Finally, the dam has burst, and the words are coming. It's been a long drought without anything creative to sustain me. But, finally. The words are coming forth, and the story's practically writing itself, and, sweet relief? Yes, it is.Here's the best lines I wrote tonight. Tell me what you think:

"Shelby Guilfoyle," one of the men said to Maggie. His head reminded me of a
brick with a Brillo pad glued to the top, what with his exaggerated square jaw
and decidedly "ruddy" complexion caused by very pale skin in unrelenting
southeast Oregon heat."Where is she?" the other man demanded. This one was very
tall, had an almost graceful body – especially compared to Brick-noggin – and
his dark skin shimmered slightly with sweat in the noontime sun, the sheen of it
only overwhelmed by the stunningly bright glint of his too-cliché cop-type
mirrored sunglasses.

Maybe it doesn't make any sense out of context.

Anyway, so, yeah. It's not the sequel to Night Cries, but I am writing again, so maybe that's not far behind. You think?

It's A Mystery To Me

Nothing much happened today. I called a booking agent and invited him to the shows over this coming weekend. I also called a bar owner and invited her. We'll see what happens.

I completely updated my web site. New look, new content, whole nine yards. See it here.

So, I am going to start writing again. I'm almost ready to do it again. What will I start writing? I don't know. Something, though. I am feeling very uncreative, though. Have been for a while, and I am at a loss at what to do with myself. I don't have a creative outlet anymore since I finished all my projects. El sigho.

Busy Weekend

I was SOOOO busy. In fact, I was busy all week, pretty much. On Tuesday, we had band practice with our regular drummer. On Wednesday, we had band practice with Cactus. On Thursday, we had band practice with the regular drummer. Then, Friday morning, I had to get up early to help my Mom go shopping at Wal*Mart. I helped her load the groceries into the truck, bought lunch; got back to Mom's; helped her unload the groceries; took a shower; dried my hair; got ready for the gig; went home; finished getting ready for the gig; went to the bar; helped set up some; soundchecked; and then the show started.

The show was weird. At first, there was almost nobody there, and Kenny set up the PA funny, so there was only sound coming out of one side of the speakers (so that had to be fixed prior to the second set). And it was kind of disheartening, at first, because there were so few people there, but, come about 10 PM, more people came in (and stayed, thankfully!), and then about 11 PM, there were more people, and people started buying us drinks and coming over to talk with us and buying our CDs and stuff. By midnight, the place was packed. And it ended up pretty cool, but there was one incident: the drummer, during the last song, decided that he was going to take a leak, so, in the middle of "Freebird," he got up from the drums and RAN to the bathroom. So, being as I have played drums on that song before, I slipped behind the drum kit and, with my guitar still hanging around my shoulders, I played the last half of the slow part to "Freebird." Just as the fast part kicked in, the drummer returned from the john and took over playing again, although, getting him BACK behind the drum kit and me OUT from behind it while not breaking the rhythm was some of a feat, but we did pull it off.

The next day, my Dad came over to get me (as Kenny borrowed my car for work), and I went out to his house, ate lunch, and got ready for the gig at the Owl. I get there, and Kenny is already there setting up equipment, but the drummer is nowhere to be seen. He had called Kenny at, like, 3:30 PM, and said that he was on his way, but, there it was, 5 PM, and he wasn't there yet. We wondered if something had happened to him or if he was going to just ditch us. But then, Cactus showed up, and we, at least, would have someone to play drums if the drummer didn't arrive. Long about 6 PM, the drummer finally shows up. His said he had been waiting in the parking lot the whole time. Cactus had already set up the drum kit, so, at least we started on time. We had fewer technical difficulties this time, which was good, but I got pissed off at Kenny toward the end of the night for skipping one of my original songs on the set list. the drummer pulled the "I-gotta-piss" ploy twice during the night, and Cactus filled in both times. Someone (or multiple someones) stole 3 CDs out of my backpack.

Today, I was TIIIIIIIRRRRRED. I wasn't ready to be awake when Dad got here with the equipment today, so I didn't help him unload anything, and I feel bad about that, so I will have to buy him some Primo Beer to make up for it. I'd planned to either work or write when I got home tonight, but I got home too late to feel like doing anything. Now I am super tired again and I think I'll got o bed soon. I am feeling rather dehydrated at the moment, though, so I may watch TV and drink some water.

The antibiotics seemed to work on the tonsilitis, finally. I wonder which "rare" bacteria I had?

Blech

I'm feeling rather useless. I read a book over the weekend off-and-on, and I liked it. I picked up the book because the author's last name is the same as my favorite teacher in college, and the story looked interesting, so, I bought it. The book is called Blood Ties Book One: The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout. It wasn't great, but it was fun, and it occurred to me that I don't write "fun" books. In fact, I'm not really a "fun" person. I wouldn't want to be my friend. I suck. But, anyway, I digress. I've decided that I am going to write another book. A fun book. Something interesting, yet fun. Funny, even. Because right now, Life In General sorta stinks. The swelling has gone down in my tonsils, but they still hurt to swallow sometimes. I am starting to worry that I am REALLY sick.

Weirdness Abounds

I went to the doctor today. He said that whatever it is giving me tonsilitis is not strep. So, basically, he thinks I have mono, which, you know, I don't. The only other things that could be causing it are two pretty rare bacteria. So, I have a prescription of Cephalexin (500 mg) to take, and, hopefully, I'll feel better soon. Otherwise, I gotta go back in next Friday for blood tests.

I don't do spring cleaning. I don't clean, really, but I had not cleaned off the crap from my hard drive very recently (like since 2004!), so I did so tonight, and ran across some MP3s I did for this other band that was looking for a lead singer back in 2003. When I did the songs for them, I changed up a lot of the vocals from the way the previous singer had done them. The band told me that they didn't like what I had done, and ended up not using my vocals... or so I thought. I went and looked the band up tonight and I found that their new singer is using a lot of the unique vocal inflection I'd arranged on the song. I guess I had more of an impression than they wanted to admit, huh?

This Space Intentionally Left Blank

I have a doctor's appointment today. I am supposed to get antibiotics for my tonsils.

I found an urge to work tonight, but I didn't. Hehehe. I will tomorrow night, though, unless we have a show on Saturday, in which case, I will put of working until later, because I will have lots of band practices all week for shows and whatnot.

I heard from VH1 tonight, and they were asking for the MP3 of the song, so that must be a good thing, and means that our song appearing on the program is coming soon! Yay! Our music may also be heard on a Washington, DC podcast soon, and we might play in Denver. Who knows?

Updates

So, I woke up Tuesday morning with one of the worst cases of tonsilitis that I have had in a long time. The tonsil on my right side was so swollen I felt like I might gag at any second any time I swallowed, and it was bright red and goopy-looking. Just nasty.

And I had to perform yesterday.

Saturday, we had band practice with Cactus, who is filling in for us on the 21st and 22nd, as our regular drummer can't play on those dates. We practiced with Cactus again Sunday.

Tuesday, I woke up with horrific tonsilitis, but I did perform, thanks to two Tylenols and a healthy dose of my magic throat elixir. My throat still hurts, incidentally, and we may be performing again on Saturday. Lovely.