The Day The Music Died
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Or at least the day the music went into a coma. I decided to take down the Project Playlist digital jukebox that had been appearing on the sidebar. I wanted to turn off the feature that programs it to start playing automatically when you come to this page, as I soon plan on uploading a bunch of featured songs and videos in the main section and didn't want the two features competing. I'd like to reinstall it at some point, but programmed so that you have to hit "play" yourself to get it going. An easy enough feature to set, but I had customized a lot of the other code to get the player to fit in that narrow sidebar. It always struck me as being a bit tiny anyway, as you couldn't really make out song titles and artists.
Do any of you have any strong feelings about this one way or the other? I'm guessing that any of you who may check out the blog during work hours probably weren't that thrilled to have the music start playing on its own. I know of only one reader who has ever commented on it at all and he liked it. (Hi, Shel.) Anyway, I'm not making it a real high priority at this point but I'd at least like to know if it's worth the effort for me to even be worrying about it at all.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 11:47 AM,
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Halloween Hijinks
Hey, I'm about a week late on this, but at least I'm posting this before Thanksgiving.
Last Saturday was Halloween, and as I had the previous year, I attended the annual Halloween bash at The Tickled Trout, my regular bar/karaoke hang out, located in the Ramada Hotel in the nearby Mission Valley section of San Diego. As I did last year, I threw together a fairly half-ass costume at the last minute. I didn't think I was going to dress up at all this year. Frankly, most of the time I find doing the whole costume thing to be too much work. And I am rarely inspired with a clever idea for a costume, unless it's at the last minute and by then, the idea requires too much work to pull off in time.
This year, I had an idea few days before the event to dress as Rorschach, the crazed vigilante character from Watchmen, played so creepily well by Jackie Earle Haley in the film version released earlier this year. "How hard could it be?" I thought. Trench coat, hat, gloves, scarf, mask. Oh yeah, the mask. Well, that would be tricky. A local mall had one of those temporary Halloween stores that get thrown up around this time of the year. They had a pre-packaged, complete Rorschach costume. The mask was fine but the rest of the costume was kind of crappy and I wasn't prepared to spend about $70 for something I was only going to wear once. Meanwhile, they had a $6 Freddy Krueger hat that looked like Rorschach's, so I picked that up. (Interestingly, I recently heard that Jackie Earle Haley is also going to be playing Freddy in an upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.) They also had this white, princess head gear with a long, white veil that I thought I might be able to turn into Rorschach's mask, so I picked that up for about $7.
But right across from the Halloween store was a Hot Topic store. On a whim, I thought I'd check them out to see if they might might have some component piece I could use. Lo and behold, they had a Rorschach mask that they were selling for $6.99, marked down from $14.99. (Watchmen was kind of a disappointment at the box office and I think all of the merchandise tanked as as a result as well.) Well, this just seemed too good to be true, so I just had to pick it up.
From there, I went to Nordstrom Rack, where I got the perfect pair of brown gloves for $20. As it turned out, this would be the single most expensive component of my costume. Time was running out and I grabbed a $12 scarf from Target. It was the completely wrong style and color, but it was better than no scarf at all, because the mask looks weird if your neck isn't covered. Earlier that day, I had hit a couple of insanely crowded thrift stores in search of a trench coat, but had no luck. I wanted to hit one more in my neighborhood, but they were closed by the time I got there. It was kind of frustrating, because at one point I actually owned the exact trench coat I could have used. But it was old and it must have gone away in one of my many clothes purges conducted during one of my many moves. Unless it's black and you're a goth kid, trench coats don't really have much of a place in southern California.
I felt like I had invested too much time and energy to just abandon the whole thing for want of a trench coat, so I decided to just wear a brown jacket that I happened to own. I figured the bar was going to be dark and maybe there wouldn't be enough picky comic book nerds present to challenge me on my apparel. Anyway, here's the result.
Sure enough, I creeped people the hell out. Apparently that whole putting on a mask and having a secret identity thing that seems to work so flawlessly in comic books actually works in real life, because no one I knew was able to recognize me. I literally had to unmask to show people who I was. At least one woman was heard to have said, "That guy over there is freaking me out." There was only one person I talked to who I knew read comics and who got who I was, and he had no criticism of the jacket. I had a couple of other people say, "Hey, look, it's that guy from that movie, you know..." Anyway, here's another picture.
