Jay – Page 6 – The Boring Old Man

A door closes…

Today is the last day at my music studio, and I’m taking it a little harder than I thought I would.

It was always a dream of mine to have “my own” place to play, whenever I wanted, as loud as I wanted and for as long as I wanted, and finally I got to make that dream a reality a little over a year ago. Fourteen months, to be precise.

As a drummer, it’s a lot more difficult to practice, than say for a guitarist or pianist. When I lived in my childhood home, I got pushed out of my bedroom into the garage because it was just too loud for my mom to deal with. But even in the garage – and I’m talking old-school garage, no insulation, no drywall, nothing – I could only go about half an hour before Mom had had enough… Plus you’d freeze in the winter and have a heat stroke in the summer. Not a great situation. When I played in bands through my teens and 20’s, I was always at somebody else’s house or an hourly rental rehearsal space, where you spent half your (paid for) time setting up and tearing down your gear. Then we finally got a house, but also had a baby. Then we had to move into an upstairs apartment, the drums went into storage, and were unfortunately stolen shortly thereafter. So, it’s been a tough run as a drummer.

But as it turned out, the dream was better than the reality. Sort of. I mean, yes, I got to keep my gear in one place, completely set up so I could just walk in and be playing in less than 60 seconds. THAT was awesome! And if it was 6am or 10pm, it didn’t matter. Having no one to complain is a gift that you cannot understand if you’ve not had the cops pounding down your door cuz the neighbors complained.

Don’t get me wrong, I had some good times there, but there was a little aggravation too. There were 40-50 studio spots in the building, the insulation was poor at best, so when 3 or 4 bands would be crankin’ it out simultaneously, the cacaphony would drive me nuts. For a while there was a Tejano group across the hall, with non-stop AMPLIFIED accordian playing. I hated the accordian BEFORE then, now the sound of it completely puts me on edge. A bunch of times the heat or A/C wasn’t working, there would be NO parking for blocks around (and it’s not the kind of neighborhood you wanna walk half a dozen blocks in the middle of the night, if you catch my drift), then the roof started leaking…though thankfully none of my gear got soaked.

But honestly, the worst part of the whole thing is I simply couldn’t find other musicians to join in the fun. I had a writing partner when I first got the space, but his other project took off, he went on tour for 6 months or so, and I spent the last 8 months trying to recruit other players, to no avail. I don’t care what anyone says, finding like-minded musicians to play with in middle age is 110% harder than when you’re a teen or young adult just starting out. Everyone has “real” jobs, spouses, kids, responsibilities… and the middle-aged folks that don’t have that? They’re worse! You find out very quickly why they don’t have any adult stuff in their life…

Bought a sweet bass rig to make life easy…too bad I never found a bassist!

Now, I LOVE playing the drums – as part of an ensemble. Playing drums with no other musicians gets stale and boring after a while. (I’ve always HATED drum solos!) Boredom led to a lack of motivation. Lack of motivation got me making excuses to not go as my savings account burned to the ground paying for a space I was barely using.

And here we are…

On the bright side, I got my MOJO back as a drummer. I’m not at 100% of where I was when I was say, early 20’s, but I was playing about 20-30 hours a week back then, and had essentially no other real responsibilities so my skill level was off the charts. But I do feel like a real drummer again, and that has been good for the soul. I was also able to do a lot of experimenting with different set ups of my kit, which is something I’d never do when I’m paying by the hour for a rehearsal spot. And it’s not like I’m gonna stop playing altogether, I’ll just be going back to my alternate methods for a while. I got my first snare drum at 7 years old. Now I’m 55, and while there have certainly been ebbs and flows over the years, I’ve never stopped playing. I see no reason to stop now. It’s part of my DNA I suppose…

I still have “The Dream” of my own space. I just know now that this wasn’t the right place for me at this time. I’m grateful I took the leap, I’m grateful for the lessons learned and I’m grateful for this not becoming yet another “I wish I would have…” event in my life. Yes, it’s been a very expensive lesson, but I consider it worthwhile. You don’t know what you don’t know, right? Now I know.

