Rock the Angels, Trumpet Man

Rock the angels, trumpet man!

Maynard Ferguson
(May 4, 1928 - August 23, 2006)

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My first exposure to Maynard Ferguson was high school jazz band. We played Birdland, MacArthur Park, Chameleon, Gospel John, and others. Mr. Pergola played for us his Maynard records. Our trumpeters' eyes just bugged! The rest of us were left in serious awe. Since then, that screaming trumpet has tickled my ears and boggled my mind, but always made me smile with teenage memories.

My band director, Mike Pergola, passed away last year, and to lose such a mentor and a music legend so close together is sad. The world has lost a beautiful voice, but I know future musicians will hear Maynard Ferguson and be in awe just as I was when Mr. Pergola opened my mind to a new stratosphere of sound.

Hear that? It's opportunity marching away....

I'm bummed at the moment.

A local band called The Online Romance messaged me through Myspace and said they're looking for a French hornist for some recording sessions and wanted me to join them. I was like HELL YES!!!!! Then... wait, dammitall, I got rid of my horn! Waaaaaaaaaaaaah! I've been so majorly down all night, now.

I like their sound too, very much the Northwest Indie sound (think The Decemberists). And I would LOVE to record! That would be so frickin awesome, total dream come true, you know!

But it had to be on the French horn, which I gave back to my college in May. Broke my heart to see the thing go, too! I had to tell them, sowwy, no hornie...

Wait, that sounded REALLY WRONG!

I didn't tell them that, honest! I said I'd love to, I like their sound, but I have no French horn of my own (I did not say "horny", honest!) but I have a mellophone and a trombone and a trumpet, so if they ever needed those I am SO there!

Chance #2 of becoming a recording musician, flushed down the drain.... :/

Okay, that's my sob story for the night.

Book 6 DONE!

Completed. Finished.

AT LAST!!!!

The 6th book of my series is all finished, clocking in at 521 pages. One monster of a thing to write, too. Not the length. It's actually one of the shorter book (hey, I JUST finished it!) It was just... I dunno, too many factors that I hadn't planned on, tangents I did not anticipate, and once I was near being finished, I realized I had loose ends I left dangling. So I've actually gone through this book three times with massive revisions.

I know I'm going to have to go back in there and straighten it out a bit, fix grammar and stuff, but the plot, the dialogue, it is all DONE!

And I am please. I was actually laughing as I reread the last third of it, a part I had written months back, but forgot about as I fixed the middle section. Little jokes, innuendos, things I totally forgot about suddenly come back, and I laughed reading them again. That's I good sign, I hope.

Most importantly, I am satisfied with the ending. That almost never happens. I usually screw off the ending, or write it months beforehand so that it doesn't fit with the whole developed plotline. This time, it fits the rest of the plot, it has a recurrent phrase in it which ties it to the other 5 books, and it ends with a bit of a metaphor, which made me warm and tingly to realize I even did something like that.

And I'm rambling to all you who have no clue what I'm writing. Let it suffice to all of you: IT IS DONE!

I now wait for my brain to get over the cerebral overload, maybe have a private party to celebrate this milestone (drinking can help kills those hyperactive brain cells), and then I plough into the last two books. These have been waiting patiently for 3 years, waiting for books 3-6 to be completed before I finished them. Now the groundwork is laid out, the final two books can finally take their shape.

But first.... I have GOT to get some sleep!!!

They Say It's Your Birthday

Rocking out to Beatles right now, looking at all the pretty pictures in my comments. Thank you, everyone (early, on time or late).

So... one year older (and deeper in debt). I feel no different. In fact, I had to ask my husband how old I was. 26? 27? 28?

Honestly, you don't pay attention to your age after 21. Up until then, you can't wait to be older, to be 16 and drive, 18 and legal, 21 and drink. After that great initiation of inebriating yourself into adulthood, age is of no further concern. There are no special perks of reaching 25, or 27, or even 29.

Thirty is another issue. At thirty, you enter a new phase in your life, that "thirtysomething" decade where the rebellious stupidity of teenage years and the laid-back optimism of your twenties is replaced with something heavier, a mortality which does not reached most people until then.

I'm not ready for that phase yet. Me and my mortality are good friends, but I don't like to visit him often. I'll let that association simmer another three years.

For now... wow, 27. So flat sounding. That's like asking someone where they went for vacation and they answer "Delaware." You reply with "oh, cool" and think what a lousy place to be.

But 27 isn't all too bad. You're not 30 and feeling aged, you're not 21 and wondering what all the fuss was about, it's just a damn beer! You're at a youthful point in your life where things are more settled, life is wonderful, maybe there's a special person in your life... or maybe you're having fun looking for them. For me, I have a loving husband, a caring family, wonderful friends, supporting associates, and I STILL WANT A KITTY!!!

Doesn't look like I'll be getting one for my birthday, either.