Well, the bottom line turned out to be that I won first place in the costume contest! Only I didn't know it at the time. I'm used to hearing prizes read in backwards order: 3rd, 2nd, 1st. Marsi, the bartender, read them in the actual order of the winners. So I interpreted my first place prize as third. It was only a couple of days later after I had posted my picture on Facebook with a comment about winning third place, that my friend Joe informed me that I had actually won 1st. (My prize was a choice of a free hotel stay at the Ramada or dinner for two at the restaurant and I chose the dinner.)
And an even more stunning thing about this is that it was the second year in a row in which I wasn't going to dress up, threw together some last minute costume, and won a prize! Last year I did a devil costume and came in second. (First place that year went to an amazing, home made Iron Man costume.)
Here's picture of me with Marsi (on the far left), second prize winner Jessica Rabbit and third prize winner Charlie Chaplin.
Yes, the Trout does look kind of dumpy in fully exposed light. But you usually don't see it that way. You can also see how much more effective my costume was in the dark. Well, I'm keeping the pieces and I figure I have a year to track down an actual trench coast and some pants and shoes that match the real Rorschach. I can recycle this for next year's office Halloween party, at least.
If you want to see more of the festivities, there are a bunch of pics on The Trickled Trout's Facebook page. Not sure if you can access these if you don't have an account, but you can give it a try.
I won first place in a Halloween contest and the Yankees won the World Series. Not a bad week.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 10:53 AM,
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The Yankees Win the World Series!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
And all is as it should be in the universe. Everybody hates the Yankees. Hell, even a lot of New Yorkers (Mets fans) hate the Yankees. So it's even more satisfying when they win.
This almost eases the sting of 01, 03 and 04. Those bad memories are in the past. This is today and I'm going to savor it. Don't know when I'm going to go to sleep. I just want to watch highlights all night and take this one in. Just couldn't let this pass tonight. I had to make a record of it on the Blue Chair.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 10:10 PM,
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As Always, Mars Attack!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Keeping an old Blue Chair tradition alive, we are happy to present, one day early, your link to an MP3 recording of The Mercury Theatre's 1938 broadcast of their radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War of The Worlds." The genius behind this, of course, was that other famous Welles, Orson. The show originally aired that year on the nigh of October 30. And as the old chestnut goes, anyone who wasn't listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy (a small minority) and tuned in to this show, was scared shitless. Well, some of them anyone. You had to be a bit slow to allow yourself to think that 15 minutes of listening to a single radio show was all that was required to confirm that earth was being invaded by flying saucers from Mars. Hey, I know those were different times, but wouldn't you have thought to call friends and relatives or check out what your neighbors thought? Or maybe flipped the radio dial to see how other stations were covering the story? Oh well. It remains a brilliant piece of melodrama and an important footnote in the history of our collective perception of how media shapes and influences our lives.Once again, here's a link to the full recording of that broadcast for you to enjoy. It's my favorite Halloween tradition, one I haven't missed myself since I was about 15 years old and heard it for the first time.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 9:19 PM,
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Free Tom Waits!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Not sure how many Tom Waits fans there are who stop by this blog, but if you know me well at all, then you know I am a huge one. Just discovered tonight that Mr. Waits is going to be releasing a live album called Glitter and Doom, chronicling his tour from last year, which of course I never knew about and probably wouldn't have been able to get tickets to even if I had. Waits remains the only one of my towering musical heroes in the "still living" category who I have yet to ever see live. And he appears so infrequently, that it's liable to stay that way. Oh well. At least I can listen to this.And so can you! As part of the promotion for the album's upcoming release, you can visit Tom's brand new website and download 8 tracks from the disc for FREE! That's right––8 MP3s for only the cost of the time it takes for your connection to download them. As soon as I'm done posting this, I'm off to burn them on CD so I can listen to them in the car while driving to work tomorrow morning. Huzzah! You might want to check out the website for its own sake, cause it's pretty snazzy.
