So ummm, tomorrow is David's and my 8th anniversary. 8 years! That is mind boggling. Tonight we went out and celebrated at a yummy Italian restaurant in the Alamo Quarry and then went to see a movie. Can I just say that there are NO movies out right now? So we opted for that new movie with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.... only because it was the least of all stupid movies. Yeah, well, the whole movie consisted of Diane Keaton doing what she does in every movie: screaming and freaking out and overacting. I swear, she plays the EXACT same character in EVERY movie she is in. Why do they do that?

Loving my job... it's fun. Although I have been absolutely ASSAULTED by Christmas music. We listen to the same 3 Christmas CDs in the store all day, and lemme tell ya, Jackie Velasquez's version of Feliz Navidad is about to put me over the edge. Like we needed another version of that song -- as if the original isn't annoying enough. Please, make it stop. Make it go away. Please. It won't leave.....

So I have most of my Christmas shopping done... all except for the buying part. Well, yeah, see, all of us employees at the Compass are getting 50% off tomorrow for Christmas, so I'm doing all my shopping there. Makes it easy. So all my stuff is already picked out. I'm going in tomorrow on my day off to actually purchase things.

Album art is almost done... hopefully by the end of the week... and then we can send it away to the manufacturer! We've set a release date, but I'm not going to announce it until we send the CD off... don't wanna jinx it. But the date is exactly 4 years to the day of our last album release. That's sorta weird. Hey, if Sarah McLachlan can wait 4 years between records, so can we, okay?

Okay, I think David is finally home... which means I gotta get Punky ready for bed. David's mom watched Punky tonight, and it's late and Punky has school tomorrow. so there.

Type more later.....................................................................

Baby shark, do-do, do do do do
Baby shark, do do, do do do do
Baby shark, do do, do do do do
Baby shark

Mama shark, do do, do do do do
Mama shark, do do, do do do do
Mama shark, do do, do do do do
Mama shark

Daddy shark, do do, do do do do
Daddy shark, do do, do do do do
Daddy shark, do do, do do do do
Daddy shark

Grandpa shark, do do, do do do do
Grandpa shark, do do, do do do do
Grandpa shark, do do, do do do do
Grandpa shark

Lady swimmer, do do, do do do do
Lady swimmer, do do, do do do do
Lady swimmer, do do, do do do do
Lady swimmer

Swimming faster, do do, do do do do
Swimming faster, do do, do do do do
Swimming faster, do do, do do do do
Swimming faster

Shark attack, do do, do do do do
Shark attack, do do, do do do do
Shark attack, do do, do do do do
Shark attack

CPR, do do, do do do do
CPR, do do, do do do do
CPR, do do, do do do do
CPR

And so I tried to blog yesterday but after all the typing, it disappeared on me. I hate that.

So to recap, I am snapping out of my funk a little. Yes, I had an online pity party in my last several entries. I'm over it. Partly because I just woke up finally happy yesterday, and then partly because I figured out why I've been such a weirdo. October was a very, very emotionally taxing month for me personally... for reasons I can't print. It involved a heartbreaking situation that took almost every ounce of me emotionally and spiritually. As soon as that situation resolved... and I mean literally the moment the release came, we found out that we had to move and my world personally was turned completely upside down. The upside down part was a good thing... we moved, I started working again, etc... but it was so much change all at once with absolutely no time to even think! So I had no time to let down after the October events before I was thrust into this whirlwind of activity and craziness. So I had a minor breakdown right around Thanksgiving. Just minor. All gone. All better.

No longer at Chili's! I got a new gig at a Christian bookstore in San Antonio. I used to work at a Christian bookstore when I was in high school, so this is just like putting on old shoes. I really like it. Except that I have no clue... NO CLUE... about the music there. It's pretty sad, really, but I don't listen to Christian music! It will be interesting to see what's out there.

I have to make/buy/find an angel costume by Friday. Any suggestions? Punky is playing the part of the angel Gabriel in his Christmas play. I'm so excited about seeing him! It will be so cute.

Yes, hello. Thank you. Gotta go do stuff. Buh-bye.

" Some feelings and thoughts seem to emerge only in dark mood. Suppress the mood, and you will suppress those ideas and reflections. Depression may be as important a channel for valuable "negative" feelings, as expressions of affection are for the emotions of love....Depression has its own angel, a guiding spirit whose job it is to carry the soul away to remote places where it finds unique insight and enjoys a special vision."

--Thomas Moore, in "Care of the Soul"

Have you ever had a season in your life where you just seem to make everyone around you mad no matter what you do? I am having one of those weeks. Can't win for losing. A few folks are mad at me and I know why (because I suck) and then there are others that I just can't figure out what the heck I've done to tick them off.... but yeah, I'm getting the silent treatment without any reason given. I'm going to go hide in a hole and wallow in self pity and sarcasm for another few hours. Then I will be fine.

No, seriously, it's just one of those weeks. I've learned to keep my head down and just roll with the punches when this stuff comes up. It's just funny to me that it all happens at the same time. I must be putting off some really irritating vibes.

Hey, so work was slow today, although I had some nice people who gave me a few big tips. So that was nice... not a total loss. Y'know, I was really afraid about going back to work, and especially going back to work at a restaurant of all places... because when I was a kid and worked at Dominoes and Colter's Bar-B-Que, I hated it and the people I worked with were just such sheer losers. At Colters there was a guy who worked in my area. He was around 40 years old... and I was 16. We would talk at work, but then on my last day before I went off to tour the country for the summer, he approached me and said, "Well, you know, I'd really like to see you again before you leave. Actually, I'd really like to invite you to my company picnic at my other job, but I don't know how my wife would feel about that." AAAAAAAAAGH!! Grody! Eeeeew! I was so naive back then, but I got the creeps and got the heck out of there and never looked back. Blech. I just remembered that experience after blocking it out all these years. What a loser! Hitting on a 16 year old....

So the decision to go to work at Chili's was made with much hesitation and fear. However, the people I work with at lunchtime are older folks like me and are generally very nice and responsible and I enjoy them. There's only one individual that just really tests my patience and kindness. Sometimes in my head I hear Tori Amos' song "Waitress" when she walks in. It's a pretty funny song in a sarcastic, ironic way, and I don't really feel that way about this person, but it's a funny joke I have in my head.

I just watched "Fear Factor," which I never watch, but it was on, so there. They went to a winery and were told that they were going to make wine the old fashioned way -- by stomping around in a vat. Only they had to make wine out of worms... and then drink the worm juice. Yeah. I gagged. I admit it. See? Worms. It's a theme.

Alright. Average Joe is on now. This should be fun. I was really rooting for the Indian guy... he was cute and romantic. My stars, what has my life become?.....

nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms. nobody likes me everybody hates me i'm going to go eat worms.

I am exhausted! We just got in from Mason where we played at the Willow Creek Ranch House Concert last night. What an enjoyable show that was. We had almost 70 folks show up, and the amazing thing was that none of them were fans of ours... none of them had ever heard of us. They just came out to be part of the house concert experience. So we had the wonderful opportunity to reach a completely new audience, get to know some really cool people, and play a really, really enjoyable gig.

The house concert is held at a bed & breakfast, and we're dying to go back just as guests of the B&B! It was so beautiful. I highly recommend it if anyone is looking for a place to escape for a weekend. And the owners, Dennis and Kay, couldn't be any nicer. Just great folks. We had a total blast.

So we just got home and we're waiting on Ron T. to show up and practice with us. He's going to play guitar/dobro/mando/everything with us on some upcoming shows, and we're really excited about that because he is amazing. After practice, I have to go back out and go to the grocery store because we have no food at all. Coffee is about it in my pantry (which is really all I need, but Punky sort of frowns on not eating).

I got home and had no email, no phone messages on my house or my cell, and no visitors to my blog. :( Even my two best girlfriends haven't called..... so I'm fighting paranoia. Did I hack them off? Or have we just entered one of those really wierd warp-y things that happen every so often where no communications happen at all for no apparent reason? The spam is my only friend today. Waaaaaah....

But I am still catching up on answering email from Thursday/Friday, so maybe that's where everyone is too.

Hmmm. Yeah. I need more coffee. Can't seem to get enough today....

I'm gonna go brush my eyebrows.

New Scientist

New Scientist article: Software puts world-class soul singers on tap

I am SO going to be out of a job soon....

Look Ma! I'm blogging! I'm back!

I hate these little times of silence that have been so frequent this year... HATE THEM!

Okay, so here's what's been going on:

Last month, I was just getting dinner on the table as David was arriving home from work, and the electricity went out in the house. It had been flickering all day, but our house had crappy wiring anyway (I honestly think that whoever wired it was on the ganja pretty heavily), so I didn't pay much attention. But when we lost the power, David and I went out to the breaker box and noticed that the meter was very, very hot. Called the electric co, and they came out and pronounced the meter loop DOA. Whole thing had to be replaced. Then, after talking to the in-laws (who we rented the place from) they decided that the whole house really needed a wiring overhaul, so it would probably be best for us to find a place that is actually safe to live in.

So we packed up a few things and stayed with them that night, and the next morning I asked a realtor friend if she knew of any rentals, and she said, "As a matter of fact, there's this really cute A-Frame for rent..." So by the end of the weekend, we had signed the lease.

This place is so freaking cozy. It's a cedar home that is built on a cliff that overlooks the Medina River, and we have this great view from a little outcropping on the cliff where we can sit above the river and listen to the turtles and fish jump. There are deer everywhere... every morning I have at least 3 deer in my yard. Anyway, the house can't get any cozier, and we couldn't be happier.

So this past month we've been moving... finally got our phone turned on Saturday and internet hooked up yesterday. I'm starting to feel human again. We only have 15 boxes left to unpack now (something like that).

