Another Boring Day

Nothing much going on (again). I put some bulletins on MySpace looking for work. Went out to Mom's and saw the kids. Came home and practiced. Ended up going over to the drummer's to work on his girlfriend's computer. Other than that, nothing much going on. Tomorrow is kind of up in the air. Saturday is the show. Sunday I am going into Spokane. Monday, I am supposed to talk to Kenny's boss about filling in with the office work. Tuesday is band practice again.

Bleh

I am feeling very "bleh." Nothing exciting. Just practice, practice, practice, seeing as how I have nothing else to do. I don't have a job. I don't have any web design projects. I don't have anything pressing. I've cleaned and organized almost everything in the house. I am, officially, bored. I guess that means that I should write, but I don't really feel like it. So, I've been watching a lot of TV and thinking. And I have been practicing. Upwards of eight hours a day. I get up, get dressed, get coffee, watch a little TV while I warm up, and then I start practicing vocals and playing guitar to a metronome. I practice four hours in the morning and four hours when I get home.

So, yeah. At least I am taking something seriously.

Also, I have started writing another book, but this one is a non-fiction how-to book called, "The No B.S. Guide to Computers." It is subtitled: "Instructions so easy, my Mom can do it!" I am also planning a follow-up book entitled: "The No B.S. Guide to HTML." I figure, even the "Dummies" and "Idiots" guides have too much tech-speak in them. I'll make it even simpler: It says things like:

"To stop looking at something on the Internet or in a program, click the red 'X'
in the very tippy-top, upper right-hand corner of the screen."

I mean, we are talking a book for people who know NOTHING about using a computer. There might even be a market for this for another two years or so. Also, these books will not cover the history of HTML or computers or anything that bogs down the learning process. It's just instructions on the simplest, easiest, most efficient ways to operate a computer and the programs contained therein.Also, I am working on two sites for my business: one of them is a site offering writing services; the other is a computer repair site. I am still working out the bugs on both.

Other than that, I am getting ready for the show on Saturday and just lounging.

Gak! I Did Nothing Today!

I seriously didn't do anything constructive today. I spent last night working on a laptop. It was having "drive errors," and we decided to wipe the drive - which was running Windows 98 - and install Windows ME. Would've worked fine, too, but when I went to do it, the machine went into this mode of saying "Trying to recover allocation unit." This statement was followed by a number that changed about once every five minutes or so. This, on an 11GB drive.

So, anyway, I started practicing the songs again. I still don't know what I am going to do about it, but I'll keep practicing anyway. Then, I took a shower and then went to check my e-mail. I am doing my Internet things for the evening when suddenly, the power goes out for split second, shutting down my computer, obviously. I was sorta pissed, but, since the cause of the power outage was a raging thunder storm, I decided to go try to take some pictures of the lightning using my expensive new camera that I have barely used. I scanned the booklet that came with it about shutter speeds, and snapped some pictures... of a black sky. Never could seem to get the timing right. Oh, well. Then, I watched some TV about "green" living and now I am on the computer again since the storm has passed. I have a teeny bit of work to do, so I might as well go do it.

Tomorrow I have to take some posters to the Logger's Bar for our show on July 27th, and then we have band practice. I am still expecting a check from the Canadian client. I have not heard from the cover-demo recording guy in regards to his web site. I have no other work. I can't seem to buy a job. And I need money to finish paying for this demo thing....

Catching Up

Been a while since I posted. Things have been busy. On Thursday, I had The Twins over cutting the long grass around the house and in the back yard, and I also had to do a lot of running around looking for lightbulb for an overhead projector, again for Mom's VBS thing.

I've been unpacking and arranging the new place. I've got it looking mostly house like: I got all the kitchen stuff unpacked and put where it belongs; the livingroom and office are finished; the bedroom is still a disaster because of the lack of closet space. My project tomorrow is to clean off the porch and make it into my sitting room. I will put a recliner in there, and will decorate it with my see-through curtains and my new palm tree I bought today. I also bought petunias, snapdragons, and marigolds today, and planted them this evening in terra cotta pots outside.

A freaking spider just crawled across my desk!!!!!! ARG!!!!!!!!!!

Finished working on Kenny's boss' site for the time being, and I got paid, which is always good.

Well, I find myself sleepy at the moment. More later.

Wide Open

My week is wide open. I have no real plans, no schedule. I am almost done with the house. Not much left to do there. No jobs, no plans for any jobs... nothing is happening now. Kind of a relief. I can now concentrate on practicing and stuff.

