So, after nailing my exam (100%!) in record time on Friday afternoon, I hit the road for Chestertown, MD for the HP fest over the weekend, arriving with plenty time time to go on stage, in part because the opening festivities were running a bit late. Our show Friday night (pictured above) went pretty well, we got everybody dancing, which is generally the idea.

Saturday’s vending and park show went pretty well, although it was hot and we were doing a lot of shifting our seats around to maintain our shaded positions. We sold some things, talked to folks, and generally played a nice little show with more people watching by the end than at the beginning. Cool.

Saturday night’s show (back at the Garfield Theater where we played Friday – a really nice room) was, from my perspective, a big mixed. I’d put the first twenty minutes of that show up against any show we’ve ever played, but somewhere after that, we lost the crowd and never quite got them back. We were opening for the trivia contest, which is honestly what most folks were there for, so it was a tougher room (I also kind of blame my situation the previous two weeks not allowing for enough rehearsal, but who knows…).

The trip home was much more relaxed than the way out, which was nice (no pressure for time).

Otherwise, ’twas nice to hang out with friends, old and new. Also of special interest was that I finally, after schedules conspired to years of missed connections, finally got to meet Brian from Draco and the Malfoys, who’s a pretty cool guy I look forward to talking and hanging with in the future.

Sunday afternoon and Monday were nice – got some stuff done (bills paid, groceries shopped), and had a nice day off (save a doctor’s appointment) on Monday (Columbus Day observed) to hang with my spouse a bit.

This week, it’s back to the grind, though I have a couple of musical things to hash out and some basic life stuff to do. I think I’ll live. I still think I need a bit of a vacation after the last couple of weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been plowing through class work all week to the point that Earned Value Management formulas are dripping out of my ears (my nose is too occupied by the mucus – I ran out of zyrtec this week, replaced it with a claritin for one day, and I think that was enough to require my system to readjust – I’ve been sneezing and sniffling like crazy with allergy symptoms the last 48 hours), so I haven’t had time for much else (besides the work crap -putting out fires and saying nice things about myself for the end-of-year self eval for HR- I had to do as well). I am learning some things, and I’ve made some new virtual friends with my team who I’ve been spending about eight hours on the phone with each day during my eleven or twelve hour shifts this week.

That said, I did get end up finally hitting close to the mark that Kirsten wanted on a demo track for her new tune that I quickly knocked out Monday evening, and I didn’t totally embarrass myself at ceili class – I’m reasonably competent at the Fairy Reel, Walls of Limerick, and Bonfire Dance now, with just three classes under me. I don’t know where my feet go most of the time, and I still spin the wrong way about sixty percent of the time, but I’m getting better. Thankfully, we all have fun doing it. It was actually kind of what I needed Thursday night to knock out some of the stress, since I only got ten miles in on the bike this week (though each of those miles averaged between four and five minutes, so I was really pushing), and the 150-250 push-ups or so I’ve been doing every day (to work upper body and tighten up the loose skin I’m left with after the weight loss) the last two weeks aren’t as enjoyable as the biking.

Also, apropos of nothing, in a certain post by a certain daughter of mine on social media, women I know are debating the merits of my ass on the internet. This is a weird, weird thing, and it’s absolutely the last thing I’d ever expect to happen. I suppose this means my fitness program is working.

Friday, I spend the morning wrapping my class, taking the exam around lunchtime (hopefully it won’t take too long – the review feels like it’s pretty targeted), then hitting the road for Chestertown MD and its annual Harry Potter Festival. Humdingers are on at 7pm tonight, and play shows tomorrow at 1pm in the park and 7:30 or so in the pub. It should be fun. I’ve been trying to make this one for years now, and I’m finally going to do it (though i don’t necessarily like my timing, exam running on central time is a pain). I’ll still have five or six hours to cover 200 miles or so (even with Friday DC traffic in the way), so I should be good, but wouldn’t mind some positive thoughts or offerings to the traffic gods on my behalf this afternoon.

