Don't chase a kite...

...if you inadvertenly let go. Especially if the kite is flying over a house, because you'll end up chasing the spool toward the house and if you don't see where you're going you'll end up crashing into the outside wall of the house.

Ow.

For the sake of posting.

I haven't been all that motivated in recent days. I had a great idea for a story to share, but as soon as a got to sitting in front of the computer one day, i forgot it; and I still can't remember, and it's been killing my motiviation on this site. Bummer! I'll remember eventually.
Today is Good Friday and the mall was packed. I went looking for a gift for my nephew's birthday. Stopped by to say hi to my friend who makes balloon aminals at Johnny Rocket's on Friday afternoons: he was swamped by the big crowds of families.
My bartending job at the Chanticer is coming along. I'm not scheduled this weekend (good! because otherwise I would have to drive to Long Island alone at midnight). The bar mitzfah crowds are annoying as hell, those wild bunches of kids. But I got nice tips from a wedding two weeks ago.
Tomorrow I head out to Long Island to celebrate Easter, as well as my nephew's 5th birthday, (which already happened on the 23rd, but we'll celebrate Saturday.)

Getting around

I get around to lots of open mic nights. Just last night I went to one at The Dancing Goat in the town of South Orange. I had never been there before. I was just sitting at my computer last night, and somehow ended up on njopenmic.com, where it was listed, and then just got up and went. It's a nice place, and it full of lots of young people (not quite urban, yet not quite suburban -- if you care). Full list of acts, runs from 8-11 went by fast. When I got there it was standing room only and the sign up was almost full, but I got a slot toward the end. I got on stage at around 10:20. By this time, the crowd had thinned, and busboys were starting to move into full force clearing tables. So after I played I felt rushed to pack up and get out. You see, at the Sanctuary, my usual Tuesday haunt I usually prefer this time slot, anywhere between 10-11, because that's usually when the biggest crowd is there. So you see, when I played last night at 10:20ish to a mellowing-out crowd, it would be the same time, a day prior, when I would be playing to a vibrant crowd at the Sanctuary. And then get sit and hang out and chill for at least another hour, because it continues until at least midnight or 1am.
But every place is different.

Where's my post?

That's funny. I posted by phone on Saturday but it never got here. Bummer. Sometimes it's nice to post in real time rather than sitting here typing and trying to recall something from earlier. Anyway, the other day, when I attempted to post via phone, I was at Cafe Arabica, a not-so-new coffeehouse in my hometown. I went by myself, and the hostess sat me down alone at a table for 4. Shortly thereafter a bunch of people came in to be seated. There was a good crowd waiting for a short while. They could have put a party of two or three at my table, I wouldn't have minded. Nor would I mind sitting at one of the sofa combos for even larger parties, they could just add guests as they need to. But I felt creepy having a table for 4 all by myself. I just sat there and did some Calculus, wrote some lyrics, listened to the musicians: Aerial Acoustics, and, of course, people-watched. I enjoy people-watching. People are so entertaining, don't you think?

Check these out:

No commentary at this time.
I just thought I'd share some items that interest me. Click on these links to be taken elsewhere:

Regina Spektor, (<-- click) NYC-based songwriter/pianist just released her major-label debut CD. She's worth a listen. I happen to see her play when she opened for The Dismemberment Plan about 2 years ago.

Final shot of the Canadian Women's Curling Championship, (<-- click) You've got to see to believe! Watch the video clip. It's a once-in-a-lifetime come-from-behind shot.

Snow wonderful snow

(Errors corrected.)
Weather, I shouldn't be talking about the weather, but I like weather. Granted, it can provide a token conversation, but weather does happen. A list of blogging tips -- click here -- suggests not talking about your weather; but I talk about weather in a very conscious way. I don't just "blah blah blah" about the weather. This is New Jersey where weather happens. California, Florida, Arizona, places like that, the weather is very consisent. Here we have four seasons to guide us through each of our years. I wouldn't have it any other way. Still, locals complain: "I'm sick of all this snow," "I can't stand the cold weather," "It's hot, I can't wait for August to end," "Damnit! It's raining again!" blah blah blah.....
Anyway, if you read those blogging tips, there are a lot of good ones, like how people don't really care what you're currently watching/listening. Other blog sites, like xanga, have a "currently listening to" form as part of the post entry, and it will display the album cover on your post with the link to its page Amazom.com...how annoyingly corporate of them.
Anyway, we got snow here last night. About 8 inches. 3rd storm in less than two weeks. But I'm not complaining. It's WINTER, the season for SNOW! I don't care if snows a foot everyday. As long as it's winter. If it snows in April, however, I don't like it, because it's not Winter then.