Posts Tagged ‘music’

I've been up for a few hours. I should be working on math homework, but it's really intimidating. I'm behind on my square trades. I've restarted one for the July trade 4 times now. It was just too difficult. So now I've super-simplified it, am just doing a plain block of single crochet and will backstitch the Feynman diagram onto it. I did finish one for the August trade this morning, though:

Matt and I finally used our little apartment gym room. It's nice in there, with a big weight machine thing that Matt likes, a water cooler, treadmill, elliptical machine, recumbent bike, etc. I've been lazy since I returned from Georgia. It's much more fun working on with someone, especially Matt, and he's agreed to join me thrice weekly. Sitting on my behind in front of a screen all the time has really been getting to me … Mama sent me two packages the other day. She returned all the journals I had left at home, my electronics tool box, an old dress, Christmas mugs, some Astek caribeeners, and sent us two freezer bags of chocolate chip cookies. Yup, they're almost gone. The journals are from '94 to '99 and I haven't looked at them at all for at least 5 years. I've spent most of the morning poring over those. Some of what I wrote is funny, some depressing, some ominous … most of it silly. Bad poetry, goofy doodles, lists of favorites, hearts and names crossed out and circled then re-crossed out, random musings of a 12 year-old, cut out photographs … it's definitely amusing. It's all pretty much from before my life got serious. Pages of role playing game character descriptions and background stories. End-of-my-life dramas about how some boy in my 7th grade class dumped me via a crumpled up note. Drawings, poetry, encyclopedia photocopies, and never-sent letters professing my love of Pink Floyd. The most interesting thing is reading about the day-to-day observations of my family life back then, knowing what I know now. It's all fun … or just an excuse not to do math homework all morning.

I guess that's what I should go ahead and do now, though.

Yes, it certainly is. Matt was a sweetheart and picked me up at the airport last Wednesday looking all handsome in his nice suit, and greeting me with chocolate and a rose. It's been a nice, relaxing week for me to adjust to being back home. It's cool hanging out with Jason and having him around. We play a lot of games together and whatnot. It's also nice having a third seat at dinner; we don't have leftovers that will never truly be eaten. Last night the three of us went over to my buddy Brian's house (joined by my other school pals Missy and Evin) for some food and Office Space and [if we had not been tired and stayed a little longer] Halo 2. It was a good time and it's nice to introduce Jason to some new people. We went to a new church that Jason picked out last Sunday and stayed later for a great potluck. It was a good time and a nice, small church and it suits Jason really well. Matt and I are going to return to Calvary, though. There is a lot about that particular church that we like, we just have to find a way to be more socially comfortable. That's up to us, though, and not really any fault of Calvary's. We also went to Jalama Beach last weekend, which is a very pretty, tucked-away beach right in our backyard.

We had a good time walking up and down the beach and sunbathing. The water was nearly freezing, but Matt and Jason jumped in anyway. They got a tad sunburned and Matt has been suffering all week, but we plan on going back hopefully every weekend. Good times. I also finally got a chance to upload the photos I took while TDY. I have an album up of visiting with Andrea. I said earlier that we did some origami and crocheting while I was there, here are a few of our finished products.

I also got a chance to do a bit of crocheting while I was hanging out by myself in the hotel room. I started working on a baby afghan and worked on a bunch of squares for Mama's afghan. These are the squares I completed:

