Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

Do Less

Daily writing prompt
What could you do less of?
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I’m sure there are things that I could afford to do less of. The one huge thing that comes immediately to mind is procrastinating. I could really afford to cut back on that. Imagine how much stuff I could get done if I just did it. Wasn’t there a daily writing prompt about procrastination? Or was it just my answer to one of the questions? I don’t know. Regardless, I procrastinate a lot and could benefit from doing less of it.

What else should I add to the list? I could do less bitching and moaning about things that don’t really matter. That might make life a little easier for people who get stuck listening to me as I bitch and moan. I could watch less TV. I don’t want to (I’m watching an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine* as I write this) but doing so would probably be good for me.

One thing I won’t be doing less of is pointing out examples of American fascism. For example, why hasn’t everyone, including a certain orange pile of fascist goo, who participated, planned, or caused the January 6 coup attempt in jail for the rest of their natural lives yet? Coming up on three years later, it sure looks like certain fascists are getting away with trying to overthrow the United States of America’s legally elected government, doesn’t it? Of all the crimes people manage to get away with, that seems like one that… you know… shouldn’t.

*Deep Space Nine season three episode 21. The one where the Cardassian and Romulan secret police forces team up to attack the Dominion. The end of a classic two-parter.

Hide

Robin was behind me. She was trying to hide and didn’t realize that humans have the physical ability to turn around.

I took this one around lunch time today. It doesn’t have anything to do with the first picture but I am posting it because my cat is cuter than yours*.

*Okay, so maybe I can’t definitively say that my cat is cuter than yours, but I can absolutely say that at the very least my cat is equally as cute as yours, if not cuter.

Two Rush Items to Note

I have two things I want to comment on that refer to members of Rush.

First, I watched the second episode of Are Bass Players Human Too this morning before work. It focused on Robert Trujillo of Metallica. I knew nothing about this guy as I’m not much of a metal fan, never mind a Metallica fan. I saw them in 1989 when Jason Newsted was their bass player. I guess Robert Trujillo played for Ozzy Osbourne back in the 90’s. I saw Ozzy in the 90’s but Geezer Butler was playing bass at that time. I guess I sort of missed him twice then? Not really.

Anyway, Robert Trujillo is the current owner of Jaco Pastorius’ Fender Jazz bass. The one he ripped the frets out of to turn it into a fretless bass (but what did he put into the gaps? How did that work?). Watching Geddy Lee play Jaco’s bass, even if just for a few seconds, was something that I did not realize I needed in my life. It was a quietly magical moment.

On a side note, Metallica’s bass player owns Jaco Pastorius’ bass, which to many is the holy grail of electric bass guitars, and Metallica’s guitar player, Kirk Hammett, owns Peter Green/Gary Moore’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which to many (including me*) is the holy grail of electric guitars. How did that happen? Does Metallica’s drummer own Keith Moon’s kit or anything? That would be too weird for my tiny brain to process.

Anyway, on to Alex Lifeson. I mentioned yesterday that Lerxst has released an overdrive pedal. It’s called By Tor. The first write up I read said that it had two channels that shared drive and tone controls. I don’t think that’s the case. I think one channel is just a volume boost and only has a level control. The other channel is an overdrive which has level, gain, and tone controls. That makes more sense.

Check out this demo from (the youtube legend) Andy from Reverb. I started watching this last night but had to shut it off before I finished. I’m posting it here so that I won’t forget to watch the rest of it later tonight.

*Peter Green’s Les Paul is probably my definition of The Guitar Holy Grail. The only guitar that might challenge for that tile would be Eric Clapton’s 1960 Les Paul Standard that is generally known as The Beano Burst. It was stolen in 1966 and has never resurfaced. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but unless some collector gives it back to Clapton we will probably never see it again. The reason it might not supersede Greeny is simply that I prefer the spec of a 1959 Les Paul Standard to the spec of a 1960. The neck is supposed to be thicker on 1959’s. By that logic I would probably prefer 1958’s to 1959’s as the neck is supposed to be even thicker on 1958’s. How’s that for cork sniffing? A little too much, maybe? Nope. It’s never too much.

Cardinal

My wife bought a new ornament for our christmas tree. It’s a cardinal. She said that cardinals can represent people who have passed away trying to communicate with us. Having a cardinal on our christmas tree is a way to have my mother be with us this christmas. I nearly teared up when she gave it to me.

I love my wife so much. She is amazing. She is my rock. I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the past few years without her.

98/365

Searching for a Positive

Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
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Just over a year ago my mother’s older sister, my Aunt Joan, passed away after a long battle with dementia. In February my mother passed away after a long battle with dementia. A few months later my mother’s older brother, my Uncle Jim, passed away after a long battle with kidney and heart problems. Suffice to say the last year has not exactly been teeming with positivity.

We also caught Covid-19 after successfully avoiding it for three years and it ruined a Florida vacation. The negatives just keep piling up, right? Fortunately, there was one particular event that was very positive. An event that for most of us is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

My step daughter, Bellana, graduated from the University of Vermont with her Bachelors Degree. She will have other graduation ceremonies, assuming she stays on her current academic path, but there probably won’t be another Bachelors. I can’t put into words how proud I am. She’s amazing and everyone who meets her can see it. That kid is going places.

As positive events go, her graduation is the big one from the past year.

262/365
263/365

Are Bass Players Human Too?

I just watched the first episode of Geddy Lee’s TV show, called Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?

I freakin’ loved it!

It was about 20 minutes of Geddy and Les Claypool of Primus just hanging out. The two of them are just plain goofy and it was kinda delightful.

I’ll admit that when Geddy was reading from a script he didn’t sound particularly… professional. It’s clear that reading copy is not something that he generally does. When he and Claypool were just talking to each other it felt natural and… I’ll say it again, delightfully goofy.

There are three episodes left. One is the new guy in Metallica, one is (I think) a former member of Hole, and the third is some guy who used to be in some band called Nirvana or something.

I’m looking forward to all of them. I now need to know, are bass players human too?

By-Tor Overdrive Pedal

After announcing two new amplifiers made in partnership with Mojotone and sold under the name Lerxst, Alex Lifeson unveiled an overdrive pedal today, again made by Lerxst/Mojotone, called the By-Tor.

It’s a duel pedal with an overdrive and a boost. You can select the order they run in, which is a nice feature. The two channels share drive and tone controls though. I’m not sure how that works. Also, the price is $300 which is a little too ouchie for me these days. The $2k+ Omega is crazy expensive but about normal for a 50 watt tube head. $300 for a drive/boost feels a smidge high to me.

I’m in This Video

My step son Harry and I are in this video clip. Look to the right of the goal. We are in the second row. I’m the guy who looks happy that Lowell scored… unlike everyone else in the stands.