Born to Love You

Here is a little video I cooked up for my song "Born to Love You".

Jam at the Stone Cellar

It all started as the usual work day but as soon as I got done I packed up all my gear, hopped in to my car and ........

Nothing. Damn left the lights on again.

So after asking a neighbor for a jump I drove down to Appleton and ended at the stone cellar brew pub where I unloaded my gear, drank a few beers, and played music with my friends Digger and Chris Aaron.

It turned out well as I had never played with Chris before and it came as a surprise since I didn’t he was coming. We threw down a set of music for a group of friends who apparently had a good time as they were all dancing. We even were offered another gig on April 1st, but since digger went down to Jamaica today to get married Chris and I will probably be playing as a duo.

Some of my highlights were franklin’s tower and a version of Bob Dylan’s tangled up in blue with a funky, rockabilly, blues twist to it.

Two new Blogs

Vaspola
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

I have been intrusted with two new blogs http://giselo.blogspot.com/ and http://vaspola.blogspot.com/. They are both the stories of people that don't have access to Earth's World Wide Web so I will have to do their publishing. I have been telling their stories for a while now in a novel which includes much more detail but they wanted to keep up with today's age and keep a blog of their adventures.

Death, school, and baseball

Casey
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

Death still seams to be the reoccurring theme as I come home from a night of playing bluegrass with my friends Insomniac Gypsy. In my inbox lands an email telling me that my morning class has been canceled due to a death in my professor’s family. I put on the movie that has been cycling in my DVD player and been my bedtime story for the past few nights - Elizabethtown. It is fitting because part of it takes place in Kentucky, where Casey was born and came into my life, Orlando Bloom even drives down the interstate through a tunnel a few miles from my old house. Elizabethtown I thought was a very good movie about a man who is grieving the loss of his father but still has an uplifting love story to take your mind off of death.

Then morning came around and I was back to school after almost two weeks of spring break. It took me awhile to get into the groove as I hadn’t done any coding for that break. I couldn’t even concentrate during my first class so after it was done I got out and ate some lunch, browsed barns and noble, and then went back to the computer lab to code my c++ assignment. Once I sat down and started looking through source code I found the groove and an hour and a half later I had my assignment done.

C++ was a little rough as again I was worn out from bluegrassing the night before but I followed along all the while watching Michigan beat Notre Dame then the first few innings of the final between Japan and Cuba with my mlb.tv subscription. They always seem to have on the channel of the baseball game for a half hour to an hour before the game starts, this time it was ESPN. I couldn’t miss the final of the first ever world baseball classic.

I found how much radio sucks around here when I couldn’t find the game on the way home, but then finished watching it at home then finished watching Elizabethtown.

A pretty eventful day in a no so eventful way, just another day in the life of a collage student.

The Curse of the Da Vinci Code - an afterthought

I just hate to think what will happen to global travel when the movie hits the airplane circuit.

b.b.b. v2.4 SeattleThe ride home and The curse of the Da Vinci Code

Z and Uncle Z
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

The curse of the Da Vinci Code strikes again, yes you heard me. It turns out if you read the Da Vinci Code while flying the universe will slow down your travel so you have plenty of time to read it. Ok, its not scientific, thus far it has only happened to my sister and me, to my knowledge. (see 'fashionably late' from her blog)

What started as an hour delay from Seattle due to a FedEx plane sliding off the runway in Minneapolis, trickled down into six hours of redirection. I’m still not sure what happened to my flight from Minneapolis to Appleton, it either was canceled or I got there to late. From what I understand they canceled many flights, but whatever happened I looked upon the screen when I arrived and there was no flight.

So I found the nearest terminal and found out where I could rebook my flight. I stood in yet another line and was told at one o’clock that I would fly to Milwaukee at five arrive at six and fly to Appleton at seven for a half hour flight. My luggage would leave on an earlier flight so my bag would end up in Appleton a few hours before I would.

What else do you do when you got a few hours to kill and all you have had is a muffin and a cup of coffee, find a bar, have a very expensive meal and a beer to calm the nerves. After shelling out the dough I find my terminal and break back into the Code.

EMP
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

After an hour flight to Milwaukee I find that I have to get a new boarding pass and that I am not flying a northwest plane as I had been; now I am flying on a Midwest plane. So I have to go to the ticket counter, leaving the terminal, which I had to anyway due to the way the airport is built, and go back through security. Now I find that due to airport policy my stuff and my person have to be extensively searched since I change airlines. Being patted down I recall being arrested and find that being used to this kind of treatment a little disturbing.

After getting my shoes back on and watching security go through my backpack I get down to the terminal to find - you guessed it - my flight had been delayed. After finally getting in the air, as soon as we had gotten to the point when I could turn on my iPOD I had to turn it of because we were descending. By the time I got to Appleton I had read about a hundred and seventy pages of the code, and that was with a nap that lasted an hour or so (on the Seattle Minneapolis leg).

I tracked down my bag at the airport after about fifteen minutes of waiting for a northwest agent to show up at the desk. When I got into my car I dug out my gloves and found that I had brought with me two dog leashes belonging to my sister. I had taken their dogs for a walk the day before and forgot that I had stuffed them in my pocket.

