The disastrous show last Friday has triggered a minor depression. I'm okay, but I have temporarily lost interest in some things I normally enjoy. Like several different kinds of music. Basically all I can listen to right now are Sigur Ros, classical and opera. I'll get over it soon enough, I'm sure. It's happened before and I came through it with a fresh appreciation for the artists that I'd ignored.

Fed up with trying to use the Acid Program as a "regular" music studio, I have gone back to loop-based compositions. I'd forgotten how much fun that is. Plus, I can take all that I learned in the failed "regular" sessions and apply it to the new stuff. Right now I'm working on a piece that features chopped-up lines from a fiery church sermon, arranged out of context, and placed strategically within a heavy ambient structure. It's coming along quite nicely.

My son and my wife are on summer vacation (she's a teacher and he's a student), so the dynamic in the house has changed somewhat from what it normally is. Not that that's such a bad thing...the way things have been going lately I'd venture to guess that it will be good. I have been known to be wrong, though. I reckon they'll take some trips to Stacie's home town, just to get away from me (I am a very difficult person to tolerate in long doses...I admit it). It also gives me some "private time" (which has proven, in the past, to be essential to my state of mind).

So, I went to the video store and rented 6 DVDs, with the intention of watching them over the course of the week with Stacie (Bryan's got to the point where he wouldn't want to watch a movie with us even if it were something he actually wanted to see...I'm sure it 's a "teen thing").
The roster:

~~~"The Sum of All Fears" (watched that one this morning. It was decent. Awesome nuclear bomb explosion sequence)
~~~"Spider Man" (no, I have NOT seen it)
~~~"A Series of Unfortunate Events" (I've grown to enjoy Jim Carrey...I never thought that would happen)
~~~"Artificial Intelligence" (completely blew this off when it was first released)
~~~"Session 9" (ya gotta love a horror movie set in an abandoned mental hospital)
~~~"Reign of Fire" (which has flown under my radar since the day it was released)

To change the subject...we finally received some good news from the Social Security Disability people. At least now we know when my benefits will begin. June 18th for the first regular payment and July 1 for the big chunk. It shouldn't be hard to wait that long, seeing as how we've already waited two years.

The Kansas City vacation is booked and ready to go. Arrival on Thursday, Sigur Ros concert, night in a fine motel, drive down to Springfield the next morning for the Cave Tour at Fantastic Caverns and maybe a detour through Branson, then back to Springfield to stay the night (in another fine motel) then departing for the return trip in the early afternoon.

Of course, I am most excited about the Sigur Ros show. To make things even better I finally convinced Bryan that it would really be fun, so he's coming with me! I DO think he'll have a blast. He's never been to a rock concert before. He's never seen an awesome light show. It will be a night to remember and one day he will look back on it with fond memories. I am certain of that.