Relearn

It's hard to unlearn old habits. I gave up on the Dvorak key layout. (See previous posts) It was inhibiting my typing speed, and I think it even started to bother my fingers. But who has the time to unlearn and relearn these things. So, I back to typing in the ergonomically unfriendly qwerty, as effectively as I ever was. In Dvorak, I was still hunting and pecking.

Our heatwave is over. It's healthy to venture outside now. Not that I haven't been out, in fact, I biked 12 miles in the 98° heat yesterday. It was quiet on the trails, only the die hards were out it seems. Like this lightning fast rollerblader who was ahead of me, and i never caught up to him. I always pass skaters. And he eventually pulls away from my sight; I catch up to him at the end where I turn back, and he's doing push-ups; for God's sake! Another person, a boy at most 13-years old, jogging like he does it every day. If I'm correct, and he went from the parking lot to the pond and back, he jogged almost 4 miles. (Hate to have his knees in 40 years.)

What a mess at the Dancing Goat last night. I went for open-mic night but ended up not playing. The host for the night was horrible. By 10:30, 10 acts had gone, I was #20. The open mic starts at 8pm, and the place closes at 11. The place was over-crowded and hot, I ended up losing any energy to play.

Block

I can't write much these days. Maybe it's not that I can't; maybe i just don't. Maybe I don't give myself the permission to create. I have not completed a new song in two years; but strangely enough I managed to touch so many more people with my music during this time. And I get continued feedback that I should be writing for Broadway. (Where does one begin?) Mr. Borlo was a cool high school teacher I had. In my final grade report for my senior year, he wrote a comment stating his concern that I take too long to complete a written response. My writings could be very good, like how I would get an A on a paper done at home, but get C or D on a timed exam. He said I needed to keep practicing my writing and suggested keeping a journal or something like that. So, 14 years later, I'm blogging. I've also made a few failed attempts to start the Artist's Way, a book by Julia Cameron which is kinda sorta a recovery program for blocked creatives. Keeping up with it has been a problem. I block my own creativity. We all do.

You don't know Jack

Jack Daniels is not a Bourbon. It is a Tennessee Whiskey. Yet, some people (maybe you?) tend to think it is a bourbon. It says so on the website. Read the faq.

My state threw me for a loop yesterday. I get a notice that my New Jersey income taxes were underpaid. Somehow, the tax I owe was figured at double what it is supposed to be, and the amount withheld was said to be zero! And here I am all excited opening this envelope thinking it's my refund. It's an obvious mistake on their part, I just worry about all the bereauocracy, and the clueless tax agents, and all the touch-tone menus I'll have to deal with before I get my refund. I need a shot of Jack.

Oy! The Heat

No, the time and date stamp is no bug. I forgot about this post I'd started almost a month ago; and was nearly complete but saved it as a draft, to finish later. I must have been distracted somehow (Damn that Wikipedia!) Anyway...

I haven't discussed the weather recently. It's about time I rehash that old topic. It's damn near 90 today, but still, I go out for a round of disc golf in the blaring heat. And at a time of day when moms and their kids usually rule the playground equipment there was virtually no one at the park; just a stupid dad and his 2 kids, a stupid jogger, and a stupid me. But not so stupid considering I did my best score of the season. There hardly ever seems to be any spring-like weather; not too long ago we were complaining about it staying too cold and rainy, and then, BAM!, a fucking heatwave. So stifling. I walk outside and it's a chore just getting around, feeling like you're being cooked to death. I'm better off when it's subzero, you get cold, but that's what clothes are for. I hate the sweating, and the parked car you get into that's like an oven. At least I have access to a pool.

Trump Stumps for the Towers

Thank you, Donald Trump. Now, the effort to Rebuild the Towers has some key support. Hopefully, Donald can wake up the rest of us silent supporters, and that stupid ugly freedom tower bullshit -- that iconic representation of Daniel Libeskind's architectural self-absorption -- will forever remain a legend of the drawing board.
Let me state the obvious: If terrorists destroy the Statue of Liberty, would you want someone to erect some symbolic monument in its place? No, right? You would want it rebuilt.
Terrorists destroyed the towers. They lose if we rebuild them. They win if we don't. They win if, god forbid, we put up those windmills enclosed in that shapeless spire of steel mesh.
So Don, thank you, and save us from the potential of a skyline polluted with chicken-wire.

Destinations

Wow!

I saw a llama today!

Airwalks, Anyone?

What's happened to Airwalk sneakers? I can't find them anywhere. It's time for a new pair of sneakers, and I set out today hoping to find for myself a new pair of Airwalks, but no one seems to carry them. I like Airwalks -- I'm not a skateboarder by any stretch of the imagination -- I just like their style, cool and comfy; and understated: neither flashy nor boring white. I could get a pair of Converse All-Stars, they're cool, but so cheaply made it takes a toll on your feet after a bit, and you can't wear them in the rain. Oh, well. I need to find a pair of sneakers I like. Now it means I have to "shop." The simple act of "buying" has now become the tedious task of "shopping," which requires me to interact with the people at the stores. Hopefully, it will be quick and painless.

Yesterday I had my Calculus II final. I think I got through it okay. We'll see. Curves are a wonderful thing. With curves, it's not necessary to ace an exam, you just have to do better than the majority.

Still typing in Dvorak. And getting faster...

