Burnerblog

I just got the studio CD, and it’s awesome. Some reviewers said that their live show is better than the recorded stuff, but I see them as two completely different things. The CD versions of the song, to me, are pretty dang awesome. I know that the purists miss the live presentation, the timing and humor, but the songs stand on their own as pretty dang funny, catchy, and at the end of the day, a pleasure to listen to. I love their live show, and I love the new CD. You can’t go wrong with some ‘Conchords.

Even though I’ve been playing since I was 13, I only just started playing with the same fervor as I have when I was a teenager. I went for quite a long time without playing, so it’s not like I’ve been playing every day since I was 13. If that were the case, I’d be super-awesome and in a band or something touring the world and being all rockstar awesome and stuff. But… I’m not.

I have been playing nearly every day for about 45 minutes to an hour, and I can’t believe how much I’ve improved my control, sound, and ability to play new songs by ear. It’s been a blast, and I have to admit that the new Jazz Bass has a lot to do with it. It just sounds so nice, the neck is so smooth and perfect for my hands, the action is just right, the pickups are just right… hell, I just love everything about it.

I find myself sitting here listening to Silversun Pickup wishing I could go upstairs and play the bass right now, but at 2:19 AM, I think I’d get shot by Sherry or a neighbor.

…was on April 26th. My mom came over for an early Mother’s Day for Sherry and brought a bunch of plants, soil, mulch, and other stuff for planting. She forgot the significance of the date. As we were sitting at the table eating lunch, I said, “And at about this time exactly five years ago today, you forgot the orange tort.” She just blinked a few times and started laughing. “Ahh, it’s your anniversary! Happy anniversary!” It was pretty funny as we recounted the fact that on our wedding day, my mom forgot to bring the orange tort that was to be the groom’s cake. They recovered quickly by getting some chocolate cake to stand-in, allowing us to gorge ourselves on the orange tort the next day.

Anyway, I bought Sherry a 500GB external HD for all the pictures we have since she does scrapbooking and needs the images to be local to her machine so that she doesn’t have to wait too long pulling images from my computer over the network (many of which are very large due to the high resolution). Well, on Thursday, I had had enough of my computer turning itself off, rebooting, and losing network connectivity. I had tried just about everything to solve the problems, but nothing seemed to work. Since I work on my computer from home, this was a dire situation. She told me to go ahead and get a new computer. SWEET! So, what did I get? I got a Gateway from Best Buy (’cause I’m too old and impatient to build my own systems anymore) which is a quad-core 2.5GHz Intel with 4GB RAM, and Nvidia 8800GT with 512MB RAM, a 640GB HD, and a bunch of other goodies (DVD burner, etc). Then, as luck (or misfortune) would have it, on Friday night one of my monitors died. I used dual monitors because of the writing work I do; it just makes my life so much easier. I looked at getting another 20″ monitor, but decided to just get a new 24″ widescreen instead to replace both monitors with one. That would allow me to replace the last CRT in use in the house (upstairs) and would give me a nice new huge desktop space to work with.

So… I now have a new, fast computer with a honking huge HD-capable 1080p 24″ monitor with 1920×1400 resolution (or some number like that). It’s very fast on the refresh rate, and was on sale when I got it.

I bought it. The domain. wutdaeff.com.

Why? Why not is more the right answer. I just thought it’d be a great domain for email and perhaps another pet project of mine.

More for the email address.

THAT is just bad-ass, IMO.

Hot diggity dog.

In the past, I’ve written about my correspondence with people like Tammy Bruce, the band The Lovely Feathers, the band Freezepop, Martyn from Silverman, and even RuPaul, but my latest correspondence, while quite innocent and really not a big deal, is kind of a big deal to me.

I HEART Giant Drag. Very muchly. Well, Annie Hardy has an ebay store that she sells stuff related to the band at, and I sent a message asking if they’d be having any signed photos up so that I could get one for the wall of fame in our music room. Much to my surprise, she replied herself! YAY! I know, I’m making far too much out of it, but it’s cool to me. No, not because famous people make me moist or anything, but because I dig her music a lot, and it’s nice to connect with someone like her, even if it’s for something not really important. Kind of like standing in line for the bathroom and realizing you’re in line with one of your favorite singers or songwriters. Just neat.

