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. :)

My Book...

...somehow got listed at Barnes & Noble. I have no idea how.

Whatever

My book went to press yesterday. I hope it turns out okay. Amazon finally updated the information on the book, but only AFTER I found out that I needed to raise the price by $4 and that the page count was going to be different because it is NOT being printed in standard Mass Market Paperback size. Oh, well.

There is a ton of school stuff I need to get done, but I just haven't had the time what with trying to get this drummer ready for a gig on the 8th. I have to teach him 106 cover songs and 14 original songs before then, and, well, to say that it is going slow is an understatement. He is NOT getting... yet. I half-assed threatened him with being fired and it seemed to wake him up. Hopefully, he'll get his shit together and figure out that he needs to know this material by the 8th. Or we're screwed.

It Happens...

My book is FINALLY listed on Amazon. After weeks and weeks of waiting, I finally found it. Although the book is not to be released until October 1, it's already listed there. You would think, however, that you'd be able to pre-order it. NOPE! There's no price (even though one was supplied to them, I am told), and no pre-order button, so I cannot promote it at all. I've e-mailed them, but we all know what good THAT will do: NONE.

In other news, my instructor (who is also my advisor) ticked me off so bad that I have posted all my notes to the class I took from him last year. I warn you: you might not get much out of them except that maybe I should have been paying more attention. I still got a good grade, though.

The band is not practicing, and we still haven't recorded the album. Supposedly, this is going to happen in a week, but I am not holding my hand over my ass waiting. Assuredly, someone will find a way to screw it up. AGAIN.

Today, I went shopping with my Mom. While there, I started chewing a piece of gum. While at the checkout stand, I bit down on the piece of gum, and suddenly, this horrendous pain hit my lower right-hand second-to-the-back molar. It was a pain unlike anything I have ever felt before. I blacked out (but I did not fall down or go to my knees or anything) and my ears started ringing like nobody's business. The pain lasted for hours and hours. I have taken 12 painkillers and half a tube of OraGel, and it still hurts from time to time.

Which brings me to another rant: Why are dentists so expensive? I do not have insurance, and cannot get it through my state, so paying for medical or dental practices is out of my reach. But my teeth are killing me. But does anyone care? Can I get a "Hell, NO!" from the audience? Nobody gives a crap whether your teeth are falling out of your head. Nobody cares that you are in so much pain that you can't even lift your head without crying hardly. Grr.

Which brings me to another rant: Why won't anybody pay for web design services? Everybody I know wants a professionally-designed web site, and, yet, no one wants to pay me to do my job. Why on EARTH would they think that I should do something for the for free? Would a DENTIST do it for free? Can I get a "Hell, NO!" from the audience? Then I am not going to either. I charge a lot less than other web designers. So, freaking PAY ME already.

My, Oh, My... What A Day!

Actually, the last few days have been a little harrowing. It started Friday night when the drummer's wife pissed my Mom off. So, I had to have the drummer take his wife back to Spokane. And my house still stinks like the drummer's wife's body odor. In the meantime, I'd been talking to Cactus about coming back and, at least, filling in while we finished training this other drummer. Well, he said "yes," but then, tonight, there was an e-mail from him stating that, while he was looking forward to playing with us again, he couldn't do it because he got drunk at a party, fell down some stairs, and twisted his ankle, sprained his wrist, and broke his thumb. So, we're back to having to try to train this new drummer in three weeks to play 106 cover songs and 12 original songs.

