What a Week!

 

     It's funny how things change. At this time, one week ago, I was about to sit here and type about how I was going to get away from going over the mundane details of my life, and getting back to what I originally was going to do, which is talk about life. However, since it's about life, my life, I think it qualifies. Plus, this week was a real doozy. It may take all of my effort to narrow it down to a humble 1,000 words. To start off with, the show last week went great! It was a little weird though. In order to do this right, I have to start with last Thursday. It was about 8:30, I was driving home from band practice, which went great by the way. Although we did get complaints from a neighbor. Apparently he's an unpleasant person, who really dislikes the guy who runs the studio, and may want to actually beat him up. Tension was definitely tangible! But sometimes that can help the creative process. We may have to find a new place to practice, so that was on everyone's mind, but in general practice was good. Anyway, while I was driving home, all of my dashboard lights went off. I didn't know what was happening. My car kept driving fine, the headlights stayed on, but the radio and all other interior illumination turned off. I couldn't see how fast I was going! Scary stuff. I was afraid my car was going to die, so I pulled over. I was taking back roads, so I was safe. When I slowed down all of the lights, including the radio, came back on. When I started to drive, they all went off again. When I slowed down, they came back on! I was confused. I was close to home, maybe 4 miles, so I just wished and prayed my way home.

     I made it home safely. The next day I went and got a new battery. When I installed it, everything looked like it was working fine. I assumed I had fixed the problem. (grunt, grunt) So then I got my car all loaded up for the show. As soon as we were on the main road, getting up to speed, the lights went out again! Apparently the problem is deeper than the battery. I went home and switched cars. I can't drive at night with no dash lights, hoping I don't get stranded! Luckily we left with plenty of time, so it was just a minor inconvenience. When we got to the show, there was no parking, and no place to stage our gear, so we had to do the quick load between sets. Not fun! The venue was hot, very hot, and they kept running out of beer. Everything we asked for eventually ran out. Not fun! The show didn't start on time, so we ended up playing way later than expected, and it was generally not a whole lot of fun. The other bands were no good. I swore that I wouldn't be playing there anymore. Then we played. The sound guy was some new volunteer, and didn't seem to know what was going on, but we made it work. We actually kicked much *ss, probably one of the better shows we've ever done. As soon as we were done, dripping in sweat, I remember thinking “Okay, I'll play here again.” Wow, that didn't take long! The show was a success, we had fun, and hopefully got a few new fans. Yay! It's just weird sometimes because we are getting older. All of our friends are getting older. Waiting around to play at midnight sucks! I generally wouldn't want to go see a band starting that late. It's hard to ask people to do something I wouldn't even generally want to do. I like playing to a crowd, but some of the rest of it is not as fun as it was.

     The next morning I was signing my wife up for Venmo when we noticed an odd charge on our account. Right away we called, alerted them to the fraud and cancelled my card, since that was the one with the fraud on it. Monday, I took my car to our mechanic. He had no idea what was going on with my car and suggested I take it to the dealership. So I did, and there it still sits. I didn't here anything for 2 days! Who does that!? I eventually got to talk to some one, and it'll hopefully be ready tomorrow. Tomorrow! A week without a car. But, both band practices got cancelled also, so I didn't really need it. Good timing I guess. Tuesday night as my wife and I were watching TV we started talking about our anniversary coming up. We're staying at a hotel downtown, and acting like tourists! That's when my wife said “Maybe the charge was the hotel.” Oh sh*t! I hadn't thought of that. I thought I was just reserving the room, but what if they already charged my card? I looked it up. And sure enough, there was no fraud on my card, it was the booking site! I had to call on Wednesday and tell the bank about our mistake. Luckily they hadn't started the investigation yet, and everything worked out well. Well, except that now I have no card! No card, no car! Some week. Then last night, as I go to charge my phone before bed, it doesn't work. The phone doesn't even seem to recognize that I plugged it in. I'm down to 40%, and I've got some things going on, I have to have a phone! I tried every plug in the house. Nothing. I wished and prayed I made it to today, so I could go get a new phone. I made it! However, when I got to the phone store, they couldn't help me because I'm not listed on the account! Bummer! While I was there, I asked if I could try one of their chargers, to see if that solved the problem. It did! I am happy to report that my phone is charging as I type. Yay!