loralees-freshed-over-noodles

Alright. There's been a plague of "Brokeback" posters going around, on various sites, from Loralee's to Alex's. Now I'm honored because I'm in one! Go check all of them out at Dave's site:

http://davidicdesign.com/blog/?cat=3

This guy is seriously talented. His blogsite is listed in my links......

This morning the "Dreamweaver" visited me. No. Not Sharon's "Dreamweaver." Sharon's "Dreamweaver" might've been easier to explain! I can't explain this one! In my dream this morning, Loralee Choate and I were in my high school home town. It was full of ocean water (my high school home town is in the Sierra Foothills.) We had a raft, suitable for one person, that we shared as we were trying to get out of town by using the main street, and I kept slipping off of it. My dad, who died 2 1/2 years ago, was there somehow. I believe that he pointed us in the direction that we were supposed to go. The water got shallower as we headed East. We finally saw some land at an automotive shop on our right hand side. I went inside and talked to this burly, grumpy tough guy. He gave me my Dad's wallet and spare change, that my Dad had left in one of the cars in his shop. I went back outside where Loralee was waiting for me in the car that she had STOLEN. It was an old Fairlane (or something similar) from the 60's (quite nice actually.) Loralee said that she stole that particular car because nobody would notice it as opposed to a new car which would stand out (whatever!). I remember thinking that "all new cars kind of look the same, this one looks different. We're gonna get caught." We continued East. Loralee was driving like a "bat out of hell" around all of the curves and corners through the hills and mountains. She was very sure of her driving capabilities. I was scared. We abandoned the car and ended up in a house where I asked Loralee, "Where are all the clothes that we packed?" She told me that she had left them in the stolen car. I was worried because I'd had a high school picture taken in one of the tops. They would find the car, then the top and then me. Last thing I remember is Loralee was in bed. Okay, that's all I can remember.

All I can say is, "WHAT THE HELL?"

Yep. I am.

Feeling over whelmed about school. Wondering what I've gotten myself into.
I should've taken 9 units not 12! 9 units would've been good. My left eye is twitching.

Did a studio session for an asshole. Still waiting for said asshole to pay me.
Already drafted letter and will send letter to asshole, telling him that I will NEVER work for him again, just as soon as I receive and cash his check.

Find out how incredibly loyal a good friend is.

Got irritated with Mom and over reacted.

Start a studio session, working on a song, with small child's dad. Fun!

Start to feel a little less over whelmed about school. Eye not twitching so much.

Have loooooong conversation with incredibly loyal good friend. Tell her how much I appreciate her.

Got an A- on my first English essay with teacher's comment: "Very good work, Loralee, with excellent use of detail, examples and information. And engagingly and efficiently presented."

Called Mom and apologized for being such a grump.

Did a session for a nice guy.

Finished session and song with small child's dad. We did some good work. Can't wait to hear the finished demo!

Got a gig.

Was called a "talented vixen."

Lost a gig.

Another nice guy to hire me for a studio session within next couple weeks. He will call tomorrow.

Had a boring gig.

Was told that I smelled good.

Was told by a reasonably good looking 26 year old that I have a great ass, that I look somewhere between 28 and 35 and that I have the sexiest singing voice that he's ever heard.

Left eye hardly twitching at all.

I guess it all evens out!

Well, for those of you who are wondering.....the show went amazingly well on Saturday night!
We sold out ALL of the tickets....standing room only! I don't know how much $$$$ we raised but I'm sure it was quite a bit! I'm just thrilled that I got to be a part of something so amazingly fun, meet such incredible people and raise money for such a worthwhile cause. They've invited me to do another benefit in October....YAY! Donating my time and my voice is the least I can do since I can't donate monetarily right now . Anyway, thank you all for your good wishes. They really worked. We packed 'em in!

....to ask of you my faithful 4 readers....hee! Small child's dad is a very, very talented musician. He has just recently entered an on-line competition. The task? To do a re-mix of Peter Gabriel's version of "Shock the Monkey" in your own studio. Small child's dad did a terrific job. It's contemporary sounding, it's subtle, it's crisp and it's cool. If you take a listen to the original mix and then take a listen to small child's dad's version you'll hear all of the wonderful things small child's dad did to his version. There's really an art to being a terrific studio engineer/producer. It's called being tasteful, subtle, simple and not overproducing. Small child's dad has the midas touch when it comes to engineering/producing and I would like for him to be acknowledged for this. Not only is small child's dad an amazing engineer/producer but he is a talented musician playing guitar, bass and piano. And he writes amazing songs as well. Also, small child's dad has been very, very generous with his talent, his time and his recording studio to work on a project for Loralee & Loralee, Thing One & Thing Two, Utah Loralee & California Loralee, Loralee 1 & Loralee 2, Young Loralee & Not So Young Loralee (or however it is that you know us.) This favor is one way that I can help him out in return.

