Monday, February 20, 2006

i'm too old....life is too short

so i have come to a realization.

i just don't get most new rock music. indie rock. you know. the stuff all the "cool kids" listen to. i buy CD's, i listen to them, because people "in the know" tell me they are great. i try to like them, i really do....but i don't. i think they suck. but i keep listening, hoping i will see what all the fuss is about. usually, i never do.

so i have come to this......i just don't care. i don't give a crap what the "cool kids" think is good music. i don't want to hear some melodramatic middle-class kid from the 'burbs sing off-pitch about his sad life, over a poorly strummed guitar. i don't want to try to decipher some inane lyrics that turn out to be about basically nothing. i am not interested in 50 albums, one for each state. i don't want to listen to music i have to try to like.

maybe i am just getting old, but life is too short to not have music around you that you enjoy. so if you are one of those cool kids, and you get near my desk, or car, you will probably hear something that sounds like it came from from before you were born. it might have. or it may be some newer artist who makes music i like. i won't try to convert you to listening to waylon, or son volt, or ben harper, or cross canadian ragweed (though you really should check them out). so don't bother me with the white stripes, killers, gorillaz, or that uber-annoying sufjan stevens. i don't want to hear them.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

where have i been????

wow...it's been a whole month. maybe i should come here more often, yes?

in all honesty, it HAS been a busy month...i moved, i now have a 45 minute commute to work. this means i get up at 530am, meaning also, that i am very tired at night. also, i have been preparing for the arrival of my daughter.....she is here now, bringing mirth and merriment to my house. maybe i will have funny stories like Kelly again, soon.

it snowed here this weekend, meaning everything is closed, the grocery stores are sold out of bread, milk, water, and soup, and people everywhere are driving like morons. i love the south, that is well known, but people here do not have a clue how to drive.

my friend rob has a date this weekend with a girl he met through one of those online dating things...e-harmony i think is the one he used. i am just not so sure about that method. not that my current method is working real well......anyone have a suggestion? comment? snide remark?

ahh that's it for now. i may even come back later today......we will see.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

what have i started?

that's the most comments ever seen in this place. wow. what fun!! i am still not sure exactly how i feel about it all, but it IS fun. please continue. noone has yet convinced me marriage is any better than wal-mart at noon on the friday after thanksgiving(which is how i imagine hell), but they are welcome to present their arguments.

so an update on the housing situation.....we are moving around the end of this month....probably late next week. my roommate has purchased a very nice house in beautiful hendersonville, tn...about 150 yards from the lake, in a great school disctrict, and about 4 miles from the former house of johnny cash (now owned by barry gibb; which i think bothers me). i am quite happy to be getting out of this apartment. when we pulled in the yard last week to look at some stuff, 4 deer ran out of the yard. i will feel right at home!

just a short update, since you have all been so kind as to visit, i felt i should leave you something.

more later.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

it's 2006......

how the heck did that happen? wow.......

so i don't really make resolutions, since they seem pointless, but here are a few things i plan to accomplish this year. feel free to ask me how i am doing with them, throughout the year.

spend at least one hour per day with my guitar or mandolin (which i should be doing now, instead of typing here)
become more active in church
sleep more
watch less tv
record this freaking CD i keep promising everyone.....

o yea.....and find out who that anonymous person is wanting to convince me marriage is better than shopping the day after t-giving (i'd rather have an ingrown toe-nail cut out than do either..but shopping is less painful, and costs less)

yes..i have a mandolin now. maybe i will figure out how to put a picture here, and show you all my fine collection of musical instruments.

so there it is, an actual post of some substance, enjoy.

maybe i should resolve to post here more often. but it would not help. see you all later.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Friday, December 23, 2005

myspace

myspace.com is one crazy place......i joined to see some pics of a band i am a fan of, and have now discovered people i never thought i would run into on the goofy ol' internet.....something i suspect started as a dating site, has turned into a place to connect with new folks who share common interests, and find one's you have lost contact with......i now get to chat with people i haven't talked to in years, and it's really cool.......good stuff.