So there's that. Jason and I played a bunch of pool today. I never really learned how to play, so today was sort of instructional. Of course, I've played plenty of games before, but I learned today that I've been doing everything incorrectly. We practiced for almost two hours and had a grand ol' time. I got an email from Andy yesterday saying that he had been sailing from San Diego to Santa Barbara as part of some crew, proving his seaworthiness in order to be part of some large Mexico –> New Zealand trip. I was so excited to hear he was in Santa Barbara and sent off an email immediately making plans for today. Alas, he called today from Colorado as soon as he received my message. I was a little bummed that he was in California and didn't even think to get together. He's a world-traveler now and I'm not sure when our paths will cross again. I'm sure they will. I think sometimes I just get nostalgic for times in my past. College in Colorado was fun most of the time and I do miss the friends I had then. Being that they're all males, I often feel it's inappropriate to keep in touch or be as close as I'd like to. They're good guys and I think of them often. It's always good to see someone or get an email hearing about all the great adventures. Matt and I are planning a quick trip next month. Neil Gaiman will be up near San Francisco, about 4 hours away from us, for a book signing. He's cutting back a lot on his appearances and I don't want to miss an opportunity. I've never been to a signing before, but I think it sounds like a good time. And of all the famous people I know of, I think he is the one I'd like to meet the most. Matt will take a day or two of leave and we'll probably stay the night up in the bay area. We had only been once, for a Switchfoot concert, and didn't get to explore the city at all. So maybe we'll make a big event of it. Anyhow, I'm excited to pick up Neil's Fragile Things and get to say hello. Wednesday was my first day of math class. I was really nervous about the whole thing and ready to drop the class that day. I received a text message from Erick earlier reporting that they just started chapter 5. I had just finished chapter 2 and started freaking out about how I'd never catch up. It really bummed me out a bit because I've been struggling on my own with the coursework. Then I received another text informing me that they had skipped chapters 3 and 4, renewing my confidence. I went to class and found I wasn't really that far behind. I just have to do some super-studying for our first exam two weeks from now. I'm not working (though I am researching some exciting jobs) and this is the only class I'm taking, so I shouldn't have any excuses not to do well enough. I went to the dentist today for a first exam and cleaning. It went well enough at first and I really like my dentist. Before going to Georgia I had toothaches and learned I needed a root canal due to decay around some poorly installed Air Force filling. Bummed about that, got over it though. I still need to get a crown on my tooth-stub. Today they found another filling that had improperly bonded and didn't do it's job. So I have some deep decay in that tooth as well and will go in to look at it again next week and see if we can avoid another root canal. And another Air Force filling cracked and will need to be redone. And my gums are receding around the implant I got when I was sixteen, exposing the metal. It could get worse and become a bad thing, so I need to go to someone else to see about some bone grafting. Fun … and cheap, I'm sure. Ughh. So it was somewhat of a disheartening day at the dentist, but that's life I guess. I'm just wondering how our wallet is going to take to all this work. Well, that's my overly wordy update for the week. Jason starts work on Tuesday, then I'll be home alone during the week. I have class at night on Mondays and Wednesdays, but during the day I'll be alone … studying, crocheting, and most likely blogging. So ta ta 'til then.

I go back to California one week from tomorrow. Hooray! Our class tested out of Block III last night and I aced the test. My first test screwed up any hope for Distinguished Grad, but that’s okay. We started Block IV, which is all troubleshooting. Only two or three people can be in the lab on the equipment at a time, so the other two or three have to hang out in the break room and watch movies or play cards. It will be a long week, since there’s so much waiting around. I think it’s a positive thing, though, since I have tons of math homework to do.

Yup, I started my Linear Algebra / Differential Equations class last week. I’m on my own with it, but the book seems pretty good and it’s not troublesome yet. My instructor is good about sending me information and being there if I need any help. And I get to attend the actual class in another week and a half, so it can’t be too bad before then.

The weekend was really, really boring. Saturday morning Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went horseback riding on post, which was fun. We didn’t have to use a trail guide (because “we’re experienced horseback riders”), which is nice. I was a tad uncertain, seeing as I’ve only ever been near a horse once before. They’re pretty trained, though, and are used to just following each other around, so it wasn’t really a problem. Anytime I wanted the horse (“Ruby”) to do anything though, she wouldn’t listen to me. We were supposed to be out there for 2 hours, but they guys were bored of it after 1. We didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so I got dropped off at the mall to pick up a dress for next weekend (clubbing in Atlanta + Six Flags). I treated myself to a pedicure and a haircut and did some clothes shopping. The guys were all exhausted from little sleep the night before (to what was I not invited?) so they slept all Saturday. Jesse, Rick and I went out to see The Descent Saturday night. It’s the bloodiest movie I think I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t really all that scary, just startling and gory. It was nice to not be sitting around in the hotel room. Sunday we were supposed to go the Y (Rick was supposed to call …) I got a call Sunday afternoon from Lance while they were all ready at the Y (“oh, I figured you wouldn’t want to come …”) Hrmph. We got some dinner afterward at a sports bar and studied for the next day’s test. That was pretty much everything that happened this past weekend.