And I'm waiting tables at Chili's right now to fill in the gaps. That's been interesting. I haven't worked in 8 years. But with no gigs, I ain't got no cash. So waiting tables is a nice, quick fix.

I'm not even going to complain about the CD. All that goes without saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, someday we'll get it out.

Anyway, so that's my life in a nutshell. Gotta send out a mass email now, just to let people know that we are still alive.

:)

Email me... it's sad only getting spam!

Hi.

I am having to type very quietly because I am at my in-law's house and my mother-in-law will wake up if I type normally. It's very hard to type quietly, y'know?

So, okay, we found out last week that we are going to have to move out of our house. Right after David got home one evening, all the lights went out and then came back on... and then went out again. We went outside to check the breakers, and the breaker box was so hot you could have fried an egg on it. So we called the power co, and they said that everything is going to have to be replaced. After talking with my in-laws (our landlords), who feel that the entire house really needs to be rewired, which is going to be very expensive, we feel like we need to find another place to live.

So Friday morning I came across this lovely little cabin for rent that I will not describe right now because I don't want to jinx it. We're going to put a deposit on it today and Lord willing, will start moving. I'll go into all the details later once I have everything cemented.

My fingers are cramping at all the controlled typing, so I'll sign off till later.

Word up.

I am gearing up for a fabulously fall weekend. The end of daylight savings time... and a cold front to boot... it is going to be absolutely yummy!

I didn't go hiking after all today. It sounded really good in theory last night, but then I woke up and just didn't have it in me. So I did laundry, cleaned house, wrote letters, wrote in my journal, now I'm writing in my blog... in fact, I am startled when I think about all the writing I have done in the past three weeks. It's good, I guess, but I need to put down the pen (and the keyboard) and get some housework done!

But I have these really ugly blisters on my hands from all the digging yesterday, and plunging my hands in the dishwater is, well, painful. So maybe I just need to not do any more housework. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I have absolutely nothing interesting to write about right now. Maybe I'll stumble across something clever later tonight......

And besides, I have to go listen to a very brilliant First Grader read a chapter from "Frog and Toad Are Friends" right now. If that doesn't brighten your day, nothing will! It's so cool to hear my little guy reading these big words he couldn't read even two weeks ago!

Yay!

I buried Bunny today. That was icky. I had to dig a hole about 3 feet deep to accomodate the shoe box I put Bunny in. Digging a 3 foot hole here in the Texas Hill Country is no small task. See, you get about 4 inches down, and you hit caliche, which is basically clay that is as hard as rock. So you have to chip away at the caliche piece by piece until a big chunk breaks, and then you can dig more. I have blisters the size of Montana on my hands, and I'm sure I will be very sore in my arms tomorrow.

You know, I think I feel like hiking tomorrow. The weather has been so nice. I haven't been out there in awhile alone. It would be a good hike. Hmmm... I could be home by noon, and still have time to do my chores. Yep. That's what I'm gonna do.

I feel like an airplane in a holding pattern that has lasted over a year. Circling, circling, thinking about landing, but no, can't... not yet. Have to circle a few more times. For a few more months. Blah.

I am just now having my coffee for the day. I figured since I was working on a migrane I probably needed to get some caffeine in my system... funny how that works.

Pounded the pavement today to try and find a job. I felt very old. Very old. I can only work part time and really don't want anything too permanent... just need to fill in the gaps till the stinking record comes out... so I went over to places like Barnes and Noble and Old Navy and other fine retail establishments, knowing that they will be hiring holiday help soon. Yeah. Old Navy's manager is like 12 years old. And I'm the 31-year-old soccer mom coming in saying, "Hi, will you hire me?" Man. Wow. That sucked.

But anywaaaay... Oh, yeah, so Punky and I were walking last week and found a very frightened, very injured bunny on the side of the road. It was pitiful. Of course, our dog, Skippy, who was with us, immediately pounced on it and tried to eat it. I pulled Skippy off and made Punky take his shirt off, and I carried the bunny home (about a mile) and put it in a box. I called the wildlife rescue people and said, "What the heck do I do with this thing?" They said that they would send someone out to get it, but in the meantime, to keep it really quiet because cottontails can get so spooked that they literally die of fright. Great.

Well, the bunny appeared to have a broken back, and so I put the box in a dark room and put lots of grass and spinach and water in there for her, and every now and then would check on her and love on her a little. She did great all weekend, and Sunday night she really began to eat like crazy... she couldn't get enough spinach. So, thinking that this eating thing was a good sign, I gave her more and was really excited because, hey, bunny just may pull through after all! Yippeee!

Monday morning I woke up and found a dead bunny in the box. Ugh. That really was an ugly feeling. I don't know what happened... I don't know if she ate too much, or if I got overly excited and petted her too much, or if her time was just up. I dunno. I am sad.

But it was a really good object lesson. I have always had a compassionate heart and have been bringing home strays all my life. I brought my mom a dead mouse when I was 2... I held it up and said, "Look mommy! Isn't it cute?" And sometimes my compassion gets the best of me... my lesson this week was this: Mercy without wisdom to back it up is just raw emotion. And raw emotion is dangerous because of its impulsive nature... without wisdom, raw mercy often ends up doing more damage than good. See, I brought home the rabbit immediately because I felt sorry for it. I just wanted to help. But because of my lack of knowledge about rabbits, because I didn't know how to care for it, I wasn't able to sustain it. See? Raw mercy without the wisdom killed the rabbit.

I'm impulsive by nature. Sometimes I let my heart get ahead of my head. Sometimes I have to remember to look before I leap.

So there's the philosophical lesson for the day. Thank you very much.

I'm making tortilla soup tonight. I'm very hungry.

I went shopping today... alone. My shopping buddy is out of town... she's been gone for 3 weeks and will be gone for an undetermined amount of time, and I am missing her desperately! Not just because of the shopping... but today I especially felt her absence. And while I was looking for jeans and going through all of the normal jeans-shopping angst (girls, you understand, right?) -- and feeling more angst because my shopping buddy wasn't there to talk me off the proverbial ledge (I get near suicidal when I am trying on jeans) -- while all this is going on, I hear a cell phone across the store that sounds exactly like said shopping buddy's phone. And I have NEVER heard anyone else with that particular ringtone. And whoever answered that phone sounded just like my shopping buddy. I think I melted into a pool of tears and mush right there in the jeans section. I'm such a pitiful loser. Waaaaaaaaah. All my friends are far, far away! Waaaaaah!

So since I am lonely and bored and can't find a job, I'm going to dye my hair blonde this week, just for fun. That should be interesting. I haven't been blonde since high school. Um, yah!

Okay... gotta go check on my soup.

Hi. Hello. Thank you. Bye.

It's cold! It's cold! My thermometer this morning read 44! That's so happy! All I wanted for my birthday was a cold front... I got it! Yay!

Okay, for all you music junkies, I've discovered a column by a guy named Bob Lefsetz who publishes, via email, a weekly letter in which he gives a riveting commentary on music and issues surrounding the state of the music industry today. It's very, very insightful and thought-provoking. His articles are so encouraging to me as an artist... inspiring because they help realign my perspective. Check them out here.

My brain and fingers aren't exactly working right now... I'm still really groggy, so I'll blog more later. I have much house cleaning and such to do!

Talk in a bit...

Golly ned! Has it really been since the 27th of September? I cannot believe it's been this long. You can beat me with an eyebrow.

I apologize for my absence. I have had an excruciating, devastatingly emotional couple of weeks and I haven't really had the heart to even get online, let alone blog. Everything is cool with us and the family... but there are other circumstances, about which I can't go into detail, that have taken up a lot of emotional, mental, and spiritual energy. I'm just now stabilizing and feeling like it's time to get back into my groove.

So tomorrow is my birthday. My parents came down for a 24-hour visit to celebrate. Then tonight I went out with the in-laws. That was nice. It's been a weird birthday this year... in the midst of all the craziness, I haven't given it much thought. Literally all my friends are gone... out of town, etc.... so no friends to celebrate with. I didn't even have a cake! Although, I guess maybe the pumpkin pound cake at Starbucks counts. So there ya go. My actual birthday will be spent on a field trip with Punky's class at the Institute of Texan Cultures tomorrow... that should be (yawn) fun! Really, I don't mind... I'm going because Punky wants me to go, and it's cute to see him with his class.

Umm.... so what have we been doing? Let's see... we finished the 24 DVD set, and now I'm suffering withdrawal. I want more. I don't particularly like how it ended this year... the whole stinkin' season ended with a cliffhanger! And the new season starts this month, but we don't want to watch it on TV because we don't think we can stand the commercial breaks and the week's wait between eps. So, excruciating as it may be, we're going to have to wait a year for season 3 to come out on DVD. Ugh. Stupid, addictive, amazingly good show.

Finally got my car back... two weeks later. It's nice to be mobile again. Went to Lost Maples for the first time in months with David... he hated the first half. It rained on us the whole first leg, and then once we got up the big hill, the sun came out and it was humid as a bog. It was awful. David isn't too keen on going back... I think that place is officially mine and Flo's to conquer. Both of our husbands have been invited, included, and have decided they hate it.

Oh, by the way, can someone explain to me why Hispanic Heritage Month is from Sept. 15- Oct. 15? Since when does a celebratory month span two different months? That's weird. Anyway, happy Hispanic Heritage Month. I'm Irish. I'm not Hispanic. Even though David thought I was when he met me. I am a Hispanic Asian Irish girl. Yesssss.....

Oh, and happy Columbus Day. Who the heck celebrates Columbus Day? They have a parade in New York. But they have a parade in New York for everything, so that doesn't count. Who the heck else celebrates Columbus Day? I'm just mad because I don't get any mail today. So no birthday fun in the mail for me today. Waaaaah.

I am the elderly.

