August 11, 1997
Well, the weather here has been kind of, um, interesting these last few days. A lot of clouds, and cooler temperatures, yet only occasional rain. Me, I like cooler better than warmer, and only occasional rain is a lot better than having tornadoes rip through your city like we had in early July. So I'm happy.
Cooler temperatures meant that wearing leather to the bar was not a major health risk this past weekend. It was my first trip to the Detroit Eagle in over a month. At the same time I realized I had missed the ol' barn, I also realized that it hadn't changed much...some new faces, perhaps, but even the new faces looked a lot like the old ones. Interesting how that happens.
August 19, 1997
You know that summer is winding down around these parts when the Michigan Renaissance Festival starts up. On weekends from August 16 through the end of September, knights joust and ladies preen and jesters, um, jest on a wooded site near Holly, far north of Detroit. It's a lot of fun to go and watch, especially when you have friends who perform there. And it's probably even more fun to go in "garb" yourself. If I can put together a decent outfit, maybe I'll do that yet this year.
The Michigan State Fair starts today, one more sign of the end of summer. That's just inside the Detroit city limits at Woodward and 8 Mile Road, considerably nearer to me than the Ren Fest. The features page of yesterday's Detroit Free Press had a big photo of Uncle Sam (a stilt walker) and Ribb'n the Clown. It was a funny shot, because Uncle Sam was so much taller than Ribb'n. But also, I know Ribb'n -- know him pretty well in fact, he's my ex. So it was kinda cool seeing him there. I just shook my head and smiled.
August 25, 1997
I have a new computer. This time last week I had no idea that a new computer was in my future. But it was a good deal, and my sister volunteered to buy my old one, so I struck while the iron was hot, so to speak. It didn't hurt when the sales associate at CompUSA, upon discovering that there was only the floor model left, dropped the price on the one I wanted by $200.
The new machine is a Pentium-class (but NOT a Pentium) 150 mhz processor with 24 meg of ram and a 2 gig hard drive. I'm not a size queen, but I can be impressed. I can now create web pages faster than I could before. Unfortunately I still can't do anything about IRC lag, but maybe someday...
So now I get to figure out the joys of Windows 95, finally. Near as I can figure out, it's different but not necessarily better than Win3.1. Of course, I haven't crashed it yet, so I guess that's a plus. Problem is, the more user-friendly software gets, the less friendly it gets for the user who matters most to me, namely, me. I'm having problems finding things in Win95, because they tried to make it so intuitive that it defeats the logic that is second nature by now to those raised in a DOS world. And they say change is good -- ha! But I'll figure it out, I'm sure.
September 2, 1997
It's my sister's birthday tomorrow (Sept. 3)... if you see her, wish her a happy one. She's not on the internet yet though, so you might just have to wish her one in absentia. I bought her a t-shirt that reads "Buy me another drink... You're still ugly." Should've gotten one for myself too.
My sister isn't a particularly aggressive driver, but supposedly she's in the right age group according to some survey of driving habits that's been all the rage in the media lately. This survey says that women under the age of 35 are more likely to become angry when driving, and just as likely as men to act out on that anger. State and local police have supposedly been targeting aggresive drivers lately -- the ones who weave in and out of traffic, tailgate, cut people off, etc. I haven't seen much difference in driving habits lately though. There have been nights around here it seems like you take your life into your hands when you hit the roads. Sometimes I envy folks who live in cities with real mass transit systems.
September 8, 1997
Was last week an incredible week for tragedy or not? That's about all I can say about it right now....
On a lighter note, a lot of my web-design energies over the last few days have gone into spiffing up my music site, The Wooden Music Cafe. It has new graphics and a cleaner design with more white space. Soon I'm hoping it'll have expanded information on the folk and acoustic music scene around the Detroit area and Michigan. I'm also considering shuffling some of the non-musical pages from there over to this site, so watch this space.
September 16, 1997
It's been warm and sunny here two or three days in a row now. This is some kind of record for good weather for us lately. Maybe it's summer's last gasp, before fall brings chilly rain back. My, wasn't that optimistic. :-)
Guess it's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone, as Garrison Keillor would say. Mostly it's been work and sleep and some Internet surfing, and not much else that's truly exciting. Maybe it's time to plan another vacation....
September 29, 1997
Big doings in Songdogland these days...I'm buying a house. Amazing but true, well amazing to me at least. A friend of mine is moving to Indianapolis and needs to sell her house. It has 3 bedrooms, a garage, a deck, no basement, and it's well-decorated and kept up too. All for a price that, while I'm sure it's a good one, has an awful lot of zeroes in it. But it'll be a house of my own, which is way cool. Right now I'm waiting to see if the mortgage company thinks it's way cool for me to have the money to buy it. More news as that happens.
October 6, 1997
Before 
After 
What Happened? (for the curious)
October 14, 1997
About twenty years ago, a lonesome kid in Michigan sat with guitar in hand, record player at the side of the bed, playing and singing along with some scratchy albums. Not only did he become skilled at guitar and at playing by ear, but he was filled with a sense of wonder at the wild spaces described in the songs on those albums, and in a subconscious way he got the first tastes of the powerfulness of music.
