. :):):)
Got to the gig. No one could figure out how to set stuff up on the tiny little stage, and no one would listen to me, so I sat and smoked and then talked the drummer through what we'd be doing on the first set (did I mention that we have only practiced with him three times?). The place started filling up. We soundchecked. For some reason, I was shaking and nervous as shit. I had changed the strings on my guitar the night before, and they were still stretching, and, as my amplifier had been set on top of the bassist's amplifier, it was just about shoulder level to me, and I could hear how the strings were stretching during sound check and getting increasingly flat. I tuned the guitar after the first song at sound check, and turned the amp down. Better, but still nervous. Band thinks everything sounds fine. I sit and wait. Meet people. (It's all a blur.) Start the first song. People start getting into it. I start relaxing. Things get better. Drummer's doing GREAT. As the night wore on, we got better and better and more relaxed. We only made a few screw-ups, but that was okay. I can live with that. And then, at the end of the night, the people throwing the party paid us TWICE as much as they had told us that they would. Now THAT was SUPER FREAKING COOL.
So, all in all, it was a busy weekend, but so worth it. I am saving my portion of the gig money to fund the album's pressing and silk-screening, so, now, I only need to come up with another $349 for that... and then $500 for copyrighting (but that can wait until tax time, I figure). My friend David is printing the inserts and CD trays cards for me (bless his heart), so I don't have to worry about that. I DO, however, have to COMPLETELY re-do the insert insides since we dumped The Wannabe and got our new drummer (whom I will no longer call "Piper" since he is no longer doing the thing that made me call him that in the first place, over a year ago). The new album is going to ROCK and be super cool and all artsy and shit and CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!?!
I'll quit now and actually do some work. I think.
Friday, October 7, 2005
My Butt Hurts
All right, it's not, technically, my butt that hurts, but my lower lumbar region, the area just above my left hipbone in the back, to the left of my spine by a skosh (how the HELL do you spell that?!?!?!). It feels like there is a spike stuck in there or something. It's kind of a dull ache until I move the wrong way. And then I just kind of stop and freeze, like the next ice age came or something. Arg.
In other news, I am totally amazed by my new drummer. He just KNOWS what I mean when I tell him stuff about the music and then he does it spot on. Perfect. Ah, sigh. :) This record is going to be abso-freaking-lutely perfect now.
In other news, I am totally amazed by my new drummer. He just KNOWS what I mean when I tell him stuff about the music and then he does it spot on. Perfect. Ah, sigh. :) This record is going to be abso-freaking-lutely perfect now.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
My New Tattoo
I was all worried that getting a tattoo was going to hurt something nasty, but it wasn't that bad at all. It was a little like a bunch of mosquito bites or a bee sting a couple of hours after it happens. There were a couple of moments where it kinda hurt, but not really.
And the tattoo artist did an amazing job. His name was Aaron. He owns Body Grafix Tattoo on Sprague in Spokane, so, if you need a tattoo and you live in the Spokane area, go there.
Here are some crappy pictures I took with my web cam, here and here.
I'm happy with it, and it only hurts a little bit now. :)
And the tattoo artist did an amazing job. His name was Aaron. He owns Body Grafix Tattoo on Sprague in Spokane, so, if you need a tattoo and you live in the Spokane area, go there.
Here are some crappy pictures I took with my web cam, here and here.
I'm happy with it, and it only hurts a little bit now. :)
Monday, October 3, 2005
Tattoo Me
haven't gotten it yet, but I have decided I want to get a tattoo. So, I drew the image that I want.
We practiced with "Piper" today. I couldn't stop grinning. After the last three weeks practicing with The Wannabe (as I will now refer to our "new" - now fired - drummer) and having to repeat "Ridin' The Storm Out" and "Black Magic Woman" 20 times apiece because he couldn't get it... the sheer talent, creativity, and ability "Piper" displayed today totally wowed me. I am SOOOOOO happy that he said "yes."
We practiced with "Piper" today. I couldn't stop grinning. After the last three weeks practicing with The Wannabe (as I will now refer to our "new" - now fired - drummer) and having to repeat "Ridin' The Storm Out" and "Black Magic Woman" 20 times apiece because he couldn't get it... the sheer talent, creativity, and ability "Piper" displayed today totally wowed me. I am SOOOOOO happy that he said "yes."
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Okay, then...
Well, we basically got rid of the new drummer already. We had him take his stuff away and just told him that we'd be working with a fill-in for the gig on the eighth. He doesn't know it yet, but he is fired. Between his lies; his bitchy, smelly wife; his propensity to not be able to learn the material... we just couldn't take it anymore.
But all that left us without a drummer. Luckily, the fill-in drummer we used the last time that we had a gig and no drummer, "Piper," is filling in again. He seems excited, but we just don't know if he'll last. In the meantime, he'll probably end up recording the drum tracks on the record.
Which is something else that we are furiously worried about. We have pre-orders to fill, and we have already pushed the record's release date back four times. It's now set for Halloween, but... oh my God. I SO doubt that we're going to be able to make that date.
In other news, my book is officially published. Yay, me.
Tomorrow, we are practicing with Piper. It's also football day, but the Steelers have the bye this week, so, you know... whatever. :)
But all that left us without a drummer. Luckily, the fill-in drummer we used the last time that we had a gig and no drummer, "Piper," is filling in again. He seems excited, but we just don't know if he'll last. In the meantime, he'll probably end up recording the drum tracks on the record.
Which is something else that we are furiously worried about. We have pre-orders to fill, and we have already pushed the record's release date back four times. It's now set for Halloween, but... oh my God. I SO doubt that we're going to be able to make that date.
In other news, my book is officially published. Yay, me.
Tomorrow, we are practicing with Piper. It's also football day, but the Steelers have the bye this week, so, you know... whatever. :)
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