shard

I had a quiet, quaint christmas. My mom got me a new digital camera, which I am really happy with. I was here and hung out with friends after I spent about two hours on the phone with my family.

Here's a photo of my christmas cactus.

I played at the Scene on Sunday. It was cool. Not too many people there, but I got a really good response. They asked me to play again the next day, but I turned it down because it was to be during a pool tournament which just didn't seem appropriate for what I'm doing. I had a lot of fun doing it and I got some really nice comments from people. I think I got to chat with just about everyone there. I'll have to call around to see about setting up another date. I'll let you guys know whenever I have a show on my own or with the band.

It's been raining like crazy here. My bathroom ceiling has a leak in it so I took some photos and mailed them to the landlord. They came and took a look at it today, but they aren't going to be able to do anything for a couple weeks. Another leak sprung up today in my studio. I just hope none of my stuff gets damaged. Well, I've got documentation....

My pal, Janet, came over last night. I cooked up some grub and we hung out playing scrabble while watching the tsunami footage. It's just one more example of all the things I'm grateful for. A leak in the roof isn't good, but I have a safe place to sleepy sleep and I'm alive.

It was good to hang with Janet and get caught up after the holiday. The scrabble game was neck & neck until I got lucky on the last play and closed out the game. I have a scrabble complex because my father used to cream us when we were kids. He has an English degree from the U of Chicago. I'm much better now, but I still admit to getting very competetive.

Today, I slept, & slept, & slept. I managed to get on my bike trainer for a while, which always feels good. I worked on music a little bit. I learned "Can't Hardly Wait" by the `placemats, which two people have requested in the last few weeks. It's hard to do an arrangement with a whole orchestra with just a guitar, but I think I can pull it off. I also learned a personal favorite; "Whistlin' Down the Wind" by Tom Waits.

I took a couple photos on my way out to check the mail. First, was this little explosion of color by the steps. How do such things grow without me noticing?


Then, I saw a tranquil neighborhood scene that made me stop in my tracks.


I was quickly brought to an entirely different surreal scene; my neighbors across the street hired valets for parking for their event they are hosting tonight. Silverlake is uptown now.