Leftover Chinese Resumes Normal Life

I've got a bonus for you...the running journal continues for another week. Welcome to what I call a typical atypical weekend.

Day 10

8:38 am - First day back to work. Just in time for the 9am monday morning meeting. The sitting by me on the train was listening to Guns 'n' Roses. He followed that up with Candlebox. Remember Candlebox?

9:30 - Monday morning meeting compmlete. I'm already sounding like a broken record regarding the last nine days. They're expecting me to say "rockingest time ever." All I can say is "fun, exhausting, stressful, but fun."

10:39 - I heard me and the other six from the studio session appear in today's daily commuter newspaper. Woot.

11:11 - One of the team brought beef spare ribs to work for lunch. If this is anything like his dinner party from a few months ago, call it the best free lunch ever.

11:59 - Garage calls. Now I know what a Camshaft Sensor is. It makes sense with the symptoms.

1:36 pm - Took a walk to get copies of the newspaper. I felt like a chump.

3:46 - Afternoon slump.

4:30 - Time to leave work to get a headstart on the garage.

5:45 - Stopped at home to catch my breath, change, talk to the cat, etc.

6:19 - Arrive at first band practice late and without dinner. This could be a disaster.

7:58 - Commence second band practice. Bandmate was nice enough to bring me a slice of lasagna for dinner. The cheese was not overpowering. Hit the spot.

10:00 - Hrm. I've been here four hours.

10:59 - Called it a night. Time to go home. Finally feel confident in how the car is driving. Nice.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Completes the Session

The rest of group are still at the studio mopping up a few things. There's still a lot of work to do, but the important hurdles are over. Mental state: Exhaustion.

Day 9

1:08 pm - Last day in the room. I lost the nice pen left behind at the Superbowl Party on the way here. Even Steven. It fell into a deep pool of slush. As I motioned to pick up the water, common sense prevailed and I moved on.Slus covered pretty much everything in nature today.

1:35 - It turns out almost everybody had a good time last night. Myself included.

3:23 - Add glockenspiel to the list of things I shouldn't be playing. Ding. Dong.

5:26 - It's wacky percussion time. Reaction is nothing short of punch-drunk laughter. It's definitely getting late in the session.

6:49 - Early dinner at El Cid 2. I had the roasted chicken. It was a remarkably quiet but comfortable dinner. I sensed the waitstaff wasn't sure what to make out of a quiet seven-top. Call it a combination of being worn out, hungry, and married for nine days.

9:01 - The 9-5'ers are call it a night. Handshakes and hugs all around. This was
definitely unlike any experience I've ever had. Now...time to throw myself back into the fire.

10:38 - Posting this entry. Hopefully I can be asleep in the next hour. I sure do need the adjustment.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Doesn't quite Like the Weather

The vacation is almost over and I dread going back to the normal life...but also feel like I need a 'real' vacation.

Day 8

2:00 pm - Cold walk to the studio today. My car is being a mystery to the garage, so I wait a few more days.

4:01 - Trumpet laid down. My worst instrument sound and skill-wise continues to disappoint me. Of course, that would change if I upgraded from the beginner's model that has been passed through my family.

5:24 - Acoustic overdubs, TV watching, Poker playing...looks like snow is on the horizon.

9:20 - Kuma's Corner again for dinner. We ran back to the studio in this pelting sleet. The accumulation looks and feels like Styrofoam. Now we add the bass clarinet to the mix.

10:40 - Trombone tracks laid down. I feel better about this one.

12:46 am - Distorting bass sounds in the control room. Recording the sounds on the same tape that originally contained the sounds.

1:23 - Home and too wide awake and too used to this routine. Time to go out.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Gets Used to the Routine

It gets less remarkable as the week goes on because everything sort of melds into the same day. I took my car in to the shop today for what will hopefully be the last time before I sell it.

Day 7

4:10 pm - Late entrance for me as Q picks me up and gives me a ride. We walk into an organ session.

8:25 - Panes Brad Cafe for dinner. I had the Albacore salad. Now we're using the studio's resident 15-string guitar aka the "guitar from hell."

10:22 - Tweaking sounds to get the right amount of hair is also a delicate process...but worth it when you say you "satanized" the sound.

11:15 - I was up a few bucks, then down. Feedback overdubs : the new fad in music? They're not as spontaneous as you think.

1:15 am - More guitars....

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese is Trying to See this one Through the End

It's gotta stay interesting.

Day 6

12:09 pm - At home taking some time for myself. Going to do laundry before heading in.

1:45 - Sitting in the Famous Taco Burrito King waiting for my burrito while laundry washes next door. I feel like I'm on tour. Next up: write a letter, finish laundry, go to studio.

