Reading: The Pirate Hunter : The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks
Music: Bela Fleck, the Bluegrass Sessions
TV/Movie: Family Guy, volume 3
Link o' the Day: Nothing Nice To Say

Wow, this journal is still alive even though it's been ages since I've last updated. And quite a bit to update as well.

New job. Some new freelance gigs. Some new musical developments. Yes, some writing here and there.

Let's see, a quick update--details in upcoming updates, but let's see.

Pretty Maggie got all A's in her first full year as a grad student. Very proud of her, and not at all surprised. She's enjoying her current internship placement at a local school, and is looking forward to see what other internship opportunities arise for the next semester. Right now, though, she seems to be enjoying the fact that, for the most part, the semester has ended.

After spending a year at a small printshop, a kind of McDonald's of the printing world, I've moved up to a much larger press outfit and working on newspapers and magazine layouts and prepress. the only drawback is that it's second shift, although on the plus side, it's not as busy as my last job, and there should be quite a few nights where I'll be able to tackle freelance work, writing, and even updating here. I may even catch up on some lost correspondence soon.

Musically I had a good year and some months playing Irish music at a weekly session, my repetoire expanding well and my mandolin and bodhran skills improving measurably. I've taken on the Irish tenor banjo as well, which is very similar to the mandolin--just larger. In addition to that, I also picked up an affordable 5-string bluegrass-style banjo and have been learning that. (As of this morning, I can play "Bile Dem Cabbage Down.")

Memorial Day Weekend means sales, sales, sales. And in a not-quite-planned move, Pretty Maggie got herself some new keyboards, and I got a new six-string guitar. I've not played guitar regularly in quite a long time, but it's slowly coming back to me.

Speaking of unplanned purchases, we also got ourselves talked into buying a ... well, I should save _something_ for another night.

Some freelance projects in progress include an RPG campaign sourcebook and some follow-up materials, move volumes of the Archives of the Airwaves, some interesting anecdotes and stories by Richard Lamparski, a book on the old radio show and comic strip Straight Arrow, and a whole lot more. I'm also doing a monthly journal for the Rhode Island Medical Society.

Okay, signing off and picking up some proofs. I truly hope that my new schedule affords me more opportunities to update here and share some thoughts--both insightfully cynical and cynically insightful. Take yer pick.

* * *
Today's link, Nothing Nice To Say, goes to a webcomic I came across about a year ago. It updates irregularly, but the artist is promising to do better, and I hope he continues the series. It's basically about punks and punk rock music, and has a refreshing amount of integrity to it. No posers. The archives are worth reading through--and yes, the artwork does improve over time.

Cheers!