Dumbledore’s Gay

Big effing whoop! I was reading a Time opinion moaning that Dumbledore’s sexual orientation couldn’t have been worked into the plot a bit more. I haven’t even bothered reading all the detractor’s opinions. As I read from someone, “The people most incensed by this, are already people who hated Potter in the first place.”

Dumbledore’s homosexuality was only revealed in response to a pointed question. If that question had not been asked we might have never known the backstory. Back stories are the story behind the main story. They are meant to give depth to the story’s world. The plot worked just fine without knowing Albus’s orientation, but now that we know it works even better.

However, I would go out on a limb and say that perhaps Rowling should not give up backstory information. I don’t know. Maybe I’m old school, but I feel that all answers should be found within the text. Rowling shouldn’t have to answer questions about the text if she did her job. Then again, it probably is helping sales. I don’t know.

Noveling

Well, my novel sort of on a stand still until my peeps read it and respond.

But I’m not letting that trip me up. I’ve started work on another novel. Originally, I wanted it to be short stories. I didn’t want to spend another indeterminate amount of time working on some behemoth, but the more I thought about the stories, the more they fleshed out to another novel.

I don’t want to give away too much, especially when I don’t know for sure what it’s about, but I really would like to make this story more chaotic, with perhaps more cohesion at the end. I don’t want it to be kitchey, though. No grandstanding or anything.

Hmmm… this FT job is kicking my ass though. I don’t seem to have enough time to work on it too much. That and the music is taking off. I’m really excited about this incarnation of the band. Hopefully we’ll see it going some place.

New Gear

I’ve been trying out my BBE Sonic Max/Compresser. It sounds good when playing by myself, but damn! As soon as the rest of the band chimes in, it goes nuts! In a bad way. It shows me my input and through no fault of the equipment, it can’t handle the extreme volumes we play. Normally, my guitar can only get the gauge to push to the -15 mark, but when the band chimes in, it hits red and stays red. I turn up the noisegate to 30 db, but it still can’t shut down the signal. That means that my guitar is picking up WAY too much signal.

There’s little I can do about it. I think I’ll still keep the unit. It will prolly come in handy for live shows, but when you play in a living room with two drummers, a bassist, and vocs, there’s little you can do to muffle the sound enough.

Annimaversary!!!

Woo hoo! Me and the missus have been married 2 years now.

We celebrated the day by doing mostly nothing. Actually we did more, but eh, it was good to relax and spend some QT together.

War of the Warts, Pt. III

I thought I might give a little update about my warts. Since I have nothing better to do.

Anyway, after a daily regimen of Salcylic Acid, my warts started shrinking. Not gradually, mind you, but first they would form a layer of callous, then the callous would flake off (often assisted by my prying fingers, and the exposed seeds would suffer another burst of the frozen spray. After doing this for three or four months, I finally got the wart on my right index finger down to one giant seed.

Now, I know in a previous blog, I had said that one should never pull at the seed, but this time I couldn’t help myself. I got out the tweezers and ripped that fucker out.

It bled. Oh my, did it bleed.

I ran the wound under hot water to try to force the remaining spores to the surface, but saw nothing. Then I froze it and before it could start bleeding again, drenched it with salcylic acid. The acid stopped the blood, forming sort of a crystal globe, through which the blood formed a tender flower.

During the following days, I froze the spot a few more times and added more acid.

After that, I waited.

Now several months later, the wart has yet to resurface. That’s two (or three) down, one to go.

Gear

Obviously, I haven’t been writing much. Blah, so what? Maybe I’ve found a new outlet? Not so frustrated now, are we? Now that practices are back in session.

Anyhoo, we found a new singer. Our DJ got a keyboard and was making some funky sounds the other day. I finally got my debts paid off so I can buy better gear. Plus I’m working full time now. Also we couldn’t afford for wife to go to school so she’s working, too.

It’s nice to finally have some extra money and buy some gear.

The first thing I bought was a new amp. Nothing special: a Carvin solid state 2×12. Decent sound, but those speaker buzz when I push the volume past 7. I can’t say I blame them. That’s an awful lot of sound for such little speakers.

Then I was trying to buy some rack gear: a sonic maximizer/compressor (to regulate and enhance the sound), a power conditioner (to clean up the AC supply), and a rack case to hold the racks.

Now here’s where my story gets long.

About a year ago, I bought some gear from Musicians Friend (MF). Included was a Peavey Powered speaker. This is a 270 Watt PA system that would allow me to generate more sound for my (then) singing w/o having to shout so much.

I bought it under the clearance section. The ad said that it came with full warranty. In fact, MF’s used Peavey ads still say they come with full warranty. MF has a fairly generous return policy. You can return most anything for any reason withing the first 45 days.

Well, go figure, my Peavey amp broke down on day 47. No problem, I figure, I’ve got a warranty. Not only that, but I bought the EXTRA protection MF offers at the check out. I called MF, figuring I would talk to Customer Service (CS) and they could help me figure out how to activate my warranty. I did this because the amp came with no paper work, cards, etc. I was directed to Peavey, who took the serial number from the amp, and asked if I was “_______” (some name I don’t remember). No, I wasn’t. Well, it turns out the douchebag who owned the amp before me (since it was used) activated the warranty, but when the amp lemoned him, he returned rather than go through Peavey.

Thus, I was informed that Peavey DOES NOT warranty used equipment.

I’ll try to give you the montage version, but I called MF, Peavey, and the third rate insurance company (who informed me that the extra insurance was void since they only EXTEND the original manufacter’s warranty, I was null and void, MF should have never offered me their coverage, and that my coverage was thereby nullified (btw: purchasing equipment w/ Visa, MC, and American Express gives you that same coverage that MF offers at checkout. I know because I checked) multiple times over the next month. Finally I bullied my way to talk to a manager and demanded my money back due to fraud. He sent me a return slip right away and I mailed the amp back the same day.

Long story short, MF has the WORST Customer service I have ever encountered.

This time around, I didn’t want to deal with MF. I found a website call music123.com. Though the website looked strangely familiar to MF’s site, nothing on the site indicated they were affiliated. I bought the rack gear and the rack from there.

First, I got the power condition. It ONE piece of packing paper which did nothing to prevent it from rattling around. I plugged it in and it still worked. So no problems there. Then I got the rack. But it wasn’t a rack for rack gear, but a drum rack. I didn’t even open up the box. I got on the phone and called up music123. The dude I talked to said I would get a return label in the next two hours.

The next day I check my email. When I saw no return label, I emailed music123.com. The return msg said that my msg was received and that it would take up 24 hours to get a response. On Monday, w/ still no response or return label, I called up again. Talked to someone who actually sounded like he didn’t toke for a living, who said that the previous guy forgot to add the “.com” to my email address.

This morning, I got the return tag. Sure enough, it’s being mailed back to Musician’s Friend. The label came directly from UPS, so I doubt that they fucked that one up. More than likely my gut instinct was confirmed: I got MF’d again.