I have just finished watching 5 hours of 24. I am absolutely bleary-eyed, braindead, and exhausted! That show... yeah. That show has literally taken me through every emotion possible. What a GREAT show! I still have like 8 hours to go..... Kiefer is amazing. Yes. Hello.

Oh, and can I just say that "A Mighty Wind" is my favorite movie of the year? Yeah, it's up there with "O Brother, Where Art Thou" for me. I will own it on DVD. The DVD has some absolutely hilarious outtakes and deleted scenes and extra stuff. They are brilliant. Brilliant. David and I just watched the extras tonight... we'll watch the movie (with commentary, thank you) tomorrow. Dave and I are Mitch and Mickey. Now what did I do with my autoharp?

Okay. Must....sleep. I can't even type. Just had to unwind from my roller coaster of emotions following 24.

Oh, one more thing... speaking of sleep. This site is the bomb regarding dreams. I found that many of my dreams are pretty common... like that crazy "back in college" dream...

Now I will go dream of bombs and Kiefer and CTU. Pardon my obsession.

mind the gap.

I am blogarific!

Hehehe. Just felt like using that word. It's sort of like smurfarific. Or smurfy. Or smurftacular. Or absosmurfly fabulous.

My stove blew up this morning. I was making my coffee... had to boil water because I'm doing coffee in my french press lately (off of cappuccino for the week to give myself a break), and as I took the teapot off the stove, the burner shot many sparks out at me. They were sort of like those roman candles you get at the fireworks stand... they sounded just like that and were little white balls o' flame. Cute! Anyway, so I guess I won't be cooking tonight! Yay! Actually, I enjoy cooking, but I'd rather not be aflame whilst doing so.

I seem to have carpal tunnel just in my ring finger on my right hand. Go figure.....

Okay. So tonight, we have nothing going on. We have 5, count 'em, 5 eps of 24 to watch! Gggggggg! I'm so excited. I'm so addicted. I woke up the other day thinking about it. Gosh, what a freaking GREAT show it is! I love Kiefer. He is so cool.

We have very little time left before we send off our album to the replicators! I'm so excited. I talked to the CD manufacturing company today and got the prices all nailed down, and now David and I just have to pick some pics for the inside, and we're done! Wooohoo! I can't wait.

Oh, David just emailed me and reminded me that A Might Wind comes out on DVD today. Packed with extra features even! I can't wait. Gotta see it. Ooooh, 24... A Mighty Wind... 24.... A Mighty Wind..... I'm going to implode with all these quality viewing choices!

Okay. Gotta go fix my stove, take a shower, make my bed, fold some laundry, and get the mail.

Peace and chicken grease.........

Results...

Hey, cool! This was one of my favorite songs as a child of the 80's. I even had the Eurythmics 45" single of this song! That's right, vinyl, baby!


"Sweet Dreams" (by Eurythmics)
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused


Which 80's Song Fits You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Man, oh man. I was offline all day yesterday because my internet connection died. Had to take extreme measures and sign up with another internet provider... the easiest way for me to do that, unfortunately, was to use my AOL disc. I haven't used aol in like 4 years... and vowed I never would again. Ever. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and so I'm back online again with AOL. Ugh. It already sucks. I forgot... I must say, though, that hearing that little man in my computer saying, "Welcome! You've got mail!" Brought back many fond memories...

See, I got my first computer in '91... it was a Macintosh Performa 405 (66 mhz processor with 4 megs of ram! A screamer!). It was soooo exciting for me, being in college, having a computer, and then there was this thing called America Online that had these crazy features like chat... I was hooked. Totally hooked. I couldn't stop chatting! That I could sign on and talk to people halfway around the world was insanely fun, and I made a lot of "friends" in the music chat rooms back then. We would exchange tapes (ha! tapes! The good ol' days before CD burners were around!) of artists we liked. It was a fun little innocent community. No spam. No porn. No psychos. Just nerds like me who had found a new toy. And it was so easy... I couldn't understand why other people weren't all into it like me. But no one that I knew was online. I don't think AOL even had a web browser back then, because Al Gore hadn't yet invented the internet. So AOL was this cozy little micro-internet with all sorts of fun things.

Ahhhh... those were the days. I still have friends from those old AOL days... the Shawn Colvin bulletin board on AOL became, eventually, in '95 or '96, the Shawn Colvin email list which is still alive and kicking today, and my good friend Jean runs it. Jean was there in the beginning too. Life is weird.

I remembered last night how bad AOL got once it really took off... you could never get on because it was always busy, so you'd sit there and dial for like an hour listening to busy signals through your modem. And if you got online around 5:00pm, it was slow as all get out because everyone and their dog was online at that time... internet rush hour. That's so stinking funny!

So yesterday I was offline all day. It's amazing what wondrous things can be done when one is not tied to one's computer. My whole house is clean! And, for some weird reason, my cd burner is suddenly working again (my computer is possessed), so I was able to burn about 40 LJG CDs that I've been needing to do for three weeks now.

David and I have watched a total of 7 hours of 24, season 2. I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't think they would be able to pull off another perfect season like the first. The first season was so incredible, so well written... and dang it, if we didn't stay up till midnight last night because we couldn't stop watching! Every episode ends with a cliffhanger. Actually, several cliffhangers. It's horribly addictive.

This season, it has all the same characters as the last, but they've also introduced a few new characters that have their own arc (which will, I'm sure, eventually connect with the main story). I've decided that every blonde on the show is terribly irritating. Kimberly, the daughter of Kiefer's character, is annoying because she is so stupid. Then there are these two california rich girl sisters that I just want to punch... all they do is whine and cry. Ugh. But I am pretty sure it's written that way. Oh, and the wife that Kimberly works for as a nanny is also blonde and powerless... there's a domestic violence story going on there too, and that one disturbs me greatly... but all the stories rolled together make this show just absolutely amazing. There is so much going on. And the "real time" concept in this show is so cool. So cool.

So that's what I've been doing with my life the past couple of days....

Oh, man, we had a GREAT gig at Scenic Loop Saturday night. It was chaotic at the front end... we got there and found out that we were playing inside because of the rain, which was fine, but the sound system that is inside only had 4 channels to plug into. David and I alone use 5 channels (two for vocals, two for guitars, one for cello), and we were going to have drums and an additional guitarist who himself had 2 guitars. So that was a little freaky. We made it work... had a full band running through one speaker, but it was so much fun. Ron did amazingly well on guitar... it was so nice to hear those parts and to have them played live.

So we had a great gig... the place was packed and we got a great response. Went home and slept like banshees because we were exhausted and had to be up at 5:30am to do worship at church. Worship on Sundays is always an adventure... there are always a zillion technical issues and other things to make my life so much fun on Sunday mornings when I am always half asleep... but that went fine. Then David remembered that our sound system was locked away in our car which was locked up at Quality Automotive because it's getting a new transmission... and he needed the sound system for his gig with Chris immediately following church. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we got word to Chris and they used Chris' sound system, but that was nuts too. THEN, as we're rushing back to church so that I can do worship AND youth group for the evening service, we see Chris' car fall apart in front of us, so we have to push his car off the road and throw all of our stuff into his car and take him with us so that I can be dropped off in Pipe Creek and Chris and Dave can go back to San Antonio to mess with Chris' car. So by Sunday night, I was exhausted. Exhausted. But it was a fun weekend.

Wooo-hoo!

NP: June Christy -- Something Cool -- The complete mono and stereo versions (1954).

Oh.....my......gosh! I am so excited. We are about to begin a marathon viewing of 24, the second season, disc 1. 4 hours of 24. 4 hours of Keifer. 4 hours of unadulterated viewing fun.

Life doesn't get much better than this.

And when Punky wakes me up at 6:30am tomorrow morning (Saturday), I will not regret staying up till 1 to watch all 4 eps.

Oh, no. I will revel.

StupidStuff.org - Your Pirate Name

Arrrrrr... ahoy matey. Today is September 19, which is (arrrrr....) National Talk Like A Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers! I feel the need to sing me favorite song: "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?..."

Okay. I am tired, sick and tired, of all the sniveling liberal college brats who think it's cool to hate Bush just because it's what college students are supposed to do. Old liberals are breeding new liberals, obviously, and the mindless acceptance of liberal propaganda is prevalent because these kids (most of whom are trying to rebel against their parents conservatism) just want to "free their minds" and they buy into the liberal agenda without even bothering to think it through. And true to the lie, they say they *have* thought it through, but really all they do is just swallow the trendy blah blah blah of their peers and MTV.

Anyway, what got me on this rant in the first place is the promotion in many, many recent blogs of this website. They are taking up the cause... some dude is randomly hanging this sign in Orange County:



And everyone's all excited about it, calling it "freeway blogging" because the guy will hang it somewhere for awhile, and then it will disappear and show up randomly somewhere else. Of course, all the liberal college student "free-thinking" robots go, "Yeah, man, that's right. That's really heavy."

STUPID! Do I even have to point out the obvious here?

Speaking of Democraps, this is pretty funny.


Ted Kennedy is seen here preparing for Hurricane Isabel which turned out not to be as a severe as predicted. Kennedy quickly blamed George Bush for making up the storm in order to deflect attention from the current situation in Vietnam... I mean Iraq. (Thanks to the Glenn Beck website for that.)

Arrrr.... I wonder if me matey Teddy is seaworthy? Avast, me hearties!

