Let's Just Call This One The Kitchen Sink.

     It's amazing, how many people saw me for a couple of days, before they realized that I shaved my beard off. It just goes to show you, that people will look at you, but they don't really see you. How often have you made a drastic change, and found that very few people actually noticed it?  As you know, I didn't get rid of the beard for attention, because this was all part of a plan that I made back in January. I don't do things to get noticed, quite the contrary really. I do things not to get noticed. Getting rid of the beard, even though it was planned, was also part of becoming faceless again. That beard got me attention, not all good, and not all bad, but it got attention, and I'm kind of over it. I guess it worked, since they didn't seem to notice it was gone for two days. Even my ukulele teacher had to pause and ask me what was different about me.

     On to other matters of importance or non-importance, it all depends on how you look at it. I was reminded today, when I was listening to Greg Proops podcast, of The Scottish Play. One passage in particular. Oh, if you don't know what The Scottish Play is, you should look it up, because I'm not going to name it here. It is cursed after all. Anyway, it was written by Shakespeare, and the passage in particular was when the witches were around their cauldron making a charm. He read it to the crowd, because it was his Halloween show for them, and what is more Halloween than that. It is perfection i writing, and yes that is my opinion and fact is left up to you. I say it's left up to you, because I'm going to share it with you right here, so that you can read it for yourself. I think it's an incredible piece of writing, and let's face it, Halloween needs to be a bit of a longer holiday anyway, so why not stretch it out in prose.

"SCENE I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches

First Witch

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch

Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.

First Witch

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Third Witch

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good."

     I hope that you enjoyed reading that as much as I had hearing it today, and then reading it again tonight before posting it here. Heh, maybe I'll share a little Edgar Allen Poe on Sunday. Anyway, the point I am getting at with this, is, that as I sat listening to that today, i wondered if I could ever write anything as good as that. I really don't know if I can, or if I do, I don't think it could ever be as memorable. I know this screams in the face of something I wrote a few weeks back, at how much I pride myself in my writing, but I have my doubts at times, and this is one of those times. When you put your work up against a master, you are often humbled in their presence.

     I'm off again tomorrow, which means I will get plenty of rest of Guys Night Out. I have already set it up, that I'm going to be the designated driver, so drinking is off the table for Friday night. I haven't fully committed to quitting drinking yet, but I'm in the ballpark of it. I guess it will all come down to whether or not, I can build up the nerve to ask out my bartender on Saturday night. If I chicken out again, I have to have a reason to go back in there, until I do get the nerve, and the only reason I can think of, is to drink, which keeps putting me in that catch 22 of trying to use liquid courage and then going to far, and not wanting to make a fool of myself. Wow, this post has really gone all over the place hasn't it?

     I do plan on riding Saturday morning, and I'm hoping to get those early morning shots of Saki to share with you. If I can get the right look, I'm imagining some pretty interesting looking shots. What I see in my head, is incredible, but that is often the case. My imagination has that easy ability of running wild, which leaves me stuck in reality and a bit disappointed. That is part of the reason that I stopped drawing as much. I couldn't manage to get what was in my head, on the paper. It is much easier with writing for me. I can always write what is in my head. Here is an example for what I see for the early morning shots of Saki. The mornings light broke the horizon over my shoulder. Saki was leaning on it's stand next to a small hut like building with "Harvey Groves" and an arrow pointing directly at Saki, painted on the side. Saki's headlights beamed off into the distance leaving a beam of light to cut the darkness. The sun's early morning orange hue began to cascade over Saki, bathing it in that amber light. It's bringing out feint tinges of color gleaming on the tank, making the red on Saki to burn with fire. Saki is standing as a modern marvel next to the rundown old hut, it's the classic example of yesterday meeting today.

     That's a pretty good image right. That is the reason I will end up disappointed in what pictures I actually get. They can't possibly come out like that. This is how I torture myself. It is also why I can't seem to get the nerve up to ask out my bartender. It's the same thing. I have everything run through my head. I see me asking her, I see her accepting, I also see her not accepting. I see the date. I see me walking out feeling dejected. All of this runs through my mind, and is the ultimate, point/counterpoint. I talk myself into it, and then talk myself right out of it. It's annoying, and the reason why I say that I have to stop being myself. If I get out of my own head, I can do this, but I haven't managed to do that yet.

     I was going to save this for Favorite Song of the Week on Tuesday, but I couldn't wait. I found this band a little over a year ago, and they have been around for some time. They are more Youtube famous than musically famous because of a video they did a few years ago, called 5 People 1 Guitar. They played Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know". All the members of the band on one guitar, and they played all the parts. When you get the change look it up, because that isn't the video I'm going to play for you tonight. Tonight is only one member of the band and she is accompanying herself with a ukulele and a bunch of pedals. It's a cover of a Keith Urban song called "Blue Ain't Your Color". So this is Sarah Blackwood of Walk Off The Earth.



     Pretty good right? I think I will dedicate the next few weeks to Walk Off The Earth. They have some pretty impressive videos and songs. For now though, peace in and goodnight.