Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

My Effin’ Life

Bloganuary writing prompt
What books do you want to read?
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I used to read constantly. I’ve worn reading glasses since I was a kid. A few years ago my eye glass prescription needs changed and I had to switch to progressives. That made sitting down and reading a book more difficult. It’s more stressful on my eyes and they get tired very fast. 

At the time I was commuting to work over and hour each way four days a week. I had a very active Audible account and I was listening to piles upon piles of audio books. When the pandemic hit I inactivated the account. I don’t do well with audio books when I am not a captive, driving audience. That means there have been very few books read (in any manner) since early 2020.

I am going to need to have a new eye test one of these days. There’s a part of me that wants to get a set of reading glasses again to go along with the mid-distance computer glasses I have and the progressives I wear when I am not sitting at my computer. That’s a lot of money for specs though so probably not.

There is one book that I started reading a little after xmas though. I’m only on chapter three and have only been reading a few pages at a time. It’s a memoir. It’s Geddy Lee’s My Effin’ Life. I am very driven to get through it but it’s hard to find the time or the energy. I will read it. I have to. It’s a moral imperative. 

New (Old) Song!

I’ve been talking about it all month, but finally we have a new recording all mixed and ready to share. This is a song that was written and originally recorded for the 2021 RPM Challenge and re-recorded here for Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven, aka The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project.

What do you think, should I have put some more reverb and echo on everything? This is the wettest mix I’ve ever done… maybe. It’s pretty much dripping wet.

Hopefully there will be more stuff coming in the next few days.

Sign Up

It happens around this time every year, or at least every year since 2008…

I just signed up for this year’s RPM Challenge. The annual musical extravaganza/torture event is happening and I will be eye ball deep in it all throughout the month of February. We wouldn’t have it any other way, would we?

I have no idea what I am going to do this year. No goals other than to finish. 10 songs or 35 minutes of music… or maybe 20 songs or 70 minutes of music, as maybe I might shoot for a double album this year. Who knows.

Maybe my 1978 Les Paul in your left speaker (or your left ear if you’re wearing headphones) and my 2020 Les Paul in your right speaker/ear? Fun, eh?

I went to sleep last night fully planning to record some singing in the car this morning but then when I woke up I just didn’t have the energy. Tomorrow, for sure. Then some lead guitar playing. That’s the plan at least. I’m not trying to write anything new this month as I am saving that up for RPM February. Maybe I should just noodle some riffs and chord changes onto a memo file to have in the bank for next month. I’ve done that before but I usually try to keep everything 100% February if I can. 

So I have signed up for the RPM Challenge… have you? Well why not! Make some music next month. It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be.

Clean Bill of Health

Robin is home from the vet. Everything went fine. Just like her daughter, Lily three days ago, she was given a clean bill of health. Her shots are up to date and her claws have been trimmed.

All is well with both cats. We will book another check up for about a year from now. Until then, let’s not pull that carrier/prison out of storage again. 

Happy healthy cats day.

Family Traditions

Bloganuary writing prompt
Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.
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Nope. I don’t think I want to. 

Well… okay… I’ll give a couple of holiday season things that I know I’ve written about before, just for the spirit of the thing. I’m having a weird morning and I’m not in a sharing mood so I’ll stick to public-ish info, m’kay?

Both of these little traditions come from my beloved wife Jen’s family, long before I came into the picture. The first happens at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Just after the clock strikes 12:00am to start the new year, one of us opens up one of the doors to the house to let the old year out and someone else opens another door to let the new year in. Cool, huh? I like that one. It’s little and silly but it’s us.

The other tradition I’ll mention is the xmas eve party. When I first started dating Jen her family had an annual xmas eve party at her mother’s house. When we bought our house in 2010 the party moved from there to here. Everything was fine and on schedule until Covid messed it up. Once things calmed down we got sort of back on track. With the kids living in Vermont right now we moved it back to Jen’s mother’s. This year it also moved to the day after xmas due to some busy holiday schedules. It still happened though and it was just as fun as always.

There you have it. Two little family traditions that are not little at all. They are both wonderful. I write this all the time, but I am so grateful and happy that Jen and the kids and the extended family have welcomed me and allowed me to be one of them. It’s one of the things in life that makes me happier than I could ever describe.