TURN THE PAGE

It's just the age

It's just the stage

We disengage

We turn the page

-Rush

Well, I was ready to start my new job on Monday. but my boss begged me to stay for another week. 

I have not had work either Sunday nor today, and Sunday I drove all the way into Denver to find out. She sent out a revised schedule on Fri to everyone but me.  So, I say unto she..., fuck you. Unionization is coming. You'll no longer be able to get away with being the Queen Bitch, beacuse there will be more laws. 

It's not the end, it's a beginning.

VDK

Thursday

It took over an hour to dig out my car, which had been covered in solid ice. Then, cars were all over the place on 225 and I was rear ended. I went to the hospital to check my head and to document it. I may have been slightly concussed, but probably not. But it was a jarring hit. My head never hit anything but the belt did what it should, and I got a bit of whiplash. He hit me from behind, so hopefully it will all be covered. It can still drive, which is good. And I'm alive, so that's fucking awesome. But the trunk is a mess. I was pretty shaken up, but I'll be okay. My first Denver blizzard really sucked ass.

Sunday

I am not going to miss working for these assholes. Even though it's Easter, I went to work, only to find out that it had been cancelled, the the guy there said a lot of people had shown up. Fuckers. 5 more days and I am gone.

But, I finally found a place to live! I'll live with 2 other guys and we are all about the same age. We have a huge backyard, with a locked gate and a told wooden fence. I may be able to grow my cannabis outdoors! The sun is cheaper than powering lights.

So, by April 3rd I'll have a new job and a home. It's in Thornton, to the north.

Selene: The Blizzard of '16

Don't let her spicy latina name fool you; this storm is one cold bitch.

We were not supposed to get much accumulation in Denver. Wrong!

The snow was coming down faster than the rear windshield defroster could melt it. I left at 7. I went about a mile and then turned around and came home. That took an hour.

The guy on 850 AM said, "Going uphill is virtually impossible."

Damn. And he was right. It was that bad. SUVs spun out everywhere and the Toyota just kept chugging. It was slippery as hell. A guy slid into the front Toyota bumper. We exchanged info but it didn't look like there was any damage. It just sounded awful.

I accepted a new job yesterday. I will be working for a dispensary, so this is a good move. It will soon mean better pay as well.

Soundtrack to Blizzard Selene:

Tales from Topographic Oceans (disc 1) - Yes
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd
Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
O.R.k. - Inflamed Rides

DIA, the airport, is closed until further notice. It's a whiteout out there. My car doors were frozen shut. I-70, I-25 and I-76 are all closed, both ways from Denver. They say this is the worst storm in 8 years. 90,000 homes are without power. Traffic lights are out. When you look outside it looks like a scene from The Shining.

Yesterday it was sunny and 72F. 

Off the Grid

 Norway

Things have been batshit crazy. Today I went to work, but there was no work. They sent an email at 8:30pm. Everyone checks their email after 8 on Friday night, no?

It was icier than fucking Norway and I skid out three times. There were over 25 accidents in Denver at 7:10 am.

I did not get the apartment. I wanted, but it's probably for the best.

My extended stay is like the Overlook Hotel in the Shining. The end of each hallway is painted blood red, like the bathroom where Jack Nicholson meets Grady. There's a hole in the carpet under the breakfast bar. I realized what had happened when I went to use the iron and it had berber carpet fused to it. The lady at the desk said, "They'll make you pay for it."

"It was like that. Did nobody check that room after the last folks checked out? The smoke alarm is hanging from the ceiling."

"Oh?" she said.

I'm thinking about becoming a survivalist and camping in the foothills. Off the grid.

State of the Onion

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me 
what a long, strange trip it's been
-The Grateful Dead

Because the place where I usually work is out of weed to trim, I've only worked about 23 hours in 4 days. So, I will probably work 7 days this week. It was inevitable; like global warming, wars over religion (fucking morons,) and Cher retiring.

Luckily, I like my job.

Keep trimming..., just keep trimming!

I like the west. It's so different. They move way slower than the Northeast. 

