#lizardfish — Public Fediverse posts

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish

Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Lizardfish #Synodontidae

Practice: Complete

Just got home from band practice. Lucy did not pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

My finger tips ARE KILLING ME. The last two songs we did I could barely play. My fingers just said, “yeah we’re done for the day” and that was it. Outside of that, things went pretty well. There probably won’t be a practice next week as our drummer is traveling, but after that I hope we can get onto something like a regular schedule.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477861465/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography #rockCoverBand

Practice: Complete

Just got home from band practice. Lucy did not pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

My finger tips ARE KILLING ME. The last two songs we did I could barely play. My fingers just said, “yeah we’re done for the day” and that was it. Outside of that, things went pretty well. There probably won’t be a practice next week as our drummer is traveling, but after that I hope we can get onto something like a regular schedule.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477861465/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography #rockCoverBand

Practice: Complete

Just got home from band practice. Lucy did not pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

My finger tips ARE KILLING ME. The last two songs we did I could barely play. My fingers just said, “yeah we’re done for the day” and that was it. Outside of that, things went pretty well. There probably won’t be a practice next week as our drummer is traveling, but after that I hope we can get onto something like a regular schedule.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477861465/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography #rockCoverBand

Practice: Complete

Just got home from band practice. Lucy did not pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

My finger tips ARE KILLING ME. The last two songs we did I could barely play. My fingers just said, “yeah we’re done for the day” and that was it. Outside of that, things went pretty well. There probably won’t be a practice next week as our drummer is traveling, but after that I hope we can get onto something like a regular schedule.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477861465/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography #rockCoverBand

Practice: Complete

Just got home from band practice. Lucy did not pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

My finger tips ARE KILLING ME. The last two songs we did I could barely play. My fingers just said, “yeah we’re done for the day” and that was it. Outside of that, things went pretty well. There probably won’t be a practice next week as our drummer is traveling, but after that I hope we can get onto something like a regular schedule.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477861465/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography #rockCoverBand

Line Check: Complete

Band practice is supposed to start in 43 minutes. As of this moment we’ve all chimed in that we’re good to go for today. Fingers emphatically crossed that nothing changes.

I did a line check with all of the gear I want to bring today. I am massively downsizing the pedals and massively upscaling the amp situation. Also… I’m going to play the SG. I don’t know why. I am just feeling like today should be an SG day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477136501/in/datetaken/

Everything is working. The new reverb pedal sounds cool. Here’s hoping nothing falls apart over the next 41 minutes and we actually have a practice today. It’s going to be painful. I have no calluses on my left hand finger tips. I’ve only played for about five minutes and already I am hurting, big time.

Bring it on, kids!

#BandPractice #Guitar #GuitarGear #iphoneography #lineCheck #lizardfish #photography

Line Check: Complete

Band practice is supposed to start in 43 minutes. As of this moment we’ve all chimed in that we’re good to go for today. Fingers emphatically crossed that nothing changes.

I did a line check with all of the gear I want to bring today. I am massively downsizing the pedals and massively upscaling the amp situation. Also… I’m going to play the SG. I don’t know why. I am just feeling like today should be an SG day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477136501/in/datetaken/

Everything is working. The new reverb pedal sounds cool. Here’s hoping nothing falls apart over the next 41 minutes and we actually have a practice today. It’s going to be painful. I have no calluses on my left hand finger tips. I’ve only played for about five minutes and already I am hurting, big time.

Bring it on, kids!

#BandPractice #Guitar #GuitarGear #iphoneography #lineCheck #lizardfish #photography

Line Check: Complete

Band practice is supposed to start in 43 minutes. As of this moment we’ve all chimed in that we’re good to go for today. Fingers emphatically crossed that nothing changes.

