Yes, that's a shot of beer with ice cream and whipped cream.

Yeah

Magners in NYC

I'd still like to know why my cider got more head than Monkey-Boy... But I suppose it didn't make a difference in the end.

Friday Night Still Life

Yet another diner still life. Yes, I'm a nut.

Hallo'een in NYC

Hallo'een in NYC

Shameless Plugs

Because you have money, and I don't. Seriously. Let me pimp my art and ideas at you, and for a nominal fee, you too can hang them on the wall, or wear them for all the world to see!

http://phrogie.deviantart.com/prints/ - My dA Print Shop
http://110713.spreadshirt.com - My Spreadshirt Shop


And, of course, as soon as there's PopRANT stuff available (soon!), I'll be posting about that as well :)

Friday Night Still-Life

I had actually been taking a phone cam shot of the cheque... But saw the opportunity to snap a little diner still life photo. Eh, I liked the composition without having to move anything.

Ramblings of a Mad Woman

It's been a busy couple of months, even after the holiday season is long past. Turns out that I get less sleep during the weekends now, than I did over the work week. I'm not complaining about that, actually... but I am waiting for the day where I crash for 72 hours straight. I'll just have to remember to turn my phone off right before that happens ;)

PopRANT is almost done recording. Seriously. Tracy did the last of the guitar bits last weekend. We did random percussion bits the weekend before that. Week after next (hopefully), we'll have a conga part for Lonely (by Frank Malabe... bass god and general all-around "good guy" not to mention my musical guru, and the one person who's managed to call me on my shit). After that, a couple keyboard parts... and then final vocal recordings (not necessarily in that order). And then the fun part of mixing and production.

Crap. I gotta get that artwork done, I guess. At least it's started.

At the same time, the question still goes: how do we go about playing live? We've toyed with the idea of just doing a duo bass and guitar... but let's face it, we're -both- percussionists: a lot of the music needs some kinda backbeat at the very least. So do we break down and get a drum machine? I'm afraid we'll lose the visceral nature of the music itself by relying on something mechanical. I already know that Tracy has major issues with even working with a click track. Too sterile for her. It has no soul. Me, not so much trouble... hell, I love the fact that I don't have to second guess the timing (Tracy and I groove together when she's on drums... but there's this technical side to me that just let's go when I know the "one" is where it's supposed to be without my having to think about it). But yeah, maybe a little sterile sounding.
Another idea would be to bring both guitar and a set, and then switch off as necessary. Which might also mean my having to learn those parts as well. Yes, absolutely possible... but also a waste of time, when I could be going over bass parts for new songs. Or better: writing new songs that utilize my voice better (this album: not showing off my voice to my best extent. Not even close.)

So... that leaves us where we've been all along: looking for a guitarist. Funny thing is, we don't even care so much about skill level (hell, when I was brought on board, I knew nothing about the bass... well not enough to make any kinda difference. Sure, I had musical experience. I sang. I played all manner of percussion. I played cello for a few years a million years ago. Not completely clueless... but I had to learn an instrument from scratch.)... we need someone who's into the music... who's dedicated, and who's going to pump -our- creative juices, while we pump theirs. We don't care about age. Or gender. Or race. Or financial background (TOO much... they need to be able to afford their own equipment, and to be able to chip in for band expenses). We don't care what yer musical background is (only that you have one). Tracy and I have hugely DIFFERENT musical tastes (there are a few things we agree on, but we'll argue more often than not).

Will it be possible to exert some influence on the recorded stuff alone? The internet is a big place... and a lot can happen out in cyber-land. I've read about bands or solo artists who've done it all themselves, and then went to gain some fame on the internet. That requires some marketing savvy... which I hope I have enough of. We'll see, I s'pose. In the meantime, things can wait until the album is finished... can't push a product I don't have yet (despite gaming companies (and other companies too) being able to do just that)

---

Work should be interesting for the next couple of weeks. And not in that fun way, that it never manages to be anyway. Over the course of the next two weeks, we'll have three people out on vacation (one for one week, two for another week), and three people leaving to go to another store, that'll be opening up later this month. All of these people are full-timers, at least specialist level or higher. I'm a little concerned. Not stressed yet tho. No, that'll come -after- the weekend, because if I feel work-stress over the weekend, I'm liable to kill someone. And then that's one -less- person who'll be able to work, because I'm sure I'll either be incarcerated or dead. -smiles sweetly-

---

Speaking of the weekend. Headshot day part tres is happening this Saturday. I participated in the last one (couple of weekends ago)... and was quite pleased with the results :) Prolly won't particpate in this one... but I'll be there. I'm just too facinated with the camera and such. The working end of it, that is... there's still a lot I can learn, which I'll then apply to my 3D art. And, of course, more fodder for me to touch up and hone my photoshop skills. One of these days, those will come in handy.

