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A lovely 66F out there this morning, and the high today is only 70F! It feels so refreshingly fall-like... which makes it that much more of a crime that they're still calling for 90sF over the weekend, and into early next week!
But... I gotta take each day on it's own terms, and today's terms are very nice!
I was wrong the other day about the Blue Moon being Thursday, it's today!.. second full moon in the same month.
It's also what they call a super moon, because it's a bit closer to Earth than normal and appears slightly larger in the sky.
I made an instacart order last night, and it was delivered this morning, so I have some groceries to put away.
And, I'm waiting on the garbage truck, so that I can bring in the bins before I go.
Because of these two things, I'm gonna wait on flipping the plywood to give the top a second coat. And my shoulders are a little stiff anyway, from flipping that thing over so many times.
I should probably order that dowel jig today, so I have it for the weekend.
They're saying, for SAT, SUN & MON, highs of; 88, 93, & 94.
But the lows those nights are 55, 59, & 64.
I believe the lows, because that's what we're already getting.
But to get to those highs... require swings of over 30 degrees per day. So... I'm hoping they're just wrong, and it won't get nearly that hot.
But even if they're right, it seems like I could still get the hatch door work done in the evenings, and even after dark... because I do have lighting back there, and a headlamp, and spotlights.
Assuming I can... I think I do have no choice but to attach the hinges to the new door before I fasten it to the house.
Which means the left and right hinges have to be further left and further right than the old ones.
Because I have to avoid driving screws in close to, but not exactly on the old holes.
As that'll just widen the holes and make it impossible for the screws to grab.
So... if that's how it has to be, then the steps would look like this;
- Attach new hardware and cable to unistrut.
- Create the two new counterweights.
- Remove old door by detaching hinges from house.
- Remove hardware from old door.
- Attach hinges and eye bolts to new door.
- Line up new door and fasten center hinge to house first, in original holes.
- Fasten left and right hinges.
- Hook up rigging and open door.
I don't want to do any of that if it's above 80F, we'll put it that way.
And I'm not removing the old door unless I know I can replace it within 24 hours.
So maybe this can all get done, by moonlight, over a three day weekend... but it depends on how far I can get on Saturday, I guess.
Anyway, it's all still three days away.
My focus today and tomorrow is better put toward the bills, here at months end.
Gotta make sure everybody gets paid, and I have enough in checking to get into September.
Well, it turned out to be a pretty crazy Wednesday at work.
When I got in I found out there was gonna be another PTA thing going on... some kind of open house with all the parents roaming around the building.
Jeremy had set up chairs in the library and one of the classrooms, as part of this event that was gonna be from 5PM to 7:30PM.
So the principal told me not to worry about vacuuming. She just needed me to get all the garbage in the building, touch up the bathrooms, spot sweep, watever could get done before 5PM.
So that's what I did... three garbage runs, and then I hit all the bathrooms... cleaning the mirrors, hitting the toilets and sinks with a quick rag... spot sweeping classrooms.
I was still dry mopping the hallways after the parents arrived, until about 5:30, and then the building got so packed I had to go hide in the shop.
I figured I could sneak out for a smoke, but when I saw my car parked outside, the rear passenger tire was flat!
I must've run over a nail on the way in... and though I made it to the building, it had lost air while I was inside working.
But I did have time to kill, and there's a spare hanging on the back of the trunk door, so I found the jack, got the spare down, and attempted to change the tire myself.
I wasn't sure where to place the jack, though.
I looked on YouTube, but couldn't find any videos about my 11 year old car, so I just picked a sturdy looking spot in back and jacked her up.
I got the bad wheel off, but the wheel hub was hanging way too low for me to get the spare onto it... the lugs wouldn't line up with the holes.
But now it was too late to jack the car back down, so I ended up using my Geico app to send for roadside assistance.
I got a call from a guy saying he was 40 minutes away, and that it would cost 50 dollars.
I said, fine, I'll be here.
Five minutes later I got a call from a second guy saying he was 45 minutes away, and it was gonna cost me 75 dollars.
I told him about the first guy, and he said, "Oh, yeah, they probably reassigned it to me. He probably got busy! I'm gonna text you a link to pay ahead of time, and once you pay, I'll be on my way."
He texted the link.
But something seemed fishy.
I've never had to pay ahead of time for something like this before.
Then I was called on the radio for something, so I took care of that.
Then a THIRD guy called, and said he was an hour away.
