Crazy Couple of Days
I apologize for the lack of updates. Its been a little nuts around here the past few days. In short order, there was a monsoon for about a week that caused massive flooding in the cellar of my house (thankfully we're on the second floor), but that caused the washer and dryer to become inaccessible, as well as knocked out the hot water heater. The oil burner still isn't working at the moment, and the hot water hasn't been turned back on yet, so we're without heat and hot water, so basically my house is almost unlivable at the moment. If I don't have hot water when I get home, I'm packing up some stuff and going to my parents, because I can't live like that. I think I may have to call my landlord too, to just air my grievances, and ask how he can compensate us (mainly in the form of discounted rent, so we'll see about that, it should be a fun conversation, thats for sure!)
The lack of hot water really sucks. It started Friday, and I basically just washed my hair and that was it. Saturday and Sunday I went to my parents house to shower. I spent the whole day there on Saturday, doing laundry and whatnot. I couldn't really shower yesterday or this morning because of the freezing cold water. I could barely bring myself to get my hair wet enough to get the gel out of it from the previous day. Nasty. I just want it back on, then we can worry about the heat. One of my roommates really needs to call the oil company to setup a contract for the winter. They've been so lazy about it. I'm not doing it because I already have the lease in my name and the cable bill. Another roommate has the electric and gas bills in her name, and Shari has already done plenty as far as the house goes, like finding it! That just leaves my attempted room stealing roommate, who doesn't seem to want to do anything except complain (although she did find a cleaning lady for cheap!), but how hard is it to call and set it up. I would do it, but out of principle I refuse. Hopefully someone did.
In other news, I had a fun filled day on Friday. I basically worked for like 2.5 hours, got an IM from Randy saying I needed to drive my mom into Brooklyn because her uncle was in the hospital and her aunt was a mess because of it, and the fact that she has intestinal cancer on top of it. So that was really pleasant. I got to spend the afternoon, during the monsoon, in an emergency room in Brooklyn. I highly recommend it. Basically it just sucks getting old, and my mom needed to be there to take control of the situation, otherwise my great aunt probably would've needed to be admitted as well. Thankfully my boss was cool and let me take a half day. I left at about 3:30 once everything was under control and we were sitting and waiting. Took my two hours to drive home in the rain. Horrible.
But, then onto the better part of the day, and that would be my date. We had a really good time. We went to Dave and Busters, which is big place, with a restaurant, mini-bowling alley, pool tables and tons of video games. We're probably going out again sometime this week and Friday as well. Should be fun. And its nice because this girl is normal, and has a normal job, unlike Jen, who was basically a bit of a whacko (a fun whacko, but still a whacko nonetheless, its probably a good thing we don't hang out anymore, as whacko and me don't mix), So thats all on that front.
The new guitar continues to be awesome. I had my first lesson with it, although in a new venue as my teacher is no longer partners with his friend in their shop, and turns out they never really were to begin with. So basically his friend screwed him, which really sucks. But, I had a great lesson. He saw me walking up with a new case and asked:
Him: You buy an electric?
Me: Yup!
Him: Fender Strat?
Me: YUP!
Him: American Standard?
Me: YUP!!!
Him: Nice!
We played a little of Pearl Jam's Betterman, then turned up the distortion on the little amp he had and rocked out to some of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, Green Day's American Idiot and Black Sabbath's Iron Man. Really fun stuff. The only problem is, one, I can't play that loud at home, and two, my amp at home, while nice and powerful, only has what is called a clean channel. So all the distortion and stuff thats needed to play a lot of that stuff, just isn't possible with the amp. Thats where effects pedals come in. He lent me one that will overdrive my amp, which produces a different sound. I just have to return it to him next week, as he needs it for a gig he's doing at a local brew-house that I am definitely going to check out next Friday. I already went ahead and bought the same pedal off ebay for cheap, along with another one for cheap that will give me some distortion. That should hold me for a good long while on the gear buying front.
So thats all thats going on. Busy at work with the usual stuff, and praying I have hot water back, and soon!