Murphy's Law

I had another "Murphy's Law" day.

I had intended on getting up at about 8:30 AM, making coffee, leisurely getting ready to go, warming up, driving into Spokane, picking up files from the cover demo guy, getting Kenny a new cell phone, and going to the studio. My plan also included getting a MooLatte on the way home and watching the Hall of Fame game.

It did NOT turn out that way.

My day started stressfully, as I woke up at 10:30AM. Ran and made coffee, slapped on some make-up, threw on some clothes, grabbed said coffee and ran out the door. Called cover demo guy and told him I would be late. Called producer and told him I would be late. Drove out to the Valley via Highway 2 to Argonne. Got just to the Argonne Street bridge and ran out of gas. Coasted to a gas station on just the other side of the bridge. Barely pulled out into traffic, and I set the cruise control. Things are going good. Then, I see a cop going in the opposite direction. Check cruise control. Perfect at 35MPH. The cop pulls a u-turn and pulls me over. Tells me he pulled me over for my taillight being broken and he couldn't tell if my driver's side rear turn signal worked. I'm thinking, "No, duh. You weren't behind me to see that." But I give him my driver's license, registration and proof of insurance and wait. And wait. And wait. He holds me there for almost 20 minutes. Now, I am really late. I didn't get a ticket, but he then spent another 10 minutes making sure every single light on the car was in working order. Finally, I get back on the road. Get onto Sullivan heading toward the Verizon store, and the cover demo guy calls wanting to know where I am. I told I would be there in less than 5 minutes. I get to the Verizon store, and they made me sign in, and then they made me wait for at least 10 minutes before waiting on me. While I am waiting, the cover demo guy shows up. I get the CDs from him, and talk about his web site. Then, I get my new phones (one for Kenny, one for Dad, and one for me, since I was eligible to upgrade all the phones...) and head out to the studio. Finally get there.

We worked on "Strings." I harmonies for backing vocals. I left the studio at about 5:45PM, and went directly to Dairy Queen to get a Moo-Latte. Got my Moo-Latte, and my day brightened a bit, especially when I found out that the Steelers were winning the hall of fame game. :) I finally got back to Newport and came home because I had to pee like a Russian racehorse (where did that saying ever come from, and what the hell does it mean? Do Russian racehorses pee a lot? Inquiring minds want to know.). So, I peed, changed, and ran to Safeway and dropped off our movie rentals, bought bread and milk and paper towels and ran out to my aunt's house.

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful. I came home and played guitar for the kids, playing an impromtu game of "Name That Tune."

Kids all have practice tomorrow, and I am drained, both emotionally and physically.

I want to write tomorrow....

Not Much Going On

I haven't been feeling very inspired here lately. I haven't been writing, practicing music seems dull, nothing creative at all. I've spent a lot of time looking for work and not finding very much. I applied for four positions today, and I have an interview with a local newspaper tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Practiced tonight. Did some original material. We haven't practiced any original material in months. It did not go so well. There's a reason we were practicing originals, but I can't say more about it just now.

Excerpt Time!

Spent some time writing tonight. Not a whole lot I can share at this point, but I did write some "funny" stuff. The term "funny" is relative, I guess. At any rate, here is an excerpt, and then I am, most certainly, off to bed.

Anyway, the excerpt, from Devil's Handiwork:

My head felt like a two hundred-piece drum line playing "Wipeout" on constant repeat had taken up residence inside it. Tequila was so not my thing. Coupled with the headache were the waves of heat radiating off the asphalt at the Reno airport. Jess said he knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who had a private jet and who owed Jess a favor. Something about erasing IRS debt. Who knew?

Between Jess and me, we’d devised Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. By the time we were planning Plans D through F, though, we had polished off two fifths of tequila. Our grand scheme of taking a few million dollars from the Council and spending it on a chain of Mexican restaurants that only served tequila didn’t sound so good to me today. Sounded like the best plan ever, then, though.

Though You're Probably Not Interested...

I've been both domestic and hard-working today. I started working on the That Bytes web design. I dealt with a client all day. And then, I made baked Mac & Cheese. From scratch. Here's my recipe, which I made up myself:

Boil pasta until al dente.

In large sauce pan, combine 2 cups milk with 1 egg. Blend with a whisk. Over medium heat, stir in 1/2 cup of flour. Whisk until very warm but not boiling. You can vary the cheeses, but I used bags of pre-shredded cheese, including: colby & monterey jack, pizza blend (cheddar, mozzerella, colby, swiss, and jack), and mozzerella cheese. Add cheese to warmed milk mixture by fingerfuls. Continue stirring. Total amount of cheese added should be about 2 cups, plus or minus to taste. When cheese is fully melted, add sauce to drained pasta in a casserole or other baking pan. Top with more shredded cheese, crushed crackers, and parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cheese is browning and bubbly on top. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Serves about 6 people.

I'm so, so domestic.