I’ve been downloading a lot of music, since I’ve gotten bored with the small selection I brought. I’ve been a slave to Last.fm‘s charts and forums lately. I’ve been enjoying some Medeski, Marin and Wood and Matisyahu for the first time this week. I’ve also been talked into the Loose Change hype. I know it’s old news, but I talk to many people who are adament about the whole 9/11 conspiracy. So I’m in the process of watching the Loose Change video, as well as the counter-arguments Screw Loose Change. So far so interesting …

Anyhow, now it’s time to get ready for school. More later.

So I've passed my half-way mark here in Georgia. Class is going all right. I'm in Block 3 of 4 and will test out on Monday. It's a little boring and way more information than I'll really need to know, but I'm getting paid to sit in class for a few hours a night. My days aren't terribly exciting. During the week I sleep in, go to lunch with the guys, run some errands, go to the Y, then to school. It's almost like clockwork. The first weekend here we hung out in Augusta. We ate at the Bees's Knees (one of my all-time favorite restaurants) and then hung out at the Soul Bar on "Disco Hell" night. I'm not much of a clubber, but it was a decent time (although I learned that Whiskey Sours and I are highly disagreeable.) The second weekend we drove to Charleston and back on Saturday. We found a really nice rooftop bar where we had some snacks and drinks while listening to two guys with guitars. Sublime and Grateful Dead covers. It was good. We found a touristy hot-spot called Wet Willy's, a daiquiri bar, and had a good time drinking and dancing. Needless to say, much of Sunday was spent in bed. This past weekend was a three-day weekend. Lance had planned to take the rental car up to D.C. to visit friends from when he lived there, and I got to tag along and get dropped off near Langley AFB to visit with Andrea. I slipped in silently at 5:00 Friday morning, was greeted by the cats, and crashed on the couch. Friday Andrea gave me the LAFB tour and then we headed over to Poquoson, our childhood hometown. We drove around and saw all our friends' old houses, passed by our elementary school, saw our church, and the old house. Some things have changed, but not too much. We attempted to explore the old woods in which we used to play (the parts that weren't replaced with homes), but they were so overgrown and overrun with massive spider webs, we didn't get very far. We had a half-off dinner at Chili's, where Michael works. We watched a bunch of movies (Howl's Moving Castle, Mirror Mask, The Jacket, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, Snake Eyes) throughout the weekend. The three of us played some Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Andrea and I hung out at Virginia Beach, soaked up the sun, had some frozen custard, and visited the haunted house. It was a blast! I brought hooks and taught her to crochet. She did quite well for just three days of instruction! Michael is apparently very good at origami and has taught her quite a bit, so she passed some knowledge along to me. We made Chinese dragons and cubes out of dollar bills, as well as cute patterned pigs and cranes. I have tons of great photos of the weekend, but for some reason I cannot get the card reader to work for me. It's been so long since Andrea and I have really spent time together, so the weekend was really nice to just be around her and gab. It was definitely worth the long drive. Phew! I finished my art class, though not as successfully as I had planned. I can be quite the slacker. I'm starting up my math class now, which isn't designed to be a distance learning class, but I'm communicating with my prof through the end of the month and will try to do it on my own. It's not so bad … so far. I was on a crocheting kick, trying to get a significant amount done on Mama's afghan. The past week has been sort of crochet-lazy, though. I still have to make two squares to mail out for my square trade. I received three squares since I've been gone, I just wish I were there to open them! That's sort of a long-winded overview of what's been going on out here in Georgia. It's not the most exciting, I know. The active duty pay will be nice and while I'm out here, the government pays me to eat out (and the Augusta restaurant selection dwarfs that of Lompoc!) I miss Matt terribly and cannot wait to see him. We chat every day, though haven't really been playing much Diablo II together. He has Jason and the cats and seems to be doing well enough. I'll be home on the 30th … I'm sure I'll have more to blabber about before then, though.

