February 23, 2021

Yesteryear
Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 23, 2020, dog-marching.
Five years ago today: February 23, 2016, that sounded funny.
Nine years ago today: February 23, 2012, I was blocked.
Random years ago today: February 23, 2013, nodekli.

           Funny, I did no know that I’d been wearing my mask backwards. I wore the blue side in, thinking it made no difference. And nobody said anything, thanks all my friends and acquaintances. Blog readership is at a ten-year low. We’ve weathered these swings before, maybe I’m up against yet another trend, how they come-and-go in this flimsy-minded era. It’s gone from instant gratification to wondering if they’ve killed the concept. It was my final scheduled therapy session today and the staff came out to wish me farewell.

           My-yami. Did somebody say Miami? Sort of. Have you seen this tuber before? It’s called a yami. It’s not as heavy as it looks. And you cook it and eat it exactly like a potato. A very starchy potato, quite delicious. Since the starch boils out rapidly, mashed is the best way to go. I’m back in communication with my attorney. It is likely I will have arm pains for life and that puts a dent in my ability to enjoy and earn.

           Bass playing is the majority of my socializing. If I go to a new club, 95% of the time it is to play bass. I could quote a dozen similar situations, so it would be preposterous for anyone to argue my ability to play is no big deal. I consider it wise to prepare for the other guy to try just that. This had me going over hand-written records from nearly 50 years ago. They can be revealing and even uncanny the way I noticed which personality quirks would endure. Remember John Campbell, the bass player I trained when I was just 14?
           I jotted down that although he picked it up quickly, his personality would be a problem and a barrier. It was, but this is more a function of living in a small town. On a scale of 1 to 100 concerning putting a band together and making it work is 90. Playing one of the instruments is between 15 and 20, essentially once you get into a working band, most of the hard work is already done. While I was putting in the entire effort of keeping the ship afloat, John was learning to play bass. In two years, he was fairly decent. His downfall came when he thought he could manage a band. He never had the personality for that, either.

           This is an indirect critique of bland old John, since it is the audience and not me who makes this determination on the role of personality. However, it seems always wrong to fall into the trap of thinking your taste in music is an extension of your personality. The mismatch goes a long way to explaining why so few make it. It’s human nature to think other people control their personalities but there’s nothing can be done about your own. Bottom line, band management is a separate skill from musicianship. One easy way to tell is if your band-playing peaks early in life, usually coinciding with a peak in musical ability. Sadly for me, the only way to keep gaining ground was by hard work, since I lacked talent.

Picture of the day.
Refrgerator, only $41,000.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
           The meeting was brief and confidential. Needing time to think, I was out in the back yard a few hours. I moved the welder and the Viking box, adding a layer of styrofoam to the bottom. I also lined the interior of the sextant case with a thinner layer of styrofoam. Inside the Viking was a set of the newest thin saw blades I’ve been meaning to try. And the circular saw is a brand new top end Mikita, 2/3 the weight of my other unit.
           This typifies the evolution of my workshop. Instead of changing blades, I now have a separate saw for most needs. Same with drill bits, sandpaper, and chop saws. Rather than waste time changing out the working parts, I grab a different tool. I also ran some extra power bars in the scooter canopy. I just know that place is going to get its own dedicated power shortly. Here’s a clip of some sharp-looking older guy discovering the tiny “closed” sign at the plantation.

           What gives over in DC? A month into the Biden administration, he has 30% of his voter base saying they would not have voted for him if they’d known the truth about his intentions. Joe, you are screwing yourself in the left ear. Trump returns to reassert his dominance of the party, these RINO types don’t seem capable of admitting their party can never win without Trump. And that Cuomo bozo from New York, I don’t like anything about the guy. But if there’s any jerk who can get the Democrat radicals to turn on each other, he’s the sort to cause it. There will be delight for 85 million when the Democrat fascists start eating the Democrat communists.
           Badly in need of a laugh by this point, I watched the video of Kamala’s first home-coming motorcade house in California last Friday. She managed little but to embarrass herself. Only two people showed up. Is that a record low? Most comments said the old couple were obviously paid and would have waved at anybody. I counted no less than seven heavily armored vans in the parade—something I am totally against. Politicians should be responsible for their own protection, especially the unpopular ones and they should pay for their own hotels.

Last Laugh