In the meantime, I've been having an argument with my college advisor (who is also the instructor for one of the courses I am taking this semester). We'd set up a practicum for me to do working with a non-profit organization in Coeur d'Alene. Actually, this was set up between my old advisor (a sweet woman who is no longer working with my college on a full-time basis) and a gentleman from London who is a humanitarian who recently got back from some work in East Timor. At any rate, the whole thing fell to pieces when the guy from London resigned the position and moved back to London, and my advisor moved on to work more steadily with another college. Now, my new advisor, who I cannot stand (for reasons I will explain in a minute), signs me up for the practicum without me actually having the position set in stone anymore. Well, I tried to contact everyone involved with the NPO, but to no avail. No one returns calls, no one answers e-mail. I am so mad. So, I write to my advisor and he doesn't write back. I call him and he does not return my call. I write him again, and finally get a response, but only after he's told me everything he's written in the e-mail (minus one disparaging comment toward me) after class tonight. Now, during class, he ignores me the whole time: everytime I raise my hand to ask a question, he ignores me. Everytime I try to answer a question he ignores me. When he directs a question at me, and I answer, he vociferously tells me that I am wrong, and then proceeds to reword exactly what I said. Either he is not paying attention to what I am saying or he is just being an ass. Only two reasons for his behavior, you know? Anyway, last semester, when I was taking another class from him, he told me that he would have liked to fail me, but he couldn't because my work was too good. Arg! Anyway, so I finally confront him, and ask him, "Do you have a problem with me?" He acts all innocent and almost offended and says that if he had a problem with me I would know it, and I'm thinking... I do know it!

So, then, on the way home tonight, I am driving along at about 60 MPH and I see a deer in my headlights, so I let my foot off the accelerator and start slowing down. There is a car coming at me (with bright lights on... typical), so I put my lights on low beam. Now, I can't see as far, so I didn't see the other deer that started across the road. I stood on the binders. Tires squealed. Car went almost sideways. And I hit the deer anyway. The deer hits the front driver's side of the bumper, and his head hit the hood of my car. His antlers left dents in the hood. He left hair all over the headlights, bent my bumper, broke a piece of plastic that goes between the bumper and the frame of the car, and turned the high beam headlight in by about an inch and half. The deer bounced off the car and landed in the other lane in front of the oncoming car I dimmed my lights for. The other driver honks at me like I did something wrong, but he did not stop. I pulled a little bit off the road and put on my emergency flashers. I'm shaking and watching the deer in the road, and the darned thing gets up and walks away. More cars pass by me, all honking and none stopping, and I drive about a half mile up the road and pull into a driveway. I'm still shaking. I get out and look at the damage to my car. The driver's side fender is pushed in about an eighth of an inch, plus all the other damage I mentioned earlier. I check my cell phone. No service. I drive on. I call Kenny. He is only concerned about the car. I call my Mom. She didn't even ask if I was all right. In fact, she didn't even ask about the car. So, you know, I matter to people. (Incidentally, I did bleed because of the accident: I bit my lip when I hit the deer and it bled all over the place.) The only person who was concerned about me was David. And he lives 3,000 miles away. ARG!!!!

So, that's pretty much it. My minor annoyances of the day: I forgot to bring a pack of cigarettes with me so I had to buy another pack; I am out of CD-Rs; there is road construction EVERYWHERE; and Moo-Lattes at Dairy Queen are forty cents more expensive than they were in May.

What I've Been Doing

Things have been really strange and busy around here. Our drummer left the band. Why? I do not know. After our last gig, we simply haven't heard from him, and it's been a month now. Well, he did post twice on the band's message board two days ago, but that was all, and, even at that, he didn't bother to give us an explanation. Just that he was "sorry." We're working with this kid, now, but I don't think he's going to work out. He likes metal, and we don't play metal. Besides, we've been working with him for almost a week and a half, and he can't even get down twelve originals. I shudder to think what it will be like when we throw 106 covers at him. I'm shaking my head here, because I don't think I can take it.

So, we're in talks with Cactus to return to the band. If he says no, we'll keep working with this kid. But I am not holding my hand over my ass.