So now I’ll be retreating to the spare bedroom, and setting up shop in there to see what, if any, new things I can learn with all the gear I’ve acquired over the last couple years. I’ve got electric drum stuff, samplers and keyboards, guitars and basses that have not been getting much love. Now the amps and the PA and the giant acoustic drum kit are stuffed back into a storage unit (NOT the same place that was burglarized all those years ago!) and it’s time to move on outside of my comfort zone to see what kind of magic I can pull outta my hat! Honestly, even after all these years, I’m intimidated by electronics – back in the 80’s when all that stuff was new and thrilling I tried my hand at programming sequencers and drum machines and…well, let’s just say there is a reason why drums, good old fashioned acoustic drums, are still my main instrument! Hopefully, like with computers, the machines are more intuitive and user friendly than when they were new, cutting edge technology. We shall see. Either I figure it all out and make some cool new music, or I’m gonna have one hell of a yard sale!!

A kit like this ain’t for everyone, but I do love having that many different voices to choose from!

One last walk…

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Memes…cuz why not?!?!

Exceptionally busy at the moment and I feel like my brain is just grinding gears right now…

If I could form a coherent thought I might write something, but things are a bit too scrambled…

That being said, here are some memes to give you a little insight into a tiny fraction of what’s cookin’ in the ol’ brain stew. Just the part I can share publicly, of course.

Enjoy your days. Heck, your nights too! I’ll be back soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sick of Being Sick!!

Here we go again, ANOTHER bout of illness that I simply cannot seem to shake.

I’ve been ill more in the last 2 years than in the previous decade, easily. Maybe even longer.

I haven’t seen (or even have!) a “primary care” doc for I don’t know how long. I’ve got insurance, that isn’t the issue. I just haven’t needed one for so long that I didn’t bother jumping through all the necessary hoops to find a new doc when my insurance changed 6 years ago.

I started this current job in February ’18 and I believe I got sick once between then and 2020 with some stomach issue that kept me down for a day or two.

Then “the Plague” happened in early 2020, and I held out on the jab as I didn’t trust it. As I’ve mentioned before, my job is “Healthcare Adjacent” and I was in and around several waves of C-19 throughout the year and well into 2021.

Finally, on July 22, 2021 I succumbed to the pressure and got the jab in the face of certain employment termination. Company policy, don’tcha know!?!

Then, after two YEARS of being neck-deep in Plague infested facilities, I got C-19 myself in January ’22. Weird, right?

I’ve never been so sick in my life, I seriously thought it was the end for me. At that point I’d been struck with suspicion. How was it even possible that I worked for 2 years around all these sick folks as we ramped up precautions and EVERYONE was masked and gloved and distanced and the entire world was turned on its head to “stop the spread” and NEVER got sick? But then less than 6 months AFTER INOCULATION I get the WORST sickness of my entire life?!?!

Fast forward two years, I have now had 3 confirmed cases of the Plague, I’ve had two really terrible bouts of flu, and I’m currently on day 7 of some new illness that just whooped me, and badly. It still isn’t over. I’m back to work but suffering a serious “brain fog”.

I was so bad this time I went to an Urgent Care clinic, only to discover (not having been to a doctor for ages) that my blood pressure is dangerously high, I put on considerably more weight than I realized (figured I needed to drop about 20-25#, but in reality it’s closer to 50!) AND I’ve got a nice start on arthritis in my left shoulder. Yay.

Keep in mind I had NONE of these ailments the last time I’d had a check up. I was in great health. Before the jab I was at the gym 4-5 days a week, eating (relatively) healthy, and the future was looking pretty rosy.

