Stuff I Have Not Posted About, But Should Have

I have been behind on some happenings that I would typically have posted about if not for slightly more important things that I chose to post about instead. This should be a quick catch up.

First, I have had a couple interesting thoughts lately that I've captured in my pocket journal. Here they are:

I want to meet a man named 'Joe' and have dinner over at his house. Then, when people ask me what I did last night, I'll say, 'I ate at Joe's.'

I think it would be fun to sit in a public place (a park or busy sidewalk) and read 'Stalking: for Dummies.'

Sorry. I do have weird thoughts some times...

Any hoo. I had a gig at Jitters Cafe a couple weeks ago. It went well. I sounded great (in my own, and Stephanie's, opinion). There wasn't much of a crowd, but a family of three listened for quite a while. I didn't keep a set list. I often asked Stephanie for suggestions on what to play, which made things fun in a different-than-usual way. I played a new song called Lost in Boston.

Here are some pics:








Lost in Boston is an interesting song... I'm not exactly sure that it's about any specific thing. It sort of is... Allow me to explain. My brother went away to college back in 2000. He moved to Boston. I visited him a few times and explored the city, which was pretty new to me. I was amazed to see how he had grown accustomed to it so quickly. A few years later, I became a songwriter. In my early years of songwriting, there were a lot of false starts. I would write a few verses and realize that it wasn't working with the music or the words weren't making sense. I started writing about my brother being lost in Boston. I liked the sounds that the words made together, but I wasn't really sure as to what they meant. Part of it had to do with me missing my brother. Part of it had to do with how he had changed when he moved to the city. I stopped writing it because it wasn't working with the music that I had and it wasn't a good song. Lyrically, it just didn't flow. But, I saved it. And a few weeks ago, I was messing around with a chord progression and singing about a "poor kid" when I switched the progression to the "chorus." For some reason, the phrase "lost in Boston" came back to me and it fit perfectly into the progression (with a few more words). I quickly finished the chorus and went back to rewrite the verses, which became a mix of the old song about my brother and something new. Themes that seem to be typical in my songs came into this one as well, and it became about a kid who moved from the country to live in Boston in search of his future. However, he's confused about his direction and he can't control his destiny and everything about his life is unclear and confusing. His life is like a maze that he can't navigate. And the streets of the city are the metaphor. If you've ever been to Boston, you can agree that the city is like a maze (oops, that's a simile... oh well).

I thought I would provide an update on car shopping. It's confusing. I have been given loads of advice for getting the best deal. I was quite confident that I could walk in to a dealership and negotiate for the best price. This was quite exciting for me.

Well, my confidence is waning. The dealerships that we've visited don't seem interested in selling us the car. At the place where we test drove it, the guy said in a nasty tone, "When people come on Sundays they are looking to do something. We don't usually let them test drive." Then, he gave us the keys and told us to be back in fifteen minutes. We took twenty-five... But, then the emails. I have emailed every dealership in an hours drive from my house asking for a quote. I got back generic emails saying, "Come in" from all but one of them. He quoted me the MSRP. "No sh!t genius," I thought. I wrote back stating that I hoped he could do better than the MSRP. He responded saying that he could, but he added, "Are sure this is the right car for you?" and he referenced an earlier email that I sent him and reminded me that I have test driven other cars at other dealerships.

I am so confused. The advice that has been given to me relies on dealerships wanting to sell me the car. These people don't seem to want to do that. I was preparing myself to play hard to get, but it seems like the dealerships are the ones playing hard to get... wtf?!?!?

My next step is to go into the dealerships. I made a spreadsheet with pricing information on it: invoice price vs. MSRP, options that we want, estimation of fees, total price and financing options. I also put in different down payments and trade in values, so we can make a decision easily.

There are four dealerships in our area. We are going to do a tour of them on Friday.

Wish me luck.