Giant zucchini season has arrived!

I'm usually not one to brag, but I grew this. Yay, me!

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7/9 '17 5 Comments
Wow. Nice work! How did it taste?
Well, it's half the zucchini it used to be. It is living up to expectations. Meaning, tasty in a garden omelette and with pasta, and untouched by the 6yr old.
Holy crap. At a glance, I thought that was a dime.
Shit, you're right, it's a quarter. Thanks for pointing that out.

I was going to say "EVERYTHING looks big next to a dime... uh... people tell me."
MOST IMPRESSIVE.
 

Hi, all!

July 4th, seeing the folks; parental update

Spent July 4th up at my folks' place. I sometimes feel guilty that they don't have any friends who invite them to hang out on holidays, so late on the 3rd Matt and I decided to head up to their place. Was happy to see them.

My dad has been battling this mystery ailment where food tastes BAD (like decidedly awful), and it's been like this for about 6-8 weeks. Because of this, he doesn't really like to eat anymore, so his energy is crap now. I'm worried about him. Not sure what the fix is, but his doctors ordered him labwork and everything came back OK, except for low sodium. (Which is funny, considering he always would eat salty snacks and put a crap-ton of salt on his food. But he doesn't eat the salty snacks anymore because of how awful everything tastes... hence his now-too-low sodium. I find it so fascinating that the body craves what it knows it needs.)

Work/money/gigs

In other news, I have no work lined up and it is scary. We also have no Hot Breakfast gigs scheduled.  We must remedy these things.

My book royalty checks have been keeping me afloat in these non-workin' times... but last month's book royalty check was $105. For the record, $105 does not pay the mortgage.  (The reason the book royalty check was so small was because my book is sold by two different companies: Pearson (my publisher) and SafariBooksOnline.com (a reseller). 99% of my book sales come from Safari, and Safari didn't get their monthly sales numbers to Pearson in time for the May royalty check (which I receive in June) because of Memorial Day.  No biggie... my July royalty check will have both May and June's royalties in there. But I can't tell my mortgage company to just wait a month.

What else can I update you on...

Lizzie

I dunno if y'all remember, but I was asked to audition for and got cast in Lizzie, which is a four-woman hard-rock musical based on Lizzie Borden. I play Emma, Lizzie's very pissed off and much-older sister.  The show was supposed to go up in April, but the theater was having trouble securing the space (they lease space from Opera Delaware) for rehearsals and the show dates. So the show got pushed back and pushed back, and got pushed back so far that we lost our Lizzie because she had plans to move to California in July, which she just did.  So anyhoo, things have solidified, and rehearsals officially start next week for a September run.  The girl we got to replace our original Lizzie is wonderful, so I'm excited about that. I am 20-ish years older than the other cast members... curious how we'll interact. Also curious what the costumers are thinking about dressing us in. I've seen some photos from some productions where the cast is in lingerie and/or BSDM gear. I've seen others where they are dressed all emo/goth. And then there are others where the girls are wearing period-appropriate clothes. So I dunno.  All I know is I desperately need a haircut and dye job, but I don't know if they'll want my nutty Jill Hair, or if they're gonna stick a wig on me.  I'll know more in 2 weeks, I guess!

Golden Anniversary 

This weekend is Matt's parents' 50th Anniversary party (their actual anniversary is tomorrow). Tonight (Friday) we're having a small family get-together, and then tomorrow (Saturday) is the big soirée at a restaurant. They planned it themselves and also said "No gifts, we mean it!" which essentially makes us look like jerks. My mom used to do that all the time... she'd book her own party and then would make everyone feel like a shitbird* for not throwing a party for her.

Allrighty-- gonna try to catch a 40-minute nap before we head to Matt's folks' for Anniversary Dinner Round 1.

Hope all is well.

------

* "Shitbird." Thanks, Gas-Man!

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That "everything tastes bad" thing sure sounds like pregnancy. Maybe you should give your dad The Talk.

I've got a birthday present squirreled away for someone. I'm crossing my fingers they don't freekin buy themselves one before their birthday.

Thou shalt not drop hints and then self-gratify before your birthday! It's, like, a rule. I just made it.
I agree with this rule!

My mom would also just buy what she wanted for herself, so when we'd say "what do you want for x holiday?" She'd say "Give me $28 to cover the cost of the thing I bought myself." Grrr.

I mean, on one hand, I get that sometimes you don't wanna wait until your birthday or Christmas to get what you need. But come ON.
Please let me know when Lizzie tickets are on sale. I wanted to see that show when I first heard about it, and now that you are in it, I REALLY want to see it.

