Day OFF yesterday!

Yesterday was literally the 1st day I've had completely OFF--nothing scheduled at all!--since Sunday Aug. 1. And hot damn, did I take advantage of it. First I slept til noon or so. I'd had a gig the night before with Mr. Wonderful's band where I drank several Crown and Diet Cokes, followed by a 2am trip to the Waffle House so I was READY for some damn sleep! Then I had a 16-item "To Do" list, including going for a run, getting groceries, doing 3 loads of laundry, getting gas, running the dishwasher, going through the pile of mail on my kitchen counter, etc. etc. ETC!!!

Last week was just nuts, but as I've said so many times before, what else is new? The Amy Tan reading on Monday night was awesome and just what I needed to cleanse my palate from my world of nonstop work, music, work, music, these past few weeks. I even made a friend, this really sweet woman who let me sit by her and her friend and we exchanged info so we could become friends on Goodreads. After that event I headed to a club where they do open mic comedy night as it was the birthday of a friend of Mr. Wonderful Stefano's, so we decided to go say hi to him and have one drink. The comics were mostly terrible, but it was still kind of amusing.

Tuesday night I had to go pick up Mudflap so he could come get his plain white wrapper car which has been at my house for awhile now. Then Stefano called me to tell me he and his brother made chicken and broccoli and invited me over for dinner, which was sooo nice! Wednesday night I had rehearsal and that went well, with us adding 2 songs for the upcoming IBC finals. The semi's were 25 min. max sets (we timed ourselves at ~22 min.) and the finals will be 30 min., so by adding 2 songs we should be golden.

Oh yeah, Tues.-Thus. I was also at Atascocita all day for the Use of Force class, which I have to say, was so much fucking fun!!! The instructor was this legendary instructor, one who is retiring this December, and who I've never had a class with but have heard tons of stories about. He's so awesome! He truly is a treasure, and it's a wonderful thing that when he retires, he's going to join up with us Reserves!!! His powerpoints were so funny, with hilarious videos, pictures, etc. He told tons of incredible stories. He's also totally country so it was so entertaining to listen to his vernacular. Oh my God, I loved every minute of it. And when we took the final test ("knowledge inventory", as he called it) I got a perfect 100. Yay!

Thursday night was LEGENDARY. The Texas Tornados were playing a free concert at the park downtown and I was prepared! Phillipo came to my house and since he'd come straight from work I supplied him w/a t-shirt and I had plenty o' coco rum and a cigar for Phillipo and my pipe and my camera, so off we went! I knew EVERYONE would be there, and I was right. We descended upon the scene and immediately I had to greet, like 20 people that I knew! Hugs left and right, kisses, etc.!!! LDB was playing w/the opening band and he came up and hugged me. My cousins were there. Tons of my musician friends and music-loving friends were there! It was so fun!!!!!!!! Phillipo took my only $2 I had on me and we borrowed another $1 from a friend so he could buy a sno-cone that we could spike.

When the TT's took the stage I was right up front, against the stage in front of Flaco! I've never seen the dance floor covered w/people at these concerts, but I'm not surprised it was for this show. It was a KILLER FUN AWESOME SHOW! When Louie Ortega sang Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Fall" I couldn't help but start to cry like a damn baby. It was bittersweet! Otherwise, I kept raising my travel cup (of coco rum) to Flaco and smiling and winking at him. My late great grandmother Julia used to have a crush on him... and so do I! I could see the set list so as soon as they had 2 songs to go I escaped from the front and ran over to the merchandise table so I could buy some shit and have it signed. Before doing that though, I ran into one of the music writers from the Houston Press and made him dance w/me.

However--the merch table only took cash, of which I had $0.00 on me! So I raced over to Ricky, the host of the Lonestar Jukebox radio show--it's good to have friends!--and asked him for a $20, which he promptly handed over. Thus I was able to buy a TT CD and have them all sign it. Except--while waiting in line this woman recognized me from the IBC semi's and we chatted a minute, and then she handed me her CD so I could get it signed for her b/c the throng was mad and autograph-crazy, but in doing so I returned to her my CD instead which had all the autographs and accidentally kept hers which was missing one. Oh well.

Then Phillipo and I went to the Big Easy and I bought us a couple drinks. Stefano had said he'd meet me at my place later (he and his siblings were busy as hell moving their parents into the new condo all day long) so Phillipo and I headed to my place and I immediately poured some more drinks and put on some Townes Van Zandt so I could school Phillipo on his better songs. Stefano showed up after awhile with red roses--awww!!!--and we bid Phillipo a good night.

Friday night was also fun as it was finally the night when I could spend with Stefano's entire family. We made plans to eat at their fave Vietnamese restaurant, and I brought a bottle of white wine and Stefano brought a bottle of red. We grubbed seriously, then went to get ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Yum! The 'rents also gave me a lamp as they are still trying to downsize belongings and I need furnishings for my spare bedroom. Score!

Saturday morning was highly amusing as I ran by the radio station to pay Ricky back his $20. I ended up finding his unopened copy of The Leo Trio CD and he allowed me to open it, pick a song, and introduce it live on the air! It was so awesome! My dad has started calling our drummer George the "Denver Harbor Flash" and so that's how I introduced George on the air as well. I played our song "Pawn Shop"! And actually a few people I know were listening in and they heard me, I found out later! Killer!

(Unfortunately, then I headed up to the gun range for my annual qualification, only shooting the handgun as I didn't have time for shotgun, and I shot pretty poorly. Passing score is 196--I scored 196. FUCK!!! My grip on my handgun is too low, for some reason. God knows where I picked up that bad habit!!! I need to work on that, FOR REAL.)

So then I had to go to the U of H-Downtown campus for a training session for my Women's Health Network Board, as I volunteered to work on our website. (Why? Why do I continue to load myself down with obligations??? Sigh.) However, I stayed only an hour and a half, then skipped out to do some needed household shopping, then to have just a little bit of downtime before my gig w/Stefano's band. Damn, is that too much to ask? Apparently so!

The gig was groovy. We got there early enough for me to have a whole 1/3 lb. cheeseburger and fries. Their drummer loves me b/c I spent about 12 years of my life stuck in a tiny room with just my viola and a metronome and so my meter is SOLID. We played a great 3 sets, and I even sang Albert Collins' "I Ain't Drunk, I'm Just Drinking" which was so fun! At the end of the night the bar owner bought us all rounds, then Stefano and I went to Waffle House, where he'd never been! I said, incredulous, "You mean you've never known the pleasure of 'scattered, covered, smothered'?!?" I had a pecan waffle. Yum! Best of all, I've got 3 more gigs w/them at this place over the next 3 months, and sister, I need the money!

Now begins another crazy damn week. Monthly sheriff's meeting tonight, followed by dinner w/Mudflap and co. Tomorrow night Stefano's band is playing at a nice-looking new venue, and Leo and Phillipo said they'd accompany me to that. Weds. night is rehearsal of course. Thursday night I FINALLY have free, and Friday night, too unbelievably.