Today the world learned that Syd Barrett (born Roger Keith Barrett), a founder of Pink Floyd, passed away last Friday from diabetes-related complications.

He was 60 years old. He named the band, released an album in ’67, and had a nervous breakdown and was replaced by David Gilmour.

Rest in peace, Syd.

Well, I guess it's time for my monthly update! ;p Finals went pretty well. My semester grades were acceptable. School continues into the summer. I just finished a 15-day online physical anthropology course. I'm so glad it's over! A semester's worth of material from two books was pretty demanding for two weeks. I passed, though not happily. Too much work? … or I'm too lazy. I started an 8-week art appreciation course online as well. It seems more interesting and should be considerably more comfortable than my anthro class. Matt met a guy at ALS in April, a cop named Jason. They play World of Warcraft together and apparently get along pretty well. Jason has a long-term girlfriend, Becky, who just moved out here. The four of us went out for an Italian dinner last Saturday and had a blast! I love meeting new couples, since we're so antisocial and have no one to hang out with! The evening was a jumble of the boys talking together about video games and work while the girls talking about other random things and getting to know each other. We invited them over for dinner at our place on Thursday, which occurred last night. What a great time! I spent all day in the kitchen preparing almost-from-scratch spaghetti sauce and meatballs (the awesome recipe can be found at spaghetti sauce and meatballs .com !) Everyone enjoyed the food — the dinner was definitely worth all the effort! We played guys versus girls Scrabble, in which the girls BEAT the guys by a whopping two points! They stuck around for almost five hours chatting, eating cake, and trying to encourage the cats into being more sociable. We'll definitely have to do it again soon! Matt and I celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday, June 11! It has been such a wonderful year! We spent the day in Santa Barbara, visiting the zoo (I had to observe primates in action for an anthropology paper), having lunch, and going to a concert. Concerts "near" us are generally in L.A. or San Francisco, neither of which we like to frequent. We saw that there was a show in Santa Barbara, which is so convenient for us, and snagged a couple tickets. It was a radio station thinga-ma-jig with four big bands and two openers. The only ones we were interested in was Franz Ferdinand and (slightly) The Strokes, and hadn't heard of any of the others. No worries, it was cheap and bound to be a good time! We got there at 3 to discover that the concert goes for 7 hours. Well, we hadn't been anticipating that (though we should have realized it, considering there are six bands playing). We sat through the first two acts, Hard-Fi and She Wants Revenge, which were so-so. The show was at the beautiful Santa Barbara Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the ocean. It's almost five thirty by now and we're getting a little overwhelmed by wild and crazy obnoxious girls. I think in general we're okay with groups of people, but crowds of pushy, high, noisy people get to us a bit. We watched Panic! At the Disco perform, which we had never heard of before but were pretty amused by. They drove all the crazy girls around us wild and we listened to a bunch of screaming and singing, but that's okay. What I liked about the band was their sort of skit performances. As the band played, they had a wildly costumed troop of dancer/actors perform along with the song. We didn't have amazing seats, so some of it was a little hard to see, but a lot of it seemed pretty neat. Panic! did perform a Smashing Pumpkins song, Tonight, Tonight, which I thought they did a great job with. And they had their dancers dressed similarly to those in the Tonight, Tonight video waving large fans. I was really waiting for Franz Ferdinand, but they wouldn't go on until five hours into the show, and we were both a little grumpy at the audience and the length of time we were sitting on stone benches, so we decided we'd be better off leaving anyway. We've yet to sit through an entire concert together! I think this one bummed us out a little bit because they aren't bands we really care too much (or know anything about) anyway. So we went to Borders and blew some money on Neil Gaiman and R.A. Salvatore novels! Overall, it was a nice anniversary celebration! Anyhow, I've written this blog four times today because of recurring power outages. What's going on out there?! And Matt just got home, so we're going to play some WoW (our level 10 mage & priest, woohoo!) then hopefully go out to see The Lake House tonight. Ta ta!