Also, I know that when you complain about money, you are not asking for help, but if you need help with anything, please reach out. Or get Matt to do it, because you suck at asking for help, even when you need it. xoxoxoxo
Awww, thanks babycakes. We're actually in (blessedly) good shape financially, as a couple. I just hate asking Matt for money, and he really hates that I hate asking. He's very much "what's mine is ours" and I'm very much "I MUST HANDLE ALL THE THINGS ALONE! The house is in MY name, and is therefore MY problem!" So it's a thing. But also totally not. I just need a foot up my ass. (What else is new?)

I'll keep you posted re: Lizzie! I'm really itchy to get rehearsing.
Damn, Lizzie sounds awesome! I bet you're gonna have a blast and I know it will be fantastic.

Sorry to hear about your dad... that's scary, especially because they don't know why. I hope you guys get some answers about that soon.

I hope your work/gig life fleshes out again soon too. As a fellow freelance worker, I know how crappy those slow times are (like right now, so you're in good company).

Enjoy your nap!
The nap was most excellent. :-)

Thanks for the kind words, too... I'm sure things will straighten out soon. :)
First up, I read "parental update" as "prenatal update" and was seriously surprised for a second.

That taste thing with your dad, sounds rough! My first thought is maybe a low grade sinus infection, which can affect taste. My hypochondriac panic response is brain tumor, which would also explain the low sodium levels and his energy levels. (Well, lots of tumors can cause that actually.) Sorry, I shouldn't share my medical anxieties so freely! I'll stop now. I hope it gets figured out and your dad feels better soon. Not wanting to eat sucks.

Can you talk with your mortgage lender? Is it a local lender or just Big Bank?

When will Lizzie happen? Where? Can I come see it somehow? I'm good with sleeping on couches...

For the record, I've been taking a LOT of 20-minute naps lately. I'm surprised to find that they actually help.
Nonono, please don't ever hold back with the medical expertise, even if your thoughts are considered kinda ooky. I wanna know. Because my first thought was "mini stroke." So hearing you say "brain tumor" certainly isn't comforting, but it makes me think if they don't find anything with this next round of bloodwork it might be time for a CT.

Lizzie is happening in September! We have a comfy guest room with a nice, new bed and its own bathroom, and we love guests. I also have a zillion hotel points if you'd rather stay in the Doubletree. I'm not the best hostess when in "gotta get ready for a show"-mode, but I also know you get that. :-) So come on down! But lemme get some rehearsals in first just to make sure it doesn't suck first. (This theater does excellent, excellent work. It's considered our city's "edgy theater." So the only way the show will suck is if I suck, which is possible, because an actor I ain't.

As for the mortgage stuff, we're actually OK... Matt (godblesshim) has things comfortably under control. I just hate asking, and he hates that I hate asking. :-)
Do please keep me updated! I will be in NYC the weekend of Sept 16 for my BURFday. I decided my present this year should be a visit to the botanical gardens at night, to see Chihully glassworks lit up and glowing. So we're all going down and staying with James (eldest daughter's dad; former husband) at his newish house in New Jersey, so we call all six of us visit the gardens together.
That's closing weekend. Yay!

We have shows that week(end) on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and we close on that Saturday the 16th. The theater is a few steps from the Wilmington Amtrak station.

They are renovating the NYPenn train station which impacts service between Wilmington and NYP now through September 1st. Assuming they finish on time, then all should be happy. But if the repairs run late, then Acela service will be your only bet, and that's spendy (assuming you wanna take a train).

Where in Jersey will you be? (I'm originally from Jersey, but I don't know the gardens.)

But let's make sure the show is good first. :-) The music director in me wishes they tested everyone's harmony-singing abilities at auditions, but they didn't. I don't know any of the actors, but tomorrow is our first rehearsal/sing-thru, so I'll know more soon.

If you wanna spend a day in my neck of the woods, a day-trip to Longwood Gardens is pretty amazing, and is about 20 minutes away.

Yaaaay!
 

15+ years ago while in Toledo Spain, I bought a sword from a tourist shop. It's supposedly a replica of El Cid's sword. Of course, the nice Spaniard running the shop wouldn't lie to an American tourist just to make a sale, would he?

It wasn’t sharpened when I got it – they let me carry it on the plane home for goodness sakes – after they wrapped it for me. It was pre 9/11, but still. And I never had a reason to sharpen it.

It hung in the foyer of my New Orleans house for some years, and when I moved to San Francisco, it lived on the mantel of my bedroom. "To better prevent misunderstandings", I’d quip, when anyone commented on it.

For some reason, last night I decided I needed to find the sword. I went searching this house for it. And after 20 minutes poking through dusty corners of my basement, I found it. Only the slightest bit of rust has settled on the blade.

My 6-year-old was immediately smitten. A sword! How cool. Since it has no edge, I told her she could play with it, but only outside. Last thing I needed is her swinging it around and breaking the TV or a window. As we’re making our way to the front yard, she somehow managed to cut the back of her foot with it.

