Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I have much to be thankful for this holiday season. I have my health, a wonderful home in Malibu, a great car to drive around in, food in the fridge, loving family and friends, a new band and my God-given talents. And the stove is finally working at the house, which means I don't have to use the hotplate anymore.

I almost didn't make it back to California in 2006. My friend IGA works for American Airlines and gave me a one way ticket to Los Angeles at a discount. The problem was, it was a free ticket as far as American Airlines was concerned, which meant I got bumped to the bottom of the bottom of the list. "Never fly on a free ticket during holiday season," was the advice the attendant at the gate gave me right after he told me that there was no way I was going to board a plane during the holiday season.

Not one to give up easily, I decided to wait it out, confident that I would eventually be able to get a seat on one of several flights leaving Kennedy Airport every day. The first flight left at 6:30 A.M. When I wasn't able to board that one, my ticket was exchanged for the next flight leaving and I was informed, after shlepping all the way to a gate at the other end of the terminal, that there wasn't room on that flight either. Nor was there room on the next flight. I dragged my exhausted self and my carry-on from gate to gate, until finally, three days later, I had to admit defeat and purchase a ticket on JetBlue for two days later.

I am totally over American Airlines. I've never seen so much madness and mayhem nor dealt with such rude airline employees. I flew to New York on American. It was a six hour flight and I didn't even get a bag of peanuts. I was given a cup of water (the only thing free) and informed that if I wanted a bag of peanuts (the same peanuts that were always free before), I would have to purchase them. Meanwhile, when I boarded the JetBlue plane on my return trip to LA, I was given a bag of chips, a bag of cashews and offered a soft drink (which I declined and opted for the water instead, but it was nice to have the offer). Also, there was no drama at the gate. The flight wasn't overbooked and we left pretty much on time.

The only good thing about not being able to get on the plane earlier was that I got to spend a day with ECB. I hadn't seen her since she packed up her things and moved to Texas. We spent the day hanging around in Manhattan. I took her to Zabar's (she'd never been before) where we drooled over all the pots and pans, then we went to the movies and saw The Good Shepherd, and then had dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street from the theater. Then we went back to my place and crashed for the night. She drove me to the airport the next morning. As we hugged good-bye, she said, "I'm glad you weren't able to get on the plane the other day." I was glad, too. It was a lot of fun hanging out with ECB. We're like two peas in a pod. There are not many people I can hang out with for long periods of time without getting annoyed. She's one of the few.

TDJ picked me up at the airport. I flew into Longbeach but my luggage had been sitting in LAX for three days, having made it onto the American Airlines flight without me. TDJ drove me to LAX and we searched for and eventually found my suitcases. He drove me to Malibu and we spent a little time playing around with my new Roland battery-powered amps and then he headed home. I promptly collapsed into bed, happy to get some sleep minus the New York street noises.

The next day was Christmas, although it didn't feel like it because it was 70 degrees and sunny when I got out of bed that morning. By the time I was showered and dressed, it was 74 degrees. I wanted to go out and do something but couldn't think of anything to do alone on Christmas. I was feeling kind of lonely when the phone rang. It was TDJ, inviting me to join him at a friend's for dinner. I leapt at the chance to get out of the house and meet new people. The dinner wasn't far from TDJ's house, so I picked him up and we went in my car. The dinner was at the home of an attorney and his wife. TDJ is friends with their son, who was there with his daughter. There were several other people there as well. I exchanged numbers with several of them.

I dropped TDJ off at his place after, and planned to return home and work on music for a bit but fell asleep shortly after arriving home.

My friend NAR came by before I left town and did some vocals on a new song I'm working on, "Pussycats Need Love, Too." She was embarrassed to do her part and didn't want to do the recording until I told her that it's just a demo and I won't be putting it onto my next album. I want to sell the song to another artist. It's really not my style but I think it's a cute song and should be a big hit for someone.

I'm working on another song as well. It's called "Whatever" and it's almost finished. I just have to record the vocals. Right now I just have a rough of the vocal track. I can't wait to set up my equipment here so that I can record vocals and guitar as well as music. I was able to record these vocals using an application called Audacity which allows me to record vocals but it's not a clean recording and needs to be redone. I also need to do some backgrounds on it but I like the way it's coming along.

I spent the night at STK's place last week because she had a scare with breast cancer (turned out to be nothing, fortunately). But I didn't want her to have to face that alone so I went with her to the doctor for the tests and then we went to dinner after and I spent the night at her place. The next morning we had to take the subway back into the city. The platform was so crowded that we had to let three trains go by without getting on. We wound up walking to the next station and catching an alternate train. She was late for work because we were standing on the platform for about half an hour trying to get on the train.

I found a desk for sale on Craig's List for $10 today and dashed to pick it up before somebody else got to it. It wouldn't fit into my car, so I had to put it across the open trunk and bungee the trunk cover down. I got home right before the storm hit, thank goodness. I'm right on the water and the wind from the canyons up above can be pretty fierce. The last time there were gusts of wind above 35 miles per hour, the wind tore a big chunk of the front fence off and flung it to the other side of the house.

Tomorrow I'm getting together with my new guitarist to go over the songs for my upcoming show on the 5th of January. I didn't take my guitar to New York with me, so it's been weeks since I played it last, which means I need to be practicing right now!

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

November 15, 2006 - What a challenge these past couple of weeks have been. My plan was to go to Santa Barbara last Friday to finalize the details with the transfer of the car. I had to sign the agreement with the previous owner and to go to DMV to register the car, only to discover on Friday that the DMV was closed because Saturday was Veteran’s Day. More...

