Leap Day Festivities

      Leap day! I know I don’t work that much, but it seems like people should get the day off. It’s pretty amazing that we figured out a way to “correct” the calendar. It’s only every four years that we add this day, it should be a holiday! Tonight, we’re going to a friend’s birthday party. He’s 68, but this is only his 17th birthday. We’re going to get all dressed up, because it’s a Prom themed party. I don’t know who chose that theme, or why, but everyone seems pretty excited about it. Some people just love to get dressed up. I guess it’s cool. At a certain point you don’t have too many situations to get all dressed up for. It makes it nice when you invent one. My wife thinks we should Uber. I know that’s probably the best option, but it starts at 7, and we’re not going to be closing the bar down. She has to work tomorrow, so it’s not like we’re going to be getting “ripped.” I think we can control ourselves. Well, I think I can control myself. She’s probably going to want to dance. I hope we won’t be the only ones, although I don’t really care if we are. The guy is kind of known for his playlist, so the music should be decent. I hope they don’t let other people on the juke box. One of the things I’ve notice as I age, is that I don’t have as much fun when I dislike the music. I can tolerate almost anything for a bit, but sometimes I wish I could pay money to have a song stop. When I first started going to bars, the juke box was the main reason for hanging out there. Like-minded people, hanging out together. But now, with the internet juke boxes, people can play whatever they want, and hence, unlike-minded people are now hanging around. I am not a huge fan. I know it supposedly makes us more inclusive, but I don’t want to hang out at a country, or hip-hop, bar.

     I don’t mind when there’s a decent blend, but some people try to overtake the whole night. You can actually pay extra for your song to get played next. It’s like a game for some people. After about 4 mumble rap songs in a row, I’m ready to go, or play a 10-minute song first. Hopefully they’ll have someone in charge tonight. For some reason, they also decided to make it a 70’s themed Prom. Hopefully that’ll mean the music too. My wife and I met in our mid-20’s, so we didn’t go to Prom together. Although, this will be the second “Prom” we’ve attended. She is so excited. I would have rather had practice tonight, but she was so excited, there was no way I could do that to her. I even got us a corsage and boutonniere. She almost cried. Easy to please, I love it!  I really do feel so lucky that she is easily pleased. I hear some of my friends talk sometimes, and I cringe at what they claim to have to go through. I knew from the moment we met. It was as if no one had ever bought her a beer before. Oh well, that’s enough reminiscing. I’m hoping there’s a photo booth. Or maybe even a photographer! That would be awesome to get a good picture of us all dressed up. I may be looking more forward to that than anything. I keep looking at my profile picture on FB and thinking I should change it, and this feels like a good one to change it to. People often seem very surprised when I get dressed up. I guess I usually pretty much look the same, so I get it. But they often seem overly surprised. It’s not just: “You look nice.” It’s more like: “Wow! Looking good! You clean up nice!” Seemingly shocked that I don’t look like my normal, I guess boring, self. Oh well, I never claimed to be a fashionista.  And I usually don’t put that much thought into how people treat a sharp dressed man.

     In other news we had dinner with another couple last Friday. No occasion, just dinner. They’re people who we’ve been “friends” with for years, but this is the first time we went to have dinner. It was a little confusing to me, because I’m like: “Why now?” The wives had gotten together before, but not the four of us. I thought it was odd. I also thought it was odd that about half-way through dinner, the husband suggests where we should go next time. Next time!? Whatever this social need some people have, I don’t seem to have. I had fun. I like them. The food was awesome. But, every time some one wants to dine with us, I’m like: “Why?” I don’t get it. Afterwards my wife looks at me lovingly and says: “It’s not like it’s going to be every month.” As if that’s supposed to ease me in to “next time.” Sometimes as I’m writing these, I get the feeling like I’m griping. Boo-hoo, people want to spend time with me. And then I have to stop. I’ll still leave it in, because that’s what came out, but I can’t keep going. There are some lonely people in this world, who wish they could have an active social life. And sometimes I sound as if it’s some kind of burden. Well, it isn’t. I should be grateful. Some people don’t have anybody, and my calendar is full. Life is enriched by those you choose to spend your time with. And, people want to spend time with us. That’s actually amazing. Although I do have to say it’s probably mostly my wife’s fault. I don’t know that anyone actually wants to hang out with “Me.” I’m not trying to be Eeyore, it is a fact that her phone gets blown up, not mine. I don’t talk that much. I’m an observant person. That does not fit the criteria for a “fun to hang out with guy.” But alas, I am invited to a lot of events, personal events, and I am very glad to be included.

