When Sheep Cannot Sleep

It’s been almost two months since I’ve been back home. Haven’t reconnected with lots of friends, been busy sorting out stuff in my life and working, so if you’re out there and want to hang out, drop me a message and I’ll send ya my cellphone number.

I’ve been lazy on lots of fronts, especially concerning this blog. I’ve been keeping up with my other blog, on  another networking site, and pretty much don’t feel up to posting here because of the interface and the difficulty on posting/placing photos, etc. I’ll start reposting them verbatim here if any interest is shown (since I can’t see stats on my visitors/readers, another gripe).

Anyways, I’ll start posting stuff soon. Even a photoblog or two.

Lots of things have gone down the past two weeks. I meant to chronicle them and keep my peeps informed but it hasn’t been a priority, so I apologize and offer a quick wrap-up:

Let it snow
Indy was hit by a huge snowstorm. The biggest ever, according to the news. It wreaked havoc on just about everything (more below).
It snowed for 2 days straight, starting Monday night and all-day Tuesday. At the end, we had over a foot of snow on the ground. And high winds piled the snow up high everywhere.
We had to dig out my car. Took about a half hour. But it was kinda fun. We went sledding and I built a snowboard jump in my backyard, which settled my shredding jones after watching all that snow.

Valentine
Because of aforementioned snow, Beth had three days off! Two scheduled days were called off because Lafayette declared "emergency travel only". So it was sweet - we spent all day Tuesday mixing the album (sorry Beth!), but on Wednesday, we spent the day together, watching it snow.
Beth wanted to get her nose pierced, so I bought her a piece of jewelry for V-day and we went over to Metamorphosis to get it done. Same place my mum got hers pierced. Kinda surreal. It looks good on her though. Soon she’ll be bugging me for more nose jewelry…
We spent Thursday together too. Inside, nice and warm as the temperature dropped steadily.

Courting Disaster
Apparently, our band was well named. With the snow and everything else, our CD is currently on hold. It’s been a long journey and a longer story, but to keep it short, tracking is done, so was mixing. But the snow prevented it from being duplicated and artwork being printed. At this point, I don’t even know if I will get a (finished) copy before I leave for home.
So, our CD release "party" and my farewell show went on. It was pretty mellow and littered with "get a green card" jokes. Assholes! The weather prevented lots of people from coming out, but most of our friends came out anyway. The owner of the bar paid my tab at the end of the night. Thanks, Dave. Maybe I should have a farewell show every week!

Hello goodbye
I sold my car yesterday. Goodbye Civic - four years of independence and (mostly) fun. We got a good price for it, only $400 less than I wanted/expected.
I’m planning on spending today packing, maybe reminiscing. There might be a sappy entry coming soon. I might even start writing it now.

Most of you have already heard or know that I’m heading home at the end of February. I don’t have a return schedule as of today - I’m still waiting on news from a few grad schools.

Five years and a ton of friends has made Indy my second home - it’s kind of scary to leave. Leaving my girlfriend for a while is scary too. Beth will remain in Indy for now. I know it’s hard for her but I’m planning on coming back. And hopefully soon.

There is a lot of personal stuff to get through. I know I’m coming back, but things will change and I will have changed. I’ll leave the personal and sentimental stuff for the next entry.

Right now I am wrapping up loose ends. Courting Disaster will continue. Blake, a mutual friend of Shayne and I, will take over the main guitar duties. I hate leaving this behind as well, but for the time being, I have to. I’ve no doubt they’ll be writing new stuff soon - I might be obsolete and they might not need me if/when I get back, but I hope this won’t happen.

We’re planning on a farewell show and CD release party sometime before I leave - watch this space for updates.

Also, here’s a goodby to Suresh, who’s leaving Indy for good tommorow. Have a good trip and I’ll see you soon!

Like the title says: random photos (click to enlarge)

   
TV off = angry Foo!

Frank in snow. Frank is a goose that lives outside my back window.

Foot. Hand. Foot.

Guitar Hero. Oh yeah.

Birthday cupcakes! Sweet!

The press machine rolls on. We’re mentioned in Anderson’s Herald Bulletin. Full story here: Wanted:Musicians

Choice bits:

"Belinda
Short felt the need to branch out. She could sing, she could play a few
instruments. She had been in school bands but she wanted more.
So she decided to join a rock band."

"About
a year and a half ago, 23-year-old Shayne Gasaway, bass player and
co-founder of Courting Disaster with drummer Aaron Haltom, was looking
for a lead singer.