Yeah, with a dull tourist sword my kid nicks her heel. Freak-out commences. 

It’s going to be fun telling the Ex. “umm, so, that cut on her heel? The kid was playing with my sword, and cut herself ...”

Sigh.

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7/7 '17 8 Comments
I don't see any element of 'fail' in this post. At all.
Love all your "that's not a fail" comments. :-) Still haven't told her father yet.
O lawd.

Three houses ago, I lived on a block that was paradise for kids, dogs and borderline alcoholics. It was pretty great, mostly.

One day we, the neighborhood adults, were sitting around having a few beers and my neighbor Steve was teasing my neighbor Michelle: "oh, your kids are welcome to run around in my house. I'll give them knives of course."

She just smiled and said, "my kids are montessori kindergarten graduates. They know how to use them."
I don't think that's a mama fail ... though if you want to be thorough, get the kid a tetanus shot.
My dad had sharpened swords on the wall in our house when I was a tiny thing and I still have the scar from when I cut my right ring finger on one while horsing around, and of course he yelled at me for being careless. He was kind of an idiot about some things.
Oh, and I remembered the reason I needed the sword. We wanted to be ready in case we had to chop up a watermelon.
Seems perfectly valid to me. That might even call for a matching set.
We did that at a party with a katana (I think it was a museum replica). It was lots of fun!
 

Attractive woman about my age and covered in tattoos smacks on my window a couple of times and is shouting something. (I'm parked at a gas station after a bathroom break.)

The following probably all happened in less than 10 seconds time:
1. Woman tells me - "Help! My Mother is choking"
2. I note the very large woman choking and leaning into her open shotgun door to the SUV next to me. I know I already mentioned it, but I'm going to again - she is VERY large.
3. I note the motley assortment of folks in the group - a wide range of folks (3 or more) with different styles and appearances. And none of them are doing anything to help.
4. I immediately suspect I'm about to be mugged.
5. I back myself into the jam of my car door to provide myself some cover and scan the area.
6. When none of their body languages change (and I've scanned behind and around me and there is no one else in immediate activity distance) I check back on the large woman.
7. I'm immediately relieved on almost all levels when she chokes out something to the effect of "I got it... all out..."
8. I wait and watch.

Once the woman recovers a bit, and we are all breathing a sigh of relief, we all start doing that nervous chatter thing people do when something like this winds up a bunch of strangers.

The daughter explains that she doesn't know the Heimlich.

The poor choking woman is embarrassed as hell.

Everyone piles back into the SUV and they leave.

My take away? Jesus, I'm fucking paranoid.

(X-posted to Facebook, but wanted this here for my own record.)

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7/7 '17 4 Comments
You did the right thing. I'd be shocked if someone is gonna choose a 6'3" guy to jump, but you do have a fancy vehicle.

Very happy it worked out and everyone's OK!
And I was seated inside the vehicle, so my size wouldn't have played a part.

But yeah. In the end, I guess it's not a bad thing that I was cautious. Just feels a little goofy looking back on it. Like overkill.
Sometimes you have a chance to trust the moment and save the day. Sometimes not so much. The former totally makes up for the latter.
You speak the Truth sir. Well said.
 

*The Fourth

Had a great Fourth of July. I'm staying with some life long friends in Olympia, WA. Helped Margaret build a trellace structure out in front of the house. We got the hard part done, and I'll come back for another visit to finish the cross pieces. Felt like a solid victory, and they're delighted. Check that box for "I kicked ass today."

Their kid continues to be about as adorable as they come, and she loves her Uncle Matt. It's pretty fantastic. We've reached that state where her parents can ask her to do something, she'll say no (she's 3) and I'll say "Well, _I'm_ going to do [the thing the parents are asking her to do]..." and she will suddenly change her mind and proclaim that SHE is going to do [the thing that the parents want her to do]. Hey - I'm using my powers for Good. So far.

We grilled out - corn on the cob and veggie burger patties. Maybe my first time doing something like that for the 4th, and it was just fine by me.

Now I'm sitting and writing this while sipping some Jack Daniel's. There's a beautiful pup next to me. She's wearing her thunder shirt, and her doggy Xanax has worn off (she's a bit of an extreme case of high anxiety). She pressed herself up against me once the fireworks started, and any time I get up to drink, pee, or whatever, she's right at my side. Poor thing. She seems to be a micro dot more relaxed beside me, but I wish I could do something more for her.

* Work

I'm supposed to be finding a place to live. For $1500. For 3-6 months. In Seattle. With 30mb UPstream internet access.

I feel like this isn't very realistic. I'm looking into AirBnBs. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll find someone I can convince to work with me since I will be there for a _long_ stay by hotel standards. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. This won't be easy.