-Wild Eyed John (my pirate name, generated here.)

lady jane grey:

progressive americana with a smile, a broken cello, coffee on the jeans, a whiny background singer, a "ban the tube tops" poster, killer tunes, bad attitude towards fluffy the dandruff burger, meat and chilli left on the counter, 8 pack of ensure, day glow pants and a wife beater tank, songs about love and the never ending search for the freakin' frusion ice bars, americana- banana- uma- oprah- oprah- uma- fo fana! bowling balls with only two holes, chapstick in your pants pocket as you throw into heavy rotation
dryer cycle, belly button lint (and i've got an outty- so how does that work?) acoustic guitars and a hand drum, sticky chord changes, drama queen with a perty voice and an unmistakable, easily identifiable desire to be the next brittany... and a guitar player who won't stop until he's shaken the hands of mr. roper, isaac, the man with TWO hands, and hutch.

now you see they are more than a band - they are a religion... follow, send your money, send your soul.

lady is waitng and her pet jasper the guitar gorf is restless...


--Chris Taylor

MySanAntonio : Music

Adventures of a Famous Cello

The Fan Gallery

The Fan Gallery



Hey, look, ma! We're famous!

I love KFAN.

Bolshoi Decides It's Over Before 'Fat' Lady Dances

Bolshoi Fires Top Ballerina For Being Too Fat

If this woman is fat -- she is 5'6" and weighs 109 -- then I'm a freaking elephant. Gimme a break. I don't care if she's an irritating, impossible diva. Geez, and we complain about the messages Cosmo sends to young girls...

Art Watch - September 7, 2003 - MP3s Are Not the Devil - The Ornery American

Art Watch - September 7, 2003 - MP3s Are Not the Devil - The Ornery American

This is the best article I have ever seen regarding the issue of MP3s and how much the record companies say they're "losing" because of them.

MP3s are NOT the devil. They are my friend.

mmmmmm.....dragging.

yeah well. I am not really sure I want to be blogging this late. It's like after 11pm but I'm not really ready to wind down yet.

Hey didja know you can post comments on my mindless rants now? Yeah, look at the bottom of each blog post. See? Cool. Now I expect all of you readers to interact, y'hear? I worked hard getting the code right.

So ummm... nothing much to say. Man, I'm boring.

We had a photo shoot with Paul today and that was fun. David thinks he looks old and fat. I think I look old and fat. Britney I am not. Thank God. But yeah, I'm 30. That's freaky. Anyway, the record is like so almost done! Actually, it's miraculous that the pics turned out at all... we had to drive an hour downtown with no air conditioning, and so I got all windblown and sweaty. Scuse me, glow-y. Because allegedly women don't sweat. But really, I do. I ain't dainty. I hate dainty.

You know what I realized tonight? I'm a blog loser. Or maybe just a blog loner. I don't know anyone else in the whole world who blogs! I look at all these young whippersnappers who have blogs, and they have these long, long lists of folks who are friends of theirs who blog. I have nary a one. Part of it is that I live in Pipe Creek. Part of it is that all my friends are artists and I'm the only one of the lot of them who actually knows how to use a computer (well, okay, Chris and Kathy, at least you can turn yours on... so I take it back). And the others just don't seem to want to mess with it. See, and all my friends would be such GOOD bloggers. Get on it, okay? I want to be cool and have a list of blog friends. It's lonely out here.

I'm having right hand issues right now. Space bar is sticking... makes my thumb hurt like it has carpal tunnel... only I know you can't have that in your upper thumb. Anyway, and my nails are long on that hand, so typing is not fun. Maybe I'll just have to type the word "stewardesses" over and over again for the rest of the entry. Because "stewardesses" is the longest word typed entirely with the left hand. See? Stewardesses. Stewardesses. But that's like knowing Latin... the word "stewardesses" is archaic. It's "flight attendant" now, and that requires both hands to type. Can't win for losing.

Okay. Good night.

CNN.com - Making a video screen out of thin air - Sep. 15, 2003

CNN.com - Making a video screen out of thin air

Omigosh! It's like "Minority Report!" How cool! I want one!

Music of the Heavens Turns Out to Sound a Lot Like a B Flat

Wow! I just logged into blogger and it has all sorts of new features! Fun!

It's feeling much like autumn outside... I am so happy about that. I love fall. It's truly my happiest time of year! It's only 70 degrees out right now... I have the windows open. I'm drinking some sort of orange-flavored coffee... I don't drink flavored coffee that much, but I was at the store last night, and instead of going all the way down to Starbucks and getting my normal espresso for the week, I opted for regular coffee and the orange just sounded good. Fall temps and all... It just went together. It's nice to depart from my crazy cappuccino every now and then... funny thing is, I'm all wired right now because regular coffee has more caffeine in it... Especially the lighter roasts, and flavored coffee is usually pretty lightly roasted.

So umm, I didn't blog much last week... The week just got away from me. Still fighting with my computer. Neither CD burner works... I think my computer is pooping out on me. Tired of things breaking!!!!!

So Saturday I was driving out to Boerne to pick up Punky's friend who was going to come over for the day, and my car died on the highway. Couldn't get it out of neutral. Actually, it wouldn't do anything but park. Yeah... It was the transmission. The FREAKING TRANSMISSION! What is up with that? I've NEVER had to replace a transmission before! Yeah, I'm real excited about that one. See? Things just keep breaking. It's almost funny to me. Almost.

Saturday night, after three nights of gigs, I was beat... dead tired. Really looking forward to going to sleep... so I'm almost asleep and I hear all this rustling going on over on the nightstand. Thought, "What the heck is David doing?" and then went back to sleep. Then I heard it again, only under the bed. I realized quickly that it was a critter... a mouse! UGH! Now before all of you get all grossed out and think that I'm a bad housekeeper and all that, remember that we live in the country, in a wooded area, in a house that is 20 years old. It is a fact of life out here... virtually everyone I know who doesn't own a brand new house out here has mice at some point. So I feel better about that, except that they are icky vermin who carry diseases and I don't want them in my house!!! We can't use the snap traps here, because Punky would literally have a breakdown if he saw all the carnage that comes with those things... and I don't know that I have the heart to slaughter them that way either. We use the live traps and let them go. The things I do for the critters....

NP: John Mayer -- Heavier Things (booyah CD!)

My blog coffee is exceptionally good today. Probably because it's cloudy today, and it's all in my head... cloudy days make coffee taste better.

I have so much to do today! David and I ran around all day yesterday... but today is my day to catch up, as long as I don't get stuck on the computer all day. I bought 100 more CDRs (good ones) and have lots of CDs to burn for the gigs this week, but that shouldn't keep me glued to the computer too long, provided my stupid computer doesn't geek out on me.

So tomorrow is David's birthday! Yay! Everyone email him and wish him a happy day.

Thursday we have a radio interview and a gig. Friday we have a gig. Saturday we have a gig. I haven't been this busy in a year! It's really nice.

Okay, yeah, gotta go. I'll blog more later.

Mmmmm..... apricots.

Hollywood A.D.

I'm eating peanut butter toast and drinking my morning blog quad cappuccino, and my space bar is still sticking. Das ist nicht so gut.

So we played at St. John Lutheran Church last night... I wish everyone could have been there. I think it was the best show we've ever done, mainly because the venue was absolutely amazing and it made it just absolutely enjoyable to play there. When the sound is good, we play better. Our friend Mark Bickle ran sound for us, and he did an amazing job. It was nice, for once, to not have to sing over cappuccino machines and talking people (well, except for the row of teenagers that giggled and made fun of us the whole time, but what do you expect?)... it was just a nice show for us to do. Our friend Rick Brown sat in with us and played piano on "Enemy," "Rain," "Better Days Ahead," "Bright Blue Rose," and "You Move Me." Those songs just shone with him on piano... he is an amazing player and it was a really nice addition (and something different) to the LJG sound. Anyway, we had a fabulous time, made some new friends, and had a great "kickoff" show to the fall tour season.

I wish we could play that sort of venue all the time... it's really what I've always wanted to do. I love doing to coffeehouses and smaller venues, but our vision is to play the Majestic Theatres and Bass Halls and those types of places... 1000 seaters with amazing acoustics. That's not so crazy, right? I mean, geez, as cool as it would be to sell out Madison Square Garden, that's not us. Of course, we wouldn't complain, but the performing arts centers is where our hearts really are. Is that so wrong? hehehehe.......

I hear a cold front is coming! Yaaaaaay! They say that on Friday, the high is only going to be in the mid 80's. Wooo-hooo! Fall is coming! Punkins and spiced lattes and stuff. I LOVE fall.

I have so much to do today... my house looks like it imploded. I have dishes from the weekend (we were just here to sleep, basically) and sound equipment and laundry that I washed but haven't folded... I'd throw a load in at night just to have clothes for the next day, and then would have to leave early in the morning and they just didn't get folded!

Well, that, and I spent all last week fighting with that STUPID computer of mine, trying to burn CDs... I've never had a problem like this before, but I have discovered that you get what you pay for when it comes to CDRs. Yeah. We're broke, because we're musicians, right? So we go to OfficeMax to buy some CDRs. They had a pack of 50 silver face CDRs -- I like the silver face because I can put labels on them and nothing shows through the label -- for $14.99. $14.99, with a 4.99 register rebate and a $10 mail-in rebate... so yeah, FREE CDRs! Well, they are CRAP! Total crap. I thought it was my CD burner... got a new CD Burner, and they still wouldn't burn. So I told David to go back to OfficeMax and get me some name brand CDRs -- he got Memorex -- and they burned like a dream. That totally angers me that OfficeMax would sell product that sucks that bad... that's an insult to me as a consumer. So the crap CDs are going back to OfficeMax for a refund. Moral: DO NOT BUY OFF BRAND CDRS!

Well, David's off today because he's fighting the funk, so I should probably go and cater to him and pat him on the head and say, "There, there." That, and I want to listen to our minidisc recording of last night, and see how that turned out. If it is good, I'll stick an mp3 of a song or two up here so that all you goofballs who skipped out on us last night can hear it. Who loves ya, baby?

Don't eat the yellow snow.

