I'm playing a show on Saturday. Kind of an indie-electronic synth hip hop type of gig.
I'm pretty nervous, seeing as I've only got one week TOTAL to prepare, and half of that is gone.
However, it is only one song and it's not too difficult, I suppose. It is definitely out of my genre, but the artist and I have a good chemistry, I feel.
It is with that confidence that I will step on stage on Saturday and NOT be a fool.
(:
Oh, may the goodness of Luck guide me to success.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
So I know it's been awhile.
I've been having this love affair with working.
Well, work and I have decided to slow down a little and just take things as they come.
I was dually employed at the same restaurant as well as an assisted living home for old folks. There I did the same thing I do at the restaurant, but without making any tips. It was a good gig for the two months that I worked there, and I would do it again if it were in the cards.
Somehow I doubt it's in the cards though, considering my plans after this summer.
1. Go to school
2. Move out to go to school, wherever I go
3. Get a new job
Not in that order.
Anyway, hello to my old friend.
I've been having this love affair with working.
Well, work and I have decided to slow down a little and just take things as they come.
I was dually employed at the same restaurant as well as an assisted living home for old folks. There I did the same thing I do at the restaurant, but without making any tips. It was a good gig for the two months that I worked there, and I would do it again if it were in the cards.
Somehow I doubt it's in the cards though, considering my plans after this summer.
1. Go to school
2. Move out to go to school, wherever I go
3. Get a new job
Not in that order.
Anyway, hello to my old friend.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Twilight Burns by MORNE
Twilight Burns by MORNE
This song is a great one, just sayin'.
I like the energy that seems to exude from it. A strength, understated beauty, and purpose. It sounds like the warcry of an industrialist. A determined melody, haha. Things progress in this song.
This song is a great one, just sayin'.
I like the energy that seems to exude from it. A strength, understated beauty, and purpose. It sounds like the warcry of an industrialist. A determined melody, haha. Things progress in this song.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Coastal Cleanup
I found a lot of unexpected junk, but mostly there were tons of cigarette butts and smaller chunks of plastic to be taken up. The most peculiar item that I collected today was a small lion figurine, thrown carelessly onto the sand by a beachgoer or washed up, regurgitated by an ocean filled to the brim with the world's refuse.
The seal pictured above was the most disturbing discovery of the day, and the third dead seal I have seen in recent trips to the strand. I am not sure what is killing them, or if the three consecutive visits that have eached contained a dead seal are coincidence and unrelated to human pollution. Somehow I lean toward the notion that the trash and pollutants that we throw into the ocean are involved. I reported the seal to beach patrol, and I sincerely hope that they notify someone who can identify the cause of it and its comrades' recent demise.
The best find of the day also involved death; a gull or pelican bone that I discovered along the beach has been my best find today.
Overall, coastal cleanup was a personal success and hopefully a success in a more global sense. It's a shame that humans can't connect their Bounty bottles to the ones they self-righteously pick up from the sand, but I suppose it's better to try and recycle it than let it wash into the water for the fish to swim with.
Any readers, I urge you to participate in your local cleanup efforts, whether they be ocean cleanups or highway adoptions. It's important to keep toxic and deadly items away from local wildlife. The most important step to keeping a clean earth is to reduce our waste and consumption of non-reusable items like detergent bottles, water bottles, and excessive packaging. Recycling and picking up after ourselves is no longer sufficient, as evidenced by the extreme waste of the beaches and open spaces of our earth.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Work began tonight again. Waitressing was surprisingly enjoyable, and the meat didn't bother me as I tried just to move the plates through their procession without looking down. It was awful in a way, but I can't find work anywhere else and I don't encourage people to eat it; I'd recommend the salad over a burger any day, considering how good the salads at the restaurant are.
I was pretty insecure at first about waitressing, and I was worrying about whether I would be able to handle the fast pace. I figured out that I actually am good at it once I get the hang of it and memorize the menu and its many options. It was enjoyable, overall. It was a lot more fun than cashiering, which requires less skill. It was also a lot less stressful than the first time I waitressed in '09. Back then I was in school for 6.5 hours a day, then went home, changed, and went to work until seven or eight. It was too much, to say the least.
The waitress that trained me was great as well; we have worked together before when I hostessed with her on weekend mornings and she's a real sweetheart. The evening itself was probably made better by her presence.
