Rainshine

Happy Thursday! It's not often you check the weather and see a rain on one day, shiny sun on the next, and rain again after that -- and rarer that you believe it! But it was deffo rainy yesterday, and so nice and bright today. So it was 2 for 2, we'll see what tomorrow is like.

I worked every day this week so far, so I'm not sure if I have any exciting stories to share. My aunt and uncle came over and I had lunch with Carolyn. And I played Lego Rock Band, which is cute, because your band is made of Lego people. (How do they do chords with those fingerless hands?!)

Oh yeah, last Thursday was Azusa visit. Getting to the play was an adventure! I've been to San Bernardino...once? before? Ever? Never by myself and in the dark to boot. Only got a little lost, only was a little late. But I got a free ticket (for being late??) and got to see the whole thing, so that was a win.

Jammed with Beth quite a bit. Drove on an adventure narrated by Bob Dylan. Bought British candy. Went to a park. Bought records--of course. I got live albums of Bob Dylan and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and...the Old Brown Shoe/Ballad of John and Yoko single. Then we got tacos at the best taco cart and visited at Sam's, where we did not play Beatles Rock Band and we did watch DVRed Olympics! And then I drove home. A jam-packed two days.

I've also caught up on most of the tv I've missed this year so far. I thought I'd be episodes and episodes behind, but really there were only three or four for each. Oh except I forgot all about Heroes and Chuck; I'll do that tomorrow.

Lost is weird so far, no? The thing with that one person this week really stressed me out. I sorta feel like the pressure of having to eventually make sense might be knocking out their ability to just tell interesting stories. (Like that same one person, how would that person really have spent the last three years? I would have guessed jumping through time like the others, no?) (And Jacob. He's all, these people obey me but the person they thought I was might be the other one so when I send you to them for your safety and then lure you away because there's no safety there at all. What's your game, Jacob?!)

I had about five cups of tea today. Tea is wonderful. It's also George Harrison's birthday today. Although imdb thinks it was yesterday.

That's all.

-Steph

Infiltration Thursday

Happy Thursday! Welcome back to the APU computer lab! That's how many Thursdays beamed from here? Two at least since I've graduated. And probably a bunch from when I lived in here when my laptop died. Those were the days, eh?

Bass is coming along well. Got a tape (yes, a tape) from the library; Bass Basics 2. Dunno what's on volume one. But so far this second installment is just at my level. We're learning rhythms! And I printed out some more tabs to increase my "songs I can play with" playlist. So now it includes "Girl," "Hey Jude," "Honey Pie," "Little Boxes," "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper," and I'm learning "And I Love Her" and "Like a Rolling Stone."

Okay what does it mean when individual fingers on your hand start twitching back and forth without you doing it? When I had my laptop, my pointer finger would do it occasionally, and I thought it was from using the track pad. But just now my right thumb did it, and then my pinkie. :<

Oh hey, let's change subjects!!! I have a shiny new niece!! Born on Valentine's Day!!! Cassidy Joy Miner!!! So that's wonderful and lovely. A great middle name, too.

So I am at APU today biding my time until I can drive out to San Bernardino to see Sam in a play, Legend of the Arrowhead. It's a musical about the history of that same city. I believe. It's going to be the best show ever and I can't wait to see it. And then tell you all about it.

Then tomorrow I will hang out with Beth and maybe Sam and jam and do all sorts of fun things that one can do on a day off. Listen to more Bob Dylan! Having heard less than 30 songs of his, I have a ways to go, but here's my faves so far: Don't Think Twice, It's Alright; Masters of War; Summer Days. And If Not For You, which George Harrison also recorded and here they are dueting in a most perfect duet.

Here are my fave Dylan lyrics, because the major attraction of his music is the stories he presents:

From "Ballad of a Thin Man"

You raise up your head
And you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says
"It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?"
And somebody else says, "Where what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

From "Summer Days"

She's looking into my eyes, she's holding my hand
She's looking into my eyes, she's holding my hand
She says, "You can't repeat the past." I say, "You can't? What do you mean, you can't? Of course you can."
Haha just the tone of how he says it. Reminds me of the Conchords, a bit.

From "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
Well, I got the fever down in my pockets
The Persian drunkard, he follows me
Yes, I can take him to your house but I can't unlock it
You see, you forgot to leave me with the key
Oh, where are you tonight, sweet Marie?

If you know any cool songs I should try to learn, plz to be letting me know!

Furthermore, if you know any cool songs I should just plain listen to, send 'em my way! I <3 teh music.

Lol, my playlist is a mix of Dylan and Buddy Holly, which makes for comic transitions. I'm starting in the '60s and working outwards from there, it seems.

Okay Thursday pals, I'm outta ideas and or ramblings about old music, so I'll drift away. Keep being the cool folks you are.

-Steph

Jammin' With Edward

Happy Thursday! There are actually no Edwards involved, that's just a title of a Cowboy Bebop episode, and when I think of "jamming," that's what my mind auto-completes with.