* Break

So I'm going on break next week (starting July 11th). I'm not sure yet if I'm headed to Maine (to visit my Grandfather) or 'home'. I'll keep you guys posted. I'm actually looking forward to the break. I _love_ it out here, but I miss my people too.

If you're reading this, and you have some event planned that you think I might be into that week, please let me know!

* Relics

Remember Relics? Well, my partner and I reinvested ourselves on Monday. I'm _really_ excited about it. We're having bi weekly meetings to review our progress. Which means there will either be progress or there will be awkwardness. I'm looking forward to the progress. I've been kicking ass on the art side of things, and I just saw tonight that he's done a bunch of works on the last faction for the initial trio of factions. We're getting close to something I can pass around to the beta testers. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. We just figured it out - it's been over 4 years since we started.

Please let me know if you're interested in being a beta tester. The game will be  given out as a free downloadable PDF for printing on print at home business cards for this first version. Based on responses and feedback, we're hoping to move on to a Kickstarter to get a full color larger card version printed professionally. But that's down the road. One of the focal points for this first meeting was MVP - Minimal Viable Product. Or, said another way: Keep It Simple Stupid. I've been a part of too many projects where people got really excited, then there was scope creap, and then things fell apart because everyone was daydreaming about "one day..." First step first.

My biggest problem is that I've improved dramatically in an artistic sense over the past 4 years. That doesn't SOUND like it should be a problem, but it is. I look at the original artwork for the first faction (Goblins) and I kinda feel sick. I do NOT want that being presented to the world as an example of my artistic skills. But I'm going to. Reworking all of the art would take way too long. I may touch up some stuff, but the idea here is MVP. As I said to Chad - "Until other people start playing - even just beta testers - this is just you and I talking. It's not a 'real thing in the world'."

So yeah. Most of what's there will have to stay there. For now.

Okay, I should probably get to bed. It's nearly midnight and while I love my friends' daughter, I'm pretty sure I recognize the tickle in the back of my throat because she's come down with something while I'm here. *grumblebitchmoan*

ETA: Can't believe I forgot to mention this, but I got a chance to hang out / catch up with J Riley! He came to town, and we grabbed breakfast at one of my favorite haunts (Hart's Mesa). We talked about his #vanlife adventures and his project. He's traveling the US for a number of reasons, but chief among them is a desire to understand other people who think differently than he does. How can you not love somebody with a head on their shoulders like that?!

He's doing a project as well which I found rather interesting: both in a notebook and on video, he asks people to 1. Ask a question of the next person he encounters / asks to take part in the project and 2. Answer the question from the previous person. I sorta love that he removed himself from the experiment (aside from his role as facilitator).

The young lady who was in the spot before me is a life coach, and her question was what I would have a life coach ask if I was drawing one in a comic book. Something like "What is your Perfect Life? What would you have to do or achieve in order to live that life?"

I responded in a way that I thought was appropriate - something about not wanting to have kids, so I want to leave some form of art or literature behind that future generations can enjoy.

I asked "Aside from child birth, what's your greatest accomplishment in life?" I put in the 'aside from child birth because it's too much of a default for anyone with kids. The project seemed like it warranted more thought from respondents than that.

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You have much to be proud of this day!

How close to Literal Seattle does this place have to be?
That's a bit 'up for debate'. The theory is '45 minutes from city center'. Which, on a bad day in Seattle seems like it could be 4 blocks. I'm thinking that I might stretch it a bit and try for Tacoma (some of my friends are in Seattle (E) and some are in Olympia (Margaret and Krishna) so it seems kinda perfect.
45 minutes from city center? Yeah, they are totally high.

What is the reason for that anyway? In-person meetings?
You should be able to get a reasonable studio or small 1-br within 45 min of downtown (we don't say "city center" here) for $1500 or less. The data thing might be a slightly tougher nut to make but probably not impossible.

Tacoma is 45 min from downtown if you're driving at 3 AM. More like 90+ on a normal weekday.

For the 3-6 month thing, your only option is going to be extended stay places or taking over a lease from someone who's moving. Or a shared house type of thing.

Oh hey - I just realized - I have a friend who's looking to sublet her room in a shared house for a month in August. If that's helpful. Nice housemates. They'd only want someone queer, trans, and poly positive. (They're not a sex cult...really.) anyway - lmk if you're interested.

Anyway. Good luck. I think there are options.

Yeah. I found places on Zillo and the like in that range. Problem is that it doesn't include utilities, and often doesn't include parking. Parking isn't necessarily a deal breaker, except for maybe in the heart of downtown. Worse, some places have parking garages - which I most likely can't use. Or at least, without a 15-20 minute process to lower the camera mast every night. Presumably on a busy street curb.