Today’s tunes aren’t bad; nice mix this time, though number four (and six a bit, actually) mostly makes me think of This guy (and his various copycats), who always make events like Dragon*Con so much more interesting:

1. “Back in Black” – AC/DC
2. “Heavy Duty Judy (live) – Frank Zappa
3. “Love Is A Battlefield”- Pat Benatar
4. “Careless Whisper” – Wham!
5. “Lonely Boy” – The Black Keys
6. “If You Leave” – Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark
7. “Dancing With Myself” – Billy idol
8. “Aqualung (live 2003)” – Jethro Tull
9. “One Way or Another” – Blondie
10. “Svarta Ankan” – Falconer
11. “Big Sur” – The Thrills

Finally, with the loss of Tom Petty this week, this video’s been popping up a lot. So much talent on that stage. Everybody loves Prince’s barnburner of a guitar solo, though my personal favorite bit is Dhani Harrison on acoustic rhythm guitar there in the back. As things really get rolling, he’s there doing his thing with a big shit-eating grin on his face, like he can’t believe that he’s up there playing music with all these amazing talents. Even though he’s a Beatle’s kid, he still looks like he feels like I would if I was in his place; in awe of (and maybe a little intimidated by) all these rock gods, but ridiculously excited and grateful to be small part of it. Dhani Harrison is us.

So, this is where I’m going to be this weekend, entertaining all the fine folks who come out to the festival to do the wizarding world thing with the rest of the Blibbering Humdingers. I hear we’re playing three shows, the one I’m sure of right now is Friday night at 7pm at the big kick-off thing. We’ll be playing with a bunch of other cool wizard rock acts. Shenanigans are sure to ensue.

One of our sets is supposed to be in a pub. After the week I’ve had (it hasn’t been unpleasant, just long), somebody better buy me a beer.

Yeah, it’s pretty quiet on this end of things. After a completely ridiculous end-of-fiscal-year adventure (which I’m not sure is over yet), I’m taking a class this week for the certification I’m supposed to have in this job. Unlike all the automated self-paced classes I’ve taken, this one’s “live”, but it’s still online, but not the kind of online course I loved during the course of grad school. It’s the kind of thing I’d rather actually have in a classroom – I’m on the phone all day, working exercises with a group of classmates, which isn’t all that bad, except the thing runs on central time, which means I’m on the line 9-530 local time or so all week, but in order to get all the other stuff done I have to get done, I’m going in at my usual 6am to put out fires (still a few small brush fires to deal with), make an attempt to get my year-end self-assessment in the new HR system upon which depends whether my salary goes up any or not (which would be nice, but this is exactly the wrong week to spring that on me), and ideally get the (thankfully limited) out-of-class work knocked out.

Suffice it to say, it’s Tuesday evening, and I’ve got twenty-three hours on the books already.

It all boils down to an exam (conducted online) being held at some point on Friday, though I don’t know when yet (though with this central time zone crap it’ll probably be way later than I’d like), and that’s a stressor, because I’m due on stage with the Humdingers at 7pm on Friday night in Chestertown, MD, which on a good day is three and a half hours away (gotta go up to go down – it’s on the peninsula), though in my case, however the trip gets made, there’s Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend DC between me and my rock star lifestyle.

You can see how this bugs me.

Oh well….I managed to catch a MewTwo last weekend, so there was that.

Quickly following up on the previous post, I have gotten yet more “promising” news claiming all my stuff will be done and settled by the end of the day.

We shall see.

warning: contains significant workplace bitching vague-blogging content

This week, as some of you may be aware, is the last week of the fiscal year for many areas of the public sector, including mine. This generally includes a mad dash to obligate ALL THE DOLLARS before the end of the year to make budgets work out and such. Many people are very busy. I was very busy in my decade or so as a purchasing type. However, I have never been as busy (or as frustrated, angry, and fed up) as I’ve been this week, as a program manager who’s just trying to ensure that orders are in place to make sure my people can work for me next week.