I told him about the first two guys.
And he said, "Sir, this is NOT a cash call!.. your insurance is paying for this. My name is Larry, and I'm with Auto Roadside Solutions."
He explained that there are a lot of spammers who intercept jobs like this if you go through an app, but assured me he was the actual guy.
So I told him I'd see him when he arrived.
Then the second guy called back, asking if I'd gotten the link he texted, because I hadn't paid yet.
I told him I'd taken care of it myself and didn't need the assistance after all.
The PTA function continued on, and I just hung out in the shop playing Mahjong, and watching TikTok, as texted updates came in from ARS (Larry's shop), to say he was running late, but still on the way.
The parents began to clear out at 7:30, and by 8PM everybody was out of the building, but Larry's ETA was 9:30!
So I just chilled for another 90 minutes until he finally arrived.
Larry topped off the air in my spare, jacked up the RAV4 with a proper hydraulic jack, got the spare mounted, and let the car back down.
I didn't have to sign for anything, or anything. He just thanked me for my patience, and left.
After I threw my jack, and the bad tire in the cargo hold, I got a text from ARS asking me to rate Larry's service.
I gave him five stars and a ten dollar tip.
Now that everything was squared away, I went around and collected all the chairs Jeremy had set up for the PTA function, and put them all away.
After that I put my janitor cart away, turned off the lights, closed the doors, and retired in the shop to watch more TikTok for the final hour of the night.
A fittingly weird evening, for a blue moon.
°¦}
So, while I was hanging out in the shop waiting for the PTA function to end, and for Larry to arrive... Colleen texted to a group chat that she, I, Sheila, and Tim have had going for a few months.
She texted a screen shot of something Brian posted on Facebook.
He's putting the call out to local musicians to start a cover band, that could practice at the rehersal space he's been renting the past two years... saying that between the four of them, "rent would only be $88.00 each."
He adds that there's another room next to the studio that could be used as a control room for recordings... or a lounge... for an additional $38.00 each, per month.
So... on the face of it... it doesn't sound so bad.
I mean, for four guys who were serious about it... even if it was just a cover band and kind of a hobby for fun... $88.00 a month is pretty reasonable!
That's $22.00 per weekend!
If you throw in the control room, it goes up to $31.50 per weekend ($126.00 per month) which also doesn't seem that outrageous.
But there's still things to unpack here.
Cover bands don't typically record their stuff... because it's all copyrighted material.
Also... why would they need a lounge, when the entire rehersal space is already a lounge, where they're free to hang, drink, and smoke, while jamming?
See.. I think he threw in, "lounge," there to make it seem like he's not necessarily thinking about recording... he just... wants to let these guys know there's this extra room for... whatever.
But when I spoke to Dylan a few weeks back (final weekend before going back to full time) I did mention at the end of the conversation that I'm putting together a new recording studio.
And I did that, because Dylan never calls out of the blue like that, and I figured he was probably put up to it, to find out what's going on with me... because there are probably whispers on the grapevine about my studio.
Well, in reality it's no secret, right?
This is a perfectly public blog that anybody can find simply by hitting the link in my TikTok bio, and immediately read on their phone any day of the week!
And my SoundCloud, where I published the newly recorded test version of Closer To You is also blatantly public, and the same place I published the digitized audio journal stuff a month earlier... that was linked on Facebook to everybody!
Like, anybody who wants to know what I'm doing can TOTALLY know exactly what I'm doing every day by just going to my TikTok bio once in a while, or checking back to the Soundcloud I've been posting to for EIGHT YEARS, now!
But Brian doesn't like TikTok, and probably forgot how to get to my Soundcloud, and is probably too lazy to scroll back in my Facebook feed to June and find a link directly to it, which was the last thing I've posted there recently.
And to me, that's hilarious!
That instead... he'd have Dylan call me to suss out this big secret he's hearing whispers about!
Okay, so anyway, I did tell Dylan about the studio, right at the end of our call.
And then I wondered what might happen if Brian found out.
And I think this Facebook post Colleen texted, answers that question.
Recall that back in July, I thought maybe if Brian found out, he might decide to start his own studio at home, and use the money he was spending on the rehersal space to fund it.
Because... looking back up at those numbers above... he's been paying 88X4=352 dollars a month for that rehersal space!
If he gave it up, he could have a killer home studio in just a few months!
