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Not one fucking number.   

Susan and I are heading out on a Christmas blanket hunt.  Not another thing I need in the wrapping department.  Not sure what she's looking for but she does find some interesting stuff.  She's working from home these days while the office is being remodeled so I'm sure we'll be out a while.  I can't come home without coffee and cat food.

Still nothing from Sandy.  She was over at Mike's last night so I'm pretty sure that's a sign she's upset with me for some reason.

We have a beautiful day out there.  It will work for shopping but I can go back to cloud cover, sleeping till noon and hiding out in the house.

First chapter in the next book, it's going to be okay.  Yes there is going to be a fairy tale ending.  Seriously, if the characters would just put it all out there, they would be a whole lot stronger together.

My daughter texted.  She's at Halloween and worried about what's going to happen.  That's mild compared to what happens at Christmas but I'm not giving anything away.     I should slow down my reading and let her catch up.

End of year shit wrapped up.  Time to look forward to next year.  Er, I don't want to.  This year was sucky.  I want it to be over with.  But can we just stay here in this moment in time?  It's almost over with.  Not much more can happen.  Pretty safe right here in the glow of Christmas lights, the house is cozy and I sleep away most of the day.

I'm still looking for my joy.  I looked over my joy list and it end in May when the parks department picked up all those milkweed plants I got to grow.  Also the month I began to suspect Marsha wasn't telling us everything about her cancer.  Took me a while to voice that she was letting go and this might be taking a turn for the worst.  Could be grief that has my joy on lock down.  It will pass with time and I have to ride it out.  Can't say I'm unhappy but everything about next year just seems like work I have to get through.  Nothing out there I'm really looking forward to and nothing I can think of I want to do.  Don't mean to sound all gloomy.  It's not like that.  It's just joy has left my life and while I look for it, just can't seem to find it.

Sex Pistols as an opening act? Johnny Rotten really still after that filthy lucre.

He's not part of the band. It's the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter.




/jarmo

Sex Pistols as an opening act? Johnny Rotten really still after that filthy lucre.

What day is it?     Feels like Sunday, everyday.

I'm busy wrapping up all the end of the year shit and paying off the bills.  Except for property taxes, I've managed to get through Christmas without taking any money out of savings!  Not to worry I've got a ticket on 1.15 billion tonight.  I try to imagine what I would do with all that money except every time I hear in my head, "where all your dreams come true".  The voice of that little evil dude in Shrek.     I think about all the people I have to support, charities to give to and who I'm going to hire to manage all that money.  I'm not doing it alone either.  3 way split with my daughter and SIL.  They'd get it in the end anyway, avoid the extra taxes.  We're claiming it under Care Bear and Dancing Bear trust.  May add another bear name.  The SIL hasn't got a bear name, maybe Papa Bear.     Don't think it would happen but it could, I'm prepared to handle this pain in the ass.  Duty, responsibility and obligations, money only makes that more of a bitch.   

I get to play with my new calendar today.  Always fun and I have a stack of appointment cards to enter on that.  I should do it on my phone but what's the fun in that?  And I'm not doing it twice so people just have to wait until I check the paper one.  This year's one has cactus on the cover, maybe I am thinking about heading to Arizona.  Mom got it off my list before my daughter got to it.  When she does it, it comes with stickers on dates I need to remember like her birthday.   

Totaled up my volunteer hours for the garden group, 784.  Doesn't include all the phone calls, emails and research that goes along with it.  I was over 1000 the year before.  The heat this summer really kept me away.  And without Marsha, it's just not as fun.  Still it's a part time job.

I stayed up until 6AM last night and up at noon.  Just looked, no dumpster on the driveway.  That has to get here before they start the siding work.  The neighbor doesn't know anything about it.  He was just as surprised as I was the siding was out there yesterday.  Somehow the ringer on my phone got turned way down.  He was banging on my door last night when I didn't respond to his returned texts or phone calls.  He thought something happen to me.  I was lost in my book.  Anyway, there's time for them to get this work done between raindrops and dropping temps.  I'm hoping by the end of next week this whole thing is done with.

Susan was told that smell happens every winter.  Never buy a home without my approval.  My daughter did too and she's had to deal with a leaky basement ever since.  I don't know anything about construction but I can spot a money pit.   