I just spent way too long at this site making this cute little (?) thing to display [almost] all of the CDs I own (and Matt, too). They are hardly in any order. I know … waste of time (and space), but I spent so long there, I might as well post it! Heeh … our collection:

Yup, still alive. It's been a pretty hectic month. School is stressful as usual. Had my second math exam, which I know didn't go nearly as well as the first one. It's tough stuff and I just need to study harder. Since my last post a few things have happened. I had my birthday. It wasn't really all that exciting, but it doesn't seem like 23 is supposed to be. It was the weekend my best gal pal Carol left town for Nebraska. It was all sort of bittersweet, as it's an exciting adventure and she'll be back with her love, but sad that we got really close just recently and now she's gone. I should be used to seeing friends come and go by now. We had a really nice going-away / birthday dinner at a cute local cafe. I had to go to school on my actual birthday, so it was fairly uneventful. So Matthew's out in New Jersey now. I'm excited for him because it seems so romantic to just drop everything and set up in a completely new place to be with someone you care about. I know he's struggling some with personal issues right now and I hope she's the influence and encouragement he needs. My only concern is his lack of employment. Hopefully his restaurant prospect will work out. It's just sad that he's now that much farther away. I'm way out here with the Pacific Ocean in my backyard and my two siblings are way out as east as can be. I just miss 'em. So Matt and I have been trying to plan a first anniversary trip for this June. We figured we'd drive out to Colorado and see my mom. We were thinking about IndieFest, which is in beautiful and relaxing Pagosa Springs, but I guess we both just aren't feeling it. A lot of the bands are pretty cool, just no one we're passionate about. Then we were considering Wakarusa, which isn't that much farther of a drive and would be completely cool because there's a bunch of bands there that we would absolutely love to see. It's just that we're driving the whole way there and back and are all ready short on leave, so it seems like too much of a hassle. Last summer we did the High Sierra Music Festival and next summer we hope to do Coachella, which seems like the only reasonable festival to attend, since it's within a 5-hour drive. Next month Dave Gilmour will also be in San Francisco for his On an Island tour … hmm. So we moved into this new apartment. It's only about 5 miles from our old one, but it's "in town", which I suppose is better. We can walk places now, if we were to go anywhere. The place is so much nicer than our old one. It's a lot newer and cleaner and has a second bedroom and a dishwasher, woohoo! We got bedroom furniture (finally) and a new couch yesterday and have completely moved everything, so we're starting to settle in nicely. Pictures to come soon! A driving factor was being able to get a second cat: our old place only allowed one pet. So of course last weekend we went out and adopted a kitten. She's a four-month old gray tabby with three legs (had to be amputated earlier this month after she got caught in a car belt). At first I thought that was kind of creepy, but she's so pathetically cute and I just love her to death. We named her Gabby because she's a Gray tABBY (hah yah, I know, lame), but mainly because we were looking for someone to name her for and we decided to go with Gabby La La (one of our new-found favorite artists … and playing in Santa Monica during my spring break … hmm …) She and Tal were really hesitant and curious about each other at first (a bunch of pictures here). Gabby just sort of sat in her house and Tal would stare at her and slowly approach. He whacked her on the head a few times and I think that ticked her off. For the next two days they'd hiss a lot and swat, but now they snuggle together, hang out, wrestle (and she makes the most horrible quack/groan things when she wrestles), and share everything. I think they've adjusted to each other really well, which makes things a million times easier. I'm glad Tal now has a playmate, since we're at work and school most of the day and he just hangs out alone at home. So we've just been spending a lot of time with the kitties the past few days.
So I'm skipping school today because Jen, Matt's little sister, flew in from New York for her spring break. She spent yesterday in LA and is on a bus on her way to Santa Maria right now. She's staying through Sunday, but I can't get out of school tomorrow (physics lab and I tutor … kind of important) and I have drill all day Saturday and Sunday (and this weekend is mandatory, unfortunately). So today is really the only day I'll get to spend with her, which is a huge bummer because she is one awesome chicky and I'm so glad she's traveled all the way out here to see us! At least Matt will have Friday – Sunday to hang with his sis. We don't have any huge, exciting plans. She just spent a few months at an internship at Martha's Vineyard writing songs and performing, then just had a trip to Nashville to hang out with all sorts of cool bands, then hung out with hot guys in LA, so I kind of feel like our visit is the low-point of her vacation. Ahwell, we'll take her out to a nice dinner and play video games. Matt will be the entertainer really, so he'd better come up with something fun to do, hehe. Well that's about all for me. I need to move some of the cardboard boxes out of the way and make the place a little more presentable for our guest. Ciao! Edit: I snapped some quick apartment photos for your viewing pleasure. The place is still somewhat messy, but we're working on it. Enjoy!