I'm looking into Air BnB hosted spots. I've found some in the $60/day ($1800/mo.) range with a discount for 'longer stays'. I'm hoping that I can get someone to agree to a $40/day(ish) ($1200/mo.) price with me being there for 'so long' with the 3-6 months. That way the remaining $300 will go to cover the taxes etc. that come with each stay. It seems difficult, but not impossible.

The network speed may still be a problem.

There also may be legal issues with extended stays of that length where the Air BnB host would be considered a landlord instead of a hotelier. I don't know about these things, and I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I have more immediate concerns...
Oh, and yeah - I'm starting to think that Northern Tacoma would be a good idea. K told me that there are 3 pinch points when it comes to traffic between Olympia and Seattle, and being at the top end of Tacoma would get me past 2 of the 3.
Well, most (read as: nearly all) the details are not forthcoming. Errr... that's being too gentle. It doesn't feel like I can drag any information at all out of anyone. Yeah. That feels a bit more on the nose.

Why near 'downtown'? (Thanks Adams - I feel like a local already. ;) ) I suspect that was decided early on, and for reasons which may or may not be valid when we actually 'go live'. Without going into the weeds (partly because I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about) things are very much in flux - and not just with my team. That means that the demands on us are not fully understood, and (I suspect) the management wants us near a downtown for access to high speed networks. I also think that my immediate management is getting told A one day and B the very next then C the third day, wash, wince, repeat.
I'm so happy you got to see James! Did he tell you where he's blogging/posting his writings? I've been looking and can't find them, but I desperately want to keep up to date! (Now even more so.)
I asked, but he kinda... isn't. He expressed his regret that he just doesn't seem to have the gene that is required to have a desire to photo/ blog / post about his travels.

I think that he is hoping his question/answer project will take the place of that.

I don't know if it had any impact or not, but I explained why I wish I had written a good deal more about my motorcycle tour in 2002. He clearly understood, but I didn't get a "Holy crap - that makes sense! I'll start TODAY!" vibe from him. Part of me is okay with that because individuality is something I've always appreciated about both of the brothers Riley.
Tired... want to respond more thoroughly later. But, if you come here (and I selfishly hope you do) let's please 🥓 and 🥃?
Absolutely! (Though I can't tell what those emoticons are.)
They're bacon and scotch emojis, lol
I kinda love how you said "absolutely" without even knowing what I want <3
 

Elephants, cistern with mirrors, pretty black & white pigeon nitch birds, children rolling down castle hills.

fresh baked bread. Good coffee. 

5 stories (80 steps) everyday each time up to the rented flat

Flying tiger. Something green. Tiger = 10, yet everything costs 20.

observatory round tower with elusive glam foxes.

how the Viking has aged. Me too. Dog & houseboat & lovely partner.

warehouse street food (er, beer). New bridges.  

Danish food, grill & sushi, Ethiopian. Interesting ice cream.

metro card. Random "art".

Accompanied by travel novices. Jet lag ugh.

A lot of Grey

Still/again no mermaid. Yet.

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6/29 '17 4 Comments
I liked this.
Why does Tiger = 10?
10 kroner sounds vaguely like tiger in Danish. 10 kroner is approx $1.60 There is a cool store called Flying Tiger here that has lots of fun trinkets. But most thing there cost 20kr.
 

Had a really fun gig tonight at this thing called "Smyrna at Night," which is where the cute town of Smyrna, DE shuts down a few of their "Main Street USA"-type streets and fills them will food trucks, vendors, 25 bands... and all of the local businesses stay open late and people just walk around and have a spiffy time. 

It was hot and humid (they were calling for thunderstorms that never came) and thankfully we had an indoor venue (this cute place called The Drunk'n Baker, that makes booze-filled cupcakes (and regular ones, too), coffee, teas, etc) that blessedly had air conditioning. The AC couldn't really keep up with all of the people packed in there, but it was definitely better than being outside. 

I felt bad... the guy who played before us is a hauntingly beautiful singer/songwriter who tours the world ("I wrote this song in the Southern part of Thailand...") but people just talked/yelled over him and I felt like he maybe had three people listening attentively, two of which were me and Matt.  

The event people provided a sound system, but it was just a speaker with two inputs and no volume controls, so Matt and I had to share a mic (not easy when he also plays guitar), and we had to way to turn the vocals up, so I reeeeeaaallllly had to push. I always over-enunciate anyway because I wanna make sure people can understand our lyrics, but having to REALLY extra over-enunciate plus sing as loudly but still as musically as possible for a 70-minute set was taxing... but still fun.  

