Christmas Party Disaster



Where to begin?



The party was actually a very bad experience.



There were three people there that I did not know too well or at all; Mike (who came with his three young children), Steve the magician and his roommate Eddie. People started showing up at around 5:15 or 5:30 and we all were having a good time. Mike was invited by Rhonda, who is my across the street neighbor. His two daughters seemed very well behaved and Mike seemed OK, too. Sometime later Steve showed up with Eddie, whom I did not know. I have met Steve several times briefly and decided he was a good guy.



As the evening progressed a few things happened; Mike got extremely drunk. Eddie got extremely drunk. Steve was drinking but not extremely drunk.



The kids' gift exchange game went very well and then it was time for the adults. In the middle of the adult's game Eddie interrupted us to give a long, rambling speech about how he and Steve did a show for under-priviledged kids that day. Eddie must have thought we were just sitting around socializing and not playing the game. We finally booted him out and then started the game again.



A little while later he came back and interrupted again. "Who wants a magic show?" "Eddie, we're playing the game. Get out of here." I said. He looked at me and actually said - I mean he said this to me - "You have 10 minutes."



I should have kicked him out right then but I said, "No, we will finish when we finish. Get out of here."



Additionally, Don, the across the street and up one house neighbor was shit faced drunk and came in to watch the game. He tried to sit down on a chair and ended up missing, falling off and catapulting his drink all over the floor of the entry way (which fortunately is tiled). Gretchen and a few others were gracious enough to mop up for me.



After the game finished they put on a short magic show for the kids while I paced the house freaking out. A couple of folks talked me down and I was OK after a while. The magicians brought over some of the animals they use; a rabbit and a duck. After the show was over Eddie decided to bring the duck into the house; it got away from him and ran around the downstairs area and crapped on the floor and maybe the carpet.



When I saw that I went out to Steve and told him, "Eddie brought the duck in the house, it got away and crapped on the floor. Pack up your shit and both of you get out of here."



It was this point that Linda said to Mark, "Let's get out of here." How prophetic.



At some point later I all of a sudden heard a guitar playing. By now both Ed and Mark had left, so I knew it wasn't them. I go into the music room and see Mike playing my guitar. Mind you, I hadn't given him permission to play my beloved Martin.



I went into the backyard and told Floyd, who is strangely enough the one guy I relate to the most in the neighborhood (he's a retired Army Intel guy and is now a US Marshall for the downtown San Diego courthouse) that he was playing my guitar and I wanted him out of the house and sent home. His kids were still there and the oldest knew her Daddy was not behaving well, I think. The few around me agreed that he was drunk and should probably go home, so Floyd went in, took the guitar from him, brought it upstairs and put it in my bedroom closet and then escorted him and his daughters home. He was acting the asshole because instead of just going home with his tail between his legs as any real man would do he tried to talk his way out of it with me, which only served to cement his reputation as an asshole even more. His story was the Mark had shown it to him (which was fine, Mark has carte blanche with my gear, as does Ed) and so he decided to play it after Mark left (which Mark would not have allowed at all).



So, Floyd came back and I breathed a sigh of relief.



Less than an hour later Mike came back with one of his guitars and asked me to scratch it with his car key. I was getting furious and told him to get out again. This time my neighbor Avi escorted him home, but only after a fair amount of drama and a chair tossing scene by me since I was so incredibly angry that this guy would not go away and stay away.



People started leaving the party and soon it was down to just a handful. I was showing Katy, one of the neighbor women the living room photos and talking about them and the ideas behind the designs of the house when Mike came back in, unannounced.



I wanted to deck him at this point, just flatten him, but Katy intervened and almost literally shoved him out the door (and locked it behind him).



What I don't get it how supposedly more mature and responsible adults can act so badly in front of their kids. It is that element of "suburban angst" that I really really hate. It seems like so many people are not happy with themselves or their lives, but they keep a lid on all of it until one night it all comes out at once.



Sometimes it just amuses me but for whatever reason last night several people decided it was time to get their disappointments and unhappiness off their chests and exposed to everyone around them.



