Most weeks when I’m teaching, I finish recording Gord’s Gold on Sunday morning. Here I am with all this extra free time, and I am only 40% done at 6:00 PM on Tuesday. I took my mic out this morning to record and simultaneously they started construction across the street. I managed to get that 40% recorded during their lunch break. I should have been able to finish the whole show in that time, but I had both artistic and technical issues. The second they finish pile driving I will drop everything and record.
The reason I didn’t record yesterday was that I went on an expedition to Pompton Lakes NJ to visit River. I have not seen them since the summer before last. That is ridiculous. There have been good reasons, life got in the way and it’s not easy for us to get together. My trip there took two hours. More than half of that on a NJ Transit bus. You can see why I don’t do that when teaching.
We didn’t do anything exciting; we went to an Irish Pub and walked their dog. That was well worth the travel time. Hell, just the hugs were worth it. As I recently said, I’m a rank sentimentalist. We have plans to see each other again in one month when we’ll see Tracy Grammer. I’ll start that trip directly from school.
I am now running into the Rivendell paradox. In The Hobbit Tolkien writes of Bilbo and the Dwarves visiting Rivendell:
Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave… Yet there is little to tell about their stay.
I can always write about the food. We ate at an Irish pub, and I had an Irish breakfast. I can never turn down an Irish breakfast even though this one didn’t have Irish bacon. It did have bangers, ham, baked beans, and black pudding. It was amazing though not as good as the conversation. One thing we discussed how many people have an inner monologue. I do, I’ve had one every waking moment in my life. Blogging is just taking dictation from the monologue. Occasionally I have a dialogue and talk to people in my head. I don’t hear voices I just imagine sharing my inner monologue with friends or with you, My Gentle Readers. River read that only between 30% and 50% of the people have an inner monologue. I researched and found the source for that. Also found a source that said almost everyone has one and not having one is a rare named condition. If you are reading this and don’t have an inner monologue, one where you hear your own voice in your head, let me know in the comments. I can’t even imagine such a thing. It’s how I imagine death.
I bought my bus ticket on the NJ Transit App. I was happy to see that they improved it. The last time I used it you had to know what zones you were traveling between which is ridiculous. Now you just tell it where you are getting on and getting off, something everyone traveling will know. In the Port Authority there are electronic signs that tell you what gate you need and has a map to guide you there. Unfortunately, the map leaves out everything you need to navigate including where you are starting, your destination, landmarks on the way, and how the map is oriented. I used the signs to find my gate. Hold on they stopped construction. I have to record. I’ll be back.
Wouldn’t you know it. I recorded to host segments and then my roommate came home. She then made a discovery that took me away from my work; the rat we had in the apartment had died and she smelt it. I then had to go on a hunt to dispose of the body. I donned protective gear, gloves and an n95 mask. I did not want to smell it close up and I certainly didn’t want to touch it. First, I cleared out next to the stove where I had seen in a number of times and left a glue trap. It wasn’t there, the trap was empty. Then I headed under the sink. I pulled everything out from behind the right door, nothing. I moved to the left door, I very quickly came across spoor, rat skat. Pulling out a few more things exposed the dead beast. I reached in, god I was glad I had gloves, picked him up and put him in a plastic bag for disposal. I heard a squeak, but he wasn’t breathing. I must have forced some air out when I picked him up. Sad to say I did not say a few words when I dropped him down the garbage chute. He had eaten my food and left droppings in our kitchen. I was happy he was dead. I was unhappy that he probably had a slow death. Rat poison is not fast acting. If I had found him in time, I would have put him out of his misery.
I then retired to my room to record the rest of the show. I will publish my top albums of the year tomorrow. The show will stream on Thursday night. Or should I wait for it to air before publishing? I don’t know. It’s the kind of thing that I’m quite sure I should not waste mental energy on, it won’t make a difference to anyone but me.
Now I have to notify the artists I’m playing and promote the show.
Wise Madness 