Now Playing at the Broken Spoke

I've been having a somewhat hard time finding something to write about. I was about to write a really exciting entry about ball point pens, but thankfully I can talk about something different I did last night.

A friend who knows the little known fact that I can play accordion let me know that he would be at the Broken Spoke for the "Accordion Round-up," which a kind of open-mic for accordion players. Another friend of his said he would be there to play. I left my accordion at home, as I am severely out of practice and have nothing prepared. The atmosphere was not as intimidating as I expected and initially I thought that maybe I should've brought my accordion anyway, but once I heard some of them play I was glad I left it at home, because some of the players are very good. They play all types of music: zydeco, polka, waltz, blues, etc. and take turns at the mic. I think I might go and participate next month. I'll brush up on my repertoire of Wisconsin polkas and fight songs (as in football), but what I really need to work on is improvisation in those styles of music. I'm also open to suggestions if anyone thinks they might go to watch.

What was most memorable about the night wasn't the accordion player, though; it was the saxophone player in the band following the round-up. (The lead singer of the band plays accordion and participated in the round-up.) The sax player was very grandfatherly looking, with white hair, and probably in his 60's or 70's. What was memorable were his solos. He would really get worked up in each one, jumping and jerking his body around, with pained expressions on his face as he played the screeching high notes. He even did this during the slow songs where it probably didn't fit so well. Also he had a great "fart move" where he simultaneously lifted one leg and blew a low accented note on the sax during his solo. Everyone loved watching him play, except maybe his wife who sat there calmly with her glass of wine. But I imagine she's been watching his goofy act for fifty years, so that's understandable.

Wireless Wing Entry

Wow, am I a big geek. I saw the sign outside the place, so I decided to bring my work laptop to the wing place so I could write an entry from here. I had a lot of trouble connecting and asked the waitress if anyone could help me out. Of course the answer was no, but eventually I got it connected--at least temporarily. Right now, I'm typing this into a text editor instead of a webpage because for whatever reason I've lost the connection. I'll have to post this from home anyway.

So, it appears that I'm catching up on my wing eating because I've been here twice this week. I've been neglecting the Monday visit entry, which I'll rectify now. Actually, I think I may have a couple of half finished entries from trips that never got posted. Sorry about that. I know there's at least one of you out there that enjoy these.

The song from Monday night was... well, I wasn't connected long enough tonight to figure it out. But it was from the 80's, and had lyrics like "I'm right on track, not gonna get you back." My reason for choosing this one is to talk about a unique ability I have. I am very good recognize chord progressions that have been used before. What that really means is that I'm able to tell people "that song sounds like that other song." It's fun when you're just talking about music, but when someone is trying to write a song and I tell them they are essentially rewriting a different song, they aren't so amused. Maybe they shouldn't be since I might be saving them a future lawsuit like George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine." Oh right, the song--the chord progression is just like "Evil Woman" by ELO. Probably even the same key. But few would recognize the fact due to the different instrumentation.

They are playing 80's again tonight, and I might as well take care of tonight's entry while I'm here. Tonight my pick is "'65 Love Affiar" by Paul Davis. Like most of my picks, I've chosen it because it's a song you don't hear much, but I didn't have to connect to the internet to figure this one out. I have all of Paul Davis' hits as MP3's on my computer. I guess this is the point where I confess to really liking 70's and early 80's lite rock, and Paul Davis is a master with others like "Cool Night" and "I Go Crazy." "'65 Love Affair" is a little more uptempo, but still lite. I don't think I even hear a guitar in this one. Wait, I don't think I hear a guitar in any of his stuff.

I was a little annoyed that my wings didn't appear to have too much sauce on them, but maybe that's good as I'd probably have gunked up my work laptop computer with it.

Permanently Deferred

We had a blood drive today at work this morning. Turnout was bad--late last week they were still trying to get volunteers, and when I signed up then the time slots weren't even close to half full. I was going to skip this one since I thought I might get deferred due to my recent illness, and that's exactly what happened. What I didn't expect is that they'd put me down as permanently deferred! It's actually not as serious as it sounds. When one is "temporarily deferred," it's due to some very temporary condition and one automatically becomes eligible again at their next visit. However, in this case, I am going to have to have my doctor send results of my blood tests showing I have healthy liver function. Even after that, I will not be eligible for six months past my recovery date. So, I have some hoops to jump through. I wonder if I can get the Blood Center to pay for my next blood test?

Home Sweet Homes

I don't think I can move to a new city again. I was thinking about this last Wednesday (Dec 29) afternoon, before flying back from Madison. I had a few hours to spare after dropping my sister off at the airport and spent them walking around places I liked to go when I lived there from 1999-2000. It was fun, but it really reminded me how much I missed the place. There are some things that I really miss about many of the cities I've lived in. What makes matters worse is that I also have this feeling of regret tied to each of these places. What I regret I'm not sure of, but it's like I need to go back and live in these places again until I am able to fix whatever it is I'm regretting. Or, maybe it's simply that I "regret" not being able to live everywhere at once, which is impossible to fix, of course. I have this vision of how after I get rich I'll live in each of these places for a month at a time until I get back up to speed and feel comfortable with the place. Then I'll fly off to the next city and get caught up there. And so on and so on. So, I can't add any more cities to my list, which is up to six now, or my vision is going to get unmanageable and make me unhappy. I'm not saying I'll never leave Austin, but if I do it will more than likely be back to somewhere I'm lived before.

Congratulations Boney

You called it first. The doctor's office called today with the results of my detailed blood test. I had mono. Since there is still some mild liver irritation (not unusual), they want me to come in after three months to check again.

Subway Resolution

It's the start of the New Year which means it's time to get back to the normal routine again. I decided to go to lunch at Subway for lunch Monday. The line was practically out the door, which got me thinking--do you suppose Subway sees an increase in sales during the month of January, due to the common New Year's resolution of eating healthier food? I think so. They probably have more advertising as well, though I haven't seen any that specifically mention New Year's resolutions. I imagine the line will return to a normal length within the next month or two as everyone resumes their old habits. I am also going to start trying to eat better this year, but I don't think of it as a New Year's resolution--it's more because I realized during my recent illness that I wasn't treating my body very well. Regardless, I wasn't going to wait for twenty minutes to get a Subway sandwich. I went across the street and had a Whataburger, where there wasn't any line.

Sorry about the lack of entries lately. I think I have a good enough excuse though.