The Bottom Line

Hey, wow, I haven't posted on LJ in forever. Hey LJ peoples, come over to Facebook so I don't have to come here to see what you're up to. There, I said it.

Stolen from both Zeyr and Taura_g:

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"He hadn't been able to smell anything - not even Skrymir- for some hours, but now an odor pricked through the veil of his cold." -- The Compleat Enchanter - The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

Stolen from Grimlocke.

Summarize your sex life with a Star Wars quote:

- "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

- "An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station. But the approach will not be easy. You are required to maneuver straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction. The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."

- "No, no, no! THIS goes THERE, THAT goes THERE!"

- "Well my little friend, you've got something jammed in there real good."

- "Get in there, you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell!"

- "So, you have a twin sister."

- "Your eyesight will return in time."

- "Would it help if I got out and pushed?!" "IT MIGHT!!"

- "At that speed will we have time to pull out?"

- "GET ON TOP OF IT!" "I'M TRYING!"

- "Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion."

- "Myself, the boy, two droids, and no questions asked."

- "Don't worry kid, she's a lot faster than she looks."

- "Control, control. You must learn control."

- "Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal. Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

- "YAHOOOOO! You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home."

- "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it."

- "You have a sister. If you will not join us, perhaps she will." <-- Mine

- "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm."

- "Back door, eh? Good idea!"

- "Punch it, Chewie."

- "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!"

- "The emperor's coming here?"

- "Get this walking carpet out of my face."

- "You swear you wont run away if I take these things off?"

[EDIT: Changed set list into links to the YouTube videos.]

Hi folks.

Okay, so nobody that reads this made it out to the Rhumbline. It's okay; I can take it. It's the playoffs for the Red Sox, plus there was Heroes, plus my gainfully employed friends all have work in the morning. No biggie. You know why?

Because it was kickass anyway.

Not that it wouldn't have kicked even more ass if some of you made it out - because it surely would have. But still, it was most awesome. We played very well, and there was a great crowd, and they were totally digging us. And I don't mean just a little bit either. They loved us. In fact, for one song, the dance floor was packed with folks singing along. It effing rocked, I tell ya. I haven't had such a blast since... well, quite a while.

To be fair, I started the night with some severe performance anxiety. (It happens to lots of guys, honest!) The guy filling in on bass for the house band was a dude named Mike that was frickin' AMAZING. He was totally channeling Mike Gordon or something; a very tough act to follow. Our first song, What I Got by Sublime, isn't very bass-intensive, so I felt like dopey the junior bass player for a bit. But once we got into She's a Lady (Tom Jones), which I funkify a bit, I forgot all about the wünderkind and just did my thing.

We had gone down there with a set list of eight songs that we've been planning on playing for a couple of weeks, but Peter (the singer) heard today from a co-worker that sometimes plays the open jam there that we'd be lucky to get four songs in. We played:

What I Got - Sublime
She's a Lady - Tom Jones
Shakin' All Over - Jimmy Kidd and the Pirates
Wicked Games - Chris Isaak
Hey Hey What Can I Do - Led Zeppelin
Jane Says - Jane's Addiction
Soul Kitchen - The Doors

(We had to skip United States of Whatever by Liam Lynch this time, but we'll work it in next time!)

By far, I have to say that Jane Says went over the best. I didn't have a microphone, so I didn't have to sing (which worked out well because of my cold). I still sang where I normally would (and louder than if I'd had a mic) but luckily for everyone it didn't come over the P.A. On Jane Says, for my few backups, I moved up to Pete's mic and sang along with him.

I'm ripping video right now. I haven't heard any of the audio yet, but I can see a preview of the video at least while it rips. Considering I just kinda set the camera on the edge of the bar, it doesn't look half bad. (I was mostly just hoping to capture audio for mp3, but so far this stuff looks YouTube-able.) [Insert obligatory "I look so fat in this video" comment here.] The camera adds, like, 200 pounds, right?

Anyway, if the audio is decent, links to YouTube type stuff will be forthcoming tomorrowish. I should have been asleep like half an hour ago. So, like, next time you'll be there, right? Good.

Just a reminder - my new band, 100, will be making our live debut at the Rhumbline's Monday Night Open Jam tomorrow (October 6). It would be great to see some familiar faces, and it should be a fun time. Not sure exactly when we go on - not sooner than 9:30, so that's a good time to show up.

You can TiVo Heroes.

Google Maps has directions if you don't know how to find the place, but it's real easy to get to.

Pete went to the Rhumbline last night and talked with Dan King and Leo Sharamitaro, and got us on the bill for Monday night (10/06/08). Not entirely sure what time we'll be on stage, but they told him that we should be there by 9:30pm. So that's what's going on with that.

So apparently the Rhumbline open jam is already all booked up for tonight. Peter (the singer) is going to head there tonight to try to get us on the bill for next Monday or at least figure out what we need to do. (He talked with the owner at some point during the last week and he said they were full for this week, and was kind of drunk and belligerent, so Pete wants to talk with the guy that actually runs the jam instead.

So that's what's going on with that. More details as I have them; I hope at least a few folks can make it.

We decided to put off our Rhumbline debut for another week (due to some personal stuff that came up for one of the guys in the band), so now we're looking at Monday the 29th. Details will follow when I have some (or if there are any details to be had).

Hope some of you can make it.

We had a very productive practice tonight, adding the following songs:

Sugar Ray - I Just Want to Fly
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
Led Zeppelin - Good Times Bad Times
Liam Lynch - United States of Whatever
The Who - Shakin' All Over (actually a cover of the song by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates)
Alice in Chains - Man in the Box

Honestly, Good Times Bad Times needs some work. But the other stuff is already in good shape. (I wouldn't want to play it out tonight, but for the first night really playing them, they didn't sound half bad.)

