Well, There It Is.

I finally received my tax refund a few days ago, directly deposited into my bank account. It’s only about $50, but I’m happy to be getting anything back.

I guess there just isn’t much interesting going on. So why write then? Here’s what’s been on my mind lately, and I’ll list them in my stream of consciousness style. Buffy is dead. Ideas for two songs popped into my head today. Hopefully I’ll get somewhere with these ideas. I feel a concept album coming on. My brother “rocks.” (He’s “Pitchshift,” check it out.) I’m working on a new compilation CD for myself, drawing inspiration from the likes of Destiny’s Child, Moulin Rouge, and Shaggy (Reggae, not Rogers). Big event coming up this weekend. I guess that’s it for now.

I haven’t had too much time to write lately. We are preparing for some events at work, and every day I find more bugs in the new work website.

Unrelatedly, I’m finding that I am more and more fascinated with pop music. I spend the time in my car scanning for radio stations, trying to take in different kinds of music. I’ve discovered that a little bit of it is pretty good, while most is awful. Of course, I don’t know what the names or who the artists of any of the songs are since the deejays never tell you. They just assume you know. After all, they play most of the songs several times a day. The callers they broadcast are just as weird as the deejays.

I feel some ideas for a new mix are coming to me. I think it will start off with the quadrumvirate remake of Patti LaBelle’s Lady Marmalade. (Heh, one caller on the radio station pronounced the last syllable as “laid” instead of “lahd” like it is in the song. That was funny.) Reminds me of the old Syd Barrett tune, Baby Lemonade… only, not.

My home computer is on the fritz lately. I need to back everything up and reformat. Someone want to do that for me? Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?

Actually, it’s nice to do normal things. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself normal. Today I finally had a chance to wash my car. Darren helped, and we took care of my Honda as well as his huge van. We washed, waxed, and listened to some music in the process. Unfortunately there’s still construction going on in his development with lots of dust flying everywhere, so the cars won’t stay clean long. It is a nice change, though.

Today Darren’s and Ali’s families will be coming over for a Mother’s Day dinner. There’s gazpacho soup involved, that’s all I know.

In 1981, CBS released an album of children’s songs, called In Harmony 2. (More information is here.) I’ll have something special for anyone who can find me this recording, or MP3’s of the songs included, or anything else that will help me re-create this album.

The writer Douglas Adams passed away after a heard attack yesterday. He was the author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Also, he was a bridge between two of my adolescent hobbies (well, obsessions), Doctor Who and Pink Floyd. He wrote and edited some of the best Dr. Who stories, and was a good friend of the members of Pink Floyd.

I went to the movies tonight to see A Knight’s Tale. (Official website is here.) The suggestion was Darren‘s; I didn’t particularly want to see it after having seen the trailer for the film. However, I try to go into all new experiences with an open mind, so that I did.

Okay, so there were a couple of cheesy parts in the movie. But, in general it was just really well done — particularly the story. Forget whatever preconceptions you have about this film and just go see it.

I think movies help to bring my emotions out. In general the past few years I’ve been kind of reserved in my emotions, but I find that I can be moved by film and music, as well as visual art to a lesser extent. Even the smallest hint of humor in a movie will make me laugh, and the slightest twinge of sincerity or love can fill me up. I guess we all need an outlet.

So anyway, my point is, go see A Knight’s Tale.

3 Dead in NY Drug-Related Shooting

I heard about this on the radio this morning. The news announcer said that the police were quoted as saying that the shooting broke out when “the drug deal went bad.”

What was the drug deal before it was bad?

There are leaves on all the trees. When did this happen? The last thing I remember it was freezing outside and it was that “winter” part of the year. Then I look up, and it’s 90 degrees and things are growing everywhere.

Last night Darren got a call to do sound for Scared Turtles, a cover band, who were playing in a bar in south Jersey. I went with him to give him some assistance. The band was actually pretty good… definitely better than another band that we often go see on the Jersey shore. The lead singer, Marcia, was very friendly, as were all the bar staff. Aside from overloading the circuits after the first song, the night went pretty well. I had some time to stand behind the (huge) mixer and control the board, which was fun.

This bar doesn’t shut down until 3:00 am, an hour after the band stopped playing, so it was a little slow trying to get all of the equipment out of there, between microphones, mic stands, monitors, speakers, mixing board, the racks, and the bins and crates full of cable. We finally found an all-night diner in the area after 4:00 am.

I think this is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed hanging out in a bar. Maybe it is because I was working and actually had things to do.