I did a line check with all of the gear I want to bring today. I am massively downsizing the pedals and massively upscaling the amp situation. Also… I’m going to play the SG. I don’t know why. I am just feeling like today should be an SG day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477136501/in/datetaken/

Everything is working. The new reverb pedal sounds cool. Here’s hoping nothing falls apart over the next 41 minutes and we actually have a practice today. It’s going to be painful. I have no calluses on my left hand finger tips. I’ve only played for about five minutes and already I am hurting, big time.

Bring it on, kids!

#BandPractice #Guitar #GuitarGear #iphoneography #lineCheck #lizardfish #photography

Line Check: Complete

Band practice is supposed to start in 43 minutes. As of this moment we’ve all chimed in that we’re good to go for today. Fingers emphatically crossed that nothing changes.

I did a line check with all of the gear I want to bring today. I am massively downsizing the pedals and massively upscaling the amp situation. Also… I’m going to play the SG. I don’t know why. I am just feeling like today should be an SG day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54477136501/in/datetaken/

Everything is working. The new reverb pedal sounds cool. Here’s hoping nothing falls apart over the next 41 minutes and we actually have a practice today. It’s going to be painful. I have no calluses on my left hand finger tips. I’ve only played for about five minutes and already I am hurting, big time.

Bring it on, kids!

#BandPractice #Guitar #GuitarGear #iphoneography #lineCheck #lizardfish #photography

Practice Tomorrow

Band practice is on for 10:00am tomorrow. Morning practice is weird, but it will work. Hopefully the bass player’s family will all be awake before all the noise starts (eek!).

I told the other guys that I put it on my Google Calendar so there’s no backing out now. We’ll see. Lucy still has about 26 hours to pull the football away from Charlie Brown (me).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54475303693/in/datetaken/

I’m rewatching the three new episodes of Andor right now. I’m up to the third episode with that scene with Bix. It is fucking disturbing and really hard to watch. Star Wars for adults is a pretty accurate description of this show.

What else… I don’t know. One work day to survive before the weekend arrives. It’s going to be a long day, I fear. I haven’t taken any pictures of cats yet. I’m sure the opportunity will arise eventually.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54474189332/in/datetaken/

I also haven’t looked at the news yet today. I’m always afraid to do so. I’m always in a borderline state of panic to learn about what fresh nazi hell was unleashed overnight. I’m so tired of living in “interesting times.” Fuck this. I want my country back. Failing that, I want my state to just leave and start over. 249 years was a good run, I guess.

What else… I don’t know. Here’s hoping for a nice easy work day followed by a nice and calm weekend… that includes my cousin’s husbands wake… fuck. The universe is just piling on. Hopefully there are brighter, less depressing, less fascist days ahead. Now, where did I put those two cats?

#BandPractice #Family #Fascism #friday #funeral #iphoneography #lizardfish #nazis #photography #Politics #wake #weekend

I Think We’re On

As of this moment, band practice is on for 6:00pm tonight. I’m swapping out my amp and my pedals so I have a bunch of things to test drive before I go. I might put new strings on one of the guitars while I’m at it. I have to clean the kitchen first though.

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54448968653/in/datetaken/

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54448968663/in/datetaken/

#Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography

Are We On

Sundays are supposed to be band practice day. Are we on today or not?

As of yesterday, we are on but we don’t know when yet. Late afternoon? I hope so.

Change of subject, we’re going to Disney World again in June. In the interest of finding the silver lining, is it possible that with the nazis in washington trying to ass fuck all of our allies that enough countries will put travel warnings in place for citizens visiting the usa that we’ll have small crowds in the Disney parks? Bad for Disney, bad for america, bad for the economy…. good for our vacation? Look at me being all positive and shit.

Change of subject again, the Red Sox have now lost two in a row after winning their season opener. They play Texas again today. Opening the season with a four game series… yeah, I am ready to move on. As for the Bruins… they lost their fifth straight last night. They’ve lost eight of their last 10. Are they actively tanking? Sure feels like it. Suffice to say, it has not been a good stretch for Boston sports fans.

Yeah… I need a band practice to straighten my head out a little. Yeah.

