Hey folks!
Short “Parade” edition today. I march in our first parade of the season tonight, then camp all weekend, so…
Hand’s down Winner from last week’s contest (and also first to submit) was…. Jim! Congrats!!
And for this week:
And now for your chance to caption:
Last night I was all wired from rehearsal and desperately needed to unwind. So I plopped down on my sofa to watch some tv.
Bad tv.
Disney tv.
What?? Toddlers & Tiaras was a repeat!
So, the Dizzy Disney movie selection? 16 Wishes. The story of a poor, teen girl who gets the magical gift of 16 wishes on her 16th birthday. But she learns valuable lessons about life and how good she really had it once the wishes start going awry.
Think Sixteen Candles meets Maid to Order meets Cinderella meets High School Musical meets… sadly, the list goes on.
Complete treacle.
However…
The main boy in the movie was played by Jean-Luc Bilodeau. And I completely blame him for making me stay tuned when I should have just turned the shit off.
Can you say “totes adorbs”??
His eyebrows were absolutely hypnotic. And that nose! My god. They drew me in and I couldn’t help myself. I simply had no choice!
The bad part about this? He was born in 1990. Late 1990. He’s only freakin’ 21!!
At least he can legally be plied with “Jesus juice”.
Don’t judge me! (Oh, okay– judge away). I feel like such a 16 year old girl… trapped inside a lecherous old man.
But you gotta admit, he is pretty fetch.
And yes, I AM making fetch happen this year, beyotches.
Love you, mean it. *kiss kiss*
Celebraaaaeeete!
Memorial Day marked my first day off work since New Years, and also my first 3-day weekend since then.
And boy was I busy!
Here’s how I filled my weekend.
- Friday after work I took my car in for regularly scheduled maintenance.
- I also managed to delacquer my trombone (see previous post). It’s awesome.
- Saturday I ran errands with Kyle, which included ordering the tile for my backsplash.
- Saturday also entailed an IKEA run, where I got a cow rug for my bedroom:
- I managed to break the footboard of my bed while positioning the rug, so I fixed it with gorilla glue and wood screws. Now it should be able to withstand… Things. Ahem.
- I finally got my wrought iron planter planted; I chose day lilies.
- On Sunday Detrick and I went to the Twins game then out for dinner with Robert & Matt (friends from Iowa who came up for the weekend)
- I cleaned my place, including dusting and steam mopping.
- I managed to workouts, including a 5 mile run on Monday.
- I practiced my horns, including my like-new trombone. It sounds great, btw.
- And I finished reading a book, watched MI:4, and had sex. Not all at the same time of course.
Phew! I think I need a day off from my days off.
Not anymore!
This long weekend I decided that I was finally going to tackle something I’d been wanting to do for a long time:
I de-lacquered my trombone bell.
I love my trombone (a King 4B Sonorous with F-attachment) but truth be told, I was always a teensy bit embarrassed by it.
You see, I rescued the horn after it languished in the depths of an Alabama basement for years. It was discolored and pitted and scratched.
It plays great and sounds wonderful, but it looks… rough.
Basically it is the dogfighting pit bull of horns. Or was.
Mostly I’ve always been of the mindset that it doesn’t have to look pretty, it just has to play pretty. But I am painfully aware of how unpretty it was while sitting next to my fellow trombone players.
They have these nice, spiffy horns and mine really stood out like a turd in a punchbowl in comparison.
The main reason is that the epoxy lacquer that King used back in the day ages funny. It darkens the brass to a fakey, orangey-gold color. Like a fake gold watch color.
Not pretty.
That and my horn was all mottled and had brass rust pitting, etc.
Okay- so long story longer– I got out my brasso, an industrial scotch brite pad, ultra fine steel wool, and set to work scrubbing the hell out of that fucker.
3.5 hours later:
As you can see, now the horn gleams with that old timey, raw brass matte finish (like Winton Marsalis’s trumpet).
I don’t have a good “before” pic, but from this detail you can see where I left some of the darker finish for patina:
So now instead of being an embarrassment, my horn will be the cool, trendy, delacquered “bell of the ball”!
I can’t wait to show it off next season!
Salut jizzbags!
Here are the li’l bastard comix for this week- I truly hope you enjoy!
But first: last weeks caption winner was… Howard!! Congratulations!
And now for this week’s bunch:
And here’s one for you to bastardized with your own caption. Do it for the troops!
So, I get home last night and get in the elevator with one of my floor neighbors.
This is one of the few neighbors I see with any frequency and have chatted with for any length of time.
She’s probably in her 50′s but looks much younger. Thin, very pretty and well-preserved… as only money can buy.
I mostly see her walking her two dogs, and last night was no exception.
She wrangles the dogs into the elevator and pushes the 3rd floor button (but she lives on my floor??). I figure it was an accident so I reach over and hit 5.
Her: Oh sorry, I forgot. I don’t live on 5 anymore.
Me: You moved?
Her: Yeah, we got a divorce. 35 years we’re together and he suddenly goes and finds someone else.
Me (horrified): Oh, I’m so sorry to hear this…
Her: Yeah, well… A nice young man bought our place so that’s good. And now I rent on the 3rd floor.
Me: Well… I’m glad you are still in the building
Her: Me too. I loved living here and really didn’t want to leave.
Me: Um… You have a good night.
Her (mirthless laugh): Yeah.
Typical Drum Corps-
Sixty percent of the time
It rains every time.
