Finally Caught Back Up

      Back on track! It feels good. I feel like this whole month has been a whirlwind. And now, things are finally starting to get back to “normal.” I’m happy about that. A little whirlwind is nice every once in a while, but it’s always nice to have things level out again. I’m excited about Eruption practice tonight! There’s about seven weeks until our next gig, so that should give us plenty of time to get us to the point where it sounds like we’ve been playing for 20 years. It feels a little awkward because we’ve been around for 20 years, and almost no one knows who we are. I’m hoping that changes in the next couple of months. I think it’s a little odd because we don’t sound like anyone. We’re heavy, but not metal. Our songs have meaning, but we’re not emo. You can dance to us, but we’re not pop. Everyone wants to be in a band that is unique, but when you are unique, it’s hard to “fit in.” A lot of people don’t want mixed genre shows. I just saw a post that a promoter shared today, basically saying as much. He was referencing Punk and Rap, but it’s the same with stoner rock and whatever we are. We like it, that’s all that matters, I guess. The show we’re playing is definitely mixed genre, and I hope we get some new fans out of it. I was also stoked because we got offered a show on October 11^th, and everyone was willing to do it! I couldn’t believe they all said yes! But, unfortunately, the bill was full before I got back to the promoter. That’s one of the downsides of not using social media on my phone. I was asked on a Saturday, didn’t see it until Monday, and didn’t respond until Tuesday. Things move fast, and I could be a little more on top of it. But I got asked, that’s the main point. People are starting to think of me when putting a show together, that’s where I want to be!

     I also thought it was weird that when I had Calvins’ practice on Tuesday, the guitar player seemed shocked that the Eruption was still practicing. He knows we’re playing this show together in November, so I was shocked that he was shocked. I have no idea where he got the idea that we were on some kind of extended break. We’ve been on an extended break, but now it’s time to get after it. At least I hope so. The fact that they all said yes to a show is a major step in the right direction! We’ve had at least one show a year for 20 years! That’s something! Even if we’re not the most popular band in town, that is an achievement! I’m allowing myself to be happy about it. Even though the thoughts still swirl around about a band that’s been playing regularly for 20 years, and no one has heard of them. But I have to let it go. I’m proud, we’re proud, and we rock. And hopefully, November 15^th, people will notice. Knowing so many more people now, should help us get out more. At least that’s the plan. Well, I’m not sure if it’s so much of a “plan,” rather than a “hope.” And, I hope I’m not the only one hoping it. It’s a weird thing too, because if you play a lot, people hear about you, but don’t want to go to every show. If you don’t play that often, people haven’t heard about you, and won’t know to come see you. It’s a fine line. Venues, other bands, are always looking to see how much, or often, you post things, and use that to determine whether you’re good or not. I’m not sure posting a bunch of stuff makes you a good band. It makes you good at social media, but I’m not sure it makes you a good band. Anyway, I’m happy we’re sneaking in this show to keep the streak intact.

     Finally, last week’s adventure was pretty awesome. It was my mother-in-law’s 70^th birthday. We went to a local casino for a staycation. She loves the casino. This particular casino is called Sycuan. They have a lazy river you can just float around in. It was nice. We reserved a cabana. It was nice! We had been keeping this a secret for almost a year. She knew my wife and I, along with our daughter, would be there. She thought there would be 6 of us. Instead, all of her daughters came! They were all hiding in the cabana, along with some other lifelong friends, and my dad. She was shocked! I had a little apprehension about surprising someone so old, but she handled it great. There were so many times that people almost slipped, we were thinking she may have figured it out, with some comments she made. But I saw that ladies face up close, she had no clue. The daughters had done it! My part was easy, I’m good at not saying anything. We were a little concerned about her boyfriend, but apparently no one let the cat out of the bag. It was perfect. We stayed at the casino for a few days. It was nice! We won a little money, had some delicious food, and got to spend 2 days floating around the resort. We all had a great time. No drama, other than the one we created. Then they all got to spend the weekend together at their mom’s house. It was so nice to see a plan come into action. They are all so proud of themselves. As they should be. This was a bit of an undertaking, and they pulled it off. It couldn’t have gone better. They all left on Sunday, and then we went to go dog sitting. Dog sitting! I really like one of the dogs. A lot. So, it’s not that big of a deal. But, when we agreed to do this the first time, we had no idea how much they actually travel. Now, I guess we’re it.