#BandPractice #Baseball #Boston #BostonBruins #BostonRedSox #Bruins #DisneyWorld #Hockey #lizardfish #Music #RedSox #Travel #Vacation

Trouble

If the band practices tomorrow, the other guys might be in trouble…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1LfIehKpQo

#inspired

#Guitar #inspiration #inspired #lizardfish #Music #ThatPedalShow #YouTube

Two Weeks in a Row

We did it. We have had two band practices in a row. Oh thanks be to the gods of bad middle aged cover bands, we pulled off two Sunday practices in a row!

I fought with my gear through the whole thing. I have something in my signal chain that is adding a weird whistling noise and when it reaches my overdrive pedals it gets LOUD. I ended up bypassing half of the board and it seemed like it fixed the problem for a while, but eventually it came back and kept getting worse. If I had to guess I would say it’s probably my power supply. I don’t know. I think I might bring my stay at home pedal board next time and see if it had any similar issues.

I also just wasn’t vibing with my amp. The Vox AC15 is fun and I like using it when I record at home, but when the band was playing I was missing my Deluxe Reverb. I might swap them next time. Or maybe I’ll swap the pedal board next time and then swap the amp the time after that.

Look at me, making plans for the next two practices, as if I wasn’t just worried about ever having two practices in a row again. Why don’t we focus on the next practice actually happening before we start looking beyond that, m’kay?

As for me personally, my playing was awful. Probably worse than last week. That’s okay though, I will get back up to speed soon enough, assuming we get ourselves on a regular schedule, of course.

How about a couple of gear pics?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54375792734/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54374714587/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54375590571/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

Still On… So Far

First, allow me to say thank you to Lily the cat for sitting still this morning so that I could take a picture of her in the mostly dark room without the iPhone’s low light functionality turning her into a blurry mess. Thanks, Lily Pad!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54375418885/in/datetaken/

Next, all of my Sunday plans are still on. Fingers crossed it stays that way. No word about canceling band practice. No one has backed out, and our meet time is less than two hours away. It’s never going to be back to normal if we can’t get at least two weeks in a row in, know what I mean?

Fingers crossed.

My step son is coming over today. He’s not here yet. I hope he gets here before I leave for practice, but if he doesn’t that’s fine too. I’ll have the whole day post-practice to hang around with him.

#Cat #collegeKids #emptyNest #grownUpKids #iphoneography #Kids #Kitty #lily #lizardfish #Music #photography #StepKids

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54372980192/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRock #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54372980192/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRock #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54372980192/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRock #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54372980192/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRock #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54372980192/in/datetaken/

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRock #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #Music #photography

A couple of Lizardfish Synodontidae
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #trawangan #holidays #sealife #marinelife #padi #ocean #Indonésia #Lizardfish

We’re Going to Fail Again, Aren’t We

The band practice is on the books for 4:00pm tomorrow. I should be super psyched.

I’m not.

We’re going to get slammed with a snowstorm tomorrow afternoon. Practice is going to get snowed out.

MUTHA PUSS BUCKET!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I swear that mother nature hates my guts. What a bitch!

#BandPractice #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #lizardfish #Music #Rehearsal #Snow #Weather #winter

It has been a pretty quiet day at work today (JINX!) apart from my brief stomach rebellion. I have 32 minutes to go until I can punch out for the day. I am starting to day dream about the weekend a little.

Music. I recorded a vocal track for one song on Thursday. I have a couple more songs that could do with some car music vocals. I have to practice for Sunday’s band rehearsal as well. I have nine songs to brush up on. I don’t know if we have a working PA system or not, but I did pick up a replacement for my dead Shure SM58 microphone. If our old, dinky little PA still works I’ll take it for a test drive. My Vox AC15 amp is in the rehearsal room along with my great big use-with-the-band pedal board. It’ll be nice to visit with my sweet RYRA The Klone overdrive pedal again.