The night was okay overall, and much better than many of the outcomes I predicted. It was less stressful than I imagined, even when it got a little busy. Hopefully things stay the way that they were last night (except maybe a little busier and much fewer hamburger plate orders) and I should be in good shape.
Disclaimer to All Militant Vegan Readers that Plan to Wave Their Flags and Scream at Me: Being vegan is something I am still very dedicated to, and I don't personally consume or advocate the consumption of meat or animal products. I realize it's scandalous to work in a place that serves it, but I have to get to college somehow. I won't spend much more time trying to justify my actions because I do feel remorse when I am bussing a table and see a chunk of muscle tissue with bleeding onto the plate. It's probably the worst part of the job, but this restaurant experience will prepare me for future jobs that will hopefully involve vegan food. I can work through college with the experience I gain working where I do right now. If I wanted to, I could hide the fact that I work with meat and pretend to be as righteous as most
militant vegans do. I'm not a perfect human being, but using any form of transportation other than walking involves animal testing and possibly animal products, so we are all abusing animals to a degree.
I was pretty insecure at first about waitressing, and I was worrying about whether I would be able to handle the fast pace. I figured out that I actually am good at it once I get the hang of it and memorize the menu and its many options. It was enjoyable, overall. It was a lot more fun than cashiering, which requires less skill. It was also a lot less stressful than the first time I waitressed in '09. Back then I was in school for 6.5 hours a day, then went home, changed, and went to work until seven or eight. It was too much, to say the least.
The waitress that trained me was great as well; we have worked together before when I hostessed with her on weekend mornings and she's a real sweetheart. The evening itself was probably made better by her presence.
The night was okay overall, and much better than many of the outcomes I predicted. It was less stressful than I imagined, even when it got a little busy. Hopefully things stay the way that they were last night (except maybe a little busier and much fewer hamburger plate orders) and I should be in good shape.
Disclaimer to All Militant Vegan Readers that Plan to Wave Their Flags and Scream at Me: Being vegan is something I am still very dedicated to, and I don't personally consume or advocate the consumption of meat or animal products. I realize it's scandalous to work in a place that serves it, but I have to get to college somehow. I won't spend much more time trying to justify my actions because I do feel remorse when I am bussing a table and see a chunk of muscle tissue with bleeding onto the plate. It's probably the worst part of the job, but this restaurant experience will prepare me for future jobs that will hopefully involve vegan food. I can work through college with the experience I gain working where I do right now. If I wanted to, I could hide the fact that I work with meat and pretend to be as righteous as most
militant vegans do. I'm not a perfect human being, but using any form of transportation other than walking involves animal testing and possibly animal products, so we are all abusing animals to a degree.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Community Garden Fundraiser
Last night marked my sixth hour of civic service to the community garden, and there will be many more. The action last night was a community garden fundraiser dedicated to raising money for the fencing that will complete the community garden and open it for business (we hope).
They are about $10,000 short of the over $11,000 needed to fence the 2 acre lot in vinyl-coated fencing. I doubt they've made $10,000 as of last night, but I am sure that they got a little closer.
The evening was actually pretty exciting, save for the fact that it was an all-meat buffet with the traditional fixings of a Mexican feast. I helped hand out plates and set up the raffle, which was a great raffle. There were tons and tons and tons of garden prizes to win, like carrot planting sets for kids, nectarine trees, plum trees, organic potting soil, gift cards to nurseries and hardware stores. There were very few of those stupid fucking door prizes so often featured in fundraiser raffles like M&M dispensers and such. None of that, thank Odin.
My family won a nectarine tree and a free consultation with a landscaping agency, but not having room for the tree at our house and being renters, we donated it back to the community garden. I'll get to help plant it since I am volunteering, which pleases me. I would love to learn more about gardening and planting. The consultation that we won was also given to someone else because we are not that interested in getting a landscaping job done, and we have a gardener as a part of the rent agreement.
I was pretty disappointed about not winning the tree, because I really was hoping to win one and plant it, but the issue of never getting to pick the fruit because we're moving out of here in a year or two was undeniable. I have a better chance of picking some of it if I work at the community garden for a year or two when I can.
Volunteering for the gardens has been really fun so far, even though I have only been to one meeting and one fundraiser. It's mostly a lot of old people running it, which surprises me a bit. There are no alternative punk types pushing for the gardens to open; I think I will help alter that a bit with my s.o. and myself (and our friends, if any of them ever come back from Santa Cruz and other alternative-friendly towns).
