B7 Re-Watch: Space Fall

Yes, this show was created by that Terry Nation. 

Where can I watch it?

http://youtu.be/rlgOCsQI23s

Synopsis:

The story opens where we left off. Our hero and his new companions are en route to Cygnus Alpha aboard the London.

Row row row your boat, gently down the stream. 

We are quickly introduced to the bridge crew of the ship. Long range scanners show a meteorite shower in their path but it's supposed to be clear before they get there. Riiiiigght. The Captain is shown to be a generally compassionate man stuck doing a distasteful job. Unfortunately his crew is far from being as caring. We see him instruct his second in command, Mr. Raker, to keep the suppressants as high as possible to keep the prisoners docile. He is also told to "be discreet" with their female prisoner Jenna. 

What rhymes with Raker?

Now, my definition of discreet and his definition seem to differ. Mine doesn't include sexual overtures or violence when rebuffed. But hey, maybe things are different in the future. 

Raker gets down to the business at hand, being an ass, while Blake gets down to the business of getting gone. Extra encouragement comes from Vila by way of a rumor that penal ships don't actually make the full trip. Rather, they fly halfway, dump the "cargo" out the airlock and pick up their check. 

Luckily for everyone Kerr Avon the number two hacker in the whole federation is onboard. Too bad he's a self serving narcissist who is already contemplating helping the London crew cover up murdering all the murderers and thieves in its hold. 

Help us Kerr Avon, you're our only hope. 

Blake brings him around to their side by way saying "hey, they'd probably kill you afterwards for kicks and giggles" and "you're too pretty to make it on Cygnus Alpha."

Dammit, I am too pretty. 

Of course they have to try to reach the computer center and take over the ship RIGHT NOW! Because Blake can't be bothered to take his time to plan this out. We only have months of travel ahead of us. No time to waste!

At the same time that Blake and his team are planning a takeover the bridge crew learns that the meteorite shower from earlier is actually a giant space battle taking place. Luckily it doesn't involve Federation forces so they can just detour. Unfortunately the blast waves are still reaching the ship and it's getting knocked around pretty badly. 

How could this state of the art vessel ever be destroyed?

In the midst of all this the prisoners make their move. Gan, a giant, distracts the guard while Avon uses a service shaft to get to the computer core. Because an obvious escape route should just be left wide open. When Avon takes too long, due to having to fight off a crew member, one of the conspirators goes into the shaft after him just as the ship takes another hit. He quickly gets the red shirt treatment and their escape route is now blocked. 

Meanwhile the bridge crew detects a VLO, very large object, headed their direction on a collision course. With Avon having knocked out the computer, because unlike the rest he can follow the plan, they can't dodge. Which, ordinarily would be easy, space being kinda big and all. 

Blake, being impatient and unable to stick to the plan, decides they have to break out. They over power the guard. Yes. THE guard. One. Singular. Because a hold full of career criminals really only needs minor supervision. I digress. They overpower the guard and escape. Just as Avon does his job and opens every door on the ship. 

The prisoners bumble around until they find guards to surrender to, Avon's words not mine, as Blake and Jenna meet up with Avon. In an effort to force them out of the computer core Raker begins executing prisoners. Blake surrenders because despite being crazy is sympathetic. Raker of course kills one more prisoner on principle. Because murdering an unarmed prisoner, in front of witnesses, on camera is sure to get you that promotion. Although this is the Federation. The crew regain control just as they intercept the VLO. 

This warship is particularly effective against opponents with a fear of needles. 

Determining that it must be abandoned and probably lost in the space battle they send over a boarding party. The uniforms are white but they still have the souls of red shirts. We know this isn't going to end well. And of course as soon as they board the ship communication is lost amidst the tortured screams of the damned. Not being able to leave well enough alone we send another crew member to feed whatever Old One is aboard the alien ship. 

Moar soulz pleez. 

The captain, being concerned with the better part of valor, wants to call it a day. But Raker convinces him to send Blake, Jenna and Avon over to find out what happened to the missing crew members. What they find is a sort of psychic anti intruder system that first drives you mad and then kills you. Sort of like being married to an overbearing wife I guess. 

But no psychically induced death trap can defeat Blake. He does what any good action star should do and shoots it. Thus answering the age old question. A smuggler, a hacker and a political dissident walk onto an alien flight bridge. What do they do? Deciding they should take her out for a spin, and maybe skip the stop over at Cygnus Alpha, they take off just in time for Raker to be sucked out of the airlock. Huzzah!