Amusing Myself

      There’s a lot of 2’s in the date today. 2 years ago, there were even more. In 198 years, there will be even more. Today Facebook reminded me of a post I made 2 years ago. It fell on a Tuesday, so 2/22/2022 really was a 2’s day. I got a kick out of that. Being easily amused is truly a blessing, and I am grateful for it. So many people seem to need to fill their lives with activity, never really seeming to enjoy it all that much. Trying to escape the novelty of boredom. Although, to me, they just don’t like themselves very much. Slowing down causes the voices in their head to be heard, which terrifies them. We need to spend time with our thoughts. We need to know what kinds of things we’re saying to ourselves. We need to know what it is that our minds want us to know. People who are easily amused don’t need full calendars. I’m a little distracted right now because there is a helicopter flying around making some kind of announcement. I really want to know what they’re saying. It probably doesn’t affect me, but still, I want to know. So, I don’t know if I should wander outside really quick, or if it’ll eventually be beamed directly towards me so I can hear it. I may have missed my window. I was just about to go get a listen, and it started flying away. I hope it’s not important. Well, I’m sure it’s important, they don’t just fly around announcing things for no reason. Thank God! Could you imagine if people were allowed to fly around in helicopters announcing a sale at Dairy Queen?! Obviously, you could insert any brand you want in place of Dairy Queen. I don’t even know why I picked that, I never even go there. Life would be unpleasant if they could just fly around yelling at us from the sky. Could you imagine if every billboard had a loudspeaker!? I’m starting to scare myself, I’ll move on.

     The chopper came back. I went outside to listen. They’re looking for a 35-year-old white man in a white T-shirt. If I see him, I should call 911. First of all, I looked around, I did not see him. Secondly, I locked my door, just in case. Thirdly, a white guy wearing a white T-shirt!? How inconspicuous. I live in the East County, that description pretty much fits a third of the people out here. I assume there will be a lot of unnecessary 911 calls today. I wonder if there will be a lot of white guys wearing white T-shirts unnecessarily stopped and questioned? I wonder if any of them will get busted for unrelated charges? There I go again, amusing myself. And hopefully you as well. I do feel it’s important to listen to those things. What if I was able to help? I know it’s usually a suspect they’re looking for, but a lot of times it’s someone who needs help that they’re looking for. I know if my daughter was missing, or one of my parents wandered off, I would hope people would keep an eye out. I would hope people would listen and try to help. So, that’s how I internalize it. If I needed help, I would want people to listen, so therefore, I will listen. And now, I probably won’t answer the door if I see a 30-something white guy in a white T-shirt on my porch. Wow, that was all so sudden, and now it’s over, and I’m like: “Where was I going to go?” The Calvins had a show last Saturday. It was pretty good. We played well, and there’s video to prove it. But for some reason they put us in red light. Just red light. It made it hard to see what I was doing on stage. I know I shouldn’t have to look, but I do, and it’s not easy in red light. The video looks like we’re performing under a heat lamp. I’m not sure if it was an error, or, um, “creativity.”

     The other bands had lights on, so I guess it was someone’s “creativity.” We’ll have to bring that up if it happens again. More light! There weren’t really that many people there. I thought there was going to be, but no. Especially because it was an early show. People are always complaining about how late we go on. This show, we went on at 5! On a Saturday! People could have made it. Some people did, and if you’re reading this, obviously I’m not talking about you. The people who were there seemed to enjoy it. I had like 3 friend requests the next day from people who had been at the show. That’s cool! The show even had a free nacho bar! Come on! Although, I do have to say, I did not see a lot of people eating the nachos. Maybe just the smokers were eating them. I say that because the nacho bar was in the parking lot. The venue is pretty small, and it would never have fit inside. Twice a year they do a Chili Dog Social, and that usually gets a lot of people. This was their first Nacho Social, and it didn’t seem to go as well. It’s kind of unusual anyway, because it really is a dive, punk rock bar. Not exactly the kind of place that you think about eating at. I wanted to get some, but I couldn’t eat before I played, and after I wanted to chill. And then I was about ready to go. I was glad we got invited, but it didn’t really live up to expectations. I know, I know, expectations are the seed for disappointment, but I don’t really feel disappointed. We rocked. We got noticed. And hopefully, the buzz continues. Speaking of the buzz continuing: My wife and I have not toned down our party schedule as of yet. Last week was supposed to be the “fresh start,” but I told you how that went. Then this week was supposedly it. But no. And, next week isn’t looking any better. Maybe in March!

