Ok, so we were visit by our realtor the other day and decided that the time was right to put the house on the market. Whether it sells or not is another thing, but we’re going to try again.
For the longest time we said that when we didn’t have any more kids at home we’d move to a better climate. Not to Florida, like senior citizens, but somewhere the has more warm and less winter. We’ve bandied about Las Vegas, the D.C. area, and recently started considering Indiana. I’ve been contacted about possible work in Arizona, St. Louis Misery, and North Carolina.
If we can sell it, and if I can get work, we’ll be moving away. It’s a great chance to refresh, start over, and go somewhere new.
Wish us luck…and if you’re looking for a house in downtown Holly, lemme know!
So, for the second year in a row I was able to attend Jobbie Nooner with my brother and his wife on their boat, the AquaHolic. It was, of course, an awesome and incredibly alcohol-filled day.
For your enjoyment, my photos of the event are below.
I think I’m WAY over due for a blog entry. I can blame my absence on a multitude of things, but largely it’s LIFE and all its concerns that keep my focus away. Of course, my Lifestream keeps a pretty good history/accounting of what’s going on. I’ll get back up on the horse shortly…I promise.
Christmas has changed for me in the past 35 or so years.
As a child I remember looking forward to the Christmas season with the snowfall, the music, the decorations, and the feelings of giving and warmth that would accompany that period between Thanksgiving and Christmas day…stretch it out a bit to New Year’s Eve because of Christmas Vacation.
I can’t pinpoint exactly where it changed. Perhaps it was a gradual change, brought on by the level of maturity and responsibility that grows on you as you enter adulthood and parenthood. Maybe it was caused by a period in my life (1991 to 1994) when I wasn’t in the best of situations and was rather…unsettled. (A period of my life you’ll seldom hear me talk about).It could also have been the sudden realization during that time that I alone was responsible for making fun/happy/exciting Christmas at that time and I failed.For that I can only apologize because I was in a very bad position back then.
A couple months ago I posted an image of the business card my first DJ partner Paul and I used as L.E.D. Sight & Sound. Below is what the original card looked like. It’s made out of metal and the L.E.D. are cut out of the metal card by hand. We also made the swirl pattern on it by hand. Suffice it to say that we didn’t make many of them. That’s where the printed version came from.
P.S. “L.E.D.” didn’t really stand for anything, we just liked the sound of it and back in 1979 LEDs were new and awesome.
FUBAR, or, as it’s commonly known, “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition” is an awesome website/community I recently discovered. It’s kind of like MySpace for adults. The concept is simple…and online party is taking place all the time. No one under 18 is allowed to register. What makes it so very cool is that you get points for rating people and photos, commenting on items, etc. In time you “level up” to the next level, giving you more points and “fubucks”. This is extremely awesome. You can also swear and post NSFW photos.
A couple of years ago I got a message on MySpace about some guy named “Sammy” who had (and you can read it in the message he sent me) “registered” DJ Plazma and implored that I change it. Below is that exact message for your amusement.
Asshat telling me to change my name
With the assistance of my friend Lance we did a little research to conclude that he had NOT registered it with the US Copyright Office in D.C. and I was not, as he insisted, subject to Federal Law.
I never wrote him back (who would?) and I never heard from him again. I didn’t think I would, because he’s basically full of shit. If he’d have had a leg to stand on then these other “DJ Plazma”s on MySpace wouldn’t exist, either.
Notice, if you will, that there are 7 “DJ Plazma”s on this list, and that I am not one of them. Sammy’s is the 3rd on down.
Silly boy. He makes me laugh. Now go away and pester “John Smith”.
I’ve been out of the hospital for two days now. I need to send many THANK YOUs out there:
Thank You to my family. In the days leading up to and after my surgery I heard from almost every one of my living relatives. While I’m unaccustomed to such undue attention, it was nice to hear from everyone. My aunt said it best when she said “Sometimes you just need to hear from the people you love”.
Thank You to those who said they would visit and DID (which is my Wife, Dad, and Brother). It was a very comforting feeling to open my eyes once I was into my room to see the three of you walk in the room at the same time.
Thank You to my friends who I heard from shortly before and during my hospital stay. It was nice to hear from you.
Thank You to the Nurses and Nurses Assistants as Crittenton who helped me along. For the most part (Bess excluded) made me feel like they genuinely interested in my state of being. I’d have never thought that I’d be standing on my feet twelve hours after surgery, but Caroline was determined and made that happen. You’re all (with the exception of Bess, who made me feel like I was standing in the way of her next break) absolutely AWESOME and I applaud your ability to deal with people the way you do on a daily basis.
Thank You to Dr. L. Michelle Vogel, who performed the surgery that I’ve been in need of for some 13 years. You rock.
After having my colonoscopy today I was reminded that I had these photos that my sister took when I had my shoulder surgery in 2003. Versed is a wonderful drug and it makes you feel better than watching “Grease”. Versed is an amnesiac that helps you forget a part of a procedure. Some people whine about being administered versed, but they’re pansies.
Here, then, are the six photos. Looking at these photos I’m reminded of how different my appearance has changed in the five years since that surgery.
Before the Versed
Before the Versed
As you can see, there’s a marked difference between the “Before” pictures above and the “After” pictures below.
Over the years I’ve had a number of DJ partners. This is the very first one, starting back in 1979 or so. My best friend was Paul Watson (who, oddly, used to lived directly around the corner from where I live now). All of our equipment was self-made with the exception of the mixing board, which was a Radio Shack (Jim hangs head in shame).
L.E.D. Card
For our very first DJ job we did the wedding reception of a friend and I was, at the same time, the Best Man. (Actually I’ve been both Best Man and DJ several times. Never again.) If this reception was the one that would have determined if I’d ever DJ again the answer to that would have been a resounding NO. I move along…
There are two things the come to mind to reinforce this point:
A gentleman brought his accordion and wanted to jack into our sound system so he could play it for his family. We didn’t see any harm in that, so we said “OK”. It was a chance for us to take a fifteen minute break anyway.
Paul and I were outside talking to guests and friend when we heard PPPFFFFFFZZZZZTTTTT coming out of our sound system. When that sound comes out of any DJ’s sound system you will see that DJ run faster than the speed of light. We go back inside to see this guy unplugging the audio cable from the accordion sticking it in his butt! That particular gentleman we escorted off the stage…luckily with his accordion still in one piece.
In front of one of our speakers sat, for most of the evening, a little old lady. The kind of little old lady who needed a walker to get around. After about 3 hours of sitting directly in front of the speakers she eventually stood up and make her way (extremely slowly) to the stage where she said “Excuse me, young man, but can you turn that music down a little? My hearing aid is buzzing”.
Jim! in 
