Not So Deep Thoughts

And I’ve already beaten Minesweeper at its hardest level!

What do I do now? Solitaire?? So 1990s.

Well folks, I’m a certifiable adult now!

In about 5 minutes, I’ll be walking out the door with my button down shirt and tie, bagged lunch in hand, making my way to my first real OFFICE job!

I can’t wait to jump right and and get to work, be productive, get things done. Other Directors of Studies, LOOK OUT!

Alrighty, I should probably get going.  I’m already 25 minutes late, and that’s not counting the walk over.  Wouldn’t want to make a bad impression.

Updates to come.

In exactly 10 minutes, Fernando, Kelly’s Boyfriend-o, will be picking me up and I’ll be spending the next 3 weeks in the south of Spain.  10 days or so with Nathan and Edurne (with special guests Kelly and Fernando this weekend) and then the lovely Vanesa will be joining us at Nate’s for a few days and then off to a coastal house for a few more days.

Gots me my guitar and my camera.  All’s good.

I will update… don’t you fret.

Peas!

Ohh.. just realized that it might not have been clear that you can click on the picture below to check out more photos that I’ve taken.

Sorry, that wasn’t a very user friendly post.

What a productive day I’ve had.

I must say, this whole ‘not working’ thing is really a pleasure. I should do it more often.

Let’s see what I’ve done today:

• Freaked out over and then sorted out my finances for this summer

• Sorted through all my photos and selected ones for publishing on my site

• Responded to every e-mail that’s been sitting in my inbox (some over 10 months.) I now have an empty inbox!! WOOHOO!

• Watched a movie - ‘Network’ - about a newscaster who goes off the deep end and uses his show to tell the world the ‘truth.’ Great flick.

You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here, you’re beginning to believe that the tube is reality and your own lives are unreal. You do. Why, whatever the tube tells you: you dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God’s name, you people are the real thing, WE are the illusion… Television is not the truth! Television is a god damned amusement park! … All human beings are becoming humanoids. All over the world, not just in America. We’re just getting there faster since we’re the most advanced country.

• Transcribed 2 solos by Charlie Christian

• Translated a poem from the book “The Onion, Memory” by Craig Raine. Me and Alexandra Dominguez are working on this project together to get this book of poems translated to Spanish.

• Cleaned my room

Not bad for a day’s work, eh?

Whoopsies!!!

Well, the good news is that Kel is in possession of my new baby. And I can’t wait to see her (FRIDAY!!!)

The bad news is that I might have screwed myself financially by buying said baby. (Note: if the FBI flagged this post and is reading it now; No, I’m not trafficking babies.)

First mistake: Euro to Dollar conversion. Yeah, it’s awesome and all, but that doesn’t mean you should go nuts with it.

Second mistake: My paycheck from June will have to last me through the months of July, August and until the end of September when I get paid for working in September. That’s three months folks, rent and bills and other fun stuff.

Now, I’m not saying I’m having a case of Buyer’s Remorse, even if I hadn’t bought the camera, I’d be coasting through til the end of September with just enough. It’s just that it looks like aside from shooting photos and strumming the guitar all summer, I’ll also be trying to see if I can put in some extra hours at work.

God, I can’t wait for September when my contract takes effect and I get a monthly salary (every month of the year!) and paid vacations. Might as well go through this one more time with a smile.

Note To Self - No Irish Pubs.

Everyone, meet the Canon 5D:

I’m considering it a little gift to myself for finishing my degree (more on that later) and my new job (more on that later.)

Plus, I’ve given myself most of July and all of August off in order to have time to futz around with this puppy. As soon as the wonderful Ms. Kelly smuggles brings it back from NY for me, I’ll take a picture of my shit-eating grin and post it up on here, ASAP.

Yippee!

As I lay on the Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas, squinting into the blinding sun as I try my damndest to read Tom Robbins’ “Skinny legs and all” for the 3^rd time, legs hanging over the towel’s end from the knees down, glancing up from time to time to see tanned, suimsuited bodies walk past with their towels in hand, I can’t help but think that I’m accomplishing something by being here: to the palest of observers sitting on that beach, one look at me will fill them with the comfort that at least THEY aren’t the whitest things that made it to the sun’s scorching grounds today.

Tomorrow I’m going out in search of some brave albino, equipt with SPF 300, to lay near.

I made it back to my hotel by 4:30, and as my feet lifted off the ground in a grand leap onto the bed, I considered the possibility of taking out my camera to go site-seeing for a bit, but the thought had come and passed long before I hit the mattress. I am no tourist this weekend, I’m an escapist.

