There’s another winter front on the way but it was a surprisingly pleasant morning so I went to the beach, discovering there are no real coffee shops in my parking area. It was warm enough for a bicycle ride and here is a house I regularly pass. How I’d love to see something like that come on the market for a song. Unlike many local houses this size, this building is one unit evidenced by a single electric meter. See the top floor with the balcony? That’s mine. Or would be if I buy the place.
OOOPS! Let me go back and find this picture.
Alas, it is still a dream. The books and projections are done and I’m one broke dude for a while yet. People should have taken my money when I offered it. But I’m not broke like before when other people could take advantage of my situation. Hot weather seems to change people the instant they think they have the upper hand.
Yes, I inadvertently sold a perfectly good ultraviolet lamp kit in 1998. Then again, I found another set of instructions to make a printed circuit board using a household iron and something called “liquid tin”. I was dismayed to see that while I’m struggling to buy one Arduino, I find kids making videos on-line with boxes full (of Arduinos, sensors, and power supplies) at their disposal. It is hard for me to imagine having such resources when I was ten years old.
I spent two hours on the beach and found a nice coffee spot at about half the price of the Panera for the same deal. Free parking makes the trip over there possible. There’s a lot better view and you get occasional women who glance back at you. I watch for the ones who notice I’m reading non-fiction, it reminds me of back in Hawaii taming birds to hand-feed. Bet you ten bucks the good-looking intelligent women aren’t local. (The place folded in two more weeks, thus with every good place that tries to open in this town.)
Afterward the rainstorm caused me to pull into Hollywood Scooter, the place I bought the Longbo 150 (my scooter). I showed the clerk how to take and how to place photos on Craigslist. No, it is not odd to find people who still can’t do that. For instance, the Hippie, who said to me the other day that he’s “learned a lot” about computers in the past five years. Really? Did you know that a genius is a man who can think about a single subject for 15 minutes? For most Floridians, you’d need a stopwatch.
Bingo exceeded all expectations tonight. Let me qualify that. The show went from 3:00 to 10:00 and included live music, karaoke, bingo and canned music. Successful shows “on demand” are largely based on audience appeal. Several records were broken tonight, most for things I'd not done before. Like entertain for seven hours straight. Auguring well for the future, I was the host for the entire session, spanning the different musical styles just mentioned.
I rigged up that Karaoke machine I repaired last year and now intend to leave it as the house system at Jimbos. Where all other Karaoke shows in the vicinity have a something for everyone appeal, I want to advertise that Jimbos’ Karaoke is “country friendly” or “country flavored”. We’ll take anybody, sure, but I’m more than convinced the “country” label will be an instant draw, the first targeted Karaoke show. And there’s a lot to be said about being first. Sigh.
While my shows are not fantastic, they are unique. I’ve noticed around town Karaoke is not growing. They are not adapting to the times. On the other hand, I have people who state they will only sing as long as I am the host, really, but that is not a good enough reason for me to spend the money to set up a more modern show. All the gear I have was attained for free. Most popular are the tunes where I sing backup and play a bass line along to the music. Such ideas don’t materialize overnight and that alone sets my performance far apart, or at least apart enough to get the non-Karaoke crowd on stage. This is the only time I use all that many backing tracks.
And this one was by far the most spectacular show of the year. To think I was going to dump that Karaoke machine because it is obsolete! Last, the house came around just before quitting with the little white envelopes, you know, the annual tokens of appreciation. It was a very, very, very, very nice Xmas present. Did I say very? The club knows who brings in the crowd.
My Arduino should be here within the week.
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