2:30 - The chamber spinning my heavier clothes had that "damp pee smell" going
after one cycle. Time to pull the towels and run it again. Twenty more minutes.

2:40 - The guy emptying the money bins might be sorting out the state quarters. If not, that seems to be an awful lot of Canadian coins going into the machines.

4:01 - Back in the studio. Piano time. Possibly extended poker time.

5:50 - The NBA trade deadline has passed. Now we're working on a mellotron to get more awesome sounds.

7:45 - Dinner at Sai Mai Thai as we continue to visit the neighborhood haunts of Trashyfoodsnob. In an attempt to eat 'healthy', I get the fried red snapper. Only the first bite tasted "like fish."

9:02 - Mellotron is a difficult piece of work, but cool sounding. First outside visitors of the session show up.

10:00 - Timpani time. Boom. Boom. Boom. Prog. Boom.

10:21 - Quick Odds on playable hands:
4 Outs when betting the river - 46:4 = 23:2 = 11.5:1
4 Outs when betting the turn - 47:4 = 23.5:2 = 11.75:1
9 Outs when betting the river - 46:9 = 5:1
10 Outs when betting the turn - 47:10 = 4.7:1

11:40 - Triple snare drum take. LOL's all over the place.

12:30 - Pizza Break. Chicago's Pizza. Good timing.

1:00 am - Caught a ride home. Gotta get my car fixed.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Contines the Log

I was planning on getting some laundry done, but that's not happening if I happily sleep in. Oh well.

Day 5

11:40 am - Picked up the second McDonald's meal of the week today. Not ready to go back into the studio, so I'll just happily eat half the meal in my car.

2:10 pm - Principal tracking almost done. Gonna go back and see if anything can be done better. It's like going to see your newborns in the 'baby room' and deciding if you want to send one of them back.

3:45 - I just threw the brakes on the session by working out a 45-minute punch-in for about 20 seconds of music. I blame coffee and my inability to play guitar.

4:10 - Watched ourselves on TV. It looked just as surreal on TV as it felt in real life. Break over. Back to work.

6:24 - Review continues. Ribs vs. Thai debate. I should treat my body better than I have in the past few days. That probably won't happen.

8:30 - Ribs it is. Half Rack. Corn. Beef Barley Soup.

10:20 - Re-Tracked a song from earlier in the session. Principal tracking put to rest.

11:35 - Setting up a mono/stereo microphone to a grand piano is a very delicate process.

1:15 am - Knocked off part to kick off overdub process. Called it a night at 1 am. The 'check engine' light turned off on the way home. The apartment was actually 'warm' and 'humid' for a change. Everything is coming up Millhouse!

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese and the Intense Day

Day 4

11:55 am - Went to the office supply store to invest in organizing the "home
office." Then went to Jewel for chicken wings, potato salad, apples,
andgatorade. Lots of high school kids were running around the supermarket. I forget this world existed outside of my cube.

12:30 pm - Re-try Song #11. Warmer weather and sunshine definitely boosting spirits.

1:45 - Punch in Song #11. Coloring pages in the engineer's session diary continues.

2:05 - Checking my 401(k) because the day job changed the rules for its
participation. That's hardcore. Wait...what am I doing?

3:33 - Song #12 is like sex on the beach, but not as good as sex in the airplane.

5:00 - Song #13 done. It doesn't feel like five o'clock. On a normal day,
I'm bored out of my mind and ready to run out of the office. This
routine seems okay.

7:44 - Song #14. EPIC JAM. JAM EPIC.

9:05 - Epic Jam going to be topped by 3/6ths of an epic jam to complete 6/6ths of an epic jam. It will be done. Also, I heard we were on cable access television tonight.

11:50 - Epic Jam part II in the books. Idle conversation concludes that cheap
hookers don't do their job poorly. They just do it for less money.

12:10 am - Weekly poker game going on in the living area of the studio. Doing
my best not to get roped into a conversation about poker or Trent Reznor.

3:22 - Song #15 tabled for the night at 1:40 am. Somehow decided that this was the the night to go out for a few beers to blow off steam. Now I'm home. The cat is confused and 'Zardoz' is on the indeplex channel? Sean Connery crawling around like a monkey? Now I'm confused.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Celebrates Presidents' Day

This time around, I honored the presidents by dining at a "Abraham Lincoln Themed" restaurant where unconcerned proprietors solved the leaky roof problem by putting out buckets to the annoyed looks of other patrons. That's about right.

Day 3

12:41 PM - Punch in song #7. The Austrian Engineer is on the case to find the phantom wrong note. Ms. B said I have about three shirts. I should go shopping sometime.