you can find me there at www.myspace.com/larryl

christmas is here........for the first time ever, i will spend it without my beautiful daughter....she will be with her mom for the entire weekend, which will be quite weird for me. but it does give me an extra day to buy gifts for her, which is good, since i haven't done much of that yet....

christmas also means a week at home with my parents.......man i hope that goes well......those of you who know me, and my relationship with my dad know what i mean by that....

but at least i get a week off work....that will be nice, though not too relaxing.....i'd rather be home, resting on my sofa, sipping a nice rum drink, watching law and order re-runs.....o well....


i hope you all have a merry christmas, festivus, hanukkah, feast of the nativity, or whatever you celebrate. i personally hope to be able to focus on why I celebrate....the birth of my savior....and i hope i can use it as i time to redirect some of my attention in a direction it is too seldom directed.....may you all do the same.....with all the hub-bub about holiday trees, happy holidays, and such, let's let it go........celebrate however we see fit....i will celebrate christmas....not the actual birthday of Jesus, neccesarily, but the day we choose to celebrate it.

so....merry christmas.

and if need be......festivus for the rest of us......

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

and so it goes....

so i haven't been here in a while...here is the brief version.

my roommate and i are moving into a house at the first of the year. this means my wonderful daughter will be coming back to live with me. i have never been away from her this long, and i don't think either of us are taking it very well. i am quite excited for her to be here. it will mean a more normal routine, as mandated by having a school age child in the house.....and the house.....i can't freaking wait to be in a house again. i hate apartments. hate them.

i am inundating myself in some great music, determined to start work on the album i have promised several people. i am playing daily again, and learning some stuff, remembering some stuff, and in general having fun, which is what music is all about for me.

christmas is upon us, and i think i have all my gift buying done, what little i must do. online shopping is a godsend to someone who is as terrified of crowds as i am. seriously..i have been known to leave a full cart of groceries and walk out of a store, not being able to deal with the crowd. perhaps i need therapy. what would hank hill say about that? probably that i should have a wife to do that.... i think i would rather go to the mall the day after thanksgiving......

well i think that is all. i promise i shall try to be more witty, or at least have something to say next time i am here.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Friday, December 02, 2005

even more random than usual

i wouldn't write anything today, because i have no anecdotes about my life to share, and i am too tired to get into any deep subjects....but i know some of you become concerned for my well being when i don't post often enough....

i will say that my brother-in-law is currently supposedly in the departure phase of his tour in iraq. that is good news. why do they call it a tour anyway? aren't tours supposed to be fun? and from what i hear, he stayed in the same place almost the whole time. i don't get it......but either way, he will be home soon.

it is cold as crap here, and i am very unhappy about it. 20's at night.....my doors were frozen shut yesterday morning.....and they are predicting snow next week....rain this weekend....which means we will probably have a blizzard this weekend, and 70's next week, but i digress......i HATE cold. hate it. see no point to it. it's one of those pressing questions i want to ask God someday....why did we need cold? i am sure someone will give me a biological/ecological answer, but i won't buy it......God could have created the whole thing to work a different way; one which would not have not required cold. i live in the south partially because i hate cold. but we still get it......i suppose it's better than the hurricanes i would have if i lived in those wonderful places where it doesn't get cold...not sure.....may have to think on that.....

that's all for today.

yes, carrie, i feel fine.

i see we have a new reader. welcome rob.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

chri$tma$

so here we are......thanksgiving is upon us, when we will eat too much, without really being thankful that we have so much to eat.....we will fellowship with family....without really being thankful that they are here to fellowship with....at least this is the usual way.....maybe this will remind us all to be thankful.......

which brings us to christmas......happy times, right? then why is there that statistic about more suicides at christmas than any other time of the year? maybe it's the $1000's spent on it? the maxed out credit cards? the pain of NOT being able to get something someone wants? i don't know, but it seems awfully screwed up to me.....my sister is about to go spend $150 (on sale) for a plastic tree....people are spending $2500 on ebay for the new xbox.... does anyone else see something wrong here?

don't get me wrong....i am not AGAINST trees, or gifts, or eating (lord knows), what i am against is that that is all it is about now. look at the name......christmas....literally, christ mass, or mass for christ.....a time to celebrate the birth of christ......even for those to whom, that is not as important (not many of my readers, i know) i wish it could be a time of being with, and loving our friends and family... i am just sick of it all.....

