BallisticTour's Day Off

For the first tine in awhile I hit the saturday open mic.  Cliff was there and it worked out well.  I'm still fond of the Suzuki Pro Master C harp I discovered in a recently unpacked box.  Maybe it was the one with the one black shoe and a router table.

Much of the time I don't have my eyes open so I don't see what people are doing and how they react.  I've started looking around more.  Narcissist that I am,  I kind of like it when I see people holding up their phones, video recording.  Or when they just take your picture.  I always wonder where it ends up.

Maybe some of them are domestic spies or private investigators.  They obviously are not Hollywood scouts or I'd be in a beach front mansion by now, wearing a smoking jacket and an ascot out on the veranda, smoking some sort of cigarette in a long cigarette holder.  But no.  I've heard nothing.

So, I guess those people are government spooks, messing with the enemy--people who mind their own business and don't want anything from them.

We did not play as long as I would have liked, but it felt good.  Whether I was as free and on it as it seemed is doubtful, but you never know.  PR-wise, this was probably a good thing.  Don't satiate them if they like you. Leave them wanting a little more.

It may be time to shop the studios.  A number of musicians have wondered why I haven't already done that.  Wasn't in the mood.  Am now the new me, by accident I think. Wasn't playing that well.  Lazy.

Actually, I'm reluctant to involve myself in any effort which requires dealing with overly groovy, hip people and music people in general.  Playing in settings in which there are no expectations is one thing, actually trying to work with musicians in most project oriented situations, like recording, is another.

Lately I'm more interested in other pursuits and ideas.  Of course, life and playing music are not mutually exclusive.  At least in theory.

Soooo Sorry, It'll Never Happen Again; mea culpa fad & sandpaper

The apologies aren't even entertaining any more.   Last one I heard almost sent me over the edge.

Over the edge, in this case, would entail hooking up amplifiers, cranked to 11, pointing it outside and screaming every word that is never said, but indicated by referring to it as "the [letter] word."

"F word F word F word!  N word N word N word! C word C word C word! R word R word R word!" etc., I'd scream.  And if I had the guts, I'd refuse to apologize.  If I was famous, it would be a good way to get air tine; apologize dramatically, yet unconvincingly.  The game is played such that everyone pretends to believe some and not others, and not based on anything tangible, like believability of the apology.   For now, I refuse to say I'm sorry for uttering forbidden words or thoughts.

Can't even allow myself to formulate an expression of thoughts when it comes to the ruling structure, key players, and various attitudes around the country.  Can't go there.

I do want an apology from 3M because their sandpaper, which they claim lasts 7x longer! than 'conventional' sandpaper, is a pain to remove from a sander.

It sure sticks to the unit's pad 7x longer.  Maybe 700x.  I've been using the sanding dust collected in the little bag attached to the power tool to rub on the sander pad and the back of the sandpaper.  It helps, but is no guarantee that pieces won't stick and tear off when you try to remove the paper from the sander.  3M made S-word sandpaper--Sticky.  There I said it.  The S word!

The 3m paper is fine for hand sanding, but the sticky aspect is hardly a factor, or a help like they claim.  It is a nice thickness and all that but I find it no better for hand sanding than the stuff they made when they called it Norton, and it didn't stick to the sander and make trouble.

I miss Norton, but they claimed to be only 2 or 3x longer lasting.  I think this stuff is 3.5 x and the old stuff is 3x longer lasting. 7x is a stretch, good as it is.  Must be Jack Lalanne's wife writing the copy.  "Clean up is just a snap!"  The woman is not prone to tell the truth as it appears in reality.  Nice enough juicer, that Jack Lalanne one, but clean up is no snap.

Another helpful tip: wearing a dust mask and ear plugs is something you won't regret when sanding a bunch of wooden things with a power sander.

My good reviews of Milwaukee's random orbital sander, and Rigid's finish sander still stand.  Both of these items have stood the test of many hours.  I must admit,  I have two identical finish sanders.  I bought the Rigid sanders when I was using a helper at the other place.

We'll call this place Tesla-land, since the owner owns a Tesla, and the other place should be called O-land.  Since he knows the O word person.

The way all this new behavior and organization of surroundings is affecting me, I may actually start some other enterprises to earn income which involve less boredom and labor.  I guess I don't mind labor when it isn't boring.  Mindless activity is only good in moderate to small doses. In excess, it becomes a mental torture trying to do the mindless thing without going nuts.

I've had more than my share of practice at that since I was very young.  Lately I find myself doing things, or starting things, with much less internal roadblock and hesitation than I recall experiencing maybe ever.  Certainly most of my life I have had an internal block of some kind that made it nearly impossible to function well.  It is better than it was. All of a sudden.

