Distractions - I Am Going Nucking Futz:

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
Fallen Star
Country flag
Man...this 'car hits sofa' thing has really sidelined me. I been working late/early on writing custom tunes for the car and taking lots of time off work to get the project completed. Its a very OCD thing to be certain...its like i just can't do anything in moderation. The entire yellow underbody of the car got waxed out of sheer boredom, while it was stuck on the hoist, waiting for parts.

I did my own headlight aiming and my own front end alignment, i mean we are talking not getting the numbers into the bull:poo: factory range of .090" toe in or out...but dead zero...where you get the longest tire life.

So, now i am driving the car again and its just a crazy experience. With the race tune and muffler deletes, it sounds like McQueen's Mustang in Bullitt and every shift is just a glorious sonic journey back in time.

So now i am kinda lost, as i am tryin to get back into the swing of things musically again. Came in tonight and hit the Chivas Regal to get a good buzz and kinda veg-out and try and figure :poo: out, ya dig???

So, our son's GF came to live with us while they work.out some problems. She's cool. Tuesday night, i come in from the studio and our son asks me to help put an alternator on her Honda.

Ray - a bandleader i played with a year or so ago - brings a set of strings over and $50 cash for his wrecked Ovation i repaired....while we are fitting the new alternator.

I suddenly realize i need to help my wife finish her video she is making about her hair care line...we used the studio at nearby Cal State University to record the vocal tracks....in both English and Spanish.

I quickly realize my life really isnt going anywhere and fast.......

The more i try to push the current band, the more i find guys cancelling rehearsals....still dont have a permanent bass player and have had to consider taking over bass myself....our singer doesn't seem to want me to sing a few songs here and there, which i thought would help take some pressure off of him....not to steal his spotlight....so we dont do Ace Of Spades, and other songs i can sing well enough....which delays us expanding our setlist, because there are some songs our vocalist doesnt like and/or, doesnt sing well...trying to devote my full attention to Outfall Band's studio project....fix a broken dayilydriver (my only car, seriously!) and listening to all the covers i recorded for my solo CD and just wondering why i even bothered to record them in the first place....dont think it will be even half as good as @SG John....Fook me....

My wife has told me to just finish the CD and put it out there, no matter how i feel about it now...maybe send some hardcopy promos to some of you that have been kind enough to tolerate me here.

I'm not looking to make $$$$ on the CD, just actually be able to say i did it.

So yesterday, I'm refueling at Costco and i see a guy gassing a Ferrari 458 Italia and he nods when he sees me looking at it and we start talking...come to find out, his neighbor now owns my old 1964 Ferrari 330 GTC 2+2. He asks me why i don't open my own shop and do exotics and race support, vintage/collector stuff....i then learn that a new Ferrari dealer just opened in Palm Springs (previously the nearest was Newport Beach) and that they are looking for guys with exotic backgrounds...i come home and kinda ramble on (quite drunk by now that im safely home) to my wife about how we should open an exotic shop in nearby Wrightwood, California...she says 'Great!' adding that she has been wanting to buy another home there anyways...

I guess working on my yellow jalopy got me thinking about opening a shop again
I just helped a local shop smog a problematic 2001 Mercedes AMG CLK. 4 years expired registration...4 independant shops and 2 MBZ dealership's couldnt get it into compliance.

I spent 30 minutes and noticed the fuel filler neck was distorted and wasn't sealing to the cap...like somebody leaned on the nozzle and made the filler opening oblong...constant evaprative system leaks with corresponding P0456 faults....told the shop to order a filler neck from MBZ for the W208 Cabriolet (10 days out soecial order from Germany) and i temporarliy straightened the neck enough to seal....ran self test in MBZ Star/Xentry - which is a royal pain because the W208 cannot be communicated with through the underdash 16 pin data link - you have to use the super slow, DAS2 38 pin diagnostic connector...got the seal good enough to pass leakdown...Took it out with the laptop and set all 6 emission monitors in only 66 miles of driving...people are amazed...and i get $425.00...kinda fun to beat other people at their own game....and i make in 4 hours half of what i earn in a week from the studio working full time and commuting.

:poo:, Man...i am going crazy, seriously i am.

So, I'm home tonight...talking to wife about all this crap...and i get a message from a bandleader whom i auditioned for in 2016. They had residency previously at the Whisky A Go Go for a while, opened for Autograph, Great White, Jefferson Starship....he point blank tells me (and i am drunk as fook by now) he broke off from his crew and started a new music project with a female singer....wants me to sign on as #2 guitar and maybe collaborate on a few originals...so we are meeting Friday after work at a nearby micro brewery to discuss terms/salary....thinking...OK....need to learn totally different songs...

Rock and Roll Band (Boston)

Fortunate Son (CCR)

Goodbye to You (Scandal)

Can't get enough of your Love (Bad Co)

I Love Rock and Roll (Joan Jett)

Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield)

Summer of '69 (Bryan Adams)

WTF am i doing??? Can i do three bands at once???? Which band project do i quit??? When did i shave last??? I went to bed at nine...woke up at 2am...still drunk...Holy Biscuits, Man....

I can't wrap my head around all of this stuff, Dudes.....seriously....i feel like I'm standing outside in a hurricane holding an umbrella.

4am now...running hot water on my hands so i can make a fist again....Time to learn the new setlist i guess!!!!!

WTF!!!!
 
