Friday…Friday was another magic lesson with Moppet. I can’t believe that someone half my age (well, it feels like it) has so much to teach me. It’s shockingly cool. I feel like I’m 12 sitting across from him (and I probably act like it too). And I nearly punched him in the arm when he came up with an additional chord to throw into New Years day. I just love how gets it and effortlessly. I told him at the end of the lesson that the brat in me wishes he would just play this stuff for me all the time so I shouldn’t have to take forever learning it. He just gave me that look…you know the one that says “your charm is starting to wear off”. So, I smiled and gracefully exited with a “I’m just sayin…”. Friday we worked on tempo. A hard one for me for sure. He’s constantly reigning me in for suddenly speeding up then slowing down but, he gave me some great tips on how to keep it consistant. On Dear Santa is was about using the thumb as the anchor. Thumb strums on beat 1 every time. As usual, I walked away feeling smarter, cooler and ready to take on the world. Of course by end of day when I’m at home trying to repeat all the cool moves I learned I fail miserably and vowed to find a guitarist who totally gets my music and just wants to sit there any play this stuff all day. I can be incredibly childish and lazy I tell you and I know full well he doesn’t exist but, a girl likes to dream…
The whole getting sick thing before I was able to record CD II. It so sounds like some lifetime movie of the week thing doesn’t it? Will she survive to record it? Will the treatments have a detrimental effect on her lungs and she’ll never be able to sing again (or at least, not like before)…will she ever learn to play in tempo? Or will she give in, give up and crawl back into obscurity… such a cliffhanger and I can’t get my hands on the script to tell you I swear. I can only say I”m being very very nice to writers just in case that helps~
Today’s my orientation for treatment where I get to find out just how it all works and how sucky I’m going to feel. Brad just txtd asking how I felt. I feel fine. I have a nice glow about me right now. I’m sure its a combo of removing the tumor and quitting smoking that I have radiant skin again to match my outlook. I’m a little anxious about what’s coming up and I’m supposed to avoid stressers but some are unavoidable a this point and that just pisses me off. Y’know what the worst part is? I found yesterday I can’t eat sushi…not now…not during and not for a good while after. That could be 6 months…or more~ WTF. WTF people. That’s just plain not cool. At least my beloved mimosas are still on the menu (though my sister would say sternly that I should be avoiding them). I say live like you’ve got a year left and then tell me what you’ll avoid. I’m not avoiding Jack-all unless Dr. H. tells me to…him, I adore and respect so what he says goes…plus he agreed to the goal of cured by Spring so we can keep this latest scheduled date for CD II. A girl’s gotta have something to look forward to~
Ok, enough of that talk. The weekend was a blur. I know I practiced. I know I found the framed copyright of the Boomerang CD on the ground behind the TV with the glass front shatter and left it there for later…I know I’ve got one more lesson with Moppet before recording the holiday songs…I know I might be playing an open mic tomorrow (I hope so) and I know my brain keeps skipping ahead like how a scratched CD skips a track. It’s kind of funny when it happens. Would it happen on stage? I dunno but, if it did I think I’d laugh. Will let you know.
No word back on the Mountain Stage Song Contest. Then again, I didn’t bother to look to see when the deadline is. I just like the idea that the “Baby” song is out there with its latest verse and being heard by someone out there…and speaking of that, I’ll be seeing those two this weekend. Anne n I will be sipping mimosas and looking out at the beach n sea while Serg plays his favorite game of baseball down the road.
I heard from Jesse last night. The one who runs the open mic on Thursdays and is as big a fan of James Taylor as I am? He’s way cool and paid me a great compliment by asking me to learn “Smiling Face” already so we can do it together at open mic. I want to be there tonite but, I need to catch up on work hours. It’s only fair. Oh and I found out yesterday I started CH therapy next Wednesday. So many things running through my head…it better not ruin Saturday because I wasn’t expecting to start until “mid” October and I’m all set to record then. Plus after that our favorite couple is throwing an engagement luau and I just pressed my grass skirt~ That and I already made plans to meet Keen at next Thursday’s open mic. I don’t like to disappoint and I don’t like to be disappointed. You know what, you’re right. Let’s just cross those bridges when we get to em shall we? Right. Oh fk…I forgot to tell Bort I can’t be around smoke (did I tell you we got to smoke in his studio? I just thought that was the coolest thing ever and the first time I’d smoked indoors in eons~). What with the thing with my left lung now (yeah I know…I sound like an old clunker of a car). HEY BORT~ (he’s right over there)…Do you mind? I’m not waging any war on tobacco or running any anti-smoking campaigns. I just been disqualified from the game and not allowed on the field anymore…I know. I’m just as bummed about it. You know what else sucks?? Apparently I can’t have anything grapefruit~ Yeah, WTF people…WTF. If you been here any length of time then you know my passion, no downright love affair with grapefruit mimosas. No sushi, no grapefruit for anywhere from 3-9 months. I must’ve committed some terrible crime in another life to deserve this. Seriously…really?
