This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

Life is actually full of pleasant surprises. They await in hiding for the right time to jump out at you and make your feelings of unpleasantness disappear. Sometimes, the result is a moment . Moments are more than just moments (note the lack of italics). Moments are little pieces of happenings that occur in your life that you keep with you forever. If you carried around a little jar, you could put moments in it and then them out whenever you wanted to and relive it. What makes a moment different from a moment (besides the italics) is that moments happen when you least expect them to. This past Friday, I went to see Jackson Browne with my dad -- who is a big Jackson Browne fan. I remember hearing most of the songs he played Friday when I was younger. The concert was really quite great and I had a great time. I ran into a friend from a while back, who -- randomly -- was sitting two seats down from me. It was a pleasant surprise. I took a bunch of pictures: Anot

I'm blogging from my phone. Yes. I got it fixed with Sprint thanks to a customer service person who could actually provide me with service. I'm at crossgates. Waiting for Harry Potter to start. We ate dinner at Panera Bread, except for there wasn't any bread. Again. I often order soup in a bread bowl. Broccoli chedder soup. I love bread and I totally love cheese, which makes broccoli chedder soup in a bread bowl a tasty dinner. However, the last four trips to Panera have ended with me being grumbley because they ';are out of bread bowls.'; As far as I'm concerned, Panera is 0 for 4 and might as well change their sign to Panera Bowls. Panera Bowls

It's been a very crazy week for me at work. With short deadlines and crises rising every minute, I was quite stressed by the time it got to be Thursday night (Open Mic Night!). Typically, I look forward to Thursdays rather than Fridays. There is nothing more refreshing that a relaxing night at Caffe Lena's Open mic. Which makes Fridays a breeze and then it's the weekend. This past Thursday, however, was incredibly hectic at open mic. We had 28 performers on the list, which meant we had to cut down to a one-song night -- which sucks for multiple reasons: 1) the musician only gets to play one song. 2) the host has to run back up the stage every four or five minutes and doesn't get to sit down long enough to relax. And 3) more people on the list, means more people at Caffe, which makes the place quite crowded. I hosted. And I felt like I was running around like a crazy person the whole night. The crowded-ness didn't help either. I get a little anxious in crowded areas.

I have still been unable to blog from my phone... I'm going to contact Sprint's customer disservice department later today, I think, and attempt complaining again. Currently, it's a little after noon, and I have only just woken up a little bit ago. I had some wicked strange dreams (I was a prosecutor on a cruise ship that sails black seas under blacker skies? I helped two girls that I liked back in middle school get out of some kind of trouble...). I am incredibly tired... my body is telling me that I worked too hard yesterday, playing at the Farmer's Market in Gloversville. I played for three hours straight! No breaks. There was a steady flow of people, so I didn't want to stop and miss my chance to sell a CD or pick up a tip. I had a great time playing and I did pick up quite a bit in tips. I also came home with a loaf of bread (which is delicious, by the way), that was given to me as a tip from the guy who makes his own bread. I had a couple of weird experiences

When I was 18 or so, I unofficially made a list of things I wanted to do before I die. I didn't write these things down (thus, the unofficialness) and, so, I have no record other than my vague memory of making the list to go on. I don't recall how many items there were on the list, but they ranged from really ridiculous things (like: learn to rollerblade backwards) to things that are really totally, super-ridiculous and probably wouldn't ever happen anyway (like: marry Winona Ryder). My 18 year old self was a much different person than my current self, but we share many similarities (like: ridiculous sense of humour and slight inability to take life too seriously). Yesterday, I accomplished one of the items on my list. In the late 90s (when I was 18 -- yes, you can do the math), I was a huge fan of the Wallflowers. 6th Avenue Heartache hit a note the first time I heard the intro. My dad gave me their CD (wait, I think it was a cassette first...), because he worked for

Sprint is being uncooperative and has decided to take away my picture mailing privileges, which means I can't blog from cell phone. I'm quite perturbed by this, especially since I am paying for unlimited picture mail capabilities. The issue is that, even though I am paying for unlimited picture mail, I am not paying for unlimited data usage. It doesn't make sense to me either. I plan on trying to work it out with their customer disservice department so that I can have my unlimited picture mail back without paying extra for it. In the mean time, I have to post pictures and blog the old fashion way. Lena's this past Thursday was a great night as usual. It was one of those summer days where you felt like you could stay up all night. Maybe that was because I had Friday off from work for the holiday. I played Passenger and God Says Nothing Back by the Wallflowers. I took a picture of the facade with the new guitar lights and tried to send it via picture mail to the blog. I

A quick posting here with two videos at the bottom. They are two parts, and as a whole make up the final episode of Inside the Open Mic , my video series. It is a two parter because it features myself and I am long-winded and ramble. Toward the end, there is a song about peanut butter... If you've missed any episodes of the series, or want to go back and watch one you liked, there is a video player located at www.jamesfrederick.net/inside.shtml that contains all of the episodes. Or go to YouTube and type in "Inside the Open Mic" and you'll find them all. Enjoy!