A Litte Ramblin'.....

         Got the urge to do a little rambling........ I go a month or so with nothing to do sometimes, but that hasn't been the case lately. Last weekend I went to see one of my favorite local bands, Sister Funk. They are a really good all female band. I headed out for the evening alone( I do that a lot nowadays. Getting used to it), but some of my female friends were there and I had a great time. Even though I quit drinking a couple weeks ago and sipped tonic water all night, I still had a great time. Go figure, huh?! Lol.

Kathy, the guitarist from Sister Funk, and me. One of the reasons I enjoy going to see them play out! Lol
 

I'm debating about going to see the band Spiritshaker tonight. I saw them a few weeks ago for the first time and they are really good. A couple guys from work are gonna be there. Gotta see if I have the energy to head out in a few hours. We'll see. Tomorrow, I'm heading down to my hometown to go to a benefit for a classmate. He has ALS/Lou Gherig's disease and the benefit is to try and raise enough money to get him a wheelchair van. Hopefully, it is a big success. There're will be a lot of people I know there, many of whom I haven't seen in many years. It should be a good time, just wish the get together was under better circumstances.                                                    Lot's to do next weekend also. Friday night I'm going to see a new band called Run Jenny. Run Jenny is all the members of Sister Funk, but when they play out as Run Jenny they play all original songs that they wrote. On Saturday I'm going to the Gun-Rights Rally at the state capitol. I went last year and wrote a post about it. Since last years rally some un-constitutional anti-gun laws went into effect in Connecticut. One of which is law-abiding gun owners having to register their so called "assault rifles". History proves that registration leads to confiscation. The deadline to register has passed and there're were more gun owners that didn't register than those who did. The government is calling it the biggest act of civil disobedience they have ever seen. I think people are finally get sick and tired of politicians running our lives the way they see fit. People from surrounding states are even going to the rally. Hopefully it's an even bigger turnout than last year. I will be doing a post after with pics. And speaking of the rally, the night I went to see Spiritshaker I met a gentleman named Paulie. We got to talking and he is also a law-abiding gun owner. Paulie was at the rally last year and will be attending the rally next week. He brought up a very good point, appearance. He says we should attend the rally dressed like we would for court and be well spoken. He's right. The media and politicians would love to portray us as a bunch of nutcases, which we do kinda look like if we're dressed in camo and t-shirts with all kinds of sayings. I'm guilty, I wore a Molon Labe t-shirt last year and would have this year if I hadn't talked to Paulie. Now, I'm not gonna wear a suit and tie, but I won't be wearing any camo or sayings on my shirt. And my weekend will wind down on Sunday at the cactus and succulent show. Last year was the first time I missed it in 14 years( I did a post on the show the year before last). I look forward to this event every year. Well, I hope this post sounds alright. I think it's the first one I've written without sipping on a glass of wine. Lol. And me having all this going on isn't the norm for me, so when it slows down I have my new hobby and my old hobby to entertain me. Oh well, guess that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for listening, Kevin

      

Done Looking

            I'm done looking for love. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I've never liked being alone. I've always preferred being in a relationship. My feelings about that are changing, I'm starting to like being alone. I don't think that it's really a good way to feel. I think it makes you more set in your ways and therefore, harder to start a relationship with someone. It has really dawned on me lately how much my divorce affected me, and not for the better. I'm not the same person I was before. I really try to be a decent person, and for the most part, I think I am. I really do try to live my life being able to face the guy in the glass and when he has a problem with me, it's not because of how I treated someone else, it's because of how I treated us. I realize my divorce put me in a sort of depression that is still lingering and that probably affected the two semi-long relationships I've had since. My relationship with Shelly has been discussed in past posts, so anyone that has been following this blog knows there were circumstances out of our control. That relationship is another one that changed me some more, some of that change for the better. One thing I've realized, I'm not gonna be controlled ever again. Probably part of the getting set in your ways also. But, I'm not gonna let a wedge happen between me and anyone that I care about again. I did try the online dating thing. I went on dates with two women, two was enough for me to learn. I heard they're horror stories of online dating (Both of them had been on many dates over the last few years). One thing that I've realized, if you're in you're in your forties or older and single for an extended period of time, there's a problem. Myself  included. I'm not gonna do it, but my online dates could be a post. I realize that I'm far from perfect, I wish more people did. So anyways, I'm done looking. Maybe what everyone says about if you're not looking, the right one will come along. We'll see. I guess I just felt like venting today. Thanks for listening, Kevin

Rock star

             When I grow up I wanna be a rock star!...... I think it's a little too late for me though. Lol. I've loved music as long as I can remember and always wanted to play an instrument. When I was young I had a harmonica, a Casio keyboard and played the recorder. I wasn't good with any of them. As my taste in music starting leaning more to hard rock, I decided that the guitar was what I wanted to play. I expressed my interest to my uncle, who plays guitar, when I was about 12. He was more than happy to help me out. He loaned me a Gibson acoustic guitar and would show me stuff. I remember him placing my fingers on the strings to show me a chord and me telling him, "Uncle Ray, my fingers don't bend that way!". Needless to say I never got the hang of it. The desire to do it probably wasn't strong enough, it was easier to listen to my albums (yes, albums. I'm old). Fast forward to the mid through late eighties, I was hanging out with my buddy Ed (from my "Remembering a good friend" post). It was the 80's and hair bands were big, that was our angle. We had long hair and got perms, dressed the part and had a whole story about our "band". Lol. It worked, we "met" a lot of women. We actually wound up forming a band with our friends Danny and Mitch. Danny plays guitar and was the only one that really knew what he was doing. Lol. Ed was on drums and for the most part, Mitch did vocals and I played bass. It was a great time! Even though we didn't make it out of the basement, it was so much fun! So the bass was the closest I had come to playing an instrument, even though Danny was the one showing me what to play. Well, that all came to an end (long, complicated story) so, flash forward again, 25 years. Nowadays, I spend too much time alone and bored. So, a few months ago while clicking through tv channels, I saw a guitar package for sale on a shopping channel. So, I'm thinking "I'm getting old and I'm gonna try it again". I ordered it. I quickly realized that my fingers REALLY wouldn't bend that way now! Lol. But, the bug was there, it felt good. I realized that I should have bought a bass. Now, I'm not saying that the bass is easy, but I don't have to crunch my fingers into positions that I can't do. So, I did a little research and bought a bass.

I think the finish on this bad boy is awesome
 

It feels so much more comfortable than the guitar. And it's a beautiful bass. Quilted maple top in transparent grayburst.  I bought a Fender Rumble 15 amp to practice with and signed up for on-line lessons. I'm in my second half of my life, time to do things that I always wanted to do. I know that I'll never be a rock star, but it would be really great to just jam with some friends in a basement again. It really is a great time! I have a good feeling about the bass, I really wanna learn all I can. And if I can't ever play, they make nice wall hangings. One good thing about living alone, you can decorate however you want. Thanks for listening, Kevin

And a "Don't tread on me" flag.