On my way home I stopped to grab some grub at the grocery in New London and immediately missed being in Seattle were I could pick from a wide selection of free ranged and organic foods, it was a massive reality check.

Well now I am home and back into my daily grind, working towards relocating myself. With this excursion behind me I now have a little fuel for the fire to get me moving.

Brain, book, and a ballpoint 2.3 Seattle

greyboy allstars at the showbox - seattle
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

My trip to Seattle began to slow down. The day after I got there my sister and I went out to see the Greyboy Allstars at the Showbox. She left after the first set to look after her son. I stayed behind and began to realize that I was indeed two hours ahead of the current time zone. They were grooving so it was had not to dance though I had to sit down for awhile. I got a ride home from one of her friends that I met at set break. Five of us crammed into a pickup truck.

Ballard farmers market
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

The next few days were full of shopping around the local neighborhoods, touring Ballard, Fremont, and the cities dog parks. I feel into uncle mode and began to try and help out when I could by taking the dogs for walks, entertaining the kid, and cooking. Still was in vacation mode though.

When Sunday came around on our way to the Ballard farmers market we stopped at my mom’s sublet. It is a cottage with an old time feel. I sat down on the couch with my dog Casey unknowingly for the last time. After a day of running around we dropped my mom off and rested at my sister’s house. My brother-in-law and I took their dogs out the dog park and watched the sunset.

Golden gardens
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

On our way home the truck ran out of gas so we started to walk home. My sister called and at the moment I heard the words, "Oh No," come out of her husbands mouth I thought - ‘the truck fell out of gear and rolled down the hill striking a car’, but then my thought pattern changed and I began to think of the dog that hadn’t been eating much and who had lost a lot of weight since I saw her last in Wisconsin.

"Casey’s dead", came from his mouth and my thought pattern had proven true. My mind started racing and I wasn’t sure how to react. We got to their house and I took one of their cars over to my mom’s. All the while regret hung over my head as I had chosen to go back to my sister’s instead of my mom’s, thinking that there was plenty of time left even though somewhere in the back of my head I knew.

When I got to her house, I fumbled with the gate trying to open it, and got to the door. When it opened, there she was - eyes still open lying in her bed. Hugging my mom it began to sink in. I walked over and shut her eyes then placed a blanket over her after one last pet of the fur covering her lifeless body.

We then took her to the animal hospital to be cremated. (see r.i.p. Casey 1991-2006)

The rest of the trip included a lot of sweets, movie watching and grieving. I did make it to the Experience Music Project to gaze upon the relicts of rock and roll past. Instruments, letters, hand written song lyrics and the like from people like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, even costumes of kiss, and a black jacket of Jonny Cash.

Instant portrait
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

It was a trip of ups and downs, I will miss Casey but she did live a full life of fifteen years and it was good that we were all there together. I was happy to meet my new nephew and my perspective on life changed a little bit. My priorities are changing as my life heads in a new direction.

B.b.b. V2 stuck

Ah yes, the anticipation of returning to reality lengthens as my flight becomes delayed an hour due to nasty weather in MN. An airplane skidded off the runway. Wish me luck:)

B.b.b. V2

Now boarding at gate s9 one way to reality ... Check ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 the weather in reality is fair and balanced ... Please buckle your seatbelts we're in for a bumpy ride. Yes it is time to go home from a vacation in seattle. All the sights and sounds - all the ups and downs - the celibration of life and death - family time reaffirming relationships, starting new, and saying goodbye

r.i.p. Casey 1991-2006

r.i.p. Casey 1991-2006
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

As she rest in my arms as the day I brought her in to my life, covered in a blanket, I take her lifeless body to be cremated.

Her body still warm lay limp in my arms, the tears run down my cheeks as I remember going to my friend John's house to pick her out. The little silver haired beagle was a oddity in her litter though that is what attracted me to her.

She was so small then, this time she it took both arms to hold her. Lighter that the last time I saw her in Wisconsin as she had been having trouble eating.

I find myself "celebrating both ends of life" as my 7 week old nephew Zeb's life begins and my faithful companion's ends.

She had spent her last years living with my mom as I never had the means to take care of her, being on the road and living the life of a nomad without much cash. I did fall back into her life for a year when I moved back in with my mom for a time spanning a year during 2004 and 2005. I am thankful for that now.

I remember times when she was healthy and full of life. I would come home from school and she would be sleeping in the window waiting for me to come and take her rollerblading. She would pull me around the Louisville seminary, so much energy and speed that I couldn't keep up. She and I ventured around the grounds, exploring every inch of the 67 acres and then onto the park next door. Playing in the creek, trudging in the snow.

I have felt bad over the years for giving her such a good, few years of life and then neglecting her when was discovering myself. Now that I am beginning to settle into life I have the time for a dog but now no dog as she finds her way through the unknown.

Casey will be missed and her life was a flower that is still blossoming in my soul.