So I decided, maybe it’s time to relent and go see a western med doc, get myself a new primary care physician. Maybe have my heart checked out, get some bloodwork done, you know, actual Boring Old Man stuff… After a grueling time on the phone getting passed from one operator to the next, to the next, I finally got passed to the right person. I told her, no preference on docs, just please give me the FIRST AVAILABLE appointment for a new patient, and a couple minutes later I had it set… for JULY 31st!!!

Yeah, you read that correctly. July thirty-first. Six and a half months from now until the first available appointment for a new patient.

WTAF?!?!

So for now it’s back to the Chinese Medicine doc I’ve been seeing the last couple years in hopes she’s got some potion that will help lower the BP, or at least hold it steady while I shed some pounds, change up the diet and attempt to avoid any further crud getting in my system.

A lot of people were saying ’24 is going to be a doozy, and now I’m starting to agree… Lifestyle changes are generally not fun even when it is necessary to continue life.

If I could go back to July ’21, I’d let ’em fire me… I think in the long run I’d have been better off. Should have trusted my gut.

This and 24hrs were enough to conquer ANYTHING!

Thanks for stopping by my personal dark cloud today… Beware the snake oil salesmen. Stay safe out there!

Big thinks from a small statement…

Ok, first off, I was inspired to write this from something I read that stuck in my head like a familair song. I stole this from elsewhere. I removed the author and the site from where it was pulled, simply to get the point across without any undue bias. The important thing is the message, not the source. I know a lot of people will immediately discount anything that comes from outside their orbit but that would be a shame in this case. Anyhow, this is the post that set this blurb in motion:

All that being said, when I read this simple statement, it was like getting hit in the face with a shovel. It was so obvious and yet, it completely jarred me out of my general perspective on life.

I cannot begin to estimate how many time over the last 4 decades or so that I had that exact dream of going back in time and doing something different so that my future (current) self would be a better version than what it is.

Which is nonsense of course, and a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, time (as we currently understand it) only moves forward.

Where this all comes from is regret. A lifetime of “could have, should have, would have” weighs on me a little more every year. The one good thing I can say about aging is that – for me at least – it’s easier to look back and ACCEPT our prior mistakes and not blame everyone else for our own failures. Of course, that still leaves us in the same boat as to where said mistakes led us, but there is a certain comfort in letting go of blame and accepting that you screwed up along the way. Such is life. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way, sometimes more than once, even.

The list of things I wish I could go back and change are endless – never should have quit guitar lessons when I was 10, or piano lessons when I was 14. I shouldn’t have dropped out of college. I should have had myself more “together” before getting married. I never should have sold a particular automobile or piece of gear… I should have saved more, been more responsible, pushed harder, watched less TV… you get the idea.

As it stands though, I did do all those things (or didn’t when I should have, as the case may be) and here I am, for better or worse.

I have much to be grateful for – a 35 year relationship with my wife, a great daughter, some really good long time friends that go back to my childhood. None of those things just happened, they all took effort.

So while I’ll never own a home, I’ll never have my dream Porsche 911, I’ll never be a famous musician regaling fans worldwide with my talents, and I’ll never be in a position to “retire”, my life has been OK all things considered. In some ways it’s been better than expected and frankly better than I deserve some days.

I’ve worked very hard to maintain some stability throughout the years in the face of multiple layoffs, long illnesses, seized engines I couldn’t afford to replace, “family” members with no qualms about shoving a knife in my back… And all that has left me a little stunted and out-of the loop of modern life.

And yes, we could have scrimped and saved and not taken vacations or gone to shows and lived like paupers for 10 years and maybe, just maybe we could have gotten ourselves into a house of our own. But with no stability, nothing to rely on or fall back on, I have been extremely averse to taking any risk… especially when it comes to a roof overhead for the family.

For a long time this whole situation had me livid and I blamed everything on everyone else. Bitter? Hell yes I was bitter! And that bitterness completely clouded my vision of the future. It was a lot of struggle and I’m very thankful that I’ve (mostly) put all that behind me.

