One year ago today: April 25, 2017, rumors of gold.
Five years ago today: April 25, 2013, quick, lend me $180k.
Nine years ago today: April 25, 2009, the best at 63%.
Random years ago today: April 25, 2007, dropping $19,000 per month.
My postings are a little infrequent these days, if you’ve noticed. I told you the band is that important. The impact on my lifestyle is deep, like today I have to drive into town to get $180 out of a use-it-or-lose-it situation. I won’t explain that, but those who have been reading this journal long enough will recognize the last time I had to do such things. It wasn’t a band, it was bingo, but these qualify as entertainment, so same thing. I also had to stop at the Restore, and man did I score. Read about it below. This morning had the scooter being primed. I have no idea how this picture got past the censors.
But you can thank the Internet for almost every piece of security in place over here. Back in my time, things like privacy, secrecy, silence, confidentiality, these were all separate things. They were related but people knew they were important and even when they overlapped, there was no confusion as to what they meant. The Internet came along and merged them all into one entity. You cannot have privacy any more unless you are 100% silent and know how to keep secrets to an intense degree. Staying private involves actively fighting back, you cannot stand still any more without somebody keeping track of that, too.
I’ll say it again. If you are not taking an active role in protecting the personal details of your life, there is nobody out there doing it for you. At the other extreme, I guess there are people who know they can’t achieve any degree of anonymity any more (although that should be a human right), so they release carefully selected versions of anything that goes public. Do we know anybody like that?
What happens in 2072? The last legal American taxpayer dies. With nobody left to supply the welfare checks, the rest of the population dies out. It’s happened a thousand times that we know of, ask the Romans. Nobody in their right minds thinks the people who live in Italy today were originally the Romans. Only this time, when America goes, the world goes.
Here’s a photo of something you can’t see. But I can see it clearly, it’s a yard long and almost dead center. It’s the shelled corn bird feeder. I’ll find better shots another day. The significance here is all the information says the birds enjoy a balanced diet of corn, peanut chunks, and sunflower. So far, the birds absolutely prefer the sunflower. They won’t even touch corn. I wonder if it is modified. Nothing on the package except a note not for human consumption.
About $100,000.
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This is a progress photo on the scooter. Oops, not pic of the scooter, but here's the boat my pal is playing on. Out in California. The guy who would be famous today if he'd teamed up with me, but you know. The missing scooter picture isn't here. The old paint, [not] shown here, has faded almost completely to the undercoat in some spots. It’s a Chinese knockoff, so the original layer was like microns or molecules thick. Today we get an $18 or $20 facelift. Two cans of primer, one can of paint. If I like it, I’ll buy a second can of overcoat. To make it shiny. The unit remains dangerous to drive, except for me. I know what speed there is a slight wobble in the rear tire and I know the front brake still grabs a little. I’m ready for the rear brakes to get spongy and the front shocks are worn.
Somebody ought to write a book about the real deal over forming a band. It’s a departure from the obvious, that’s for sure. This band isn’t unique in every way and another predicted incident is underway. My guitar player is on Facebook, I’m not. Three months ago none of her on-line people thought she would seriously be in a band. That changed abruptly to disbelief and now we get her undergoing the tertiary phase, totally forgetting she was informed in detail and in advance this was bound to happen. She’s getting “advice” from “experienced” people. In particular, some lady from Tampa who “has been in a duo for twenty years”.
I listened to that tale from the trailer court as patiently as possible. How, if we want to go anywhere, we have to drop certain tunes like “Party Till The Money Runs Out”, and start playing “songs that people know”. Then it was my turn, which probably explains how I managed to listen to this crap. What kind of duo was the lady in? Did they gig after just a few weeks, if so who arranged their music? Oh, it wasn’t arranged. I see.
They magically “knew” what to play, which is probably why they are in the same place they were twenty years ago. Did you mention to her I had over twice that many years experience in a duo? What makes her an expert on what songs people know? I do it by keeping track of the tips generated by each tune. It may be a crude method, but at the end of the day, it is certainly better than the “Hippie Method”, which relies for its “facts” on the scientific method called mind-reading.
And so on. In the end, I had to remind Lady Nik that it was that precise type of band and individual that we set out to avoid. We are not going to be another Florida clone band. Not now, not ever. I will not be wasting any time listening to such people, it’s useless. I suggested Lady Nik invite this so-called expert to one of our gigs and I’ll see if I can pick her out of the audience. I find it annoying that Lady Nik would even consider opinions from that direction, unless, unless . . .
I have to allow that Lady Nik, like all other guitar players I’ve met, had plans to take over this band and be the leader. If so, she ran into a brick wall early on. There was never any intention of just playing the same old guitar songs, though she is welcome to introduce any tune she wants to sing, provided it can be arranged for duo presentation. That has not happened, even once. But suggesting we play more music that another band suggests, that would [only] make sense if the guitar player wanted to play the same old, because we have evidence that is what she focused on playing for some twenty years.
At the other extreme, I am dead set against following the beaten path. It reveals that she is receptive to such “advice” and that is symptomatic of a surfacing problem. Instead of being proud that we’ve managed to bring a new and refreshing form of entertainment to the area, could be longing for that imaginary simpler time of playing in a clone band? I reminded her it should be the Tampa lady pumping her for advice instead of shoveling it out.
ADDENDUM
Boy, did I hit the restore at the right moment. The problem with that joint is the uncertainty that they’ll have what you need. I got lucky. I just got most of what I need to electrify my bathroom, kitchen, hallways, attic, and Florida room for $68. I found a carton of 20 Amp switches and receptacles priced the same as 15 Amp, so bought the whole thing. That’s $8 articles for fifty cents. I got GFCI’s for $2 and a box of 20 Amp switches for practically nothing. What a bonus!
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