One year ago today: May 14, 2014, a diverse read, Winter Haven.
Five years ago today: May 14, 2010, FireHow is fading.
Six years ago today: May 14, 2009, coffins in the sky.
MORNING
I told you things would pick up around here. Get it, pick up, like a crane at the junk yard. The big bike is in the shop and I’m ruing the lost trip of last October, where I set out to see where I’d wind up. Recall that? I got as far as Ft. Lauderdale and a piston misfired. I could have kept going, but did not. Meanwhile, a tropical storm kept me home the last twelve hours. Now I’m disappointed we never made Naples—but JZ can and will back out of things at the last moment. It’s always been that way. Deal with it.
Fine, I’ve never been able to train myself to watch TV and I still don’t own one. That is correct, there is no TV at my place. Nor has there ever been a complaint that one is missing. Consequently, I don’t know a lot about the commercials, either. People worry how I live in constant danger of purchasing under-advertised breakfast cereal.
What’s with the picture of the recycling yard? That, folks, is where JZ and I wound up instead of Naples. Oh, the shame! Actually, it is an efficient operation, that is where he got rid of the pallets. When you add it up, he’s done at least as well over the years with a little scrounging as I have with music. But that could be just confirming how bad the music scene is. But, blog rules, I have to report anything new or unusual that happens in my day.
That’s a river barge in the background being loaded up. Reminds me of those 1930’s photos of the scrap steel we sold to Japan so they could make aircraft carriers so the US could get into that big war that was really started because Germany had invented a new and workable type of money system that did not involve a large central bank that printed the money. What? I’m not supposed to write about that? Oh. Okay. I won’t.
NOON
“The time to read the instructions is before you try to put the swing set together. –Farm wisdom.
I gave further instructions to the repair shop to fix any small items they may encounter while the motor is off the frame. After running some numbers of the potential cost of operating a car or similar for the next three years, this expensive repair comes out ahead. Even if the ride was not thrilling, I want that motorcycle. I predict this knowing full well in any blog of this size there is every chance I’ve overlooked something important.
Unless you are female. Typical example of how to sleep your way to the top these days would be that little Aussie sleaze, Margot Robbie. The one who got her role by slapping DiCaprio in the face. Not that he didn’t need it, but my objection is how she went about it. She conned him into thinking he was going to get a kiss from a pretty teen. She also likes to pave over the fact she was born rich. Guys, “nice” 18-year-old girls don’t have to fly back home from ski vacations with their boyfriend in Canada because they “got the role”.
That’s how far downhill America has gone since the Liberals took over in 1985. Being a slut is now a matter of degree, not of definition. Well, least for the dumbed-down crowd that buys into that attitude. Some might say I was raised in a stuffy generation that didn't have any fun. Wrong, we had all the sex that money could not buy, and that is the difference. Today, it is all about money, not about having good, legitimate sack time with a lady who actually likes fooling around because it is fun.
Today, maybe one man in a hundred has had sex with a lady on that basis. Fun for fun's sake. Recreational sex. No set-up, no expensive dinner, no public exhibitions, just the fun part. Don't get me wrong, I’d throw a fast one into Margot, but I wouldn’t marry her unless there was a chance of getting my hands on her money. Everybody else already got their hands on her ass.
EVENING
I recorded my two-bit version of “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, th eone where I play the lead on the bass. Three minutes took three hours, once more because of poor equipment design. Same old troubles with Behringer and Tascam. They have made their equipment easy to use for a guitar-playing idiot and difficult to use for anyone else. Behringer for making a “six channel” mixer that is really only one channel, and Tascam for making certain editing functions insanely difficult so that you always have to go back and dig out the manual.
Still, the Tascam is the best [amateur recorder] left on the market, even if it is a toy at best. The sound is okay, I don't rag on the sound, but the unit needs 15 more buttons, and they should be single purpose buttons that light up when they are in effective mode. Expensive? Not more so than the time and effort Tascam wastes gearing the unit so that complete morons can record something anyway so they won’t bring it back and say it doesn’t work.
So you'll know, the Tascam has several modes where you can inadvertently wipe out your final mix and the manual is poorly written after the first few chapters. That is precisely where you need the most help. In case you ran into the same problem, here is the answer: you have to do a "Mixdown" before you can create a "Master". You cannot save this "Mixdown", you have to immediately use it to create a "Master", which seems to disappear, but it is sent to the same file as your tracks for that song. You just can't see it. The "Master" can be exported as a WAV file, which has a default name something like "Mix00001" unless you change it.
It makes me wonder what newcomers to the USA must think of the way our system has degenerated this way. First, America got dumb, then the products had to get dumb to sell to them. Some say go with the flow, but you can’t unless you are sincerely dumb yourself. Trying to pretend being dumb, well, you might as well go work for the phone company. It takes a smart man to pretend he is dumb, American style. You can succeed against the tide if you are willing to expend years of needless effort.
Living in Florida teaches you the lesson fast. There is no place for educated men in the lower or middle class. You won’t fit in. At first you’ll blame yourself. Then you realize that it isn’t you, that a majority of stupid people can, indeed, be totally wrong. But, there are millions of them and they got a head start.
Next, trying to make a simple movie clip is a Windows 8.1 nightmare. They’ve taken away, changed, or hidden all the commands that are used to assemble clips from a variety of sources, such as avi or wmv. You see, stupid people could not figure it out, so they took it away. Now, all the clips have to be converted to the same format, a very time-consuming process, I split the work up between three computers. Also, when you read your SD disk to the computer, Windows alters the disk so it cannot be re-read by the camera unless you format it, wiping out any other files you may have wanted to keep.
ADDENDUM
Ah, what’s this on my budget. $8 for hair tonic? What do I need that for? Say, I’m glad you asked. For openers, I am not completely bald except when I want to be. Other than that, anybody who asks about hair tonic is, in my opinion, a mite too shy on good grooming. That reflects an all-too-typical lack of understanding of how women think. Guys, always wear a good non-greasy hair tonic, but trust me, stop far short of hair gel or those fixatives.
You see, whenever a lady leans that close to me, I want my hair to smell great. And the best perfume scents are in hair tonic. Now listen to my advice. Stay away from products like Vitalis, which is alcohol that will dry out your hair. What’s more, like aftershave, alcohol based scents wear off quickly. Some like Brut cologne will evaporate as fast as the base. The obvious next choice is Brylcreem, but this is not the same product as the 1928 invention. It has degenerated into an expensive glop.
The only thing that will give your hair that classic sheen is beeswax. And it is the only natural product in most hair dressing. It melts at above body temperature, so to apply it right, you must put a bit in your hands and melt the wax by rubbing until it gets shiny, then rub it in. It’s amazing how many leave this step out. Anyway, you don’t want stiff hair. Ever.
My hair has always been too thin to leave comb trails, but if you are lucky enough for that, always run your comb through before meeting up with the gals. You may not give it any importance, but they do. There are few things funnier than a man who gets his grooming advice from television salesmen, yet I see it all the time. Dressed up, they are, the same as some equally unsuccessful with the ladies goof-off. Get your hair to smell great, and leave it at that. Bothering to get it looking great smacks of narcissism. Smart women don’t date men to look better than they do.
Last Laugh
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