But I got to wondering if he'd actually do that, because it would mean he'd also have to put the drums back into storage... because he can't play them at home... and he doesn't need to, because all DAWs have great drum machines built in.
I got to wondering if he'd instead... try to figure out some way to create a studio where he'd record himself playing his real drums!
And that's exactly where he seems to be going!
Instead of trading-in a wildly expensive and impractical hobby for a much more cost efficient hobby with tons of creative possibilities...
He wants to keep the rehersal space and add a studio!
So... he needs three other guys on board to shoulder 3/4 of the rent burden... so that he can have the extra money to buy the studio equipment!
And to record live drums?..
Sisyphean describes a task that is endless, a task that is impossible to complete. The term Sisyphean is derived from the Greek myth concerning Sisyphus.
Miking and mixing drums is an expensive nightmare!
You need special mikes for every single drum in the set, and a pretty fancy mixing board to interface all of that to a computer DAW.
Because it hogs processing power, you'd need a pretty fancy computer too!
And he would need three extra guys to help adjust mikes, and ride mixer controls as he plays through a song.
But even with the best equipment and the best men, you can't record live drums well if the drummer refuses to use a metronome, and is butt-ass wasted by the second take!
We also need to remember here, that Brian is not just a drummer! He plays guitar, bass, and keyboards every bit as well, and can sing on top of that!
He's spent more of his life as a guitarist and songwriter than a drummer.
So, there's no special reason why he can't just shelve, or sell the drums... ditch the rehersal space, and record at home!
He wasn't always like this!
There was a time, back in the 20-teens, when he decided to just draw as a hobby for a few years.
And then he started putting together a drum set in his apartment storage garage as a second hobby... just a fun little extra thing to do once in a while.
Like any hobbyist would do, he added to that drum set over time... more cymbals, more toms... and it was pretty impressive.
But then Covid hit, and his son Dylan was living there with them, and he got Dylan to jam with him on guitar in that storage garage, while he played drums... and that was the trigger!
He reverted back to classic Bri from the 1990s and immediately dreamed of fame and fortune in a band with his son!
He snagged some bass playing friend of Dylans to join in, found the rehersal space, and then got totally carried away!
But after Covid was over, Dylan went back to California, and the bass player vanished... and he was left in that rental space with just his drums and his dreams.
And he just doubled, and quadrupled down on it... becoming the mad Kareoke drum guy that Tim & I got into a blow out with back in June...
Like two bi-plane pilots shooting at King Kong on the Empire State Building, because he was holding Dad's funeral hostage unless we all agreed to sit through a two hour karaoke drum show in the back yard!
So... yeah... here we are.
He's got a plan to octuple down on the drum set by simply involving three other men to cover most of the rent so he can spend the difference per month on equipment, and then, over time, get them to help him record a few of his original songs.
Not that his originals aren't great, because they are!.. but... DeKalb is a small town, and he's been there since the stone ages.
Three musicians, who AREN'T wise to his legendary drunken shennanigans... is a TALL order!
But even if he did pull off a miracle, and find three guys who were game for the adventure... the wheels would start wobbling off pretty fast.
Because at the end of the day, when Brian is in band mode, all he really wants to do is get butt-ass wasted on a Saturday night!
And that means he can't play a whole song through... and he stops every ten seconds to pee... and he starts rambling about how famous they're gonna be and won't shut up... and he drives everybody up a wall!
So, what's the conclusion to this thing tonight?
Honestly, I don't think this plan of his has any legs.
Nobody's gonna get on board with it.
But now I do know, he's got the itch to record.
Part of that is competitive... because if I'm gonna record, then he has to do it to.
But another part of it is... the call of the muse... just like I'm experiencing.
But it's gonna take him time to deconstruct the collosal drummer persona he invested so much into during the pandemic.
There is nobody in his sphere anymore, to help him see past that.
He's gonna have to work it out on his own, which means he'll exhaust every possible avenue he can think of to stick with the established program.
And only after they all prove to be dead ends... will he see the light.
And what is the light?
Well, it's just that he could be saving a fuck ton of money and having a lot more creative fullfilment by having a home recording studio... instead of a karaoke drum rehersal space downtown.
Would his wife and son, Max put up with that?
I guarantee they would!.. because he used to do that same thing in that same apartment many years ago!
Karen sleeps through everything.
Max stays up all night.
Where's the conflict?
Especially when they're saving so much money?
He'll see the light, eventually.
