The Inspirado

It is a fleeting being, the Inspirado, appearing at random and sometimes leaving before you can fully register that it was even there.  I try to write down my account of the interaction as quickly as possible, but the Inspirado is a sly devil.  Yesterday it appeared to me in a dream whilst napping.  I tried all afternoon to remember the words to the song the Inspirado brought to me to no avail.  Later in the evening, however, I discovered a guitar riff lying around in the "office"/ Cady's room.  The riff was ripe for the picking and it just so happened to be sitting right next to my voice recorder.  I had to act quickly before it got away, so I snatched up my Spanish style guitar and voice recorder and went to work on that Inspirado.  2 minutes and 52 seconds later I had a decent bit going.  It's amazing how versatile the basic chords are.  (AC/DC made entire albums with only 3 chords total.)  I actually used Am7-C-D-F and G... so five chords... The Inspirado was so kind to give me that little gift yesterday.  May it return with some lyrical content soon so that I may complete the song.  Yes, that would be good.

On another note, Gabby helped me change my banner thingy.  She took my picture at the park and I liked it a lot.  I want to take more pictures like that, but I can't think of the look I'm going for. I guess I'm just an average guy wearing regular-ass clothes while playing my guitar.  Gotta get to figuring out a set list.

Semper Fi

Getting Into The Blog of Things

SO, I have said that I would blog more often, and I intend to do that.  I really do.  I wonder who I'm blogging for really.  What should I be talking about on here?  Will anyone want to read it other than my family?  Does it matter if I blog at all?  I guess, if nothing else, blogging regularly will help me keep a record of my life.  That is definitely a plus considering that I don't have the greatest memory.  I guess I should just blog about whatever is happening.  Maybe I will also develop a better sense of using my words to describe what I'm thinking and feeling.  So it begins.  I promise to blog at least three times a week from now on.

That's me, in case you need a reminder of what my mug looks like.  My wife, Gabby, took this picture today at the park.  Tomorrow... technically today... we are going to take some "promotional pictures" of me with my guitar so I can promote the event at University of Houston I am participating in on February 24th.  I will be playing some music for anyone who wants to stop and listen.  More info on that at a later time.

Winter Slacker

I have been done with the fall semester and finals at University of Houston for almost two weeks and this is my first post.  I told myself that, beginning the day after my last final, I would start blogging about my preparing for a performance at the University Center on campus on February 24th.

I haven’t felt like doing anything at all except lounge around on the computer since finals ended.  I did manage to scrounge up a list of covers I could play.  Some are songs I already know how to play and a couple are ones I would have to learn, but that’s easy enough.  The big challenge is choosing which songs to play and in what order.  Also, I want to fit in a decent amount of my own material in there as well. Here is a few songs I’ve come up with that I could cover.  This is NOT my actual set list.

I only get 30 minutes, so I will have to dwindle this down a bit. But also, I will be playing a couple of my own songs as well.

I will probably use both of my acoustic guitars for the set so I hopefully won’t have to tune during my allotted time.  I’m not so good at tuning and talking… and that tends to create a very awkward silence which is prone to making people lose interest in me. (I learned that the hard way.)

There is one aspect of the event that I am curious about;

 

the acoustics.  I haven’t been told exactly there at the UC the event will be held, but if it is where I think it is I’ll have some work to do with whomever is “in charge” of the sound.  I have found that a lot of “sound guys/girls” actually have no idea what they are doing and they get paid (or are even doing it pro bono) because the person hiring them knows even less.  The problem is that live sound is an ever-changing beast, so you have to be in tune with the acoustics of the room.  So many sound people at small places just make it all sound like muddy slop.  I know it is sometimes difficult to work with a certain space, but with the right EQ settings you can at least make it sound decent.

I’m going to go back to doing nothing for a couple hours.  Well, not complete nothing.  I’ll be internetting and stuff.

Under the Mickey and Dreaming

I just had the weirdest dream.  I was at some kind of Disney inspired water park with my cousins Keith and Brian.  Keith was his current age but Brian was 10 years old.  So we were waiting in a super long line watching people coming out the bottom of the tube.  They were flying out of there pretty fast.  We finally got to the bottom of the attraction, grabbed our tubes, and began to go up the stairs, but then the stairs stopped and turned into a weaving path, which turned into a mountain climbing wall.  There was this group of like 8 year old girls ahead of us that were flying through these obstacles.  I thought, “This is a water park, what’s up with the O-Course to get to the top of the slide, and why are these little girls having an easier time than us?”  After an hour of random obstacles we got to the top of the slide tower and there was a big group of body guards around someone whom everyone seemed to want to get an autograph from.  There was a Hispanic guy in front of me and he said, “El Mickey.”  There was an entire football team, in football uniforms, waiting for Mickey to autograph their jerseys and helmets… I kept trying to get to go down the slide, but everyone was judging me for not wanting to stop for Mickey’s signature…..