Moving

It's been an extremely long weekend. I started packing, like I said, on Thursday, but we didn't get finished moving everything out until yesterday. The last thing to get moved was the Ford truck, which doesn't run.

At any rate, it wouldn't have been possible to move without my family. Everybody busted their butts along with me to get this all ready to move, get it into the trucks, out of the trucks, into the house, and getting things arranged. The new place actually looks like a nice place again - albeit full of furniture now - rather than a poorly organized storage facility that it looked like for a short period of time.

I had arranged to have my cable Internet connection moved and ready to roll on Friday; however, the one and only outlet in the house was in the band room (on the complete opposite side of the house from where I wanted it), and, even when I hooked up my modem in there, it didn't work. So, the guy came over today, and, for the price of $10, I got my hook-up exactly where I wanted it.

Other than that, the band has a show on June 9th at The Burro Inn in Diamond Lake. Hopefully, a few of my friends can make it.

Still much to do; more later.

My Life, In Boxes

Yes, I am packing now. Dad took me over to the liquor store, where they were stocking up for the long holiday. They had LOTS of boxes they wanted to get rid of. So, me and Dad got a truckload of them and brought them to the house. I am not-so-systematically filling them, taping them shut, and labeling them. By "not-so-systematically," I mean to say that I am packing in quite schizophrenic fashion: I will pack a box or two of stuff from the kitchen, say, and then go do a bag of clothes out of the bedroom, and then clear crap off of some bit of furniture... there is no method to this. I'm just randomly packing crap. Shit, it's only 4 miles, yanno? But I managed to hurt myself packing things... I stepped on the upturned heel of high-heeled shoe while trying to step over the shop vac... I stubbed my toe on a treasure chest... and cut my right arm on a nail sticking out of the wall. Oh, yeah... and my neck is out. Oh, wait... I just hiccuped and it popped. We'll see if that helps.

I made phone calls today: got the phone service, the Internet service, and the satellite service switched to the new address. I also set the water to be shut off on Saturday. There still is lots to do here.

So, So, So, So BUSY!

Well, I got a new car. Kenny brought it home to me tonight. It needs a tune-up and an adjustment in the steering coupler, but, outside of that, she's cherry. It's a black 1971 Ford LTD with a 429. It's lovely. I'm so, so, so happy with it!

We're also moving into the house. Kenny's boss REEEEAAAAALLLLY wanted us to move in there, so, it appears as though we'll be moving in next Saturday and Sunday. I will be packing things up most of the week coming up, and I also have to find time to go over to the new place and spray for spiders. I am applying for another job. The Priest River Times is looking for a reporter. It is pretty much the same job as the Kellogg paper wanted me for, but it is here in Priest River, which is cool. The Sheriff's office is just dicking around too long. Anyway, I was going to print out a resume tonight, but I couldn't. I lent Mom my printer this afternoon to make copies of her VBS stuff, and she still has it. So, I will have to get Kenny to print a copy and I will go get it tomorrow and take it to the paper.

Graded all the kids' school books today. Did almost nothing else. I did do some writing in Devil's Handiwork, though. Here is the best stuff from tonight:

I ran my hands up his pants legs against his skin, removing various
weaponry and sundry items from his clothes as I went. "About the only reason the
Council would be worried enough not to tell you about their targets or
assignments was if it had to do with money," I said, pressing my hand into his
crotch. "Is that a transmitter, or are you just happy to see me?" I asked,
clasping my hand around the locator he'd hidden in his undershorts.

"Old, dumb line, Shelby. You can do better."

"So could you," I said. "You put this damned thing in the exact same place
you did when we were together."

He leaned forward a little. "When we were together and you unzipped my
pants, it wasn't to get at my locator."

I pushed my hand down to the chair's seat, pinching a delicate bit of his
skin between my hand and the metal seat. He gasped. "Yeah," I said. "At least I
found what I was looking for, this time."

"Ouch, Shelby."

"What?" I tossed the locator on the floor at my feet and smashed it under
my boot heel.

"Just ouch."

I grabbed my backpack and shoved Billy's gun inside. "Well, when
Brick-Noggin and Sunglasses find you, you three can go back to the Council and
tell them to kiss my ass, won't you?"

Tomorrow, like I said, I am getting a resume to the Priest River Times, and then I am going shopping with Mom. Kenny is taking the kids over to the elementary school tomorrow evening to sign the boys up for Pop Warner football and sign Cait up to be a cheerleader. Saturday, I might be going to Spokane to work with the producer. Depends on his schedule. I might also be packing and/or fumigating the new place. Who knows? Sunday might be free (again, who knows?); looks like packing and moving shit the rest of the week. Won't likely be practicing as a band again until a week from next Tuesday.

