Random Memory number One....

I think that we all have special memories in our minds, childhood memories, fond memories....but I think my own mind is cluttered by random memories...
Nowadays, there's a thing called Tivo, a DVR that can capture and hold anything you want on TV.....
and then there's useless shows that you'll never watch that become buried in the memory of the DVR box...
My brain is like a DVR box....I swear it is... my brain is so full of useless information, sometimes I don't know how to compartmentalize it....I can tell you how thick the hull of USS Essex was, but I can't remember what I had for breakfast two days ago....
Herein lies these memories, so vivid, complete with the sights and sounds, like a video.....
Chester, England...in 1982, I was traveling and very tired, it was 8:30 in the morning and I only wanted to catch a city bus to the train station. A very pretty girl was waiting at the stop as well, waiting to go work....In my shyness, I asked, "excuse me, do these busses come on time? I need to catch the train..."
She said, "oh, well sometimes they do"
hmmmm...meanwhile another guy came up to the bus stop, another young guy, an American, very boisterous...like a young Randy Quaid, and when it was established that we were a couple of American dudes I noticed the poor girl backing away physically, obviously intimidated....
The Randy Quaid guy was a bit obnoxious, and waiting for this bus became lengthy....so I asked if there were any hotels in the area...
"oh yes yes, down Brompton Road, that way..."
I started walking and sure enough ol' "Randy Quaid" followed me....ohhh, he wasn't a bad guy, just a talkitive guy and I was tired, just in need of a hotel room or a train, just a place to sleep.
I lost him at the 'Bear and Billet' a pub near the port and the timing was perfect, I caught the train and off I went to Glasgow, Scotland....and to this day, I think about the Randy Quaid guy and the poor girl at the bus stop.
This memory is vivid in my mind...there are tons more....

Afterglow

There was a song on Letterman the other night, it was the band INXS who had hosted an entire series over the summer, in which they auditioned a lot of singers, and finally they picked one...so they did a number called Afterglow, which I assume was dedicated to their old lead singer, Michael Hutchence who died.... I Tivoed the the episode and then began playing the song over and over, and indeed...it's a song about loss, and I started to think about my dad, and the words seeped in, they seemed to fit more and more, and I found myself in tears...
Now, before I do this, let me say I sometimes find it annoying when people post their favorite song lyrics...like we are all supposed to appreciate these lyrics just as profoundly as the original poster, but we can never relate to them as personally as they can. But I can understand how much certain lyrics to any song can mean a great deal to anyone....
So I'm just gonna do this once...I promise, this will be the only time I will ever post lyrics...It reminded me of my dad, and I miss him very much...
This is from the new INXS song 'Afterglow'

Touch me and I will follow
In your Afterglow
Heal me from all this sorrow
As I let you go
I will find my way
I will sacrifice
But now I'm living
In your Afterglow

Illustration Friday: Song

Song
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

This goes way back, an image of Jon Lord, keyboard player in Deep Purple. It was an assignment to draw something using pointilism, so I wore out black, yellow, orange and red felt pens as I dotted away.

oh this Gabby

To anyone who has ever owned a cat, you'll know what I mean....I took in a cat named Gabby, and she's a good and sweet kitty, and she's got some street, but jeeeez!
Here's how a typical evening goes...she will go to the back sliding door and meow her head off, like she wants to go outside, and then when I slide it open, she sits there and then runs back inside to her dish....I replenish her dish, she doesn't eat, and runs back to the door and meows loudly....so I open the door...she runs back inside to her dish and meows some more...and so and so on...ohhhh this kitty can be a pain in the butt....but when we're sleeping, her purring is a godsend....

You Get up and Go to Work

No one would have believed, especially myself, that in July 2001...that this was the last time I'd have 'real' job....where you get up in the morning, and routinely take a shower and get ready to go to work each day. It is something millions of people do each day....
But not me...No, I have been out of the game for nearly five years...I am daily astounded how out-of-the-loop I am...
Think about this now...FIVE YEARS....sure I've done other small jobs since then, but never part of a Permanent Team...I profoundly miss being part of any team, I've been having dreams about my old teammates...at the same time worrying about keeping my own little raft afloat...
You may have read my previous posts, about my life raft, but thanks to real estate prices in California, and my own sense of complacency....well, here I am....
You see, I'm at one of those points again, where everyone must come to a point in their lives when they must confront 'themselves'....and face of their own demons, and to face them down hard in a spiritual sense...
In my complacency, somewhere in there I have a certain measure of hope, and strength, courage and wisdom...but most of all...the love of Friends and Family.
The meaning of life, for me, is that you get up in the morning and you go to work....
Whatever work it may be, you get up and just do it!....

Illustration Friday: Chair

chair
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

Whenever I see one of those fancy massage chairs, I think of how cool it would be to have a comfortable chair that not only massages, but also has lights, music, heaters, air conitioning, and a control panel that switches on anything in the house.

The Night I Sat Next to Neal Schon at the Bar

journey03
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

Back in 1994 or so, I used to hang out in San Rafael, California. There's a little bar there called T&T's...it's a little hole in the wall....
Anyway, one night I went in to have a beer...and a guy came in and sat next to me...I immediately recognized him, it was Neal Schon....an excellent guitar player in bands as early as the 60's, when he was a member of Santana, but more commercially known when he was the lead guitarist of Journey, an incredibly popular band in the 70's and 80's....
Anyway, I was sitting there in a hole-in-the-wall type of place,just having a beer, then this guy comes in and plops down next to me...I looked over and wow!, that's him! I totally recognized him from the live shows and videos, but here he was, a regular guy at a bar.... he WAS a regular...he was pals with the bartender, and he gave him a cassette tape, "Well I'm just shopping it around"
There was a baseball game going on at the time which made me look in his direction, in the direction of the tv.....at the corner of my eye I would see him glance over and realize I was watching the game..not him...It was at this time that I just wanted to lean over say, "hey, are you the guitarist in Journey? I just wanted you to know that I'm a big fan of yours, I think you're a great guitarist, I love your music, not just with Journey, but your solo stuff too" ....
BUT NOOO! At that moment I also thought, okay well maybe he just wants to be left alone, this guy is a 'rock star' and likes to come to this hole-in-the-wall....
But after I left, I realized it wasn't about him...It was about my own shyness...
At that point, and at many points, I consider my own shyness as an affliction...I consider myself pretty socially adroit , I can get along with anyone.....but....
it's the shyness...I hate it...Think of anyone who has ever considered themselves 'shy' and then multiply it by ten....I think that me and Neal would have had a cool conversation....