1:11 - Song #8 to be determined. I'm tied for first place in Yahoo Fantasy Basketball. That was bound to happen.

2:21 - Song #8 continues. With a strong mix of variables flexing at all times, it's either really easy or difficult to find the center.

2:54 - Seems like a good way to get the CNN.com headlines is to either be famously shocking, or lost on a mountain.

3:18 - Push-up contest. I won after a few "mom" and "dog" jokes. Tits are going to hurt in the morning.

3:52 - Album title brainstorm (brainstrom) continues.

4:15 - Time for a piano fix. The studio owner TIVO's poker and there are poker books all over the place. Hrm.

5:18 - Song #9. It's going down. We're on the Focus Train. Focus Train.

5:40 - Pizza Bella + 'early' break. The cheese dance is on.

8:30 - Song #10 = high intensity + steady tempo. Time for highflife.

9:47 - Song #11 is a total rager.

10:40 - Song #11 tabled. Everybody could use some fresh air and a 12 hour break.

11:30 - Home and too awake to sleep, but worn out. Can't order what I want to eat, so let's see if I can make a quick chicken soup. That should hit the spot...for the next few days.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Puts in a Yeoman's Effort

Day 2

For this being a vaction, we're working pretty hard. It's good though.

12:30 pm - Everybody is here. My car stalled as I parked. Not sure about that one. Breakfast made at home: eggs, bacon, rice. Mmm...bacon. I show up suprisingly thirsty.

2:04 - Hashing out song #2. No poker yet. Talking sounds and all that.

3:05 - Punch-out was a good game. Punch-in is more awesome. We're also learning about our engineer's Austrian side. Trying to get the takes to be "Nun's A**hole tight." That's pretty graphic.

6:34 - Basics of Song #3 agreed to. Talk of dinner to begin while we finish it off. Let somebody play online poker with "fun money." He lost twice. I hope nobody drinks my Mountain Dew in the studio fridge.

8:24 - Kuma's Corner for dinner. Burger = One fat beef patty, chili, onions, mushrooms and a Great Lakes Brewery beer consumed. More antacids to be consumed. I bet the bottle will be empty by thursday.

9:00 - Beer + candy arrives. Dudes bang out a take of Song #4. This is the time I should be playing poker, but I'm too busy talking to the engineer about how awesome they sound.

10:05 - Song #5 moving along. The tile floor seems to be a good sleeping spot.

10:35 - While punch-in continues on song #5, Dr. Mario makes a stressful housecall. We're probably not going to celebrate Presidents' Day eve tonight.

11:46 - Start Song #6. I feel way more tired now than I did around this time last night. Is it the Sparks? Coffee? Hangover? Hrm.

12:00 am - (I wrote down the time, but didn't write anything. It must have been hilarious.)

12:55 am - Basics for Song #7 on tape. No click for precise hits, but we'll figure it out. Time to go home and sleep.

I drank:
- Coffee
- The rest of the Sprite I didn't finish yesterday.
- Pints and Pints of water
- Great Lakes Ale (1)
- Miller High Life (1)

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Goes to the Studio

Ever wanted know what it's like to spend nine days in a real recording studio? Yeah, me too. This is part one of a series of running events that occur as the six of us join forces for a week straight to make an album.

Day 1

12:20 pm - Load-in commences, it's warm not freezing cold outside and I'm as hungover as I expected. Setting up shop will take most of the day so we'll just spend the next few hours making each other laugh.

12:40 - Sit and wait time. Time for me to go to McDonalds for some really awful food. Maybe even sneak home to do the dishes and drop a deuce. LOL>

2:05 - Back after an hour to cure the hangover (McChicken sandwich, Classic Grilled, Fries, Soda). It's a microphone city in the recording areas. Currently in the control room finding out that Daft Punk is either genius or a total sham. Since I don't spend much time in an owner operated McDonald's restaurant, I find the whole atmosphere kind of depressing.

2:45 - Getting started on drum sounds. I'll start my week long habit of playing online poker in increments of $1 winnings. Goal for the week is to get back to my original investment. Yeah. Right.

4:10 - Won a buck, then got greedy and lost a buck. Picked up my car from the shop (dead battery) and it died once on the way back to the studio. Let's just assume that didn't happen. Working on bass drum sounds. Looking for...cannon sound?

4:26 - Beef Jerky arrives. We're officially on Vacation and drum sounds are almost finished.

4:30 - Drums done. Somebody opened the scotch. Now it's spring break.

5:45 - Bass Done. Guitar I finding tone. One more guitar and keyboards to sound out. Let's not try to play some poker.