Went into the studio yesterday and recorded scratch vocals and scratch guitar tracks. I did really really well, and, yes, I got a CD of what I did to practice harmony parts. But I am not showing that off yet. Soon.

Et Cetera

I rehearsed for the producer... it went well, but I wanted to change the time I would be going in Sunday from noon to, say, 3PM, so that I could have the opportunity to warm up. Well, it was a good thing I called 'cause he cancelled it.

I also did some writing, and completely re-did Kenny's boss' web site.

Here's some decent stuff from Devil's Handiwork:

I grabbed the beer and made my way around the counter and to the stairwell. I heard the whirring, buzzing, and clicking of a computer geek in his native environment below, and descended into the darkness.

Basements are normally cool and slightly damp, but basements in the desert are only mildly more comfortable than a mineshaft in the middle of August with one hundred percent humidity. Jess’ basement apartment had three rooms connected by a mineshaft-like tunnel. The ceilings still bore pick marks and the burnt scars of blasting, probably the only way of getting through the dense rock. Immediately to my left was a "bathroom," if you could call it that. A manhole-like drain marked the lowest point of the slate-tiled floor, and, behind it, a toilet that probably pre-dated my grandparents sat lopsided against some black pipes. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in sixty or so years.

I Used My Gig Money To...

...buy an armoire. I found it on Craigslist this afternoon. Kenny went and got it. It is cedar. It took a lot twisting and turning to get it into the bedroom, but it is exactly what I wanted. Cost me $250 of my $300, but it was worth it.

Here is the best stuff I wrote tonight, from Devil's Handiwork:

There is nothing but sagebrush, dirt, and rocks in Ione, Nevada. Well, there are a few people to cater to the tourists who come to see the fossils at the nearby state park or one of the numerous "ghost" towns from the mining booms. I had to smile at the thought as I parked the truck in front of the bar. No one knew ghosts the way I knew ghosts.

A trickle of sweat snaked its way down my spine as I exited the truck. The Nevada desert in July was not a pleasant place to be; I couldn’t fathom why Jess had decided to hide out here when there were plenty of other – more temperate – hidey-holes of desolation. I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulder and made my way into the bar. The air conditioning was on high, instantly freezing the sweat to my skin.

"Yellow."

I glanced up at the bartender, inwardly grinning at the accented way he’d greeted me. "Hey," I said. "Got a beer back there?"

"Yup," he said. He reached beneath the counter and placed a can on the counter.

The barstool's vinyl seat immediately adhered itself to my bare thighs.

Shows and Tells

We had some pretty fun shows over the holiday. We played at the Kalispel Indian Reservation and then at a private party later. I got up at about 9 AM on Wednesday and took my time choosing an outfit, getting ready and just generally preparing myself for the show. It was hot out. Over 90 degrees, I'm sure. Anyway, so they load up the drums and equipment and stuff and we head off.

Get to the venue at about 2 PM We find out where they want us to set up, and we get our things all ready to go and whatnot. There is about 1,500 people gathered around. We played a couple of short sets and got paid. We did really well. My Mom (who was watching the kids while we played) said that she could hear every part of the band everywhere on the grounds, and that people were really enjoying it. At 6PM, we broke down all the equipment and headed back to our place. We got the drummer's truck unloaded and he took off. We loaded the PA monitors, one of Kenny's amps, my amp, our cords and things, Kenny's Les Paul and my acoustic guitar into the Daihatsu, and Mom and Dad took off 'cause Dad had to go to bed early 'cause he had to get up at 2AM.

Got our stuff unloaded and set up and started playing. Mind you, all day long, I've had half a hot dog to eat. I'm starving after about an hour of this, and the bugs are eating me. I feel dizzy from my hypoglycemia, and finally take a break to pilfer some food from the buffet. I had half a chicken sandwich before we started playing again. About 20 minutes into our second set, the Priest River fireworks started. We had a great view of the whole valley and all the fireworks, but they looked miniscule from our vantage point, and we all kind of felt gypped out of our 4th of July celebration. Anyway, we finished up our set, got paid by our appreciative hosts, and set off for home.

Came home and ate a little bit of leftover rice while I watched the end of The Patriot on TV. Finally got to go to bed at about 2AM. I took the kids swimming out at McAbee Falls. The water was fantastic, but there was this weird, creepy guy there that was making me uncomfortable, so we left a little earlier than I had planned. On the way home, I got pulled over on Peninsula Road for going 55MPH in a 35MPH zone. I got off with a warning because - the cop said - the kids were all in seatbelts.

Wild Weekend

I had quite a weekend. I got up Friday morning and went shopping with Mom while the Twins stayed here with the kids.