Stuff

I didn't do much of anything today. I did hear from the radio jingle guy this morning, and I have an appointment to go do a demo for radio jobs for him on Tuesday at 11. I am definitely cancelling the newspaper job interview. Who am I kidding? I'm not going to take the job. I mean, shit. It's a 90-mile one-way drive five days a week. If I drove my Buick, that would cost me $36 a day. I would be working for $54 a day, which works out to $6.75 an hour. SOOOOOO not worth it. I could make that here washing dishes. So, yeah. My week so far is looking like this: Sunday, the Legion; Monday, Spokane with the producer; Tuesday, radio jingle guy, Mom to dentist, and band practice. The rest of the week is wide open.

La Da De Dum

I got a call today from a newspaper in Kellogg, Idaho. They want me to come down there right away and take a reporter job that they have. I have an interview scheduled for Monday morning at 11, but I think that I will call them and cancel it. The pay is only $10 an hour, and I would have to relocate or buy a REALLY economical car for the commute. I mean, we're looking at a 90-mile or so one-way drive every day. On the other hand, I would be using my degree.... But, no. I think not.

Sunday's looking free so far. Monday, I have that interview scheduled and I also have time scheduled with the producer Monday afternoon. Band stuff Tuesday and Wednesday... after that, I have no clue. I finished the final mock-up of Kenny's boss' web site. Working on finishing the other recording studio guy's site. Waiting for a check from the Canadian client, though, admittedly, I did not check the mail today. I will have to do that in the morning.

Working Day

Well, we didn't have band practice today. Kenny was in Coeur d'Alene all day doing training, and then he was late getting out of work after making deliveries, anyway, and we knew that was coming. So, yeah. Practice cancelled.

I spent the day doing a bunch of research on bars, looking for places that I can send the new demo. Then, I worked. I got the recording studio guy's Flash site pretty much done. Started working on Kenny's boss' site. Billed the guy from Canada.

So, yeah. Just worked and stuff. Nothing much interesting. Tomorrow might be more interesting, as I am going to look at a house we might be moving to and I am supposed to hear from a couple of bars tomorrow.

Music!

We got the cover demo! Go here to stream it!

YAWN

I am so tired. A trip to Spokane, heavy work load, several surprises... just makes one very tired.

So, yeah. Kenny and I went into Spokane to finish the cover demo. I was amazed at how good we sounded. Then, we came home, and I started working, first practicing the voice stuff the producer wanted me to do, and then working on the cover demo studio guy's web page. I just got finished for the night. Will finish it up tomorrow night and send him the link. He is supposed to send me the MP3 files of the cover demo stuff by Wednesday morning so that I can make a copy to send to the booking agent. We'll see how that works out. So, anyway, I am tired. When I first got up this morning, I practiced guitar and singing and then took out all the empty water jugs and boxes (cat food can boxes, pop can boxes, beer halfrack boxes, et cetera) that had accumulated over the winter. Smashed up the boxes and threw them away; strung up the jugs and had Dad take them out to his place for Mom to use making a castle wall for her VBS program. Tomorrow is band practice. I need to clean the house for the party and do some decorating things both Wednesday and Thursday.

Well...

I went to the producer's house today with Dad. Me and the producer went over the songs again with a metronome; he seemed marginally pleased with the fact that I could play in time to a beat. However, he also said that I have a tendency to start flat and swing "up" into the note I need; I also, apparently, have a tendency to sing the fifth harmony of a root note, which means, if I am playing a C chord, I will sing G note. Which is not bad, I guess, but he wants me to work on the "tonal memory" of the songs, so that I can sing the note perfect every time.

Me and Dad got back to my place and took the starter off my car. Either the starter or the solenoid got FUBAR'd, 'cause one or the other of them was "stuck." Dad fooled around with it for a while after we got it off and got it working, but we've decided not to take any chances and just replace it.

Monday, we're in Spokane finishing the cover demo; Tuesday is band practice; Thursday I am going shopping with Mom in the morning and cleaning my house in the afternoon and evening; Friday is my party; Saturday, we have a show; Sunday is the birthday party. Next Monday, I plan to sleep all day. Hahahaha.

Busy Week Upcoming

Saturday afternoon I must go to Spokane to do some more work on my songs with the producer. Monday, I'm back in Spokane finishing the cover demo with the recording studio guy (the one who is having me make him a web site). Tuesday is band practice. Thursday, I am cleaning my house in preparation for my birthday party. Friday is my birthday, and, therefore, my party. Saturday, the band is playing at The Riverbend in Oldtown.