I am in such a fall mood right now... it's raining, cooler out... just generally fallish today. It makes me want to pull out all my fall CDs and have a cup of tea and scones and clotted cream and read Dickens. I revert back to my anglophile Victorian England at Christmas time side when it gets to be fall out. This mood will last at least another hour when, in true Texas form, the sun will come out blazing and the temp will reach 95 within a matter of minutes.

Got a new CD burner... it works like a dream. But I think I'm low on memory now. I swear if it's not one thing it's another. And to add to my annoyances, my space bar is suddenly sticking, and I have to beat it to death just to get it to make a space as I type. I'm going to have a really strong thumb by the end of this blog.

Oh, and my cello bridge is broken. So it's like $60 just to get some dude to cut it and fit it to my cello. What's so frustrating about that is that I could do it if I just had the proper tool to cut the bridge. It's almost comical to me at this point... we're trying to get back into the swing of gigging and working again, and nothing is working for me... all these little equipment failures are just hilariously frustrating. I don't get it. I can't tell if the universe is just really against me doing my job, or if it's just part of the whole "bursting from the cocoon" resistance that is meant to make us strong enough to fly. Woweee... that was mighty poetic, wasn't it? Yeah, you know what I mean though. I feel like we're on the brink of this new season of cool things, and we're just having to really fight through a lot of resistance even just to get going. It's alright... makes me just want to push harder. But some days I just want to scream! It's all so very silly.

Today I am going to fix my cello bridge -- I can rig the pickup to work on my other cello, I think -- and I need to burn like a zillion CDs. Plus I need to revamp our website. So that's on the agenda today, although, somehow, it's already 11:30. How did that happen?

So there ya go. I need to get to work. Hello. Thank you.

NP: Maura O'Connell -- Stories

From USAToday.com:

Universal is going to cut their CD prices by $6... which means that their top artists will sell for around $12.98. Man.. that's the price CDs were when they first came out. I remember buying my first CD, Kim Boyce (whoa!), for $12.98. It was so exciting... remember the longboxes? What a waste of paper those were... they'd get all dented and the CDs would always tip over in the racks, and it was just really messy. I seem to remember getting the CDs out of the longboxes was a pain in the behind as well... I would always try and not mess up the longbox, so I'd just open up the top and try and slide the CD out, but it would always get stuck and I'd end up just ripping up the long box. I think Costco still sells CDs in longboxes. That's bizarre. Anyway, Universal is hoping that selling their CDs for $12.98 will make people start buying CDs again. Hey, how's this for a concept: SELL SOME MUSIC PEOPLE WANT TO BUY, and then your CD sales will go up! You know why their sales are down? Because mainstream music sucks and people are buying INDIE now more than ever. It's not MP3s that are the major labels' enemy, it's the indie artists who are actually making good music. So there.

Hospitals in China are trying to improve customer satisfaction, and have told doctors and nurses that in order to cut down the complaints from patients and other "customers," they must smile showing at least eight teeth. They say that because of this new "eight teeth smile rule" that customer complaints have gone down to zero.

I'm such a soccer mom today! I baked brownies for Punky's class... it's my day to bring snacks. He's started getting nightly homeword too... I'm feeling very old, very soccer-mom-ish. I guess I fit into that demographic, but geez, that scares me. It really really does. I'm fighting that classification tooth and nail.

I want to get my nose pierced again. My friend Sarah has one that's a really tiny little stud, and I like that... it's subtle and cute. I'm close, so close...

Getting a new CD burner tonight. Am very excited. I just hope it works. I don't know about installing new hardware (well, I did a modem once, but that was easy)... when it comes to changing jumpers and all that, well, I've never done it before. Luckily I have my dad's engineering gene which helps me to figure out stuff blindly -- it either leads to success or just complete disaster. I'll keep you posted.

NP: Fleming and John -- "Sssh!" from the album The Way We Are

Excite News

Okay, file this one under "WHAT THE....?"Dutch Customs Find 2000 Baboon Noses. Yeah, 66 pounds of Baboon noses in a suitcase.

I don't even have a clever comment to make about that. That's just weird.

Can I just tell you how much I hate my computer? I HATE MY COMPUTER! I have been trying to burn CDs and it just keeps crashing, or telling me that it's failed for some reason or another, etc. But what's amazing to me is that my computer knows when I'm burning a CD because it is crucial to my music career to do so, and that's the only time it decides to crash on me. Invariably every time! If I just want to burn a CD for my own personal use, it will work fine. But when I have to get a CD to someone important, or when I've promised a CD to someone, it won't work. I am SOOOOOO FRUSTRATED!!!!

I need a Mac. I need a Mac. I need a Mac. I need a MAC!

I even put my ever faithful office mascot -- my limited edition Wonder Woman Barbie -- up on my computer, hoping her super powers would seep into my computer by osmosis, but noooooooooo....

So I hear that MP3.com may be taken down this week. That's really sad. Well, it's sad if you were an artist there during the glory days, back when it was accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish. It began as a great place for indies like us to be heard. It marked the beginning of the internet revolution in the music business, and it was going great guns until (shocker), Vivendi Universal bought it and made it ugly. Now it's just a big corporate machine that doesn't do anything for those of us whom it was supposed to help. So in that sense, I say, "Good riddance" because it wasn't doing anything but taking up internet bandwidth anymore... it's the last of the big sites to fall victim to the RIAA/music industry conspiracy to squelch indie music and consumer freedom of choice.

So speaking of corporate music, there are some really good releases coming out this month (finally). Seal is putting out his new album ("Seal IV") and has teamed up with Trevor Horn again for this one. David and I love Seal. What a great artist... what a cool voice. I can't wait to hear it. And John Mayer releases his record on the same day (I'm gonna be broke on the 9th!), which I'm really excited about... I totally LOVED "Room for Squares." Brilliant. Jann Arden's new record also drops on the 9th. Emmylou Harris releases her follow up to Red Dirt Girl on the 23rd, as well as Dave Matthews Band. There are plenty more this month: Lyle Lovett, Rufus Wainwright, John Gorka, Van Morrison, Edie Brickell... Gawsh, I'm gonna be so broke. But thank God there is good music in the world... finally.

Oh, and "24" is coming SOON to DVD! This month! Yeee-haw! I can't wait. We're gonna be so stuck to our TV for that one... we couldn't stop watching last season.

Well, it looks like there's no reason to leave the house this month, now that I think about it. Yeah, buddy... swallowed up by entertainment. Well, if we didn't actually have to *work* for a living, that would be fun.

Looks like it's gonna rain.

I need to go fight with my computer more. Anyone have a sledgehammer? Anyone have a MAC?

NP: David Gray -- New Day at Midnight

Y'know, you gotta love the Weekly World News. Where else would we stay informed about alien DUIs and such?

BILLBOARD

From BILLBOARD.COM:

"McLachlan Plots New Album, Tour

Following an extended break, Sarah McLachlan is gearing up for a busy fall and 2004. "Fallen," the first single from her as-yet-untitled next Arista album, was released to North American radio outlets yesterday (Sept. 1). A commercial single will follow in the coming weeks, with the album expected in November.

For the first time since 1999, McLachlan will "tour extensively" next year in support of the new set, according to her official Web site. The artist has not released a studio album since 1997's "Surfacing," which debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200. Two years later, the live album "Mirrorball" reached No. 3 on the same chart. A remix collection appeared in 2001.

McLachlan made her only concert appearance of the year in June at the star-studded Concert for Toronto."

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Woooo-hooooo! I have missed Sarah! Another reason to save my pennies. Happy happy happy!

FOXNews.com

"Otherwise, the VMAs were the usual sad, illiterate affair, full of yo's from a bunch of yo-yos. 50 Cent and Beyonce looked confused among their June Taylor-type dancers. Nearly all the music sounded like it had been made up on the spot, although even host Chris Rock looked impressed at the end of Coldplay's song. Combining elements of The Beatles, Travis and Radiohead, Coldplay's Chris Martin performed the only actual song of the evening with a melody, harmonies and a hook."

-- FOXNews.com

I'm so glad other people see the ridiculousness of the MTV culture. David and I watch it in disbelief (when we actually *watch* MTV)... it's like watching a car accident. You can't help but stare in awed horror at the absolute stupidity of these artists who can't even speak English. Yeah, I know. I'm old. But the above quote says it all.

I'm really tired of hearing about the Britney/Madonna/Christina thing. Total publicity stunt. Maybe if they'd make decent music, y'know, sell a few records that way... well, but what do I know. Hey, maybe I need to take some lessons. If we cause enough controversy, then we won't have to write good songs anymore. That would make my job as an artist so much easier! Why didn't I think of this sooner?

I'm eating a Krispy Kreme hot glazed donut right now with my morning blog quad cappuccino. Starbucks and Krispy Kreme... life doesn't get any better than that.

Tonight shall be movie night at the Martin house. David rented "Gangs of New York" and "The Two Towers." I'm looking forward to seeing "Gangs" just because my girl Maura O'Connell is in the movie as a street singer. Man. I love Maura. What a stinking GREAT voice she has. David and I fell in love with her "Stories" CD... and in my opinion, it's right up there with Mary's "Babes in the Wood." I could get lost in those two CDs for years and never get tired of them.

Our friend Michael Bartelle gave us Damien Rice's CD. It's really beautiful. There are pieces of David Gray, Ryan Adams, Van Morrison, and even some Tom Waits in there... I freaking LOVE the Irish. That's where all the good music comes from, y'know? That's it. We're moving.

I need to get on the September LJG newsletter... We have tons of stuff going on suddenly! This is a good thing. I think we may even have a radio interview on the 11th... still have to firm up a definite time with them, but I'm pretty sure it's on.

Today David and I are going to work on some new cover tunes. The ones we've been doing for 4 years now are, well, stale. So we're gonna ditch them and replace them with new ones... any suggestions? I love doing unexpectedly weird ones, like I think we're going to work up Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" or something really random like that. Maybe I'll pose that question to the Message Board crowd and see what they come up with.