Got back out to Mom and Dad's and Dad was home from work. By the time we left, a huge thunderstorm was brewing overhead. Within a mile down the road, we went from bright sunshine to pounding rain and howling winds... winds that were maybe 60 MPH at times. As I drove down the Shingle Mill Hill, the wind pushed trees to the ground all around us; I had to swerve and drive off the road a couple of times to avoid the debris. Five miles later, as we were just entering Priest River, the storm stopped. The power was out, and branches and trees were down everywhere. I got home, and the power was out here, too. I had just spent $300 on groceries, and I was pretty pissed that they might go bad because I didn't have refrigeration. But, I got all the groceries put away, and then got a call to go play a show at Stateline Tavern in Oldtown... just me an Kenny, acoustically.

So, I got ready (in the dark, no less) and went to the bar where Kenny was setting stuff up. The power came back on just as Dad and I got there. We finished setting up and started playing. The people were really responsive, and we had a great show. We performed really, really well, and had a blast. The bartender told us that she made more than double what she usually makes on Friday nights with karaoke, and that the owner might make me and Kenny's duo thing a regular thing on Fridays. She said she'd know more Monday after she talked with the owner. After the show, I drove my aunt and uncle home, and then drove my Dad home. As we went through Priest River, it was like driving through the remnants of a city after the apocalypse. There wasn't any power anywhere. There were no cars on the streets. It was completely black and empty. It was a little scary, to be honest. Especially thinking about the state of this country's energy dependancy... and the whole global warming thing... and how much we rely on our power and electricity... what if it was gone? This is what it would be like all the time.... Very scary stuff.

So, I came home, ate some cookies, and went to bed. I don't know what time it was when I went to sleep, but I got up at about 9 AM Saturday and made coffee, got cleaned up, drank some coffee, and made chocolate chip cookies for an friend. Then, I went and picked out my "formal" outfit for the show Saturday night. I went and fixed my hair all up in a cute upswept style with cascading curls, and then did my make-up and went to get dressed. Two people had to help me get into the get up. It was a black damask/brocade kinda dress that went to my knees and is very low cut. And very tight around the rib cage. But it accentuated all the right things, and hid all the bad things, and I looked AMAZING. We got everything loaded and to the show site and started setting up.

We sounded awesome and totally rocked. We got asked back for another show on August 11th. But it was BUTT-ASS COLD out there once the sun set. Sheesh! I haven't been that cold in a LONG time. I couldn't feel my thumb on my right hand at all, and, by the end of the night, the ends of my fingers on my left hand were very, very sore just from pressing on cold metal strings in the cold. And the location of the Dumpster out back in relation to the band stand and the wind coming from a certain direction made for some rather unpleasant breathing experiences.

After the show, we all came back to my house and unloaded equipment and I fed everybody, and we all sat around and talked for an hour or so. Dad drove himself home after eating and sobering up a little bit. He called me when he got home to let me know he'd made it home safe. I almost fell asleep in the recliner, but managed to make it to bed - fully dressed - and was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

This Just Isn't Like Me...

...being this domestic, I mean. I cook, I clean, I take care of things. And what thanks do I get? Lip, that's what. Ptttthhhfff.

Tomorrow, I am shopping with Mom. Saturday is the show at the Burro. Monday and Tuesday are up in the air at the moment, but Wednesday is our show for the Kalispel Tribe.

Le Sigh

I am tired, and I still have work to do. It sure didn't seem like I did a lot today, so I can't quite figure out why I am so tired. But here is the best news story I've read all day. Crazy, cocaine-fueled crop circles?

I rehearsed for the producer guy again today, for the first time in over a week. It wasn't going well for the first two hours. Then, things got into shape and was well. Sorta.

The lady from the tribe called me today and we rescheduled our 4th of July show. Now, instead of playing from 2:30 to 3:30 and again from 7 PM to 8 PM, we are playing from 4 PM to 6 PM with an hour break at the one-hour mark. Then, we have a choice of playing two different parties....

Work, Work, Work

I was very domestic today, but I also did a lot of work. I got up, got dressed, made coffee, finished the dishes, and then started working. I had applied for a content editor position with an electronic publisher - you might remember that - and they had sent me a test manuscript to edit. I did that, wrote an analysis of it, and sent them a second letter with the attachments.

Got a letter from a client wanting me to do more work for him.

Tomorrow, Kenny and I will practice, I think. Thursday... I don't know. Friday a lot of shit is going on. Saturday is the show at the Burro. It's the outside show, so pray for a high pressure system. Starts at 7 PM. Sunday... again, I don't know.

Normalcy!

So, things are more back to normal. We did practice tonight. I applied for four jobs last night. One is a content/acquisitions editor position for an e-book publisher. The second was an article writing position for an open source program. The third is a blog writing position for a childhood development site. The last one is a copywriting/SEO thing that would pay $25 per hour. Any would help.

Other things:
I practiced my stuff for recording this weekend, and I even amazed myself. I had control, range, and excellent pitch. I am definitely ready for this.
Devil's Handiwork is turning out really well. I'll have to post some of it soon.
May be practicing Thursday.
Something is happening Friday, but I forget what it is.
Something is happening Saturday, too, but I forget what that is, too. Hopefully, someone will remind me of this shit.

That is all.

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.