on a slightly different note, while i am still pretty much pro- the war in iraq, i am very anti- my brother-in-law being there. i know that's weird, coming from me....he is doing his duty, and i love him for doing it (and would if he hadn't)....but i am ready for him to be home with my sister and their beautiful children.....that's all i want for christmas this year......

so let it be written, so let it be done

Thursday, November 17, 2005

random rambling.......

ok.......here we go..........

i am addicted to coffee. i don't care what some lady allegedly found in her folgers. i drink at least 5 cups per day, 2 of which ore 20 ouncers from work....what?!? you don't think that makes me an addict? i have 2 pounds of fresh roasted coffee delivered to my house monthly. still not convinced? i have a freakin' $200 coffee pot with a timer, and built in grinder. ......starbucks, by the way, is mediocre at best.

while we are speaking of addictions.....limes. they are wonderful, and make almost everything better.....here is a simple test to see if something can be improved with lime: ask yourself "would chocolate syrup make this better?" if the answer is no, then lime will work, and help. (some breakfast foods are an exception).

o yea...chocolate. let me explain something to you cooks out there. desert means chocolate. if it claims to be desert, and does not either contain chocolate, or offer it as a topping, it is simply an after dinner snack.

i am NOT addicted to alcohol....i prove this, because i spend far more on coffee each week than i do alcohol.

christmas is upon us. please do not buy me a gift. i am not buying you one. feel free to buy yourself something, and pretend it is from me. i will likely buy myself something, and if you would like, i will pretend it is from you (yes...i stole this from my sister, but i think we agreed mutually on it several years ago). better yet, give something to someone who actually needs it. i know most of the folks who read this, and we need very little. my children needs no toys. do not buy them any. anyone who thinks my children needs toys, especially noisy ones, will be rewarded with drums and/or bb guns for their son. carrie....you will have kids some day.....the exception is my dear son, who i think might need both drums AND a bb gun for mommy's house.

football....well....the mighty have all fallen in the SEC.

that is all.

(the spell check had several strange suggestions for me tonight...... "freakin'" , it felt should be "foreskin" this is very disconcerting. "mommy's" should be changed to "mummy's", it informed me.....very odd)

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

my name is earl.....

i suggest you all check out this show. 30 minutes of highly entertaining, redneck humour. ok...so it's a stupid show; but i love it. and it has jaime pressley in it, which is worth 30 minutes of my time any day. so yes....watch this show....what else do you have to do on tuesday night? turn your brain off, and sit back and relax. ......

so this rant i promised....it is going to have to wait. i know you were all waiting anxiously for my thoughts on christianity, the modern evangelical church, televangelists, mega-churches, rock music, pastors, and how they all make people want nothing to do with God. well....you will have to wait. i just don't feel like it tonight.

as to my post about the bulldogs, let me make it clear, i am not, nor have i ever been, since the time i actually gave a crap about football, a georgia bulldog fan. i have been a loyal fan of the university of tennesee volunteers for 10 years. my comments about rooting for bama were related to the fact that while i would love to see UT undefeated, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards, so i need to pick someone to root for in the championship picture (at least the SEC title, since the devil BCS doesn't think being undefeated in the toughest conference in the NCAA is good enough to get you to the nat'l title game). that could have been georgia for me.....but not anymore. there are two things that us tennessee fans hate.....the university of florida, and steve spurrier. georgia lost to florida. that is unacceptable to me. roll tide. (they already beat us, and i am over that.) whatever it takes to put an SEC team at the top is all good by me. some day the sweet strains of "rocky top" will be heard between the hedges, again.

for those of you who might be interested, i drug my trusty telecaster guitar out this weekend, plugged it in, and discovered to my amazement that i still know how to play. i promise i will work on this album i have been talking about for almost 2 years.......there are songs, there will be a record. well, probably a CD, but you get the idea. no robi, you will probably not really dig it. yes, michael, there will be mandolin on it. no, kelly, there will be no beatles covers. yes, if anyone famous is reading, you may submit your demo for consideration to play on my project.

that is all.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

monday? already?

this weekend was definitely not long enough..... i missed a planned outing with some friends saturday, due to a late afternoon nap, then couldn't sleep, was up half the night...and today was my first day on my new schedule....