And here's the official video for the album's release. Hope it plays better on your computer. It's pretty jerky on mine. But from what I can see, it appears to deliver the Waits brand very well, as they say in marketing lingo.
Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom Live from Anti Records on Vimeo.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 10:48 PM,
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Lennon's 69th
Friday, October 09, 2009
It's getting late, but here on the west coast, it's still October 9, so I'm technically under the deadline to say that today would have been John Lennon's 69th birthday. What would he be doing? What would he have done in the last 29 years? Would there have been an actual Beatles reunion in 1995, when the then remaining living Beatles joined together for the whole "Anthology" thing? We'll never know.
I was stunned the other day to read that Yoko Ono is now 76. But it happens. More amazingly, she's actually got a new album out that is getting a fair share of critical acclaim. John would have enjoyed that.
At any rate, I've been listening to the Beatles an awful lot lately, mainly due to the rerelease of their catalogue on newly remastered CDs. It's hard for me to feel sad when I listen to the Beatles. Maybe it's because their music reminds me of my childhood and the early days of my lifelong obsession with music. Maybe because they themselves at one point represented some exuberant innocence during a very tumultuous time. Or maybe their music was just that good after all.
Well, here is one of the most beautiful and personal songs that John ever did, "Julia" from the White Album.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 10:02 PM,
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Brief Update
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Doing fine. It's Thursday night, which means I've almost made it through my first full week back to work without incident. Been kind of stressful, what with my bottomless workload, but I'm feeling good, feeling strong. Get the occasional twinge in the surgical area, but it passes quickly, and the incisions sometimes itch and irritate, but now I'm blaming that on the sudden heat wave that's moved into the area. The appetite, unfortunately, is back in full force. Which means, fairly soon, I better get back to the gym. And this weekend, I may even get back to singing some karaoke.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 9:08 PM,
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In Case I'm on Your Xmas Gift List
Monday, September 21, 2009
Okay, call me a sick puppy but I really do need a new set of knives and haven't been able to find one I like. I think this would look nice in my kitchen. Comes in a choice of colors, as you'll see here. But basic black is fine with me.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 9:54 PM,
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Riding the Roller Coaster
Saturday, September 19, 2009
On Monday, I returned to work after a month long absence, following my kidney surgery and subsequent recovery. I tried easing back into the routine, spending about half my day wading through e-mails, many of them discussions of issues that had already been resolved while I was gone. I really just spent the day getting organized, trying to get up to speed on where every project was and what were the urgent matters that would require my immediate attention the following day.
Tuesday began much the same as Monday. Except somewhere late in the morning or in the early afternoon (definitely before I had my lunch), I began to feel some discomfort in my lower right abdominal area, near where the surgery had been, but somewhat below it. The discomfort gradually turned into a low level of pain, but I didn’t say anything to anyone. A while later, I jumped online to look at a schematic drawing of the internal organs and noted that there was really only one thing in that area: the appendix. My paranoia began to grow. What if, I began to wonder, some fluids had gotten stirred up during the surgery and somehow made their way to the appendix, infecting it?
I left promptly at 6 o’clock. (Something I rarely do on a normal day.) During my drive home, I felt a couple of sharp, stabbing pains in the area. By now, my concern was starting to turn to panic. When I got home, I had some difficulty parking in my usual space. My car has an extremely wide turn radius, and when my neighbor is too close to the line of his parking space, and the neighbor across the way leaves her trash cans in the alley, it requires some excessive, concentrated maneuvering to get into the space. I ended up scraping the side of my car a bit. But that was hardly a major concern at this point.
Inside, I immediately changed into some comfortable sweats and laid down on the couch. In the past, I’ve gotten a lot of stomach distress due to nervous tension. Sometimes coming home and just de-stressing helps. Not in this case. The pains were constant and not subsiding. I now began frantically texting Laurie, telling her of my concern. I knew it was time to take action. Trying to play it by the book, I looked into the nearest Urgent Care centers covered by my insurance. The only open one was about 10 miles north of where I live. I knew I wasn’t capable of driving myself, so Laurie came and got me.
