One year ago today: May 23, 2017, a generic day.
Five years ago today: May 23, 2013, RRAP foam.
Nine years ago today: May 23, 2009, WIP
Random years ago today: May 23, 2012, remember banking the paycheck?
A no-house-picture day, unless you want to see the 30 ton jack again. It’s music and movies, which if there is a ten years from now, I hope it will stay that way. Feeling I needed it, I had turned in early but instead I got all rested up by four hours before dawn, so I felt like writing. I did, but mostly letters to the chosen few. And the budget, that magical-mystical entity that keeps me thriving on a fraction of the income required by the middle class. By the haphazard way quips of it appear here, it must sound disorganized, but that is the illusion created by it being the opposite. Everything is accounted for, but in categories that suit and make sense to me. I know that in January, I spent $168.68 on coffee, way over budget, but I also got away from the house a lot during the critical second month of my diet.
[Photo delayed] here is a placeholder.
Guitars? Here we go again. This round we have two candidate rhythm guitarists. One from Bartow, one from Winter Haven. Both have experience, they say. One guy is 34, the other is 50, I plan to have them auditioned by Friday. The ad is very clear, and they have both stated they have the primary qualification—they do not know how to play lead guitar, although they would both like to. You get a lot of that until they team up with me and put all that lead crap on the back burner. It’s fine, but you need a band to make it sound right and that is not happening.
Moments later, I contacted the one from Winter Haven, we are on for 8:30 tomorrow night. He’s involved with the church, so I’ll be cautious of any conflict there. The primary venue for this band is barrooms and, hopefully, lounges if we can find any. I am also leery of veteran’s halls because they are full of old people my age and the primary activity is drinking. He lists a lot of artists he knows instead of individual song titles, a quirk of most guitar players. His primary experience is a weekly jam session in Lake Wales. That’s not a substitute for stage time, but with me, you get that aplenty.
You can follow along again, the odds are against either of these guys working out. Most answer an ad spontaneously and quit when they find out they are the one that has to learn new material. But my blurb specifies it is a part time job, and that their learning speed will be tested. On the up side, all of my tunes are chosen to be so simple I can play them. I believe I have only two tunes with more than four chords, and that’s because of the Bm in “Sea of Heartbreak” and “Pirate Looks at 40”. We know if they do the homework, the band will be playing out in roughly six weeks.
The guy who is 34 is second on the list. That’s kind of young to really know the soul of this material, but I’ve seen it happen. He insists he is a fan of older country, although that could mean Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt to him. My ad specifies music 25+ years as the definition of classic country. I’ve made sure they understand this is not a full time venture. Myself, I like to gig four times per month, but double that if the pay gets decent. What’s decent? $100 per member plus tips. And that confines band size to a duo around here. However, let the competition take warning that I rely on tips for the real money, the operative word being “rely”. There’s not one of them can say the same.
Americans in England.
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It got hot. For siesta, I watched “Astronaut Farmer” the DVD. I rate it a good one simply for the unusual theme. This guy builds his own rocket, which was approaching plausibility by 2007 when it came out. Once again, the biggest obstacle is government. They want everybody to be alike and marching in columns. Secondarily, the various personalities of his town mates was, in my experience, an accurate cross section of what you get out there. He got from his family what to me would have been unbelievable loyalty and support. My entire family turned on me when I tried to start a band when I was twelve, imagine if I’d tried to launch a rocket. Here’s an unrelated photo of a model of the Japanese battleship Yamoto at the museum last Friday.
Yet, every fifth chapter or so contains a quip that gets me thinking again. Today it was the suggestion that Neanderthals attempted to exterminate humans as a threat. The retrovirus causes miscarriages followed by a second pregnancy. The reader is expected to get the connection that evolution could really be a result of mutations, that this could be the breeding of a superior being, and that the medical establishment is enlisted to prevent it all.
By noon, I drove all the way to downtown Bartow to visit the old café, where I first found this area. I had a small salad, talked with the owneress, worked the crossword, and did my budget. There were only two days this year that I spent nothing. It seems to cost $22.42 per day in basics. I don’t have to drink coffee at the diner or spend $60 per month at cafés. My spending level is on a par with when I was near Miami, but the standards here are much better. Having a band has always been doubly important to me as it not only increases income, it cuts my entertainment expense to nearly zero.
[Author’s note: the band money, if it flies, is a traditional big deal for me. I literally banked my paychecks during the 1990s and would like to do the same with any retirement extras I get. And because music is my social life, I win all around by merely being out there. That’s a big part of why I knock my head on the wall to get these bands happening. Imagine your own situation if suddenly the things you liked most started paying you instead of costing?
Plus, I don’t have and don’t want to pick up women any other way, what a thing to say at my age. But have you seen the alternatives? On-line dating sucks because everybody lies. Men may have their second childhoods, but women have their second virginities. You decide which one is the more justifiable. And if you are seeking companionship as well, good luck. That would be like me trying to find a woman who can sing and dance and has a viable hobby.]
ADDENDUM
Day 174 and my weight has not budged much since early April. I’m still dropping the inches, mind you, so keep up the good work. That electronic scale takes getting used to. I have 7.4% more body fat than is considered permissible. Didn’t I tell you I have an ancient pair of slacks that used to fit me perfectly? I kept them over the years as reference. I’m able to just squeeze back in them these days. But I won’t wear them because while they fit, they are not “smooth”. All the women I ever dated who mentioned anything (about half of them) said they liked smooth. Therefore, that is what I want as well.
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