But the future? I’ll be honest, I don’t think about it much. At least I try not to. I chalk this up to the fact that my life has had a touch of chaos thrown in the mix, as long back as I can remember.

And lately chaos seems to be coming for us all, like a fully loaded freight train, on rusted out tracks with a conductor that is asleep at the controls.

What is there to trust anymore? The media lies and manipulates everything. The medical profession went completely off the rails and still refuses to own up to the disaster they compounded over the last several years. Our government – on EVERY level – seems to determined to be our RULERS as opposed to our representatives and public servants. Our “food” is killing us. The banks are robbing us of what’s left after the various tax agencies get their pound of flesh AND pushing us towards “digital dollars” that will allow them to rob us even more expediently OR to simply shut us down if we become too vociferous in our displeasure at their thievery… And don’t get me started on the “legal profession”.

When this is the world we live in, is it any wonder that I don’t think much about the future?

Maybe I just think too big. There are plenty of ways to “make a difference” that fly under the radar. Just trying to be a good person and doing the right things along your path is more than a lot of people do. Maybe I won’t “change the world”, but maybe the child of one of the guys I mentored over the years will? Perhaps a kindness paid by me will get paid forward, and then paid forward again and that chain reaction with somehow change the future?

All I know is that none of us are perfect, but if we move through life thinking of others, being good people, giving to and giving back to others…Standing up for what is right and stepping in when needed, these things matter. And for what it’s worth, in my humble opinion, if we all did this, we’d all have a brighter future. We could come together as a united peoples again.

If we do that, then surely we can take care of the pesky politicians and put them back in their rightful place!

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with my babbling!

Monday Memes…

It was a busy but boring weekend… Nothing of note to write about, so I’ll just share some laughs with y’all.

Happy Monday everyone. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program…

Concert Review: Missing Persons & Bow Wow Wow at the Guild Theater, Menlo Park, CA.

Welcome to my first concert review of 2024!

This was a last-minute decision…the Mrs. and our daughter are on a girl’s overnighter so I had to decide if I wanted to go bad enough to go alone, and since the venue is right up the road from my workplace and I was going to be alone anyway, I decided to pull the trigger on a single ticket.

Now, I am a longtime, HUGE fan of Missing Persons and have been since the first time I heard “Mental Hopscotch” on KFJC back in middle school. The next year as a freshman in high school I got a copy of their “Spring Session M” album and DEVOURED it. I seriously could not get enough. I loved all of it, but it was drummer Terry Bozzio that got me obsessed with the band and he would become my #1 influence as a drummer for the next… well, he’s STILL my #1 influence some 40 years later!

Even though I let go of MOST of my vinyl records (READ: sold them ‘cuz I was damn poor and needed to make ends meet!), I never let go of my Missing Persons collection – all 3 studio albums, their first EP ( which took nearly a decade to source!) and 12″ singles are still proudly in my collection.

I LOVE all the MP albums, but this one in my favorite! Criminally underrated!!

As I was only 12 when they first broke out and the band only lasted (in it’s original lineup) until 1986, I never got a chance to see them live. Until about 2001 that is, when they (mostly) reunited and played a club show in LA. That was the first and only time in my life that I actually took a flight to go to a show!

I had “friends in high places” back then and actually got to go backstage before the gig and met Terry, his (by then ex-) wife, vocalist Dale Bozzio, and guitarist Warren Cuccarillo, who were all very nice and gracious to the blithering idiot that was I, telling them all how much they’d shaped my musical life for the last (at the time) 20 years. Then they went out and played one of the most phenomenal sets I’ve ever experienced!

I only tell you all this to get around to saying that I was iffy on this show because for the last 20 years or so, Missing Persons is really just Dale Bozzio with a bunch of hired hands, not the band I was obsessive about. Now, Dale is a GREAT performer and was undoubtedly a big part of why the band got the attention it did back in the day, but she was always the least interesting part of the band to me. They had the best drummer I’d ever heard in my life, an unbelievable bassist and an absolutely amazing guitarist, so the weird squeaky vocals to me were just sprinkles on the icing of the world’s greatest cake!

