Holiday Road

 This is the first day of my first vacation week this year.  I just chose this week because I need to spend some vacation time and I do not want another calamity like last year, when I had to spend my entire vacation time in December when not much was happening work-wise anyway (or at least, not as much).

What I *should* have done was use some of these American Airline points to take a trip somewhere I want to move to, since COVID fear seems to be winding down for the vaxxed (me).   Increasingly I find my choices limited.  I had thought of Dallas again, but their mismanagement of their electric grid this past winter, plus the ultra-right conservatives in charge there, kind of really make me not want to go.  And of course all my friends moved and all that.  Los Angeles, I think I would like, and to return to San Francisco would be great too.  Expensive, though.  Same with Portland, expensive, plus, irritating Proud Boys all over the place (or Oath Keepers or whatever jerk-off club that was).

One on my radar has been Denver, because a.) legal pot would really help with my sleep issues, and b.) lots of cool concerts (music, comedy, and others) always go through there.  I am still considering that.  Perhaps take my next week off around my birthday and fly out there, spend a week exploring.  I know from previous visits I like the city already.

Weirdly, although Denver-Boulder seem to be twin cities close to each other, like Dallas-Fort Worth, Boulder seems to have the more expensive rent.  Maybe Boulder is the bigger city?  Who knows.

Anyway work is going great and I am constantly surprising myself by not repeating myself on my sound design, which seems impossible but there we have it.  Ask me to explain how I do it and I can only say "I have no idea."  Everybody I work with seems to like my stuff.

That's the update.

Dance in my Pants

 "And I don't ever wanna be rescued, I don't ever wanna be saved...

I got a feeling that I'm gonna be alive forever, dancin' on the edge of a grave..."

I'm really surprised that I am so unmoved by Jim Steinman's death.  Maybe it's because there's nobody in my life, besides my brother, to commiserate with, but also honestly, it's not like he was going to put out more stuff, you know?  He had a penchant for taking his older material and reworking it for a new audience, such as his vampire musical (based on The Fearless Vampire Killers even), which was originally just reworked Steinman songs in German.  

Seriously, when he made a hit, it was gold, but he'd just as often squeeze out a turd.  I never got into what he did with Sisters of Mercy, but that's understandable as it was goth and I am not.  It sounded well produced, but that's all I can say about it.  And that is a thing about his music, if he was the one producing the album, it would definitely sound stellar.  Hence the garbage train wreck of Bat Out of Hell III, which Meatloaf apparently just recorded a bunch of Jim Steinman's songs without his producer's touch.  I think I listened to the entire album once and never opened the CD case again.

So I have had lots of friends who have better taste in music than me.  That is, they were pretty snotty about their music and wouldn't really get into mine because of theatrical stuff like Jim Steinman.  I never understood that, especially with the ones who were Deadheads and thought the Grateful Dead were the best rock band of all time.  Fffffffffffffffffffffffffuck you guys.  Seriously, you turn your nose up at an Alice Cooper song like "The Last Man on Earth" because it's a humorous vaudeville romp about destitute homeless people, but you cream your panties when Mumford and Sons releases a Tiny Desk show on vinyl.  Whatever.

So anytime there were road trips it was time for another Iron & Wine marathon.  

My point is, maybe it's because I am no longer working in radio, but I am still surprised that I am not more moved by Jim Steinman passing.  His time was over anyway.

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Everything else in my life seems to be going fine, especially work, where I am doing the best work I've ever done.  To think I used to do fart jokes for a living.  As of tomorrow I am fully vaccinated and can finally start seriously looking at where I want to move to.  I have a top-tier FICO score and a house down payment burning a hole in my pocket, just waiting for me to get out of here.  Crossing fingers Covid passes soon.

U R BLOKKD!!1!

 Am I, really?  Okay.  I will schedule the appropriate amount of therapy for this.