Mike thinks he was kicked out of my house for playing my guitar. He wasn't, he was kicked out for behaving badly and unpredictably. He didn't figure that out last night; maybe he has figured it out now. I hope to God I never see him again, at least I hope he doesn't come back down here one more time and attempt to irrelevantly explain himself. I felt bad for his daughter but maybe she'll take some sort of life lesson away from it.



Eddie was just an insincere showbiz creep. I can handle those as long as they don't expose the insincerity and selfishness too obviously. But his "Bring in the duck and let it loose" maneuver sealed his fate. And since Steve brought him Steve had to leave with him. It's my understanding that Steve chewed Eddie out there in the back yard after I told him what Eddie had done but too late and I don't care. Jenifer told me this morning that Bob told her that Eddie was dedicating vodka shots "to the children." He was also apparently hitting on Linda all night long, too. What an ass.



And Steve has been wanting to get hired at the local elementrary school which hasn't happened for a few years. The neighbor who was the former PTA president that hired him no longer has a kid at that school and the current PTA VP, another neighbor, won't hire him. He did this show as a way of getting her to hire him; I doubt that will happen now.



Don is a decent fellow - sort of - but he was just falling down stinking drunk and I personally don't get that at all.



As I explained to Katy later I can't afford to have these sorts in my life; I am too dependent on my family, friends and neighbors to allow jerks, creeps and asses to insinuate themselves into my life. I do not suffer fools gladly and I, as long as I have lived on this street anyway have NEVER behaved that way in any of my neighbors' homes. I find it inconceivable that I would get fall down stinking drunk, spill my cup contents all over the floor, bring wild animals into their houses or go through their prized possessions and examine, use or otherwise touch them without permission.



I compare these parties to the ones my friends in OC throw. They and their hipster friends don't seem to have any problem eating and drinking, conversing and otherwise socializing and NOT tearing the house apart. My house is an absolute wreck. It floors me that grown up people can behave in such bad ways. I am very glad my parents went home when they did and did not see the ridiculous spectacle these so-called adults created.



I guess I'm just uptight and uncool.

Halloween was a huge success thanks to the neigbor's Haunted Huse which attracted people from many miles away if we can believe what they told us. I worked the air nozzle from behind a curtain and it was great fun.



I have started the guest bathroom and it is supposed to be finished by Thanksgiving. This one is really just a remove, repair and replace job; no "art" involved, really. After that I wil probably do the entry but I am having a hard time figuring out who to talk to about geting a stair rail thing designed and manufactured. I've had several ideas but I'd really like to go with some sort of brushed stainless post and rail with cables in between.



All to code, of course.



I've done some good photography lately and will upload the more successful shots to pbase right after this.

Well... ahem... It's been a while. An entire summer has passed me by here in blogland. No matter. I'll sum it up.



The band had a series of gigs this summer, including playing at the office "backyard barbeque" in August. We have given up on playing the holiday party but we are preparing for the annual "booze cruise" in mid-Oct. We've had several long rehearsals including on this last Frida in an effort to get ready. We have a lot of new material and it is causing some concern here...



I went up to Lake Arrowhead to participate in the Beatles tribute show again this year. I show a minimal video and have a great time with everyone. Another successful weekend.



I've remodeled my master suite bath and am preparing to do the guest bath upstairs as well as completely refloor the entry, stairs and gallery area.



I bought a new car last weekend to help ease the load on the old reliable Mazda I've had for over 10 years.

The house is in a state of disrepair at the moment; I am trying to get a deck built in the backyard (and add a spa as well), get the library pulled together and the master bath started with the contractor.



I've decided to re-engineer the deck frame with more substantial fasteners; the drywall screws weren't hacking it. I bought 3 dozen 1/4" x 2 1/2" lag bolts today (and got a replacement 1/2" drive ratchet at Sears, too).



Maybe I'll do something this week, but most likely I'll do it this weekend.



I issued all the Beatles shows DVds and have gotten very positive responses from everyone.

Two Beatles shows in a day is at least one too many.



