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[Akima]

Of course, shouldn't a female doctor be a doctress?  Sounds silly, I know.

In Italy, a female doctor is a dottoressa, and a professor is a professoressa... As for actors and actresses, we could call them all thespians...

[Barmymoo]

In my experience "thespian" is often used as an insult. Not a very serious one, but a mildly derogative prod at someone who is obsessed with theatre.

Guys, something I was worried might happen and took steps to avoid several months ago has happened, and it might well cause another massive rift between me and someone I care about. And I have no idea what to do because unless the other person suddenly concedes and comes round to my view (very implausible, has never happened yet) then I have to choose between two equally bad options.

[Mister D Nomms]

I've never read anything in this thread before, so I read the entire thread just now. Highlights included lots of crying for lots of reasons. Well done, blog thread.

[valley_parade]

Aw fuck balls. After having an incredibly docile and snow-free (read: strange) wiinter, we are set for about 10" in the next day or two.

[Patrick]

Shane this is why you need to move to California, I was wearing t-shirts and considered breaking out my skinny jorts for a solid 3 days this week.

Dear blag,

My Troubador! bandmate Matt and I decided to begin work on a short 20-30min video featurette to be released with our first album. It's basically a manifestation of the sense of humor we both have, with smatterings of social commentary and Monty Python-esque clip editing shenanigans. So far a lot of it has been done entirely impromptu, but we've been brainstorming ideas and have come to the agreement that there shall be no plot, and no matter what we're going to have fun doing it. And it's already pretty funny, imho.

In the meanwhile, I've been writing a bunch of songs over the last few weeks, but none of them seem to really stand out to me as being very good. I worked on another tonight but I'm not sure how I feel about it. I feel like I write two great verses nearly every time I start a new song, and then I lose sight of the whole thing and want to scrap it. I don't know how to fix this. Halp plz.

I also talked to one of the girls who I think has the wrong idea about what kind of interest I have in her, and it turned out I was right. The good thing is that she was really understanding of the whole thing. Felt great to get it off my chest, because now I can at least rest knowing that I did my part to make sure there were no misunderstandings. Now I just have to repeat this process twice. What is it about the number three...

Love,
Me

[valley_parade]

Man how cold does it actually get out there? I'd hate for my coats and sweaters to go to waste.

[Welu]

Really happy with how my job interview went today. The guy was really civil and it was a pretty informal chat. Had an interview at this place before so had a good idea of what I was going to be asked.

Doubt I'll get it because they need someone really flexible and I'm not with college. Still happy I went for it. Will hear from them by Monday if I've got it.

[Lines]

Today has been a pretty fun day so far! My fellow student teacher and I went on a field trip to the symphony with our mentor teacher and the 4th-6th graders and it was pretty cool! I haven't been to the symphony in ages, so it was a really nice experience. And then afterwards, since we drove separate from the rest, we stopped and got ice cream. And then when we got back we ordered a pizza for lunch. Definitely the funnest day of student teaching so far.

[Patrick]

I have been sleeping an average of like 3-5 hours a night for the last week and it's driving me fucking 

[Carl-E]

And I have no idea what to do because unless the other person suddenly concedes and comes round to my view (very implausible, has never happened yet) then I have to choose between two equally bad options.

Sounds like it won't come to that.  You have a choice; worry about the things that are likely to happen and deal with them, or add in the unlikely worries and freeze yourself with panic. 


(Hint:  Go for the first)

[Barmymoo]

I think you maybe misunderstood - what was unlikely to happen was the other person realising that what they are doing is stupid.

However, they have decided to go and do what is likely to be an even more stupid thing, but involving someone other than me, so I am just not going to get involved. I don't want to know, and that way when it all goes wrong they cannot say "why didn't you warn me?!".

[Omega Entity]

I had to start doing similar with friends that wouldn't listen when I offered advice - I was pretty much giving myself ulcers over them. Then I discovered that there's a point where you have to say your piece, and then step back and not concern yourself with it. If they do something stupid, so be it.

[Patrick]

I live almost directly across the street from a middle school. Today, a man with a rifle was walking around in the hallways of that middle school. He was described as a caucasian male with a green sweater and blue jeans. And, obviously, a rifle. I heard it over the police scanner myself.

Livermore PD apprehended a black dude with a pistol, are you fucking kidding me! And as if that wasn't enough, Livermore's the fucking per capita DUI recordholder for the ENTIRE COUNTRY.

I wanna fucking punch somebody so hard right now

[Mister D Nomms]

I'm assuming he was near the school and that the school is one of those gun-free zones, right? Did they give up looking for rifle guy after they picked up handgun man?

[Patrick]

in the hallways of that middle school.

I seriously fucking hate this town and I just want to take my bandmate and my bar and just move all of the good shit out of here with me.

[Mister D Nomms]

I don't know if I was unclear- Was the black guy with the handgun the one in the school and they totally had the suspect description wrong or did they get him as well as the white guy with the rifle?

[benji]

I think Patrick is saying that the guy in the school was a white guy with a rifle. But since cops in his town don't really know how to arrest white people, they arrested a black person instead.