"new schedule?" you may be asking...indeed. the changes at work were good. i no longer work 1230-9pm; i now work 8-5pm. much better. except that i now have to readjust my sleeping habits. again. getting up at 545 this morning was no fun at all. the change also involved a slightly different position at work, which they tried very hard to make sound like a promotion, but without a pay raise.....boy, they sure made it sound good though.

so halloween is over. we had no trick-or-treaters here, which was good, since we had no candy. since my lovely daughter is staying with grandma until the end of the semester, it went mostly un-noticed by me....with two exceptions.....this guy at work came in today as that scary burger king guy......had the mask, the outfit, and a burger king sack...and he would stand still and just stare, it was creepy and funny all at once. i couldn't stop laughing....he stood in front of this one girl's desk for close to twenty minutes, without moving......good stuff (yes...we are productive at work)....the second thing was hearing some radio guy call the holiday "beg-o-ween".. great description....i'm just glad it's over.....make sure you all go see my sister's blog (link to your left) and see the great pic's of her kids. they are adorable, and are my favorite kids on earth, outside my two angels. (she calls her kids demon spawn, and comments that that would make her a demon....i shall refrain from commenting)

hopefully i have answered all questions about the earlier-mentioned-date. i was told today by a fine man that i should carefully consider not ever dating again, since i am divorced, and getting married again would be a sin (apparently divorce is ok though)......i can't imagine why more people don't want to be christians.....i think i shall write on this very topic tomorrow, since i am tired now. please ignore my above cynicism until i have time to say more.

oh, and i almost forgot. those bulldogs i mentioned? they lost. this really pisses me off. even though i am not a fan, i liked the SEC having two undefeated teams. of course, my beloved UT vols lost, too. first time we have lost to SC in 14 years....dang steve spurrier......my battle cry for the rest of the season? roll tide. at least we still have someone to help us bitch about the injustices of the BCS system.

(on a VERY funny note.....as i ran the spell check on this entry, it informed me that "blog" is not a word it recognizes. )

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Friday, October 28, 2005

and things improve....

so baseball is over. 'nuf said.

i have been been requested to talk about the football team from that fine town in my home state, the University of Georgia Bulldogs. i am not sure why i would receive such a request, since i am not a fan of said team, but since i know out of the 3 or 4 people who read this, on is a rabid fan, i shall do so. oh, yea....i also have a grad student/ professor from there, who has always claimed to hate "american football" but who seems to have given in to it......so here goes....

the bulldogs are un-defeated, and will likely remain so....most likely playing in the SEC championship, probably winning it. (although i must confess i'd like to see alabama win....i love an underdog, which alabama certainly was, after a number of years on probation). the bad thing is, even after that, barring something insane happening, they will still not play in the national championship game, even after winning the toughest conference in the NCAA. travesty. abolish the BCS, put in a playoff of some sorts.

om a side note, my beloved UT vols will be lucky to even make the peach bowl....after being picked pre-season to win the national championship......dang it.

toady, i am told they are making some "changes" at work. o goodie. i do so love that. it won't mean the loss of anyone's job or anything....it probably means they are going to fiddle with our bonus structure, and what things we get bonuses for......they usually bonus us for performance in areas where the company is struggling....fun, fun, fun......and i will get another manager today, since mine is changing departments.....anyone seen the movie "office space"? that's where i work. seriously.

and one last note...i went on a pseudo date last night. the first one in a long time...she basically asked me out. it was interesting to say the least. and no, there will not be a second date, though she might hope for one.....anyone requiring more information than that can see me after class.

so let it be written, so let it be done.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

it's that time of year....

no. not halloween. not christmas, which seems to start earlier every year now.......

baseball. the world series. when people who normally couldn't care less rush to watch each game, cheering for a team they couldn't name a single player on a week ago. my roommate is from houston, so he is all into it(he never has been, but he is now, making my point for me). i cannot for the life of me understand the excitement. i tried to play baseball. went to one tee-league practice....realized it was a waste of time, and went home, never to return. i am, by the way, "rooting" for chicago, since as i understand it, if they win tonight, and tomorrow, the whole thing ends. sounds good to me. then i can get back to concentrating on wondering just how much worse my beloved tennesee vols football team can do.