Big Winners

      I am happy to report I survived the weekend! We both did. It was pretty fun. We had gone for it kind of hard on Friday night, so Saturday morning was not as fun as it could have been. Although, I will say, it kind of worked in our favor, because it made us pump the brakes a little Saturday night. Before the event, my wife wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible. There was all kinds of talk about where we would have dinner, where we would pre-party, and whether or not her co-worker would hang out with us. Luckily the remnants of Friday night surpassed all of that, and we went low-key. We got to the hotel when we were ready, just enough time to get some food and get dressed. We had decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. It was amazing! We couldn’t get a table because they were “short-staffed,” but we had decent seats at the bar, so it didn’t bother us. We ran into several of her co-workers, some of which decided to join us at the bar. We had a good time. The food was delicious, the drinks were delicious, and the time really seemed to set the pace for the evening. Our room was awesome! It was practically a suite. It had a patio! Apparently, they like to spoil their managers, no problem here. After dinner, I was relaxing in the room before I put on my costume, and I almost didn’t want to go to the party, it was so nice. But we did go. By then, the haze of Friday began to wane, and it was time to step out. Everyone else was dressed up a little more formal than we were, but we were the most colorful! It was a fun party. Some people did decide to hang out with us, so I felt my wife ease up a little. It was quite festive, they gave out awards, people seemed to be genuinely happy.

     The next morning, we gradually made our way back home to drop off our party gear and get ready for the Super Bowl. We decided not to drive to the Super Bowl party. I had considered it, we could always Uber home if we needed to. But we felt this was not the weekend to risk it. A couple months ago I drove home when I shouldn’t have, and I didn’t want the temptation. It’s better that way. I know better. I don’t want to risk that again. We got to the bar early enough to get a seat! That was one of our goals. Sitting in the back, away from the action, and our friends, isn’t as much fun. They had some pretty decent food. The owner is a bit of a cook, and I usually like what he puts out. This time didn’t disappoint. Except for the macaroni salad. I don’t know what was in it, but it was way too sweet for me, my wife, and the friend we were with. Although, I will say, the friend sitting to my right liked it a lot. She went for 2 bowls. I couldn’t believe it, but I was glad it was getting eaten. I hate wasting food! It wasn’t as crowded as it could have been, which was nice, I’m not a fan of being shoulder to shoulder with people. Especially since in reality it’s more like: people’s faces in my armpit. The game was alright. I thought it was a little slow. By the time half-time rolled around I was thinking it was a dud. People seemed to really like the half-time show. People were cheering! I thought it was okay. There was lots of stuff to look at. We usually bet on squares, and as the game was drawing to a close, we hadn’t hit any of our numbers. Then, as if by some miracle, the Chiefs came back, and through a series of unforeseeable events, ended up winning the game. And, winning us $1,500! Yay!

     It felt divinely inspired. It was so funny too because we had been routing for San Francisco, then when it looked like we could win, we switched ships. When the game was over, we were the only ones excited. We were over the moon, and people had no idea why. It felt great. We were excited. It was easier to get an Uber home than we expected, which was cool. We got home safely, and continued to revel in our winnings. A better-than-expected night. We got to sleep in the next day, and gradually make our way out to lunch, and some errands. I wasn’t really feeling the party vibe, but she was, so we went somewhere to celebrate. I had to put my foot down after a couple. She was ready to start all over again, but I wasn’t feeling it. We thought we’d go see our daughter, but she wasn’t feeling well, so we passed. I am happy to report that she did finally get her car out of the impound yard on Tuesday. Almost 4 weeks! That was a doozy. But, that’s what you get for letting things lapse. I am also happy to report that her follow-up with her doctor went well, and she went back to work yesterday. Hooray! She was a little nervous, but when she saw how happy everyone was to see her again, it helped calm her nerves. She was truly missed, and is absolutely appreciated, which was good for her to hear. I think she may have been nervous that other people were doing “her” job. But, jobs need done. It is her spirit that is irreplaceable, and now she seems to realize that. My wife and I did go out for Valentine’s Day last night. It was fun. We picked a local Mexican place. They had sent us a mailer advertising a special dinner for two. I made reservations, although when we got there, I wasn’t sure I needed to. It was good. Now tonight I have practice, without a drummer, again.