I closed down my Xanga account and my MySpace account. Just tired of all that. I’m back home, now. It’s just you, LJ. (edit: When this was posted on LJ.)

Well, Christmas was pleasant. It our first married Christmas together, which is special. We were both a little homesick, though. It’s just hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you’re wearing shorts and a tank top and haven’t seen family in months. It was fun, though. We got a nice plastic Walmart tree and picked out cute ornaments for it. We went out with Carol on Christmas Eve to church and out to dinner. Matt and I debated whether to open gifts on the 24th, my family’s tradition, or the 25th, his family’s tradition. We ended up opening them very late on the 24th, but it wasn’t due to any of my coaxing! My mother broke Matt down. :p Carol came over on Christmas day to exchange gifts and cook a feast with me. It was all very nice. I’m thankful to have such a good friend as Carol. We’ve just recently grown closer, and now she’s about to move away in a few months.

Our Friday night parties have fallen apart; I guess it’s mostly my fault. I suppose I just feel that we’re being used by our new friends. I don’t know if I expect too much from my friendships that they’re hard for me to find, or if friendships just aren’t important enough for me to want to keep. With the exception of Carol and Erick, I feel everyone here has disappointed me. I feel like we just haven’t found the “right friends”. Maybe other married couples? Getting together with 18/19 year-old boys for movies and video games is fun for a while, but really shallow. I guess I’m just happy to hang out with Carol … I don’t need a gaggle of superficial friends.

My mother is flying in on Friday morning and I am just too excited! She and Ron are coming up to Lompoc that morning to see our home, hopefully meet Melissa over lunch, some golf, and a nice dinner. They aren’t staying up here because Tal would drive my mom crazy (she’s allergic), so they’re staying in Santa Barbara. We’ll drive down there Saturday morning to stay with them for a few nights and celebrate New Year’s Eve / Matt’s birthday / Ron’s birthday.

It’s been quite a relaxing break. Matt pretty much got two weeks off work for free without having to take leave. He’s on standby, but nothing really happens (except an early morning, random urinalysis today) where he needs to go in. It’s been nice to just hang out with him and not do much. We started new characters on World of Warcraft that we got up a little bit (he’s a druid, I’m a hunter, both night elves). He’s been playing Dragon Quest VIII, one of his Christmas gifts. We got weights and tennis rackets to play with. I got a CD from Matt’s parents, Gabby La La’s “Be Careful What You Wish For …”, that has pretty much been on repeat for the past three days (Matt really like it, hehe). I’m learning how to crochet (goofing around, I made a pretty blue bracer/arm-warmer/sleeve thingy). I’m going to attempt an afghan on this break.

