Get your reading glasses on, this one's a goddamn novel

Due to popular demand, (and you know who you are) I'm taking the time out of my incredibly busy saturday to do a journal update. So what is it that I'm doing today that makes it so busy? Nothing. I've spent almost all god-damn day sleeping, and I've enjoyed every second of it. I didn't have to work last night, nor this morning, so I'm taking full advantage of my idle time and being a shiftless lay-about. I called work last night to inform the boss of my back, which was doing great, but flared up yesterday. She invited me to give it an extra day of rest, and I didn't attempt to argue the point. I needed a day to do nothing & not feel guilty about it. Tonight's event is another wedding, although most likely not a Greek one. It'll probably run till about midnight or 1:00. Hopefully I'll be bar-backing again, since I can't lift much, and I frankly like it more anyways. And I'm running out of cash... I could use the extra scratch I'll make around the bars if I can.

The final gig with South Central was fun, but not because anybody actually came to see. A handful of John's relatives checked it out. I called my folks before the show, thinking that since it's only a few blocks away they might actually come see, but that turned out to be a foolish assumption. Apparently I'll have to be playing in a symphony again before they display even a remote interest in my musical accomplishments. It's slightly disheartening, I guess. It's not as though music is just a hobby, although it technically is, since I make virtually no income from it. But it's what I do, it's my passion, and one of my primary means of self-expression, after talking excessively and this damn journal. But it comes before melodramatic drinking binges, although those may be reactionary, I haven't stopped to think about it. Anyway, music is how I channel much of my creativity, much of myself, and my parents don't seem to give a tinker's damn. Beyond that, the gig was fun, and we played pretty well. Also, I got to play gear that I can't afford! I played a Fender American Jazz Bass, through first a re-issue Ampeg B-15R, which stopped working, and then through a Hartke 120 watt kickback combo. The Ampeg sounded nice & vintage, but made me swear off tube amps, since it was so damn tempermental. The Hartke didn't sound as crappy as I thought it might, and gave me lots of clean power, reproducing the Jazz Bass' punchy tone with clarity. It had loads o' nuts for 120 watts. And the Jazz was sheer pleasure to play. Comfortable to play, a beautiful, rich sunburst finish, and it actually had good pickups! The tone was just incredible, and sliced through the distorted guitar & drums to sit confidently in the mix, yet not be overbearing. It'll be years before I can even think about buying stuff like that, unfortunately. But it has made me want to buy one of the new, upgraded Mexican-made Jazz Basses, which have dramatically improved in the last couple years.

Dinner with Tatiana was great, although I wasn't actually sure it was going to happen at first. Earlier that day at school, she informed me that she'd gotten about an hour of sleep, and hadn't really gotten much more than that on any of the previous two or three nights either. So I was a little curious as to whether she'd make it, or whether she'd crash. But she's a real trooper and came over around 10:30 or so, surprisingly wide-awake. With her music theory homework. This is one dedicated student folks, and serious theory geek. For the last week and a half she'd been obsessed with the concept of a flat V chord, built off the tritone. She finally figured it out, with no help, but only vague hints from faculty. And will she ever find out if I actually knew the answer all along? Oh, I think not.

Upon her arrival, I began the much-anticipated Little Hat Soup recipie. I'd described this to her almost a week ago, so she was looking forward to the opportunity to try this delicious, yet simple soup. It's chicken broth with some basil, and cheese ravioli in it. I served it with some pepper, fresh grated romano cheese, and a drop of pesto in it. There was also salad. A fresh Italian blend of greens, with herb croutons, green and, for contrast, red pepper slices, black pepper, more grated cheese, and a creamy Italian garlic dressing. Since Tatiana's a teetotaler (we'll forgive her for this), I served some fruit punch, which thankfully didn't detract from the meal, although I can't claim it enhanced it either. I followed dinner with coffee, made in my French press, which brews a consistently bold, yet smooth cup. All this culinary wizardry, which seems pretty obvious & kind of minimal to me, appeared to slightly impress her. She was very appreciative and complimentary of my kitchen skills, which supports my assertion that the way to get chicks (or at least impress the hell out of them) is not to be a muscle-bound steak-head with a souped up Honda, but to cook well. And they say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Yeah, right.

For the balance of the evening, we listened to some tunes, I taught her a couple scales on my upright (to be accurate, she figured a couple out on her own from just a couple rudimentary concepts), and we exchanged clever quips and made fun of each other. She decided to hit the road around 1:00 (I think... I wasn't exactly watching the time too closely). As I saw her out & down the hall, the words of a wise friend of mine came to mind, "I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave." She managed to abscond with my mood ring, which I usually wear on gigs. I got online figuring she'd sign on when she got home (rather than go to sleep). I was indeed right, and we went on with our sarcastic banter while she did her theory homework with Finale. Additionally, she wound up calling me when her cable modem dropped it's connection, so I helped her get that working again, and of course we gabbed on the phone for another couple hours. While instant messaging occasionally... what a couple of weirdos we are. Every time I talk to her I discover something new we have in common, such as meteorology. I mean, a chick into meteorology? I never would've guessed. Now, I won't necessarily say that I'm slightly taken with her, nor will I necessarily say that I find her extremely attractive, but that may have something to do with the fact that it's difficult being totally candid about someone who I'm aware reads all of this. After all, this isn't some kinda god-damn diary, now is it? Oh brother... sometimes I just say way too much. I will definitely say whether she's a big smart-ass... and yes, she is.

Kirk's role in this was brief. We got home at the same time, and he quickly enquired as to if my lady friend was coming for dinner. He holed himself up in his room when Tatiana arrived, although I don't think a high level of privacy was exactly required here... it was just dinner, you know? At one point he was scurrying around between his room & the bathroom, getting ready to go to Becker's, and he quickly dodged into the kitchen, leaned to me & whispered with an air of approval, "she's very cute," which I acknowledged. He then stealthily dashed back out of the kitchen as quickly as he arrived. He excused himself to head over to Becker's after mentioning he'd had a rough day at work... apparently he'd gotten into a confrontation with one of the parents of his case, a very large man, and had been struck by the 9 year-old son, and has decided he's about had it with youth crisis intervention counseling now. I can certainly understand from how he describes it... it's really gone to shit since our friend Jack Doyle has been slashing the county budget left & right. Next time ol' Jack is at the Hyatt for some awards ceremony, I'd love to add a nice lugey to his meal, the fat bastard.

Ok, this has become entirely too long. I should go back & delete a bunch of shit, especially that which reveals anything personal, but I'm feeling adventurous today, no matter who reads this. To hell with it, carpe diem, you dig?