One year ago today: November 28, 2014, ‘illuminati’ spelled backwards.
Five years ago today: November 28, 2010, early real estate auction.
Nine years ago today: November 28, 2006, another failed guitarist.
Random years ago today: November 28, 2003, photo quiz.
MORNING
Yes, I saw silver bounce down to $13.94 (as mentioned) but there is no silver to be found. What’s available is being snapped up by market insiders and what’s left is useless certificates. Some sources report there is less than 1% of actual silver to back up that paper. A shortage of the actual bullion can happen in Florida at any time, this is nothing new.
This looks like a Boss pedal, but differs completely in the way the 9V battery is changed. Whoever bought this could not figure it out. When the battery went dead, he gave up and chucked it. The trick is the foot pedal hinges. You depress them and take the top cover completely off. I’ve never been a fan of bass distortion sounds, but at this price, let’s see what this puppy can do.
The other object is the frightfully expensive Radio Shack “Magnetic Antenna Wire”, around $8.00 per spool. I paid another $2.00 for that lot and you can see I’m more than a happy shopper this AM. I also met a guitar player who already knows all his Jimmy Buffet. He’s not from here, so this could be an instant duo. And to the lady so taken by me at the flea market, ma’am, I’m sorry, but no deal. I don’t mind you in a wheelchair, not at all, but when I see those tattoos, I walk the other way. Pure and simple, women who have tattoos where you have them are not very pure, but they are undoubtedly simple.
Now you get a lecture. You see, this morning JZ and I approached near-argument level on the phone for 40 minutes over the strangest topic. Not enough money is being spent. Does that sound crazy? Well, fasten your seat belts because I’m about to deliver a seminar on the facts of monetary life. This is important enough that it gets near top billing. We’ll have to start at the beginning.
The world is designed to make people think that a cycle of deprivation-reward is the proper lifestyle. And I’m about to explain why that is the crazy notion. It doesn’t have to be big things, like saving all year and then taking one massive vacation, but that is the concept. And it is rotten to the core. I used to make fun of people who lived like that, and rightfully so. For example, those greaser drop-outs who would go work on the oil rigs for a month, then come out and act like the animals most of them are. One massive weekend of booze and broads, then back into the bush as broke as they day they started. (That’s why they are called drop-outs, Hector.)
That psychology applies to a bigger picture. The world is telegraphing to work your life away, but go get blasted on payday. Confine your celebrations to Easter, Thanksgiving, and Xmas. The problem is, living that way does not teach discipline in the interim. The premise is that people will exercise discipline and save up for a good time. Now ask yourself, has anyone actually seen that happen? Of course not, unless you know me.
Where this is leading is that I can tell when a person is depriving themselves to excess over something. After a while, if you live properly, which I’ll explain momentarily, you develop a “feel” for when people are NOT spending enough money to stay clear-headed about reaching goals. Drop below that level and you never attain the balance to NOT go overboard on the big day. People who live in a famine will always overeat, hence it is with money. They are more likely to splurge and spend the next six months paying back their credit cards, with interest.
My way says to have a little of a good time every day. I’ve lived by this almost continuously since the day I struck out on my own. You’ve seen hints all over, how I say don’t go out on payday, stay home on commercial holidays (like Thanksgiving) which have nothing to do with religious practices, etc. I’m far more likely to go out for a beer three or four times a week instead of binge drinking on weekends. Hold on, that sounds funny. I never go binge drinking, but you get my point.
Mind you, I do not say forego those things which don’t cost money. Here’s JZ having a whale of a time at the canal lock. A Florida lifetimer, he had never seen these automatic gates in operation. Below his feet [on the steel grate] thousands of gallons of Everglades runoff is hitting this connecting trench to that Atlantic. He was captivated, I waited an hour for him to get over it. But let’s talk about spending money.
Now, there is a budget for JZ and I to check out these small cities. We just went to Bartow and back for $74.85 including $40.00 for gasoline. That is not enough, we are somewhere cutting corners that should not be cut when we underspend. As I said, deprivation does not work, even in a seemingly innocuous situation like a truck trip. If we do not follow a sensible trajectory, we are either leaving out something important (which will cost us if, say, we buy the wrong property) or JZ is doing something silly like eating cheaply on the road. Either way, if we come back $50.15 under budget, we did not “save” a thing. We'll spend even more money as a consequence.
Mark my words, we skipped something and will probably have to shell out for a second trip to make up for it. The only good thing I can stamp that with is that whatever it was, it wasn’t obvious. But we should have spent more money. To point out how the budget always keeps us ahead of things, I always get us one of those big vegetable plates to munch on in the truck. We never eat that healthy at home. I got a sneaking suspicion we will be back in Bartow within the month.