Whaddya Know?

I've got to get $3,000 by the end of May. I was sort of counting on the dispatcher job to cover that, but that is taking too long. Luckily for me, I went The Rio tonight, and ran into a guy who does radio jingles for eight radio stations in the local area. He liked my voice and wants me to do radio jingles for him at $100 per. Score! If I can do 35 of them, I got this thing paid for!

Weekend Report

Sunday, I had gone to bed at 5 AM and got up at 11 AM. Got ready and went to Spokane and had the meeting with the recording studio guy I am doing a web site for. I took a design to him and he liked and said go with it. Okay. Meeting over. I ran on down to my sister's house for the birthday party.

The meeting with the producer got moved back from 4 PM to 6 PM. He wanted me to play my newest stuff first, so I started with "The Night Let Me Down." He didn't say anything while I was playing at all, but when I finished, he says, "yeah, that's a good song, as is." So, yay. He does a few things figuring out about the song, like what key it was in, what other instruments he would put in it, et cetera. Then he said, "Play me a fast one," so I started playing the other one I wrote last week, "The Cover." When I had played it for Kenny, he said it sounded like The Beatles. I was unconvinced. Then, when I played it for the producer, he said the same thing. Said it was definite "hit," and then it was very catchy and hooky, and that, if I cut out a few things that it would be a massive hit. I was okay when he suggested that we cut out the pre-chorus, but when he said that I should cut the first four lines of the chorus, I was dubious, but I said, "Well, let's get Dad out of the sawmill then." So I am re-writing that one. I played all my other newest stuff. The ones he picked to use were "Rumors," which is a new one I wrote back in January or something; "Strings"; and "Relax," a pop song I wrote in 2004. He taped me playing the songs on a little bitty recorder, and then we talked about what direction he would steer my career.

Songwriting

There isn't much going on except that I wrote two new songs. One of them was re-appropriated lyrics from 2003. I've turned it from a boring song into a 1960s pop track. I really like it. It rocks. It is called "The Cover." The other one is kind of a country/rock ballad. It's called "The Night Let Me Down."

Devil's Handiwork Excerpt

Best lines I wrote tonight:

Grabbing the leather jacket on the bed frame, I slid the backpack on and,
bringing the pistol to the ready again, slowly made my way down the stairs. As I
settled my foot on the last step, my eyes adjusting to the darkness again, he
cleared his throat.

I recognized him immediately, and I still shot a hole in the
chair he was sitting in, mere millimeters from his testicles.

"God damn it, Shelby!"

I shot four more times at the chair’s seat, putting the bullets within
hair's breadths of his thighs. He recoiled violently through the tufts of
recliner stuffing floating through the air and toppled backward, chair and all.
I launched myself across the room and vaulted over the now-holey recliner. My
knees pressed into his elbow joints, and I sat hard on his chest. My left
forearm came down across his windpipe while I shoved the barrel of the
still-smoking 9MM into his left nostril. "You've got five seconds to tell me
what the fuck the Council wants with me before I wipe your nose with something a
little more dangerous than a tissue, Billy."

News of Note

Friday night, me and Kenny went to see the drummer's Dad's band play at The Rio. They had me and Kenny play an entire set and a half.

But what I really want to talk about is the OTHER thing that happened Friday night. I had previously arranged for a producer with whom I had been trading messages on MySpace to contact me about 9:30 Friday night. He called while I was at The Rio. This is the same guy I've mentioned before. Well, he told me on the phone that, while the band needed some work the last time they'd seen us, he still thought that I would have a better chance of success by myself as a solo artist. He said that he "really dug" my songs; that they were pop, but had darker lyrics, kinda like a mix (in his words) of Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow. He said that he doesn't just work with anybody with money, either. He said that he only works with people he thinks have a real chance of making money with music, and he thinks I have that potential. Yay!

Now, I have been thinking for quite a while about the next record. Obviously, we can't just record the next album the same way - live - as we did the last one. The thing is, to be accepted into the new music business model, you have to have a product that is instantly marketable. Which means paying for world-class recording. If I were to choose just a recording studio, I'd still end up paying them at least $2,500 for the recordings... and I'd be producing them. Honestly, I think I have gone as far as I can all by myself and doing everything. I think it's time to move to the next level and get some professional help for this next project. With this guy, even though I will be paying him $3,500 to record it, he is also going to produce it. Make the songs marketable. Make them sound world class. Make the production sound like everything else.

I had to drive through snow today. Arg. No word from any clients, so I am home-free there. Band's next show is May 5th, with maybe at least one more before then.