NP: Damien Rice "volcano"

Golly ned, has it really been almost 2 weeks since I blogged? I'm such a loser! Such a loser! It was nuts there for a couple of weeks, and then I was unable to get online for like a week, so there ya go. Anyway, okay. Ummm.... let's see. School has started for Punky. I have been freaking out. That's pretty much the gist of my life the past couple of weeks.

I spent this week setting up my home office and getting organized, ready to launch this new CD and season of promoting and selling it. Suddenly there are gigs everywhere. I booked 5 this week... really am happy about that. There are all sorts of "best kept secret" sort of places around town that need to be discovered. We *do* have listening rooms in San Antonio. That's encouraging.

So it's felt good to actually have office hours and have a job again... the album is nearly complete... all we're waiting on is art... and then it's off to the duplicators. The art should be done in the next few weeks. That means that we're there! I can see the finish line (finally). I can't wait.

Mars. Have you seen mars? It's cool... although I'm sure much cooler with binoculars or a telescope. It just looks like a red version of Venus to the naked eye. Or, as they say here in Pipe Creek, the nekkid eye. Is it me, or does it sound more nasty when it's pronounced "nekkid?" I have never liked that pronunciation. Texans are funny.

Playing tonight with David Kauffman. He's doing lots of liturgical music right now, and, not being Catholic, it's all foreign to me. But since it's new to me, it's also very fresh and very inspiring. I felt refreshed and fed after I left rehearsal last night... good for the soul. His music is really very soul-reaching. Nice change.

So anyway, I'm outta here but I will blog more. More is coming. Things are happening. And my blog mascot, Bob the Alien, who sits on my desk and stares at me with his big black alien eyes, won't let me off the hook very easily for missing 12 days here. Yeah. Be back later.

Papa Smurf is evil.

Leather-bound librarian provided 'sadistic, yet caring' services online.

Y'know, I wondered why our website was getting so many hits lately. Unfortunately, this woman's site comes up when someone does a search for us, and I hate that, knowing how many young teenagers we have as fans. *cringe*

But this article is pretty funny. She's been outed. heheheheheh.

I'm very tired... just got back from the coast. I'll type more about it tomorrow when my brain and fingers are working in conjunction with each other. I had trouble just now as I was typing "conjunction." Time for bed. Will blog tomorrow.

Didn't see any dolphins this time. Waaaaaaaaahhh!

"You know there's an old saying about a wannabe cowboy: all hat, no cattle. Well, with George W. Bush I think it's all hat, no jobs. All hat, no healthcare. All hat, no clue."--Dick Gephardt

Do these people realize how amazingly stupid they sound? Can they not string together one intelligent zinger for Bush?

Good one, Dick. Wish I had thought of that.

God Coffee

This is wrong on about 6 different levels.



Canned coffee? From a vending machine? Called "god coffee?" In different flavours? Geez! What is wrong with people?

Umm.... I missed yesterday because I was all wrapped up in microsoft hell! It was ugly. I somehow contracted the msblaster virus, and I figured it out on my own because I somehow missed all the hullabaloo on the virus. I noticed it when I was working Monday night on Kazaa (probably where I got it!) and I got a very "official" looking XP window that said, "Your system needs to shut down." and it counted down from 30 seconds and then shut down my computer. Hmmm... so I restarted, went to Windows update to try and fix whatever was wrong, and windows update told me that my serial # was wrong and that I couldn't download the service pack I needed. Long story short, I finally got around it by updating my Norton, editing my registry, and downloaded the patch.

Which brings me to my next point: MICROSOFT SUCKS! I want a Mac. I have always been a Mac person and I settled for a PC. Macintosh doesn't release crappy products that have to be fixed after you buy them... Microsoft makes a habit of it. Macintosh doesn't crash every 32 seconds. Macintosh doesn't have a "blue screen of death." Mac doesn't have nearly as many viruses...... Anyway, yeah... next computer is gonna be an EMac.

I made Peanut Butter Drop cookies last night... and I'm sick because they are so good and can't stop eating them... but they are so rich. They go well with coffee. I'm actually having my afternoon quad cappuccino right now, so there.

I am SO READY for autumn! It's so nice today... mid 80's, no humidity... it's just a tease. A terrible, terrible tease, I tell you. Next week it will be 300 degrees again. The low temps put me in such a fall mood... and then my hopes get dashed because we still have like 3 months of hot, horrible weather till it decides to become winter. THAT is what I miss about Nashville. Mmmmmm, seasons.....

FOXNews.com

Sunshine Days II

London Hits 100 Degrees.... poor, poor Europe. Really. It's been so stinking hot here, but in Texas in the summertime you expect it to be hot. Still, I complain and whine and if my car A/C doesn't cool off fast enough for my liking, I'm whining more. But London hit 100 for the FIRST TIME EVER! and it's so bad that they are warning people to be careful and take lots of water when they get on the Tube ("mind the gap and take your water")... no a/c down there apparently. And most folks don't have a/c anyway, because it just doesn't get hot there. The stoney beaches are not exactly "lay-out-and-surf" type beaches over there, yet they were jam packed this weekend. Poor London.



Played the Boardwalk Bistro Friday night... I usually get the TurkeyWorks sandwich, which is really good, but since I've gone Veg I got the PitaWorks which was fab. Loved it. Our friend Chris Taylor came out and played with us, which is always fun, and it was especially good this time because my cello was out of commission that night (the bridge snapped in half literally as we were walking out the door for the gig). I played mandolin, and that was fun. But OH MY STARS was it hot. Like so hot we might as well have played outside... it actually would have been cooler. Customers were sweating. Their a/c doesn't ever work in the summer, but especially not Friday. It was bad. Despite the heat, though, it was a super fun gig. My brother came out and it was good to see him. He actually came back home with us and spent the night, which we really need to do more often... we agreed that it's stupid that we never see each other now that he lives like an hour and a half away. Stupid!

Yesterday was the 17th (!) anniversary of my dad's passing. I dunno, but for some reason I was really bummed out by it this time. Usually the day passes and I think about it but it doesn't affect me much anymore... it's been so long... but it just really got under my skin this time. Ed (brother) and I talked about it for the first time ever, I think, and maybe that's part of it, but no, I was funky about it before that too. Maybe because this summer in particular, for some reason, that period of my life has come back to visit me... friends that I haven't talked to in years that were with me through that time... all the youth group stuff I've been doing has reminded me of being in youth group that summer that he died, etc. It's just weird what triggers things in you, and you think you're over something, and then there are sharp reminders that this is just part of who you are and will always be a little burr in your psyche. Odd.

This is the first day in a week that I've had decent blog coffee! Friday, when I posted last, I was drinking really REALLY bad coffee... because I was out of my espresso and just really couldn't go back to just tea. So I rooted around in my cabinet and found a can of coffee (there was my first mistake... I NEVER drink coffee that comes from a can. UGH!) that I swear must have been part of my Y2K stash (and yes, I did have a Y2K stash, I'm embarrassed to say)... or at the very least was on reserve in case we had a second annual 150 year flood. At any rate, it was very, very foul. Now if we had been flooded in, okay, I might have drunk it with a smile on my face, knowing that at least there was caffeine to be had, but because it wasn't a true emergency, I just couldn't find it in my heart to be grateful for this abomination that was loosely named "coffee." It was more akin to burnt antifreeze that one might lick from the third rail of the London tube, and such an experience might actually be more pleasurable than what I had to endure in this cup of coffee. Which is why I gave up on my blog after my computer crashed... I just didn't have it in me. But it's dang good to have my usual quad cappuccino with Horizon Organic Milk again. Life is good.

Alright then. Must be off to work on my website and make it purty.

Green tomato pie is nice.

Sunshine Days

I just spent like 45 minutes typing a new entry, and then my computer freaked out and shut down explorer and I lost the whole stinkin' blog entry. And it was good. As I was typing it I was patting myself on the back for my early morning wittiness and brilliance and then *poof*.... all gone. Serves me right. Now I don't even want to type another one. I used up all my wittiness. Very frustrating.

It All Depends on What You Mean by 'Have'

It All Depends on What You Mean by 'Have'. This is a great op-ed piece from the NY Times. Written by Steve Martin. I love Steve Martin.

Morning Pages

Nothing important happened today.

Ran out of coffee. It's my own darn fault. But I'm out of coffee and so I was only able to have a double shot of plain espresso this morning, which was okay because it did sort of wake me up. Now I'm hungry. The prospect of having my normal apples-and-peanut-butter fare for breakfast today doesn't thrill me, but I'll get around it. Not sure what I'm gonna do today, except clean and do laundry. Punky is going over to his grandma's house to go see a movie, so I'll be a free woman for a few hours this afternoon. I do have some booking phone calls to make. I do have some credits to write. I do have to figure out how the heck I'm going to pay for a trip to Ohio in a month... not sure how that's going to work out. I really want to go, but dangit! We are broke musicians! I dreamed we moved to Austin last night... well, actually, I moved to Austin first and David was going to join me in a couple of weeks, and I was checking out all the cool venues to play and was going to get a day job to help us afford the more expensive housing up there. It was a pretty fun dream, all in all... my friends Jean and Elinore were showing me around and showing me places that famous indie artists owned -- venues -- and I was feeling like finally I could play in Austin. My brother is currently IM'ing me. Be back later. Okay, so maybe later with my free time I'll indulge myself in an X-Files fix... it's been awhile since I've indulged in my guilty pleasure. Mmmmm. Got a wedding to go to on Saturday... and I have nothing to wear. Because I never dress up. I'm truly a hillbilly Texas grrrrl now. Okay, this stream of conscience thing ain't workin' for me right now. Be back later.