I feel left out not apologizing, so please call me on the carpet for using the S word so I can try my hand at thespian remorse.  I'm thinking a Shakespearean twist.  Maybe an "out, out damned spot" sort of thing. (MacBeth--the lady was pissed at her dog, Spot.)  I'll read up on Hamlet.  I think someone told him not to be a borrower or lender.  I can express my regret and remorse while hinting blame on ghosts. 

..

Itinerant Work Tips and Product review

Most importantly, even though it is rather weak, and not suitable for the needy cases, Behr cleaner/brightener is being helpful when they suggest wearing rubber gloves.  If you don't, your fingers will look like they do when you've been in the water for an extended period of time.  They will look like that for a week, and will feel like leather.  Not the soft, pleasant kind.

Another tip:  If you have a big piece of sandpaper and want to tear it into quarters, fold it with the paper side out.  Crease it well, then fold it the other way.  If you do it with paper side in, it is much tougher to get the grit bed to break up so that the tear is straight.

That new stuff 3M makes that Home Depot sells is good as far as performance, but this new backing that is non-slip sticks to the pad of the sander and is hell to get off.  I think the backing is heat activated or responds to friction.  I've tried rubbing it in dust first, wiping it with alcohol, rubbing in on cement.

What possessed them to screw with their great Canadian made sandpaper is a mystery.  It is not like people don't buy the job packs with power tools in mind.  Still made in Canada by Minnesota Mining and Mystifying.  Still in the same sort of box with slightly different writing on it.  Only now it doesn't also say, NORTON, which denies me the excuse to imagine Jackie Gleason barking at his pal, Naughton! in my mind.

If it relates to a visual, one can say, "in my mind's eye...".  I've never heard that expression altered for aural applications.  "In my mind's ear...".  Maybe it works.  I used to grab the box, see the word Norton, and simultaneously Jackie Gleason would shout, Naughton!

The product does perform well.  There is a huge difference in different brands of sandpaper.  But this sticky bit has got to go.  I hardly works if you are hand sanding, which is its purpose.  But on the sander, it is clingier than clingy.

Oh.  I picked up a pack of two things called Helping Hand at CVS.  They are a plastic tool which holds a single edge razor for scraping paint and such.  When not in use you can reverse the blade so that the dull rounded back edge is exposed.  Works great.  I recommend it.  I'm glad they had a warning which warned that the blade is razor sharp.  It's a razor blade.

You Are My Sunshine

Trouble in Paradise?  Bromance hitting a bumpy patch?

P: How about we arm wrestle--winner take all!

O: Let's just go to Dublin for lunch with Bono and Michele

P:  The Russian people will make too much complaint if I do this.  Arm wrestle, they understand

O: you suck

P: oh no, you suck

O: racist

P: So, it is settled. 

You arm band of lunatics in Syria and surrounding nations we will call gang A.  We arm band of lunatics, gang B.  Sparks fly, we have some vodka and dance like Cossacks. 

O: Yes, of course.  Stay the course, I say.  Arm them, then fight them. Can I invite JayZ and Beyonce?  

P: is that an open marriage?  I will arm wrestle this Jay See for a night with the nightingale 

O: RACIST!

P: You are racist!

O: nope.  Rule is I can't be a racist.  Only people who disagree with me are, by definition, racist.

P: weenie punk.  

O; racist

P: arm wrestle to settle this!

O: whoever has the most celebrity phone numbers and emails wins.  

P: but you have everyone's numbers and emails 

O: no, those stories never happened, but I can't prove it because it is secret.

P: we arm wrestle in secret, or maybe box.  bare knuckle

O: Racist

Rules for Radicals with Respect for Rights of Others

Rule #[pick a number]  It is very low, classless and uncool to find hated opponents' addresses, then bring mobs to their residences.

 I would think that would be self evident.  That is a bully tactic.  You think because Mr/and/orMs X is evil in your book that you have the right to disturb the peace in their neighborhood, intimidate with a mob of people, frighten children and family members, maybe give an invalid next door a heart attack with your bullhorn madness?

It is wrong to go about it like that.  And nine times out of ten your group is running on half truth, give or take.  Rarely the whole truth, because there are those who love an excuse to bully and play sadist, all while loudly claiming justification, "But he/she did bla blabla".  I guess if you cannot reason and have no moral compass the next best thing is to use force, but claim it isn't.

