The Bottom Line

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.

I never update any more, so here's a token attempt at it.

I'm fine, in general. Lately I mostly just work, work, work. My job is going well, but I put in quite a few hours and spend at least fifteen hours a week commuting on top of that. I live with one of my closest friends and work with another so I'm thankful for that, but I'm a little bored with being single. In some ways it's liberating, but I miss some of the basic relationship stuff. Too many Saturday nights with no plans, I guess... /shrug

Apart from that, things are great. The kids are doing very well. We had a nice Thanksgiving together this year; I cooked. The boy put ketchup on his turkey; gross. Anyway, hope everyone else is doing well.

I have a room! I spent the long weekend prepping, painting, carpeting, etc. and now, after about four months in limbo, I finally have some space of my own.



It's not a very big room, but I don't need all that much anyway. I painted it roughly the same color as my bedroom in the old place, and painted the trim the color I'd have painted the trim in the old place, if it had ever been installed.



There's still some moving in to be done, as well as some furniture-buying (like, a new desk, for one). But it's a good start! I'm somewhat territorial by nature, and not having my own space for all of this time has been rough on me.

VoicePost 134K 0:41

(no transcription available)

I just got the summary of my transfer credits - looks like I'm getting four for the military and five from Northeastern. There were a number more but they were "not applicable" because I exceeded the limit of applicable transfer credits for the categories to which they applied. All together, six were "interdisciplinary studies" (electives really) and three were "science" (which apply directly to my current program).

So anyway, that's good stuff there.

I'm now officially enrolled in University of Phoenix Online, and my classes start on June 11. I'm gonna be smrt smart some day!

So out of nostalgia I was reading the IMDB entry for the old show on Comedy Central, Night After Night - With Allan Havey. Back when the show aired, my little "LP" logo got worked in as a running gag on many episodes of the show, and Allan would occasionally say things like "This episode was brought to you by Len Pal". But that show was like... seventeen years ago.

So I clicked into the "user comments" section to see what folks wrote/remembered about the show. And I read the last line of the third user comment (posted over four years ago).

Wow. Just wow.

Over the past five or six years, I've developed a tradition for Easter with my kids. Each year, I get some wooden eggs and paint one for each of them, usually with a character they like from a particular theme. For example, one year they were characters from homestarrunner.com; a different year they were Veggie Tales characters, etc. This year's theme was Super Mario Brothers. ( All about the process, with lots of pictures. )

The Set:

( A few more pics... )

T-Dawg is getting her tonsils and adenoids taken out on Monday. Apparently she has some trouble breathing, especially when trying to sleep, and her adenoids are really big. These days it's really just a day surgery - not even an overnight stay at the hospital any more. Jackie says Tiff is a little nervous about it. I suggested that maybe Savannah give her a little pep talk, although Savannah really doesn't remember much about her surgeries, since she was so young at the time. (She's a pro though about hospitals and doctors in general.)

Tiff will be out of school all next week and won't be able to eat solid foods for a while. I told her she could come and hang out here during her week off if she wants; I'm here all the time working anyway, and I could take breaks to do stuff with her. (Maybe grab a shake or ice cream at Friendly's, and we'd make shakes and smoothies here too.) I really hope she does, at least for a day or two.