In other news, I am pretty well jobless. I have looked and looked and looked for work and can only find shitty little jobs that are from people who don't want to pay for what they want. For instance, this one guy (I'll call him "Bronco") wanted a site where he and his office buddies could run an office football pool... for $50. I listen to what he wants, and say, well, okay. At least it's a little money, and I can save it, I guess, for other projects. Well, I do exactly what he tells me, and send him the link. I hear NOTHING for a week and a half. Then, two days before the season starts, he begins barraging me with telephone calls and e-mails. He wants changes. LOTS of changes. The first list of things he wanted went something like this:

-a main page to make selections of activities from
-a page where all the weeks of the season were laid out in numerical format for people to click on
-a page for each person to make his or her picks and then send it to him
-a forum board
-and a sports newswire

Fine. Done in a day. But then, he wants:
-the main page to change daily. I would be doing the updating.
-the pages for making the picks had to be built as a "confidence pool" where the people picking could place values on the picks they made. The range of numbers needed to be from 16 down to 5, with five games being able to use the number 5 and the rest of the numbers only being able to be used once. These pages also needed to include a place for the pickers to make "suicide picks" weekly, and a place for name and e-mail.
-all picks were to be compiled by ME and sent to HIM
-all picking had to be "locked" at the start of the first game
-all picks made had to be posted on the web site at the start of the first game
-after the games, all results (including his point awards) had to be posted on the site immediately following the Monday night game
-no forum
-no newswire
-the entire site had to be password locked
-each person had to have his or her own, unique username and password, picked by him
-each person had to be able to change his or her password, but not his or her username
-I had to be available to him 24/7 for technical support, training, and updating.

ALL FOR $50!!!!!!!!!!

Now, you see the downside to my job. The upside is people like this one client I have, who lets me do whatever I want as far as design and implementation, and, if he is short on funds, lets me know to stop working, pays me what he owes me so far, and lets me know when to start up again. And he pays WELL. But your average client is just a putz.

After dealing with Bronco for so long, I took the weekend off. I retreated to my Mom's for the weekend, and basically just slept. I did take a shower, and I learned to drive stick shift. I also got started replacing the lost copy of A Night Borrowed, the sequel to Night Cries. And I did that on my laptop, which I used for the first time in three months. My bassist repaired it for me, but I was gun shy of it. So, I used it. At least it runs. The thing is three and a half years old, and I need to replace it, but I can't afford to. I wrote the bulk of Night Cries on an HP laptop that was built sometime around 1997. It ran Windows 95, and worked fine until one of my nephews stepped on it. Then the screen wouldn't work. So I got my files off of it, and finished Night Cries up on my new laptop, which, as I said, is about three and a half years old. So, I guess I can start writing this new book on my three and half year old laptop. (Incidentally, my old laptop now works fine again. I gave it to my bassist as payment for fixing my newer laptop, and he replaced the screen for $9 (got the part from Germany, I hear) and put Windows 98 on it. I guess he really likes it.)

So, now, the band is practicing with the hope of being the in the studio to re-record the album by Saturday. Oh, yeah. We have to completely re-record the album.

Nothing else of import is going on. Just a bunch of random stuff.

Hurricane Katrina

I would like to take a moment to send my thoughts and prayers to the people of New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I cannot imagine such devastation as what you are experiencing.

In case you've been living under a rock, a Category 5 hurricane hit southern Louisiana yesterday. The damage is said to be catastrophic, especially in the northeastern sections of New Orleans, and the city of Slidell, which is said to be under 20 feet of water. I have been reading blogs most of the evening from those inside the "strike zone" of Katrina, and, to say that my heart goes out to those people is an understatement.

I do not fully comprehend the topography of New Orleans, however, I am told that it sits in a "bowl" that is contrcuted of natural topography, levees, and causeways. A two-block stretch of the 17th Street levee in New Orleans broke a few hours after the hurricane's passing, and, as Josh Britton, who lives in New Orleans (or close by) reports:

"According to Mike, WWL is reporting that “80% of the city is underwater, up to
20 feet deep” and “both airports are under, the yatch club is gone, water is
still entering, houses have broken off their foundations and are floating free.”
This is all presumably because of the delayed breach of the 17th Street canal
(see below). Lake Pontchartrain is entering the city and become Lake New
Orleans. The cable news networks have not really caught on yet to what is
happening. [...] If this is as serious as it sounds, the worst-case scenario is
happening. The bowl is filling."