 

Then I woke up.

Un-civil Disobedience

I am in no way a fan of hippies or “civil disobedience”, but I did defend that right of American’s to do so.  Other RIGHTS that I believe are implied by our Founding Fathers is to not be forced to be seen naked or in shameful ways by government agents (Let us recall something on the lines of “UNREASONABLE SEARCH AND SIEZURE”).  Where is the probable cause to make someone stand in for a full body scan that reveals every detail of their naked body?  They might have a bomb or parts to a bomb?  I don’t like to have to waste my energy typing something like this.  In fact, I don’t feel strongly about much of anything.  I generally work with the idea of not rocking the boat, even if someone just rocked my boat.  I want to be the obedient citizen, following the laws and rules that have been put into place by the people I trust to run my country.

Well, Transportation Security Administration, you have not only rocked my boat, but you have capsized my ass.  For those of you reading this who have short attention spans I’ll post the links now to get them out of the way. (I think the literature on the links will be more informative and better aid you in forming your own opinion.):

Micheal Chertoff Abuses Our Trust

TSA Employees Want to Grope You

Maybe some pictures of the capabilities of this technology and the possible misuse of the same technology by employees hired by TSA could use against you.

To further explain what you are seeing here, the first two are what can be seen on the screen directly by the TSA employee.  The 3rd picture (I could only find an example of this using a female image. Nobody felt the need to show this procedure with a male image.) is showing what can be done later on.  The scanners are capable of saving the images to USB drives that the employee can insert into the computer driving the equipment.  They can then take the images of the desired bodies they wish to see and think of in perverse manners and use software to invert the colors, thereby viewing the actual skin tones of the person.  As you can see in picture #3, it is entirely possible to view this woman as if she was a freaking Playboy Centerfold.

 

If I wasn’t a smarter man (which I am), or maybe if I was single and didn’t have a family to provide for I might do something drastic… very drastic.  In light of my maturation as an individual I have decided that I will push a movement to have people write their representatives in Congress to settle this matter.  If not, I am damn willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court to deem this Un-mother lovin-Constitutional.  (I’m doing my best to not use profanity here. I’ll admit, it’s difficult right now.)

 

Well, as it is nearly 0200 (that’s 2:00AM for you civilian types) I should be off to the rack.  I shall return tomorrow, hopefully having a plan of attack (civilly, of course) with which to get others on board with this.

 

I took this vow, and I intend to uphold it: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

 

Good Night, and Semper Fidelis!

Baney is King

It's the little things that matter most. Like coming home and Cady being so glad to see me that she sometimes runs to the door (after running to hide when she hears someone at the door,) but she sure does get excited when I walk in. That is, as long as BARNEY isn't on, because then it is as if the world doesn't exist. Of course, it is okay... she is only 15 months old, after all.

I really just want to make her happy, and happy right now consists of watching some shows and the little thinks, like holding her bunny and pointing out that pigs say, “oik” “oik”… it is so cute.  Or when she holds my had to take me to wherever it that she thinks is so important, but then they become important to me.  I will do pretty much any thing for Cady to be…..

 

I never know just what to write in these things. I get fairly  nervous about it.  What does a dad write about? Can anyone tell me? got to go for now.

Not in My Dream

I had the weirdest dream last night… In fact, it was only a few minutes before I woke up.

I was at some school with a trombone in my hands.  I kept walking through what reminded me of some band room I think I remember being in with my mom when I was very little.  People kept telling me to get to my mark for my solo, but I couldn’t find it.  There didn’t seem to be one.  All of a sudden I was outside, trombone still in hand, and I was talking to some girl who seemed to have some affiliation with my cousin, Keith, and some guy that says he is Keith, but I can’t see his face so I don’t believe him.  Then we get in a car and “Keith” gets into the driver’s seat and mysteriously turns into a girl.  The other girl who was already a girl to begin with sat in back and mysteriously had a baby in hand.  She proceeded to put her seat belt on over her AND the baby.  I kept saying that it was against the law and all she could say back was,” Then buy us one from the registry.”  and I was like,” Where the heck is the registry?” ……………………………………………………………………….. WEIRD!