Saturday, December 29, 2007

today is the monkey's birthday. another year gone by and another one on it's way. so, in celebration, we had some pizza, watched the sandlot and played some phase 10.

before we played the card game, i turned on xm radio and looked for a good channel to listen to. i prefer sirius radio instead. we have sirius for the car and xm in the house. anyway, i found lucy on xm54 and read the description of what it plays:

"the important songs in the history of alternative music from the '90s, with some '80s flashbacks."

i figured that it would be a good listening adventure so i hit select on my remote and turned up the receiver. what my ears heard brought me back to the stuff i used to listen to while in high school and after. some even before when i was in junior high. from rage against the machine to weezer, nirvana to the cure. as i was enjoying this jukebox of memories, only two songs came on that i didn't like.

good jorb, lucy . . .

Friday, December 28, 2007

today when we were driving to the valley to do some shopping, i had to spray the front window with washer fluid to clean off the grime and that got me remembering when i went ridin' up at silver mountain with my friend some 10 years ago.

the day had ended with both of us demoing some boards. we returned the boards and picked up ours and then began the long gondola ride back down from the mountain to the kellogg valley below. we got to his car, unlocked the racks, slid the boards in and re-latched and locked the racks again. got in and started the car and cranked the heater. it was a cold day.

as we merged onto interstate 90, the slop of the winter was being thrown upon the windshield. wipers began with the rhythmic "thun thun" as they journeyed from right to left. he tried to blast the dirty, gritty crud that was stuck to the window with washer fluid, but the distinct sound of "oooo" told us that the container was empty.

"uh oh."

we pull over and get out, each of us getting a handful of pure white snow and begin to clean the window. the iciness of the frozen crystals bite into our hands as we stand on the side of the highway, cleaning the sludge off. after the window is visible, we get back in and continue our descent down the curvy road. the heater has been shut off, so we turn it back on to get warm and it doesn't do anything. it just sits there. shut it back off, then back on, and nothing. pull off on the side again to grab some of our dry clothes and bundle up even more. clean off the window (again) and continue on our trek. the window then begin to fog up and we have to turn on the air to defog them, which creates more cold air.

we finally get home, he drops me off and my dad had the hot tub cranked for me. i slide in and thaw out whilst reminiscing about the day. . .

Monday, December 24, 2007

so the coffeecake has been made. a tradition that i have carried on from my youth to that of now. coffeecake for christmas morning breakfast. yesh, it is so good.

anyway, with that being said, we'll be getting up at around 7:00 and eat some breakie, open presents, shower, then go visit my grandmother with the rest of the family. afterwards, go visit rin's dad in the hospital. he was taken to the hospital with some health issues and then taken to a different one and may be getting discharged possibly wednesday (it has already been a long week).

oh, and by the way, i found out that another one of my friends got engaged last night. congrats to ya both...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

when i was younger and when my dad would be playing his guitar, i would open up his case and go through the storage box where the neck would rest. maybe it's a kid thing, cause mine love to do it as well. i guess it's a treasure trove of fun. my storage case consists of:

a juice harp (case pictured above)
two kazoos
a dragon optical bag full of guitar picks. different thickness and firmness.
a bass pick
two guitar tuners
sortkwik fingertip moistener
a nail file to smooth out the callouses
an unused piece of nylon for my strap.
djembe wrench tuner
djembe key
hex key
a wipedown cloth

my kids love to grab the kazoos and hum along with the music that is being played. sometimes sprite will try and lay down a beat on the djembe while monkey and tadpole hum along and dance and groove.

the other night, sprite asked if she could play my guitar so i showed her how to hold it and placed her fingers on the correct strings to form the "c" chord. as she strummed down hitting each string, the sound that came out was interesting, to say the least. i showed her how to properly strum and then i grabbed the djembe. even though the music wasn't exactly music, it was still fun. . .