However, when I saw the opening act was Bow Wow Wow?!?! Ok, I was sold.

I was also a fan of BWW back in the day, though not nearly to the level of Missing Persons. I was actually a massive Adam and the Ants fan BEFORE I ever heard of Missing Persons, and Bow Wow Wow was an offshoot of the Ants, so naturally I was interested when I first heard about them. I still have their “Last of the Mohicans” album in my collection too, but this band was so short lived and I was so young when they hit that I never got the opportunity to see them in their heyday. So when I saw it was them playing with Dale and MP, I just couldn’t say no! Of course, similar to Missing Persons, Bow Wow Wow is now working under the name “Annabaella’s Bow Wow Wow”, after the singer, so I can only assume it’s the same sort of deal – the original vocalist with a bunch of hired hands. Nonetheless, both bands have great songs so I figured if nothing else it will be some fun nostalgia.

Well first things first, Bow Wow Wow exceeded all expectations, by a mile! Annabella sounded great after all these years and still had that spunky energy she had back in the early days. Her band though, holy smokes! These guys were OUTSTANDING! Their guitarist nailed not only the original parts, but his tone was spot on too. His musicianship was excellent and he was fun to watch as well, just exceptional. The bassist was rock solid, groovy as hell and didn’t miss a thing the entire set. The drummer was on fire all night and just tore it up. The man got a serious workout up there with all those tribal-type of drum beats, just a pulsating rhythm, driving song after song, it was a very impressive.

They played all their hits, some deep cuts, some newer tunes and even a Bob Marley cover. It was great fun, highly entertaining and well worth the wait!

Missing Persons opened their set with Mental Hopscotch which was exciting for me as it was the first song I ever heard from them. But here’s where things go weird… You’ll recall a couple paragraphs back how impressed I was with the Bow Wow Wow drummer? Well, Missing Persons used the SAME drummer and it was (in my incredibly biased opinion) a disaster. His drum parts were just the beats with none of the amazing drum parts that made Missing Persons music so unique and special in the world of “New Wave”.

They followed up with Noticeable One, another one of my faves. I will give credit to the guitarist- he did an excellent job recreating Warren’s spacey guitar tone and his playing was really excellent. And Dale sounded as good as ever. But it all just sounded wrong because of the drums. I just couldn’t get past it. The songs are so ingrained in my head that I “hear” the music that is missing and it was like an itch I couldn’t scratch. Up next was Words, one of their biggest hits, and despite the outstanding guitar work it just sounded all wrong.

Imagine, say Jack White – an amazing guitarist in his own right – filling in for Eddie Van Halen… No matter the talent, it just wouldn’t sound right in that context.

I’m not gonna lie, I was getting bummed out.

I’m not trying to sound like an arrogant jerk here, I’m not he saying he wasn’t a good drummer, he just wasn’t playing the songs as written and to me it seriously diminished the music.

After Words, Dale went into a really long rambling talk that didn’t really go anywhere and I was getting a little perplexed…and then they started up “Simon”, from a late 80’s solo album and that was my cue to leave…

I have such strong memories of Missing Persons and their reunion show is still in the Top 10 of the hundreds of shows I’ve been to. I didn’t want to stay any longer and have my love of the band’s music tainted in any way, so it was best that I left early.

When all is said and done, I’m glad I went because Bow Wow Wow was great and I really enjoyed their set. And both of the bands had extraordinary guitarists which was a real treat. But unless all the stars align and there is another Missing Persons reunion with the original cast, I believe that will be my last MP show.

Are they still one of my all-time favorites? Yes. But it simply wasn’t the same…

I will say, if you’re not a hard core MP fan and you just remember them from MTV or the radio and you want some nostalgia, you’d probably be OK with their new sound. But if you’re like me and their entire catalog is committed to memory and ingrained into your soul I cannot recommend. To each their own, as they say…

Thanks for stopping by!