Much later, the kid sat with one of his best friends at the Fox Theatre in Detroit and watched the composer of those songs on yet another tour of the U.S. Long after he had stopped having hit records, the theater was filled with many others, many with much greyer hair than before, who appreciated the music from all those years. The formerly lonesome kid sat awed by how good the music still was, and sang along, lost again in all the poems, prayers, and promises, the wide open spaces and the mountains, and the memories.
I'm sure a lot of people will still say that John Denver's music is hokey. And yeah, there were enough news reports saying that he wasn't quite the man we wanted him to be. I know what he meant to me though. And I know I wouldn't be who I am without him as a music mentor and the source of the words to the dreams I had all those years ago.
October 22, 1997
Yes
that's me with the shaved head over there. It had been, what, two weeks
since I last changed my hair style? Can't let moss grow on this rolling
stone. Why? Just wanted to see what it looked like. I'm pleased with it, I
must say. Doing the actual shaving turned out to be, well, a little hot
too.
But now I'm confused. See, I like the bald look, though I'm still doing double takes in the mirror. I liked having short, fuzzy hair. And I still like the ponytail. So, am I a longhair? A chrome dome? Somewhere in between? Someone call a therapist! I think I'm having an identity crisis.........
Well, no, not really. Anyway, I'll probably keep it smooth on top until mid-November. Why then, you ask? I'll tell you that next week. Gotta give you some reason to come back, right?
November 16, 1997
Last weekend was Moving Weekend, and it went pretty well. Mind you, I don't want to move again for a looooong time, but as far as moves go, it was pretty good. This despite the fact that it snowed most of the day Saturday and was cold both Saturday and Sunday, and that my truck refused to start once we had it loaded up on Saturday night (bad starter). Everything else was just fine, and we finished earlier on Sunday than I expected.
So the computer is set up, the stereo works, and the toybox is in place in the bedroom next to all those books. All I need now is to pack the kitchen stuff from the old place (but who needs food and utensils) and grab the books and stuff that I couldn't pack before the move. Life is good.
I even got some time to do some web work. What do you think of the new front page?
November 28, 1997
I finally finished moving today, only 3 weeks after I started. I thought it would never end. The worst of it was the stuff left after I moved furniture on the 15th--all that stuff you can't figure out how to pack, mixed in with all the garbage you need to toss. But today, the old apartment is clean (more or less) and all my stuff is in my new house.
Of course, now I have to unpack it. But hey, it'll give me something to do this winter instead of spending money, which is important since the mortgage company is going to be getting my money and there won't be much else to spend.
I'm hoping to put a couple pictures of my new house online sometime soon. In fact I want to put more new pictures of me up, since the current ones aren't quite up-to-date with my changing hair. Stay tuned.
December 11, 1997
It's two weeks until Christmas. AAAAAUGH!
Well, after an intro like that, you can probably tell that I'm not quite ready for the big day. Haven't even started my shopping yet. Haven't gotten the lights up on the house yet. Haven't even dug out the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas cassettes yet. On the other hand, I did get my Christmas cards in the mail already--first time I've done those while December was still in single digits. So progress is being made.
Maybe the problem is that Christmas seems like one big project. I always have a lot of lists of things to accomplish and events to schedule around this time of the year. That seems to miss the point of the season, which to me is "Peace on Earth, good will to men" ("good will to all" would be more complete). One thing's for sure, by the time the day rolls around and all the tasks on my to-do lists are complete, I'll be more than ready for peace and good will.
December 22, 1997
It looks like we will not be having a white Christmas here in Detroit, at least as of the forecasts I heard today. In fact we may have a cold and rainy Christmas. Sometimes I wish I lived in Florida or California where snow for Christmas is not expected. We haven't had snow at the end of December in most of the last 10 years, yet of course everyone wishes we'd have it. Just for two or three days, though.
I hope you're not too crazy from the holiday preparations so that you can enjoy the time of year in whatever way you choose. Me, I'll be on vacation from work from Christmas Eve until January 4th. I'm not going out of town, so I bet I get to sleep a lot. I'll try to get in a trip to a local park to see winter wildlife. I'll also try to get in a trip or two to the Detroit Eagle to see some other wildlife. And an IRC friend from the San Francisco bay area will be in town. There's a good chance we'll get to meet--that oughta be fun.
Happy Holidays!
Dec. 24 update: Now the weather forecasts are saying chance of light snow for Christmas day. Don't put the Bing Crosby records away yet!
December 31, 1997
Well, well, well, what have we here... a baby wearing a sash with a number on it... what's that number, 1998? Either that's a year or they forgot the dollar sign on that price tag. (How much is that baby in the window?)
We seem to have come to the end of another year. A pretty wild year, if you ask me. Certainly a better year than the previous one, as far as I'm concerned. And any year where I buy a house and get a haircut in the same month is pretty unusual for me. :-) Hard to see how 1998 will be better, but that's what I'm hoping for.
So, before we're all plunged headlong into the new adventure that midnight brings, let me wish all of you (at least those using the Gregorian calendar) a Happy New Year and the sincere hope that 1998 is a better year for you than 1997, no matter how good the past has been.
Jan. 2 update: I just redid the Songdog Photo page, and added a short page with photos of my new house, in case you're interested. :-)
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