When Art Comes Way Too Close to Reality

The voiceover and the filmed scenes are from the movie V for Vendetta. The scenes of the other dictatorship. . .well, that's real life.

Playing Upstate NY This Weekend!

Is "Temporarily Stupid" a Medical Condition?

I did two incredibly stupid things this week. Both can fall under the category of not following through with the details of what I was doing.

On Tuesday, I had to move my car to avoid getting a parking ticket due to the obsessive altnerate side of the street parking rules they have in Astoria. I park, turn off my car and place my keys between my legs, on the seat, as I answered a phone call from my boss. After I finish, I grab what I thought was both sets of keys that were there between my legs. I get out, locking the door in the process.

As I walk away I realize, you guessed it, that I locked my car keys in the car. In my hand were only my office keys. D'oh!! My keys are right there on the driver's seat. Gah!

I thought this was going to cause the day to suck immensely. Frustrating visions of trying to get someone out with a slim-jim to open the car danced in head. I headed back to my office to see if there was a wire hanger to be found. Voila! There was. A little twisting, and then finagling the passenger door for 5 minutes I broke into my car.

Yeah, this cop's son would make a good car theif. Though, that would probably just reinforce some stereotypes about Puerto Ricans.

Second stupid thing was done yesterday (Wednesday). I didn't discover it until I went to my car at the end of the day to drive to lesson. Idiot me, in my rush to get to the office in morning had left the passenger side window WIDE OPEN! All day! We're not talking open just a crack; we're talking all the way!

Fortunately, one, the car wasn't stolen. And two, nothing was taken out of my car.

Yeah, I am too stupid to have a car, People.

Now this brings up a few points:

1. Considering my car can be easily opened with a wire hanger, there really is no point in locking my doors as anyone can break into my car.

2. Considering that I left the window open ALL DAY, in New York City (Astoria) and no one stole it, I now can offically classify my car as a P.O.S. (Piece of Shit) Because, c'mon, who in their right mind steals a dirty metro with close to 100,000 miles on it!

3. Thank God I can attract girls with my guitar and not my P.O.S. car!

"You're Feeling Very Sleepy. . ."

Minutes, days, weeks pass and I find that life is moving at a brake neck speed. No time to pause. If I could slow it all down, like some captain whose ship’s run aground, waiting for the tide to come around. I think of so many things to write for this blog, mainly at times when I am not near a computer or pen and paper.

And sometimes, I get home and I don’t feel like spending another minute on the computer after a long day of work. It’s not that I don’t love sharing about my life and stuff, but I’m just dog tired sometimes.

To that end, meaning tiredness, I do have to share this really positive thing I’ve experience with regards to sleep. Up until sometime in my mid-twenties (or tweens if you’d like) I would sleep like the dead. Actually, my college roommate Keith once kicked me in the back of the head while climbing onto the top bunk. I was on the bottom bunk and his foot slipped as he was climbing up. I didn’t wake up and didn’t feel a thing.

But somewhere along the line, sleepless nights found me.

Recently, I got interested in taking power naps during my lunch break at work. I would some quiet music on my iPod and nap. But I woke sometimes feeling more tired than before. Then I heard about Wendi Friesen, a hypnotherapist, on the radio talking about her Power Nap cds that can make you feel like you slept hours in 20 minutes. Plus, she threw in a cd to help you get a deep sleep at night.

I figured what do I have to lose. So I got them. And I have to tell you, it really does work. I've loaded all the tracks onto my iPod so that anytime I want to take a Power Nap, I can.

I use the Power Nap between work and lessons sometimes as there is are 10 minutes and 5 minute tracks as well as the 20. It's great at night before a gig.

Also, I use the deep sleep hypnosis track at night, and I am out before the track is done!! Before i would toss and turn for a long time as I tried to quiet the dialogue of the day in my head. Now, I'm sleeping heavy and through the night again. Thank the stars I don't have a a roommate and bunkbeds anymore!


Just wanted to share that. More to share tomorrow!

One Dream Shattered

So the news this week was that Karl Rove won't be indicted for case dealing with the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity. (Do a google on this if you want to read about it. I don't have the energy to go find links right now.)

This shatters my hopes and dreams of ever seeing the below picture become a reality.

Some Things Should Never Be Forgotten. . .

So here's a reminder: (Click image to enlarge. It's worth it.)


























(From Non Sequitur, by Wiley.)

There's a Head in the Head!!

Forgive Father for I have sinned,It has been 26 days since my last blog post. . . .

What’s the absolution for that sin? I don’t have a rosary so I can do Hail Marys. Oh well, I guess it’s a good thing that I am a recovering Catholic so I don’t have to worry about that.

I am sure that you have figured out that my lack of posting is a direct relationship to the amount of business and craziness in my life. I can not deny, though, that a good amount of my time is being eaten up spending time, in a very good way, with my girlfriend. As my aunt, who reads my blog, pointed out to me at a recent family get together. “I was reading your blog, Jim, and I noticed that you were posting less frequently. I said to myself there must be a woman in his life.”

So yes, that is probably news for some of my readers. She and I have been dating for awhile. I didn’t want to write about it, and still probably won’t, because I believe in keeping one’s love life out of one’s public life. Other than the fact that yes, I date, and yes, I currently have a girlfriend I am very happy with, I will never write much in detail my love life. I’ll talk in generalities about my interactions, both successful and miserable, with female species because I think gender issues and differences are a very interesting, and amusing topic to explore. If some of those generalities happen to also be shared by a particular female in my life, then I assure that it is totally coincidental and unintentional.

(And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.)

(Second side note: Honey, I swear I haven't posted anything about you!. . .yet.)

Ok, onto some funny random stuff. So I go to a barbecue of a mentor/former coworker of said girlfriend this Sunday out on Long Island. Nice day, good food. That’s not the funny random thing. It’s this woman’s bathroom. It is a small, closet sized bathroom from that just contains a toilet which faces the door. No sink, no tub, just a toilet. The random, and very disturbing, thing about this bathroom is that she has a head on the wall.

Yes, I did say “head.” And it’s holding a cigar. Below are the pictures I took with my camera phone.

Needless to say, this head weirded me out!! My girlfriend said it weirded her as well, but she figured it would be worse for a guy as he is standing there peeing. She’s correct on that one. It was almost as if he was looking right at my “you know what” in some quiet contemplation about its significance in the world. Now, in my ego, I’ll proudly proclaim the significance of my “you know what.” However, since I know there are 3 billion other ones in the world so I know it isn’t all that special.

My girlfriend said that it would be freakier if the eyes moved. I disagreed. I would some how rig the head to speak. Perhaps, it could be hooked up to a sensor on the door so that if you’re in there for an inordinate amount time it’d say, “You’ve been in here in awhile. Everything coming out alright?”

Or a sensor that can tell if someone is using the toilet while standing, in other words a man. Then the head can laugh and say, “Is that all you got?!”

With it’s pensive look, he could say, “Dear God!! Got a match?!. . . For my cigar, of course.”

Feel free to comment with your own creative comment. My girlfriend suggested that perhaps he could sing that line from the chorus to that Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Oh, you know which one I’m talking about.

“Ooh-ooh, That Smell!!”

(C'mon, like you didn't see that one coming!!)