That’s probably what I should have been yelling as I was drumming this morning. Normally, I don’t get too loopy whenever I’m on some medication (which isn’t often at that), but today was a whole ‘nother experience. There were a couple of times during songs where I was thinking “hmmm… now how does this go again?” It made for a challenging time but I think for the most part I made the correct sounds at or near the right times. Yeesh. Afterwards, a bunch of us had lunch together when it REALLY hit me and it was all I could do to keep myself from going face-first into my lunch. Fun times for all!

After taking a snooze, I finally got my groove on and headed over to my friend Steve’s place to check out his video game driving setup. Had fun with that although since it’s been a long time since I’ve played racing games, I wasn’t as fast as I would have liked to be. I may have to get hooked on that again at some point. After we got tired of racing in the game, we headed out in his BMW M convertible for some entertainment. Had a blast zipping around the back roads. We’ll definitely have to do that again soon.

HEROS comes back on tomorrow. Awesome.

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Here’s a shot from last night at a local coffee shop. Even though I would have rather been in bed resting to get over whatever it is I have, I muddled through with the band while in a medicated cloud. In the end, I think we all had fun. It was good seeing some of my old friends there.

My plan for today is to rest - something I’ve been needing to do for the past few days. Hopefully, I’ll be back to 100% soon.

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I’ve been trying to fight off a sore throat for the last two days. Today though it got pretty bad towards the end of the day. I’m not sure if its an allergy thing or some kind of funk-itis. The timing’s great of course - band practice tomorrow night then a few of us play at a coffee house Friday evening. LOVELY I TELL YA. With some rest, hopefully I can fight off whatever this is and be back to normal.

Actually, being sick this time could have a bright spot - my mom’s here and can take care of me as opposed to my usual having to go at it on my own. I did stop by the store on the way home from the office though to get some soups and stuff to save an extra trip later.

It was LOST night tonight. Since I was laid up anyway, it made up for an otherwise uneventful night. Good stuff. The next few weeks before the season finale should be some really exciting ones.

I’m going to bed.

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Yeah, my left shoulder is a bit tender after drumming this morning. But despite that, I think all the music went off well today. I even got some nice compliments on my playing from a completely unexpected source. While that’s not my goal or anything, it’s definitely nice to hear once in awhile.

Afterwards, a WHOLE bunch of us ate lunch at one of the 9 million Mexican restaurants we have in town. Even with all the chaos, the food was good and the service decent. Large groups typically stun most dining chains. You can see it in the hostesses eyes when she asks how man and you reply with something in the upper teens or twenties. Then they try to make you go away by telling you “oh, it will be about a hour wait or so”. If you have the time, I like to say “Great! We’ll sit here and clog up your waiting area in the meantime” just so they cringe that you weren’t dissuaded by the wait time. But I digress.

Finished watching the F1 race in Bahrain. This one wasn’t quite as eventful as the last, at least with the front-runners. There was lots of action further back though. Congrats to Felipe Massa of Ferrari for his win and a bigger congrats to Lewis Hamilton for yet another podium finish - the third in as many races his first year in F1. That’s quite a feat.

Winter came back. I can’t complain too much because Traveling Chica’s been hammered up where she is in Wisconsin. Here in the south though, dipping down almost to the freezing mark after you’ve been in the upper 80’s kinda throws things off. It was time for the sweaters and coats again.

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Ever read that story as a kid? I got a chance to watch it performed at the theater in Huntsville today. It was a nice distraction from a day dominated by stormy weather. It was my second time in that theater in the last few weeks. Previously, I saw “Wonderful Town” performed there by a professional Broadway group. The actors did a great job and the live band was fun to listen to and watch. In the past I really haven’t spent any time checking out cultural things like this but lately they provide a different kind of entertainment than the usual TV or movies.

It also helps if you’re in good company.  

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Hopefully, my friend Brian will have his car ready for the Road Atlanta event in 2 weeks. I was there last year and had a great time running around all over the track and pit lane to see all the action and cars up close and personal. I also had a chance to meet some great people while I was there.

A few months ago in a race at Sebring, Brian “redecorated” the car while trying to avoid colliding into another racer in front of him that had suddenly lost a tire. The good news was that he made it around the other car. The bad news is that he slid pretty hard into the tire wall pretty much destroying much of the sheet metal on the driver’s side, roof, hood and trunk. The car is back together once again looking good as new (so I’ve heard) and is now awaiting getting set up for racing again. If he does go, I plan on heading that way too. It’ll be a nice little break to get away for a couple of days.