I suddenly find myself in the middle of a whole bunch of TV shows. The X-Files epic rewatch continues, and we’re in season seven which means the quality is taking a steady nose dive. Uh oh. Only a few episodes to go until we reach the two season mostly-Mulder-free stretch. Yikes. I have a new episode of Star Trek Discovery (Disco) to watch. I have a new episode of Manhunt to watch. I have 6-7 episodes of Fallout left. I’ve watched the first two. I didn’t expect it to be so… goofy. I never played the video game so I really didn’t know what to expect. Silliness was not on my menu though. I like the show so far even though I don’t really know what’s happening yet. I’m caught up on Star Wars The Bad Batch. There are only a few more episodes left and I am thinking about rewatching the whole final season. I don’t know. There’s so much else to watch. I’m in the middle of Ripley on Netflix too. It’s pretty twisted. I never read the book or saw the movie so this one is all new to me too. I am enjoying it in a sick and twisted kinda way.

What else is going on? I am hoping to spend some quality time hanging out with my wife, of course. That’s the best part of the weekend. She mentioned she’s going to have to work a lot, which is a bummer, but we’ll make time. I hope to cook for her now and then. Lunches and maybe dinners? We use one of those dinner delivery service things. You know, where they send you all of the ingredients and a recipe with (somewhat) detailed instructions and you prepare the meal yourself. We are supposed to get a delivery today. I like it best when we cook those together. I find that both less stressful and generally enjoyable. Mostly. Some of them are still stressful even when we gang up on them. Does everyone think they are stressful or is it just us?

I did not promise myself that I would avoid the sugar free bakery in Salem, NH this week… so when I go out to do errands… yeah, I am probably going to buy some cookies there. I can stop any time, really. I promise I can stop any time. Totally.

Okay. 20 minutes until quitting time. I haven’t had anything to eat in two hours and 56 minutes and my stomach is starting to ask me why it’s empty. Three hours is usually how long it takes for my stomach to wake up after a meal. We’re pretty much right on target. Here’s hoping I don’t mess up with my snack on the drive home. A repeat of The Foamies… in the car… yeah, that would be annoying. I keep a spit up cup in the car, though I have never used it. Here’s hoping we keep the streak alive!

TMI?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/12/friday-23/

#CoverBand #diet #Dinnerly #fallout #Family #gastricBypass #gastricBypassRecovery #gastricBypassSideEffects #Guitar #GuitarGear #Jen #lizardfish #loveOfMyLife #manhunt #mealPrep #Music #myWife #qualityTime #ripley #spouse #StarTrek #StarWars #sugarFreeBakery #Television #theFoamies #theXFiles #togetherTime #wife

Still Looks Good

It still looks like Sunday will have a band practice. The first one in ages.

I need to put new strings on my Les Paul Standard. I also need to not get too excited because statistically speaking it’s probably safe to assume something will take the plans and cock them up.

Ugh. I want to be in a band again! AARRGGHH!!!

#BandPractice #bandRehearsal #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #Rehearsal

Fingers Crossed

4:00pm on Sunday?

We’re trying to setup a time for the band to get together this weekend. I think everyone is in. At least we’re all in as of this moment. I need this. I so need this. I don’t even know when the last time all four of us got together to play was. It’s been way too long. So long that I was pretty convinced it would never happen again. Pessimistically I am still pretty convinced that it is never going to happen again but I am choosing to look on the bright side right now, like the ray of fucking sunshine that I am.

My fingers are crossed. Band practice on Sunday. Make it so.

#BandPractice #CoverBand #dadRockCoverBand #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #reeharsal

I Want to Go Home

I want to go home. I’m in the office, 44 miles away. Tonight I want to cook dinner for my beautiful bride and then move some furniture around to make room for a new couch. I got seven hours of sleep last night so I am not terribly tired right now (and it feels weird) so I know I will have the energy to pull it all off. I just wish I were at home so I could just punch out of work and do it all without having the long drive home wedged into the middle of everything. Blah.

