Checking in

Well, time some little bits and pieces. I'm back from vacation, perfectly timed I must add. The day I left was the day it started rainging. The day I came back, it had pretty much just ended. Awesome.

Some vacation stats: I was in 8 states that weren't MA (counting layovers). I took off in planes 9 times. Subsequently, I also landed 9 times. Amazing how that works. I slept in 7 beds that weren't my own, (all of them alone, in case you were wondering.) I had on average three alcoholic beverages a day. I drove in two version of the same car (my parents' Honda Oddyssey, and my sister's newer version of the same Honda Oddyssey.)

Although I've been back at work for two days, I haven't actually been back at work. I went right into a three day class for a product that, if we ever end up using it, could be helpful. But it's hard to tell the extent of it's usefulness since the class isn't tailored to MIB in particular. But it's still better than answering phones.
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My iTunes shuffle in the span of about half an hour has picked three Kiss tunes. That's pretty unlikely considering I have 3,113 songs in there and probably less than 50 are by Kiss.

That reminds me, I need to put my old All Eyes On tunes on my iPod. I've had a yearning recently to listen to them. Well, as soon as I finish my blogging.
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So, my quickie review of Mission Impossible 3.

It's getting increasingly harder to go see a movie with Tom Cruise. I think you know why. He's progressively losing his mind in front of a worldwide audience. It's truly amazing to watch. I love the abounding theories. 1)He was always this crazy, but he fired his publicist and hired his sister for the job, and that gave him free reign to do what he wanted. 2)He's reached the highest level of Scientology which means he now has to "preach". (I assume this means he knows all about the aliens, too. Or whatever it is they believe in.) 3)Katie Holmes is getting 6 million dollars to be with him for 5 years and she never actually was pregnant.

I don't know if any of this stuff is tru, but it sure makes for diverting reading. Anyway, because of his increasing lunacny, it's hard to actually lay down the money to see a movie he's in. But here's the thing, and it still stands true. Tom Cruise, while he will never make a movie better, he will also never ruin one. My sister beleives that Ron Howard (the director) is only as good as the script he's given. He "shoots the script". I beleive the same about Tom Cruise.

So how was he in MI:3? How good was the movie that he neither ruined nor made better? It was good, probably the best of the three. Truthfully, I went into this for the J.J. Abrams factor. J.J., co-wrote and directed the film, and I'm a fan of his since he created Alias and co-created Lost. That's an impressive enough resume. IN fact, he brought in some writers from Alias to help on the script.

Needless to say, we're not talking Oscar winner here, this is of course a pop spy movie, of the gals and gadgets school. But it was solid enough. Philip Seymour Hoffman kicked ass (as usual) as the villain, the action was good, the story good enough, the babes babe-alicious.
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I had written a few paragraphs about how every now and then I take a glance at the internet dating pool, but everything I tried to write on the subject felt clunky and wrong. Let's just say that what these women appear to be looking for is nothing like me. Methinks internerd dating is not my millieu. Too bad that speaking to women in real life doesn't seem to be either.
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Got a new tune in the works. Got the chorus lyrics and verse and half written, as well as the rough idea for the chord progression. All in about 3 hours. The idea came to me as I was driving home from Trader Joes earlier. It's an alt-country-ish rock tune. Drive by Truckers style (hopefully). If I can get the lyrics done soon, I'll probably set upon starting to demo this one next, although I probably won't running diary it like I did "Woman"...

...which is still somewhat unfinished. I never got the vocals down. Matt wasn't able to make it over to do them before I left for vacation. Maybe I should just suck it up and try to do them myself. Oof! I bet that'll sound rough. But it'll be easier in the long run.

I like writing fast, not overthinking it. It's a refreshing change from the stuff I'm doing with Matt, which has been moving a lot more slowly than I'd like, which is something that needs to be addressed and soon. Gotta get a fire lit under our asses to produce a little more quickly. Rock and roll isn't meant to be taken to carefully.