NaBloPoMo Day 10: Okay, I missed day 9.
But onward and upward. Tomorrow is the birthday of The Spook, my old college buddy as you might recall, and designer/maker of this blog’s metal logo whose photograph appears at the top of this page, so today’s post is a series of music videos for his listening enjoyment:
So that’s it! Happy birthday!
This is the blog of a Second Life/Facebook friend:
(And no, it’s not THE Spook, my old college buddy that I’ve mentioned here so many times. No connection whatsoever.)
So anyway: Check it out!
Yes, if you’ve been reading this blog all these years [and who hasn’t?!], you’re familiar with with my colorful ol’ college buddy that we called The Spook, and you know that every year I struggle to think of a different was to announce his birthday (which is actually tomorrow, April 11). This year, it occurs to me that I still haven’t posted the song that country singer Jake Kellen wrote about him [seriously!], so here’s the amateur music video that accompanies the song:
I’ve mentioned this guy before, so you know the drill by now: Up-and-coming country singer Jake Kellen, I went to high school with his mom and his uncle (who is also his producer), I went to college with the guy who financed his first album, blah blah blah.
Anyway, Jake has a new album coming out, and here’s the video for his first single!
The Spook spammed all his friends with this, so I thought I’d pass it along: Somali Cruises.
“We sail up and down the coast of Somalia waiting to get hijacked by pirates. We encourage you to bring your ‘High powered weapons’ along on the cruise. If you don’t have weapons of your own, you can rent them on the boat.”
Sign me up!
Yes, if you’ve been keeping up with my blog in past years, you know this is about the time that I wish my ol’ college buddy The Spook a happy birthday! Since last year, he had a song written about him by country singer Jake Kellen … I’ll see if I can get permission to play it here …
In the meantime, if this is the first you’re hearing of the Spook, go back in my April archives of previous years and read up!
It’s the first week of summer, and the brutal Texas heat is upon us. It is time, therefore, to blow the dust of the old Blazing Sun mini-icon and give it its inaugural showing for the year.
And now, some miscellaneous stuff, and let’s try to make this fast:
Thanks to our blogging friend Renny (whose weather is not near as hot as ours, being in Oslo) for being the only one to comment while I didn’t post for a bit. I appreciate it, Renny!
Renny recently posted photos of a Seafood Fair in his city, so go check it out!
Speaking of my blogging friends, Kim likes to take tours of state capitals and collect souvenirs, and thus one day last week or so we got a postcard from her from Little Rock. Thanks Kim! I’ll scan it in and post it when I get a chance.
She’s got one picture from her trip posted on her site now, but we’re looking forward to seeing more. (Hint, hint!)
Speaking of collectible snail-mail, my mom sent me a letter for the sole purpose of getting it postmarked with our town’s 100th Anniversary postmark, which I think was a one-day thing, and because which the town leaders the town’s leaders and movers-and-shakers (not necessarily the same thing) were tring to get eerybody to mail a letter to family out of town that day.
That too will be scanned in when time is found …
Speaking of noteworthy goings-on back home, I’ve mentioned in times past that ol’ college buddy The Spook was instrumental in helping make the first CD for country singer Jake Kellen a reality. This year, Jake (whose mom and aunt and uncles I went to went to school with, BTW) wrote and recorded a song for Spook for his birthday, and I was lucky enough to get an advance demo copy of the song, which is pretty funny, especially if you know the Spook.
Spook was going to call me to detail exactly how I would be allowed to distribute the song, but I haven’t gotten that call as of yet, so you Dear Reader are out of luck for now, but keep checking back.
Speaking of friends, another friend (and former co-worker) Todn8r has taken me to task for not commenting on the passing of comedian George Carlin.
Yes, yes, in due time; it’s just that Carlin fits nicely into a theme post I’m doing, so that is yet to come as well.
Speaking of former co-workers, my good friend Misty called on Friday to say that she had bid a fond adieu to Chucky’s Madhouse (my term of affection for what our old company has become), and she even found a job first so that she could leave on her own terms.
I’m so proud!
Speaking of jobs: I had a job interview last week! Woo-hoo! And this was for a job as the tech support guy for a mortgage insurance office. I don’t know if I’ll get it, since I didn’t immediately know some of the more esoteric network admin terms on the skills assessment test, but I have to say that the person who interviewed me was the most un-Catbert-like HR person I”ve ever met — and that’s a GOOD thing.
And now for something completely different: Waterloo TV.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve been dabbling in Second Life in recent months, and have even been in job discussions with a potential employer smart enough to see Second Life (and the other social networking sites I belong to) as an asset.
What I haven’t mentioned is something that I’ve been angling to do in Second Life, but have encountered lots of foot-dragging and excuse-making.
This past weekend, however, I began getting more aggressive about my endeavors, and finally achieved my goal:
I’m an online DJ!