Here’s another cat photo that I took this morning before I left for work just because Robin the cat is adorable and she was very willing to pose for the camera today.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54250578335/in/dateposted/

Unrelated question… the band Facebook chat left off with hoping we could all get together at some point after the first weekend in January. The first weekend in January is now over. How long should I wait before I start the discussion up again? How soon is too soon? Should I wait three days as if it were a kind of first date thing? Do the same stupid rules apply? I don’t want to sound too eager even though I am SUPER eager to get the band moving again. I want to play. I want to gig. I want, want, want.

#Band #BandPractice #Cat #commute #CoverBand #Family #homeImprovement #homeOwner #iphoneography #Kitty #lizardfish #Music #photography #robin #work

Bands

I want my band back. We were so close to having it back, what the hell happened? We were actually talking about trying to book a show around Halloween. Instead, we never played together again. Why? How?

What if I can’t get my band back? What happens then? If the band is over, do I want to start a new band? Do I want to join an existing band? The thought of either option is just overwhelming to me. Why? I don’t understand it.

I just want to play, you know? It is all the other stuff that has to happen to allow one to just play that I can’t wrap my tired, old man brain around right now. I could blame it on the holidays, but I was spinning my brain around this long before the holiday season started.

I just want to play.

#Band #CoverBand #coverSongs #lizardfish #middleAgedDorksPlayingInRockBands #Music #originalBand #originalMusic #originalSongs #rockBand

Wishes

My wish today is that my band would actually exist. This not having a band after almost having a band again is getting depressing. I floated the idea of a practice next week and it’s fallen on mostly deaf ears.

Crud.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54146020382/in/dateposted/

#gibsunday #Guitar #iphoneography #lizardfish #photography

Lizardfish in Lombok - Gili
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #turtle #scuba #giliair #gilimeno #pets #ocean #sealife #cuttlefish #marinelife #lizardfish #lizard #padi

Band practice was once again postponed. It happened at just about the last minute. One of the guys had a family thing come up and had to take care of it. Unlike Genesis in 1974 our band understands that family comes first and no one said anything that was anything other than 100% supportive. Word on the street was that 1974 era Peter Gabriel was a little jealous.

Next time. We will play all the better next time. Seriously, I’ll have a capo so I can play that friggin’ Bryan Adams song without having to tune my guitar up a full step. Come on, Bryan Adams… a capo? Really? Just play the damn song in E like a real guitarist.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/08/postponed-again/

#bryanAdams #Family #familyComesFirst #familyFirst #genesis #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #peterGabriel

I have two things going on today besides work. First, I had to visit my father to help out with that thing that he needs help with that I am not going into details on. I usually do it after work, but tonight there is the second thing going on. Tonight is the first band practice in about a month or so.

I just got home from my father’s place. All went well. He’s good for the day. Nice. When I got home I logged back in to work and sent off a facebook messenger message to the band. Are we still on? As of right now we are, but one band member may have traffic issues. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

I also just ordered a capo from amazon. I know I have one somewhere, but I just can’t find it. I’ll have to go with the alternate tuning solution tonight if we play that one new song. I’ll have a capo for the next practice, I promise.

I’m not sure how dinner is going to work tonight. We still need to figure that out. I expect it’s going to be protein supplements for ol’ Robbie, but I want my beloved bride to have something nice.

Okay, back to work with you, Mr. Robert.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/08/stuff-going-on-2/

#BandPractice #capo #CoverBand #coverSong #Family #Guitar #GuitarGear #health #lizardfish #Music

I feel better about my place in the universe now.

I got up, did my exercise for the day, ate breakfast, and played the guitar. I learned two songs for tonight’s band practice. One of them requires a capo! What the hell, bro? I own a capo but I haven’t a clue where it is. I tuned the guitar up a full step to F# and learned the song that way. I’ll have to get a capo this weekend and re-learn the song for next time. There was a third song on our to do list but I seem to recall our singer saying to drop it. I hope so because there is a keyboard part that will tie my hands in an a knot if I have to play it.

After working on the new songs for the band, I recorded rhythm guitar parts for one song and lead parts for another! We had band progress and 50/90 challenge progress. Epic!