Grammar, people! Grammar!

I saw this tonight on a local job board:

Will mow grass along state highways using a medium size tractor and rotary
mower. Will also operate a week eater. Will assist in minor maintenance of
equipment. Must have some tractor related experience, be 18 years of age and
have a valid driver`s license. Must be willing to travel around Northern and
Central Idaho. Will work 50-60 hours per week. Pay starts at $7.50 per hour with
overtime over 40 hours per week. $100 per week per diem. Job will end around
Sept. 1.

The first person who correctly tells me three things grammatically wrong with this ad will get a free copy of my book when it comes out. (There are actually, logically speaking, WAY more than three things wrong with this, but I'll accept the person with any three correct responses.)

Site Designs

I decided that the web site for my book was lacking and that I needed a personal author's page, so I went looking at what some other people are doing on their sites, prepared to be completely wowed.

I wasn't.

It turns out that a lot of writers have REALLY crappy web sites... even well-known writers. What's worse, some of the writers have majorly crappy artwork for their covers. Most of these are, typically, ePublished authors, but, still. Come on. I saw this one where there was a computer generated vampire that looked like he was stolen off of a Commodore 64 game and altered to have sharp eye teeth. Another was an erotic fantasy novel that had almost the same Commodore 64-style look to him, but, despite being set in modern day, the guy was wearing a coat that had puffy sleeves ala the era of Henry VIII.So, I don't feel so bad. Still no ideas on the web sites, though.

More Blank Filling

The band played in Spokane and twice in Cusick and worked on the record and got a photographer to take pictures for the CD and bought a van. The layouts for my book got almost finished. Got my classes for my second-to-last semester of college before I have my BS. In August.... The band played once so far... drummer maybe leaving (taking our keyboard player/backup singer with him... can't decide to use the same guy to finish mixing the record; ... getting "okay" reviews on the songs, though.

I'm Up Early

I actually went to bed at a semi-decent hour: 1 AM. I must have been tired. The eCommerce site is finished, the studio site is started well, my book is going well, the album is almost done, I found a nice photographer to work with for the CD cover and interior photographs, my friend David is going to print the CD inserts for me... all in all, things are going really well. Today, I am going to Coeur d'Alene to finish getting my classes for the fall semester, and then over to Spokane to pick up my shoes that I left at the studio the last time I was recording. I may stop at Guitar Center and buy some more guitar strings (but I buying a different brand this time; I am tired of the string breaking).

Things

We found a manager on Tuesday for the band. The same day, we found a drummer! Friday, we fired our "booking agent," who has been harrassing me ever since and lying to people about me and my band. Oh, well. No such thing as bad publicity, right?

People I have met in my town have started stopping me and asking me about my book. Yay!

More Drummer Crap

As some of you might know, I have been looking for a drummer to replace my old one. I posted ads all over the Internet, networked people I knew, blah, blah, blah. When people talk to me about the position, I generally get one of three replies:

1) "Music sounds good. Nice and marketable. I can see why you're going on tour with this; you'll be signed in no time. So, like, here's what I want to be your drummer: I need $1,000 per week, plus a daily allowance, plus one-quarter of all gig money, one-quarter of all merchandise money, one-quarter of all CD sales, an extra stipend to cover my time spent recording, and you'll need to cover hotel rooms and food for me."

2) "Your music is too light for me."

3) "Sure! Let's do this thing!" This is followed by never hearing from that drummer again.

So, like, what makes these guys think they're so special? The first time someone mentions money to me, they automatically go down the list of prospects. I suppose that I shouldn't feel that way, but, darn it, I advertised that I was looking for a full-time band member, not some gun-for-hire that I can't count on! Being in a band is like being in a relationship: you gotta trust the people you're with. In the old days, they called asking for things like this being a mercenary. Sheesh. I really don't have a problem with answer number two: at least the person was being honest. Number three really bothers me, though. Why say that you're going to do something that you have no intention of doing?