Final Thoughts:

I remember not really enjoying this episode the first time I watched it. The pacing felt uneven and it felt like lots of filler time. To be sure there is an element of that but this time around I enjoyed it a lot more. I feel it holds up fairly well. I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5. 

Hopefully this weekend I'll find time to review the third episode in the trifecta Cygnus Alpha. 

Free at Last!

Work:

Are we there yet? 3:00 can not come soon enough. Sheesh. Had to bring out my sternest teacher voice just to get my beginners to pull out their instruments. I did the count down from five and everything. Which always amuses me. You start counting down and suddenly they take you seriously. 

Run faster, he's already to three!

Junior High came at their usual time. I'll be honest, I didn't even try to have class. The day before Spring Break is always a nightmare. If you try to have class it's a headache. If you put in a movie. It's a headache. And we aren't allowed to sacrifice any of them to prove a point. 

Kali Ma! Kali Ma!!

This is when I'm glad it's only thirty minutes. Less time for them to induce a stroke or an aneurism. But, I have one student who has an ongoing comic that he writes and draws called Fartman. Can you tell he's a 7th grade boy? But for some reason I think it's the funniest thing. I told him that I expect a new issue when we get back. 

Got suckered into watching another teachers Power Hour. Apparently Everyone took off today to get a jump start on their break. And of course there aren't enough subs to go around. Sigh. I will never do that again. For the most part the kids were at least quiet. But there are always a small group who have to challenge the teacher. I don't know if they just feel like they have no control elsewhere but by golly they're gonna rebel up in here! 

Does this jacket make my rebellion look sexy?

Which kills me. I've spent an inordinate amount of time this year advocating for my students. Counseling them. Just helping them plan for life. If only some students would realize that we're on their side. Quit trying to fight with us and let us help you. I suppose it's the drowning man syndrome. Sigh. 

Advanced band finally made it all the way through Contempo. More or less. Irish Air is sloooooowwwwly becoming something pretty. Maybe not beautiful yet. But pretty. Girl next door pretty. I'll be honest I just want to bring home something higher than what we got last year. We're not going to discuss what that was. But it's Spring Break! I'm free for a whole week. Although freedom is relative. I'm free from school. I'll be at the optical all next week. I've even already been roped into doing a half day on Saturday. I'll probably come back more tired than when I left. Ah well. It pays the bills. 

Fitness:

The first workout for the open has been released. It's not terrible per se. 

10 Minutes. As many rounds as possible. 

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches

The only problem here is that I can't do double unders. I can shuffle, crossover, skip on one leg, jumping lunges, jumping jacks and even run while skipping. I can do singles faster than most people can do doubles. I can't do double unders. Dang it. 

Writing:

I got a little under 500 words written today on Thorn in the Side.  I'm about halfway through a chapter. I write short chapters usually aiming for about 3-4k words each. I'm hoping to finish three chapters in time for Issue 2 and put the last few chapters in Issue 3. When Issue 4 drops I'll put the I individual pieces out as a novella. I expect it'll come in between 20-25k words. So, a little over 100 pages. I'm stressing over my deadlines. Although I suppose it's not that big of a deal. It's not like I have people clambering for each issue. Not yet at least. 

Date Night:

My wife dubbed tonight dude date night. We went to Simmons and Lowes. Don't let her fool you though. We went to Lowes to buy supplies for a buffet that she'd like me to build her. Not that I mind. I like working with my hands and I'm always game for a project. Simmons was to pick up supplies for tomorrow. What's tomorrow? I'm glad you asked. I'll tell you tomorrow. But it's big! At least to me. 

Blakes 7 Rewatch: The Way Back

When I was growing up we caught four channels. One of those channels was PBS. Now, PBS' normal fare is Sesame Street, Nova, educational type stuff. Except on Saturday nights. Late that night they would show British Sci Fi. I would stay up hours past when everyone else went to bed and huddle in front if the TV to watch these shows. Mostly it was reruns of Doctor Who but occasionally they'd branch out. I got exposed to Red Dwarf, Star Cops and my all time favorite show Blakes 7.

Blakes 7 originally ran from 1978-1981. Yeah, it ended when I was about two months old. But man what an ending! Let me not get ahead of myself though. The heavy hitters in the Sci Fi world were Star Wars and the original Battlestar Galactica. Movies and shows with deep budgets. Blakes 7 had a budget of about £40 a week. The costumes were crap. The sets wobbled. Some of the scripts were Swiss cheese in the plot department. And it was still groundbreaking. 

