Two Months and Eleven Days

Not that this blog post will cover all of two months and eleven days, but that's how long it's been since I've written in this bit o' space.

What's different might be a better question to answer. Many things in life are the same: playing shows, watching movies, following baseball, working for the ol' gubbimint.  Maybe the degrees of some of these items are a bit different. Due to a, let's say, trigger incident at work, I've decided to take the plunge and try for a higher up position there.  Also, many positions are becoming available as people retire and others move on to other areas. It was just time. I was tired of coasting, and my malaise was getting me into a situation I didn't like. And another manager there, who I do some narration work for on the sly, was trying to get me to come over to her group. All of these factors together told me "Lance, it's time to make a move." So, I've applied for one position in our group that I think I all but have. Time will tell; could be as soon as next week. The job would put me in a much better position to retire in three years or so - much better retirement income.

The bands continue along. Hickoids had a show last night at Bang Bang Bar in San Antonio. Pretty good show, although we had not rehearsed, so some songs were rockier than others. Still a fun time. I was pretty whooped, because......I had just driven in from Houston. I went down there Friday to see an Astros game with Chad, his son Shay, and some of his buddies. It was a good time; hope it's not the last one. Therefore, I sit here writing this stuff on not much sleep and not many neurons firing. Hope I can think of some interesting things to write about.

Well, here's one. On July 10th, I'm having a procedure done to my eyes called Corneal Crosslinking. I went for a checkup to an opthalmologist, who explained that due to the lasik surgery I had back in 2010 (and my astigmatism), my corneas are somewhat unstable. I have notice some variance in my vision, but I had chalked that up to something caused by allergies or changes in the weather. "Storm's a-comin! My eyes is goin' crazy!" Well, no, apparently not. That's the trouble with lasik and these newer eye correction procedures. It's hard to know what's down the road.

So, this crosslinking procedure involves each eye (one at a time) being clamped open, Clockwork Orange style, while riboflavin is poured in there, followed by the eye being hit with UV light for about 30 minutes. Sounds awesome. I can't wait. And of course, the real kicker....no insurance covers this. Going to cost about $5,200. But the main reason I need this, besides some expected stabilization or even improvement to my vision, is that in order to have future cataract surgery - and I'll need that someday - my corneas need to be stable enough to hold those new lenses they put in. So, I need it.
The procedure has only been approved in the US for about three years now, although it's been done in Europe for at least ten. Glad I still have some savings to cover this.

I'll be out of drumming commission for a week or so, but only out of work for a couple of days. It might even land right as I get that new job. Be kind of funny.

Pocket FishRmen continues along, but I miss not practicing on a regular basis. We got a new song sort of down at our last rehearsal, but that was a few weeks ago. Vacations and my upcoming procedure are putting the big kibosh on us getting together. And that sucks. Miss playing those songs. We have no shows until September. I'm starting to think of the band as way more of a part time project now.

Trying to detail any movies I've watched recently would be difficult; there've been many. I did watch the entire "Deadwood" series again, after watching the recent movie and realizing I had forgotten a lot. It was an enjoyable watch. And the movie was a nice wrap-up. Not perfect, but pretty good. "Game of Thrones," of course, wrapped up, and I'm pretty much in the same camp as a lot of the fans. It was okay but was too rushed and sort of slipshod when you really think about it. Time might not be kind to the end of that series. The last two movies I watched were "New York Ripper" and "Three Colors: Blue." Two you might not put together, normally. "New York Ripper" was released by Blue Underground in a snappy upgrade that really delivers the goods. If you haven't seen that one, well....it's a mixed bag, but I think it's effective, and that's what's important. And I hadn't planned on upgrading the Kieslowski's "Three Colors" movies, but HPB had a copy there last Wednesday, so I picked it up. I'm a huge Kieslowski fan, and I like the "Three Colors" movies a lot, although "Dekalog" is his masterpiece, I think. Still, I'm sure I'll be watching the other two soon enough.

Too tired to write much more. But I need to get back on this in a consistent fashion. One day. Maybe during the upcoming Hickoids European tour? Maybe. Sayonara.

Continuation of the Continuation, March/April update

(Tying in with whatever is posted above this one....I completely forgot to finish this post, so here it is- a couple of months after it was written.)

Okay, let's see, where was I? Oh yes, the next week was SXSW. I had a rather smooth schedule this year, in that I had four shows four nights in a row. Not bad. No four-show Saturdays, or anything like that.

The only tricky one was the first one, a Wednesday show at the Key Bar for Pocket FishRmen. The Key Bar is on West 6th in Austin, a couple of blocks down from Hut's...that area. The show was backlined, but I knew there would be no way to park anywhere close to the bar for any reasonable cost. I was considering either Ubering it there from my house or even parking at the Ben White/S. Lamar Target and Ubering from there. Michelle was working until about 7:30, so I knew I could probably get a ride from her after we were done.  As I was still considering options, Smitty called and asked if he could stop by our house on his way in from San Antonio and shave. What luck! I told him my dilemma, and he said "oh, I'll drop you off there." Perfect. Transportation would be a breeze.

And so, Wednesday's Pocket FishRmen was not only rockin' but an easy one to maneuver, after all. Whew. We had a couple of weird gaffes during the show that are not typical of us, but the rest was great. Woody Wiedemann put the show on, using promotional money from Brooklyn Brewery to pay for all of us. It was a little like Woody putting on a show in his outdoor patio living room. We Are The Asteroid, The Crackpipes, and All Monsters Attack were on the bill as well. The whole thing was tons o' fun. I felt bad having to leave as Pong were setting up, but Michelle pulled up and I had to load and go.

Thursday night's show was Pocket FishRmen at the Nomad, the annual Whoopsy! party. There was a backline at this show as well, so all went pretty smoothly. PF followed both Pure Luck and a Swedish duo called Shit Kid, who had toured with the Melvins in Europe. We had a pretty good crowd, and frankly, whenever the FishRmen play two days in a row, we peel paint that second show. This was no exception. The band will probably never tour, but if we did, I think we'd blow some doors off hinges. I really believe that. Too bad we won't, I suppose.

Friday night's show was the Hickoids at ABGB's, an annual one for us. The rest of the bill was Churchwood, Harvey McLaughlin, and the Sloths. As opposed to the weakish turnout the Pocket FishRmen had last time we played there (competition was strong), the crowd was much more robust and stayed the entire time for this show.