One year ago today: April 13, 2017, matchbook trivia.
Five years ago today: April 13, 2013, handsome tourist in Savannah.
Nine years ago today: April 13, 2009, that was a bass player.
Random years ago today: April 13, 2008, what's a midshipman?
You’ve got to read “The Coffee Trader” if you think there is anything new on the stock market. The tale is set in 1659, so it’s not like the authorities haven’t had time to catch on to the scams. Ah, everybody is on the take except you. It’s also an eye-opener into the separate world of Jewish politics that operates behind the legal system wherever they have a community. Jews can declare bankruptcy on Christian debtors, but not on other Jews. Our coffee trader has gotten himself into such a position. This lusty Dutch lass has been in England and seen a phenomenon called “coffee houses” and wants to corner the market.
Enter “The Secret Speech”. The narrative has not got that far, but I’ll wager it leads up to the events that let to Krushchev’s anti-Stalin speech where he admitted it was a cult that committed horrible crimes against the people. Anybody who thinks communism isn’t that bad or even okay should talk to families of the victims. Communism is a theory, in practice it breaks down because of the way it has to be enforced. Recall the old adage that free people are not equal and equal people are not free. I have a good 18 years experience in an atmosphere where equality was enforced strong-arm. Sure, it was on a small scale, but that was enough to form my opinions on people who would force others to be “equal”.
I’ve gone over the song lists this morning, waiting for the sun to rise. Instead of getting the help I was expecting, I now sing 51 songs. For that matter, my guitar player seems to forget three-quarters of what we rehearsed as soon as we get on stage. But this has happened before. I’ve often said I can make any guitar player sound better than they really are and I’m proving that all over again. I’ve traditionally used stage work to get guitar players to improve their technique. Pardon me, 52 songs. I forgot about “Move It On Over” we learned this week.
xNot all of these are ready for presentation. We will continue to run out of material at around the three hour mark, but shortly there will be a surge. Not that I like four hour gigs, but I need to spur my guitar player along. The initial plan is not working. That’s where she took the guitarists usual position on stage as the star with me a little behind and off to one side as the bass player who “sort of knows what he’s doing”. And I’m not yet a front man for both playing and signing simultaneously. Either one, I’ll pace anybody, but together, I’m regularly overwhelmed.
Yes, I’m quite aware I could cut back to playing and singing like other people do it, just not in this lifetime. If this band goes, you might care to know, it is largely because my changed circumstances have allowed me the time to be patient with others. This house has already half paid for itself in saved rent alone. Darn rights I envy teens who had all this handed to them. That describes almost every teen I ever met on a university campus. I had to wait a little longer.
This Sunday could be a spectacle in that there was no 13 week training period for some of the tunes on the list. I cannot tell you how many times guitar players have let me down over this. They simply go blank on stage. Not just the stage either. You can practice the snot out of a tune, showing them how to do it, cross-examining how many hours they spent learning on their own time, yet when the time comes it’s like they’ve never heard the song before. I know it’s probably a form of stage fright, but god sakes, at what point does calling oneself a guitar player cross the line of delusional?
It's called an "elephant walk".
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It was too warm to work outside but I did anyway. Here is a shot of my tired north wall. See the pieces cut out of it as the place gets upgraded to a comfy two-bedroom again. The ladder is for me to cut away the siding to move the A/C unit out of the window to a proper wall mount. The monstrous A/C shown here is getting junked. It gets harder to start each summer and the heating element no longer works.
This window stays as it faces the church yard next door. At the far left, you can see the tarpaper where one window was removed. That faced only the neighbors shed wall. It will be finished over with siding salvaged from the east kitchen wall when that area gets enclosed.
It isn’t shown here, but the wall brackets are now installed. I’ll buy the 6,000 Btu model tomorrow, and now a moment too soon with the weather. While I’m at it, I’m considering putting a second such unit in the kitchen. The last two years, that area becomes uninhabitable except for runs to the refrigerator. When I get one, I tend to use the kitchen table to do my books and study. This will be delayed because of the need for that sub-panel. I must either reallocate the slots in the old breaker box or pull twice as much wire. And there is already over 500 feet of new wire going in.
All to the background of left-wing radio. On and on about petty issues with Trump, as if they still have not admitted he is never going to behave like the candy-asses they would like in the White House. Compared to the oily things the liberals have done to get votes, the accusations at Trump are tame. Russians, Facebook polls, tweeting, it’s all trivial. But they never let up and it’s been how many months now. Maybe their game plan is to get people to change sides just to hear them shut up.
These windows all require screens, since they are functional again. The mosquito season is mercifully short but it is right at the prime time of the early evening that they really come out. I’m yet not finished watching “Love’s Labor Lost”. My suspicion is that these musicals appeal most to other people who make musicals, because they know how much effort goes into the production. Some of the song numbers are recognizable, which for all I know this is where they came from. Like “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.
The plot seems to be four eligible bachelors making a pact to stay away from women and four women deciding that’s not going to happen. There’s a world war going on but they are too busy playing games at the early teen level. Great use is made of existing sets and costumes.
ADDENDUM
Here, you want this $2 bill? They are considered bad luck, phony, vote-buyers, and nobody likes to take them. We have a box full. Over the years, the government has tried many a scheme to make these bills popular. No dice. Some banks even don’t want them. But just you watch, the day after we get rid of these, they will become either a collector’s item or the next rage.
Myself, I suspect the government would like to see these become the standard. They are aware of how that would diminish the impact of inflation in the public’s eye. The public is stupid. If they can pay for something with one bill instead of two, they wouldn’t think twice what inflation rate that would represent. (100%) Why Dancing Joe? Because making copies of US money is illegal. In people-talk that means there is no law that says you can’t copy it, but if you do, they can punish you. That and plea-bargaining are the downfall of the legal system.
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