October 17, 2006 - I was on strike today. I decided that, not only was I not leaving the house today, but I also was not going to take off my pajamas. Fortunately, KBD’s new housemate, RJD, is away for a few days because he likes to have lots of attention and is always strutting around, puffing out his chest, bragging about his latest business conquest. The bad news is, we never got around to going grocery shopping so there weren’t a lot of options food-wise. More...

October 10, 2006 -I went out a few nights ago to hang out again with my new MySpace friend to see her friend perform. I was so proud of myself because I didn’t get lost once on the drive there. By the time I arrived at the Revolution Café, AMS and her friends had already polished off a few bottles of wine. More...

October 3, 2006 - I’ve been in Northern California for nearly two weeks now. I’m staying at KBD’s home once again, in the house overlooking the ocean and the rolling hills. Today I saw two deer grazing right outside the kitchen window. I felt a long way from the overcrowded, noisy streets of New York City. More...

September 10, 2006 - It’s almost midnight and here I sit in front of my computer still. I didn’t go out today. I don’t know if it was cold or hot but I do know that it was sunny because I sat near the window as I worked, so that I could feel the sun on my skin. More...

August 20, 2006 - Friday night was my performance at The Alphabet Lounge. There was a nice turnout, although about one third of the people arrived almost at the end of the performance. More...

July 7, 2006 - Yesterday was my show at The Talking Stick. I thought I’d get some photos of my performance but unfortunately TDJ arrived just as I’d finished my last song. I only performed a few songs. More...

July 3, 2006 - I’m in my own bedroom at TDJ’s apartment. My own little slice of Heaven. I’m sleeping on an air mattress on the floor in what is technically TDJ’s office/recording studio but who cares. I have my own bathroom and I can sleep as late as I like. More...

June 30, 2006 - I think I’ve worn out my welcome with NAP. Fortunately, I spoke with TDJ yesterday and his other houseguests have departed, which means that starting today I can stay in his extra bedroom. He’s my only friend in California that I haven’t met through MySpace. More...

June 24, 2006 - So I’m in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams and make believe. I’m staying with a wonderful family, thanks again to MySpace. NAP is a singer, a wife and the mother of two absolutely adorable (and exhaustingly rambunctious) children. More...

June 8, 2006 - I am loving life right about now. I’m in Northern California in a little town near Sausalito with a population of about 200. I posted an ad on Craigs List saying I was willing to exchange administrative services for room and board and, lo and behold, I got two responses the very next day. More...

May 3, 2006 - I just got in from playing in the subway station. I like the F line at the 23rd Street station... More...

April 24, 2006 - I found a numerology site and, according to their calculations, I’m at the end of a cycle. I‘ve past the harvest and I’m about to lay down new seeds I guess to prepare for the coming Winter. More...

April 10, 2006 - I’ve been spending a lot of time online, working on my MySpace page, making new friends through MySpace as well. By the time I get to California, I’ll already know lots of folks there. More...

April 2, 2006 - I can’t believe it’s April already. The year is nearly half done, although some more optimistic than I am at this moment in my life would say the year’s barely begun. It just seems that time is marching along faster and faster each year. More...

March 23, 2006 - Not much new to report. Still laid up with my broken toe. More...

March 16, 2006 - What a week it’s been! A broken toe, post-Philly drama, TTT came into town, west coast tour in the works, April concert to plan, new band. More...

March 10, 2006 - It was a pretty smooth drive with almost no traffic even though we left the city at 5 o’clock. We reached Philadelphia at about 8 o’clock. It reminds me of a lot of other small towns I’ve been in, like Troy and Albany. More...

March 8, 2006 - This evening I’m off to New Rochelle to perform at a Habitat for Humanity fundraising event. I’m taking CDs, which I will autograph and sell and donate half the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity. They’re going to New Orleans to rebuild some of the homes that were destroyed by Katrina. More...

March 2, 2006 - I am so over the cold and ready for the Spring. It’s hard to believe it’s right around the corner. The groundhog saw his shadow last month, which supposedly means Winter is hanging around a bit longer but I remain ever hopeful. More...

February 25, 2006 - Another late night… What else is new? I performed at Bellizzi’s tonight. Two sets. I ran through my entire arsenal of songs and even threw in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s song, “True Colors.” I don’t really like doing covers but the woman who hired me for the night asked me to and you have to give the people what they want, especially when they're paying. More...

February 19, 2006 - Another all nighter… My plan was to get into bed by midnight at the latest but I wound up staying up and setting up my page on MySpace. It turns out there’s another artist with my name (Setra) who’s already on MySpace so I couldn’t use my own name. I had to sign up using Daughter of the Sun instead. It took a while to upload the music and the photos, once I figured out how to do it. More...

February 16, 2006 - Hurray! The snow is almost gone! Just the way I like the snow. A lot of it comes down, it stays for a few days and then it melts and is gone; and not a moment too soon. I ate the last of the food today, which means I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I haven't weighed myself but I have a feeling I've gained at least a couple of pounds. More...

Snow - I have about five days’ worth of food, and I’m prepared to hibernate until the snow melts. My car is parked across the street but I don’t know which mound it’s under. It was kind of nice being home alone and doing whatever I wanted to without having to answer to anybody or even speak to another person. I turned off the ringer on the phone and just spent some time with myself. More...

Guero's - I just got in from Guero’s. What a night. First off, it turns out they didn’t have a PA system, an amp, a microphone or microphone stand so I had to pack up all that stuff and take it with me. I lugged it all a block and a half to where I’d parked my car Monday evening and when I got to the parking spot where I’d left my car, my car was nowhere to be found. More...

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