- So I had to cancel our July 4 vacation because I had to work except I didn't have to work I was just going to kick myself for turning down $2 a minute - And the motorcycle is long overdue for some maintenance which involves some serious surgery, $400 worth of tools I needed to buy and replacement parts ordered from f'ing Dresden but I dusted the fuck out of an F430 Scuderia the other night and it remains the most awesome motorcycle in LA excluding Tom Cruise's Vyrus 987 - My daughter is hitting the terrible twos early and is being quite defiant and assertive but is now starting to form sentences and can parse if/then statements and is halfway to potty-trained - Childcare is kind of a bear right now because I work a variable schedule and my wife has 4 babies to deliver in the next few weeks but we've got friends and resources and ingenuity and I was actually able to take her to swimming lessons last weekend - Attempting to sell a novel is a total pain in the ass but literary agents are orders of magnitude more polite than movie agents and I'm getting far more traction than I deserve - Am scheduled to begin a gig that will suck down 60 hours a week plus a 45-mile commute at full union pop with pension and benefits that will likely let me bank enough money in a year to let me and my wife coast for 2 years while she re-establishes her practice in Seattle, book sales be damned So my instinct is to try and see the glass as half empty, but it's mostly runneth over.
Imagine how much fun it will be once your daughter can fully form sentences! I'm imagining the politeness hierarchy is something like this: Literary Agents > Music Booking Agents > Movie Agents > Airline Ticket Agents. You ever see Cruise riding around?
I've had the nastiest interactions by far with music agents, although a friend of mine is one. Back in the '90s the Legendary Pink Dots posted on Usenet that they were looking for clubs to play and that if anyone had any leads, they should contact the LPD's agent. I worked at a club that the LPD totally should have played, so I called their agent up. I got "who is this? Why are you calling me? You're not the guy I talk to! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!" and hung up on. The agent then dialed the club owner, chewed him out, and blackballed our club from all his acts. I nearly lost my job, despite the Usenet posting as a smoking gun (where the hell would I get the specific number for a specific agent at William Morris after all?). 15 years later that entire faction of bands still doesn't play that faction of clubs. Who the fuck holds a pointless grudge like that? My understanding is that Tom Cruise has a lot of motorcycles. I'll say this: I haven't seen a Vyrus riding around. I'll also say that if I had $20k I still wouldn't spend it on this but if it were, like, eight? Hoo boy.
Huh, that's interesting. A just a bit ridiculous that those bands still don't play those clubs. I've been involved with putting together shows every so often for about three years now and have had maybe one experience that I would consider negative. Outside of that everybody has been nice, or at the least tersely polite. But I'm guessing it's two different scenes and scales that we're operating at.
Is this a motorcycle he rides in movies? I looked it up, it's distinctive, but I'm wondering how the hell I know what motorcycle Tom Cruise owns.- And the motorcycle is long overdue for some maintenance which involves some serious surgery, $400 worth of tools I needed to buy and replacement parts ordered from f'ing Dresden but I dusted the fuck out of an F430 Scuderia the other night and it remains the most awesome motorcycle in LA excluding Tom Cruise's Vyrus 987
Vyrus, as a company, is five guys who made racing parts until Bimota wanted someone else to make the Tesi 3D. They're about as bespoke as you can get. Vyrus is kind of the 2-wheeled equivalent of Duesenberg - they're just not something you see every day. Considering how few bikes they make, they kind of make a scene.
Jesus Christ, I want a motorcycle. And a leather jacket. And black boots. Where does one start? I'm keeping this question purposefully vague because I feel like you'd know where to start answering. Assume my interest is more than that of a passing dilettante.
Start with a course. I can't recall where you are, but in the US, the MSF does weekend courses that allow you to test for your motorcycle endorsement. They're often underwritten by state DMVs. You pay $150, show up with a helmet, gloves and boots and spend the weekend on little 125s in a parking lot.
Ooooh, what book are you writing? Also, is this your first kid? It's weird being in a position that I've grown up enough and seen how my parents have raised my siblings and I to be able to define what I think is "good and bad parenting." But I'm not acting on that information because...I don't want a kid right now, yo. But I do keep it in mind and write semi-letters to my potential future kid who will totally be named Ramses if it's a boy. Stuff like "I am 18 and an asshole. I will forget this 10 years from now. Don't let me." Or things like that. And then first-time parents bring their kids over and I'm left babysitting and I see them do shit that I can only respond to with "are you fuckin kidding me tho, why are you letting him/her do this?" I've become super appreciative of how my parents raised me, so I hope I don't forget that when I do(?) end up having my own. First kids are experiments, though. Middle child for life, it's actually a huge perk if you use it properly. I'm ranting now.
Nothing wrong with ranting! I have an n of one but I've come to the opinion that people who consider parenting before they become parents are better prepared to parent than those who don't. I know that there's this global illuminati that maintains that parenting is a life-changing unexpected hellstorm of shattered expectations and vivid insights but I gotta say - her growth and development has been a reassuringly predictable process. And I definitely believe both you and the kid stand to benefit greatly if you're in the zone to want them. My wife had to spend a couple years talking me into it (long story) but the kid's pretty neat. Book is done. Is through 1st draft. Is a paranormal romance spy thriller about God. Take that.