It was very cool that a bunch of people came out specifically to see us, and other folks who had no idea what to expect when we started playing wound up sticking around. I love when we first start a show and maybe 1/5th of the audience knows to yell "HOT BREAKFAST!" and everyone else is looking around like "What the hell just happened?" And soon we let the newbies in on the deal and then the whole place is going nuts. I still can't believe how that yelling-Hot-Breakfast thing has taken off, and I sincerely, genuinely, honestly have no earthly idea how it happened... it definitely wasn't our idea, it just kinda happened, and I feel like it happened at our very first show at the Tin Angel maybe. Either way, I am so grateful; I cannot express how much fun it is while we're on stage in the heat of battle having people cheering us on in a dork-rock salute. (I acknowledge that outside a concert situation, it is annoying as hell for everyone else, so we are hyper-vigilant about working to limiting its use to gigs. We don't want people (especially other artists) hating us, and we DEFINITELY do not ever wanna take the spotlight away from someone else. Dick move.)  Though it is amusing to be pumping gas and hearing someone yell "HOT BREAKFAAAAST!" while they drive by the gas station. Those interactions are surreal and funny. :-)  I am still convinced if I ever cut or dyed my hair a different color nobody would recognize us. 

(Wow... it is pouring really hard out of nowhere. Guess we're not mowing the lawn today before our next gig. We've got our Billy Joel tribute show tonight (Saturday) at World Cafe Live in Philly.)

In other news, I find that on days of gigs, especially when I have to carry our 50-pound backpack full of gear/merch/etc. to/from the venue from our car (assuming it's a slight hike, which today was), my restless legs are merciless later that night. (Don't worry, Matt is carrying a guitar and a pedalboard and other heavy stuff. I'd much rather have the backpack.)

I went to bed around 12:30AM tonight (wow, so early for us!), but I woke up around 4-ish with MERCILESS restless legs. (well, leg... singular. My left leg is being an asshole.) So yeah, I started writing this entry at 5:32am and I've been up for the last 90 minutes gnashing my damn teeth over this fucking RLS. I even took my RLS meds (Clonidine (not Klonopin)) which has taken it from an 11 to an 8... so then I took a OTC sleepy-thing (doxylamine, which doesn't make my RLS worse like Satan's Remedy known as benedryl/diphenhydramine does-- OH JESUS), and no dice. So lucky you... you get a whiny shitpost from me.

The only thing bringing me a shred of relief is taking really long thick socks (think baseball/soccer socks) and tying them tightly around my thigh like a garter or a tourniquet. Having the constant pressure on my screaming/itching/twitching quad muscle is vaguely helping, and since the socks are a little stretchy it's not cutting off my circulation. I can still feel my leg screaming, but the sock pressure is a distraction, at least.

But I swear, I wanna cut my damn leg off.

RLS is often the first sign that my anemia is in overdrive and it's time for an iron infusion, so I should probably schedule my labwork for this week. My last infusion was November 8th, so it's definitely possible... especially since I went through all of 2016 with just one period for the whole year (it was magnificent), but this year The Ladytimes are back in full force... so I'm back to losing a ton of blood each month-ish again. (Why body, WHY MUST YOU TEASE ME SO??!) 

Anyway, it's now 6:40am (which means Jenn Abrevaya  has already been up for an hour -- hah), so it's now been 2.5 hours that my leg is making me nuts. It's maybe down to a 6.5 now, so I'm gonna put this down and see if I can power through it. Come on, sleep. I need to be on tonight!  (It's so weird when your body is your instrument... self-care is critical.)

OK-- I hope everyone has a spiffy day/weekend!

If any Philadels wanna come to the Billy Joel tribute tonight, hit me up VIA TEXT... I can probably toss you one comp.  


(ps: I love the term "shitpost." I also love the term "shitshow," but that's mostly because I can't hear "shitshow" without hearing Lord Buckethead using the word as he describes Brexit. I am obsessed with Lord Buckethead, and am seriously considering a Lord Buckethead tattoo. Yes, really.)

(Scroll to 16:19 for Bucketheady "shitshow" goodness.)

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6/24 '17 5 Comments
"Smyrna at Night," - sounds like Media. Which is meant as a pretty big compliment.

"songwriter who tours the world" - makes me miss Knappucinos - and I was never at one. I know you have about 8 baJILLion things on your plate, but don't you want to start another singer / songwriter coffee shop?! ;)

"...honestly have no earthly idea how it happened... " - I thought it was Jamaica. When we tried to explain it to our tour guides at or on our way to the swimming hole. Though that could entirely be reconstructive history - but it's the origin in my head. Some sort of evolution as we described the name and how happy a hot breakfast makes someone feel, one of them pumped their fist and said "Hot Breakfast!". Or some such. Maybe? Jenn?