Since they couldn't go head to head with other shows in the special effects dept. they chose to focus on strong characters. That became their bread and butter and the source of their enduring cult following. It was also unique, at the time, for it's uber dark tone. These days it's nothing to have highly flawed main characters or sympathetic villains. Blakes 7 in many ways pioneered those style shows. Heroes that have questionable reasons for doing what they do. Heroes that don't always win. Even heroes that die trying while their comrades have to keep going. Initially B7 was pitched as the Dirty Dozen in space. They scaled that back to seven people following a rebel named Blake. Except, they ran out of money. As you'll see it's more like Blake's five. But who is really counting. 

I've been in the market for a show to rewatch and blog about. I debated Star Trek for a while. I recently re watched the franchise or at least the vast majority of it. But that show is lengthy and very often reviewed. Likewise so is Doctor Who. I toyed with the idea of BSG. The remake not the original. That still didn't grab me although I love that show. Today I forced a coworker to watch the pilot episode of B7 and all of a sudden this just felt right. B7 doesn't have much of a following in the states. At least not like across the pond. As a matter of fact it's completely unavailable except on old VHS. No DVDs, iTunes or Amazon Prime for us yanks. Damn snobby Brits. Still, where there is a will there is a way. The first episode, The Way Back, can be found here http://youtu.be/Km9GdKM9pa4. 

Let's get started shall we? Be forewarned, there will be spoilers. 

Synopsis:

Who couldn't take that curly haired British Adonis seriously?

Roj Blake, our eponymous hero, is lead outside of a domed city by a pair of characters who's names won't matter in the next ten minutes. He has been told not to eat or drink for 48 hours. Surgery? Nah. The Federation, do not think Trek here, uses drugs in the food and water to control it's subjects. We're also told that going outside is a category 4 offense. How bad is that? No idea. Why would we bring that back up later?

Outside he meets with a dissident group who are using civil unrest to protest the Feds totalitarian regime. It's revealed that Blake was once a leader in the movement but he was captured and brainwashed into supporting the Government. He's also told that in retaliation his family, who are supposed to be colonists on another planet, we're executed. 

The face of a revolution. 

While he is wandering around what appears to be an abandoned subway station, sans graffiti, Federation Troopers arrive because surprise surprise there is a traitor in their midst. This is where things start taking a turn for the holy crap. Unarmed citizens who surrender and ask to be treated like the citizens they are get brutally gunned down by faceless soldiers. 

Oh crap! Were these supposed to set to stun?

Blake is captured and taken back to the city where the Ministry of Justice is left trying to decide how to get rid of him. The ministry apparently consists of two stuffy British men and a chubby woman who looks like she should have a tub of chicken and a pack of menthol lights. It's revealed that the only way his memories can return, which they are, is if he has a nervous breakdown, which he has, so they figure that he gots to go. Realizing that killing him will only him a martyr they trump up charges of child molestation to frame him. Yeah, our hero has mental issues and has been accused of pedophilia. Did I mention that this was dark?

Blake is appointed a public defender, because that's gonna help even if this wasn't a kangaroo court, but succeeds in convincing him to dig further. The "justice machine" declares him guilty by way of flashing lights and cheap doorbell sounds and Blake is carted off to a holding cell. Said holding cell is a waiting point before being deported to the penal planet Cygnus Alpha. There he meets two of our future characters Vila Restal a thief and Jenna Stannis the smuggler. Sounds like a bad D&D game doesn't it?

Who brought the ten sided dice?

While Blake sweats it out his defender, who's name I can never remember, proves that Blake was framed and that he was telling the truth about the massacre. He learns this just in time for he and his wife to be assassinated. In the mean time they've moved up the launch of the London, the penal transport, and Blake immediately pisses off a guard. It must be his people skills cultivated as a political leader. As he watches Earth fall away he swears that he'll be back. 

Let's run down the list of darkness in this first episode. 

Massacre? Check

Totalitarian Regime? Check

Hero with a case of the crazies? Check

Charges of pedophilia? Yeah, got that. 

More murder? Of course! Why wouldn't we?