That budget money is allocated which means it does not roll over to the next trip, for nor do we overdo things either. I fully understand stupid people who would look at the money left over and argue that it should be spent on the first thing that comes up. They don’t grip the concept that allocation means it does not get merely used for something else. This sounds zany to some, but ask them when is the last time they operated at a surplus? Aha, gotcha! Every time those type try to save up, they will reach a traditional amount for themselves (usually a week’s wages) and falter.
I fully understand why some people never learn to do things right in the money department. But hanging around with me means an opportunity to witness the appropriate orderliness in action. Does it work? What a dumb question. I’m looking to buy a house cash, am I not? Other dumb questions would be the price of gasoline or electricity. How the hell should I know what they cost? I use as much of those things as I please without ever a second thought. Because I have a budget and I know I drive 66.54 miles per week. There is a one week float in the gas money jar and I’ve never gone over. All I had to do back in 2010 was hold back one week.
Google has been messing around with the picture uploads again. Sometimes you will see an extra wide space at the bottom margin of some pictures. Because it is only some, I’m leaving it be. Trying to figure out how and why with Google is fruitless activity. And for those of you who enjoy the Yesteryear links (which is 74% of you by the way), is it not amusing how the Togla Treat evolved into the Last Laugh feature? Thank you, thank you. I understand some readers go directly to that for a daily laugh.
NOON
It was such a perfect day for work, I didn’t do any [work]. You see, I have to let my detractors know once in a while why they are on the outside looking in. I mean, imagine that, someone who can’t take a day off whenever they please [and yet] criticizing the way I do things. Oh yeah, the world is going to listen to somebody like that. I checked out the bass pedal and it is a total piece of scrap. It is meant to appeal to the wanker who can’t play so he pretends he’s after a “neat sound”, and we know who that reminds us of. The fact is, all bass pedals are distortion machines that make you sound like you frapped the speaker on a cheap amp.
Pedal boards like this are proof some people can accidently jump off a garbage truck and get a guitar stuck so far up the rectum that they think every instrument needs warping before it sounds right. I lost track of what this dorf was getting at by the time he got to distortion device number four. My implication is that once you’ve heard three bass pedals, you’ve heard them all. Tell me, am I right or am I right?
NIGHT
Do I look tired? Good. I’ll tell you what happened. I headed out at 6:01PM to the beach to hear the lady guitar player. I was disappointed, but wait, there is some good news. If it is possible, I will get you some photos in the morning. That shoe store up the road threw out twenty steel shelves, with a big sign that said “Free”. I instantly called JZ (who did not call back until 11:00PM to decline) and then myself went over and hauled six of the units over here by myself.
I have enough already to completely reinforce every joint on the cPod, build brackets for both air conditioners, put in a base for the new water heater, build the locking bicycle rack, repair the wheelbarrow, and I have not yet mapped out the requirements for the mounting racks for my spare tires and cargo boxes. There was also around 60 feet of particle board shelving, of which I salvaged enough to complete re-do this place and the tool shed. Total value of this deal, probably $500.so far.
At the beach, however, I met with disappointment. Without going into detail, I am now ready to abandon the idea of ever finding a Florida guitar player that wants to learn new material and develop a new and novel sound. They are 100% stuck in their mode and I can’t blame them. Why take a chance with a duo where you make good money when you can always do a single at the beach for a hundred bucks once a week.
Another overlooked factor is how many musicians I know that work under the table. All have have valid reasons that I would not step on, but this also explains why they work alone. All successful people who work under the table work alone, and that is that. You don't have to trust anybody to keep his mouth shut. This is why not many entertainers in my crowd flock to places like Margaritaville, which has social security requirements and 1099 slips. I’ve expounded before that musicianship is the final and best remaining cash “job” left in America, and let’s hope they keep it that way.
What I saw again tonight was a lot of the usual play “at” the audience material. That is not how you inspire anyone in this industry. That is how you plod along viewing music as a job. I’m one to talk, because I treat the income from music as a job. But I do not ever put on a half-hearted show. I closely watched the situation tonight. They suffer from guitaritis and don’t know it. They say they want to forma duo, but only if it involves zero effort on their part. This is pretty much a natural affliction of guitar players. Their idea of a duo is monkey-see monkey-do.
ADDENDUM
If I had the know-how, I would write that code. But there are no books or instructions on the topic. I would have the keyboard numbers simulate the buttons and inputs. This would make me semi-famous. As for the new “serial graph”, it only reads data returning from the Arduino, it is not a time-line so you get what you get, and the self-adjusting y-axis can go strange if your data varies wildly.
Here’s a screen shot, sorry if it is indistinct. That’s another Millennium Moron at work, changing the screen colors so that there is no setting that will display maps and graphics from the XP era properly. Only sub-humans can even come up with that brand of ignorance. If I ever have time, I’ll see if I can find or create a high-contrast color scheme that works. Later, a color pattern that reveals the detail required is not an option. It is probably possible, but who has that kind of time and money? Up yours, MicroSoft.
Last Laugh
(Um . . . Sir . . Sir . . .)
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