whuff

i realised, once again, why i don’t schedule more than one gig per day yesterday…

i’m beginning a couple weeks of relative busy-ness, and it started off with partying and not getting enough sleep saturday night, and continued abruptly yesterday, when i got up way too early and went to the ballard sunday market with snake suspenderz and busked for approximately 1½ hours before we were run off by a string quartet which was playing vivaldi and bach. while they were playing acceptably well, they set up 20 feet away from us and wouldn’t fess up when confronted with their rudeness… and then we discovered that it’s apparently a “new policy” that buskers have to get up and move every half an hour…

by the time we had played for half an hour or so with a classical accompaniment (which was really confusing, at best, and downright distracting most of the time) we decided to bag it, especially since i had to go to my second gig anyway, which was the ballard sedentary sousa band at the ballard locks… which was, fortunately, just down the street.

it was clear from the start that i wasn’t going to be able to play my best, because i had already been playing my best for an hour and a half at the previous gig, but this was on my trombone and that was on my tuba, and i figured that would account for something… but if it did, i probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway, because by the time we were done playing i was getting really tired… then the BSSB-at-the-locks concert was followed by the traditional beer-and-pizza-in-walter’s-back-yard, which got me home around 6:00 pm.

i actually tried to take a nap between 7:00 and 7:30 or so, but the doggie-alarm kept going off every time a twig snapped outside, until moe got home around 8:00. i finally went to bed at 9:30 and was asleep almost immediately.

i’ve got a ninja concert at the good shepherd center with the fremont philharmonic this evening, and a rehearsal with the sousa band on tuesday, wednesday i have a snake suspenderz rehearsal, and thursday is my “weekend” this week. then i’ve got a gig with snake suspenderz at chumleighland on friday… which has the distinct possibility of leaking over into saturday as well… and possibly another ninja performance with the fremont phil on saturday, then the ballard sunday market on the 14th, and on the 15th is the party that we were hired to do as a result of the sunday market…

and then there’s the “Garden Party” at krissy and chris’ on the 20th, which the fremont phil is probably not playing for in any official capacity, but we’re probably going to be there, and i’m going to bet that we’ll play a little. and then, next month, we’ve already got a two-gigs-in-one-day scheduled, on 18th september, when we’re scheduled for the pike place busker festival and the seattle symphony day of music at beneroya hall…

plus i got an incense order today, for the last of my old tulasi deepak stock, which, because, from what i’ve been able to find out, they don’t make it any longer is another incense that i have carried that nobody else carries…

another week closer to the eschaton…

just to make sure that everyone is still clear about this, here’s the current trajectory of politics and the american economy stripped down to its bare essentials:

2001-2008: republicans run economy into ditch.
2008: obama elected.
2009-2011: republicans respond by doing everything possible to prevent him from fixing things.
2012: republicans use lousy economy as campaign cudgel against Obama.
2012: republican candidate wins presidency (maybe).

sure, sure, obama deserves some blame for not being aggressive enough etc. etc., but that’s a nit. the basic story is the one above. it’s still kind of hard to believe.

One in seven Americans lives on food stamps – this is the response to those people who are upset that “half of the country doesn’t pay income tax”… 😐

The Coming Social Anarchy – this country may not get a real revolution – 8 Reasons Young Americans Don’t Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance – but there’s a good chance that society will fail without a revolution, and either way, things are definitely not going to be the same after that.

Forget Compromise: The Debt Ceiling Is Unconstitutional – i truly am a terrorist: i want the country to run the way it was intended to run, not the way the corrupt, greedy, political/industrial scammers who have taken over want it to run…

The Coup in Washington and Super Congress: the final nail in the coffin of representative democracy and freedom as we know it

When they took the fourth amendment,
    I was quiet because I didn’t deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment,
    I was quiet because I was innocent.
When they took the second amendment,
    I was quiet because I didn’t own a gun.
Now they’ve taken the first amendment,
    and I can say nothing about it.

Pat Buchanan refuses to apologize – “i said ‘your boy‘ not ‘your boy‘…”

12 Things Obama Forgot To Tell The Left – that about covers it, i think…

meanwhile, in the real world…

here’s the thing… The Piper Cub Offense is a piece i found on the web a few years ago, before 9/11. now, with the advent of wireless networking, they’ve taken it one step further: Researchers Show Off Wi-Fi Hacking Drone, so now they not only have the capability to do nasty things to the entire population of cities like new york, washington dc, and so forth, with model-sized airplanes that are, for all intents and purposes invisible to radar, but they also have the ability to intercept cell phone communications, interfere with internet, launch DOS attacks and other more nefarious activities from the same, model-sized, practically invisible aircraft… and the most profound thing i have noticed about this whole deal is that it is nowhere in the news… it’s as though the mainstream news sources just aren’t paying attention to something that, theoretically, could bring about an abrupt and unexpected end to what passes for society these days…

Shell Wins Tentative Approval for Offshore Arctic Drilling – we have met the enemy, and he is us.

The sustainable seafood myth – we have met the enemy, and he is us.

Greek Decriminalization of Drug Use – 😮

WA Man Refuses Marijuana Fines, Chooses Jail – 😮 this is local… just down the road from where i live… and i have heard NOTHING about this on the local news… 😮

Beware Parents: Fox News Thinks Spongebob Is Indoctrinating Your Kids To Be Tree Huggers. No, Seriously. and Google Search Easily Debunks Fox’s Claim Of Anti-Christian Media "Bias" – evidence conclusively proves that fox news really does make stuff up…

End Times? Texas Lake Turns Blood-Red – i wonder how long it will be before the “christianists” latch hold of this and use it as “proof” that “the bible is true”? 😐

at the same time, If a Married Lesbian Couple Saves 40 Teens from the Norway Massacre and No One Writes About it, Did it Really Happen? – good for them. i’m doing what i can to disseminate this story…

Mobile Biometrics to Hit US Streets and House Committee Approves Bill Mandating That Internet Companies Spy on Their Users – bit brother is watching you! (yes, i meant to type “bit” instead of “big”… at first, even i thought it was a typographical error, but the more i think about it, the more i think that i actually meant to type it that way, and just didn’t realise it.)

AT&T Data Plan Scareware: Beyond Our Comfort Level – if you blackmail someone, you most likely end up in jail. if you are AT&T, you may get T-Mobile and a monopoly… reach out and rob everyone…

Child Porn Ring Busted: Guess US Law Enforcement Doesn’t Need Data Retention Bill After All – “at no point in the coverage is there mention of law enforcement having difficulty doing their job.”

Copy Protection Does Not Mean More Sales – many people assume that by cutting out infringement that leads to them making more, but there’s more and more evidence that says that’s simply not true.

US court rules: Isolated human genes can be patented – if we’re not careful, we could, theoretically, reach a point in the not-too-distant future, where our bodies are owned by j.p. morgan chase and monsanto. especially with a body like his: Indian man has hysterectomy after doctors find uterus

Old age can kill, study warns – “We advise people to try and avoid entirely, or at least cut down, on birthdays…”

Idaho Falls police investigate man in bunny suit – why is this news? 😐