The place we arrived at was virtually empty, but it seemed to take an eternity for anyone to see me. The two young women working the front counter never asked for insurance or id. When they inquired about my problem and I gave them the details, they looked like two deers in the headlights. Eventually, I got to see not a doctor, but someone’s whose nametag said “Physician’s Assistant.” After barely examining me and then telling me, “Yeah, it could be appendicitis” he told me to go the emergency room. On the way out, one of the women at the front desk handed me a long form saying I needed to fill this out. Laurie said we should just go. I got about halfway through the form and put it down, saying “You should have given this to me while I was sitting here before, twiddling my thumbs and wondering if my appendix was going to explode.”
So we returned to my neighborhood and Laurie dropped me off at Scripps Mercy hospital, the closest hospital to my home and the one where I had my surgery a little over a month ago. I figured it made sense to go there, since they already had my records on file.
I told Laurie to leave because I had enough knowledge of Emergency Rooms in urban areas to know that I was probably going to be there all night. (I think we arrived at around 10.) Going to an emergency room gives you a crash course in our fucked up health care system. Unless you’re bleeding, you’re just going to sit. The Emergency Room is the doctor’s office for the uninsured. With no medical coverage or no money (or both), they flood the Emergency Rooms for every possible ailment, whether it’s an emergency or not. The hospitals, of course, aren’t going to get any money out of them, so the costs are passed along to the rest of us who can pay. (Costs that then make their way up to the food chain to the insurance companies.) And of course, there had to be at least one, crazy homeless lady, wandering around the room muttering to herself when she wasn’t yelling at the hospital workers about when someone was going to help her.
While I waited in considerable discomfort, wondering if my appendix would explode before anyone saw me, I killed a spider but showed mercy to a cricket who also crossed my path.
After a couple of preliminary meetings to go over paperwork and my medical history, I was finally admitted to the actual ER after about a two and a half hour wait. I was shown to a little enclosed area, the best equivalent to what could be considered a private room in the ER. There was a curtain that separated me from the rest of the crowded room, and I was told to change into the hospital gown and to lie down on the gurney. Soon, I was hooked up to an i.v. and given some painkillers. The painkillers had the added benefit of making me sleepy. Still, the ER is never a restful place. I heard lots of moaning and wailing throughout the night and occasional announcements of the public address system about incoming traumas, presumably car accidents or gun shot wounds or the like. Throughout the night, I was visited by various nurses and the occasional doctor to monitor my status.
I have to tell you that I am not here to criticize the people at the hospital. Far from it. I think these people are modern day saints and that whatever they are getting paid, it’s not enough. When I think of the way I’ve seen money pissed away on salaries and perks in the private sector, and then think about the grueling schedules and unpleasant but absolutely vital work the people in hospitals do, it reminds me of what an absolutely unfair world it is.
Between my frequently dozing off and the lights of the ER, I lost all sense of time. Every time I would open my eyes, I wouldn’t know if it was the middle of the night or lunchtime. But eventually, I was wheeled away to the X-ray room (or whatever they call it) for a CAT scan. After that, I was returned to the ER for a while. A couple of hours later, I was taken to an intermediate area. This was a floor where it’s not the ER, but you’re not in one of the regular hospital rooms yet. I was told that I would soon be visited by a doctor and taken to a regular room, though in what order remained to be seen. At this time, Laurie—who probably had as little sleep as I did—came to visit me. It was now mid-afternoon, some 15 hours or so since the start of my ordeal, and I had yet to see the actual doctor who was going to be handling my case. Throughout all of this, I managed to hold on to my cell phone and was sending messages not just to Laurie, but to several of my co-workers, advising them as to my situation and to let them know that, basically, I wasn’t coming to work that day. (You think?)
This was all extremely frustrating to me. Aside from not really understanding what exactly was happening inside my body at the moment, I was now back at the very hospital I had been in just a month earlier. I hardly expected to be back here again so soon. It was like some very bad dream.