[Mister D Nomms]

I don't believe that.

[LTK]

Better step out of that bubble, mate, before something else bursts it and you fall flat on your face.

[Mister D Nomms]

For the sake of this conversation I'll give you that cops are all enormous racists and that everybody except the citizens who've stepped outside that bubble is on their side. I still don't believe they saw this white guy with a rifle wandering around a middle school and then went out of their way to find a black guy to take the fall instead.

[Barmymoo]

Why would they need to go out of their way?

[Mister D Nomms]

I think I'm still being misunderstood. Was there a white guy or not?

[pwhodges]

They were given the description of a white guy with a rifle; they arrested a black guy with a handgun.  But without more information, we don't even know if these were really even supposed to be related to the same incident, whether the first description was contradicted elsewhere, or what.

[bainidhe_dub]

The news reports I can find say that a parent reported seeing a man with a rifle. Police locked down & searched the school but no one was found inside or arrested in connection with it. It was after hours so there were only some teachers and an after-school group in the building.

[Patrick]

I don't believe that.

Believe what you want about the way people are, because nothing I can say will disappoint you nearly as badly as finding out the truth for yourself.

If anybody is curious, I've posted updates that may satisfy some of your curiosities. I'll warn you, it's a bit ranty and opinionated, so I've put it in spoiler tags for your convenience/the sake of allowing this post to not be stupid long.

(click to show/hide)

Paul, your post begs a question, so I'll answer: the black pistol-bearer was indeed arrested in connection with the incident; they called the whole thing in on the scanner as it happened, to hell with the press release they provided. But apparently the downtown branch of Bank of America was robbed while the police force were all concentrated on the school. So not only did the cops blatantly ignore the suspect's description, but the whole 911 call can now easily be assumed to be a hoax (when I was in high school here, someone called in a hoax bomb threat, the police locked the school down and put their entire force on location, and a bank got robbed; that's one of just 3 similar events that I know of). It is also common knowledge around here that the Livermore PD gives bonuses to the officers who bring in the most DUI arrests. The cops are even blunt about it, as if it's a badge of pride or something; said so themselves at a meet&greet event I attended.

In the Livermore PD's defense, news helicopters were ALL OVER THAT SHIT showing literally the entire police force on the scene, hence it could just be that some opportunistic felon picked the right 4-leaf clover (although considering the hard drug issues this town has, this doesn't give the po-po all that much more credit, as they could be doing legit crimefighting but obviously are not).

Tonight I had a phenomenally good night. Hosted my coffee shop open mic, played at another, killed my set, gave my business card to a prominent local vintner. Some older guy actually asked me about what was happening with the duo of my best friend and I, and even though we haven't played together at that place since before he left for Air Force BMT, the older guy still remembered the silly band name we'd given ourselves. I still can't really believe it. Hell, we only ran the place for a little over half a year, and we had the band name for maybe 1/3 that time. It made me feel really good about what my friends and I have managed to pull off over the last 2 years.

I've got a show to play in 14 hours and I have not managed to get to sleep, I am a little concerned. I haven't slept much all week. It can't be performance anxiety, I play in front of people for at LEAST 8 hours a week (and have for more than half a year now) and I haven't even really been thinking about it that much. Maybe it's because I'm playing bass, and that isn't my usual instrument. But I'm switching to guitar for a significant part of the set...

[Carl-E]

No fear, sleep will come. 



Right after you kick ass. 

[schimmy]

So I got dumped today.

When we first started going out, she was a lot more into me than I was into her. I felt a bit uncomfortable about it, like I wasn't being fair to her. We discussed it, and she said that she was okay with the situation. I decided that, since we both wanted to be together, it would be patronising / paternalistic of me to end the relationship "for her own good" if she said she was alright with it. So we kept going out, and my feelings towards her started to get more and more serious. A few weeks ago, I realised that I was happily on course to a Serious Relationship.

Anyway, whilst all this was going on, she started to get depressed, and stopped eating. A few days ago, she ended up in hospital because of it. We had a couple of conversations about how she felt she wasn't being fair on me, dragging me into her personal problems, and not being able to be a 'proper' girlfriend, whatever that means. I explained that her problems didn't get in the way of me wanting to be with her. She decided that wasn't enough to stop her feeling uncomfortable, and broke up with me.

My mind's kind of in a whirl. On the one hand, I totally respect her right to not be in a relationship that she is not comfortable being in, but on the other, I feel really patronised that she didn't let me decide whether or not the dynamics of the relationship were fair on me.

[Patrick]

Shit man, I'm sorry to hear of it. But you seem to get it, at least. Good on you for being well-adjusted, and here's hoping you move on to bigger and better things!

Guys, my band's show last night was fucking KILLER. I don't know how, but my bandie Matt managed to finagle us the headliner spot, despite it being our very first show. As it turned out, the band before us was relatively green, and so it was appropriate (and fortunate) that a band full of seasoned veterans of live performance would headline. And we fuckin nailed it! We got an encore right there on the spot, and we wound up playing 2 or 3 that we'd never even rehearsed (one of which our drummer Paul had never even heard) and everybody ate it up!