The organization I work for, which references contracts and purchasing in it’s name, for Pete’s sake, has proven remarkably inept in those particular areas, to the point that serious surveillance has been implemented to make sure that things are all being done properly, resulting in supposedly thorough reviews of things like work statements and actual contract vehicles to make sure that they’re reasonably written and contain measureable outcomes (and, in one actual example, that a software development contract actually contains the terms “software” and “development” in the work statement).

All told, my stuff isn’t that bad (and I’ve been told that my interface with the contracting process has been top-notch, to the point that management has stuck a point in my official position description for reviewing and advising on other folks’ stuff as well as mine), especially the stuff I’ve actually gotten to write (I’m still dealing with a bunch of stuff I inherited from the last idiot who sat in this chair). This, however, has not exempted me in any way from going through circular, roundabout, repetitive reviews of every last little thing with various people, including, a so-called “expert” who has a problem actually listening to what other people say, dropping contemptuous profanity into official conversations and correspondence, and most horrifically, can’t seem to not always be chewing on some sort of food while on the telephone.

I have had all my stuff blessed multiple times (I signed one form SEVEN TIMES last week) over the last two months in preparation for wrapping these things up before the end of the FY. As of late Thursday night, the two contracts that allow my team of six-ish people to do the work we need to do and get paid for it have not yet been issued. I am very angry, and have been very angry for this entire week as continual roadblocks are put in the way of me getting my work done, as anyone who’s been in my personal sphere of influence can attest.

I’m hoping the last day of the week gets itself sorted out, but I have mostly let this stuff go, because it’s out of my (the technical professional) hands now that the requirements are sorted (unless I have to go diving into contract modifications to find a mistake made four years ago that nobody noticed before that’s now keeping a routine thing from getting my people paid…again!). I have some other usual Friday paperwork to do, as well as some things to tie up because I’m taking one of those courses for certification next week, and hopefully get out of the office early because I worked eleven hours the other day and they owe me.

Otherwise, I haven’t had a lot of headspace for other stuff this week, frankly. I got one nice bike ride in after not being sick, did a ton (like hundreds) of push-ups in my office this week to try to relieve frustration, and drove a bunch of hours to go pick up my kid at college for her fall break (that bit was kind of nice).

I did have a decent dance Thursday night, even though I had to convince myself to go after the day I had – I think I can maybe do two different ceilis now – The Bonfire Dance and The Fairy Reel, at least in terms of the large geography, even if my feet don’t always know where to go. It relieved a little stress.

This weekend, I’ve got a couple of things, including swinging by Richmond Comicon for a bit to visit a couple of friends and pick up some stuff I bought from artist buddy Dan Nokes that I bought months ago. I also got one of those EX Raid passes in Pokemon Go, so I’m coordinating with the local crew I play with to take down a Mewtwo on Saturday morning. The Girls are also doing a small local dance competition (one sponsored by the cross-town rival school, so I don’t have any work to do), which I’ll close out my afternoon with before the celebratory post-Feis meal and drinks for those of age.

Oh, I should probably learn a couple of new songs for the Chestertown HP Festival gig next weekend, but that shouldn’t be a big deal.

And, as the title suggests, I’ve been so spitting angry and frustrated this week that I couldn’t count as I set this one up. So you get thirteen off my Sansa I loaded up a long time ago and have no idea what’s on it after re-discovering it recently:

1. “When I Go” – Ingrid Michaelson
2. “Holland Road” – Mumford and Sons
3. “Boys Don’t Cry” – The Cure
4. “If You Want Me (live)” – The Swell Season
5. “Take Me With U” – Prince & The Revolution
6. “Tear Down The Wall” – Saraya
7. “My Next Girlfriend” – Mikey Mason
8. “Just Shouldn’t Change” – Earth to Bob
9. “Tick” – They Might Be Giants
10. “Batman Smells (A Rebuttal)” – John Anealio
11. “Think For Yourself” – The Beatles
12. “The Moth (live)” – Aimee Mann
13. “One and Only” – Queensrÿche

Late last week, there was a bit of a bug running through the house. This happens the beginning of every school year; just the way it is.

It hit me Friday afternoon, and left me sidelined most of the weekend. Chills, fever, aches, all the good stuff. I had to bow out of the D&D game, didn’t do much at all but watch movies (including old standbys “Bring it On” and “Real Genius”, so you know it was serious) and crash on the couch.