Morning Pages

Coffee. Blog coffee. Blog morning pages coffee. I have to type fast because Punky is still asleep but I feel like he will probably wake up pretty soon, knowing that we're going out with Flo and Amanda today. I just painted my toenails and they are still wet, so if I stand up, they will get yucky. Many changes are coming down the pike beginning this fall. School starts and that always marks the beginning of a new "life season." It's looking more and more like I will be doing an orchestra program with the school... I just have to talk to the administrator about specifics. The new CD will be finished around the first week of September and then we will go to press with it. So that means I have to get my crap together regarding radio and gigs and release parties ASAP. Eric and Sarah are going away to Dallas, which means our youth group will be getting a new youth pastor, which means that that whole thing is going to change and I'm not really sure to what capacity we will be needed... but I'm sure that means that in the next month or so we're going to be really busy filling in the gaps and such. But I'm excited to see what all unfolds this fall... I've been ready for a change... the past year has been such a holding pattern and I'm ready to get busy doing the things I have been called to do. I'm ready for David and I to start gigging again. I'm ready to GO! I made Indian Dahl last night... very very good. Totally vegetarian... lentils, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and lots of jalepenos, curry, and cumin. Man, I could have eaten the whole stinking pot. It was fabulous. I really don't miss meat... I have eaten just a tiny bit of meat the past week or so and I just haven't been real crazy about the experience each time... I'm just enjoying my veggies too much. I just don't want to become one of those militant vegetarians... I don't care what other people eat and I'm not vegetarian because of "poor moo-moo" and all that. I just think it's healthier and I've lost weight because of my new food habits. It's really hard to type morning pages in a blog... how many lines constitutes 3 pages? But I haven't done morning pages in so long and it's really hard to start up again because of the whole desire to edit myself, especially knowing that other people will be reading this. So is this true Morning Pages or just rambling, bad writing? See, there I go editing myself again. But who cares just flow flow flow. It's all good. Pause to drink coffee. We had 5 cars on our property... 2 of which didn't work at all and have been sitting here for like 8 years. We had them towed yesterday... It's so nice to not have 5 cars on our property anymore! It was sad to think about letting go of the Honda though... it was such a good car and it was the first big purchase David and I made together and we were so happy when we got it and it was such a miracle that we even got it. But it had to go and it was nice to get rid of all the dead weight. And now I have like 8 bags of old clothes that I have to get rid of. I can't wait for fall and for fall clothes and for cold weather. But that won't happen here till like November, so there you have it. I can't believe that it's been a year since Laurie's birthday... that was a long time ago and yet a short time ago. Where does the stinking time go? We are I have nothing else to type just rambling and there you go. Supposed to meet with D. on Saturday... we'll see if that works out with his schedule but that would be really cool to see him again since it's been a year. I have to upgrade my instant messenger. I want to go to a poetry reading. I want to write again. Oh yeah, that's the whole purpose of morning pages to get the flow going again. There you have it but I have to get into the zone and just go with it. Not happening the way I like it to right now. Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima... what a weird and different age that was. No one thought of consequences and political correctness and it was just different. Now it's like we have all the anti war peaceniks who think we're still living in 1969 and then there's the right wingers who want to bomb everything and we're just a more diverse, enlightened people but is that really a good thing? Yeah, well, I want to stay away from talking politics because I know how I believe but not many others think the way I do and it's very uncool because well, blah blah blah. So where is oh there is my instant messenger. I have a lot of people on my buddy list. It's sorta funny... I don't really IM people that much because it's like getting stuck on the phone and I think others see it that way, but so what's the point of a buddy list except that you're just spying on your friends and can see when they sign on and how long they're on. But other than that it's pretty useless. Funny. 8:40 I can call the salon in 20 minutes and try and get an appointment. Hope I can... my hair is very very bad right now. My stylist is going to crap her pants when she finds out what I have done to my hair this summer. I am rambling about nothing nothing nothing. I want to travel. I have nothing else to say need to go take a shower and eat apples and peanut butter not in the shower and Lynn Eastes is back at Belmont and they are doing Antigone AGAIN! I can't believe that! We did that play every single year when Kathy and I were there, and now they are doing it again. Still. 10 years later. That is so amazingly stale. Yes, okay. Im going to the beach yeaeeeeeeeah in one week and 2 days and I cannot wait. That will be very much fun.... One more fun before school starts and Punky will be so happy. I have to go now do not hate me becaus I ramble these are my morning pages the end.

So I'm really just "showing up" here because I'm killing time before I have to put Punky to bed. Summer is close to being over. I am supposed to get my hair cut on Wednesday. Yes. I haven't had a haircut since, umm, well, I think it was the end of January that I went with Flo and the girls. Poor hair.

So we went to Sea World and it was a lot of fun, although very VERY hot. Punky loved it. We got to go backstage at the white whale show and Punky and I both got kissed by Martha the Beluga Whale. It was very cool. Beluga whales look very much like the Pillsbury Doughboy, and it was more of a head butt than a kiss, but hey, who cares. I decided that I missed my calling and I would like very much to be a dolphin trainer or a marine biologist.

What: Mob Scene. Who: Strangers. Point: None.

Here is the flash mob phenomenon again. This time in Berlin. Made the New York Times.

Dude, I'm SO there.

FOXNews.com

I want the COCO Joe.... But really, I'm pretty sure you just shouldn't mess with coffee.

I don't have my glasses on, so it's going to be really hard to type accurately. It may actually end up lookin like ;lasdkfoiwehf;masdfiewo because, honestly, I just can't see what I'm doing. Hmmm. BRB.

Okay, I'm back with sight. And see... I spelled "looking" (above) like "lookin" and that wasn't intentional. So what? Life is good... I have my glasses and my morning coffee. My blog coffee. Eeew... that doesn't sound very good. The word "blog" is still funny to me and sounds like something gross.

So I worked and worked on getting our mailing list updated and cleaned up, and then my computer wigged out and sent out our newsletter twice. I HATE IT when that happens. I am so conscious of people's tolerance for spam and junk mail and really don't want to bother them, and I just feel, when something like that happens, that people are going to freak and unsubscribe. Actually, that was what used to happen. We send out emails once a month, but if we had to send out an extra one for whatever reason (like if a gig got cancelled -- y'know, sort of important to let people know about that), we would get all these unsubscribes. It used to really hack me off... because I do care and because I don't want to bug people, and because I go out of my way to not bug them, and then they get all mad and act like I'm the spammer sending them Viagra ads every day. Can't win for losing. Our current list has been with us for several years, so I think we're finally down to the people who really want to be on it, although when I made the list transition I lost about 300 names because they were no longer good email addresses. That hurt! I hate losing that many people. I can't think about it. But we have a really good core now, and I'd rather have 800 really strong names than 1100 and have some that just really don't care.

Wow. How did I get off on that? That has to be the most exciting reading EVER, that last paragraph. I guess that's the whole deal with this daily journal thing... you get the good, the weird, the bad, the funny, the stupid, and the really boring. You know you love it.

School starts in 23 days. 3 weeks. I can't believe it. I have been asked to consider starting a string program at the private school. Me? Ummm.... okaaaaay. It would be a very big undertaking. It would be a challenge. But I think it would be cool and I know that God would not open up an opportunity for me if He wasn't going to equip me to handle it. So I'm considering.

Oh... I just realized that I need to get a poster put up on the website for our Sept. 7th date. Okay. Gotta go. Plus I have to get ready for Sea World. My mind is all over the place today. I dreamed about guinea pigs last night.

AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation Service

Lady Jane Grey in Engrish
Lyrics of the week

"We should not rely on never"
(a.k.a. "Never Should Have Trusted You")

Something the ash, as for end me of the diamond my reliance which should pay the ash dust to the death of my innocence everything, like the pearl being handed by my heart cover which with the feet of the hatchet throws my dream, as for me whom it gives as for me never should not be relied on, me the truth thing where I have known that it can do my your lie was loved, but, you knew that I never should not rely on the fact that now I have known? I being cruel, until unusual control was given, to see, waiting, to reach the wall of the handcuff and your fraud where therefore patient you the jail of lie are sweet so in my mind as for sweetness and resonance me whom you sing that here where me it cannot do thing by any means and is restricted we want I whom you think now leave, I have known, as for me it is not possible to wait for another day

Ohmygosh... it's AUGUST! What the heck?

I had every intention of going outside and work, work, working today, but I got stuck behind my computer. And here I sit, wasting time, typing another blog entry.... but it's really pretty fun. And it's really hot outside. Maybe I'll have a smoothie and then go out later. Yeah. Later.

So I'm back on coffee... did I mention that? I LOVE COFFEE. I LOVE COFFEE! I'm not all crazy like I was before (6-shot cappuccino in the morning, 4-shot in the afternoon), but man, oh man, it's so good to have it back.

Still eating veg as much as possible... although I was really bad and had a pizza last night (and regretted it today very muchly)... but I'm just happier and feel better eating veggies. We're supposed to go to some friends' house for dinner tonight, and that's always interesting trying to manuever a veg diet around steak and chicken and fish. But we'll see what happens. More than anything, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable or feel weird. So maybe I'll just suck it up and eat the meat.

Taking Punky to Sea World tomorrow. He's been DYING to go since school let out. It's just so DANG expensive. But he is absolutely in LOVE with dolphins (so am I), so I'm really, really excited about taking him there. I have a feeling we'll just spend all day in the Shamu show and the Beluga whale show. And that's pretty alright with me! If I believed in reincarnation, I would come back as a dolphin. Or a marine biologist. Or a dolphin who is a marine biologist. Anyway, Punky doesn't know he's going, and if we can pull it off, we're just going to go and see (sea) the fun little surprised reaction we get. I love that stuff. He's so cute.

