NOT AGAIN

Ohio is this election year's Florida, or at least that's how it's shaping up from here. I, of course, am wide awake while all of you sleep. When I go home and rest, all of you will be privy to info that I won't gather until the evening. For all I know, I'll wake up and find that Kerry has conceded Ohio, or that space aliens have come down and kidnapped Bush.

Let's hope for the latter...

Funny how FoxNews.com has a different electoral count than CNN.com-- not suprised here.

I hate Bush, yes, but trust me-- it's better to have a villain in the White House. That way, you don't feel so bad about hating his authority. Clinton was too damn likable-- Bush is the President You Love To Hate.

I personally would like to see him get thrown out of office for some monkey business. It's all going to come out in the wash eventually, and I'd like to see the backlash. Every recent second-term president experienced a severe backlash midway through that second term. The one-termers (like Bush Sr. and Jimmy Carter) got off easy.

Let's face it: the only perk to being President is the power, and in this case the VP is running the show. So what power does Dubya really have? He's the figurehead, not the figure, and I'm all for defacing figureheads.

I think that being the President is an underpaid, overrated position. Half the country loves you slavishly, the other half hates you murderously. You have a fine full head of white hair by the time you're done serving. Hell, this second term could make Bush fall off the wagon!

Let's hope for the latter...


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So, you wanna know what happened to the fiddle player?

Last time I mentioned her, it was in reference to a rehearsal with the band I'm in, headed by Ellen, Holly's friend. There's a guitarist, a drummer, myself on bass, and a violinist named Katie. The minute I set eyes on Katie I felt myself becoming infatuated, as is my wont to do. She is very beautiful, and has mad skills with the catgut.

But, she hasn't been showing up to the rehearsals lately. This has made me a little blue, feeling almost as if I were the reason she didn't show up. I am already blaming myself for failing to deal with her.

Ellen told me a couple of days ago that Katie has been very busy and apologizes for missing the rehearsals. She said that Katie was en route to our last rehearsal when her boyfriend called her on the phone... to break up with her.

Obviously, she was too upset to attend the practice.

Upon hearing this, a devilish grin spread out across my face. My brain's gears started whirring.

Yesterday Katie sent a group e-mail to the rest of us, explaining that she was still interested in playing with us but that she had to deal with personal matters. I was tempted to reply, but I figured that I'd see her again, and hopefully very soon. We have a show coming up in the near future, and I want to be ready to charm the pleated skirt off of her.

And if I fail, she can play me a sad song on the fiddle.


*/*


Speaking of Holly Golightly, I decided to call her the other day. I haven't spoken with her since before she left. I never got to ask her about her fight in front of The Fox & The Hound with Deborah.

I called her cel phone, and she picked up. We chatted, and I asked her what she's been up to. She told me she found a job waitressing, is working on cutting a country demo(!) and is teaching Sunday School at her church...

This struck me as rather odd.

OK, maybe not odd-- maybe it's more of a 180-degree-turn-type of thing. Either way, it was jarring to hear, and reaffirmed my belief that Holly was always prone to changing her life based upon her varying moods. This would explain why she left the band behind, I suppose. In the beginning, I could feel her intensity and drive, but towards the end she was just trying to lead a rock-star existence, and she thought that it had to be done a certain way.

For the record: there is no set way to do anything, except for mathematics, and even then you have to forget everything you ever learned if you want to advance to areas like calculus.

And I'm sick of this fascination with the rock-star life-- I mean, I can find the poetic beauty in squalor, but not if there's a rock-star pose attached. Playing bass helps me in that it's the least rock-star of all the instruments traditionally used by rock and roll bands. In soul, R&B, and funk, the bass is front and center, but in rock, it takes the backseat to both the drums and the guitar. Unless you're Flea or Les Claypool (or even Sting), you usually stay in the background if you play bass. I like to "lay in the cut" and keep things subliminal.

Ellen mentioned the possibility of doing a brief four-song showcase on Saturday. I told her we would have to perform early, seeing as I have a plane to catch.

"You're flying out of the town on Saturday?" Ellen asked.

"Yeah... I've been planning this for months."

"So if we do the showcase, you'll probably have to take off straight from the show to get to the airport?"

"Yeah... it shouldn't be hard to do," I said.

"How rock star!" she exclaimed.

I almost hung up on her for that one.

Eric, the singer/rhythm guitarist for my other band ICON, did the same thing last night when I showed up a little late for rehearsal.

"Sorry I'm late, guys-- the 170 was packed, and..."

"Hey, it's all good," Eric said, smiling. "If you'd been early, I'd have been concerned. You're a rock star, James! You're supposed to be late!"

I guess I'm just a fraud then, because I hate being late to rehearsals that cost money to book; I hate being late to shows that are already running late as it is; and I hate wasting time when I could be learning how to play a song from any of the three bands I am currently involved with-- call it a nervous tic if you want.

I'm not a rock star. I'm not even a musician. I'm a rabid music fan who took it to the next level, that's all.


*/*


Finally, on the topic of my trip this weekend: my boss is trying to claim that I never notified him about taking the day off on Sunday night/Monday morning. Not only did I tell him in person, but I e-mailed him as well. This was months ago, when J told me the date of the wedding.

I guess I'm just going to have to call in sick then, because I had planned on using a vacation day but evidently I was never officially listed for such a designation. Two weeks' advance notice is needed in order to secure a vacation day.

Using a sick day negates the red tape, but now I have another dilemma: who will fill in for me when I'm gone? I have no immediate replacement or understudy, and I haven't been sick ever since I started on the night shift. This issue has never come up until now, and I'm hoping that it won't be a big deal. However, there's NO way I can conceivably get back in time to do my shift, especially since the money is spent on the ticket and I know there's no more flights... or, if there are more flights, they are not cheap.

My boss is just going to have to bite the bullet, and come in for me like me promised back in late September, when I brought this up. He insists that he didn't talk to me about it.

Let the games begin.