speaking of halloween....another holiday i could do without. not for any religious reason, but just because it is just yet another reason for kids to get "stuff"....candy....costumes....crappy toys at church "fall festivals"...enough already.....we have reduced every stinking holiday, christian and pagan to being an excuse to give more stuff to our kids that they don't need. i will rant more on this as christmas approaches, i am sure....by the by....my immediate family has pretty much ceased to exchange gifts, and would stop completely if we didn't feel bad about not giving the kids anything...see? it's the kids......more later...

i am tired now....not sure why. i slept until 11am today. i hate this 1230-9pm schedule.

so let it be written, so let it be done

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

change is good.....

so thanks to a certain dear friend, i am looking very closely at orthodox christianity. it seems to answer a lot of the questions i have long held. there is something very comforting about a system that has been in place for hundreds of years. i know i have been very unhappy in my safe little protestant world for a long time..this could be the answer i am looking for. i think i am going to seek out an orthodox church here and attend it for a while, and see what happens...more to follow on this....

i saw mr kevin max sunday night in concert. that man is a true rockstar. has a stage presence like bono......he played a great set of mostly new tunes here in town....i can forgive his sordid past if he continues to put out music like this. i also got to meet one of my musical heroes, mr andrew d prickett, of the prayer chain, the lassie foundation, cush, etc.....he's a really nice guy, and complimented me on my myspace avatar...i highly recommend meeting your heroes. let them know what they mean to you; you won't regret it.


i wish i had something witty to say, but i am tired.....maybe tomorrow.....

so let it be written, so let it be done

Friday, October 21, 2005

random thoughts

wow.....work can be fun. today i had a customer tell me he was making it his sole mission in life to see that i am terminated from my job. i wish i had that kind of free time, to make something that petty my sole mission in life. you'd think he could find a more worthy cause.....if by some cosmic coincidence he reads this....sir, i encourage you to devote your life to something of more substance. by the by, it was a simple matter of something not being delivered when HE thought it should, and this all being my fault, even though i just sell them, i don't build them...mind you, his order is not scheduled to ship until next week, but i was able to tell him it had already gone out; this was still not good enough. good grief.

breaching the ever popular topic of politics, i heard today that VP cheney may resign, and that condi rice will be made VP.....the customer who told me this also said "that will leave mr potato head leading the country all by himself." now, i am a bush supporter, but i had to laugh. that's some witty stuff..... i also hear that it is apparently likely that we will be choosing between condi and hillary in the next presidential election. i need to ask my dear friend robi, the poli-sci doctoral student some questions on this, but i truly think this will lead to a strong showing, if not a win by a third party candidate.

on a related note, i found out today i can buy a very nice island in a banana republic with a house on it for about $3million. anyone willing to go in on that with me? robi, also being an econ grad student (yes, he is apparently an over achiever) will probably advise me that this is not a good idea. but i like it a lot. i can catch fish, and the rum ship can make a monthly delivery. that's about as good as life gets.

that's about it for today....i worked 12 hours, and came home to freshly cooked filipino eggrolls. my roommate and i have a friend from the philippines who taught us how to make them. he assured me that no filipinos were harmed in the making of said eggrolls. they are quite tasty. but now, having eaten them, and having had several cups of wonderful organic spiced black tea, i am ready for bed, so i can get up tomorrow, and do it all over again. i miss being self employed already.

o well........

so let it be written, so let it be done

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

here i go again

man....twice in one week. what is getting into me?

so i am back on the phones for Dell. strangely enough, out of the tens of thousands of calls we get per day, i had a business acquaintance from my summer of booking concerts end up on my phone last night. we had a nice chat, which will no doubt lead to someone somewhere at dell checking out the sale, to see if i gave my friend any un-authorized discounts.....ahhh corporate america.

