Thursday, June 27, 2024

Let The Cluster Begin

      Today is my sister’s birthday. She’s 50. It’s weird how having your little sister turn 50 makes you feel old. However, my daughter is turning 25 on Monday, and that doesn’t make me feel that old. I have no idea what that’s about. We’re in a birthday cluster right now. My sister and my nephew today. My aunt tomorrow. My daughter on Monday. The country on Thursday. And my father on the 8th. My aunt and my nephew are on the east coast, so it’s not really that big of a deal. I haven’t been in contact with my aunt in a long time. I don’t know that it’s worth getting into. We’ve never really sent anything to my nephew either, so I’m sure he won’t miss it. My wife and I took my sister out last night. My wife was supposed to have plans tonight, but she’s here, with me, sick. She was fine last night, but apparently started getting violently ill early this morning. My sister and I are fine, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Although, I did eat my wife’s leftovers for lunch, and now I just scared myself a little. I’m sure I’ll be fine. My wife was supposed to have a team bonding dinner tonight with her work team. She manages 4 or 5 people, and her boss recommended taking them out for a bonding dinner. However, that needed to be cancelled because she isn’t well. I don’t think the team will care that much. Apparently one of them had to practically be threatened to attend. This woman is not a team player. She’s been with the company 17 years and has never advanced! She should have her own team by now, but she is just not motivated. Come to find out her and the big boss went to high school together, and were in each other’s weddings. I guess some people think there’s some favoritism involved, but she was going to show up to this event. Allegedly. She may have dodged a bullet.

     Last week, the drummer did not show up to practice. I thought it was weird that on Monday he said he was a “Maybe” because his grandmother went into hospice. His mother died when he was young, so his grandmother basically raised him. So, I know it’s not a typical grandmother dying story. However, I do think it’s weird to say “Maybe” on Monday, and then never let anyone know if you’re going to make it. I also wonder if she’s passed yet. I think it would be weird to tell people that someone is going into hospice, but then not tell you when they pass. But you never can tell with someone who’ll leave you with a “Maybe.” We’ve all met her. She was/is a nice lady. I feel bad for him, because he’s running out of old family. Soon he’ll be the oldest of his whole clan. Spooky. The rest of us had a good practice. I thought it was interesting that the guitar player and I, without discussing it, both brought our setup as if he wasn’t going to make it. I guess we both knew what “Maybe” meant. Now, we go about a month before we see each other again. Wagz is camping this week. The 4th is next week, no one wants to play on the 4th. The 11th 2 people are out. Then on the 18th I come home from vacation with my daughter. I’m assuming we’ll be home in time to practice. I don’t want to cancel if everyone else can make it. It’s practically July and we’ve only practiced 5 times! I’m still getting a lot of playing done, but it’s not the same. Plus, I’m trying to put a show together for this Autumn because as a band we’re turning 20! We started jamming in 2004! I can’t believe it. I would like to put on a really big show, but we’d have to practice first! I’m sure we’ll be fine.

     This past weekend Susan had some family in town. Our niece was in town the whole week. She just turned 18, and graduated high school. She decided it would be fun to visit her grandmother for the week. Her mother came for the weekend to pick her up. On Saturday, I had some friends playing an all ages, daytime show, and Nora, the niece, expressed some interest in going, so my wife brought her, along with our daughter. It was hot! Not Africa hot, but still, hotter than you want when you’re just standing around on asphalt. Luckily, they had pop-ups, or we wouldn’t have made it. I’ve never really spent that much time with Nora. She’s kind of boring. She just sat there. Most people were bobbing and swaying to the music. Not her. She just sat there. I’d like to say, “typical 18-year-old,” but when ours was 18, she wasn’t like that. We had our own issues, but not like that. Anyway, it reminded me of a line in a song I wrote one time: “It seems like people have come a long way to just frown.” I feel bad for her. I think her dad is trying to convince her to join the Army, and trust me when I say: This individual is not Army material. I hope she’ll figure it out for herself. She’s just confused. In more ways than one. But I’ll leave that for a different day. Also this weekend, the country band started recording! I can’t believe how motivated these people are. It feels good. Plus, I’ve been getting lots of accolades for my performances, and that always feels nice. I keep forgetting that even though I’ve been doing this for a long time, a lot of people still have no idea what I do, or what I’m capable of. It feels good to be appreciated. Unfortunately, I do realize that I enjoy when people think I’m good. I’ve put a lot of effort in. I also realize that I like being around motivated, creative, determined people.

No comments:

Post a Comment