So I've had a bass for two weeks, and this is what I have to show for it. It's actually pretty bad and after I recorded it (this is like the tenth take) I still debated actually putting it up. But it'll be a benchmark for improvement, no?

And admittedly, the poor tone has a lot to do with it being un-amped, and I was concentrating more on being loud than being good. One of these days I'll get an amp.

Because guess what. I have a bass! A mine all mine bass! For cheap as free or just cheap! From my neighbor! I named her Reilly!

But it's not Reilly in the recording, no, she's a little too jangly "in person" so I used the loaner bass whose strings seem to be a lot tighter. The new one probably needs a good looking over by a professional, I think. But still. Way cool.

I'm also amused because I'm using the guitar strap from off the Rock Band guitar still, and I used the USB microphone to record today. It's like the olden days, or the wild kingdom, where play is really just secretive learning of life roles. I mean, Rock Band : pouncing on a litter mate :: Guitar : pouncing on a gazelle.

Rock Band is an enabler.

Me and Carolyn went and saw New Moon at the cheap theater, and I'd say it was hardly worth my three dollars. But considering I saw the first one cheap as free (twice, somehow), it helps if I look at it as one dollar per viewing. That's a little more cost effective. Whereas Twilight surprised me and surpassed my abysmal expectations for it, New Moon -- held to the self same abysmal expectations -- flamboyantly failed to even try to meet them. Dumb, dumb, dumb movie.

Then I went to Pasadena and jammed with Beth. More than jamming, though, we went to restaurants (Pita Pit is the most creepy location in the world, and Maui Wowie was no more) and looked in windows of places that were closed and got harangued by sports fans and got coffee and looked at every book and visited every city and hugged Sam. But then we jammed until like three in the morning, so it was good.

But then I did inventory til late a few days later, and then I got sick, so yeah. I'll sneeze on you. But other than that it was a pretty chillaxing day. Jamming with Reilly.

-Steph

I'm Down

Happy Thursday. Yesterday was super warm and lovely, and I only worked like two and a half hours and then I went to the park -- but today was way cold and full of heartbreak. That is, I got to the final chapters of the Beatles biography I was reading, and it was tough going. The next one I read I'm going to get through 1966 and then put it down.

Observing someone's remarkable life from beginning to end, repeatedly, is an insane thing to do. Especially when eight of those years involve being the most influential pop act in history (and as a reader, you know that each year brings you closer to the devastating end). The "repeated" factor makes it that much more incomprehensible because you jump from the heartache of Get Back straight into the glee of A Hard Day's Night and it's like a vertigo attack. Worse, when you see the old ones on the tv, and then jump back forty five years to when they were lil' babies and you can't help but think they're still like that, joking and laughing, out there somewhere.

Ringo put out a single last year that I recently was pointed towards, and it's pretty captivating -- due mostly to the fact that I'm entirely sure that most of it is auto-tuned -- but captivating nonetheless.

One of my favorite things ever is watching young Ringo on stage. The happiest drummer in all the world. The good ol' days.

Maybe one day I'll emerge from my Beatlemania cocoon and actually have something significant to write about. But I'm still crushing pretty bad right now, so this is what you get.

I just spent like an hour trying to find a good clip of Ringo drumming, and ended up watching so many interviews instead. I'm just going to link to you I'm Down, because that's fun. And topical.

Speaking of playing the bass, my goal is to be able to play and have a seizure at the same time, just like Paul.

Beth came over on....one of these last days, and we had a jam session. Actually first we had brownies, then we went to a record store and bought every record (I got a Beach Boys concert recording, a Jimi Hendrix Experience smash hits album, and some Beatles interview excerpts from '64 and '66; Beth got Dylan and Cream and the Byrds and something else and George's first solo album All Things Must Pass, which is awesome). Then we went to Chipotle.

And then we jammed. Scoured the web for tabs and chords and tried our best for hours and hours. I totally sort of know the notes on the fret board now. Also had an extended "jam" of my playing a little riff based on the bass part from "Girl," I just played that and played that waiting for Beth to write a song to go with it.

We're gonna be a band. We'll be called MDMB, which stands for Minor Delta, Major Bravo, which were our nicknames one day. We'll write nonsense songs and do covers and we'll be very popular. Some of our songs will include "George Knows a Sexy Secret," "George Doesn't Know a Secret," "GearFab," "Leggy Eyebrowns," and "Gentle Moose."

But first I have to learn how to play, so don't reserve your tickets just yet. Busted out this instructional dvd that I am borrowing along with the guitar, and he (and the creepiest Andy you ever saw) taught me the E scale and how to play some worship songs.

I would have practiced again today, but there were bees in there. :<

So after I finished my book I played through all of Abbey Road on Rock Band. Even though that was the same as the bee room.

Speaking of writing songs, does anyone know how? Can you teach me?

-Steph