Should've Happened On The 19th

      It’s getting harder and harder to keep it all straight. I don’t know what I’ve told you already. I barely know what day it is. But, if I remember correctly, this should have been done last Thursday. So, I’m going to do my best to keep it all cohesive. And to make it a little more interesting, I just woke up, therefore, I don’t quite have my wits about me yet. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I guess it was a post-burrito coma. I believe last week I would have written to you about camping, so that’s where I’ll start. Well, a prelude to the start first: I find it terribly interesting that the dates of camping week directly lined up with the dates of our wedding back in 2019. We got married on Tuesday September 10^th, and had our reception on Saturday September 14^th. This year, it just so happened that September 10^th fell on a Tuesday, and September 14^th fell on a Saturday. It’s only been 5 years, and it seems like that’s too soon for the days to line-up again, but they did. I find that interesting. I sent my wife flowers to the office. She was stunned! I had never done that for her before. No one had ever done that for her before. She lost it. I did good. When the receptionist brought them in to her, she thought she was joking. Apparently, the receptionist showed her the name on the package, and said “Isn’t that your name?” Trying to be funny. I got a call very soon after. Apparently, she had to wait until she finished crying to call me. Hearing the crying, some people at work asked if she was okay, assuming something bad, but she was just really happy. I thought it might have been a little weird getting her flowers on Tuesday, when we were going out of town on Thursday, but I figured it was worth it. And, worst case scenario, we could always take them with us, so she could enjoy them while they lasted.

     She was still beaming when she got home. I really pleased her. She decided not to take the flowers with us. And you know what? Two weeks later, and those things are still just as beautiful as the day she brought them home. They must have put some kind of super food in the water, because she is still enjoying them to this day! Which is good, since we haven’t really been home that much over the past couple of weeks. Woops, almost broke the 4^th wall. Keep it together! I think we did better at preparing for camping this year. Thank God! It’s only been 13 years, at least we’re getting a better grip on it. Wait, this is starting to feel familiar. I think I told you about the Pozole. I think I told you about the broken tent pole. I think I told you about the nervousness with getting my car there. I must have gotten off track last week. I knew it had the potential to get messy. Oh well, I’m getting these done. And I’m going to do my best not to re-tell you everything. I suppose I had to go there, being that there wasn’t much to say about the weekend when nothing happened. Now I’m stuck, trying to remember weeks ago, and what I may have already told you. And, sitting here trying to remember what I was going to write goes against the idea of what this is supposed to be, which is me just letting the words flow. Now I’m trying to remember what I may have left out, and I’m thinking about it way more than I would like to be, sitting here staring at the screen, hoping somehow, it’s going to help me remember. Although, I do realize that a lot of times, when I’m staring, it’s not the thing that I’m staring at that will help me remember, but the mindless gaze that allows me to access my mental image maker which helps my memory. You have to be careful of what you stare at!

     One more final, I hope, note about camping, that I don’t think I told you. There are only 4 children left. 3 of which are teenagers now, so don’t really seem like “children.” A couple of the family’s older children came, but the youngest of us is now 10. Camping used to be this constant commotion of children running rampant from the time the sun came up until the time the children passed out. I don’t miss it. I don’t miss being awoken by screaming children at 7am! It was a lot more calm this year. I suppose it was last year too, but it didn’t hit me the way it did this year. In a way I kind of felt bad for the 4 of them, but they seemed to do alright. They really took it in stride, entertaining themselves, and not fighting. I never heard a single complaint. They never seemed bored, even though there was much less going on than in the past. The older children who did come up, didn’t even really seem to want to be there. They all went into town to go “thrifting.” Which, if you don’t know, is shopping at thrift stores. I guess to them it’s like treasure hunting. They seemed bored by the whole idea of being camping, except the food. I think that may have been their only reason for showing up. Well, that, and apparently the awesome thrift stores of San Clemente. Go figure. I also noticed that without children, a lot of the adults stayed to themselves. There seems to be a divide between the glampers, and those of us who are there to be disconnected. I find it odd to want to camp and do what you normally would do. I thought the point was to be disconnected. I like being able to hear music, but I’ve noticed, now that everyone has a “Bluetooth speaker," we don’t even play music like we used to. It’s kind of a bummer.