Really sorry to hear about the RLS issues. I'm not prescribing here - I'm asking - does extreme use of the muscles in question help at all? I'm imagining things like deep squats to stress/stretch the muscle.
GO GET 'EM 🐯
 
 

Hit a home run with Verizon Residential and a bunt to first with Verizon Wireless today. It's been a Verizonny day. 

In a nutshell, Verizon Residential came out (and was on time!) this morning and they confirmed my diagnosis and remedy, because I am awesome.  So yep, turns out the ONT (optical network terminal) wasn't getting power from the outlet, and was only getting power from the BBU (battery backup unit).  The tech was awesome and took one look at our 10-year-old ONT/BBU and immediately said "I gotta replace this shiznit," at which point I said "Whoa whoa whoa, Amigo... the new units don't have battery backups, so you're not allowed to replace it because I have a landline that relies on the battery in the event of a power outage." And he was like, "Holy shitballs, you're right, which is weird because you appear to have both technical skills and boobs."  Yes, I get that a lot. I understand. It's an anomalies in your home and native land of DelCo, where everyone has Rodney Anonymous' accent.  Anyway, he replaced the power supply and didn't charge me anything, and said "I just gotta warn you though... a sales guy is gonna call you and they're gonna try to get you to upgrade your FIOS. Right now you have 256MB Up/Down, which was bleeeeeeeeding-edge speedy 10 years ago, and now we've got Gigabyte Up/Down. So just brace yourself." I asked if I was in any danger if I didn't upgrade... like, was I vulnerable to some nutty exploit, and he said "Nope, none that I can think of. As long as you keep your router firmware up-to-date and don't keep default passwords, you should be OK."  So, yeah. I call that a win for now.

* * * * *

The bunt to first base happened overnight last night when I tweeted to VZWSupport about a problem that has been plaguing our neighborhood and environs since May 2014: We had a freak hailstorm in May of 2014 with baseball-sized hail that got me and my neighbors new roofs/siding/car bodywork/etc.

(see cool photos of hailstones and damage to my house and car: https://www.flickr.com/photos/xtingu/sets/72157645237393142/ )

It also knocked out the Verizon cell tower that serves our area, and since that very afternoon, cell reception for everyone around here has been shittastic... you either have baaaaaarely one teeeeeeny bar of signal or none whatsoever, or you have to go outside to make a call. (This is why I still have a landline.)  Various neighbors have called VZW to complain over the years, and Verizon resolved the individual Incidents (be selling signal boosters to people who complained) but never addressed the Problem of fixing the smashed tower. So after I tweeted VZWSupport last night, they called me today and I was able to explain to the rep that it wasn't just me and Matt experiencing this, but it was over 200 customers in the area, many of whom are switching (or already switched) to Sprint.  She said "Holy crap, we'll get someone out there within 5-7 days!" Which seems like a long time, but we've waited three years, so what's other week?

There's a slightly more locked-down social media site called "NextDoor" which is a neighborhood message board that somehow verifies you actually live in a certain neighborhood before it lets you join. This "Damaged Verizon Cell Tower" has been a very sore point for a looooong time, but I'm suddenly a hero today for telling everyone in our surrounding neighborhoods that this might FINALLY get addressed. I am cautiously optimistic, hence a bunt to first base.  I'll keep y'all posted... I'm sure you're all biting your nails wondering how the cell reception is in North Wilmington, Delaware. 

Other than that...

Music Stuff This Weekend

We've got two gigs this weekend. On Friday (6/23) we're playing this neat town festival called Smyrna At Night. Smyrna, Delaware is a cute town about halfway down our tall skinny state that has a street festival every summer where they close the main drag, have a ton of vendors, food trucks, bands, and stuff all night. We're playing an indoor venue at prime time, from 8-9pm at a place called The Drunk'n Baker, which is a bakery that makes booze-infused treatz.*  Should be fun, even if I won't eat their boozey snax.

The second gig is the next night (Saturday, 6/24), where we're playing in our Billy Joel Tribute Band at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, on the big stage downstairs. Show starts at 8pm.  I sing lead on a few things, I sing backup on a zillion others, and play tenor and also saxes, and a crap-ton of percussion. It's a blast, and I love playing this music with my friends... it's an 8-piece band and we make a good racket. If you're in or around Philly, come on out if ya want. We'd love an audience. :-D

On Sunday we'll do a belated Fathers Day up at my folks' place in NJ and we'll stay with them for a few days. It'll be nice.

So that's the news. 

Riveting, I know.

Ok, bye. :)

____

Seven dollahs, get a big bagga treatz!" (Inside joke. Sorry.)​​​​​​

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6/22 '17 9 Comments
"Seven dollahs, yah get a big bagga treatz!"

I fuckin love you. Have I mentioned that recently, cuz I do.

Laughed out loud in my hotel. Hope I didn't wake the neighbors.