In other racing news - F1 is in full swing. Looks like the top 3 contenders at this point are McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari and BMW Sauber. Honda is really sucking this year. They supply engines to other teams like Super Aguri - and the Super Aguri cars are running faster than the factory Hondas!?!? I’m glad McLaren was able to put a competitive car under Alonso after his back to back championships with Renault. The rookie Lewis Hamilton is also doing well. His battle with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa last week at the Malaysian Grand Prix was exciting to watch. I’ve got all my recording stuff set for the race at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain tomorrow morning on Speed TV. That’s the one thing that sucks for an F1 fan living in the States, most of the action is an ocean away making for some very early or late viewing times if you want to catch the races live.

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I mentioned in my last entry that my shoulder was bothering me. Yesterday morning, it was bothering me a LOT. So much for thinking this ache would go away on its own. Luckily for me, an orthopedic group in town is one of my clients. I called and despite being booked, they got me in. After some x-rays and tests, the consensus was that I had tendonitis in my left shoulder rotator cuff. For now, treating it involves some anti-inflammatory medication and some physical therapy. The x-rays didn’t show there was any arthritis involved (THANK GOD) or anything else abnormal.

My drumming shouldn’t be affected as I don’t raise my left arm high enough or in a direction to cause me any pain.  Hope I’m back to 100% soon with my left arm regardless though.

Okay - back to work.

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The title was part of my response to a post on Bone’s blog where we were discussing “Time Out” as a form of punishment. Basically, my view was “GIVE ME A BREAK” - what kind of deterrent is that?!? If there were some REAL consequences to an action like having to pee on an electric fence each time you messed up, I would only need ONE lesson not to do whatever it was again.

Now, I am in no way advocating urinating on an electrified ANYTHING for any reason. It was just an extreme example of implementing a punishment that would really make you think twice about risking having to endure it based on the choices you make.

Before I climb up on a soapbox over this, head over to Bone’s blog and read his post and the resulting comments. The post was titled “Time In”.

Now, back to the lighthearted superficial crap I usually yap about on here…

My big accomplishment today was dropping my car off to have a safety recall issue addressed. Apparently there’s some condition where the relay connected to the fuel pump could malfunction leaving you with two possibilities:

1. Car won’t start

2. Car is running then just cuts off

While neither are too dangerous sounding in this context, #1 is what I would prefer to have happen. Yeah, it’s inconvenient but you can recover from it.  #2 however presents a serious concern if you’re truckin’ down the road at a good clip then things just stop OR you pull into the middle of a busy intersection and you’ve got no more “go”. At any rate, I received a notice about the potential problem in the mail Saturday and went ahead and took care of it in case there’s a rush on the repair part.

I’m sure that little story brightened someone’s day.

On another, more personal note - my left shoulder has been bothering me lately with some slight pain when I move my arm into different positions. Did some looking around on the net and think I found my problem. Getting old is not making me happy in the least bit.

Gonna go soak my teeth in a cup and snooze now.

Posted by THE J-Mo | 4 Comments »

After spending a lot of time yesterday getting my drums all set up and mics in position, it all paid off this morning. After all that, I was up for a good dinner. How does seared ahi tuna, 12 oz. of steak and a lobster tail sound? It was good. Slept like a baby afterward.

This morning started off well for the most part. All my gear was working properly today only requiring a few minor tweaks on the sound board to finalize things. Overall, I think everything went well. Kevin said he butchered the Daughtry song, but aside from the timing of some of the lyrics, it didn’t sound bad. I haven’t seen the video yet so we’ll see.

I’m thinking a nap sounds like a good idea right about now.  

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So much for going from winter to summer. We were in the upper 80’s for highs last week and today it was in the mid 60’s with more cooler weather to come. I am thankful for the rain however. The air seemed a little easier to breathe outside instead of being so saturated with pollen. It was a windy night last night as the cool front moved through.

I spent a good part of my day out and about shooting photos for another project. I got to work with our local police department on it which proved to be interesting as well as fun. I really have a respect for what officers have to deal with on a day to day basis.

On my way home, I stopped by the church building to see what the stage was looking like. They’ve got the paint on around the stage now. It’s looking good. The instruments should really “pop” against the dark background under the stage lights. Should be nice when it’s all done.

Oh, Kevin has a dog that went MIA today. Abby, their “good” Siberian huskey looks to have taken off sometime today. I drove around while Kevin hung out his window with a spotlight looking for her. No luck. My hope is that she comes home overnight perhaps. Kevin’s going to keep in touch with our animal control department to see if she gets picked up. She has a collar on so at least people will know she belongs to someone.

LOST was good tonight. Now we know what the fence is for. I’m wondering what’s cooking with Juliet.

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