Brother Flash got his callback. All our computers are broken, there will be no updates for about two weeks, +/- until computing returns to our house. Am updating from Kinko's at the moment.
Love and kisses,
-Mr.

Oh, also, brother Tim visited over last weekend. Very nice to see him, and had pleasant visit. He seems to be doing well. He brought Courtney with him, which is always a pleasure, and they brought also a lovely lobster dip which went well with a big sandwich Adam and I made.
And my computer is still broken. I'll keep complaining until I find out what phase four feels like.
(grumble grumble grumble.)

Finished the run of the show. Nobody died. Next show coming up fast.
Computer still dead. Working on new. Coming slowly. This is what phase two still feels like.
Working. Working. Working. Had first day today, promoted already, which is always nice. tips is funny things.
'N stuff.

Ok, now don't panic.
Brother is alarmingly close to getting a callback for this. As I heard the story, he went and stood in a queue without knowing what it was, and ended up being the only singer that day whom the producer liked. Now, I have no illusions about him actually being picked as the new lead singer of INXS. He hates so much of everything, I'd be surprised if he made it through second round auditions, but he might get to fly out to LA, as I hear the story.
Happenings and stuff, right?

Cri
Ma
Nee.
What a week.
We're five performances down, two to go. Recording's done on prelims for the CD of the current show. Half the band is unavailable for next show, so we're gonna start rehearsing early. TechDir is talking about canning most SndFX, which is just a stone's throw away from canning all music, which is a bad, bad idea, at least in my mind. I'm pretty sure we'd lose what little audience we maintain though Feb. if we cut out the only thing that makes the show better than having somebody read to you. I mean, if you don't have live music and sound, then honestly, what's the point?
My compie finally died forever. The motherboard is burnt, at least sez DellCertifiedTypes, which means I can choose to a)pay them close to 1K for the same old one, or b)be kinda sad and get a new one. In about three weeks, the solution should arrive in a big nifty box. I'll keep looking for viable solutions for resurrecting my little Inspiron, but in the meantime I'll go ahead and watch the process as I get a new box.
It's been a good computer. I heartily recommend it. My Dell was a trooper, and I hear that isn't uncommon for the breed. Poor Ratchet will be missed, unless I can find him a less expensive brain, in which case Toshi will have a new Solitaire box. In the meantime, I'm using her Mac. It's... odd. Like wearing somebody else's pants. It isn't alien, exactly, because they're still pants, but it's not right.
Also, her computer is only portable in the way that, say, a small sofa is portable, and I wouldn't envy myself if I were to try to type with it in my lap.
Ahh, hah.
Off I go, then, tomorrow, to wish Kirk a happy Birthday, and to purchase that most important of items, an external USB hard drive for Backing Up Things(tm).

Happy Birthday
Sher to tha Bie!

Now, a Fish is an animal with dirt on his face
He can't write his name or read a book
Now you can be better off than you are,
Or would you rather be a star?

On an unrelated note:
VCRP, with dates etc. for the current show.
I'm bandleading now. No time to talk. Must compose. Crap! Much to do! But good it'll be.

There's this part of me that always wishes, just wishes I still...

Now it's time to go home,
I been gone a long time
Squeaking by for lack of trying
busted faces, broken spines

Hitching rides through no mans land
Centipedes & fake sunrise
Picnic basket’s always empty
Smell the blood through my disguise

I know I won’t get lonely
If I get home & you’re not there
Sweep my love under the rug
Grin & see what we can bear


If I’m not home by Guy Fawkes Day
Baby please, Don’t wait for me
Turn your face into the sunset
Cut the ribbon from the tree

The Light of Mercy hurts my eyes.

Now I just need one of the twenty of so jobs I've applied for in the last three months to even acknowledge that I've applied.
OK, that's not quite true. GSD&M sent me a letter to let me know that they admit I exist, and ACC sent me one rejection. They sent one to Toshi as well. We applied for five jobs each, so I still hold out foolish hope.
Applying for media stations has been fun at least, as has the small amount of woodworking I've done. Hey! I get to do more tomorrow!

Hey! Show dates!