I don't think I've ever had that much fun before in my life, last night was fucking awesome! And now I ABSOLUTELY want to go on tour. I'll wait until we have a record released, but now I know what we're capable of. I couldn't have pipe-dreamed better.

[Mister D Nomms]

Just started playing the first Metal Gear Solid (Twin Snakes. Have the first disk of the playstation version, but not the second). Now I've beaten it and I regret not playing it sooner. When I started, it took me a half hour to get through the first room. Now if I started a new game, I'd fuck that room up. My brother has the next two games and I'm going to borrow those from him and do them next.

[Welu]

Just finished getting everything ready for the morning. I'm going to attempt a full day of college and the gym tomorrow. I may get my routine back in order just in time for the Easter break.

[Carl-E]

Writing the third of 4 exams for tomorrow morning. 

Needed a break, checking in.  You're all good? 



Great.  No sleep for me...  hope I can stay awake for the drive to work. 

[Jimor]

Well FOO! Genero.tv has once again rejected a music video I submitted to their contest, this time for a new Ringo Starr release. Really disappointing to put all that work into it and not even get a chance to have it posted with all the others. It's also frustrating that as somebody who understands editing at a professional level, what they consider as "official music video" material is really nothing more than generic shots with random rack-focusing strung together in slow motion with the current fashionable video filter applied from Final Cut's dropdown menu.

There are definitely some videos entered that are absolutely amazing in every way, but overall there's a sameness to the "acceptable" entries that betrays a real misunderstanding of the art form by the contest runners that does a large disservice to the artists who choose to get involved. Not that I thought I'd win, but I definitely to have things within my videos that the other filmmakers can learn from as well.

Anyway, here it is for the rest of the world. Ringo Starr - Wings (a remake from a song he originally recorded in 1975)

[Patrick]

My amp died. But today I finished recording probably the best-arranged song I've ever been involved with. I am simultaneously stoked and FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Mister D Nomms]

Patrick, you made a music so powerful, it eXplodes your amp.

[Welu]

Woke up. Pool of blood on my pillow. One of my ear piercings seems to have torn some how. Been bleeding for over thirty minutes. 

Also I'm gonna be using this emote a lot. 

[Barmymoo]

Welu, I'm not an expert on ear piercings but I would say go to the doctor.

[DrPhibes]

There is a new forum look, or somehow it's new for me and it's jurting my eyes.

[Welu]

Welu, I'm not an expert on ear piercings but I would say go to the doctor.

It's stopped bleeding and I've cleaned it up. It's not near as bad as I thought. Must have tugged on it in my sleep.

[BeoPuppy]

Today, I bled for my art.

I should feel good about that but it stings too much.

[Patrick]

My amp's gonna cost a metric fucknut to repair. This upsets me a whole hell of a lot, because I am so fucking broke. $30 a tube, requires a matched set of 4, and that's before repairing the actual source of the problem. Fuck my liiiiiiiiife

[valley_parade]

$30 each? What are you, buying fucking NOS tubes?

(see I told you you should have just gone SFDR)

[Patrick]

After having looked my shit up (last I'd done so was last summer) it looks like it's gonna be half that. Still, fuuuuuck, that is money.

(SDFR?)

[valley_parade]

SFDR, good god.

Silverface Deluxe Reverb. All the goodness of your current amp, approximately 1/4th of the trouble/wattage.

[Patrick]

Shane it is not all the goodness of my current amp because what Deluxe Reverb owner gets to say they have 100w of clean headroom? I play clean so often it's almost disgusting.

[Dazed]

That is disgusting, electric guitars are made for distortion. I'm sort of from the Billy Corgan school of "distort it until it's barely recognizable, then distort it a little bit more" though.

[Omega Entity]

Well, just brought home the new kitty. We had to have one of our two put down last fall, due to what the vet suspects was cancer. Our new addition is currently destressing in his own room, and once he's not longer permastuck under the dresser, we'll let him out to explore and meet our other kitty. Bert can be seen here:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/17686628

The first pic is his current appearance - he's a big boy. The other two are pics from when he was a bit younger. He'd been at the shelter since 2010 (it's a no-kill, non-profit shelter run by fantastic people).

And yes, he has no tail 

[Lines]

What a cutie! And I love that he's named Bert.

[celticgeek]

Definitely a cute cat.  And he's Celtic.  And he will surely come out and be sociable. 

[Omega Entity]

I'm sure he'll warm up to us eventually - we were told by the people at the shelter that he gets real lovey, once he gets to know you. He seemed to be a favorite of a lot of the volunteers there. Doesn't mean that I don't feel bad for the poor guy, scared and in a new environment and all.

Once that hurdle is done with, the next one will be integrating him with our persnickety female senior citizen feline, Nina. She was hissing at me earlier, after smelling the other cat on my hands.

[Lines]

They'll get over it. I don't think we saw much of Hermione when my mom brought her home, but after a while her and Parker got along just fine. As long as they aren't trying to kill each other through the door (which Parker and my old cat, Waffles, did at first), they should be ok. Otherwise they'll probably just get used to avoiding each other.