Aside from all that excitement, I’ve just been burning a lot of CDs and dinners. Well, I guess the dinners aren’t so bad, but I’m still learning. Today is just cleaning and tennis and watching CSI Season 5. Woohoo! I love Christmas break! Just two more days before until family visiting, woohoo!

Today marks ten years since Jerry Garcia passed on. I’m taking today to read through Jerry-inspired poetry as well as his own. Here are a few of my favorites, written by fans for Jerry. Firstly, here’s mine. It’s really cheesy, but here is the poem I wrote this day ten years ago, when I was twelve.

Jerry Garcia
Nineteen forty-two to nineteen niney-five,
A sad day in August he isn’t alive.
In his life there were drugs and a great loss of weight,
And to add to that, a diabetic state.
The Grateful Dead were one of the best,
But without Jerry, where would be all the rest?
But isn’t it great, even after his hard while,
That the loved, worn-out Jerry died with a smile?
You can still remember with a frozen dream,
Just run and get “Cherry Garcia” ice cream!
Remember his art, his music and ties,
Remember the hippies, the concerts, tie-dyes.
Dead Heads all over mourn through their shrines.
Listen to the cries, wails and whines.
Cry, mourn, wail you may,
It still doesn’t change, he died in C.A.
Jerry Garcia, the real Dead Head,
It’s hard to believe he’s actually dead.
But it’s true, on the ninth, a Dead-letter day,
The beloved Garcia did pass away.

Now here is a better one written by an anonymous mourner Blood for Jerry
Was he Captain Trips
or merely Crazy Fingers
does it really matter
the joy he gave still lingers
known to his mother as Jerome
but like Dylan there was
No Direction Home like Muddy Waters
Jerry was a Rolling Stone
though he never finished college
he had tremendous knowledge
sown in the songs of
many who had come before
songs as old as America
stories of our shared folklore
like Cotton’s Freight Train
he was a strong link in
an Unbroken Chain
like a Ripple in time
he filled the many Spaces
and took us to far off places
in the Nexus of our Minds
yes there was ONEness
at shows some times
but now ten years have passed
since we’ve heard his voice
yes, he had his struggles
for he was only a man
and he paid a mighty price
to keep Playin in the Band
a price that only his wives
and children truly understand
but let us never forget
he was a great American……
And another short one by Timmy from Tucumcari

Whilest once a youngin’
A childish man
He laughed out loud and
Started as we sangHe grew with Grace
And terrorized heart
Not compromising Fate
Nor Darkening parts

A long one by Charlie Bogle, Song for Jerry Garcia

Song for Jerry Garcia
You slipped away so quietly
alone, near half-past four
The full moon melted in the sea
as they knocked upon your door
They said you lay there, smiling
in the dark, so peacefully
While an angel sang that lullabye,
Death Don’t Have No Mercy. . .No more you’d stand upon a stage
with poem and melody
Like a wizened sage who held the point of
life’s philosophy
You left them waiting, with heart and rose,
for one more joyful eve
sweet ragtag kids and wanderers
who’d found a place to be

In days gone by, you framed the sky
with china doll refrain
And brokedown palace, and morning dew
and mission in the rain
Shakespeare-wise and stark as Poe
and quaint as toodleloo
Your song was sweeter than chirping birds
And sad as Stella Blue

With a touch of grey, and not fade away
you said we will get by
Till the last rose pricked, the last star burst
and splattered in the sky
Well, the buds still bloom, in the face of doom
the stars shine old and bright
But a shadow falls in all the halls
that were once so filled with light

Tell me now, where are you
where in heaven did you go
Have you gone the way of yesterday
where everybody goes
Did you cross that muddy river
did it have another side
Have you gone away with Uncle John
playing to the tide

They’d found a vein, so rich and pure,
in this fools’ gold paradise
Hearing harps unstrung and glowing words
and the names of wind and ice
It’s true, it’s all inside each soul
to hear such harmony
But it takes a tune to bend the ear
of those who love the key