And even with all that music, I was not late for work! WOOHOO!

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53910407790/in/datetaken/

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53909068862/in/datetaken/

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/08/morning-music-9/

#20245090Challenge #365 #365Challenge #5090 #5090Challenge #Band #BandPractice #CoverBand #coverSongs #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #Recording #Songwriting #z5

I absolutely, 100% have to play guitar before work tomorrow. Not because I need to make progress on the 50 songs in 90 days challenge thing, but because I have a band practice tomorrow after work and I have 2-3 new songs to learn for it.

That’s a nice change of pace, eh?

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53908049790/in/datetaken/

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53908049750/in/datetaken/

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53907853358/in/datetaken/

It’s been a long time since we had a practice. I really need it. Hopefully the rest of the band needs it too and it doesn’t get postponed the way the last four or five or whatever were. Fingers crossed, music lovers.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/07/thinking-ahead-to-tomorrow/

#365 #365Challenge #Band #CoverBand #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #z5

The band’s facebook messenger chat page is exploding right now. We’re trying to get all four of us into a room together and it’s proving to be more difficult than ever before. Our traditional 6pm on Sunday rehearsal time is not doable. We’re waffling back and forth between earlier on Sundays and after work on Thursdays. Thursdays appear to be in the lead at the moment.

Scheduling things is difficult. Was it this hard to do when we were kids? Is this an adult thing? Is it a middle aged adult thing? It’s tough to say. Sometimes acting like a grown up sucks, but what can you do? The alternative (not being a grown up) is probably worse.

Okay. We’re booked for Thursday. I put it on my Google Calendar. It is officially set in stone now. Or something like that.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/02/scheduling-things-is-difficult/

#adult #adulthood #adulting #BandPractice #beingAGrownUp #calendar #CoverBand #grownUp #lizardfish #makingPlans #Music #plans #schedule #time

The band’s facebook messenger chat page is exploding right now. We’re trying to get all four of us into a room together and it’s proving to be more difficult than ever before. Our traditional 6pm on Sunday rehearsal time is not doable. We’re waffling back and forth between earlier on Sundays and after work on Thursdays. Thursdays appear to be in the lead at the moment.

Scheduling things is difficult. Was it this hard to do when we were kids? Is this an adult thing? Is it a middle aged adult thing? It’s tough to say. Sometimes acting like a grown up sucks, but what can you do? The alternative (not being a grown up) is probably worse.

Okay. We’re booked for Thursday. I put it on my Google Calendar. It is officially set in stone now. Or something like that.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/02/scheduling-things-is-difficult/

#adult #adulthood #adulting #BandPractice #beingAGrownUp #calendar #CoverBand #grownUp #lizardfish #makingPlans #Music #plans #schedule #time

The band’s facebook messenger chat page is exploding right now. We’re trying to get all four of us into a room together and it’s proving to be more difficult than ever before. Our traditional 6pm on Sunday rehearsal time is not doable. We’re waffling back and forth between earlier on Sundays and after work on Thursdays. Thursdays appear to be in the lead at the moment.

Scheduling things is difficult. Was it this hard to do when we were kids? Is this an adult thing? Is it a middle aged adult thing? It’s tough to say. Sometimes acting like a grown up sucks, but what can you do? The alternative (not being a grown up) is probably worse.

Okay. We’re booked for Thursday. I put it on my Google Calendar. It is officially set in stone now. Or something like that.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/02/scheduling-things-is-difficult/

#adult #adulthood #adulting #BandPractice #beingAGrownUp #calendar #CoverBand #grownUp #lizardfish #makingPlans #Music #plans #schedule #time

The band’s facebook messenger chat page is exploding right now. We’re trying to get all four of us into a room together and it’s proving to be more difficult than ever before. Our traditional 6pm on Sunday rehearsal time is not doable. We’re waffling back and forth between earlier on Sundays and after work on Thursdays. Thursdays appear to be in the lead at the moment.