9:05 - Sounds almost done. We went to El Cid 2. I had the Fajitas Mixtas which feature shrimp, beef and steak. We learned tonight that El Cid also has Cheese stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Yes. They do. It's about time to hit the sparks and wake up.

9:28 - Gucci Mane "Pillz : best song of 2007?

10:14 - More poker, more cabling and tone work. Poker habit is already a local attraction. Not a great sign. Lessons of the day: a) Wikipedia as an entry for 'wikipedia.' b) Graph paper does not improve my penmanship or drawing; c) It takes about a month of constant stimulation to induce male lactation.

11:40 - Just finished the first band take. Will probably kill the video I shot of us listening to it. It was a 'free jam' and was just about too happy for our tastes. That's the problem with the key of C.

11:42 - Still listening. Still making fun of ourselves.

12:12 am - Takes of Song #1 or practices of takes going down. It's like riding a ten speed through a grassy knoll. Hour 12!

1:05 - Song #1 almost done. Hard for six perfectionists to pull off.

1:13 - Punch-in guitar (practice of running the take and just inserting live playing over the existing track) done. Not a bad start for day 1.

I drank:
- Cherry Coke
- Sprite
- Sparks (1)
- Gatorade
- Fountain Coke

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Follows up the Awesome Car Post



Yes, I drive a Dodge. Not an awesome car like below. Well, I was looking for more evidence that my dad was a "relationship coordinator" and had to look no further than August 1978, a few months before my birth. Family man. Playa.

According to the smiling kid, this was taken at the Playboy club in New Jersey. Possibly by my mom. I'm also under the impression that this was during a convention of Filipino doctors who meet once a year for a week. I won't even guess what this particular convention was about.

Note the guy in green shirt and white overalls with the cigarette and afro perm. He seemed somewhat wierded out by the three whippersnappers behind him. Classic.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Makes a "meta" Post

Tip of the cap to Tom Shugart who used to regularly mantain a web log about other web logs. I usually try to avoid things like that, but I've been "tagged" by Emily. Why not join in the fun by posting something between amazing pictures of my family in the 1970's?

The game is to post 6 "wierd" things about yourself and then "tag" other "people." It's like one of those annoying chain letters. Without further ado:

6. I scatter loose change all over the place. Check every single box of junk (or anything for that matter) in my apartment and I guarantee you'll find at least one penny or a dime. I even showered with a nickel in the bathtub for almost six months.

5. I was a Prom King. Underneath this Asian and nerdy exterior is the cool rich kid who made the girls swoon and stomped on the geeks and dweebs while somehow maintaining everybody's respect. Unfortunately, the Prom King did not get laid that night and that in itself is wierd.

4. When I run up a flight of stairs in a house, I'll occassionally pretend I'm being chased by a tornado. Common sense dictates you run downstairs, but hey...I'm wierd.

3. I notice that I talk to myself or think aloud when I'm alone in public, but never when I'm home by myself. I used to be normal.

2. Common food items that disgust me include Egg Yolks, Cheddar Cheese, Cheese Balls, and Milk...but I do suck on lemons.

1. Perhaps I'm too proud to accept I have irritable bowel syndrome, or perhaps that since this is a common trait among my brothers we don't notice anything different, but I definitely spend more time on the can than necessary.

Hrm...JNL, Brooke, Kris Racer, DM MD, Saup.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Wishes His Dad Kept that Car



On recent visits to the folk's house, I've been looking through the numerous photo albums to pull random moments from the decades and decades of photographs. I'm espeically curious about pictures taken before I was around. Take a look at this 1974 image. As I will prove later this week, I'm pretty sure my father doubled as a 'relationship coordinator.'

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Hosts the Annual Virus Retreat

In what's turning into a February tradition, something visits the body and asks for a
lot of help in getting through my body. Though nowhere as bad as the 2004 edition, I'm still annoyed. Hydrate. Hydrate. Couch. Couch.

So I'm watching a second-rate "Texas hold them" poker tournament on TV right now and the amateurs are playing like idiots. The chip leader is this chatty Asian woman with a heavy accent, frequent laugh, and dumb luck. I'm pretty sure the other dudes at the table are seriously scared of her.

Earlier today I watched Colors in its entirety. Around the time this movie came out, I let the commercials and clips invade the subconscious and had a dream that Sean Penn was my gym teacher. It was scary. Eighteen years later his character seems more like a laughable prick. Heh.

. . [~] .

Leftover Chinese Had other Things to Talk About

...such as earlier today. Where things could have gotten hairy on the city train if I wasn't standing where I happened to standing. Kind of a wierd moment. Ask me about it sometime.

In more important news, I joined the so-called You-Tube revolution by throwing this video together as fast as I possibly could.



Good times.

. . [~] .