NYE in Napa, CA. Out & About/Concert Review/After Action Report…all rolled into one!

NYE was a busy day! Got up and hit the gym, came home and whipped up some healthy smoothies, then set about doing some chorin’ around the house, including taking down the Christmas tree. Then it was packing bags, feeding the critters, gassing up the ride and hitting the road 2 hours north to Napa.

Our first stop was the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Verasa this time around. Swanky place, let me tell ya! Check-in was super smooth and afterwards we met up with our daughter and her fiance, who’d arrived about an hour prior, to grab a bite. We stumbled into a place called Gott’s Roadside and had a great dinner – the gents dined on bacon cheeseburgers, while the ladies went for the poke tacos, and we split some sweet potato fries and onion rings. Healthy eating? Not today, my friends!

We then walked back to the hotel and split up to our different rooms so the ladies could get ready for the night’s festivities.

The main event took place at the Uptown Theater – a NYE celebration with Dogstar. Yes, I know, this is the 5th Dogstar show in 13 months, it may seem I’m a bit obsessed. But this was a chance to spend NYE with my lovely wife, and the kids and my best friend AND it’s the last show of the tour and who knows when/if they’ll ever play a live show in these parts again? Get while the gettin’s good as my Pops likes to say.

Archer Oh was the opening act- you may remember my raving about them in my review of the Menlo Park show this past summer. Well, once again, the band brought their A-game and left it all on stage! I’m still incredibly impressed with these guys, particularly their lead guitarist. He’s a stellar talent with a very unique style. Which is not to diminish the rest of the band, far from it! They are one of those bands that I believe is far greater than the sum of their parts. Their chemistry as a BAND just works and it’s delightful to experience them live!

Dogstar hit the stage to a nearly sold-out audience and played a longer then normal set, which included a couple older songs from previous records that I hadn’t heard them play on the tour, as well as a couple cover tunes – something they don’t usually do. When they charged into “Just like Heaven”, the mid 90’s gem by The Cure, the crowd was on their feet and going wild!

The band’s signature beer, with the Mrs’ “formal sneakers” in the background!

A little later in the set they tackled the Ramones classic “I Wanna be Sedated” which was a super fun flashback for many of us old geezers in the crowd!

Bret’s playing was on fire – even better than just a few weeks ago in SF. It just goes to show how much practice and playing shows can improve one’s craft. It was really a standout performance, no question. I cant help but to think back on the days in his mother’s living room when we were all of 14-15 years old, trying to figure all this rock band stuff out. To see how far he’s come as an artist is really special and inspiring.

Bret, delivering the performance of a lifetime!

The other thing that really grabbed my attention was that Keanu actually seemed to be HAVING FUN on stage! Generally he looks very serious and he’s “all business”, but that night, his sense of joy was palpable. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the tour and I’m grateful that I got to experience it with my family in tow.

After the show there was quite the gathering backstage, all friends and family of the band(s) and crew(s) and we had a really. nice time chatting with folks. We shared a New Year’s toast with Keanu, and I got to talk to 3 of the 4 members of Archer Oh, which was cool. Very nice young men. Humble and grateful for the opportunity to do this tour. I wish them nothing but continued success!

After the After Show party, it was back to the hotel around 2am… A couple light snacks and it was lights out for the Mrs. and I.

Before we knew it, the next morning was upon us. Time for showering, packing up, checking out and meeting up with the kids for brunch a few miles away at Olive & Hay.

Brunch was terrific. I ordered French Toast with berries which was delicious, and everyone else was equally pleased with their selections. This is most definitely a place to return to!

After brunch it was back on the road to home. Talk about a whirlwind trip! Less than 24 hours and we combined outstanding food, excellent entertainment, catching up with old friends AND celebrating the rolling in of the New Year!