Should Have Happened On The 12th

      Things are a little crazy this month! I meant to do this earlier last week, but I got a little busy. Well, maybe a lot busy. Last week was our annual camping trip. We left on Thursday, which, as you know, is the day I normally do this. I had every intention of getting this done beforehand, but there just seemed like so much to do. I want to make sure I get 52 of these done, so here we are again, trying to back track what should have already been done. So, as in usual back track fashion, I will do my best to remember what I was going to tell you last week. Last week, I would have told you that Eruption practice was awesome! Not only was everyone in a decent mood, but we rocked out fairly heavy. When we practice, I record everything. Nothing fancy, just a digital recorder, placed in the room. It works well. Some people refer to it as a “Field,” or “Reference,” microphone. But, it does what we want it to do. I try to place it so that it creates a sonic image, as if we were in a studio. It’s not perfect, but it is good. And, I’m always trying to get better with what we’re doing. It makes it a little tough, because we’re not always in the same spot, or at the same volume, but we’re trying to fix that. The problem being that when practice is so far and few between, it’s easy to forget what you did last week. And, I’m the only one nerdy enough to try to write it all down, which I don’t really want to do. It’s hard to get everyone on board. But, the point of all of this, is that, the recording came out pretty good! I was quite happy with it. The keys were a little quiet, but that’s better than them being too loud. I’m a little concerned when we play live that the sound person may not know to make sure he isn’t too loud.

     Having the keys too loud can quickly make your heavy band sound like a church band. Not exactly the image we’re going for. I also wanted to let you know that as far as my car is concerned, the incident seemed to be a fluke. I made it to practice without incident, and have been using it regularly with no problems, so I don’t know what happened that day a couple of weeks ago. That was a huge weight off my mind. Especially because, as I’ve gotten older, I realize that I don’t like driving around nervous. Both of our vehicles have their quirks. But I just got a transmission for one of them, they both had to pass smog, and they both just needed their oil changed. I had just taken care of all of that, and was finally starting to drive around with the confidence that suits me better. So, when the smoking tire thing happened, I felt awful. It took away the ease that I was feeling. Ever since I’ve gotten it back, I still have nervousness. It’s dissipating a little. It was pretty bad on the way to and from camping, but there were no problems, so I’m calming down a little, and am getting back to the state of being glad to have 2 well operating vehicles. It’s tough though because they both have little electrical problems that make us wonder if it’s true every time a warning light comes on. It’s not really safe to ignore the warnings, but by now we know that they aren’t always true. One of our cars regularly thinks one of its doors is open, which we can see is not. The other car regularly has the check engine light come on, stay on for a few days, and then goes off. That same car, by the way, the interior lights don’t come on unless you turn them on, it doesn't work with the door, the way that you’d expect them to.

     All of that makes it tough to know if there’s a “real” problem or not. So, we do what we can to stay on top of it, hoping that our attention will help us keep them longer, and get in the habit of taking care of things, for when it’s time to get one a little newer. Last week I would’ve wrote about a lazy weekend leading up to all the commotion we’re currently in, so, no point in hashing that out. Camping was fun. I think we did a lot better this time at balancing our sitting and standing. I was not nearly as sore by Sunday this time. Last year I could barely walk on Sunday. And Monday for that matter. The weather was probably the best it’s ever been. Pretty much perfect. We had a little bit of an ant issue, but other than that it was uneventful. Oh, except for our tent breaking! I almost forgot about that. Which is exactly about how much it bothered us. When we were setting it up, one of the joints snapped. I was able to jimmy rig it back together with some duct tape, and we didn’t really have a problem. Although, as I was kind of mentioning earlier, it made me nervous. The whole time, I just kept watching, waiting to see if it would hold. Every time we were sleeping, and the wind would blow, I was afraid it would come down. But it didn’t. Everything was fine. We had a good time. We had lots of interesting conversations. And everyone loved my Pozole! We did Souplantation theme again. Which some of us are against, but it worked out well, and just as last time, it was delicious! I make salad 2 or 3 times a week, so it’s nice to have so many toppings that it tastes nothing like what I usually make. So many options that you actually feel like you’re at Souplantation! It’s no barbeque, but I have no complaints.