Also - Nice work with Big VZ - both counts. I love that the kid tried to warn you of the impending call from the sales droid. Because of COURSE there's going to be a call.

And the cell tower? That seems like it will be a MAYJOHR win if it happens.

Your customer complaint fu is so VERY much stronger than mine. Remind me to have you come with me the next time I have to deal with VZW...
I'll be there is Smyrna with my (most likely cranky) 6 yr old in tow. Hoping to finally meet you!
Jill I saw you through the window - but kid was extra cranky melting down, so we didn't come in. . . . some other day!
No worries at all! Just saw this now that we're home, so I wasn't on the lookout and didn't know to be disappointed. :-D

But get this-- your name was totally brought up tonight! Kristen Halversen (new last name is Pickering) was there and her super-talented son Brody joined us as an intern when we recorded our last album. Kristen said to me, "Hey, I didn't know you know Hamlet! We were in the honors program at UD together!" And then started naming people we knew, and she mentioned you, and I said that we hadn't yet met but were probably going to any minute. IT'S LIKE I WAS PSYCHIC.
Wait ... Ursula and Jill, you've never met?
That makes sense considering the timing, but still, it feels weird.
So I wanna say I am proud of you for taking it to the man and getting good service ... and I am, but the fact that getting honest, helpful service from a vendor who YOU PAY is a victory, not a commonplace occurrence ... that makes me sad.

Yay you!
Boo Corporate America.
*pumps fist in solidarity*
Sometimes autocorrect is good. "Also sax:" now my favorite typo
 

For a while I've thought it might be a little too confusing, the way One Post Wonder separates "following" people from "giving keys" to people. But, I also suspected this was just my ego talking: surely people would use One Post Wonder more if they only understoooood it!

Also, that distinction is hugely important to many of you. The way other social networks... socially engineer... connections you don't really want is something you've asked me to avoid.

So I haven't made any changes in this area in a while.

Today, though, I got feedback from two very smart-but-busy people who had the same confusion: they didn't catch that you have to give out keys if you want your friends to actually be able to read your wonderfully private posts.

So I made what I think is the right change.

When you follow someone, you are already given a chance to give them keys. But it's worded in a very chill way... it's sorta hard to tell if you have actually selected any keys or not... and if you click "Give Keys" without actually clicking any keys, there's no warning.

Accordingly, I added that warning message. And I also went ahead and added a bold-text message explaining bluntly that this ain't Facebook.


I think this will help a lot. Although, even as I look at it, I see a problem: we're referring to those buttons as "keys," and they have lock icons.

[Headslap]

... I'll fix that too. 😂

EDITED TO ADD: even more grease!

That should do it... I hope! 

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6/21 '17 12 Comments
I'm happy to create a 'key icon' if that would help. What dimensions would you want it? (And I'm assuming that PNG is a good format? ;) )
By the bye, at one time PNG would have been the choice, but we are using fontawesome, a symbol font full of vector scalable goodness.
No way man! PNG 4 lyfe!

*pumps fist*
Thanks Matt, we do have a key icon. We just weren't using it ideally. Thanks again for the offer!
No problemo!
Ok, so......

Just for fun, I went to my list of mutual followers. When I click on an individual, it looks like they have a key to read my locked posts. I see the word "friends" with a little key next to the word. So I'm assuming that person can read my friends-locked posts. Just for grins, I clicked on "give keys" anyway, to see what happens. A big blue button appears below it, again with the key icon next to the word "friends." Well, who doesn't push a button when they see one, amiright? I clicked on the jolly candy-like button, and now there is both a key and a LOCK icon next to the word "friends."

What in the world does that mean?

I'm thinking I may have never understood this whole lock and key thing in the first place.
Just clicked my way through this.

In summary:

1. You did it right the first time, everything was the way it should be.

2. There's a bug in the code for the "now you have DE-selected this" state for that particular case of editing keys. It leads to the confusing double icon you saw. I will fix it.
By "you did it right," I mean you had it right IN THE FIRST PLACE (yes, you gave those friends the keys they appear to have already, no, you don't want to toggle anything). Sigh, language, it is hard.
Update: I fixed the weird double icon situation that Anne saw, and I also added a new "keys given:" list to both the invite dialog box and the workspace where you edit your keys for someone. That list updates as you add and remove keys.

It should now be SUPER DUPER CLEAR AT LAST when you have given keys and when you haven't. I hope. (:
Er... welcome, friends! It turns out that I completely forgot to make copies of my keys.
Brian: eek. Thanks for confirming the extent of our failure to communicate. Hoping the new setup will be ever so much better.
I am prepping to send out a blasto email to everyone who, according to a little math, probably fell victim to this. In an anonymized way. Perhaps we'll spark a little renewed interest, although I suspect we'll mostly have to wait and see how it goes with newly invited friends.