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

last night, rin's brother came in from hawai'i for the next 3 weeks. he's on leave before he heads off to iraq next year. my plan for the evening was do some grocery shopping, hang out with the family and send rin off with her parent's at 11:00 to go pick him up.

while waiting for the time to come, we watched christmas vacation (one of our traditions). rin's phone rang and her parents were on their way. i told rin that i'll leave the lights on for her and i'll see her in the morning. she asked me why i wasn't going to stay up and say hello to her brother and i told her that i was going to go to bed cause i'm tired. she asked to me to stay up and wait for her.

"if you get tired, just fall asleep on the couch and i'll wake you."

"no, i'll just stay up," came my reply.

so 11 o'clock came and she left. i turned on the news and ran a couple computer scans to kill time. a repeat of leno came on next and i was bored with it, so i turned to fuel tv and watched while pat o'connell surfed some breaks in south america. i turned the volume on the tv to low, grabbed my guitar and enjoyed the resonating sounds reverberating off the cedar and wild cherry woods. i created my own soundtrack to the eye candy that played before me.

soon, 12:45 am came and left. then playful lights broke through the illuminated christmas tree and danced on our ceiling. i put the dog outside so he wouldn't wake anybody up if he barked to someone knocking at the door (or putting keys in the locks).

rin came in and closed the door. "hello."

"hello. where's your brother?" i ask.

"i thought you would be asleep, so he didn't come in."

oh well, at least i got some guitar practice in. but now i'm nursing my coffee and rubbing my red eyes...

Monday, December 17, 2007

lots of things are coming together in the next couple days. christmas* is right around the corner. new year's day is a week after that. rin's brother comes in from hawai'i for 3 weeks on leave before he heads to iraq for 7 months.

we finally finished our christmas shopping today. battled the crowds and the busy streets. now the wrapping will commence.

*seven shopping days left.

Friday, December 14, 2007

think you had a bad day?

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

this morning whilst making breakfast, i had the kevin and bean show live streaming on kroq's site. the sprite was asking me when it was going to be over and why it wasn't over yet.

"why isn't what over?" i ask.
"what you're listening too," came her reply.
"it isn't 'over'. it's radio."

she really wasn't getting the gist of radio. she understands mp3s and satellite, but for some reason, the concept of radio was eluding her. i started explaining to her that it's like listening to the satellite radio in the car, but we are listening to it over the internet. the wheels were turning in her head and soon she understood. then i went on to tell her that i used to listen to this radio station when i was growing up.

"on the computer?" she asked.
"nope, i had to listen to it on the radio. they are live streaming it now, so i can listen to it even though it's aired in california."

that little conversation showed me how much life has changed since i was growing up. true, there are probably better things that have changed, but the ease of just music has gotten better. ipods, mp3, satellite, live streaming, podcasts. gone are the days of cds, tapes, 8 tracks and vinyl.

Friday, December 07, 2007

dream
(drēm)
n.
  1. a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.
  2. a daydream; a reverie.
  3. a state of abstraction; a trance.
  4. a wild fancy or hope.
  5. a condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration: a dream of owning their own business.
  6. one that is exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful: our new car runs like a dream.
_______

so i've been having some weird dreams lately. for probably the last two weeks. last night i had a couple and one was on par with the weirdness factor. the idea of the dream is still alive and well to me, but the series of events is like a piece of swiss cheese stuck in my head. but the gist of it is that i start a plague in our neighborhood. it wasn't even state wide, or city wide for that matter. it all started from when rin and i bought 5 pounds of crickets when we were in kolkata.

apparently a plague had already started and we were trying to decide what to do with our crickets, so we decide to flush them down the bathtub drain. all 5 pounds! but we got them down...

...when i went outside, our front lawn and everyone else's on our street, were covered in these black insects.

yada yada yada

i woke up.

i can't remember the whole dream, only parts. there was a cop, a trashcan, a bowl of chili and some other interesting objects. but how does it all fit together?

Thursday, December 06, 2007

december is already here. came fast and is going by even faster. rin's parents got here yesterday from india and will be here for the christmas season. her brother, who is stationed at the marine base in hawai'i will be coming in a couple weeks for christmas as well. then in february, he will be deployed to iraq. amazing how fast time is going by. . .


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