Brain, book, and a ballpoint 2.2 Seattle

Landing in minneapolis
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

Getting off the plane I find my next gate is F14. Imagine that, I'm at B6. By the end of this trip I can call bingo. I find F14 is 3 moving walkways, 2 escalators, and a tram away.

After getting off the tram I make my way through a minimall, fighting the urge to buy something at the FoxNews store I make my way to the gate. Sitting down I then Try to post some of this story to my blog via cell phone email. hopefully it goes through (it did). My first attempt at real time blogging.

My flight is called and I rush to send what little I could type on my cell phone through the air. Realizing my battery was running low I turn it off to conserve the remainder for arrival game of hide and seek.

After waiting in line to get on the plane I take comfort in the fact that the exit is two rows ahead of me so getting off the plane won't take long.

I have plenty of room to stand in this 757, though not much room in the seats. The man next to me is talkitive, a warehouse worker whose job is slowly bing fased out while jobs are shipped overseas, $3 paycut this year, $1 paycut next year. We talk about Seattle music, football, the olympics, computers, cars, and his wife's 95 year old mother who doesn't want a new pacemaker bttery. I note that "I'm celebrating the other end of life w/ my newborn nephew."

minneapolis tram
Originally uploaded by countzachula.

After the seatbelt lights fo out I discover an Anchorage newspaper with the head story of the Ididirod and how zack Steer is following his two dog teams via the internet. Zack finished in the top 20 in 2000 and started last year but scratched when his wife gave birth. so off again I sink into Da vinchi and the soundscape of my ipod"

Brain, book, and a ballpoint v2.1 Seattle

After feeling awake enough I jump in the shower, coming out I hear the h2g2 theme again, (my back up alarm). I proceed to grab a cup of coffee that has been brewing due to the built in alarm then plop right back down in front of the computer to shuffle some last minute additions to my iPod, and make some myspace comments to waste a few more minutes before I have to leave. I shut down my apartment, grab my packed bags, my coffee cup and think the next time I walk into this I will have traveled a few thousand miles and back. I throw my bags in the car, jump in the drivers seat, plug the ipod into the stereo, and stand on the pedal. Fitting, the first voice on this journey is Kurt Cobin, being that I'm headed to Seattle.

I pull into a parking space after the usual drive to Appleton. I check my bag, grab my ticket, take off my shoes, ipod, keys, cell phone, coat, backpack, and go through security, put everything back on, wait at the gate for twenty minutes while watching pundits talk about lung cancer and the death of Superman's wife, listening to john butler and breaking into the Da Vinchi code. The usual hub bub goes on, kids playing psp, teens listening to mp3, parents trying to communicate with both. Businessmen making doing last minute business before they have to shut off their cell phones.

unintelligible verbal communication coming out of load speakers with what could be your flight number or in fact anyone's flight number if you could understand it. My flight number finally comes up in the airport bingo, this time I could understand it because the voice was coming from five feet behind me. Making my way through the gate I realize how small the plane is, no Cessna but a SAAB 340 40 passenger plane. Then I really realize how small it is when I walk into the plane and I can't stand to my full 6'2", and you wish you were taller, my neck doesn't at this moment in time.

We go through the normal rigmarole of seat belts ... electric devices ... cell phones ... seat positions ... tray tables ... exits ... floatation devices ... damn I wish I hadn't been watching all those lost episodes :) We take off and my hopes of seeing my house are dashed when we are engulfed by clouds.

After we break through and see the sun with the floor of clouds beneath I remember why I like flying. I turn my ipod back on, read a chapter of Da and sink into oblivion, until I decide to write this first installment.

Brain, book, and a ballpoint v2.0 Seattle

6:30 am the sound of a banjo awakens me and then proceedes into the accompoment orchestra. Yes i'm corney enough to have the theme song from h2g2 as the alarm ringtone of my phone. If you know me this is g*damn early for me, in fact most me you that have seen me at this hour have been up with me all night. I take my usual 10 to 15 min. To pull myself off the couch and plop in front me the computer, get itunes rolling and kick on cnn w/ the remote. My usual morning routine.

Myspace ups and downs

Recently I found the world of mySpace. I knew it was there even ran across some pages here and there when my friends (mostly in bands) would direct me to them. Now I’m full fledged into the scene gaining new friends every day. A lot of my old friends have appeared too, and that is what gladdens and saddens me.

This brings me to the real reason that I am writing this. Mostly I have found old friends and reconnected but I ran across an old friend that I haven’t seen in awhile so I request to be his friend. After not hearing from him I go back to his page to see when he was online last. It had only been about two weeks and then I start reading the comments,

"You have touched my life in ways you will never know"
"hope the mandolins are a singin' where ever you may be now."

And other things to that effect. I sent a message to a mutual friend and it turns out he died of a heroin over dose not long ago. So if it weren’t for mySpace I would still be in the dark on this one.

It makes me sad that yet again the needle has taken another friend. Three is too many. When I first ran across his page I was glad to see that he was doing well, his new move to Boulder seemed to agree with him so now I hope his new move to the afterlife agrees with him too. Here’s to you Joe.