I've reserved a plot for the garden for my family in the new location which they are trying to open, and I believe that if I volunteer in the garden, I get preference on a plot when it does open, which is a perk. I don't have a gardening space right now, and I would really love to have one. The new garden isn't that far away from my house; it's a fifteen minute bike ride. When we move it will probably be closer to our house as most of the ones we look at are "in town" and the garden is also "in town," so to speak.
The fundraiser generated a lot of interest, and hundreds of people arrived. The garden organizers were expecting 140 people or so, but I would guess there were at least 250 people through the doors by nights end, maybe more.
My only wish is that the community garden would promote themselves in a more "garden-friendly" way and have fundraisers that were geared toward a healthy, sustainable lifestyle rather than a meat-meat-meat and carne fundraiser like last night. Meat is so unsustainable that it's unbearable, and they should really showcase what their garden is about.
One really great fundraiser could be a concert at the gardens, if they could swing it with the oppressive governmental influences bearing down on them, oppressing their efforts to complete the gardens and have any damn fun.
The next fundraiser will hopefully be something a little less disgusting, from my perspective. Having a gardening class by donation, a pancake breakfast (with vegan pancakes, I hope!), or a garden dinner with a vegetarian menu featuring fresh-picked veggies from the garden would be fantastic. We need to change the view of the traditional fundraiser from appealing to the fatty, disgusting diets of yesteryear as the garden itself attempts to change those views.
I believe that change is possible, but only if we push the envelope.
They are about $10,000 short of the over $11,000 needed to fence the 2 acre lot in vinyl-coated fencing. I doubt they've made $10,000 as of last night, but I am sure that they got a little closer.
The evening was actually pretty exciting, save for the fact that it was an all-meat buffet with the traditional fixings of a Mexican feast. I helped hand out plates and set up the raffle, which was a great raffle. There were tons and tons and tons of garden prizes to win, like carrot planting sets for kids, nectarine trees, plum trees, organic potting soil, gift cards to nurseries and hardware stores. There were very few of those stupid fucking door prizes so often featured in fundraiser raffles like M&M dispensers and such. None of that, thank Odin.
My family won a nectarine tree and a free consultation with a landscaping agency, but not having room for the tree at our house and being renters, we donated it back to the community garden. I'll get to help plant it since I am volunteering, which pleases me. I would love to learn more about gardening and planting. The consultation that we won was also given to someone else because we are not that interested in getting a landscaping job done, and we have a gardener as a part of the rent agreement.
I was pretty disappointed about not winning the tree, because I really was hoping to win one and plant it, but the issue of never getting to pick the fruit because we're moving out of here in a year or two was undeniable. I have a better chance of picking some of it if I work at the community garden for a year or two when I can.
Volunteering for the gardens has been really fun so far, even though I have only been to one meeting and one fundraiser. It's mostly a lot of old people running it, which surprises me a bit. There are no alternative punk types pushing for the gardens to open; I think I will help alter that a bit with my s.o. and myself (and our friends, if any of them ever come back from Santa Cruz and other alternative-friendly towns).
I've reserved a plot for the garden for my family in the new location which they are trying to open, and I believe that if I volunteer in the garden, I get preference on a plot when it does open, which is a perk. I don't have a gardening space right now, and I would really love to have one. The new garden isn't that far away from my house; it's a fifteen minute bike ride. When we move it will probably be closer to our house as most of the ones we look at are "in town" and the garden is also "in town," so to speak.
The fundraiser generated a lot of interest, and hundreds of people arrived. The garden organizers were expecting 140 people or so, but I would guess there were at least 250 people through the doors by nights end, maybe more.
My only wish is that the community garden would promote themselves in a more "garden-friendly" way and have fundraisers that were geared toward a healthy, sustainable lifestyle rather than a meat-meat-meat and carne fundraiser like last night. Meat is so unsustainable that it's unbearable, and they should really showcase what their garden is about.
One really great fundraiser could be a concert at the gardens, if they could swing it with the oppressive governmental influences bearing down on them, oppressing their efforts to complete the gardens and have any damn fun.
The next fundraiser will hopefully be something a little less disgusting, from my perspective. Having a gardening class by donation, a pancake breakfast (with vegan pancakes, I hope!), or a garden dinner with a vegetarian menu featuring fresh-picked veggies from the garden would be fantastic. We need to change the view of the traditional fundraiser from appealing to the fatty, disgusting diets of yesteryear as the garden itself attempts to change those views.
I believe that change is possible, but only if we push the envelope.
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