Scheduling things is difficult. Was it this hard to do when we were kids? Is this an adult thing? Is it a middle aged adult thing? It’s tough to say. Sometimes acting like a grown up sucks, but what can you do? The alternative (not being a grown up) is probably worse.

Okay. We’re booked for Thursday. I put it on my Google Calendar. It is officially set in stone now. Or something like that.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/02/scheduling-things-is-difficult/

#adult #adulthood #adulting #BandPractice #beingAGrownUp #calendar #CoverBand #grownUp #lizardfish #makingPlans #Music #plans #schedule #time

The band’s facebook messenger chat page is exploding right now. We’re trying to get all four of us into a room together and it’s proving to be more difficult than ever before. Our traditional 6pm on Sunday rehearsal time is not doable. We’re waffling back and forth between earlier on Sundays and after work on Thursdays. Thursdays appear to be in the lead at the moment.

Scheduling things is difficult. Was it this hard to do when we were kids? Is this an adult thing? Is it a middle aged adult thing? It’s tough to say. Sometimes acting like a grown up sucks, but what can you do? The alternative (not being a grown up) is probably worse.

Okay. We’re booked for Thursday. I put it on my Google Calendar. It is officially set in stone now. Or something like that.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/08/02/scheduling-things-is-difficult/

#adult #adulthood #adulting #BandPractice #beingAGrownUp #calendar #CoverBand #grownUp #lizardfish #makingPlans #Music #plans #schedule #time

I have two musical goals for tonight after work.

First: Put together a playlist of the songs on our potential-singer-audition-songs list so that I can start practicing the holy hell out of them.

Second: Decide which guitar I want to use for the band’s come back work. As of right now I am leaning toward the birthday Les Paul that my wife bought me for my 50th birthday almost three years ago. I’ve been playing the two 70’s Gibsons that I had all of the repair work done on since November or so, but I think I want to start the return-to-the-band process with my newest guitar.

Whatever guitar I decide to use for the band’s comeback (which is scheduled to start this coming Sunday) is going to need new strings. I have a couple of boxes here, but I might need to order some more from the Amazonians today. We’ll see.

It’s time to start focusing on getting the band running again. I’m mentally ready for it, but not quite ready from a guitar playing ability standpoint. I have a lot of rust to shake off.

These are pictures I took for today’s photo a day challenge, but they are not the guitar I am talking about. Oh well.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/02/which-guitar-2/

#365 #365Challenge #Band #CasioEXS10 #challenge #CoverBand #digicam #es335 #Gibson #Guitar #LesPaul #lizardfish #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #pointAndShoot

It’s Sunday. What’s going on?

Recently I gave up on my idea of learning how to make sugar free ice cream at home. Somehow, my beloved bride Jennifer responded to me getting off the homemade ice cream wagon by jumping on the homemade ice cream wagon, which has pulled me back into the fray.

Earlier today we went to a grocery store to do some research. How much does stuff cost and how long does it last before it goes bad. We also found a few different brands of sugar free ice cream to try. You know, for ideas and stuff. We don’t have an ice cream maker at the moment, but we’re watching the web for sales. Come on, amazon (you effin’ psychos), let’s put that ice cream maker with the built in compressor on sale!

A few minutes from now I am going to head to my father’s place. He has an issue that requires frequently changing a bandage. My brother and sister and I are taking turns. It’s my turn today. He has stuff to do this afternoon so I am planning on popping in, changing the bandage, and popping out. I am taking a camera with me. There’s a spot near his place that I might stop at for a minute or two if I have the time. Fingers crossed.

After that I will come home and have dinner with the love of my life. After that? Band practice. After that? Come home and hang out with my Jen and then sleep. After that? Work in the office. Oh shit. Today’s Sunday. Crap.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/30/today-5/

#BandPractice #billerica #camera #dad #dadSPlace #Family #father #homeMadeIceCream #iceCream #iceCreamMaker #lizardfish #Music #photos #sugarFreeIceCream #toDoList

I just ate lunch. I’m wrapping up my lunch break with a little brain dump.