FUCK. I’ve not had a speeding ticket in about 10 years or so. Actually, something more like 12 years. Anyway, I went to pick up Brendon from school today in Sherry’s car (no radar detector) and I went 62 mph in a 45 mph (where everyone else drives about 55-60 all the time!!!!) and got pulled over IN THE SCHOOL PARKING LOT for speeding. The kicker? I left my wallet at home. So, I got a speeding ticket AND a ticket for no driver’s license.

So, now I get to go through the BS that is the traffic court system. I FUCKING HATE TRAFFIC COURT. Worse, I SHOULD HAVE DRIVEN MY OWN CAR WHICH HAS A RADAR DETECTOR IN IT. FUCKING FUCKITY FUCK. I am fit to be tied.

There’s nothing worse than going to traffic court. Nothing. I’d rather have to go through a gingivectomy or even my vasectomy again rather than have to go to traffic court. Oh, and it doesn’t end there. Then I get to go through the stupid driver’s improvement BS.

If ever I am justified in having my radar detector, it’s after a bullshit incident like this. Whenever my detector chirps I get under the speed limit ASAP. Typically, that’s well before I get into actual radar range. Today, my lack of radar detection fucked me. That won’t happen again. Oh no, Deputy Mxxxx, it won’t happen again. You will only be able to catch other unsuspecting drivers without radar detectors from now on.

Oh, and for one more time: FUCK!!!!

I took Gelli to see a show last night: Circa Survive and Thrice. The funniest part about this is the fact that I didn’t actually see the show with her as I normally do. She saw it with a boy, Zach. They’ve been tearing up the text messaging on their phones and have been IM-ing each other pretty heavily for the past few weeks since meeting a few months ago at a car club BBQ. He’s a year or so older than Gelli, and the two have hit it off.

I finally relented and gave in to the fact that time moves on and that my little girl is growing up. I can’t keep her locked away in some tower only to be rescued by a Prince Charming. I think we’ve taught her well, and that she’s armed with the right tools to get her through the situations she’ll face when out with boys. Dropping her off was tough, but seeing how happy she was made me happy. I’m sure that last night was one of her most exciting nights yet, and I’m happy for her.

I’m sure Scientology is not too happy with this. With all the anti-Scientology stuff going on, and how it’s becoming more and more prevalent, I wonder how long it’ll be before people start to open their eyes and see that it’s a money-making organization based on science fiction and start leaving en masse.

Or not. Some people have a need to belong, and Scientology fills that need for them.

It’s been busy around here. On Saturday night, I took the family out to a “cuise,” where a bunch of us in the car club I belong to drove down the majority of Westheimer and ended with a dinner at Taco Cabana. It was pretty fun. Gelli rode with her friend-boy Zach while Brendon rode with a friend in the club named Vlad. Sherry rode with me, and the weather was so pleasant, we drove with the windows down and the sunroof open. I got to race twice (and *cough* won both times), hehe, and Sherry joked that it was the “oldest kid” in the club who did the stuff we’re not supposed to do.

I’ve also been playing the bass nearly every day, and for the first time in over 20 years, I actually feel improvement in my playing. It’s a lot of fun playing weekly with the band, but it’s an even better feeling being able to walk into a practice knowing all my songs cold. It also helps on the songs I have to both sing and play. Yes, you read that right: I sing and play a few songs.

Think back to your childhood, teen years, etc. There must have been something you liked to eat, or a band you used to love to listen to. Search it out and rediscover your old love.

I just listened to “Cowboy Song” by Thin Lizzy. That song brings back lots of memories of high school and playing in garage bands. I used to play that song in two of the bands I was in, “The Swims” and “The Breast Strokes.” Yeah, the members of the bands were all members of the swim team at school. lol. Anyway, find something old and rediscover it. Then thank me.