The Fall of Giants

It's only mid-March, but we've already had several rock and roll casualties. David Bowie died on Jan. 10. He was a visionary and an amazing talent, always changing, always innovating.



 Glenn Fry died on Jan 18. He was an egotistical douche. Growing up in the 70s, with a Mum who always listening to AM radio, the Eagles' soft, adult rock, easy listening, AM friendly, wussy music was always on. I remember one summer, down the Jersey Shore, I heard One of these Nights 5 times in one day. And I thought, one of these nights, I'm going to punch Glenn Fry in his giant nose and change the pitch of his voice forever. Unfortunately, that chance never came and he went on to be the bane of my existence during the 80's. His 1982 album sucked ass on a universal level, played over and over on FM radio. He tried like hell to become an actor. From Wikipedia;

He guest starred on Miami Vice in the first season episode "Smuggler's Blues", inspired by his hit song of the same name, and had a starring role in the "Dead Dog Arc" of Wiseguy.^[26] 

But sucked as an actor as much as he did a musician. And a human being. Watch History of the Eagles. He and Don Henley were/are horrible people. 

I love this scene:
The Big Lebowski- The Dude hates the Eagles

ELP-Brain Salad Surgery

And on March 10th, we lost Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He nerve damage in his right hand that severely affected his keyboard playing. He died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Policed have ruled it suicide.

So today, while I tried to pull the strings of my life inward on my only day off, I can only declare it ELP day. ELP had some unbelievable albums. Time to listen to a bunch of them.

- - - 

Wednesday

I've worked in 5 places in the last 3 days. I've gotten a reputation for being a whoor (I'll always take extra work,) so they offer it to me. 

Waiting to hear from the place I wanted to rent.

All else is copacetic. 

Go Trump Yourself

Trump will not win the presidency, but if he does, I will move to Alberta, Canada and work in the cannabis industry up there. I already have a fake Canadian passport under the name Jose Guerrero. And he's only 42. Yeah baby!

Feel the Bern! I hope Bernie can make a comeback, but I doubt it's possible. I'll vote for Hillary, but she's as corrupt as hell. Bill was too, but was a good president. But no more Bushes. No more Clintons. Enough is enough. 

The Republican debate last night was a real shit storm. Trump is a hate monger. Cruz is an ass wipe. Rubio and that other douche are already toast and are too stupid to realize. 

I heard that if you drop out, you get to keep all of your donations.

Guess who's going to run in 2020? Jose Guerrero for President!

Scorched Earth Policy

With the guards of Magog, swarming around,
The Pied Piper takes his children underground.
Dragons coming out of the sea,
Shimmering silver head of wisdom looking at me.
He brings down the fire from the skies,
You can tell he's doing well by the look in human eyes.
Better not compromise.
It won't be easy.

666 is no longer alone,
He's getting out the marrow in your back bone,
And the seven trumpets blowing sweet rock and roll,
Gonna blow right down inside your soul.
Pythagoras with the looking glass reflects the full moon,
In blood, he's writing the lyrics of a brand new tune.
-GENESIS

There comes a time when you no longer take prisoners, and that time is now. No more bullshit. 

Somebody said "fair warning"Lord, strike that poor boy down-VAN HALEN

The Extended Stay America where I've been staying is a shit show. Let's call this The Western Asshole Tour because I've had to rip several people a new one.

When I die, the only thing I want on my headstone is;

                   He did not suffer morons lightly.

In WWII, the Russians followed a scorched earth policy as they retreated. They burnt everything they could not carry. Once they defeated the Nazis at Stalingrad, they hunted them like dogs as they retreated. They had no resources. They died like beggars. 

The Internet was down for 24 hours here at the hotel. I was promised a price of $315 for the week, but they couldn't take my credit card. Today they tried to charge me $550! 

I released the kraken. In the end, I paid $315.

Don't fuck with me. I'm 25% demon (Dad's side.) I hate when people awaken that in me. My father's family was evil. I have damning evidence that they were cannibals, especially his mother.


Deep breaths. Okay, Martini time!