I woke up around 6 AM and left the house around 7:30. The drive out to Victorville was uneventful. God is that a boring drive. Coming up the Cajon Pass I blew past an exit 12 years ago I took all the time; Pearblossom Highway (CA 138). Pearblossom parallels the base of the San Gabriel Mtns and I used to get to Edwards AFB for a few years during B-2 flight test. Anyway, I gratefully blew by that exit and ended up at Victor Valley College at about 9:30/9:45. The hall was open and the crew was there but no band yet. No problem, the sound guy knew I was coming. He let me set up right next to him in the back of the hall.



About 20 minutes later the guys all showed up; they'd rehearsed at Mark's house on the mountain and then came down to Roger's place in Hesperia that night. They all looked like shit and I later found out why.



They were soon getting the stuff set up and then after sound check we all hung out in the "green room" and ate a crappy catered lunch. I haven't spent any time with these guys as a group; only Joe and Kurtis, really. The rapport we all had was very very funny but definitely all about being guys. Once the women started showing up things cleaned up in a hurry. At one point some 9 year old kid was hanging around (his Dad was a sound tech). Mark made the comment that he couldn't imagine a less appropriate group of people for this kid to hang out with.



The afternoon show wasn't all that great; the room was maybe half full and the audience was polite but not super enthusiastic. Rock and roll is not an afternoon activity. I shot the whole thing and then we convened in the green room to discuss. I even was asked my opinion as an experienced musician and tech, so that was good.



We broke for dinner; Joe, Kurtis, Chris and I in Kurtis' van. I then found out why they were all exhausted and looked like shit; they'd been up to 2 AM playing music and goofing around and tried to sleep on couches, floors, etc. 40 year olds can't really do that, you know?



We discussed the set again. The show was in two halves; the first set started with "Magical Mystery Tour" which came off great but there was no intro or anything else. The second set started with Kurtis and Dave doing "Yesterday." It was a nice start but it was not effective because the house lights weren't down and the intermission music was still playing when they came out. I had to turn the music down because the sound guy was off somewhere God knows where. Also, the lights were too bright and not dynamic in any way. Finally, the second set was too long.



So, after dinner (Catherine joined us as she had driven up to see the evening show) we went back to the hall and Kurtis and Joe proceeded to re-arrange and edit the set list and they also conferred with the stage manager so she could actually, you know, manage the stage. They decided to come out wearing guitars to help cut down the plug in and go time. Also, our good friend Jack Daniels made an (unapproved by the hall) appearance. So, I was hopeful that things would go better the second time.



And... they did. The audience was better, the stage was better, the set was better and the performance for the most part was better. Mark forgot the second verse to "Let It Be" so he stopped the song until Joe reminded him and then off they went again. They were all very funny on stage and the audience was laughing and interacting with them a lot. They did a "meet and greet" with the audience after each show; this one was at least twice as long as the first.



I managed to record nearly everything this time and hopefully I'll be able to grab a few songs from the afternoon performance to fill in the entire set.



Everyone drove home that night; I got in around 12:30 AM and face planted into bed.

Figaro is doing better today after a few days of not moving very much. He was pretty lethargic for 48 hours and didn't eat or drink. I had to force some water into him last night with an eyedropper but this morning he was pretty active and he came downstairs for breakfast with his sister.



I am preparing to proceed with the master bath upgrade. I expect some sketch proposals from my design consultant on Monday and my loan funded this week. I still need to get an estimate from the contractor and have my "team" review the sketches and make suggestions.



I am thinking about a new project for the house - a homebrewed PVR using a fast PC with a big hard drive and some Linux-based database and video playback software. If I can get around to it it should be really fun!

I received an interesting email today - a woman from a video production company in the Valley (no, not THAT kind of video production company!!) emailed me requesting use of some of my images (Santa Prassede's Zeno Chapel mosaic, the "Blue Colosseum", the Sistine Chapel ceiling image and a few more). It seems they are doing a documentary on the Vatican and want to use my stuff.



I asked her to send me a fax of the release and tonight I emailed her a few other low-res scans of some stuff she might like. Along with those I commented that I was willing to give permission for use in that production only - I needed to retain rights for my own uses, though. We'll see how well that goes down!



I also had a fun date with the new person yesterday. I like her; we may have something going here.