At any rate, I am still looking for a drummer. It sucks.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was a pretty nice birthday. When I logged on, at exactly 1:10 AM, "Lady Writer" by Dire Straits came on my Internet radio station. Perfect. I love it. Why?

By my next birthday, I want to have accomplished something. As many of you who read this know, I fancy myself a writer. I wrote this book that is coming out in September. I want this book to be something special. I don't even pretend or fantasize that it will be super successful, but I believe that it could speak to a few people, anyway. Maybe this will be my accomplishment.

I'm also in this band, and we're maybe going on tour (if everything works out the way I want it to), and we're recording an album of songs that I wrote. Maybe this will be my accomplishment.

I also run my own business, which I have given the tagline, "Internet Marketing for the Rest of Us." That simply means that I am targeting small and home-based businesses for Internet Marketing services (like search engine optimization and marketing campaigns) that those businesses wouldn't, otherwise, be able to afford. Maybe that will be my accomplishment.

I am also going to college full-time. This fall, I will begin my final semester of my Baccalaureate studies, and get my Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Communications and English. I know I will, at least, accomplish this.

But no matter which takes off, I will detail my journey and travels toward accomplishing something big. I will detail every peak I reach, every pitfall, and every other thing I discover along the way.

In Regard To Comparisons

"If you compare yourself to others you may become vain or bitter, for always there are greater and lesser persons than yourself."

A Good Day

Well, I finally had a good day. About %#^&ing time!

I got up, did a little work, went out to my Mom's for lunch, read the newspaper, and then went to Coeur d'Alene to meet the guy from the management company. Anyway, so the guy liked our demo, and booked us right there for six new shows!!!

Night Cries Release Date

It looks like the date for the release of Night Cries will be pushed back. It was looking like May 1st would be the target date, but now it's looking more like September/October. Which would work out all right, 'cause Night Cries ends on October 15, 1066. Neat coincidence, eh?

Random Thoughts

A long time ago, I was infatuated with romance novels. I read two or three per week. I loved them. I was a real connoisseur. But I realized something tonight. The reason I no longer read romance novels (and haven't for some time) is because I am no longer disillusioned with the idea of love. I realize that it doesn't exist, so I no longer want tonread about it. Or, maybe, my tastes have just evolved. I dunno. Anyway. The kinds of books I like are few and far between. I used to be into time travel novels, but there's only so many times you can read of the hokey ways authors send their characters back in time before you tire of it. I used to be into fantasy novels, but I realized pretty quickly that most of them pretty much stuck to a familiar formula: magic and/or some magical force and/or some evil wizard/troll/elf/other magical creature caused some problems for a group of people and they had to work it out and fix it, not through the use of magic, but through the use of wits and/or human characteristics. El Yawno.

So, now, my tastes tend to lean toward an amalgamation of all the things I used to read: I like books that are based in history with some magical element, some human element, and some fantasy element combined. Which is why I plan to be one of the first to buy my friend Jennifer's book when she finishes it and gets it published. She's a good writer -- no, a great writer -- in the vein of Gabaldon and Neville. I dare anyone to dispute me. En Garde.

Music, Montana, Monotony

The band just got back from Montana for that two-night gig. Things went really well, even though there wasn't as big of a crowd on the second night as there was on the first. The first night kicked some major behind, and we actually did really well the second night, too. Just that there were fewer people out, I guess. Some of the people from the bar went and scoped out the other bars, and it turns out that they, too, had smaller crowds than they'd had on Friday night. Oh, well. But, we got asked back for the 19th of February, and that's good. And we're going to be working on a demo and working with a new bassist.

Stuff

Let's see. I am waiting to hear about what's happening with my book.

I am working on web site redesign and search engine optimization for an attorney from southern California.

I am writing some web copy for my (ahem) former "employer."

I did a whole bunch of wood burning projects for Christmas.

I spent WAY too much money on Christmas.

School starts tomorrow night. I had better finish up the attorney's site and the web copy.

Good night, folks. Sweet dreams.