i have recently become very fascinated with some new music....americana. no, not the starflyer 59 album, but the genre.....americana, alt-country, whatever the cool term is this week. you know....folks like john prine, steve earle, buddy and julie miller(and of course, the vigilantes of love are an old favorite),....also some other great song-writers...townes van zandt, van morrison, jerry jeff walker, elvis costello. this is all good and well, but i have noticed that these fine artists are all fairly...well....liberal. lot's of anti-war, anti-republican, hippie kind of stuff. i suppose this would be ok, if i weren't such a died in the wool southern baptist conservative pro-gun republican. the issue is, with these people, the words of the songs are the point, as opposed to most modern rock, where the words are just something to scream over the loud guitars. so can i listen to this wonderful music, support these extremely talented people, whose politics i so firmly disagree with? i hope so, because i surely dig the music.

speaking of me being pro-gun.....i had the opportunity to go to a pistol competition this past weekend. it was amazingly lacking in testosterone, and was just a bunch of really nice folks who love shooting guns. good solid citizens. i met several police officers (always good for a person of my checkered past), and other assorted people, and all in all had a great time. i think i may shoot in the next one.....i need another expensive hobby, because music just isn't sucking my wallet dry enough......

well....that's enough for today. i had some great ideas for new witty content, but seemed to get off onto some rant about music and politics and what not, which derailed the humour. maybe next time. until then......

so let it be written, so let it be done

Monday, October 17, 2005

a newer post.....and we shall start from here

so i am now ashamed. my sister, who claims she is not witty, has shared her blog with me. she is quite witty. i consider myself to be a fairly witty guy, but she has funny stuff. actually, we have decided that we are not funny, but our kids (we each have 2) are hysterical. her son ponders our existence and place in the universe....he's 5. my daughter, whom i consider a genius, apparently has been brainwashed by public schools to think she should worship tornados....maybe it's the bowing down thing, i am not sure. she has now been accused of being a future cult leader. o goodie. i can't wait to be on CNN.....

so i am back in nashville. i love nashville, it is a fantastic town. music, see, is one of the biggest parts of my life; and nashville has a LOT of it. last week i saw charlie peacock, along with a smokin' band put on an amazing jazz set. full horn section, hammond b3 (played by the amazing roger smith), jaco pastorious' son on bass.....wow.... later this month i will go see kevin max. yes, that kevin max. formerly of dc talk. he is now an artsy rock star, and i dig his music a lot. you should all check out his new album, coming out on northern records (one of my favorite labels). phil keaggy will be here in november. rumour has it the choir will be playing this fall. what a fine town.

people think it's all country, but i have yet to go to a country show, and have no plans to. although i am quite a big fan of some fringe country music.

o yes....why did i move here? i indeed am again working for Dell computers. they were kind enough to offer me a job again....i had to start all over, but i think it's worth it. i dang sure hope so. it's not easy moving from state to state all the time. and i should know....i have done it enough.

so here is my entry for today....decidedly un-witty. i shall have to put more into it i think. there is only so much to be witty about, when one goes to work, and comes home, watches a little TV, and goes to bed.

i think i shall post here more often. maybe then the 3 people who actually come here wouldn't feel like that are wasting their time.

so let it be written, so let it be done

(an old post, from my old blog, just to make it look like i actually post sometimes)

can i get someone to ghost write this thing for me? somehow, while i have time to have 7000 posts on a message board (www.77s.com/wbb2) i can't find time to get here. o well, i am here now, i might as well write something. my sister says she is not witty enough, and i am doubtful that tonight's update will provide her any inspiration for wittiness....

it seems i am moving back to beautiful nashvegas, tennessee. i will leave my life of leisure, being self employed (which is a lot like being unemployed, except it sounds better when you say it; it pays about the same.). i will again enter corporate america, working for the wal-mart of computer sales, Dell Inc. no really, they are a great company to work for. (dell, not hell-mart).

at least i will get to hear good music again, and hang out with the cool people. i hear there is going to be an album release party for the new kevin max CD on northern records (it's good, i have heard parts) this fall, and maybe i will go see the re-united black crowes at the fabulous ryman auditorium in october. good times will be had by all.

so that's where we are....back to music city.

i think i already told all 3 people who read this that i am moving......


so let it be written, so let it be done.