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19 november 2000
----- A lazy sunday, lounging on the couch and cleaning up my computer... Found a file on my desktop labled "untitled," so I opened it, and now I'm typing on top of a load of self-pitying shit I wrote my first night in Las Vegas. It just wasn't worth keeping. And that's not to say what I write now is gonna be worth keeping, but I already renamed this file "19.html," so I guess it's gettin' uploaded no matter what I manage to spew here. After band practice on Thursday night, I met Rachel in Santa Monica. She wanted sake and soybeans, and we went to Roku, which is fast becoming our late night Santa Monica haunt. I tried to keep my sake consumption to a minimum, considering the long late-night drive back to Malibu, and couldn't resist ordering a couple of plates of japanese mackerel and toro once we were seated. It was wonderful watching Rachel's initially bad mood turn to warm smiles and openness. I'd love to think I had something to do with it, but it seemed more a combination of warmth, sake, delicious soybeans, and the overall candlelit late-night vibe of the whole scene. Rachel captured a bit of it on her own website, some very cool pictures that I would have never taken -- as for my pics, they're still stuck in the camera, and the usb cable's at the office, so all I can do now is look at them on the little lcd screen. I think Rachel's pics are better anyway. (although it'll be interesting to see the two pics of us taking pics of each other on the same page). Huh? ~~~ So, about this thing called life ... Is it about succeeding on my terms or their terms? Who are "they"? Who cares? All I know is "they" are there. Must "my terms" include "their terms" in order to be valid? Just be myself, right? Can I be myself without society's consequence? Does the above question imply that "they" is society? Just be myself... But myself does not fit in here. Myself breaks their rules, and gets caught, gets arrested, thrown in jail, myself can't be me. Is there something wrong with this? Probably not. Just throw me on a deserted tropical island, with not another person in site, no rules, no society, no "them." Then i'll be myself. Lonely. Miserable. Eventually psychotic, I would imagine. Or maybe not, there's always the animals... ~~~ Last night's gig was our last of the year. Many said it was our best, and it's obvious the band is starting to get a bit of a reputation around town, good or bad, I don't know. On the bright side, the following email came in this morning, addressed to mailbag@groaningmona.com... I saw your gig at Scruffy's last night and I just wanted to say that it was fab. The songs were awesome, the performance was hilarious, and the rhythm section was rocking (ice dog seemed more like a hot dog to me). You should be a cult already (have you ever thought of opening for a rocky horror picture show to tap into that vibe? I bet you'd find some fans there.) Anyway, I would love to be inserted onto any e-mail list you have for future gigs so that I can come again and bring my friends! Wow, we're "fab," whatever that means. Kinda cool, I guess. So yeah, we'll throw her on the mailing list and whenever our next gig is, she'll know about it and bring her friends. Only problem is, I have no idea when our next gig is. For now, we're going into a two-month long writing and recording session to boost the music to the next level, increase our repertoire, and round out the cd. I've added a third keyboard to my on-stage gear (see above photo), but I'm still working about the logistics of where to put everything and play comfortably without looking like a contortionist. Rachel came to the gig with Matthew and his sister, and I got to chat all too briefly with them after the gig before checking in with some coworkers at the bar who were seeing us for the first time. They seemed to enjoy themselves. Then I saw the truck off, with all of our gear in the back, and went back to say goodbye and thanks to Rachel and Matthew and sister (why am I so bad with names?), but they were gone and there were some strange people at their table looking at me like I was in their way, until they recognized me and said that our show was awesome. I said thanks and left. Back at the studio the talk was of the future. We discussed the six songs we're going to record, which will double the length of our cd. And then there's the unfinished and unwritten songs. "Louisiana Swamp Monster" is a cajun funk groove that IceDog whipped up, that we almost played last night but decided to save for next year. Then there's my new tune, "Shake," which the band hasn't even heard yet (and incidentally I'm gonna test at our corporate xmas party (oops, i mean holiday party)). There's also one we're collaborating on, a dance backing to one of Casanova's lyrics. It's the first time we're writing for each other, and the new tunes are gonna show it. Rachel just called. I'm gonna meet her and Matthew for dinner. Kinda cool ... it'll be my first chance to actually talk to Matthew outside of brief "i'm-in-a-rush-hi-and-bye" moments after the two gigs he came to. As for now, I'm gonna relax for a while. Lazy sunday, indeed. ~~~ Matthew's sister's name is Kim. I shant forget it now. Twas a wonderful evening with Rachel and Matthew at The Hump, perhaps the Westside's premier sushi bar, surprisingly open for business on a sunday night. Matthew is as wonderful as I thought him to be -- smart, funny, and with a good heart to boot. We almost bonded over port towards the end of dinner, but, as he said, it's gonna take at least three more dinners before we really get to know one another. I tend to agree. We're off to a good start, tho... Back at Rachel's, I halfheartedly attempted to play "Shake" for the wondrous couple; unfortunately, I'm working on the lyrics at the moment and the whole thing's in turmoil. I did me best, as Ringo would say. More interesting was a stumble into some hidden directories on my old webserver, which contained, among other things, the complete contents and design of my first web journal: "geek tragedies." Of course, the text contents of that journal are included in the archives here, but the whole design and vibe were so different, it made me really nostalgic for a minute, enough to post the whole temporary URL to the notify list for a quick look-see. As for me, I'm heading to bed. "Lazy sunday, indeed" was supposed to end this entry, but nothing ever works out as planned, right? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Lazy sunday, indeed. (there, i did it) 19 november 1999: : on hiatus til december 17 november 1998: taking my time : Is there a pill out there that has the opposite effect of viagra? 19 november 1997: have cold, will travel : I have to go pack now, but it has been a pleasure serving you and I hope you will enjoy reading this again soon. Please remain at your computer with your hand off the mouse button until this paragraph comes to an end. Thank you for reading. [ swim back | email me | swim ahead ] |