I was recently talking to some rock fans who were very surprised to hear Gnr had released 4 singles since the reunion and in ‘General’ have noticed almost no buzz what so ever about what Gnr released and I’ve been wondering if these had come out as a 4 song EP would it have made more of an impact?
I guess the idea of people consuming the 4 songs as one piece of work, or even the placing of a new release single vs EP on streaming sites (or something new under the Gnr name in our local record stores if you even have one) also may have made people care more, this is all speculative obviously and it does seem that all 4 songs are mastered at different volumes so it’s possible that could be one of the reasons.
This kind of came to my attention also with the Schenker release where I was very happy to pick up my vinyl in the local shop.
Going beyond that ramble, would most people rather wait for the next batch or prefer the drips and drabs approach?

I guess it depends on what you think the goal of releasing those singes ad hoc was. If it was just to clear out the vault, and get out a few songs Axl had spent years on, with input from Slash and Duff, then I'd say it worked. Perhaps was generally well received, as was Hard Skool - which has more listens https://kworb.net/spotify/artist/3qm84nBOXUEQ2vnTfUTTFC_songs.html on Spotify than Right Next Door to Hell, Don't Damn Me, Pretty Tied Up, Shotgun Blues, Get in the Ring, The Garden, Garden of Eden, Locamotive etc. Which actually blows my mind. Garden of Eden had a video and was in decent rotation back in the day after all.

Now, if you're of the opinion that the band wanted headlines or a massive hit single, well, no, then that didn't happen. I'm not sure, given the way these played out, that that was the goal however. Seems like it was about just getting a few tracks out finally.

Reported over at MyGNR:  Kennedy's  lawsuit is over. The attorneys filed to discontinue the action with prejudice meaning Kennedy cannot file it again. It was filed with the court Tues Nov 19th.

Pretty brutal that there was no mainstream reporting on this. Maybe it was settled out of court, or she just waved the white flag? Regardless, and I hate to be the guy griping about the media for a number of reasons, but far too many publications are quick to publish accusations, and slow to report actual outcomes if they don't support the original headlines.

I was in the media back when the media was real (I'm dating myself here). Anyway, the standard was to report a lawsuit and then follow-up. I worked at major newspapers, so something like this would probably be in the entertainment or lifestyle section. The initial lawsuit - depending on the celebrity - might be on the front page of that section. Regardless, the follow-up would be much smaller and more than likely on the inside of that section. There are always exceptions. For example, the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard lawsuit. Axl doesn't have the star power today that he had back in the 80s and 90s, so I'm not surprised a follow-up wasn't done. If this was 1993, then both stories more than likely would be on the front.

Oh I totally get that. I've got some media background myself, hence why I said I didn't want to be the guy griping about media - but at least some of the online publications, where copy space isn't at a premium or even a consideration since it's just a website - you'd think they would follow up. Especially with GN'R announcing a tour. In the end, the L.A. Times and Rolling Stone reported there was a settlement, with Axl's attorney denying the allegations in the story. No settlement details, but I'm assuming it was cheaper than a trial.

Didn't care for how book 4 ended but I can see why it's taking a different path then the way it was going.  It's not a fairy tale until the end.  There's 12 books in this series, long way to go.

She's retired and still can't get a Christmas card here on time.     My college roommate.  Included a note, "come visit, we have a guest suite".  The number of places I have slept with this woman:  two man pup tent high in the mountains, a car in a suburb somewhere in California, a house under construction, a bed in a guy's parents' house who picked us up off the highway, numerous couches and even just our sleeping bags thrown on the ground in some park.  In all these years I don't think I've ever slept in her house or her in mine.  It was always ours.  Guest suite sounds really weird.  Am I just a guest?  Not wishing her husband dead but let me know when it's me and you.  I don't know that stranger you're married to and I don't want to play the role of guest.

No idea when they are coming to do the siding but I'm holding out until Sunday to take the lights down.  I can get them down in 20 minutes if I have too.  I just have to be awake when they get here.

Have I pissed Sandy off?  Took her forever to answer my text and then it was I'm busy tonight.  The only thing I can think of is I didn't text her Merry Christmas yesterday.  She's touchy like that.  You can piss her off and not even know it.  And she holds a grudge!

My ex gave me a cordless snow shovel for Christmas.     My daughter got one too.  I feel like he's robbing me of one of my little secret joys.  I'm obligated to at least try it out but we get so little snow here I don't want to waste even one snow fall.  Basically, it's pretty worthless to begin with.  It's going to take forever, noisy and not meant to throw the snow across a double car driveway.  No telling where he got this from and I really shouldn't return it.  Told me my hair looked good.  Where did that come from?  It doesn't look like anything, I just had it down.