So, how does this episode hold up? Pretty good to be so dated. It suffers from what a lot of sci fi shows at the time did. They were sure all doors would swish open and clothes would be polyester. Because why not? But the story itself is fairly solid at least as a psychological thriller. Future episodes will obviously be more of a space opera but this episode already sets the tone of dark characters doing dark things. I give it a 4 out 5. Stay tuned for episode 2 Space Fall. 

Sorry Honey It's Thursday

I'm gonna try a slightly different format for this post. Instead of just going through the day I'm going to split it into sections. Work, writing, fitness and misc. 

Work:

Beginning band is still moving along. I have my lone clarinet working on simple technique stuff. I've started my brass players on long tones and lip slurs sooner than I normally would. It's a catch 22 doing that. Long Tones, Lip Slurs and Scales will improve playing faster than anything else but you have to sorta know what's going on to do them. Oddly enough though it's working at least semi well. 

Junior High was a wash. The National Honors Society was having their induction ceremony on stage right outside the band room. That put the kabosh on us playing since the last thing my room is is soundproof. Luckily they were able to control their natural inclination to yell at the top of their lungs for the thirty minutes I had them. Yes, by the time they walk up to my building I have about thirty minutes with them before they have to walk back. 

Fourth block, my advanced band, started off a little rough. I had to resist the urge to lose my patience with them. Again, it's not really their playing it's their constant lack of attention. I honestly felt like I was just going through the motions. Ok band let's do exercise 1A. Ok lip slur 2. E Major Scale. But we muddled through and actually made some good progress. Still have not worked all the way through Contempo and that scares the snot out of me. 

Two days till Spring Break. I'm very ready for some time off. I'm scared of having to make up that lost time before festival. We have two weeks from the time we get back to get ready. In that time I believe we also have ACT testing. I think. I'll have to check on that. 

Had a little down time between school and choir rehearsal at the church. Arrant came into my office to do paperwork so I forced him to watch Blakes 7.  I don't think I've made a fan but my indoctrination shall continue. Perhaps I should do a rewatch of the series and post some reviews here. 

Made it to church right at 5:30. I was on track to be early but I got caught on a conference call before I left Farmerville. Man. Found a new song for my choir based on Beulah Land. It's cute as all get out. It's also hard as can be. But we've got it worked out. Mostly. Made it home by 7:30 for some red beans and rice. Dang my wife can cook some RB&B! Had a busy night scheduled of catching up on Pretty Little Liars, Greys Anatomy and Scandal. Yes. All chick shows. I'm secure enough for that. 

Fitness:

Today is a rest and recovery day. For some people that means lots of stretching, mobility stuff and some light exercise. I tend to prefer total rest. I'll do stretches and mobility on an as need basis. I do up my calories somewhat on recovery days. If your body is putting itself back together you have to give it materials to work with and time to do its job. That's just me though. Your mileage may vary. I still have to figure out when I'm going to work out tomorrow. AM or PM? 

Writing:

Got a thousand words done on Thorn in the Side. I'm hoping to get another 9,000-12,000 words done on it for Issue 2. I need to do some heavy revisions to Thy Judgment Come. The rough draft is finished but rough is the right word. It has plot holes, bad grammar and uneven dialogue. Probably gonna have to add a few scenes to make it work. Ah well. All part of the job. 

But Creepercasts review of Carrier is up. You can find it at http://www.creepercast.com/carrier-by-stewart-felkel-review/

I'm very pleased with this review and this is a site with a fair sized following. Hopefully it will generate some interest. Still very much in the name building phase of my writing endeavor. 

Hump Day!

I woke up around midnight to see a figure standing by our open window last night. It took me a minute to process that it was a person and not the dog scratching at the window. Being a man of action I jumped out of bed with my hands up yelling at the top of my lungs. Which sent my poor wife into panic mode since she was just trying to close the window because of the rain. Oops. My bad! But hey, at least we know I can go from dead sleep to fight mode in no time. 

The alarm went off at 4:15 and I promptly leaped out of bed. And reset it for 6:00. I just can't seem to get motivated to get up early these days. I guess I don't want it as bad as I thought. 

On checking my email while eating breakfast I had a reply from a book reviewer. I wrote him last week and asked for a review of Blackthorn Knights. He very politely declined. Bummer. Hopefully one of the others I wrote will take a look at it. 

Actually made it to school more or less on time. More or less means right at the bell to let kids enter the building. Of course prior to that there was a fight. A chick fight. I always miss the fights! Dang it! And of course that's all my students wanted to talk about instead of practice. But they are making progress finally. Another few weeks of individual practice and I'll probably try some group work again to see how it goes. 