"The hard part was
contacting these people who seemed really good on paper or the computer
screen, and you’d meet them and it wouldn’t click," Gasaway says. "We
lucked out on Amir (Zaid, guitarist) — he’s really good. But it took a
few months to find a singer."

Gasaway
said some of the prospective lead singers he met before Short came with
unreasonable demands. One wore a mask (like those worn by masked heavy
metal band Slipknot) throughout the entire interview and wouldn’t
reveal his identity. One asked if he could snort cocaine around the
band and another required gas money to travel to and from practices and
shows.

Finally, they found Short.

 "Not
only does she sing, but she has learned to play guitar for us. She’s
been really good. She writes all the lyrics, makes the T-shirts and is
really good overall," Gasaway says."

Time to get big headed! We’ve been selected to be Indianapolis Music.Net’s (IMN) Artist of The Week for this week. I just found out today (Thursday) - shows you how much I care about our press! heh heh. Weird cause the band basically came together through the IMN forums.

Good news is we’re having a show tommorow so everyone can come celebrate! How sweet is that? Maybe I’ll even buy a round… so come out and jam!

IMN main page: www.indianapolismusic.net
IMN story:
http://www.indianapolismusic.net/content_detail.php?current_id=1343

Did I mention a show tommorow? LOCALS ONLY 9PM. Directions? www.localsonlyindy.com

Get your holiday shopping done and then come out and see Courting Disaster at Locals Only this Friday! It’s the closest we’ll come to doing an actual Christmas show.
First person who shows up in a Santa hat gets to touch my guitar (terms and conditions apply, void where prohibited by law)!

On to the the flyer, as always, designed by (and featuring) our very own Belinda:

So, in summary, Courting Disaster at Locals Only. Friday Dec 22nd. 9 pm. With Dark Slyde (Milwaukee) and Chained Heat. Probably $5.

Simple directions: It’s on Keystone and 56th. take a right on 56th if driving northbound on Keystone.

And yes, we know the date on the flyer is wrong. It’s on Friday, so come out. You’re on Xmas vacation already. You have no excuses.

The Fall TV season is over and we’re being treated with either repeats or (worse!) Christmas specials. Which brings me to a conversation I had with some people over the best sci-fi showoin TV (regular TV, seeing as I can’t afford cable).

It basically boiled down to "Heroes" vs "Lost". I’d argue Farscape but it’s been cancelled. Yes, even the reruns. Everyone pretty much had a favourite and no one changed their minds, so as promised, I turned to the internet for help. To the sceptics and my "Lost"-loving pals, here’s a rundown on which show is better:Sci-Fi Rumble - Lost vs Heroes.

In short, "Heroes" kicks more ass cause people have superpowers. And the resident badguy obtains other peoples powers by sawing their skulls open. Please file all arguments/retorts/hatemail via comments or email.

P.S. Courting Disaster has a not-so-secret show tonight at Locals Only!

P.P.S. I already know I’m a dork. Save your snide comments. You know who I’m talking about…

I need a new plug in baby… to crucify my enemies.

Quick rundown of my week/weekend:

Beth started her new job in Lafayette. The store she took over seems to have been left in tatters and she’s supposed to fix it. She seems to be revelling in it - finally being the boss! I bet she’ll do a great job.

Spent Saturday at West Lafayette for the annual Old Oaken Bucket grudge match. College football at it’s finest - Purdue vs. Indiana. The black and gold kicked Indiana’s ass! Woo hoo! BOILER UP!!

We had dinner with Beth’s parental units and Tina and Terry. I started sneezing uncontrollably in the restaurant. We went to the mall, where my sneezing didn’t seem to stop. On the drive back, I started to feel like crap. Good news was that I stopped sneezing. Bad news, I was burning up.

Came home, took a shower, popped some cold pills and planned to take a short nap before meeting Beth and the guys cause Gaurav was in town. I promised to meet up with them since I was busy all week. Lay down  in bed to take the nap and next thing I knew, it was 10am on Sunday. Shit! Sorry dudes… I didn’t mean to.

I’ll make it up to you on Sunday. Courting DIsaster at the Mel (www.melodyindy.com). Come out and the first round is on me. And for those in the know, we might be giving 14-day passes to a certain website to a limited number of attendees. Sign up for the mailing list and find out! Or give me a call. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more! For those not in the know, I’m sorry but I cannot divulge anymore info (unless you ask nice AND say please).

Oh… and happy turkey day to the Americans. Catch everyone after the break.