Anyway, let me sign off before people start coming in. Ciao for now.

In Sickeness, and In Health...

Okay, that title sounds like I'm contemplating marriage. I'm not. In any way, shape or form.
That said...

---

The sickness part comes from an incident that happened last week. It started on Sunday, during a recording session with PopRANT. Everything was going fine (well, kinda... I was not on the mark music-wise, but that's neither here nor there), until I got some food into me. And bam! Out of nowhere, I got hit with what I thought was the worst bout of heartburn I'd ever had. Bad enough that I wound up losing the contents of my stomach.
Took that night, and the next day to recover. A little queezy for some of it, but mostly okay.
Next night, I go back to work. Was fine until about 5am... and then hit with pain again. Enough this time that I left work as early as possible, got home, and had Mom drive me to the ER.

Long story short: turns out it wasn't heartburn. Was my gall bladder. Was in the hospital for 3 days. Had it removed. Now recovering from the three small incisions they made in order to take it out. Could have been a whole lot worse. Oddly enough, despite not being allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING for a day and a half, and then being on clear liquids for the next two days... and then eating sparsely, as I got used to solid foods again, you'd think I'd have lost some weight.
No dice.
-sigh- ah well. At least my colour is good again.

---

More sickness: turns out that from the 2nd day of my hospital stay on, Mom was having difficulties breathing. I was released on a Thursday, by the following Monday, we'd be headed back to the ER, this time for her. Yes, I yelled at her for not saying anything sooner.
But, since then, we've been joking to everyone that the reason she went in was that she was jealous of me.
We did manage to confuse the ER staff tho... wound up with the same physician on staff, who had the "I know you from somewhere" look on his face. By the time I left that day, he had told me "no more family members here for at least 2 weeks." I told him that it was good that it was just Mom and me then, and that I don't plan on coming back any time soon.
Mom was released today, so all is well. Of course, she was bitching because she had planned on going to AC this week, but that just means that it's definate that she's better. She'll get to go next week.

---

Photoshoot number 2 is this weekend. I was supposed to go out last weekend and scour the area for the things we need for the shoot... that didn't happen. Sure, I was out of the hospital, but I was still in recovery mode. It's gonna be a last minute thing, I think. Especially as it's Friday mourning already.
At least I have most of my outfit.

---

Recording is going well, I think. I can say I don't remember the last parts of the last recording session (yeah, you've already read why, so I'm not repeating it), but I've got the rough mix recordings of it. The others think it's too... "clean" at this point. I told them to calm down, it's not finished yet. Things will be just fine. Looking forward to getting to the vocal tracks... tho I've still got to lay down scratch vocals for my own two songs. We haven't touched one note for those yet.

Hopefully, we'll be able to play out soonish, too... it would be nice to be able to support the CD when we get it finished. Haven't even considered the idea of a CD release party... we prolly should at some point.

---

A'ight. Enough for now. Going to go back to work. Or rather, go back to watching my coworker try to stay awake, but manage to just sleep. While standing. I'm too amused to even be angry at this point. Tho I'm not discounting the fact that I may be later. Whee.

I Am a Heartless Bitch

It's September 12th. And I'm quite thankful that it is, because that means the 11th is over.
What happened 6 years ago was tragic, horrific and many more adjectives I'm not inclined to think of. But it was 6 years ago. The media is treating it as tho it really happened yesterday. I even heard tale of a radio station somewhere out west that replayed the entire broadcast from that fateful morning. Holy War of the Worlds, Batman! How many people, I wondered, tuned in during the middle of it, and thought we were being attacked again?

So irresponsible.

No. People will not forget. Certainly not in our lifetime. Not that we're even given the option, considering how it's shoved down our throats every year. Yes. It was tragic. But does anyone think that the people who did lose people involved are going to get -any- kind of closure because of this? It's like a wound that's barely healed, and then someone comes along and rips out the stitches... just to remind you that you have a wound. Uhm... thanks, the pain -was- actually a reminder, I didn't -need- you to come along and make things worse.

I swear people can be such asshats.

What gets me is the places that are honoring those lost that really have no business in doing so. Tonight, our local, minor league baseball team read off a list of all the Long Islanders that lost their lives that day. I can only imagine, small stadium, filled about halfway with kids, having this solemn affair, most of the poor kids (some of whom might not even have been born yet at the time) wondering what the hell is going on. A moment of silence after the list is read... aaaaaand play ball!

Let me repeat it once more: this was a horrific thing that happened. I hope that such a thing never happens again. I feel for the people who lost someone that day. I myself, still can't go by the site and not feel absolutely sick to my stomach. But seriously, enough of the media bites.