Struggled to get my junior high to even set up. "But do we have to play?"

Then had a kid drop her flute, which was donated to the school last month, on the floor right in front of me. Sigh. 

Got a few hundred words written on Thorn in the Side between that class and concession duty. That's a start at least. Got to do some reading during power hour but didn't have time to practice my trumpet any. 

My high school band is still more interested in playing around than learning their music. Crown Point March went good but it's the easiest of our three pieces. Unfortunately with a band this small good will never earn us better than a three. Irish Air, which is absolutely gorgeous in its simplicity, is a half grade above CPM but light years beyond us. I finally just walked off the podium I was so frustrated. Not just in the wrong notes and rhythms but in the blasé attitude towards the mistakes. 

Actually made it to the box! And then got peer pressured into signing up for the Crossfit Opens. Zach threatened to take my Bro Card. Way to be a conformist Stew! 60 overhead presses later my shoulders feel like they just might go on strike. 

Finally home around 6:15 to shower and eat. Not to mention getting to see my wife. As you can see, that's a rarity. No wonder I thought she was an intruder! 

Finally got to watch the latest episode of True Detective. Wow! This show is just brilliant. Dark, moody, slightly Lynchian and just so dang confusing. 

Supposedly www.creepercast.com has done a review of Carrier. Waited all day and it never popped up. Maybe if I'm really lucky it'll be up in the morning. Anyway, that's all I got. Good night all of you who have stuck with me on this. 

Just a Dreary Tuesday

Hallelujah I actually slept well last night. My wife restocked me on coffee yesterday. Between the java and real sleep I feel almost human again. Actually managed to not be ridiculously late for work. But of course every day is a new adventure. Got to school to find out that I had one kid moved to the alternative school and three of my performing band students were caught skipping. Including my first chair trumpet. Sigh. It's going to be an interesting week. But at least next week is spring break. Oh course that causes it's on problems. Those who have taught know that as spring break approaches attention spans diminish. 

First block is going better. My students are still moving slow but a little individual attention is already building momentum. My trombone couldn't hit a fourth line F yesterday. In case you're wondering that's one of the first notes you learn. Today he was getting it. Sorta. 

Junior High is working out of Technicises. The beauty of this book is it's simplicity. It presents each major and minor scale in seperate units. Each unit starts with the scale in half notes before moving to harder versions. Each line can be played together. In my situation, with novice to intermediates in one class, this works very well. Beginners get easy lines. More advanced students get harder lines. Every body is happy. 

So, I've been assigned to monitor a student for E2020 during power hour. Great. Except I don't have a key to the lab we're using. Or an E2020 user name anymore. Yeah. This was really well thought out. The plan was to take this time to write but there isn't a useable computer to accomplish that in here. Define irony. Ah well, I have the rest of the Lost Fleet books to read through thanks to Arrant. 

With my fourth block I've been experimenting with two days a week of sectional work. So far I've gotten mixed results. The work that my kids do isn't bad. When I can get them to work. Sigh. I might have to give up on this idea for a bit. 

Hammered out a few revisions after school. Only had about ten minutes to work with. Hannah reminded me that I had a haircut this afternoon at 4:15. Which meant no going to the box to workout. I feel like I'm ignoring friends since I haven't been there in a while. Had to do my workout at home again though. Maybe tomorrow I can get in there. 

Haircut, grocery store, then home for supper. Afterwards we ran out to the mall to return some clothes. Hit my lifts after we got home. Cleaned up and finally sitting down around nine for a little tv before bed. Phew. At least tomorrow should be an easier day. Until then, good night. 

A Day in the Life

I'm going to try something new this month. I'm going to try to blog daily. It'll mostly be about the days events. I'll try to keep the minutia to a minimum. As an aspiring writer I can always use more practice and this could be a good exercise. Plus, maybe it'll help make up for my usual lack of updates. For all three of you who follow my blog. Expect a mix of workout info, writing updates and school shenanigans. 

Today starts the new cycle of Cajun Barbell. Now, since my school administration has decided to move first block back fifteen minutes I haven't been able to workout in the morning. To that end I set my alarm for four. Technically the doors don't open until five but several of the coaches get there early and I thought I'd join them. 

