Springtime for Something Something Something...

"That beard ain't fuckin' around" - Tim McIntire

Wow, I didn't really mean to take so much time off from the blog.  Part of it is a slight case of writers block, and part is just due to lots and lots of things going on and changes.  We're still in Worcester, we still smile when we see each other, and the cat still alternately drives us nuts and makes us laugh hysterically.  Plus, we're becoming eBay moguls, having decided that we could use the money certain of our unneeded things can bring in more than the things themselves.  Seriously, why do I still have hockey equipment?  I haven't played a game in...oh, let's see...DECADES.  And books we haven't read in years and probably wont ever read again.  And a few other things.

Still searching for a good venue for the wedding.  Well, we haven't really been searching much of late.  Life is pretty hectic right now.  I think we're probably going to have to go with a traditional hall after all.  We would have loved to have held it in one of the really unique, funky artsy spaces in Worcester, but many of them aren't equipped for events like that, and some were fairly lackluster in even getting back to us at all.  Oh well.  And we got a lead this weekend on a place very close in Worcester that might just be perfect for what we want to do.  Fingers crossed.  I'm pretty optimistic, and once this part is settled, the rest should be rather simple, because we already know what we want.  We just need to know what kind of space we're going to fit it into.

Jess and I played our first official gig last Friday, and despite the hectic and erratic nature of our practice schedule, it seems like we did pretty well.  The owner of the venue liked us, so hopefully we'll get our own night there sometime soon.  Thanks to Jim and Maryann Power and PS Rock for having us on the show.  We ended up pulling off two half hour sets of some traditional Irish, folk, and a few of Jess' own original songs.  I played mandolin in public for the first time, and managed to not quite butcher the harmonica intro to "Dirty Old Town."  One of the things people really seemed to like was the fact that we harmonize well.  I'm going to give all the credit to her on that.  A one-time music major, Jess has areal ear for those kind of touches.

My own solo stuff has taken a back seat of late.  I'm not all too upset about it, but I do want to start kicking that into gear again.  My other new project with Josh and Chad from Beantown Boozehounds (as well as the Snipes and Taxi Driver) just got booked to play all four nights of this year's Boston Tattoo Convention.  We've been using the name As the Crow Flies, but found out recently that there are several bands of different genres using that name as well.  So we're on the hunt for a new name.  We plan to have at least four or five songs recorded for a CD that we'll put out to coincide with the festival, and possibly a t-shirt as well.  Things are really starting to come along there, and everyone seems to be pretty psyched about it.

My daughter is finishing her first year of college this week.  I really can't believe it.  It seems like just last month we were moving her into the dorm.  She's done so well and loves it up there so much.  My confidence in her is proving to be entirely justified.  Plus, we can talk Doctor Who now.  Win!

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery.  My initial loss was around 140-150 pounds.  Since then I've gone back up a little, back down a lot, and back up a little again.  I'm working once again on getting back down and maintaining that, but overall I'm pretty happy with where I am in general, and it looks like my employment situation is about to improve big time (yeah, I know I'm counting chickens here, but it does look good).

So there it is.  Not all that Earth-shattering or exciting, but I didn't want to leave this site untouched for too long.  Well, I already have, but no longer.  I haven't even told you about...eh, it'll wait...