Labor Days

I had a long weekend. I ended up accidentally committing to work at 2 different people's homes over the weekend, doing general maintenance and yard work. It was 102 in the valley where both homes were so it ended up being not all that pleasant. Sunday was the worst. I was asked to spray paint a wrought iron fence, by the 14th can of spray paint I didn't actually have any fingers left that would hold down the little nozzle button. I'm sure they make some type of tool which makes that motion much easier. There is a numb tingly feeling still in the fingers on my right hand, I'm hoping that goes away soon.

For the record I'm complaining a bit about having too much work, at a time when most people don't have any. I acknowledge this. I do wish my monday through friday were more financially fulfilling, I would enjoy spending my weekends on myself. I suppose I don't love being idle, though I think I would like to give it a try.

My uncle Ronnie is now retired. He is the first friend of mine to retire, and he seems to have taken to it rather well. I think about not having a job to go to, what would that be like? I worry that I'd be less focused if I just had a sea of time stretching before me, but secretly I like to believe that I would use it, and that I would be much happier for it.

Yesterday was my day off. I slept in and it was nice. I woke up around 10am to the sound of Angela sweeping the patio. What a wonderful sound sweeping is. I like a simple tool, much like I like a complex one. Why even say things like that?

The sweeping was nice. Angela had figured out that movies at the burbank AMC that play before noon are $6. I got up and had a cup of coffee and dressed. We left home and headed out to see the last exorcism. It was fun to watch a horror movie at 11am.

We left the theater at 12:30. There is nothing so bright as the mid day sun after a morning movie.

We did some shopping then and went home to make a nice lunch. Then we made more coffee and I started to give some of my guitars a bit of love and affection. The Telecaster I used to play in SG has sat pretty much unused for the past 6 months. It had a broken string and was just a bit dirty. I removed all the strings and stickers from the guitar and used goo be gone on the residue. I then cleaned it lovingly and re-strung it. If a guitar were ever an old friend, and believe me they all are, this guitar is my old best friend. After I finished the makeover I set up a little recording station in the bedroom and laid down a simple guitar part on Devin's song "Bridge to Nowhere". The Tele felt so nice, and I feel like the simple part worked well for the song.

Next I did a scratch guitar part on a song for Turbo Sunshine called "doom sensation". Angela had wanted to do some singing so I quickly wrote the words for the song and recorded myself singing them. This is a song we want to sing together, so I then called her in and had her do her part. She did the first verse once, listened to it, and then made adjustments, listening carefully again at the end and asking to redo it. She did this several times, each time getting better. I was impressed. I have become so spoiled and lazy in my recording. I seldom listen back to anything to see how I like it, and if I can improve it. I'm always in a rush to get to the next instrument or the next chorus or the next song. I need to remember to take my time and do things right.
In the end she nailed the whole song word for word with me. I'm excited now to do a rough mix of it.
After we finished with Doom Sensation I had Angela track some vocals on Devin's song Bridge to Nowhere. She did some beautiful parts and I'm excited to share them with Devin.

We finished the day with a trip to Fresh and Easy, a home cooked meal and a few episodes of mad men. The weekend is now over and I miss it very much.

We are on a major health kick, Angela, Devin and Myself. It was funny to be out at a club on satruday night and have all three of us ordering club sodas. I feel good.