Tongue in Teak

Slightly rusty arm leg neck etc joints squeak loudly when you do things like hand sanding and almost all else involved with doing the right things to treat outdoor teak furniture the way it should have been treated originally. There seems to be an overabundance of outdoor teak in Rancho Rico which has been sprayed with varnish by manufacturer. Sunshines and the elements make short work of it in a matter of a few months.

This may seem a trivial matter, and why am I boring us with the details? Well, little things like that create jobs. Just an aside; I never liked the term "create jobs". Either there are things worth doing and that need doing or not. The idea that jobs are created, like newspaper hats, just so people can have an excuse to get paid makes no sense to me. That's thinking caused by errant philosophy. It's the stuff of collectivist dreams. The forever little people pulling together in a spirit of unity waiting for Big Brother to create activities that they can do for pay. Then they'll collectively bargain via Big Brother's evil twin, The Union, and all will be well, and everyone gets someone to resent as well. In this case the "creator" of the job.

Buy it or not, I believe that system is the root of many problems, and the reasoning behind it leads to thousands of issues which get the title of "crisis" as time goes on. Lots of people fall for that idea of job creation through legislation. It's every bit the Ponzi scheme that Madoff engineered. Government creates nothing other than chaos and difficulty.

However, all that aside, in Rancho Rico there is opportunity for a good teak man. One of those things that just happens. It is tedious work, and mildly physical. Of course the surroundings are as pleasant and attractive as any high level resort peopled by the well to do. It's the main brush I've had with the steadfastly pompous. The workers are friendly and interesting. Those who truly belong are mostly kind of funny as they literally do hold their heads so high it must be an effort to force their eyes forward instead of staring at the sky. They are the ones paying very well for everything in their world, and that works out great for those who happen to be in the right place at the right time. They needn't be pals with me. Of course I know they'd like to be.

Anyway, I've been contacted regarding more bleak teak at another residence in the hood. It is nice to be recommended to strangers. How strange remains to be seen, but I have reason to believe very strange. Hopefully, we can come to an arrangement. Hour for hour it certainly pays better than the airline, and almost as well as some of my better band gigs. Those required a lot of time other than the actual gig so I guess this is consistently better.

Speaking of gigs, I'm doing a folksish gig in Crest on Saturday. It's ok if you show up. They are doing a benefit for the community center they are rebuilding. The place burned up awhile back. Wildfire I guess. This is a challenge because it is a far cry from electric jamorama stuff which I've done in the past. I'm playing with very nice talented people who really like folk/country tunes. They do them well enough to make me like them too. It is hard to do it justice but I hope to leave them glad that they included me. It should be fun. When people have a great attitude it makes the smallest performance worthwhile. This is supposed to be very informal. I think I'm rather fortunate to be in on the act.

Eventually I hope to find a situation in which I can completely cut loose on stage before I give up public playing for good. I always think I will hang it up for the duration. Long stretches of time go by without playing anywhere so no one would know the difference anyway.

There are other musical people I've met recently, so maybe that will lead to something.

Did I mention that I see hot air balloons flying over Rancho Rico just about every afternoon I'm there? Not sure where they start and finish. One was floating west today. It had to have landed near the beach. Much farther and he'd be in the ocean. The lack of directional control has to present challenges. Someone is making balloon money. You have to keep your eyes open for things like that these days. I figure anything that honestly pays the rent is worth considering.