And speaking of playing out, we may make our debut at the open jam at the Rhumbline (in Gloucester) next Monday night (the 22nd). There had been talk of doing it tomorrow night but since we spent our whole practice on new material, we'd rather have a practice beforehand to come up with a selection of songs and run through them an extra few times just to clean them up a bit. So, like, if you're in the Gloucester area on Monday night, try to come down. No idea exactly what time we'd be getting started - probably not sooner than 9:30 or 10pm, and it all depends on who else has signed up ahead of us for that night. I'll post here to confirm if we're definitely going to be there, but so far that's seeming like the plan.

So about a week ago I got a random e-mail from a guy I didn't know, asking if I'd like to play bass in his band. He had gotten my name from a guy I played with a couple times, maybe a year and a half ago. They call themselves "100" (I'm not sure why). They've only been practicing together for about a month or two, although they've all played together in other bands in the past.

I didn't feel well enough over the weekend to jam with them on Sunday, but I went tonight. It was a blasty-blast. They're really good, the song selections are good (including some stuff I've played in the past, some stuff I've wanted to play but never did, and some stuff that was completely new to me), and the guys in general seem great. No egos, and they're professional guys around my age, two of them have families - very stable folks all around. No substance abuse issues, no bickering, great attitudes. AND, they like my playing and think I'm a great fit, exactly what they're looking for.

We played at the drummer's house - he has a great practice space set up. He has a ten-year-old daughter named Alexandra that knows Savannah from school - they were in the play together a couple of months ago. (Alexandra says "Wow, she's your daughter? She's SOOOO nice." Well, yeah, she is. Everyone loves Savannah.)

Anyway, by the end of the night, it was official - I guess I'm in a band. Practices are Thursday and Sunday evenings; the goal is to get together about eight or ten songs solid first and start playing some of the open jams in town, and keep working up more material so that we can get some whole gigs. So far I have a good feeling about it.

My fingers are sore; I played them close to the point of bleeding. Most fun I've had playing in a very long time. A few of the songs we worked on tonight were Fire (Jimi Hendrix; I know that one very well), Better Now (Collective Soul), What I Got (Sublime, GREAT tune, and very easy), Whole Lot of Rosie (AC/DC, kickass tune), Kryptonite (Three Doors Down), Break on Through (The Doors, we need to work out some timing), and Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin, I suck at this song).

We also fooled around with songs like She's a Lady (Tom Jones), Soul Kitchen and Roadhouse Blues (The Doors), and a couple of other things I can't remember. They want to work on Jane Says (Jane's Addiction) on Sunday - I know the song already, and it's a really fun one to play. So far so good!

... so I'm feeling a little truthsome.

Over the last few weeks I've realized something about myself, specifically relating to me in relationships. I tend to have a stressful life, and so relationships to me need to be a comfort rather than added stress. Granted, my tolerance for stress is pretty high, which is why the last couple of long-term relationships I had lasted as long as they did. But the bottom line is that if there's more stress than comfort, it's not going to last.

More specifically though, recently I realized that it applies to friendships too, at least to a degree. The friendship is going to mean a great deal less to me if it's more stress than comfort. (It was really painfoul comiing to terms with that, actually.)

Anyway, I should go sleep this off.

I was feeling a little bored and so I was browsing profiles on "Are You Interested", one of the dating applications on Facebook. I looked at quite a few, and made some observations:

( A few tips if you're gonna put up a dating site profile. )

I was thinking today about fatal flaws. Particularly in the literary sense. My mind ran from Hamlet to Captain Ahab and then landed on Darth Vader.

Up until a few years back when they released Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we'd say Vader's fatal flaw was that he was evil, and served an evil master. But that's not what came into my mind. I realized today just how badly the prequels ruined Vader for me.

The first thing that popped into my head for Darth Vader's fatal flaw was "mother issues".

Think about it. You've seen the prequels. It goes all the way back to Episode I, and right through Episode III. Search your feelings - you know it to be true. They turned the most badass bad guy in film history into a whiny little momma's boy with reactive attachment disorder.

Lucas, I shake my fist in the air at you.

Swiped from lucy2905:

You know how sometimes people on your friend list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-word answers seldom help anyone out :)

( The meme is below the cut. )

So I found this screener online for the pilot of an Aquaman TV show by the same folks that made Smallville. Thing is, the guy that's playing Aquaman in this isn't the guy that played him in the Smallville appearances. Well, that's not that weird... it's just that it's the guy that played the Green Arrow in the Smallville appearances. I guess that rules out a Green Arrow show. /shrug

Anyway, so far it's not uninteresting, for a show about a guy who breathes water and talks to fish. Supporting cast includes Ving Rhames and Lou Diamond Bamba. Ving is pretty kickass in it actually.

Tonight I went to see Savannah's play, Swinging on a Star. As elementary school plays go, it was really quite good. I mean, sure, lots of kids froze up in the spotlight like deer in the headlights, or sang their solos so quietly only dogs could hear them. But overall, once they got going their shyness mostly wore off and they had fun and performed really well. The director did a great job of keeping the kids on track.

( A much better job, in fact, than was done by the parents of quite a few kids in the audience. )

Stolen from rightfist:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb (or Wikiquote or, heck, the movie) and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it correctly and the name of the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb/Wikiquote search functions.

( The Quotes (contains some F-bombs and other minor language) )

At lunch, I called myself fat.

Tiffany: You're not fat.
Me: Well, I'm not Santa fat, but I could stand to lose weight.
Len Len: Santa's not fat. The coat adds, like, seventy-five pounds.

And then later, in the deli section of the grocery store:

Len Len: Brown-sugar glazed ham is the most delicious of all the hams.

holy crap. what a freakin' game.