Tennessee Jed and Staggerlee, Ramblin’ Rose
and poor Cerise
Casey Jones and Jack Straw, too, whatever will
become of you?
Uncle John and Sugaree, August West
and Billy D.
Orphans all, and all too soon, another time’s
forgotten tune

Can someone sing you alive again, old dire wolf
and devil’s friend?
Or will you now forever breathe in book
and haunted reverie?
The storyteller had no choice; now we do not
hear his voice
Did it matter, does it now? Stephen would answer
if he only knew how

He’s gone, he’s gone, so went your song
And naught would bring him back
But gone is a land that none can know
unless it’s life they lack
Yet in this world, we’re cursed to hear
the grim toll of that bell
That tells of days run out and done,
and empty wishing well

Tell me, now, where are you
where in heaven did you go
Have you gone the way of yesterday
where everybody goes
Did you walk out in the morning dew
or back to Tennessee
Tell me, now, where are you
run off with Sugaree

A lifeboat from the ship of fools,
too full to stay afloat
Somehow sailed, through storm and gale
on drums and soaring note
You captain’d it, against your whim
left tiller to its will
For all aboard, there was no chord
too soft, too sweet or shrill

And now the bark is floating free,
adrift for unknown shore
Where music plays with a lesser range,
from less inspired score
The strangest captain a man could find
‘Mid blood and destiny
Gone home, gone home to streets of gold
and endless symphony

It’s a courageous thing, to laugh and sing
in this world of rage and sin
Where the devil eyes humanity,
and winks, and strokes his chin,
You pay a price, for thinking twice,
and questioning each page
It’s true, the truth will set you free, but it
also builds your cage

The heartstrings are not built to last
through years of snow and rain
They’re feeble host for this fated ghost
Too easy prey for pain
You limp along on what you can,
in sliced eternity
This long goodbye of years flown by,
where time is mockery

In the end it’s just disquieting, to think
these things so real
That beauty is not proof against the
turning of the wheel
It seems a dream, too strange to pose
that nature might discard
A thing as pretty as a rose
and love found in guitar. . .

Tell me, now, where are you
where in heaven did you go
Did you ride that northbound train away
to old Fennario
Are you strumming chords of clouds right now
and flowers, sand, and sea
Tell me, now, where are you
maybe ask old Staggerlee

Tell me, now, where are you
where in heaven did you go
Did you catch the bus to Terrapin
with Neal and Jack-a-Roe
Do you live on inside a song somewhere,
or only memory
Tell me, now, where are you
maybe ask old Staggerlee

Time could be grudging
As it allways does
Jerome bloomed the Crowning
As if all were home

And the last one I’ll post, Lightening His Load by Jerry Geldzahler

Lightening His Load
Smiling, bearded cherub
Wisdom from you flowed
Friend or father, brother, saint
We all basked in your glow.
The burden that you carried
all your loved ones would have shared.
We all added to it
Not that we didn’t care.
You showed us some light,
We huddled near.
You never disappointed
Year after year
We didn’t know how tough it was,
Couldn’t see it on your face.
Believe me if we knew it,
We’d have given you some space.
Now your gone forever,
The movements in disarray.
Your loss was a great setback,
We miss you everyday.
What we had was too important,
What you stood for we won’t forget.
Love your brother, fix the world
We’ll try to get there yet.
Your devoted will remember
that smiling , happy face
That musical genius
that took us into space.
We knew it was much more than that,
Those notes were heaven sent.
You told us that more importantly,
you were only playing the event.
And so its up to those of us that you have left behind,
To find the new direction
That will expand our minds.
There will be another chapter
We’re not sure just how.
You carried a lot of weight for us,
We’ll take it over now.There are some wonderful poems for Jerry and other Grateful Dead poetry by Scott Wannberg here.

Go to Remembering Jerry Garcia to read some of the thoughts shared this past week, between Jerry’s birthday and today.

Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile