Crazy 2012 is at it again.

Crazy 2012 stopped me in the hallway and said it would be really nice if I would talk to Twitchy Rick a little, he would really like that. What the fuck? Am I his distant father who never spends enough time with him or something? I’m not at work to make friends, or make people feel better. I'm getting close to just walking away the next time she starts spouting of more crazy at me. And I'm not that won't be too long from now, once she gets word that I have said a word to Twitchy Rick.

The ladies on the bus.

I’m not sure what’s been going on, but it’s been interesting to watch. About two years ago when I started taking the bus I noticed this weird relationship between the four Target ladies, and the one Qwest lady. As with any group there is the group leader. Target leader lady didn’t like the Qwest lady which means the other Target ladies couldn’t like her either. I’m not sure why. Just like in school; somebody doesn’t like somebody else without any reason at all. Maybe something went down in the days before I started with the bus. I don’t know and I don’t care. A year later Target leader lady stops taking that bus (switched to another route); leaving the three other Target ladies lost. As time goes by I see them starting to talk at the bus stop. Then they started talking on the bus. Not long after that Qwest lady starts sitting with the remaining Target ladies on the bus. And now, it seems to be reversing. The past week I’ve seen the Qwest lady all by herself on the bus, with the Target ladies staying in their own group. Who know where this is going to end up…the excitement, the suspense! The fact that this is really dumb and boring for everybody. Yes, this is my entertainment in the morning on the way to work. Metallica said it best…Sad but true. Chucga-chuga (my guitar sounds).

So You Think You Can DJ? – Track 3

My DJ toy arrived yesterday! Stupid UPS gave me the really specific time of 8a – 7p for a delivery time. So I sat at home all day waiting and waiting until finally at 5:07p, it came.

It was packed so tight it took me about five minutes to get the thing out of the box, but once I got it out it was such a marvelous site to see.

It’s going to take some getting used to. I’m so used to looking at the record to see where the song is at.  And when the song is over picking up the record and changing it out with the next one. I still have some audio tweaking to do too. I have to turn the gain switches on the software to zero as to not blow out my headphones with the super heavy distortion. Not sure if that’s normal so I’m going to get with my friend who’s been using this for a while now and should know what’s going on.

It’s going to be fun to spin anything I want now. I don’t know why, but I’m super excited to play The Dead Kennedy’s on a record.

My tiny view on the Apple Tablet, and a nice timeline.

I have no interest for the rumored Apple tablet computer. Other than it might be a game changer in the computer industry. But because I have my head in so many technology blogs and podcasts it’s really hard not to read or hear about it at every turn. And because of my lack of interest, I haven’t really paid much attention to the who, what and when of all this. But I read this timeline on The Week of all of the important events regarding the Apple tablet. I think it’s fun to know how a potential game changer made its way to market. Found on the Linkpost 1.15.2010 article by trusted tech-head Dwight Silverman at The Houston Chronicle. (I’m linking to the article rather than posting it here so that I’m not sucking ad dollars from the original source. I’m kind like that.)

Crazy 2012

Crazy 2012 spoke to me today. I believe it was her effort to dispel the rumor that she’s crazy, when in fact, it just confirmed it. I’ve known of her for years; as in I knew her name and face, that’s it. Then I was relocated to a new desk that’s just kiddie-corner to hers. My new neighbors filled me in on Crazy 2012. First of all, she’s a firm believer that the world is ending in 2012, hence my name for her. Out of the blue during a one-on-one with her supervisor (who happens to me mine as well) just spouts off "You know that the price off eggs in Alabama are 2 cents cheaper now." And you just get this nutty vibe when you're around her.

So this afternoon I'm walking down the hallway with all the microwaves for heating up your lunch near the cafeteria. I have my headphones in so that people DON'T talk to me, but that didn't stop her. She stops me and just wanted to introduce herself. O.k., that's was nice. I said my nice to meet you's and whatever and I thought that would have ended it. Nope. "I just wanted you to know that Rick (he shares the two person desk with her, and is also weird, but with reason) and I are good people. We've been here over ten years and we're good people no matter what any one else says." I nod and tell her "Of course you are" and head on my way.

I always thought she was kind of off, but now I think she's full on nuts. Who just stops you like that to tell you that I'm good, not matter what other people think. Wack jobs, that's who.

So You Think You Can DJ - Track 2

From Brother Dan I got two new sets of slip mats for my turntables. I was in desperate need of new ones because the current pair were leaving marks on my records. So once I got home I of course had to try them out. The new slip mats have less friction the my old ones so that’s going to take some getting used to. But with the great vinyl transfer of 09 I now have all my vinyl correctly coded with an accurate BMP. This is what I’ve been missing all this time. I was rocking records back and forth with the greatest of ease. My gosh I’ve never had this much fun with my turntables. I also started using the faders (volume levels) to mix the records and keep the cross fader at center. This helped me keep thing organized in the headphones. I only stopped because I had to walk the dog and go to bed. If this is a sign of times to come, I can’t wait for my SL3. Oh, and because of my mom and grandma, I’m $540 closer.

So You Think You Can DJ? – Track 1

The Past:

I’ve always been fascinated with DJ’s for as long as I can remember. Well, I guess it can be traced back to 1991 or so when I first heard some techno that really grabbed me. I was at favorite store; Junk Yard. It was like if Hot Topic was cool, and had crushed cars in the store and chain link fencing on the walls. They were playing The Lords of Acid’s - Voo-Doo U. It was a few years later that I bout my first Technique 1200 and a mixer. Not sure what I was mixing with just one turntable. Oh right, I had the plan to get a second one, which I did a little while later. Over the next few years I started building my record collection.

Unfortunately I’ve never had a good job; or real good access to a record shop so I have a pitiful collection. And I was never very smart about my music choices. I have about 5 records of each genre. Some drum-n-bass, hardcore, trance, acid trance, dance and some other just weird stuff. I tired mixing them together but just couldn’t get it together. I did manager to pull out one hour long mix that sounds pretty good for the first 20 minutes, then I start to loose it with the rest of the set. If you really want to hear it, let me know and I’ll up load it. Years past and I sort of lost touch with my equipment, only playing with the records when I got really board and wanted to frustrate myself.

The Now:

Thanks to the power of Facebook I was able to reconnect with an old friend of mine. And get this, he’s a DJ. And an even bigger get this, he credits me for getting him into techno back in the day; thus spawning his love for music and DJ’ing. Those were some good days too. Staying up late and listening to DJ JT on Rev.105 FM and Big Daddy Greg Comstock on 93X FM.

Anyway, I’ve been picking his brain about his work and have gone to a couple of his shows and now I’ve got the love again.

I have no clue how this slipped past me, but he, and a million other DJ’s are spinning mp3’s instead of real vinyl. This is so my thing. I have so many mp3’s that I’ve all ready got a good start. But not many of them are DJ mp3’s, with nice long intros and outros for mixing. So at this moment I’m starting to save money so I can start buy DJ mp3’s. And better yet, this will be current music. The last time I bought a record was about five years ago or so. By mid January I’ll have enough money to buy the hardware necessary to connect my laptop to my turntables.

The Future:

My goal is to really get myself into DJ’ing. This will be the easy part. The hard part will to book one show. That is my goal. In one year, I want to book one show. I know I’ll be the opening and playing for a room of about 10 people while the rest of the people trickle in waiting for the next DJ or the headliner to start. And that’s fine. This is my I-don’t-want-to-go-through-life-wishing-I-had-done-something resolution.

I’ll try to throw up updates as I gain my new music, equipment and any other “ground breaking” events I encounter.