can you tell i'm making an effort to post more?

Cash Advance Loans

I am so glad that eight years of college and thousands of dollars in student loans are finally paying off. Truly, this is what it's all about.

a holiday lesson

The key to a truly successful Thanksgiving is knowing the correct time to switch your intake from caffeine to alcohol.

This has been a public service announcement.

proving that i occasionally pay attention to current events

So, how about that writer's strike?

I'm not personally affected, because I don't watch television. And I haven't been to a movie in forever. And when I say "forever" I mean that I never stepped into a Bloomington theater while I was at IU, so it's been at least two years if not longer. And that's still not as long as I've been without television (five years maybe?).

Anyway.

On the rare occasions when I do watch a TV show, it's either on DVD or online *coughthedailyshow.comcough*. Oddly enough, these happen to be the two issues over which the WGA is striking. So, I'm keeping half an eye on the proceedings. Morbid curiosity is another reason. There won't be any new tapings of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report until it's all over, which is only offset by the schadenfreude-y goodness of hearing the TV-viewing public's screams of anguish at the possibility of a season dominated by reality shows. They might even have to turn the television off and read a book. (Click on that link at your own peril, by the way. You have been warned.)

Unless I either win a job in Seattle or overseas, I will probably have to join a union for my chosen profession. I don't foresee anything like this happening with the AFM, but they have voiced their official opinion on the whole situation. Besides, it's not every day that you see a major union on the picket line. Since I only have a vague idea of how a union works anyway, it's educational as well.

If anyone else is mildly curious, various writers have set up a few blogs. They get a little long-winded at times, but that's to be expected. (I can't find one representing the AMPTP's side, presumably because network executives wouldn't be caught dead blogging, but these links might count for something.)

Oh, and for those of us in Daily Show/Colbert withdrawal, apparently the writers have been having a bit of fun onYoutube. It's no Jon Stewart (oh, the delivery), but it might get you through the day.

In other news, there is the slightest possibility that I spend way too much time on the Internet.

crap, how long has it been?

I'm supposed to be updating this thing, aren't I? Whoops.

Sadly, there isn't much to report. I'm starting to get some phone calls, though, so it looks like word is circulating that I'm back in town. And I almost have a student or two, lacking only a place to teach them. I look forward to the opportunity to twist a few more young minds down the path of bitterness and cynicism, because I believe in preparing our nation's youth for the real world. Or I would, except that I hate children. If I get any particularly ambitious ones I can tell them all about how soul-crushing great it is to be destitute a freelance musician.

I see Cincinnati has joined the ranks of not declaring a winner. I don't know if this is a relatively new phenomenon or if it's always been this way, but these days I find myself more surprised when someone actually wins an audition. Maybe there's just something wrong with Ohio. Besides the fact that it's Ohio, I mean.

Some people get upset when this happens, presumably because they feel like they and everyone else has just wasted a lot of money for nothing. Some people view it as a positive thing, because it means they have another shot. I view the whole thing with detatched amusement. Is the audition process flawed and dysfunctional? Of course it is. Pretty much everything that involves musicians is dysfunctional in some way (if someone can show me an exception to this, please do). We, after all, are arteeeeeests, and we must suffer for our art or it totally doesn't count. Most of the suffering is self-inflicted, of course.

And so, in the spirit of inflicting suffering, I give you this.

Oh, Jack. Never change.

Clearly he is a man ahead of his time. Or far, far behind it. Regardless, his legacy will live on.

Now that everyone is several IQ points lower, I'll remedy it as best I can with some random awesomeness.

Yes it is a ukulele and it is brilliant.


EDIT: The first Saturday in November is National Drunken Writing Night. The rules are here (the post claims it's the 4th, but apparently it's supposed to be a Saturday, which is the 3rd).