Eventually, I was brought to my room. I was back on the same floor where I had spent five days in mid-August, though at the opposite end of the floor from where I had been before. Scripps Mercy isn’t a bad hospital, but like any hospital in an urban area, it has its inconveniences. One is that unless you are lucky, you are going to have to share what isn’t a big room to begin with with someone else. In my case, there was a gentleman in his 70s who had just undergone a hip replacement that day. By the time I left, I had gotten to know him a bit better and he was a very nice guy, with a feisty spirit determined to get out of the hospital the next day, despite the adjustment to a new hip. But his side of the room was always full of family members who didn’t make a point about being quiet. I didn’t really mind too much.
It wasn’t until around 5 o’clock that the doctor assigned to my case finally visited me. No one, apparently, could get a hold of the surgeon who had worked on my kidney last month. This wasn’t all that surprising, really, He’s one of the best and when he’s not in his office, I think he performs non-stop surgeries all day. At any rate, this doctor had examined the CAT scans and sent a copy to my doctor’s office. My doctor himself didn’t see them, but his partner—who had visited with me to discuss my situation during my prior stay—concluded that the scans showed nothing abnormal that he wouldn’t expect to see at this point in my recovery. One important thing to add is that by this time, the pain I was feeling had greatly subsided. The area was still very tender to the touch, but I was no longer getting the stabbing pains and there were times when I felt no pain at all.
Additionally, the blood sample they had drawn during the night showed no abnormal increase in white blood cells, nor was I experiencing fever or nausea, all symptoms of possible appendicitis. What the scans showed was some excess fluid and blood in the area, apparently a normal side effect—even a month later—of my surgery. This fluid had become inflamed and since it happened to be in the general area of my appendix, it could be easily mistaken for appendicitis. The lack of other symptoms and the fact that my pain was easing added to this belief. At the moment, no surgery was needed, as I was told that these fluids would eventually, naturally, be absorbed back into my body. Nevertheless, the doctor agreed that I was wise to be concerned. He had me stay another night for observation, and then we’d do another blood draw first thing in the morning.
The other important thing was that the doctor gave me clearance to eat. Keep in mind that I had last eaten at around 2 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, and here it was after 5 on Wednesday and I had gone all this time without a drop. Additionally, I had last had water about midnight, other than the vile fluid they gave me to drink prior to my CAT scan. The concern, of course, was that if they had to rush me to surgery, I needed an empty stomach so as to have no complications with anesthesia. So when the doctor was convinced that surgery seemed unlikely, I was thrilled. Not just for the immediate prospect of having food again, but also for not having to deal with another possible 4 week recovery at home.
Not long after the doctor left, I began to get visits from my co-worker. Larry, the Art Director on the line of books I edit, was the first. Then just as he was leaving, Kristy, an Assistant Editor at Wildstorm dropped in, bringing me a couple of books: “Real Murders” by Charlaine Harris and “Sourcery” by Terry Pratchett. After they left, I dozed off for just a few minutes, and apparently my co-worker Asako slipped in and left me a present. I wasn’t even aware of falling asleep and I swear she must have only been there a very short time. Apparently, right after she left, an orderly came in to take my vital signs and I awoke to see a gift bag sitting right in front of me on the table where I just recently had dinner. She had been reading my Facebook posts about my interest in the new Beatles remastered CDs and generously bought me two of them: “With the Beatles” and “Let it Be.” I was really touched.
I don’t think I got a lot of sleep that night. I was just impatient for going home. Being in a cramped hospital room is no fun, which I don’t have to tell you if you’ve ever been in one. Hooked up to the i.v. stand, it took me forever to negotiate myself to the bathroom during the night, which couldn’t have been more than 10 feet away from my bed.
Thankfully, things happened very quickly on Thursday morning. Blood was drawn around 6 am and the doctor showed up maybe an hour and a half later. The white blood cell count was normal, so he was releasing me. By this point too, the pain was virtually gone. I called Laurie and by the time she got there, the i.v. was disconnected, my paperwork was done, and I was fully dressed. I decline wheel chair service to the curb because unlike my previous stay, I pretty much had my full strength and mobility going out the door. Laurie dropped my off at home by about 9:30 am and then left for work, and I spent the day in a by now familiar place: on the couch, in my apartment, watching TV with the cat by my side.