Nothing Usual About This Month

      Let the games begin! That has multiple meanings. Today is the start of the football season. I’ll be watching a lot less football this year, having Hustler’s practice on Sundays. Also, it seems like a lot more games are being aired on streaming services, so I don’t get to see them. They’re playing a game in Brazil tomorrow, for the first time ever. Do Brazilians even like American Football? It can only be streamed of course, so I won’t be seeing that one. I’m not even going to get to see the game being aired tonight, because I have band practice. Eruption practice! Finally! I’m excited about that. As if you couldn’t tell, or didn’t already know. We had the draft for our fantasy league on Tuesday night. We did alright. I think. It’s kind of weird because every once in a while, you end up with a bunch of people you don’t know that well. I guess that’s part of the fun of it, it makes you look at people you may not normally look at. Plus, with all the new guys coming in, sometimes you just don’t know who people are. We’re at a stage right now where the “veterans” are guys I still consider “new to the league.” Mahomes is one of those guys. He still feels new to me. Obviously, we are not that studious about it. I say “we,” because my wife and I do this together. It’s fun for a couple of months. She had her work draft on Tuesday as well. Her work draft started at 5:30, and our draft started at 7:30. She barely had time to finish one before we ran out the door to the other. It’s all done by computer, like most things these days. So, her work draft was done from our home. Whereas with our other league, we like to go in-person and see everyone. It makes it more fun. Although, we look like a bunch of nerds, all huddling around our laptops. Out of 12 teams, our picks got ranked number 1! Not a bad way to start.

     Last week was kind of a trip. I was writing to you last Thursday, mentioning not being sure about the situation with my mom, then, as soon as I was done, and closing the laptop, my phone went off, and it was my mom! I was like: “WHOA!” I get such a thrill when things like that happen. Mentioning not knowing, then BOOM, knowing. We decided to have dinner together on Monday. It was nice. We went for sushi at a place we all like. It’s just a little weird because there’s often a lot of silence. I know it’s hard to socialize when you’re looking at a menu, trying to decide. Then it’s not much easier when the food is in front of your face. But I tried to ask open ended questions. I don’t want to feel like a reporter, but information should be shared. We don’t see each other all that often, so it should be a chance to “catch up.” However, we often sit there quietly unless someone pries. Plus, she just had a procedure done. She has to know we’re going to be curious about what happened. It felt like she was being vague about everything. So, I just kept asking questions. I know under usual circumstances, 2 retired people and a house husband might not have that much to talk about. But, this seemed different. I finally got some information out of her, with the help of my sister. In general though, it is getting tougher, and tougher, to communicate with them. They are both not hearing so well. It’s tough for them to keep their train of thought. And, they both kind of bicker a lot. It seems like being married for over 50 years, you’d get better at working with each other. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for them. Especially when the finish line is so close. I know I often bring it up, but there is some serious truth to the idea of what do you want to spend the last bit of your life doing? Bickering?

     I’m a little nervous/confused today. We took my wife’s car for an oil change yesterday. It should have been done a while ago, woops. It went fine. However, when I was driving my car home it started riding funny. I made it home, and when I got out, I smelled a weird smell, and saw some smoke, or steam, coming from my front driver side tire. I popped the hood, and saw nothing unusual. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I was bummed. I felt we finally had them both working well, then this. I knew I had practice today, and we’re going camping next week, so this was not the time for it to have a problem. The next two weeks are packed! We’re camping for a week, then boom, her sisters are in town for their mom’s 70^th for a week, we are busy! So, we decided to get the car to the shop early this morning, so they’d have time to troubleshoot. It felt weird being there, since I was just there yesterday, but, oh well. We dropped it off around 8:30. He called before 10 and said that he couldn’t find a problem. No leaks, nothing. He said everything looked good. He did notice some belt that was rotting, so I had him fix that, but he could find no trace of the problem I had experienced. I was relieved, but confused. I know what I experienced. I brought the car home this afternoon, and had no issues. What could have happened yesterday!? There still is a little bit of a smell. So, obviously, I’m nervous. I’m going to band practice in a little bit, and I just want everything to be okay. Camping is only an hour away next week, but still, yesterday I only drove it for 10 minutes! I don’t want to be overreacting, but at the same time, something could be wrong. I guess I’m just going to trust the mechanic, and believe that it was some kind of weird fluke, and go about my business, as usual.