Freedom of speech does not mean you have a right to harass people at home and annoy people for miles with your bullhorn BS.  "can you say neo bolshevik?" and the crowd repeats it.  They could say anything and the crowd will repeat it.

sunset cliffs--w. side of pt loma

Maybe I'll try that. I'll go to one of those things and be all into it, then get the little parrot chant thing going, then I'll say things like,  "[censored--too out there to even hint]".   Then again, maybe not.

Nothing is worse than being stalked by a mob.  If a individual does harasses you like that, you can get a restraining order to slow her down.  If a mob does it, it is a demonstration, etc.   Tactics like mobbing a residence contribute to my general lack of support for most unions.   That kind of statement irks a lot of people.  I just go by observation and experience.

Ah, it's like Harley Davidson shirt syndrome---people would fight to death just to defend the name from verbal abuse.  Unions are like that.  There is no room for reason, facts, or logic in the discussion unless they coincide with their usual rants and chants.

Bizarre that the justification for such harassment is the same justification that hostile stalkers use.   It is generally unacceptable in the one case but not the other.   They are lucky their opponents don't use similar tactics and aren't equally willing to make it a gang fight.

out my front door--east border of the front area/driveway. etc

Out My Front Door

Finally replaced the molding around the front door casing.  The place is looking spiffy.

Some people wonder why a tenant would put out such effort on a place he is renting.  Here is how I look at it:
I searched for a place upon arriving here in south SoCal based upon a few specific parameters.  I wanted a free standing cottage, guest house, or similar structure.  Big apartment complexes were out, and I hoped to find something which was handled by the owner, not a management firm.  In all but one case in my vast rental history, owner operator has been a better tenant experience.

never posted the view along the right hand, east side, facing north, of the cabin. Should have done a wider view.  Just off frame to the right is a huge boulder that provides shade, and then the terrain rises with some shrubbery.

Also, by being a tenant who fixed his own problems, I received glowing recommendations from the previous owner-landlord;  "Oh, we miss having him here.".   So, if I have to hit the road, these people might say the same.  I did charge them the materials and a few dollars.  Not much, but they paid a little extra.  Still just a fraction of what even illegals--err, undocumented--workers would have charged.  And my overall work and clean up is better.  I do the jobs they won't do.  Backwards from what you hear.

OK.  So I discovered that I could find more prospective abodes on craigslist than anywhere else.  I began my search targeting the Pt Loma, Ocean Beach area.  Another condition was that I hoped to avoid a noisy hole in the wall cramped in with lots of other people everywhere.  Due to price, etc., I kept widening my search area.

those are roses of some kind wrapping the posts of the entrance.  we're top drawer here in ballisticland.

I did not find suitable places until I expanded the search pretty far east.  I was a little skeptical when I had to drive a mile up a winding, rather vertical dirt road.  But as soon as I entered the place I all but begged to rent it.  And it was the best price.  Nothing else was half as cool as this.  I fear I like it too much, but I am used to picking up and moving should they kick me out for whatever reason.

By doing things they don't have much time to do, I help them value having me here, plus I get a sense of satisfaction and am a baby step closer to luring hot chicks to ballisticMountain.  Heck, maybe even the right one will show up.  Could be that happened and I was unprepared and someone might give it another go.  Who knows.

such a deceptive front face. The place is bigger inside, and has plenty of window area--two large picture windows and a screen door in back, but I've shown the view out the back in previous posts.  Few care--this is personal therapy.

I really do good work.  They had a company spray paint the front of the door and I cleaned and sanded and painted all the white stuff plus painting the shed door blue and painting all the white stuff over there.  The molding fits like a champ.  Heck of a job, ...

I say all this because I make the effort to face and appreciate my surroundings when I'm cycling into something dark.  It doesn't fool me, but it has a lot of power over my mood and my attempts to be constructive.  I step outside myself and say what I would if I wasn't me, "Look, you idiot--I word, if you prefer--you're in exactly the circumstances you wanted.  Let go of the sadness and idea that you shouldn't exist.  Work on the things you thought could be done in such a setting."

Hoping that some great woman will "get" me is futile.  I don't get me.  One than can handle it and likes me in spite of myself and who doesn't have ultra rigid likes and dislikes to the point of dogma and hard judgement may exist.  Maybe I'll make some effort to find such a dame as my surroundings become more sociable, logical, and of use.  (can one still use the word "dame" without some sort of reprisal?)

*******JT in NC sent this, and although I wonder if such a contest really to place, I find the definition better than anything I can dream up.
There's an annual contest at the Griffith University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.

This year's term was "political correctness".

The winning student wrote: "Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by a mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."