I played it by ear on Friday morning, half expecting that I wouldn’t be going to work. But I knew there were a couple of meetings that day and that the work was really piling up, so I took things slowly but eventually made it in by 10. Everyone was kind of shocked to see me and questioned whether or not I should be back. Believe me, I’m no martyr. But I couldn’t take any repeat of my three plus weeks of convalescing at home, so I figured I’d take a chance. As it turned out, things were fine. Actually, better than fine. I helped clear out a big logjam at work and sent 4 books to the printer, maybe a record for a single day. I felt productive and back in the saddle again. Though to be honest, I’m not sure if I would have done this if I didn’t know that it was Friday and that I’d have two days afterwards to recover.
Right now, I’m feeling pretty good but taking it easier. No more pain in that area, though the sutures from the surgery continue to take forever to heal and are still causing me some discomfort. Oh well.
So, on Monday, I go for back to work, Take Two, and keep my fingers cross that I will actually make it through a full week this time. Wish me luck.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 12:30 PM,
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Getting Back
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I have an official release from my doctor to start work on Monday. However, since that means I'll be jumping right back into a 5 day week, I thought it would be a good idea to do a sort of rehearsal or warm up, getting back to the office. Waiting for rush hour to pass, I drove into work. This was by far the longest I've driven since before surgery. It all came back to me very quickly. It seemed kind of strange, but not really, as I headed west on the 8 freeway, then merged onto the 5 north, then hit the La Jolla Parkway. It felt nice driving into downtown La Jolla again, especially since tourist season is largely over.
It was so great being back in the office and just kind of saying "hi" to everyone. I figured this was a good way to sort of download everyone on what was going on with me, so I wouldn't spend half my Monday doing so. The isolation of this whole experience has really messed with my head and I can say without reservation that it was a pleasure to see so many people I hadn't seen in a month. I also took time to have the people who report to me download me on everything I've been missing. While I had some concern that this might stress me out, it actually had the opposite effect. I felt myself getting energized again, and it really took the focus off of the lingering aches and irritations of my surgery. And of course, it was great to have conversations about things other than my surgery, which I feel like is all I've been talking about for the past two months!
I imagine it's going to take another two weeks to completely heal, particularly these holes in my stomach, which really don't have much of a chance to do so since I can't realistically lay down flat all day. And my appetite still isn't what it was. (Although I completely consumed the spinach quiche and salad at the new French restaurant that's opened up across the street from the office.) But I certainly feel strong enough to cope with these minor irritations while working, rather than staying home another two weeks and just dwelling on them. The work and the energy I get from doing it certainly provide a welcome distraction.
So this is it. One more weekday at home, then the weekend, then back into the routine. I've never been so happy in my life to get back to any job I've ever had. I'm just so appreciative of the simple things right now, and the things I have. It's a cliche, but having your health IS the most important thing in the world.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 6:23 PM,
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Life Lessons
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
There are only two certainties in life: death and change. No one avoids the former and the only way to survive in the meantime is to do whatever it takes to be adaptable to the latter. Never get too comfortable, never get complacent, and never get too attached to material things. I've made those mistakes too many times. It's a ruthless, unforgiving world. If we're doing well, we like to build a wall of imaginary security around ourselves. Nice homes, nice furniture, wonderfully distracting electronic gadgets. Debt up the wazoo, the repayment of which is only possible as long as we keep working.
All of those things can be taken from us at a moment's notice. We cry, we stamp our feet. Why, why, why is this happening to me? It's only happening to you now. Tomorrow it will be somebody else. Or maybe you're fine now and your turn will come later. Unless you've learned to swim with the sharks, unless you've been able to rise into the investor class and your value is beyond that of a worker drone, there is no security anymore. I remember growing up following a generation of people who got their jobs when they were young and kept them 30, 40, 50 years. That reality no longer exists. That's an American dream we've been waking up from for about the past 30 years.
Today's reality is, always be ready to bend or you'll break. Adapt or die.
Don't worry. Nothing's happened to me. Yet.
posted by Jim Chadwick @ 12:58 PM,
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