Ok, enough whining. Tonite I work. Then I simulwatch gray’s with my peeps. What’s “simulwatch”? That’s when you watch a show the same time as your friend(s) but are not in the same place. Then you txt eachother during commercials and say things like “no way, I cannot believe he did it”, “Christina’s mah girrrrl” or “bullllfking shit…no waaaaaaaaay” (these are actual txts I’ve lifted from my phone). My friend Joe is deeply offended that I’ve “fallen” for this “lame” show. To this I say (with love of course) “Fk off Joe. I bought you (cuz it was so on your list) an R2D2 unit for your bday so you don’t get to shout me out on facebook tellin me what’s cool and what’s not”. I probably shouldn’t have posted that but, what the hell. He’s from detroit and I’ve got “C” so neither of us really are the kinds to beat around the bush these days.
Skipping ahead…there’s been a lot of that in my brain lately. I have these lucid dreams of life in the year to come and after that. Maybe its wishful thinking but, I’m guessing its my woman’s intuition kicking in. I don’t like to say too much because I think it either jinxes or can change. I just like to shout “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii kneeeeeeeeeeeew it~” when it happens 🙂 The fact that no one has tangible proof that I new a year before is not so much a problem as you’d think~
It is pouring rain. Finally~ I mean I moved to SoCal because my brain/body need extra doses of sunshine to thrive but, I’ve been sweating head to toe for the past few days from the heat/humidity. We don’t have A/C here. We’re by the beach and that’s an unnecessary expense for 358 days out of the year but, man oh man those 6 days…oy. I like the occasional rain. It brings my mind back to Seattle, where I grew up. Alot of my music comes from that place in my mind. The grey areas. And yes, that’s another reason I watch Grays’ Anatomy every week. It feels like a piece of home. Not just because it’s supposedly based in Seattle and once in a blue they actually show footage of the city but, because my mom was a nurse and she and my sister all worked at the same hospital and my bff Miche…the one I wrote By New Years Day for? We met at that hospital. Well, we actually met in the parking lot of our apartments and found out we lived 3 feet from each other’s doors months and never knew. We always just talked on the phone at work “Hi…it’s Michelle from admitting…got another one for you” “Oh…happy birthday to me…whatcha got?”. You know what else? We had the same year/make/model cars and didn’t know it. Hers was red and mine was black. That’s about where the similarities end but, we have been best friends from that day on. We’ve nearly killed each other many times but, just like in Boomerang, we always found our way back. She likes to say “A best friend doesn’t just know where the bodies are buried, they helped you dig”. I know…sometimes she comes across a little scary on paper but, then you see these huge blue eyes and porcelain skin and you think she couldn’t harm a flea. Yeah…anyway…where was I…tomorrow is the last lesson with Moppet before recording. I’m psyched. Then lunch with Jen. I’m psyched. She’s studying to be a nurse so its’ the same kind of comfort as when I’d talked to my mom. Matter of fact about all kinds of stuff that turns other people’s stomachs. I just love that for some reason.
Ok, I’ve rambled on enough. If you don’t mind doing a “fingers crossed” for me next week. Together we might just create this awesome invisi-shield that protects my body from being thrashed and I can go on with the looong awaited recording of these two songs and make open mic. I promise to take pics if I do. Oh and I probably shouldn’t do this as he is a quiet type that has resisted the guiles of facebook and prefers to live a life of anonymity but, I want to share this pic taken last week of myself n Charles (the one who designed the Boomerang on the CD) because a: after going on about being sick and the docs and the “C” and the “CH” I want you to see how well and ready I look to face the challenge and b: because he’s an awesome artist (and friend) who should never hesitate when someone says “what do you do” to say “why I’m an artist” not what he does to pay the rent (which is good work but, it does not define him nearly as well as “artist” does). So, if you ever run into him on the street (well, don’t mention I posted this fer fkssake) just say….”hey, aren’t you that artist? Charles…something…right, where are you showing? I’d love to see more of your work~). Now that, is just what the doctor ordered 😉
Thanks as always for listening and special thanks to you, all you newcomeers that came to the website and to read the blog this month. Biggest turnout yet and a world of countries. Really warmed my heart. Will post the list tomorrow on the facebook music page 🙂