"I think this president, when he was in grade school--you know that place on the report card where it says 'plays well with others'? I don't think he got a good grade. I did."-- Richard Gephardt.

Now there's a reason to elect Gephardt.

Okay. I have just seen possibly the most bizarre and morbid thing ever. Check out Lifegems. What is a Lifegem? Their website says, "A LifeGem is a certified, high quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique and wonderful life." Wait, what? Created from the carbon of your loved one? What the heck? Seriously, could you imagine making Grandma into a diamond ring after she passes? No. That would seriously freak me out. Oh my gawrsh, and what if it got stolen? What if you had some loser in the family that decided to pawn off the ring for ganja money? No. No. No.

Lady Jane Grey in Engrish -- Lyrics of the Day

Outlands (in Engrish)


If I withstood thing entirely, crossing this land which grasps your hand where blind the arm which was opened innocently is loaded, my this time that me love me me your voice my I you reach in fair outlands and me have known that it has my mercy because directly this invalid God is satisfied and see when you walk, until you found me because of you, it does this selection which it runs in order to hear simultaneously many you bought the lie which is swallowed by hypocrite promise to the answering which is searched by the calculation the way in the conformity which is lost even excessively if you try, as for me me When thing of 1000000 where you think that we want peace exactly, love is tried, the joy is to entreat the help ｪ which my your love comes having or, who is accepted, without predjudice it is difficult to find occasionally love,

I am so amazingly groggy right now it's not even funny. Oh, I slept, but I've been slowly weaning myself off of caffeine, and the herbal tea thang just ain't doing it. David, Punky and I are housesitting for David's sister, and it's very strange living life in a neighborhood. I'm so used to dirt roads and no neighbors and no traffic sounds, and it's a little addling to hear cars and just general neighborhood noise. I love being a hermit out in our little country abode.

David's sisters cat has issues. Obviously she was taken from mama cat a little too early, because she has this annoying habit of jumping up and trying to nurse on you anytime you sit down! It's the weirdest thing in the world... she lays out and buries her face in your arm, leg, whatever, and just goes to town. I'm not comfortable with the codependent cat thing. It's just weird.

Time Travel?

So we played the Boardwalk Bistro last night... good gig. I brought a mandolin along and that was different. Had lots of long lost friends/fans there... it was good to see everyone. Really, really good. More playing opportunities are coming up again.

We really felt, 5 years back when we were playing the Bandera Coffeehouse every Sunday to empty chairs, that if we would just be faithful in the small things (i.e. playing in the Bandera Coffeehouse to empty chairs!), we would be blessed with more. So we played our hearts out, even though often no one was there to hear us. And then the coffeehouse closed, and we were forced to find new places to play, and we soon were blessed to become the busiest band in San Antonio with all the gigs we had. It was so cool to see the "small things" principle in action.

Now we've essentially been out of the circuit for a year because of the recording process, and it struck me last night as we were setting up at the Bistro that that gig is much like our Bandera Coffeehouse gig... it's our only regular gig right now, and it's a good gig, but obviously we want to eventually move on to bigger, more "high profile" venues and shows. And the words came back to me as resounding as ever: "Be faithful in the small things." It's all good. We are where we are supposed to be at this moment.

Hey, wanna time travel? Wired.com has a pretty cool article about it. Looks like fun... wanna go?

Oh, and here's one straight out of the X-Files: this Italian kid is walking through a field, sees a beam of light, takes a picture of it with his cell phone camera thingy, and then next day there are crop circles in said field. Here's the beam of light:



(Yeah, that's not hard to do in Photoshop)

trust no one.

Had a design meeting yesterday to talk about the artwork on the CD, and we decided to do more photos with Paul for the album. That means that, much to my mother's dismay, my dreads will forever be captured on film! Yeee-haw! Thing is, we looked at our old photos that we took a year ago, and we don't look like that anymore! I've got serious chunky face in most of them, my hair is very short and very "flippy," and well, it's been a year. That's a shame, too, because our photographer, Andrew Shapter, is absolutely amazing. We definitely will have to use him again. But we're going to do some cool impromptu type shots with a digital camera and see what turns up. I'm excited to see what designs Paul and the gang at Toolbox come up with... they are so amazing. This is the fun part of the record for me, since I have this newfound interest in visual art and web design and all that. And it's so cool to see the artwork come together to just totally complete the vibe of the album.

So we play Boardwalk Bistro tonight. And this is day 4 without coffee, and I'm usually just horribly sleepy if I play the Bistro without coffee, so this should be interesting. Maybe it won't be so bad... I've been weaning myself off of caffeine by switching to tea (Tazo Chai... yum!), so maybe my body will thank me and have a really good show. It's going to be good to play again. I am so ready for gigs. Don't know where we'll play, but we'll find places. We'll play Brackenridge Park if we have to........ I just want to play.

So how does this happen, exactly? A woman got on the wrong plane... thought she was going to Hong Kong, and ended up in Australia. Read the story... Y'know, it's not like they don't say, like a zillion times, where you're headed, what the flight number is, "thank you for flying Quantas airlines," when you'll be arriving in said destination, etc. How could she have missed that? Lack of English? Sleeping? Whoa.

I have to indulge by putting these pics up... how many childhood memories do these pics bring back? Gawsh, I love to 70's.




photos courtesy of Warner Bros. TV/Wonderland - The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

Astro turf is our friend.