As I look back on 2023, mostly I see a dark and grim year, but for all it’s doom and gloom, Dogstar stands out as a shining point of brightness. They had a great year in 2023, and I hope they can keep that train rolling throughout 2024 and into their European summer tour that is already in the works.

All in all, this was an exceptional New Year celebration for us and I’m thrilled that the new year is off to a great start.

Happy New Year, y’all! Thanks for stopping by!

That’s a Wrap…

Here we are, on the cusp of a New Year and I for one am more than ready to kick 2023 to the curb!

Not that I have great expectations for 2024, mind you. Quite the contrary.

I’m not one for predictions so you won’t get those here. (Although esteemed writer James Kunstler made a great – if terrifying – list of predictions for next year that sadly I can’t find much to disagree with… https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/do-you-dare-even-look-forecast-2024/) Also, I’m not exactly a “resolutions” guy, but I do look at every New Year as a milestone, a lookout, a place to stop and assess, make corrections and sort of a “clean slate”.

All that being said, I do not expect 2024 to be a fun year. I have a lot of work to do in the “personal growth” arena. Bottom line, I let a lot of things slide this year. And not in a good way. My physical fitness went downhill. My financial well being essentially evaporated. My home is currently a disorganized mess. My worklife (read: job) is hanging be a thread, as I have lost (almost) all motivation. In short, I’m exhausted and exasperated. And beating myself up on the daily.

So my “goal” if you will, for 2024, is to stop being lazy. I’m not quite at “picking up the pieces”, things aren’t THAT bad, but I can see that being the case if I don’t change course with a quickness.

I’ll be vacating my studio at the end of the month which brings a tinge of sadness, but it hasn’t been the haven for creativity I thought it would be and the expense is bleeding me dry. That ironically should help me out – one less thing to worry about, one less (large) monthly bill to pay, and an excuse to work on something new musically that has been needling at me for the last few months.

I’ll be back to the gym on Sunday and then (health permitting) back on the 3x/week schedule – minimum – as we start ’24.

Some other things I plan to be better about this year… more time in the water (for physical AND mental health), more range time (I don’t know about you, but I expect things to get weird in ’24, and I’m SERIOUSLY out of practice on the self defense end of the spectrum) and getting out in nature way more often. Less screen time, more time with my nose buried in books. Less dreaming and more doing!

I do plan to keep up on the ol’ blog here as well. I’ve got tickets for a number of shows already, and I’m sure at some point I’ll be delving into the sewer that is our nation’s politics (Ewww!), I’ve got a stack of books to read and so on. So lots of things to write about!

I want to thank all of you for spending any of your precious time here reading my stuff. I know there are a lot of better, and certainly more prolific writers out there to spend your time with, but it means a great deal to me that anyone comes here of their own volition and “lends me their ears”. My readership numbers are small, tiny even, but they are growing slowly but surely and I greatly appreciate that! So again, thank you!

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2024. Stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I’m old fashioned and I still celebrate and appreciate a traditional Christmas. To the rest of you that only acknowledge “the holidays” well Happy Holidays to y’all as well.

I wish my readers well, and appreciate you spending your time with me here. Gonna be winding down over the next few days, spending time with the family and just enjoying some calm and quiet.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I’ll see y’all soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Good advice…

I’ll be honest, I’ve been having a real struggle trying to get myself into the Christmas Spirit this year. I fully recognize that my life is pretty darn good generally speaking, but that doesn’t alleviate the worry/concern/incredulity that has been running non-stop through my head since early 2020 and has frankly, just been getting worse – seemingly by the hour – for the last 18 months. And I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.

Nevertheless, there is more than likely someone you know, maybe someone right in your inner-circle, that is having a rougher time than you. Keep that in mind, and try to keep kindness in your heart. I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to make their lives better or take on some other burden to get it off their shoulders…just don’t make things worse for ’em. Sometimes the smallest gesture can make the biggest change in a person’s day.

Ok. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Wishing you all the best, and please know that I appreciate y’all.

Thanks for stopping by!