Discover Top Posts Tagged with #not la

Chicago!!! 8am, Monday Morning - no bumper to bumper traffic in downtown?

A Sunday 7 kinda Sunday,

So its been a while since ive actually posted stuff here. Ive been lurking, but it's been for a reason. A lot is going on.... - Too many people dying. Yeah, you heard that right. First it was a high school friends baby, who we were all rooting for to have a child, who died of SIDS. As someone who is childless , I hurt for them. Then it was the man who helped shape my personal spiritual journey as a kid growing up, our parish priest. Now before I hear the guffaws about religion, he was pretty big on being mostly socially progressive. But what he gave to all of us was the idea and the feeling of spiritual awakening, teaching about why we did things the way we did them and truly blending the mysticism of traditions with a search and openness for the spirit. I always thought this was an incredible thing, because as I get older and see God in things like whales, the laughter of friends, the look of love on the faces of an older couple, I think he really got that right because I'm still curious and im still open to not just my own interpretation of the divine, but others. And lastly, my fathers brother, my uncle Marty. Our relationship started the same day that I met my father. He had come along to make sure there was not anything bad in my intent with my dad. And I think the second that my dad and I hugged, Marty knew he was just along for a cup of coffee. He knew my mom pretty well, as like most people who go to small schools and know each others siblings, and oddly enough he was part of the pipeline of people who were secretly checking in on me growing up. He was a good and honest man, was an expert at dad jokes, a hard worker, and left everybody with a smile on their face. And while he had ALS, my last memories of him are of he and his wife having a sweet moment together in the kitchen. I will miss him greatly. -Both of my parents are going to require surgery this summer. My moms is pretty minor(lymph node removal, thanks to a spider bite LAST YEAR!). My dad however, his is a bit more drastic. His knees are destroyed from, much like me, having an invincibility complex. So Hes having both of them replaced this summer. Not a huge deal, but he has Parkinson's, and both of my other brothers are elsewhere in the US. Sooooooo.......yeah. Not to mention He's having his heart stopped and restarted on the 23rd(rhythm issues), so im kinda worried about that. -im doing my best to find a quick season of work so that I can take a good part of the summer off, but its been a challenge so far. Im probably going to gave to head to AK as early as Friday, but not doing what I had in mind. I need to have this time for my parents, but I also need to pay bills and move AND......go do my maritime stuff. Which means - trying to set up a meeting with a local tug boat owner who is looking for people to get into the rotation. His company is experiencing severe burn out. They work in the long beach, ca harbour, offer full benes, its union, and it would be a great job to get me out of Alaska for the most part and get me onto tugs.if I can get them to hire me right away and help me get my merchant mariners credentials, that would be pretty awesome.Then I can have a real life again, including music... -Music is just a blur for me. Ive been playing lots of little local gigs since ive been back, and applying for many northwest festivals. I have 2 so far, and we are putting on a third in Aberdeen, "songwriters gone coastal". There are 4 groups playing, including one of the recent contestants on "the voice"(who is super cool, btw), and im trying to throw together a thing at the end where we all have a sing a long(may sound hoaky, but we are all becoming a family. Plus, a rousing version of "pastures of plenty", which was written in Washington state by Woody Guthrie, is appropriate) im not tooting my horn when I say this(and please don't take this as being conceded), but there's some serious talent taking the stage that night. Im really excited because we are all doing a CD this summer, and its like a 400 seat show, and im going to do my best to sell it out. The new songs on mine are solid, the other folks are amazing, and its going to be broadcast on Facebook(hint hint). -But no matter what, im learning that Facebook, no matter how good a tool it is for marketing myself, is just a pit. I had a guy the other night send me a message about my mom, more or less saying she needed to not be so crass in he opinions and be quiet. I didn't know this guy from Adam, so I asked a few questions, and he said he didn't know whether I was her husband or that i might be her brother. I LET HIM FUCKING HAVE IT Im going to post this one of these days, not because I want a pat on the back but because this guy really thought it was ok to shame a woman by talking to a male relative and getting her to "understand" . I told him in explicit terms that he was no better than the Taliban, and that his puny words would have no effect on a true feminist like my mom. The stumbling on his retort was typical of a complete copy and paste politibot. You might enjoy the rant, it was kinda funny.... -anyhow, enough of my ranting. I just want to say thanks for reading this, and I seriously hope you are all doing ok. I know, I kinda go nuts on the hearts thing but y'all have great content. Seriously! Keep it up!!!! be kind to yourselves and to those you love, and I hope this finds you all ok, if not well.