The Kraken has Awoken

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight.

You don't waste no time at all
Don't hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
We're just waiting for the hammer to fall

-Queen

The kraken has awoken. The moving company, which has my stuff in storage, tried to overcharge me by $700! I ripped them a new asshole and only paid what I owed. By the way, they are Best Rate Movers in Brooklyn, and once they have your stuff, they only let you talk to people who can't speak English. I speak English and Spanish and these ass wipes can't understand either one.

I think I found a place to live and I am applying tonight. Work is fine.

"Release the Kraken!"

Come Up Screaming

So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted

-Big Country

Time goes by. Things are progressing. I found a flat, now I just need a roommate. Work is fine. The weather has been crazily warm. 

Come up screaming!

Rain

These mist-covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms
-Dire Straits

It rained today, for the first time since December. We've had snow, but it's generally been dry as hell. I looked at a flat today, but it was too small. Work was good. I met a guy who said, after my friend Kerry played ELP's Trilogy, my favorite band is King Crimson. He started mentioning albums and I was like, "Have it. Have it. Have it."

"Wow, I've never met anyone who was as into King Crimson as I am."

"My cat's name was Fripp." 

He smiled at me and said, "That's very cool."

I told him I'd burn some prog rock stuff onto a USB. Likewise, he said he would burn some post rock stuff for me.

The Week is Over

Weeks at this company start on Monday, like Europe. I worked 7 hours. My next day off will be Saturday.

Well, that was a shitty post.

A Voice from the Past

Hejira - Joni Mitchell

I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shocked love away

There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today

In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed

I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl

You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line

Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock
They're either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen...strains of Benny Goodman
Coming through' the snow and the pinewood trees

I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones

I know, no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone

Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality, to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality

In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years

We're only particles of change I know, I know

Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone

White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
From the window of a hotel room

I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Until love sucks me back that way

To listen to her sing it live in 1980, forward to the 42 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1XFbhSMxIM

Anyone who knows me understands that I love music, lyrics and the written word, and seeing new places. In 1990, I went to Jamaica to build houses. I was able to take about 30 cassettes (twas a different era, younglings) with me. One of them was Joni Mitchell's, Shadows and Light. It features an all-star lineup with Pat Metheny on lead guitar and Jaco Pastorius on bass. 

These lyrics have always spoken to me. Years ago, when was I truly on my own for the first time, the lyrics helped me to sort through a wide range of emotions. I was meeting new people in a different culture. I was in the developing world. I was a world away from friends and family, as well as the woman I loved. 

It spoke to me when I was in NOVA, working in DC. It spoke to me during the Spanish Exile, and now in Denver.

Music really is an amazing thing. And Joni's lyrics are some of the best.

- - - 

I have been remembering David Bowie the past six weeks. Will we ever see the likes of him again? I truly doubt it. He was so original. He was brilliant. Imagine that night in '72 when Bowie first introduced his Ziggy Stardust persona on the BBC's Top of the Pops. People were baffled. Brilliant!

Bowie: Starman 1972

Born to It

All is well. Lot's of hours this week. I've met a lot of cool people over the past month.

It's been warm, but yesterday the 50mph winds were loco. It was cold! It was in the 50's and the wind, off of the snow covered mountains, was bitter. I can't image if it was bellow freezing.

The Rockies are so amazing, it's difficult to describe.

Otherwise, things are peaceful, in-between the chaos. I have always loved to grow plants and wield sharp objets. It's a win/win.

Here Again

Hello People!

Co -workers assured me, all day, that it was Wednesday.

I had lost all track.

"Is it Super Wednesday?"

"Fuck you."

I love that we're always a solid team.

- - -

It was warm today but the winds off of the mountains made it cold. They were upwards of 50 mph.

We had a Red Warning today for brush fires. There was one yesterday. With these winds, a fire could be devastating.

It's odd. The only fires in Jersey are by the Mob for the insurance. It's less unpredictable, for sure.

- - -

If I could be re-incarnated as one animal? A T-Rex.