Current Show:
February 4, 5, 11, 12, 13 (matinee), 18 and 19 (manitee).
The show on the 13th is a sunday afternoon show. All other shows are Friday or Saturday night shows, except the one on the 19th which is a water-dwelling mammal.
Hot Cha!
More dates as I has 'em. The next show, though, will be more or less the first three weekends in May, with the same pattern. The next after will be in September, same pattern, and the last of the year in December, same pattern. The idea is that this year we'll pretty much always do the first three weekends of the month, with a matinee show on the second Sunday (and a water-dwelling mammal...).
The only oddness that might happen is that there may be a sneaky extra-special show during the summer some time, but that hasn't even really been discussed.
Oh, and I think we've worked out our musiker woes. There aren't any musikers that I don't provide. This means I'll be forming a band for the current show, and for every show from here on out. I'm the VCRP music director and part-time sound effextor. Hey yeah!
Dana and I are going to build a washtub bass for stsngls tomorrow, I think. Lookout Wisconsin! Our intent is to do both the traditional, "punch a hole in ma's washtub" version and one made entirely of wood. That's right, wood! Ha ha ha ha!
Oh, and I have to write another ad. One of mine didn't take the first time, but the commercials are mine this time. I wrote for the show, I'm about to be the musical director, and Toshi & I are being inducted as "troupe members" Saturday. Hot dog!

I find out tonight if I need a bunch of musikers for the near future.
I gotta do, like, four things in rapid succession today. I have to finish the creak box, make the clock box, finish/make the Cabinet of Curiosities, and write down this one suite of musics which I'm adapting as a sort of (lemme say, really damn clever) musictrack for the show. I'll post how that goes or something.

Oh, also, I rejoined my Gym. Many tears were shed and many hugs all around. OK, not really.

So, if I can draw about twenty or so more cartoons, I'm gonna need some goll dinged server space for uploading and whatnot.

Is it fixed!

OK, two things. The first one is this:
Right now, there's about a 70/30 chance of my being music director/band leader for VCRP. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Anybody wanna be a trumpeter? Hee.
The second: Man, George Carlin's new disc reeks. I have been a fan, I have been indifferent, I have been a casual enjoyer. I have spent the last several years repeating his witticisms and enjoying the fun that can be had in feeling as clever as he often is. But, man, I just got what seems to be the newest CD. It's called Complaints and Grievances, and it's the griping of an old, old man. Whereas he has always had a profane streak to him, this time there's no sparkle behind it.
The disc opens with a little fluff talk about September 11th which amounts to "The Government is dumb, 'letting the terrorists win' is a stupid cliche." Sure, there's a point there, but hasn't it been made a thousand times? Then there's a bit which is absolutely clever about traffic accidents, at least for the first few minutes of the bit. Track 3 is gross body humor, and sure, that's fine. Then it goes absolutely down hill. The next 18 tracks go by the following formula without varying at all:
1. Here's a [group] who should be [killed horribly].
2. People who [do normal things]. I hate them.
3. Fuck!
4. They should [be violated and killed in a particular and horrible way], as should [their children or spouses].
5. Fuck!
Just insert a series of more and more horrible deaths and violations, and a series of more and more banal offenses, and you've got most of the disc. His complaints include people who carry cell phones, those who pay for small purchases at grocery stores with credit cards, singers with one name, and rich people who go around the world in hot air balloons.
Ending the show is a bit about the ten commandments condensed into two which either is very witty and clever or is a huge relief after hearing him suggest that people who send pictures of their children with Christmas cards should be hit in the face with heavy mining equipment.
Now, I like Lenny Bruce, I like Bill Hicks, I even like George Carlin, but I'm afraid this comes across as technophobic bitching by a man who seems to feel that the world has left him behind.
Or maybe I just miss grammar jokes. Whatever.

I geeked.

Scarygoround may be the best comic out there right now. I don't know why, but the idea of pixies who need money just... works.
That isn't like the regular strip. It usually stars several young people who do things. This latest storyline is just really excellent.

Also, Ween's "12 Golden Country Hits" is just a kick in the head. I know, it isn't new, and it isn't even new to me, it's just come up again lately.