Okay, so I'm feeling more and more like a loser sitting here smelling like "OFF" (from being outside this morning) so I need to go and get the heck on my tasks. Maybe I'll have some coffee first though. Can you tell I'm a procrastinator?

Haircuts are our friends.

TheMilwaukeeChannel.com - News - Dodge County Man Sees Crop Circles Form

Okay, a dude in Milwaukee saw -- literally watched -- crop circles form in a field across from his house. No UFOs, just lots of bad weather.



Read the story.

Dang! Lucky sucker! I wanna see a crop circle!

By the way, whatever happened to Bananarama?

Yahoo! News - AFP Top Photos

Y'know, EVERYONE LEAVE THE POOR MICE ALONE!!



Yahoo! News - AFP Top Photos

This is awesome: Theatre of the Absurd performed in every day life. It's called a "Flash Mob" where people show up at a specified location, do something weird, and then leave. The example Reuters cites: "...in the latest occurrence, about 200 people converged on a Central Park ridge across from the Museum of Natural History on Thursday. Once in place, the mob tweeted like birds and crowed like roosters, chanted "Na-ture," and then dispersed." I LOVE THIS! Kathy and I were always talking about doing this kind of stuff when we were in college in Nashville. This is apparently the brainchild of some guy in New York who just emails his friends and has them spread the word about the next "flash mob," and people show up and do it. Go read the whole story. It's stinkin' awesome!! Like I said, it's just a very small, concentrated form of Absurdist Theatre in a public place. Although I am sure that some stick-in-the-mud somewhere is going to complain and they'll get citations for not having a proper permit for public gatherings or something really lame like that. But as long as it lasts, well, I think it's great. I wanna do it......

FOXNews.com

Y'know, why don't we all just speak ENGLISH? Now there's a concept.

Okay, okay. I stink. Well, not really, not literally. But my life has been amazingly taken up with "things" this past week and I've just not gotten around to blogging.

My mom was in town. There. Enough said.

Oh, and I helped out at church with vacation Bible school.

And I took out my dreads. AGH! I TOOK OUT MY DREADS! I'm such an artist. I was feeling especially "artistic" when I woke up Friday morning and my first thought was, "I'm done with these dreads now." I know mom thinks that I took them out because she said something about not liking them (we'll just let her keep believing that!), but I know better. I was just done! So I spent 3 hours and a gallon of conditioner and got them all out. By the end of the night, there was enough hair on the floor to make another Sarah, but all things considered, my hair looks remarkably normal. I sort of miss them. But hey, who knows... maybe I'll dye my hair blue next or something. Once it thickens up again, that is...........

But now I badly need a haircut. David actually cut my hair on Saturday, just to even things out in the back. It was mighty crooked, so I enlisted him to help. He did a DANG good job!

My poor family and I are extremely entertainment deprived. We have two, count 'em, two, TV channels. We have WB (blech!) and PAX (more blech!). So tonight, our choices were Diagnosis Murder (no freakin' way!) and Seventh Heaven. Now, I have never liked that show, but I was downright offended at tonight's episode, so much so that I was really tempted to go and fire off an email to the network saying how amazingly DORKY this show has become (and I'm not a letter-writer). The entire show was an anti-smoking public service announcement. One character has a twin brother who comes to town and smokes, and every other character on there tells him at some point or another that "smoking is bad for you, and you really should quit, and did you know that the American Lung Association says....." and they pull out all these canned statistics that are supposed to sound "off the cuff." Another character gets busted by mom for smoking. The little 4 year old twins pretend to be smoking their crayons because they see another person doing it. Yet another character takes up smoking because he's stressed out. And the smokers are portrayed as these really ignorant, rude, selfish people who just want to smoke. It was the most ridiculous, unrealistic, preachy show I have ever seen in my entire life. I was literally offended that the producers thought that (1) I would buy the premise that the whole family is dealing with a whole bunch of evil smokers who just happen to drop into their lives for one week only (and the family can make them all quit! Wow!), and (2) that I am stupid enough not to recognize the obvious attempt to cram a politically correct agenda down my throat. It really came off as preachy and just really very goody-goody and self righteous. And very irrelevant. Seriously, are they really going for the whole, "wow, Seventh Heaven really tackles the tough topics!" thing? Because it just ain't working. I can't tell you how much I hate this show. It's worse, I think, than both Eight is Enough and the Brady Bunch combined.

Ooh, I just found something really cool... I'm going to add it to the mp3s at the left of the page. It's a band called Beatallica. It's supposed to sound like Metallica doing the Beatles. The lead singer sounds EXACTLY like James Hetfield. Exactly. It's awesome.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Artist seeks internet-enabled third ear

BBC News Headline: Artist seeks internet-enabled third ear. Yeah, you heard right. This guy wants to surgically add a third ear onto his arm. Much like they did to this mouse:



Another real-life X-File.

Flava Flav

Sunday sunday sunday. I woke up at like 4:30 this morning trying to scream... I was having a nightmare and was trying to scream in the dream, but you know how it never makes any sound, try as you might? I woke up sort of making this weird straining-yawning sound, with my heart racing, and then couldn't go back to sleep. Part of it was that irrational predawn stress that makes your mind race -- fretting about a friendship that ain't going too well, in my case -- and part of it was that I knew that I had to get up in an hour, and so what's the point of even going back to sleep? Had to chart a song for the day's church service anyway, so I finally gave up after a good 35 minutes of extreme fretting and charted my song. I'm such a psycho!

David and I went and saw Terminator 3 last night. Not normally my sort of movie, but every now and then you have to see something brainless, right? It was pretty good... Y'know, stuff getting blown up and lines rich with "I'll be back" type typical Arnold stuff. I was proud of myself for seeing it... I never saw Terminator 1 or 2, so there. I've paid my dues. Done my duty.

I made this fabulous Black Bean and Corn Salad the other day that I am positively addicted to. I stuck it in a warmed corn tortilla and topped it with some homemade hot sauce and tofu sour cream (I know, the tofu part sounds awful, but it's really pretty good)... omigosh... it was so amazing. David's addicted now too. Happy. Vegan. Happy vegan.

Okay, and I never noticed this before, because I never needed to worry about it till now, but Chili's (one of my favorite places to eat) has absolutely NOTHING vegetarian...okay, well, nothing vegan, on its menu. NOTHING! What the heck is up with that? Even their salads have tons of chicken in them. We went there last night, and I ended up ordering a side of black beans, a side of rice, and a side of steamed veggies. Cost us $3.87 and I was stuffed! So there!

Well, alrighty. I don't have any cute and cuddly pictures today. Maybe someday soon I'll get those dreads o' mine up for all the world to see. At least for my friend Kathy. She will beat me two times if I don't.

Waterloo.

Lady Jane Grey in Engrish: Lyrics of the Day

Fire

The ocean of the ice,
the river of damage
cleaned me to the center of the frontier where it is gone
in the stone, gray to as for my color alongside according to method you somewhere losing,

Did I hear that you still love me? is thing that you still me want true?

as for me of the fire of your mind after needing that the warmth of my your love does all the my love

in me like the rain which comes like the leaf which falls falling,
as for the word where you are soft me of the fire which I who take me who am taken for the second time,
would like to burn at heat of craving it comes to me due to the storm

Ooooooh, I have been a very, very bad blogger. Bad blogger! We were housesitting at David's sister's, as I mentioned, and I just got lost in dogs and cats. Bad blogger! Okay! So I'll double post today to make up for it! Lay off, a'right?

Our record is DONE! So excited about that. But we have so, so much to do and I don't even know how to begin. One thing at a time, I guess. I need a secretary, a management team, a booking agent, and a record label. Oh, wait, that's me. Yeah, forgot... Someday.........

You know, I started eating vegan like 2 weeks ago... I feel SO GOOD!!!! I've also eliminated wheat products too... I love this! And I don't even miss meat... meat is a pain to cook and to deal with anyway. Veggies are easy. I love hummus. I'm not saying I'll never go back, but for the time being, I sure am having fun! After all, it's hard to be a vegetarian in Texas, beef capital of the world.

Well here comes Punky... he just woke up, and looks all cute with his sleepy face and his messy hair. He's always so sweet in the morning.

I'm having a good dreadlock week this week. They are happy dreads.

I got home from housesitting Wed. night, and on Thursday I got crazy and rearranged my furniture in my house. It was quite an undertaking... it involved moving my TV from one tv stand to another, and putting up 7 foot shelves in my living room. I moved our big fat 6-speaker surround sound system from our bedroom into the living room, and so now we have a kickin' stereo system in our living room. Went through all our cds yesterday and organized them. I found the very, very, very first song we ever recorded ("Peace") in this little studio in Bandera with a friend of ours who was living with us at the time. It was so BAD! Everything was out of tune, my voice was all young and immature and pitchy, and I played a tin whistle on the chorus that was okay except that the volume of the whistle was SO LOUD that my ears were ringing when the song ended. I'd post it here just for everyone's entertainment (you would laugh more than you ever have) but I'm just not ready to subject ourselves to public humiliation. Someday we will get the guts to let people hear it, and then you will laugh. Oh yes, you will laugh.

Went and saw Chris and his new band The Notorious Sinners last night... they were very, very good. Chris is so versatile... he can do the whole tortured artist, singer songwriter thing, and he can rock out with the best of 'em. I hope they do well.

So today is Punky's cousins' birthday parties... we're going to Gatti Land to celebrate. Last time I was there I got claustrophobic... and mad... there were like 4 busloads of people that got there right as we did, and they were the rudest, most evil buffet people I have ever seen (like pushing us out of the way, picking up the food with their hands and then putting it back on the buffet, etc.). It's an amazing lesson in American excess watching people in a pizza buffet line. I almost expect to see feed bags around their necks and to hear barnyard sounds. They get this crazed look in their eyes like... well... like...



yeah, like that. (photo courtesy of The X-Files)