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tough calls to make. Make sure you don't lose "you" in the process....seems to be the most regret, is when put ourselves in situations, where we might not belong for all the wrong reasons..then end up mad at ourselves...mostly cause no one understands or listens to us anyways..

True, it's just crazy being in this whirlwind right now....
 
Well you cant say you are bored.

Heading towards burning the candle at both ends and around the middle again.

You'll shoot your eye out with that thing!
Wait, wrong quip..

Be mindful of pushing yourself to exhaustion - again.

Good luck in your endeavors Robert; you live a very full and interesting life.
 
Robert, how long ago was it you had that trip to the hospital due to various factors, and you told us you were gonna look after yourself, not drive yourself to exhaustion... Do you remember?

I'm watching Longmire on Netflix (ok, I've lots of work to do trying to work out a new course I've been asked to do on Robotics & Automation in Korea [wtf do I know about that???] for high level international students [who are gonna make me look stupid when I teach this course starting in March...]), but I decided to relax, give my brain time to work it out in the background, stroke the dog and watch some Longmire... :blink:

If you can detach yourself from your own immediacy, and look across at yourself situated in this absurd world, then life is quite an amusing satire at times.
 
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Robert, how long ago was it you had that trip to the hospital due to various factors, and you told us you were gonna look after yourself, not drive yourself to exhaustion... Do you remember?

I'm watching Longmire on Netflix (ok, I've lots of work to do trying to work out a new course I've been asked to do on Robotics & Automation in Korea [wtf do I know about that???] for high level international students [who are gonna make me look stupid when I teach this course starting in March...]), but I decided to relax, give my brain time to work it out in the background, stroke the dog and watch some Longmire... :blink:

If you can detach yourself from your own immediacy, and look across at yourself situated in this absurd world, then life is quite an amusing satire at times.
Yeah, Robert?

Nothing like some good old peer pressure... :cheers:
 
Another perspective here............

Your a Brilliant Automotive Mechanic in the highest degree....
Your financially solvent well beyond the average person...........
You have a Loving and Supportive Wife..................
You have a Wife with her own business...........
You have a Healthy Marriage..................
You have a Healthy Son..............
Your daily driver is most guys daydream thats never within reach........
Your an accomplished guitarist and sought out professionally......
You have more musical avenues to take than the average musician.....

Its noted that you worked your ass off for all this.
If your drinking, celebrate your accomplishments and thank the Good Lord for such a blessed life.

When it comes to band mates, even the Beatles didn't have a steady drummer most of there early years.
Read the below article for more perspective about music.

Take a page from Page himself, bank roll your own endeavor.

Most importantly take some time off, a day or two, maybe even a week, and really look at what a wonderful full life you have been Blessed with!

All this is said from a heart of love for you, Robert the person.
My own life slipped away from not acknowledging all the good I once had.

You watch football much... The Ravens (best record in the NFL this year) QB Lamar Jackson lost in the playoffs because the game he was playing mentally was not the same one on the field.

Your Winning Robert, don't let that mental stuff say other wise. We all fight this.

This insight here in this post, is for myself and anyone with a heart to hear.
John
 
Another perspective here............

Your a Brilliant Automotive Mechanic in the highest degree....
Your financially solvent well beyond the average person...........
You have a Loving and Supportive Wife..................
You have a Wife with her own business...........
You have a Healthy Marriage..................
You have a Healthy Son..............
Your daily driver is most guys daydream thats never within reach........
Your an accomplished guitarist and sought out professionally......
You have more musical avenues to take than the average musician.....

Its noted that you worked your ass off for all this.
If your drinking, celebrate your accomplishments and thank the Good Lord for such a blessed life.

When it comes to band mates, even the Beatles didn't have a steady drummer most of there early years.
Read the below article for more perspective about music.

Take a page from Page himself, bank roll your own endeavor.

Most importantly take some time off, a day or two, maybe even a week, and really look at what a wonderful full life you have been Blessed with!

All this is said from a heart of love for you, Robert the person.
My own life slipped away from not acknowledging all the good I once had.

You watch football much... The Ravens (best record in the NFL this year) QB Lamar Jackson lost in the playoffs because the game he was playing mentally was not the same one on the field.

Your Winning Robert, don't let that mental stuff say other wise. We all fight this.

This insight here in this post, is for myself and anyone with a heart to hear.
John
Well said John:love::2Thumbs:
 
Well said John:love::2Thumbs:

I love all the members here! I too damn old to hold back and not say it.

Gotta love while we are all walking upright. No use saying it when were not here.
I hate those opportunities I missed.

Its hard Mitch, I've destroyed my own life and it hurts so bad.
I appreciate everyones love and kindness more than ever!
 
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Rob, is there any way of working on exotics on a part time basis? It would be a good way of pursuing a solid paycheck while putting together capital for a business venture and/or putting time into putting together your own band where you get to call the shots. It will also leave you time for studio projects. You’ll also be feeding your appetite for car stuff.

The part time aspect also keeps it from taking over your life. I miss working on fifties and sixties Benzes, Ferraris, and other fun stuff like Indians. It’s also nice to be able to walk away at the end of the day, and be able to focus on other things. If you own the business, you’ll take it home with you. But you may get to the point where your own shop is the place you can take care of business, then crank out some tunes with a few friends over a couple of beers at the end of the day. It worked well for Jerome Geils after he bailed on the J. Geils Band.

You’ve got many talents, and you could set yourself up to have less stress and more fun. It sounds like your family will support whatever route you take.
 
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