Unbelievable, and I Think He Did The Right Thing

So, the feds want to start a criminal investigation on the guy who exposed their secret criminal activity.  That's rich.

The unbelievable part is not that government agencies play favorites, harass select people and groups, or that they overstep their bounds in collecting private info on average citizens without probable cause.

What is unbelievable is that the same people who decried the stretch of such power under Bush now defend Obama, who has taken things where Bush left off and expanded the scope of such skullduggery.

I do not equate Manning and Snowden because I don't think Manning personally reviewed everything and he may have put lives at risk.  Whether Manning did the right thing or not, I don't know at this time.  Snowden, however disclosed crimes against the Constitution and the People.  Domestic spying is over the line.  Those who say you have nothing to worry about if you've done nothing wrong are either morons or they lack hindsight, life experience, or they stand to benefit.

The really crazy thing is to realize that a secret court, with secret judges, makes secret rulings on secret projects that may involve collecting the private information of citizens without their knowledge.  And there is no way to legally combat it in the courts because it is all f'ng SECRET!

But, surprised, I am not.  People have considered me a fringe thinker, and paranoid forever because I have suggested that extreme and massive control of individuals by the state is the direction we've been headed for a very long time.

I'm stunned that Obama worshippers are so afraid their little bubble will be burst if they face the truth; he's another in a long line of puppets that won't put an end to this kind of abuse of power.  To them it is all about party and Obama.  To me it is not.

It is about the erosion of principles, and the foolishness of expanding the scope of the state's power rather than seeking to maintain and reinforce the checks on its power.

It is a lie that every member of congress was briefed on such activities.  Only certain committees and a couple of high ranking posts in house and senate.   And they were sworn to secrecy, because it is all SECRET.

So they couldn't very well go campaign against what was going on because it was a secret they had to keep or face consequences--and none had the cajones to face consequences; although I think there were a couple who tried to hint that there was trouble in River City.  At least one was a democrat.  The fact that there are not sufficient, if any, restrictions on what government, and government agencies can do is not a thing of one of the two bogus parties.

Ignore the grandstanding.  It isn't like republicans had nothing to do with this evolution of the collective monster.

Despite the insulting spin, white house double talk, and the complacency and ignorance of the public, I'm somewhat enthused to see these things come to light in a way that only a hopeless codependent could ignore.

Played a Little Last Saturday

A guy took a lot of photos of people, many of which were excellent.  I won't show you them since you don't know them and I don't want to.

Several people sat in with us, and how it sounded, I don't know.  If the sound matches how it felt, we're on to something.  In any case it was the most fun playing I've had in some time. Pays to lay out a week or two.

Playing that Suzuki pro-master C harp I found in the router box.  Like new but has to be over a decade old.  Fanatstic harp.  First time played in public.

(for critics and purists--yes I hold it wrong. and I use left hand for the effects rather than right hand. it works for me and feels right, so that is how it goes)

 Cliff is one of those people who is the part--the look is not an affectation.  It was an interesting little session.  We did thirty minutes.  He played a song I wrote--Mr. Sleazy.  He came up with the music.  I wrote it in Memphis and got into a big blowout with that guitar player because I didn't like they way he wanted to do it, and the fact he was kind of hijacking the thing.  Cliff is a different story.  He came up with several versions before I gave in.  Surprisingly, it was a big crowd favorite.  But when Cliff is performing, he has that air about him that makes people of all ilks want to like it, and they usually do.

So, I'm still in life improvement mode.  More to sort, but no backsliding, and working like crazy this week over in Rancho Trophy Spouse.  And changes is how I approach basic life are still manifesting.  I'm much less frozen and negligent.  

Out My Back Door

The pic of the front of the place got lost, and then it was too dark to take another shot.

We do have the view if you were standing on the west side facing north, and a shot of the white door on the shed that I painted blue, and the unpainted, and paint flaking off trim around the door which I painted white.

I do not know what any of the stuff outside the shed is, it is not mine.

Again a Gruncle

The youngest of my two rabbit nephews has produced a girl child, with some help from his wife.  His brother has one in the oven which is due to be fully baked sometime in July.  I guess if my wife had been willing when I was, I would have cranked out something.

As it is, I think the perfect Darwinian outcome has been achieved--the better part of the Ballistic gene pool is marching on, while the less suited for long term thriving is weeding itself out of the mix.  That is just fact; not good or bad or poor me.

It is up to me to do the things the better adjusted kin can't wisely chance.  That means following what I feel is the most beneficial.

In the mean time I have a ton of work over in bizarro land, where money is not related to brains or sanity, but the people have more money than they can carry.