Why oh Why

I ate Varsity for lunch. Some of you may not have a clue what I'm talking about, in fact most of you won't. You have to pretty much be from Atlanta to be in the know. The original Varsity is down the street from GA Tech and they are a landmark here. They still have a drive in down there with waiters on roller skates! There are also several Varsity Jr.'s around town which is what we went to today. I always forget how I'm going to feel afterwards because I go so infrequently. Don't get me wrong, the food is very yummy but it's so heavy and greasy and I always end up feeling like a big slug afterwards. Well actually for the 1st couple of hours it just wages war in my tummy, then the slug appears after that and I feel like I'm carrying about 50 extra pounds and someone slipped me some Valium..LOL! That's where I'm at right now - blearily typing away trying to stay awake and out of the bathroom. I know you are all thanking me right now for that image ;-)

Zombie Land

Well folks it's not pretty but this is the aftermath of a our long weekend. We all pretty much look like this - those of us who are actually awake LOL - I was just the only one brave enough (or is that stupid enough) to fall on the sword and show you.

It’s 10:30am on a sleepy Atlanta Saturday morning and I’m sitting in a warehouse rehearsal space with the wife, the artist and our family waiting on musicians for the band auditions. We are all currently praying that the turnout today is better than yesterday. This shouldn't be too difficult…we had one guy come yesterday. Not to say yesterday wasn’t fun, GE got a lot of rehearsal time in with a stage, lights and microphone – it was so cool watching her up there, she’s like a little sun that everyone revolves happily around. We are all a little bleary eyed this morning though so I’m hoping a little more excitement in the way of great musicians comes our way today. More later as things progress 
Well after a loooooong morning we finally got some action around 4pm – a drummer and a guitarist! Two different people, not all in one LOL. Nice guys and very talented. We’re all kinda dragging so it was nice to have some energy infused. The 6pm appt is here now which should help too 
Sigh…it’s now 6:46pm and I’m really tired of listening to this guy and his negative know it all crap. Yes he’s talented but if I hear him say MONEY one more time I may have to kill him. Of course we want to make money but if you put the music first the money will come – now shut the hell up dude, you sound like an ass.
Yikes – it’s 10:15pm and we’re still here. It’s a good thing though, the last guy to come in is a drummer and we had to wait for him to go get his kit – it was worth the wait  We’ve called back our fave guitarist and we’re currently waiting on him to get here so they can jam together and see if there’s a good vibe. I’m going slightly deaf…okay so more than slightly! The drummer is awesome if a bit quiet, he seems a little shy despite our efforts to get him to break a smile.
Yay – the guitar guy is back and setting up – it’s about 10:30pm now – we’re all tired and really punchy which is hilarious because we’re laughing at the dumbest shit LOL! Guitar guy is still setting up – his poor girlfriend that got pulled out of the shower by our request for a call back is I’m sure wondering who this insane crowd of people is. Lordie my brain is mush right now – I just spent a good couple minutes with my fingers hovering over the keys forgetting how to form words. Oh well, at least I’m still having fun!
11:45pm. Still here. 13 and a half hours. Great music. Great vibe. No make that amazing. Some kinks but time will heal all. Very tired and ready to go to bed.

My strawberry has tits!

After the wife and I stopped rolling on the floor with laughter I knew I had to make this my first photo posted in my blog. I figured everyone could use the laugh ;-) Now back to work!

Getting myself out there...

Well, I'm trying to be more proactive about my writing career and garnering some attention (not something I'm terribly good at). I've created a gmail and facebook acct for Heather Michelle :-) I'm also asking for help from established and successful authors (thank you so much Jim!). Now all I have to do is WRITE. It's so easy for me to get overwhelmed with a project this big - I'm used to short stories that you can write in an hour LOL. I know I have a good story in my head and heart I just have to get it out through my little fingers and out from behind my stupid filters telling me that no one will read it anyway. Anyway. On to life stuff! These past two weeks have been BUSY ones, the music project that I mentioned forever and a day ago is back in gear and we're doing open mic nights around Atlanta and our darling little girl (ugh I can't call her that anymore as she is now officially an adult in every legal way, Happy 21st baby!) is KILLING it out there. I still love watching the people at the bar or the peripherals of the area turn their heads when she opens her mouth - the look of astonishment on their faces is priceless! I'm having fun too, I'm not much of a social butterfly but since I'm the driver at the moment I'm actually getting out and into the world of the living.
Now I must do a little writing or my little home gang will thrash me! LOL

Two sads and a happy

I'm in a great mood today which seems a little selfish in the light of one of my sads...My uncle is dying, there's no other way to say it unfortunately. I just found out he has decided to fight it but he's already so weakened (waited too long to go to the doctor) that I'm afraid treatment will kill him. I have mixed feelings about how to feel about it - he pretty much ignored and continues to ignore my existence but I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on my worse enemy so it's hard to reconcile in my heart. I'm sure if you asked him he would say he loves me so I can't be too hard on him, he's a good guy just a crappy life. My other sad is much more shallow but it actually made my cry last night and I rarely cry. My favorite dancer on So You Think You Can Dance is out of the competition due to injury. Alex is one of the most exquisite dancers I have ever seen and I've seen Baryshnikov live. He dances from the inside out and with a technique and grace that is beyond compare.
My happy today is my day - it has been great, I got a lot accomplished at work and the wife and I worked well together today :-) I feel so much lighter and happier now that I work here.
Life is certainly giving me a lot of ups and downs right now but I choose to focus on the ups and feel blessed that I have any at all because so many out there don't.

Really good weekend :-)

Had a great weekend with my family :-) There was shopping (twice!), really yummy food, bowling, cake and really awesome company. So much fun! Today was a good day too, work was good and got to have a fun afternoon with the wife.
Ugh, I'm trying to concentrate on blogging and keeping you actually updated with life at large but I can't seem to stay focused. Sigh...

How life changes...

I was reading through my last post (over a month ago, squeak!!) and I'm marveling over the changes that have taken place since then. To update everyone, I failed the damn test. This created a full on re-evaluation of my life and it's direction. I knew I would have to commit at least 6 months and more than a few dollars to taking a full scale class to pass the exam and it became increasingly clear that I was not willing to do that. I also discovered that regardless of any certifications my job description was not going to change and I would not make the amount of money that is standard for that type of cert. so I had to make a decision. I have since quit my job and am now working full time with my wife's company. We've always done better when we focus our combined energy on a task so despite the serious financial concerns we're going for it. I'm adjusting to the somewhat more relaxed atmosphere both at home and at work. I'm also having a hard time with adjusting to different expectations. I'm used to having a set task list, once you're done you've done your job and here it's more fluid than that and I feel very obligated to get things done and not be a hinderance so it's a little more stressful in that regard. She has of course assured me that I'm doing great but we always put more pressure on ourselves than others do. I am enjoying it though, the other day was so freeing to be able to run out in the middle of the day and run errands for the office and get dinner too, then be home at a reasonable hour and cook. Very cool in my book :-)
My book has taken somewhat of a back seat recently with everything going on, I'm a little overwhelmed with the project at the moment which isn't all that unusual. I've reread the whole thing and I was surprised at how much I rushed through, like I was trying to get all the ideas in my head down without fleshing them out and it shows. There's so much I want to expand on and I really want to head in a slightly different direction with it, it's a little too sci-fi right now and I'm really going for more alternate reality than that. I want it to feel like what's happening in the book could happen to you, not necessarily the end but the journey so that the end is kind of shocking and thought provoking. Maybe now with my new schedule I can settle into a writing routine!