Dreams Of Noise

Just too much going on, too little money, bills due, ongoing problems with my tooth, etc. I wish I could justify it; can't. I hope everyone who does make it there has a blast, and I hope to see you next year.

You may never leave the house again.

Sunday evening, I seemed to have a little soreness in my throat.

Monday, I was frickin' exhausted all day.

Tuesday, I felt much better, except for a nagging tightness at the back of the throat if I coughed.

Today, I feel like the weird-ass dream I had last night, which featured a no-holds-barred falls-count-anywhere match between The Big Show and Lawrence Taylor. Except, of course, that in the dream I escaped being pummeled in between the two of them.

And I have to go out into the cold, at least long enough to finish retrieving stuff from the van.

I sincerely hope I feel better by Friday, the first day of ConFusion. But if I don't, it would be irresponsible of me to show up. I don't know how contagious I am, and it's hard to perform with a head full of glop.

I'll keep you posted.

I hope your week's looking better...?

• Sorry this is late in the day. The first slot should explain the reason: my dentist, Ray Tonks.
• Earlier in the week, vixyish alerted me to the plight of nieceytee, who is trying to keep her house.
• Kontakt users: Another person who needs help is John Reid, a longtime MS sufferer and dear friend of Wavelore. To help him, they've got a deal going till 12/01/2010: Kick in fifty bucks, Mr. Reid gets 75%, and you get Wavelore's entire Kontakt library (demos here).
• IK Multimedia has created SampleTank FREE, which comes with 500 MB of sounds and can use any SampleTank library out there. Requires creating a free account.

Ready... Set... Pimp Your Stuff!

I agree with Mark Evanier: This is one of the best vids ever.



Got any links to cool wedding videos? Ones we've seen, ones we haven't.

It's 86frickin° in Ann Arbor. Heat index is, of course, more. At least the humidity has dropped somewhat, although it's not easy to tell. Much better than 10° and ten inches of snow, but I do kinda wish it had waited till at least mid-June before I had to crank the AC.

Cool. Last night's Glee was pretty cool.

Either way, discuss.

At this moment, I have three guys ripping up my bathroom floor.

There's been some slow water damage, and because it was slow water damage, it's not covered by my insurance. Apparently you have to have something sudden and violent happen for that; otherwise, it's "normal wear and tear" and "maintenance", meaning that, if I didn't notice there was a leak until my floor began to sag beneath my foot, it's my fault not having X-ray vision and porous-material detectors. Or somethin'.

Anyway. I've been trying to figure out how I'm gonna pay my May bills, and now I have to pee at the BP.

So.

I try not to ask for help under circumstances like this, and I guess I'm still not, because I've got some offers for you.

First, I've got several albums up at my Bandcamp page. (I will have at least two more by the end of the day, and I hope all the rest by next week.) This is way cool because [a] they can sell the albums and individual tracks much more easily than I can, [b] they can sell 'em in MP3, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis formats, and [c] you can kick in more than the price of the album if you'd like. I have lowered the prices of the other albums I have there as well.

Second, one of those albums is brand new! Er, old! Uh, you most likely haven't heard the stuff before! Ends 'n' Odds has twenty-one (plus three bonus) tracks of stuff from earlier in my career -- as in, the late 80s and early 90s. Most of the songs haven't seen the light of day in over twenty years (a couple deservedly so). Over an hour of parody, social commentary, and the usual barrage of puns, along with some great audiences and something of the evolution of a performer. Only nine bucks.

Third, the next project on the list is Herbert West: The Musical. I hope to have it out for MarCon, although InConJunction is much more likely. And, I'm gonna do something I really didn't want to do, but you guys have recommended I do so in the past, and this time I'm taking you up on it.

I has a button:

This button allows you to donate to Tom's Fix the Floor Fund. If you can spare anything, I'll appreciate it a lot.

If, between now and the end of May, you donate $20.00 or more -- or if you pay at least $17.00 above any purchases at BandCamp -- you'll be put on the pre-order list for Herbert West: The Musical. If you pre-order, you'll not only get the downloads before anyone else, but you'll also get some nifty, exclusive downloadable art by R. K. Milholland!

Thank you all very much, and I hope this isn't out of line.

It occurs to me that a few things have happened about which I should tell you.

( Lotsa stuff behind the cut.... )

How can people be like this?

Okay, first thing: When a family member asks you to help them because they can't do something, and you steal from them, you fail at life.

Do you have a power of attorney and/or a living will? (No details necessary.) I've got some docs to that effect, but I should likely formalize them.

ETA: That ol' pedant old_fortissimo points out that robbery (the original subject line was "Robbing Your Grandparents") is a more violent action than that indicated in the article.

This morning I found out about a new wave of child pr0n sweeping the nation: "sexting".

( Cut for length and possible squeamish subject matter.... )

ETA: Tweaked to add a few thoughts along the way.