It been a long and hard last few months, and as much as the exhaustion and head spinning scheduling acrobatics I’ve pulled off have driven me to think about crawling into a whiskey bottle with my blankey, I’ve kept my head about me and been pretty damn happy about all the things I’ve been doing. But I welcomed this weekend in Gran Canaria with a bear hug and sobs of relief.

So, as for the update… First off, school is going great. Classes are picking up steam, concerts in and out of Madrid and getting to know many of the other students pretty well. I can’t believe this will all be over in 4 months’ time!

2. A student of mine, a pretty well established artist and poet, introduced me to Vanesa, a poet friend of her’s, who was looking to give a reading of two of her books with a guitar backing her up. For the last few weeks I’ve been paging through volumes of sheet music and we’ve finally got an hour’s worth of material to get us through the performance. I think it’s going to turn out wonderfully, but that’s mostly because Vanesa’s got some damn fine versification. It’s been a lot of fun working on this project and hanging out with her preparing it. She’s a lot funnier than I thought a poet would be; no beret, all black wardrobe or IV cocktail of red wine and nicotine and distilled misery.

Tres. On a work related note, I’ve stumbled upon a job opportunity that might actually develop into something. I’ve been offered a position as Director of Studies. Indefinite contract, double the pay I get now, 1 month paid vacation, and all the Post-Its I can dream of. It’s a tempting offer and it would mean really settling down here. Although it’s not music related, it’s damn good experience for anyone in the education field, and that has to be good for something. For the meantime, I’m going to take some time on this decision.

So, that’s pretty much everything for now, plus I don’t want to get all longwinded on you (“Skip to the end!”)

I’ll leave it at this and I’ll make my way back to the beach for sunset.

Peas and Lub.

Paul

My Blog and I had a fight…

I won’t say over what, but it got ugly. Nasty words were exchanged, I cried, it slammed the door and stormed out of the apartment. It wasn’t anyone’s fault in particular. We are both to blame.

And only silence remained.

But now is the time for reconciliation.

Just not at 2:30 in the morning when I should be asleep and gathering my forces for tomorrow; the big day…

I’m going back to the Canary Islands!!!

My academy is footing the bill for a trip down the the land of The Eternal Spring and all I gotta do is get my teach on…

And I’ll have a weekend all to myself to sit on the beach, play guitar and get sunstroke.

Can’t wait.

Will be sure to update soon.

xx

That is just one of the many possibilities of names that we are considering for the new band I’m playing in. As if I already didn’t have enough to do, I’m now a guitarrist in a brand-new, fresh-out-of-the-box band. We’re playing all cover tunes, but none of the pop-rock bullcrap that’s out there. We’ll be playing a lot of classic standards from countries like France, Spain, Brasil and Italy - but with a jazz/latin twist. And we have a dancer who will be surely ambulating rhythmically across the stage.

We even have a date for our first gig! January 17th! We haven’t even chosen all the songs, let alone REHEARSED, but we’re almost a month away from getting up on stage. These guys are gung-ho.

But we haven’t got a name quite yet… So, I’m leaving it up to you guys to vote on your favorite name, and the most votes will determine the name of our band.

Here are the options: (Thanks go out to Dave Barry for his recommendations)

The Cotton-Eating Moths of Australia
The Turkey Spiders
The Flaming Salmonella Units
The Wood Tick Snorkels
Heave
Squatting Turnips
Pinot Noir and his Nuances of Toast
Weasel Nostrils
The Flaming Booty Moths
Earl Piedmont and the Diphthongs
Slippery Spleens
Sheep Eyeballs
The Flaming Croutons
Rodent Passion
St. Vincent and The Grenadines
The Biscuit Whackers
Gaseous Worms
Raymond Burr’s Legs
Shark Puke
The Urban Professionals
The Phlegmtones
Crotch
Effluent, Sliced Meat
The Vestigial Organs
Diminished Penile Sensation
Crab Shrapnel
Contaminated Tumbleweeds
Varlet and the Squeaking Codpieces
The Fierce Prune-Eating Hamsters from Space
Paint-Peeling Puffs of Flatulence
Bleeding Nipples
Rapid Sucking Action
Nuclear Underpants
The Groin Whappers
Thrusting Balloon Puppies
Drastic Toilet Air
Drawers Full of Slugs
Groping for Elmo
The Pig-Stinging Jellyfish
Fugitive Squirrel and the Clearly Disturbed Beavers
The Moos of Derision
Disoriented Chickadees
Pain and Suffering
Kung Fu Trees
Combat Alfalfa

Let the voting BEGIN!!!