We Are Partiers

      Hooray, it looks like the rain will stop just in time to go to practice! It’s been raining all week, but the few times I had something to do, I found the window of dryness, I consider myself lucky. I’m also lucky to have 2 practices this week. I’m also lucky that last night was the last of the Calvin’s Wednesday practices. I wasn’t really a fan of back-to-back practices. Plus, it kind of messed with my lunch and dinner schedules. I had to kind of reorganize my life to accommodate Wednesday practice. I know it might not be that big of a deal to everyone else, but in my life, I’m the meal planner. And the cook, or preparer. I know the rest of them don’t have a schedule like mine. I was glad we could accommodate, I want my friends to be good, involved, parents. I’m not sure if I told you, but the reason we switched to Wednesdays for a couple of weeks was so the drummer could see his son play soccer. Awwwe. His son is in high school now, so it’s actually getting competitive. But I’m glad next week will be back to “normal.” Well, with the exception of Valentine’s Day. I’m still not sure if we’re going to try to do anything. It’s on a Wednesday, so it might be easier to get a table. I don’t know, sometimes we do something, sometimes we don’t. We might. I love that word “might.” But we’ll have to get to that at a later date. You never notice how much you appreciate your routine until it gets unraveled. Plus, as I mentioned before, back-to-back practice can hurt my fingers. Last night I had a callous come off, so I kind of have a hole in my right middle fingertip. It’s unpleasant. But at least it’s not raw skin. That is a blessing! And since it’s just JoZ tonight, I don’t have to play that hard. So don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.

     I do have a gig next week, so I hope it’ll be healed up by then. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Getting back to my schedule: it made me realize that my life is regulated a little more than theirs. I know it’s my own doing, but I like some rigidity. Everyday I make myself lunch, and at the same time, I make my wife a lunch for her tomorrow. I like to vary it, so we’re not eating the same thing all the time. Although we kind of are, I try to make it seem different. I also try to vary it so I’m not eating the same thing for lunch and dinner. Usually, I try to keep it light before practice, so I just have a small sandwich. That means no sandwich for lunch. Needless to say, and I don’t know why I felt it was important to tell you this, the past couple of weeks, my life has been in a bit of an upheaval. And I am glad that Super Bowl Weekend is bringing that to a close. I can’t believe I just wrote that. Earlier in this post I put: “Next week will get back to ‘normal.’” I was talking about practice at the time, but I just realized that nothing’s “normal” about next week. We’ve got the Super Bowl on Sunday. That’s kind of a big deal for us. I know it is for a lot of people, and just wanted to let you know we’re in that group. My wife took Monday off. We almost never work on Super Bowl Monday. Then Valentine’s Day on Wednesday. Next Thursday the drummer for the Eruption is supposedly going to be ready to practice! That’s awesome. And then the Calvins have a show on Saturday! Nothing normal. It’s also a little peculiar because allegedly my wife and I are going to start being “healthier” after the Super Bowl. This weekend is capping off the past 3 months.

     And just like that, it’s March already! Just kidding. Kind of. This Saturday, we also have my wife’s work party. I feel like I just told you about this last year, and here we are again! It’s nuts how sometimes life feels like it’s dragging, and other times it’s flying. A couple of days ago was the anniversary of my father-in-law’s passing. It feels like that was a long time ago, but last year’s party seems like it just happened. Weird. Anyway, the theme for this year’s party is “Masquerade.” My wife is pretty excited. Although it seems like she’s a little nervous, because this year she’s a manager. I don’t know what difference it makes, but she seems to think it “might.” I know one difference: The company is paying for our room! That’s nice. Very nice. I think she’s worried because no one from her team is going. She’s not sure who we’re going to “hang out” with. Usually someone always finds a reason to hang with us. I’m not really concerned. My wife is really into the costume idea. Yay. I guess it’s fun to get dressed up and do something unusual. It may make Sunday a little less festive, but I doubt it. Sometimes, when you start the partying hungover, it gets messy. Hair of the dog some call it. I’ve also heard it referred to as the “rinse cycle.” I secretly hope we take it easy on Sunday. I want to have fun, but I also want to remember the fun. Our first hotel room together was on a Super Bowl Sunday. Way back in ’02! I don’t remember who played, or who won, but I know we had fun. Again, this is more than just a game to us, it’s kind of part of our lifestyle. From the jump! We don’t get angry, or yell at the screen, or anything like that, we just like the atmosphere, the party, and the people we talk football with. We are not fanatics. We are partiers.