Here is the favor. Please vote for small child's dad's song. Here's how:

(FYI: I am TRYING to get people to vote BEFORE this Sunday (September 10) to get small child's dad (Naren is his name) into the Top Twenty countdown on Sunday! Plus, it would be a great birthday gift for him as Sunday is his birthday! If you aren't able to vote before Sunday you can still cast a vote until September 30th. Oh yeah, you can only vote once.)

Please click on the link below. It will take you to small child's dad's song.

http://www.realworldremixed.com/remix.php?remix_id=r7767iVArff9ZrM.

Please sign up. (You know the drill, name, password, some sort of anonymous moniker.)

Please listen to Naren's (small child's dad) re-mix.

Please VOTE IF YOU LIKE IT. (3 stars or more.....anything below that is not helpful.)

Please DO NOT vote if you don't like it.

Please leave a comment. (Not required but if you'd like to and it's a GOOD comment that would be great!)

I will also have the link on my blog roll until September 30th if you'd like to send anybody else his way. Thanks everyone! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for small child's dad and I'll keep you posted as to the results.......

.....SUCKS! I have a hole the size of Vesuvius in one of my molars. I think a filling fell out. Can I go to the dentist and have it fixed? No. No I can't do that. I can't afford that. Also, I don't have insurance anymore. Can I actually just go to the dentist and have it looked at? Nope. Still a cash flow problem there. Okay. Alright. How about this. Can I just go and sit in the dentist's waiting room and think about having it looked at? No? I'd be a nuisance? Alright. Alright. Can I drive by the dentist's office and wave at the building while thinking about having it looked at? No? Okay, alright, okay. How about if I just say the word "dentist" three times and click my heels together and uh.....Not gonna work, huh?? Okay.....can I....oh NEVERMIND! It's just so damned frustrating! And remember the brilliant idea that the Bush administration had? You know the one where they said that they thought that everybody should have a health care savings?? You know. Put a little away each month for health care. Ummmmmm. Errrrrrrr. Uhhhhhhh.....
If I had any money to start any sort of a health care savings don't you think that I could just afford the health care insurance????????????

Yeah. I limp. Not all of the time but most of the time I limp. I hurt almost all of the time. I've been managing pain since I was 17 years old. There are days like today when it is extremely hard to get out of bed. I have to give myself motivational talks just to get out of the bed and into the bathroom to go pee. Which I've been holding for some length of time. Cause I don't want to get out of the bed. Cause I don't want to walk. Cause I hurt.

I only spent about 3 or 4 hours on my feet yesterday but I find that when I spend that much time on my feet I suffer for it. My feet are completely stiff and ache like the devil. Why you ask? (Even if you aren't asking you should know by now that I am going to tell you.) Okay. Here goes. A little piece of my history. When I was 17 years old I was decorating for some stupid High School dance that I wasn't even planning on attending. One of my best friends was homecoming queen and head cheerleader and blah, blah, blah and she talked me into assisting her in decorating for this dance. Long story short: The teacher supervising us decided to run some errands. There was construction going on at the High School at the time. There was a big scaffolding in the room where the dance was being held. We decided to use it to hang streamers. It fell over with 2 of us on it. Yeah. We fell. We fell about 25 feet onto a solid cement floor. She landed on her back. Hairline fracture on one of her vertebrae. I landed on my heels. My heels took the whole impact of the fall and they shattered. Just my 2 little heels taking the whole impact of one teenage body. Was in the hospital for a week. Had surgery (thankfully, no pins!) and was in casts and a wheel chair for quite some time. There. There's the sordid little tale. Yes, there was a lawsuit. No, we did not make a lot of money. But I am reminded every single day of this little incident because I have to manage pain. Not only do you hurt but it is mentally fatiguing as well. The degree of mental fatigue coincides with the degree of physical pain.

I cannot believe that I worked for 2 years in a retail store a few years ago. Seriously. How did I do it? I stood on my feet for a full 8 hour day. Constantly. No sitting. I do remember there were times where I'd be saying to myself, "Okay, Loralee. You can do it. 3 more hours to go," while shifting from one foot to other. Then sometimes afterwards I would go off to a 4 hour gig and stand some more! The thought of that right now makes me cringe. I mean, look at me today. Whining cause I stood for 3 whole hours yesterday but I guess it's all relative, huh?

You know what's funny about all of this? You would think that after all these years I would be used to people looking at me funny when I'm having one of my "limpy" days but for the most part people are pretty cool. They'll even ask me, "What's wrong?" or "What happened?" and we'll have a nice little chat. It's all right. Here's the funny part. Young people will not stare at you if you're limping across the college campus however they WILL look away uncomfortably or will look at you pityingly if you have a roly poly little suitcase for your books at college. Seriously.