On Sunday, I was supposed to have a quick test of my connection at one of the many virtual dance clubs in Second Life (an Irish-themed club, at that!), but the scheduled DJ didn’t show up, so I ended up spinning tunes (figure of speech) for about an hour and a half. (Good thing I had already compiled a sizable playlist.)
And they liked me so much they decided to keep me!
Keira, the club manager, offered me the 5-7 (Pacific Time) slot on Thursdays, so I snapped it up. And today she messaged me that she wants me to do a special theme night on the 27th (we’re going to do a hippie night, but with more than just 60s music).
My playlist on Sunday, and pretty much every time I go on, will be a good mix of new music (the more accessible new alternative and indie music, like Panda Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Portishead, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Hem, and one of my personal favorites, The Go! Team), classic rock (mostly album cuts, not the singles that everybody’s sick of), and a few dance floor crowd-pleasers (like “Brick House” and “Jump Around” — I’m certainly not above pandering).
And of course, Weird Al. You can’t DJ in Second Life without Weird Al.
Anyway, it was exciting on Sunday to get back to my college roots, going back to playing DJ. I always enjoyed to take the graveyard shifts during finals week, when I could ignore the formats and play what I wanted. Usually I could count on the Spook to tap on the window about 3 a.m. and help me get the records on. We’d sit around drinking Cokes out of glass bottles and take calls from the few listeners up at those wee hours.
This feels a lot like that, except with technologies the way they are, I can chat with several listeners at once, get instant feedback, and they can shout out comments about the songs and discuss among each other. As a bonus, I can have listeners in all parts of the world.
Of course, this isn’t anything like having a real radio show. For starters, I’ll be DJing for audiences for about 20 or 30 people tops, and sometimes as small as three or four. Also, this job doesn’t pay, except in micro-tips — although at this particular club, all tips go to a charity, Project Children. (I like the donation aspect; I actually feel productive doing something as frivolous as playing music.)
Oh, and another bonus: I have a fan club!
Okay, okay, it’s just a mailing list group, but I’ve got 20 members so far, and they’ll have my DJ tag over their names while they’re dancing to the music I play.
Hey, I’m out of work; I’ll take my ego-boosts where I can find them.
Oh, and I get to play and promote my own original music!
So seriously, if you’re already on Second Life, come by on Thursday. Again, it’ll be at 5-7 Pacific Time (7-9 Texas time), and the name of the club is Nancy Blake’s West of Ireland.
I could use the attendance boost on my first time in my regular slot.
And tell the host you showed up because you heard the DJ is HOT …
Couldn’t hurt …
Okay, a few things:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SPOOK!
Okay, actually, it’s tomorrow (Friday the 11th), but I have to do it now so that he can actually SEE it on time.
In case you’re just tuning in, The Spook is my old college buddy, who sometimes checks in here and comments, and used to send me cool stuff to post, like pictures of the huge pistol-shaped barbeque grill that he designed (Google it, you’ll find it).
So click on the comments box and leave him a happy birthday wish.
Next thing:
I’ve had a really intriguing job interview this week — a well-funded startup that can mold a position around my exact skills, and it would probably be a manager position — and even got called back for a second interview, but for some reason I’m still not entirely hopeful.
Next: You’ve probably heard about the LOLcats phenomenom, also known as the I Can Haz Cheezburger phenomenon (again, Google-image it if you’re not familiar), and now, a couple of years after the fad hit its peak, I’ve finally decided to jump on the rickety old bandwagon and make one of my own:
Again, if you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ll know this is Schotzy, our pomeranian that passed on in July 2006, and this is just one more excuse for me to post this picture again.
And finally, speaking of Friday (I was earlier, keep up, slacker), this is hilarious:
Cincinnati news folks get down and/or funky:
(Via Attack of the Show.)
Some quick things before I have to get back to the music (just 1 more day to go!):
I’m using the clover bullet point in anticipation of the Irish Festival this weekend!
I promised a shout to the fine folks at Hurricane Glass and Mirror, with whom I had an interview today. It probably won’t amount to anything, since I’m vastly overqualified for this particular job (I’m hearing that a lot), but on the other hand, they’ll be expanding their operations soon, and my skills can come in handy.
Anyway, it was a good interview, and the main reason I tried out is because the office is 2.5 miles from my house.
After almost 13 years of driving 27 miles to toil on the corporate minefield, it would feel like a paid vacation to work in a small office right here in my own town, even if I would be vastly underemployed.
In other news, I’ve been meaning to mention that William F. Buckley Jr. died this week.
Buckley was what you call a classic intellectual consevative — as opposed to what we have now.
RPM Challenge (my music project) progress report: With just one day left, desperate times call for wacky measures, thus the book you see at right.
Seriously, though, I saw this at the library and couldn’t resist; I posted a picture on the RPM message boards and got a laugh from some of my similarly desperate fellow challengees.
Hey Spook, tell your mom Happy Birthday for me tomorrow!
And Now For Something Completely Different: Tron footage remixed with the sounds of nerdcore master YTCracker.
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