I didn’t love it.

I did manage to get the grocery shopping done and ended up making some comfort food: chicken and waffles, the Pennsylvania-Dutch-by-way-of-80s-school-cafeteria kind, not that southern abomination. It was good, and since it involved the crock pot, very little work for my sick-ass self.

It was so bad that I ended up calling in sick on Monday, which I definitely needed. More movies were watched, more couch and bed time logged. I’m trying to get back into life again today, because I can only be absent so long before end of fiscal year bullshirt gets too much to handle (damn forking lawyers…seriously). I seriously can’t wait until next week when this is all over.

Of course, next week I’m taking a class, instead of being in the office. Except, it’s a virtual class, which means I’ll be at my office desk anyway, just trying to ignore the work world while hanging on conference calls for four-and-a-half days. Like that’s gonna work.

Oh well.

A final tribute to my weekend status, as THEE Bruce Dickinson says at 4:12:

…if only it were that simple.

I have signed entirely too many documents this week. I have signed one particular document SEVEN TIMES. And the week’s not over yet. I joked last night that these purchasing folks will be asking for blood types and stool measurements/descriptions before all is said and done, though I’m pretty sure I was kidding on the square.

I’m kind of done thinking about this for now, honestly. Just makes me angry and despondent, just like I’ve been as I’ve left the office pretty much every day this week. I’m seriously going to stab someone with a pen soon, even if all the signing I’m doing is electronic. It’s just more dramatic that way.

As I said, I’ve been varying up the exercise a bit – still biking, but I did this again last night:

Two classes in, I pretty much know the big geography of The Fairy Reel (a traditional Irish set dance that I hear is “the hard one”, which, as it’s got a Neil Gaiman poem based on it, which automatically makes it the best one)…now I just need to learn “the feet thing”, which’ll come.

I’m having fun with it, and I’m engaging in one of the things the rest of my family really enjoys, which is generally a good thing. Also, the little girls seem to tolerate my presence.

With only two classes under my belt, though, I will not, however, be performing in any way whatsoever at ChesterFest this weekend, though I’ll be in attendance, as my spouse and at least one child will be doing something, and hopefully the farmers’ market won’t be completely pushed out by indpendent LulaRoe consultant booths.

I will, however, be running my monthly D&D game with the grad students Saturday afternoon, which is always fun. I’m looking forward to that.

Anyway, that’s the story from here, mostly. Here a some tunes. Not a bad mix today, lots of the usual suspects, but little bit of an edge to some of it, which is appreciated today. Also, it’s kind of serendipitous that it includes “Seven Nation Army”, which has been the inspiration for that tune Kirsten and I are working on:

1. “Golden Years” – David Bowie
2. “Derek’s Song” – The Coathangers
3. “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen
4. “Feeling Ok” – Best Coast
5. “Barracuda” – Heart
6. “The Whistler”- Jethro Tull
7. “Blut Und Feuer” – Varg
8. “Thunderstruck” – AC/DC
9. “Seven Nation Army” – The White Stripes
10. “Human” – Rag’nBone Man
11. “Ends of the Earth” – Lord Huron

I’m really dependent on the little things I get to do these days to get me through life, because main-line “stuff I gotta do to meet the base needs at the bottom of Maslow’s Pyramid” just isn’t working for me.

It’s the end of the fiscal year, which used to be a pain in the ass when I was in contracts; it’s even more of a pain in the ass when I’m trying to get a couple of orders in place so my little part of the organization can keep the lights on and continue to provide the services we supposedly do.