Expensive Lessons

      Happy February! Although it is a rather dreary day, I can still be optimistic about the month. We’ve been getting a lot of rain recently. Last Monday was a deluge of near biblical proportions. This one is not that bad, but it is a doozy. Nothing like last week. Last Monday we got more rain on one day than we had gotten on any single day for over 100 years. The news said we got a third of our annual rainfall in 6 hours! It is not likely that we’ll ever see anything like that again. But who knows?! Things are changing. The climate is changing. It still kind of irks me that people are being so resistant to the idea. Here in Southern California, we have train tracks that run right along the coast. I’m sure it’s a beautiful ride. But, the tracks run right along a bluff that continues to deteriorate. They have to suspend train service between LA and SD every couple of months because a bluff collapses, and makes the tracks impassable. I don’t know how many people ride the train regularly, but there are people who just want to reinforce the bluffs, so they can continue to have the tracks “the way they’ve always been.” Other people want to move the tracks inland, and avoid the bluffs altogether. I’m with them, the bluffs are going to keep deteriorating, we can’t fight nature. Another town, just to our north, called Oceanside, is “suffering” from beach erosion. A good stretch of what used to be beach is now covered with ocean. Instead of realizing this is where we’re at right now, they are trying to devise a plan to create a fake reef off the coast to keep the water from coming so far up. First world problem. My cynical side says: “Hey, it’s called Oceanside, not Beachside.” That certainly won’t get me any fans, but seriously, things are changing, and I for one, don’t know that fighting nature is going to do us any good. The climate is changing, and we need to roll along with it.

     On the personal front, last week, I feel like I kind of glossed over the situation that my daughter is in right now. It is troubling, and I’m not really sure how to deal with it. It’s not really on us, she’s almost 25, but still, you can’t help but wish for better circumstances. I believe I told you how we got the news, so I won’t go over that. But there’s so much involved, it just seems like I need to take a minute to let you in on the whole thing. I’m not sure where to begin, so I’m just starting: This is not the first car she’s destroyed. She wrecked her boyfriend’s parent’s car about 2 years ago. That caused them to break up, and her to have to find a new place to live. We were the most convenient option. You can go back to May of ’22 if you need a refresher. It seemed like her habits didn’t really change, so we stopped letting her use our car. So, close to a year ago, she bought herself a car. Well, she financed it. And we thought everything was going great, until we got the phone call 2 Saturdays ago. Apparently, she had been out with some “friends” from work, so there was drinking involved. Not too much I guess, since she did not get arrested. The officer who responded to the scene of the accident did not think she was “under the influence,” and so he just made a report while the paramedics tended to her. At the hospital, they did find alcohol in her system, but she was never told the level, and no one really said anything else to her about it, so we’re still keeping our fingers crossed that nothing comes of it. She didn’t have the time, or presence of mind at the time, to grab her stuff from the wrecked car. I guess I can’t really blame her, that must have been so scary. Crawling out of an overturned vehicle with glass through her hand!?

     After she got home from the hospital, her grandmother took her to the tow yard to get her stuff. She got her purse, but couldn’t find her phone. We were bummed, because we thought that would need replaced. Just one more thing to deal with. Then she was having trouble getting ahold of her insurance company. I know they can be hard to get on the phone, but it was seeming suspicious. I’m running out of space, so I’m going to have to get right to it: Come to find out 1) She had been living with her grandmother for the past week because her roommates confronted her about her hygiene. That’s why she was going to her grandmother’s house. They hadn’t seen her in several days, couldn’t get her on the phone, and were getting nervous. They finally contacted her via social media. 2) One of her “friends,” that she was out with the night before, thought it was funny to steal her phone. She never had her phone with her in the accident. Good thing she crashed in a neighborhood! What if she had been somewhere else?! I should not be near the person who took it. She has it back now. 3) She only initially paid for her insurance, and it lapsed, so she was not insured at the time of the accident. Her car is financed, and should have had full coverage. So now she can’t get the car out of the tow yard, because it’s not even technically her car. The finance company is dragging their feet, and the car is still there, racking up hundreds of dollars a day. The good news is she is alive. She got her stitches out on Tuesday, the doctor said she’s healing fine. She still can’t work yet, but her job is being cool about it, now. She has a lot to deal with right now, paying for an apartment she doesn’t want to go to, and a car that can’t be driven. And all I can think about is: “I hope she’s learned her lesson.”