Unfortunately I woke up at 1:15 and couldn't get back to sleep. Nothing physically hurt it's just that lately anytime I wake up I'm pretty much awake from there on. My mind instantly starts racing and before I know it I might has well not have gone to bed. I actually got out of bed when the alarm went off but I could barely stand up straight. In no shape to drive I just laid back down for another hour. 

Up at 5:30 to take the dogs out, eat, get ready and out the door by 7:15. That's about 10 minutes later than I need to leave. So, late as usual. 

My first block class is kinda small and so far struggling with the material. I'm a big believer in constant reviewing by way of warmup exercises. I'll take whatever technique lines are introduced in the book and play them every day to solidify things. So far that's worked well with every class I've ever had. This class, not so much. We've even gone back to the beginning at least once and just started over but no dice. Since it's a small class that leaves me room to experiment. I'm going to try splitting them up for a few weeks and have them work solo. This way I can float around and work with them individually at least a little every day. I'll keep you posted on how this works. As I say it's just an experiment. It'll work or it'll fail. I have two brass players who are really struggling to even play in the staff. So I put them on playing lower long tones and they seemed to do very well with that. 

After that I raced to the school board to meet about uniforms. I've been trying to purchase some used uniforms since November. I finally got the go ahead last Thursday only to find that they had sold earlier in the week. Got a tentative promise of new uniforms, an expanded budget and a separate travel budget for next year. For the past two years we've been given $2,500 to cover everything from repairs to buses to get to football games. All this depends on a tax passing this year. 

Junior High showed up around 10:40 per usual. This class is a jumble of 7th and 8th grade. Beginners and advanced all at once. Since I'm running on four hours sleep with no coffee I just put in a video. The only thing I had was the Winterguard Championship from last year. But halfway through the class my Guard from last year came on. And man I'm still so proud of them. To this day any time Feel Agajn comes on the radio I get a smile on my face. Shoot, any time Let the Drummer Kick comes on I think of my little guard at OCS and smile. 

Made it through concession stand and power hour. I've been reassigned to monitor a student doing E2020. E2020 is an online program for students to take classes. It let's students either catch up or get ahead. I was going to do some writing then but alas the computer wouldn't let me log in. Made a few notes on my phone of stuff to work on. 

Fourth block was definitely a Monday. I work out of the Foundations for Superior Performance book for warmup/technique stuff. There are four sets of lip slurs that we rotate through on a weekly basis that are starting to build some chops. We're also cycling through key studies every week. This week is E Major. You should have seen my poor trumpet players eyes when they say all their sharps. 

Unfortunately our festival pieces are still eating our lunch. Selections include Crown Point March, grade 1. An Irish Air, grade 1.5. Contempo, grade 2. All easy works. None working. I'm at wits end. I can hear the judges comments already. Now, I make no claims about being an amazing band director. I'm a mediocre band director who has learned to make the most out of what he has. But I feel like our problems are mostly concentration and lack of focus. Motivational issues. That's something I struggle with. I just can't understand not wanting to play your music well. 

Did a little editing on a short story after school just to say I did some writing. Made a file on my phone for part two of Thorn in the Side so that I could get some on the go writing done. And then hit a wall. No idea where I even want to start. 

Got home about 4:15 and took the dogs out. Decided to at least get the main lifts in from the AM workout that I missed. Also helping the wife train for a 5k. So the workout looked like this. 

Squat 12x2@190

Ease Into 5k: Two Rounds

Run 3 minutes

Walk 2 minutes

Run 90 seconds

Walk 2 minutes

Run 3 minutes

Walk 1 minute

Deadlift 10x2@205

Didn't have time, or the energy, to do all 70 or so assistance exercises my crazy coach wanted done. I exaggerate. But not by much. Between the running and the Deadlifts my lower back is beyond fatigued. 

Got cleaned up and back out the door by 6:30 to head to community band. I meant to be there about 6:45 to get a good warm up. Alas, that didn't happen. It feels good to be playing in an ensemble again after all these years. I haven't performed since the last time Masquerade stepped foot on a field. Anybody remember them? I'm definitely out of shape though. An hour and a half rehearsal wrecks my lips. They are swollen and feeling a little bruised at the moment. 

Headed home at 8:45 to finally eat supper. Taking a melatonin tonight to see if it'll help me sleep all night. Not even going to try to get up early. I guess I'll be heading to the box at 4:30. Well ladies and gents, that's a glimpse into my life. It's simultaneously busy and boring as you can see. I'm going to try to keep this up. From here they'll, usually, be a little less in depth. Goodnight world.