Rightfully, after some investigation earlier this year found that large swaths of my organization couldn’t find its ass with two hand and a flashlight (and if, by chance, the left hand found it, it wouldn’t tell the right, in the interest of maintaining informational and political advantage over its’ peers)*, all the stuff involved in the acquisition arena has fallen under tremendous scrutiny. My personal stuff isn’t so bad (I mean, I actually include requirements in my requirements documents), but everything is going through a large, ever-changing gauntlet of reviews. I have been assured that my stuff is “good to go” four or five times now, only to be told that there’s some new piece of documentation I have to sign, or some new bullshit review with a “clever” name yanked out of some MBA textbook I have to sit through, or something else. My team, who don’t know if they’ll be working come October first, are justifiably nervous. I haven’t even told them that it looks like their order (which I could process in fifteen minutes were I sitting over in purchasing) just got moved to another person’s workload in as many weeks based on the emails I read last evening.

Even though the meeting schedule’s been really light this week, I’ve been leaving the office very frustrated, angry, and/or despondent each evening, entertaining fantasies about updating the resume and re-establishing contacts with my professional network to see what’s out there, but honestly, given the current state of my industry (I’m not even going to link to a story here -just frikkin’ pick one), I don’t think there’s much.

I’m at the point where I’ve kind of decided to give it one more year, see how much better I can leave this place than I found it in that time, then move on, unless things change. That’ll be tough enough, as while I have a certain amount of authority, any decisions I do make end up being walked back because of the previously described “right hand/left hand” issue, or some other thing. Of course, given the rumors, my particular organization might not even be a going concern by the time the middle-distance future gets here. Good thing I have enough seniority that should that happen, a place will be found for me…somewhere.

To combat these feelings of argh dammit, Workwise, I’ve been lining up more courses to shore up my professional certifications (getting some education helped my sense of purpose many years ago the last time I seriously had these kind of feelings) over the next couple of months, which should at least put me in a decent position should I decide to jump or get pushed.

Otherwise, I’ve been keeping up the fitness stuff – riding bikes, joining a once-a-week group dance class with the spouse and children, and adding some cheap upper-body work (100 or so push-ups split across several sets throughout the day) to see about tightening things up now that the fat’s largely gone. This helps. Of course, I did eleven miles last night I don’t even remember; I was on total auto-pilot the whole way. It doesn’t always clear the head, but sore muscles at least feel like progress.

Also, I’ve been working on some remote collaborative songwriting with my bandmates – K had a neat little song idea we played with at Dragon*Con behind the table a bit that I’ve been working on fleshing out – I’ve spent quite a bit of time recording demos/scratch tracks of what I’m hearing, which I send to her, and she tells me it’s not quite right, but I think we may have finally kind of found the happy medium around 8pm last night after sending a bunch of quick phone voice recorder files back and forth. The result is going to be more syncopated (less heavy metal than my working take – no worries, I’ll save that for something else, because the pieces are still cool), and more lo-fi (which was always our intention – the drum loops I found weren’t helping serve that need – I found myself dreaming about the best way to record my cajon last night). I think we’re coming up with some good art here, though I’m seriously finding out that while I’m a pretty decent technical bass player these days (finally), I don’t have enough theory to support terribly complex songwriting or improvisation on my own (yet)**. The stuff S and K sent me last night made perfect sense once I worked through it, though I don’t have the synaptic connections built to come up with it on my own. While this occasionally feeds my feelings of inadequacy, I’m learning a hell of a lot thanks to some open and supportive collaborators….

…a totally different, welcome experience when compared to my professional life.

______________________

* – I came up with this analogy in conversation last night – I’m kind of proud of it, even if it’s derivative.

** – Sorry D.J., as much as I like your song, I’m “the second best bass player in my own (other) damned band” – you simply have a better innate understanding of our shared instrument than I do. That said, I only seriously picked up the bass about five years ago, so I’m only two and a half decades behind where I am on guitar. I think that’s fair.

I spent nine hours or so in cars this weekend.

Saturday, I drove five hours or so round trip for a 90 minute gig. it was totally worth it, even if it wasn’t our most energetic show. People still dug it; plus, TAPA always throw a good party:

Sunday, I spent four hours round trip taking my kid back to college. That drive is really dull (I swear, you barely turn the wheel), but I spent some time with some of my favorite ladies. I’m okay with that. We got her settled with some things, and got to hang out with the campus cat.

Still, I’m kind of hoping for a little less road time this week. We’ll see.