One Headlight

...you know that song, by the Wallflowers. It's a great song, isn't it? It's lyrical depth is amazing. To this date, I have not come across any song since that (1996) which tops or meets its lyrical profundity. The second verse is the height of this intensity. Anyway, so now I'm going to commit the blog faux pas of recopying song lyrics. But seriously, take a moment to ponder these words...
(You know...I really shoud be studying for my Calculus final now, oh well...)

"She said it's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
I seen the sign up ahead
At the county line bridge
Saying all there's good and nothingness is dead
Run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothing left
She hit the end, it's just her window ledge"
-- Jakob Dylan

There's a lot of debate online of what the song is actually about; but it's definitely deserving of the two Grammys it received. It's one of those songs that has ended up running in my CD player on "single repeat" mode. And while it's lyrically deep and intense, musically it's upbeat and uplifting; happy sounding.

¡Felíz Cinco de Mayo!

End of curling season (late)

The ice was shut off today. One month later than usual, because we were waiting for a new compressor back in November, and curling started one month later. Our season-opening bonspeil was postponed to be the season-closing bonspeil, which was held this weekend. I stayed for clean-up during which some members and thier kids brought skates and went ice skating. (Skating is never allowed on a curling rink.) Some of us tried tray-sliding. After a good amount of skating, some of us tried throwing rocks on the destroyed ice. Conditions similar to outdoor curling. It took alot of power to hurl a stone even half way down the sheet. Anyway, it's summer is around the corner. So it was time for hugs and kisses, and temporary goodbyes (even a few tears). More curling in six months...

Dvorak...is it worth the trouble?

All righty then. Let's see how long this takes me. I'm typing using the Dvorak key layout. It is supposedly a more ergonomically friendly arrangement of the letters. It seems to have quite a devoted following, with a good amount of advocates if you search the web. All computers today have this option amongst the multitude of layouts you can select in the control panel. So, I'm giving it a try. One major problem is that everyone's keys are still labelled in Qwerty; so the keys are a distraction while I follow with a printout. It's not so much hunt-and-peck as it is a cipher-and-peck. But I'm catching on already after just a few lines of typing. We'll see...

Lemonade

It's springtime, although you wouldn't know it considering today's dreary weather. Three days ago, however, it was like Summer. Do you know what it means when spring arrives? Well, I'm sure means a lot of things, but one thing is for certain: Lemonade!
I like lemonade, but about, say, three years ago I ran into a problem. I wanted to buy lemonade at the store, but every brand of jar/carton lemonade contained high-fructose corn syrup and citric acid. Lemonade is supposed to be a refreshing beverage, but there is nothing refreshing about high-fructose corn syrup and that glob of phlegm it creates in my throat. And why do you need to add citric acid when you have lemon juice already? To make it taste more bland??

So that's when I started making my own. Real lemons, pure sugar, water, ice. It's not hard at all.
It's like I found a new hobby for myself; a little task that's oh-so-rewarding...and refreshing!

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.

Oscar

I was hoping for Johnny Depp to win. My second favorite was anyone other than Leonardo. So, I'm still pleased. Watching the awards while I could have been studying for Calculus. Not that should have, but I do have an exam tomorrow. Going over things would just drive me crazy. I know I know the material. But sometimes I forget that I know. And I drill myself, frantically; each time checking my answer and finding some stupid mistake. So I try another problem, not making the same mistake, but making some other stupid mistake. And so on. Before I know it, it's 4:30 in the morning, I've used 200 sheets of paper and 10 vials of pencil lead. MORAL: If you're good at something, don't try proving that you're bad at it.
I almost opened the book at 3:30 this afternoon. Then, my phone rings. I'm requested to help someone move. SAVED! This coffeehouse I go to lost their lease, but are moving to the next town over. They're packing and moving today. I carried stuff to trucks. Then I drove a pickup for the first time. I shouldn't have answered the question, "Who can drive stick?" I can, but I usually draw the line at 3-speed pickups with no front bumper. That was my excitiement for a while.

More Curling Chat

It's a big day for Curling in the US. Finals today. Basically, it's the 2005 US Chamionship, but they don't call it that. It's called the "2006 Olympic Trials" beacuse the winner represents the US in the 2006 Olympics; but they'll also represent at the 2005 Worlds next month. You see, they have this event every year around this time, and the winning team goes to the Worlds as team USA. But the Olympics is not every year; other years it's called "World Trials." "Championship" would sound so much better than "Trial." I don't get it.
Anyway, I was just listening to the Women's Final. Exciting game, I must say. Came down to a tiebreaker, and this young team beat the '03 World Champ on the last shot. I missed the live moment, however, because I lost my audio stream just when she released the rock. And then I couldn't rebuffer because all the connections to the webcast were full at that time. So I just refreshed the scoreboard page until the final score came up. I was able to get back on to hear the replay.
What bullshit is this that I have to listen to curling championships on a lo-fi internet webcast, that's shaky at best. The numbers show that people will pay attention to curling on TV. Hell, it just jammed the internet. Go to Cananda. You'll see lots of curling on TV. LIVE! On CBC, mind you, that's broadcast TV, not cable. Curling is on Canadian TV like paint on a wall. You say it's boring? Do you watch Golf? Golf is boring to watch. But I still watch it. It has it moments of excitment. How about the Westminster Dog Show? You saw that, didn't you? I'll bet you saw a snippet here and there. DON'T LIE! You waited and cheered for you favorite breed. And that was LIVE! Two nights in a row! And how about the paint on your wall? You watch that, don't you? Of course...especially when it gets dirty! Then you PAY MONEY for more paint. There's a huge market for paint. Two ailses at Home Depot.

US Curling on TV, pretty, pretty please?