Suit Blues

Guess how much of dad’s suit fit. Go on, guess. Give me a percentage.

I’ll tell you… zero percent. 0%.

Everything has been returned and replaced. We’ll have another fitting in the morning. Here’s hoping it goes better and we don’t have to have another suit returning blitz.

Fingers crossed.

More Bad Extended Family News

It never rains, it pours. My mother, Ellen, had two sisters and a brother. Her older sister, Joan, passed away in November after an illness that was alarmingly similar to what my mother went through. My mother passed away six days ago. Her brother, Jim, has been ill for a while and has been in and out of the hospital over the last three weeks or so. We are not sure, but we got some news today that makes it look like things may be turning for the worse for him.

I feel so bad for my Aunt Nancy. She lost both of her sisters in a three month span and now her brother’s health may be failing as well. As painful as it is for us, it must be so much worse for her.

Everything Works, Now Do Something

163/365

The signal path has been tested. I plugged in this morning and made sure the guitar was getting to both amps, and the mics on both amps are getting into the interface and from there into the computer. Check.

Now I just have to learn how to play the new songs and record them. The downside of not playing since November though is that it took about two seconds for my fingers to start hurting. It’s going to be rough over the next 18 days.

DSC_0986

Getting Through the Prep Work

My brother and sister and I met last night to work on the planning for the funeral. We picked music and readings and started asking cousins to play the various parts. We have one reader but still need one more. We have three pall bearers but still need three more. We have offers out for the remaining parts and are just waiting to hear back.

Jen and I were a little late getting out of the house. I called my father to let him know we’d be late for the planned suit fitting and he said he was tired and asked if we could reschedule to tomorrow, which is now today. I put in for a couple of hours at the end of the day so that we can head over earlier. Jen is off today so it should all work out. That still gives us the weekend to replace anything we bought that doesn’t fit him. We’re still in good shape.

I’ve been really hungry the last couple of days. My meals have gotten significantly larger and I’ve had more between meal snacks. I have to assume it’s an emotional thing. The good news is that yesterday I had actual food with every meal. I had protein supplements along with each meal, but that was just to make sure I hit my goal. Eggs for breakfast and chicken for lunch and dinner. I also had peanuts as snacks instead of protein bars. It wasn’t a lot of snack-level protein intake, but it felt pretty good to do it that way.

No music last night. Not sure if tonight will be any different. I am 2/5 of the way through Star Trek Picard season 1 episode 6 though. I’m more than 25% of the way through the two season rewatch with season three kicking off in six days. Probably not going to make it unless I do an alarmingly intense binge over the weekend. Of course The Mandalorian season three kicks off on March 1st. Can I follow the two season Picard rewatch with a 2+ season Mandalorian rewatch by 3/1? (2+ seasons due to the two episodes where The Mandalorian hijacked The Book of Boba Fett, right?)

Right then. Time to start getting ready for work. Talk to you later. Parents, tell your kids you love them. Kids, tell your parents you love them.

Jury Duty Tease

The state of Massachusetts just dangled something cool in front of me and Jen and then, much like Lucy with the football, ripped it away from us at the last second.

We both received a Jury Duty summons in the mail today. I opened mine. It was for May 25th. That’s too close to Bellana’s graduation so I knew I’d have to take advantage of my one free change the date option. What did Jen’s say? Hers said May 25th too! How awesome is that! We could go together!

No… wait… Mine is in Lawrence and hers is in Newburyport. While we are given one free date change, we are not giving the option of a location change. I guess we won’t be serving the state justice system together after all.

We both moved the date to November… both on the same day, of course. Still in different courthouses though. Aw, fiddlesticks. Sad face.

Attempting to Guilt Myself Into Making Progress

I made a playlist on hearthis.at with everything I have for the 2023 RPM Challenge so far. It’s all just midi tracks. No real life musical instruments. It’s 10 songs though and it runs about 40 minutes, so if I finish everything I have so far I can call this year’s challenge a win. I just need to find time to record guitars, write lyrics and finish writing melodies, record vocals, record more guitars, and mix. Yikes.

https://hearthis.at/rpm-works-in-progress/set/2023-rpm-wip/

So why is this not embedding the playlist? That used to work from hearthis.at, didn’t it? It didn’t work well, but at least it did something. I wonder what changed? Anyway, the link is there so I can get it when I need it, right? This weekend will require me to make a massive push, assuming time and family responsibilities and mental health allow. Ugh, so much to do.