One of the worst parts of the whole gastric bypass post-op/lifetime recovery is that after I eat I have to wait 60 minutes before I can take a drink. It’s been two minutes since I finished eating and I am dying for a glass of water right now. It’s going to be a long hour, kids. A long hour indeed.

One of the bird feeders I filled this morning is 2/3 empty right now. It’s been six hours. Calm down, birds. You’re going to be as fat as I used to be and you’re going to need stomach surgery like I did. You try flying when you weigh 452 pounds. I bet you can’t do it.

The next scheduled band practice is Sunday. I don’t know what we’re planning on focusing on, but I don’t care. I want to play loud. I haven’t played at all since the last practice, three weeks ago, because I am conducting a creativity experiment. Also because I am lazy, but the experiment is a thing. The 50 songs in 90 days challenge thingie starts next week (on the 4th of July). The last few years I have worked on some sort of writing/recording project just prior to the start of the 50/90. This year I wanted to avoid any attempts at writing anything in the hopes that maybe my hypothetical creativity reserve tank would fill itself up during the break. I don’t know if that’s a thing or not or is it just something I made up out of laziness. We’ll find out starting next Thursday, I guess.

The weather forecast at the ocean at sunrise tomorrow looks good. I was thinking of taking a camera or two to the coast and grabbing some sunrise shots. I mentioned it on threads and someone I don’t know in the real world sort of invited himself to join me… and now I don’t wanna go. No. No social interactions, please. Pretty please. I just want to be left alone, thank you. I’ll probably stay home and watch the blue jays inhale the bird seed at an alarming rate.

Hey, check it out. Next week is a four day work week thanks to the holiday on the 4th of July. The week after that is a three day week because I took two days off to celebrate my 20th work anniversary. One of those days will see me out shooting photos somewhere. The ocean, around my town, Boston… all of the above? I need to find more lighthouses. The one on Plum Island is the closest, but it’s kinda boring. It’s not even on the water. I’ll figure something out.

Uh oh… when I went to my Flickr account to grab the above photo I think I discovered that they have rewritten the album pages and I don’t think I like it. Sure, I have only spent about three seconds looking at it, but first impression is… uh oh.

Okay, back to work with you, Robert. 2.5ish hours left in the work week.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/28/random-thoughts-on-a-friday-lunch-break/

#5090Challenge #BackyardWildKingdom #BandPractice #birdFeeder #birds #CoverBand #filmPhotograohy #Flickr #health #introvert #kodakPortra800 #lighthouse #lizardfish #Music #Ocean #Pentax #PentaxK1000

I think my band’s search for a new singer might be over. I am hoping we’ll know for sure this coming Sunday.

Who might our new singer be?

Our new singer might be our old singer.

He told us he moved back to the (Merrimack) Valley from Maine and he has the itch to play in a band again. Is that itch to come back to the band permanently or is it to just jam around for fun?

I just asked our group chat if anyone was up for some Rock and Roll at an absurd volume on Sunday evening. So far I have one positive response. If we get two more… then Sunday will be the day we find out what’s what.

It would be really cool if we could put the singer search away and just get back to playing regularly again. I haven’t played a gig since February 1, 2020. I really, really want to play a gig again. I want to play my new Les Paul through my new Vox amp in a public place in front of a crowd of happy (re: drunk) people. I want to know what it feels like to be up on stage for four hours without being 200+ pounds overweight. Will I have the strength and the stamina? Who knows. Let’s find out.

Cautious optimism, folks. Cautious optimism.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/05/is-the-search-over/

#Band #CoverBand #lizardfish #localBand #Music #newSingerSearch

Searching for a New Name for the Band

I asked Google Gemini to suggest some new names for the band. Click on the link above to see what utter crap it came up with. Mass Transit isn’t bad… but it’s not very good either.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/16/a-i-band-names/

#Band #CoverBand #dadRockBand #lizardfish #localBand #rockBand