Shane_B.

I'm in upstate NY rebuilding a rotted porch on someones summer home. One of their relatives saw my work in NJ and paid for a hotel for 5 days plus a set amount per day to get me up here. Guys who can swing a hammer (successfully) can't be found so I'm told. Now I have more work in NJ and NY than I can handle. All in just a few weeks of barely even trying. It all just fell in to my lap. Lost all my shit in MO so I'm temporarily borrowing tools from my brother. Go back home to NJ Friday. Music is on hold for now but I'll be back.

I'm in the process of walking away from everything. I'll let you know how it goes in 6 months. Haven't worked in 9 years and now I'll be in the street if I can't find a living wage. Something over $25/hr plus health insurance. IOW ... I need to find the nearest sturdy branch that will hold a noose.

Happy Birthday Steve! Love the guitar. Always wanted to try one but I've never seen a lefty one of those.

I played live every weekend for 16 years straight. There were songs I liked that the audience didn't and ones they liked that I didn't. I hated that Elton John Lion King song. Can You Feel The Love Tonight? Or something like that. But the floor was elbow to elbow every time we played it and that I loved. My favorite to play was Hotel California. Nobody within our tri state area ever attempted it. Took me weeks to learn the lead and rearrange it for 1 guitar. People would sit there staring at us until it was over and then they went nuts. Least favorite I can't really remember. I think Hello by Lionel Ritchie, or maybe Desperado. It was the only song I played keys on and it was incredibly stressful. But people loved both so we kept doing them for a very long time.

I am actually. I'm still in NJ and nobody wants to see me. I'm having a hard time forcing myself to go back to MO though. It's becoming a problem ... Oh great. Now there's a puzzle involved. Anything over those big 10 piece wooden ones and I'm lost.

Im still lost. Who has the dress on? The girl or the ladder?

What was this fred about again?

I am actually. Decided to stay another week.

I thought sag was a goos thing?

Just got back from ER a few hours ago. Chest pain. Couldn't breathe. All tests came back ok. No fluid or swelling. They said its just Covid running its course. Still test positive so they said I have to quarantine until all symptoms are gone. Could take up to 60 days. I'm staying here till Sunday and leaving Monday morning. Its over here and i have to leave. What a horrible nightmare this has been.

I went to see a play at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City the day before I left. It's an outdoor place. I saw the musical Waitress. I didn't think I'd lik it but I did. Probably where I got .... I thought I was safe outdoors.

And now my sister who is in bad shape has it. I never should have come here.

The home tests and the ones they do at Rite Aid and Walgreens are worthless. You have to go to a doc and get the one done where they ram the stick 3 inches up your nose and it hurts. I went to an urgent care place in Blairstown and had it done. The first 2 I did at home and Rite Aid were negative but I kept getting sicker so I had a real test done and they found it.

I was with a relative who suddenly got sick with it. They were not vaxxed at all. Fever so high they started talking gibberish. I had the single version plus a boost. They got sicker than I did but got over it faster. My symptoms were milder but it's lingering longer. No fever. Neither one of us lost our sense if smell or taste. They also got a wicked sinus infection which I'm hearing is part of this last variant but I didn't. It's morphing and changing so fast nobody can keep track but it is getting weaker. My dad is 84 and was not vaxxed and caught the original version. He had nothing but the sniffles. Yet I know several people who died from it. I'm so sorry to hear you're wife got it. It's running rampant in our area right now and they told me at the ER and urgent care that everyone was going to get it. Just a matter of time. The thing is, it keeps changing. There's no such thing as antibodies. You are good for about 60 days then you can get it all over again because it keeps morphing. Kind of making the vaxxes pointless IMO? I don't know. Thanks for the invite. I would have come if things were different. I have a friend I was going to see around the Stroudsburg but he's in his 80s and I don't want to risk it. My quarantine and masking mandate is over Wednesday but I'm still leary about being around people. Hope your wife gets well soon with no/mild symptoms and you don't get it.

It's lingering. This trip has been a total disaster. I've gone nowhere and done nothing. I'm supposed to leave next Monday and I'm supposed to isolate/mask until this coming Wed.. Don't want to go home, can't stay here ($$), can't do anything while I'm here. I'm having a hard time breathing now and my nose is still swollen. Dizziness and disorientation keeps getting worse. And I have to drive 1200 miles in a week. Brought the guitars and amp and never even opened the cases. I'm not in a very good place at the moment.

Once Were Brothers is about The Band by Robbie Robertson. I learned a ton about them I never knew. Some I wish I didn't know. I always thought Robbie was an ahole. Turns out he wasn't the problem. There is an old one that is entertaining about rock in general called The Decline Of Western Civilization iirc. It has Gene Simmons and mamy others in it. The one about The Wrecking Crew is great too. It used to be free on youtube. Sorry no links. Only have access on my cell. As for The Who Im the same way. I don't get what people see in them. Flight 666 that Steve suggested absolutely blew my mind. I loved it.

It's running rampant is exactly what they told me. The one dr said everyone is going to get it. Just a matter of time. They also said it's very very mild and they haven't admitted anyone out of thousands so far. I've been sleep deprived lately and I think that's why it hit me so hard. Barely slept in days . . .

Fixed.

Thanks. I'm glad you are being so careful. It was too soon for me to get my 2nd booster before I left. From.what 3 doctors have told me, people who are vaxxed and boosted are the ones getting it now. So please be careful. I started out as neck pain then manifested in to a cold. It spread down in to my chest like bronchitis. Never lost my sense of taste or smell. Have a killer sore throat and cough now. I have been very careful too. I must have gotten this before I left. My wife wanted to go see a play at an outdoor theatre in KC called Starlight the day before I left. It's the only place I was near a large group of people but it is outdoor. --------- I just got my test results. Positive. Those Jersey girls are always right about everything damn it. Lesson here is ... Don't waste your time with the home tests or the tests at pharmacies where they give you the kit to do there then send it out to get results. You have to do the one at a doctor where they ram the stick 3 inches up your nose. So now I'm stuck here 5 minutes from my family and can't see them. I told her I didn't want to risk going to that f'ing play even though it was outdoors. She probably did it on purpose.

They said the new strain is so weak and spreads so fast they haven't admitted anyone out of 1000s of new cases and just send them.home and tell them to eat a lot and have lots of salty foods like soup and sleep. It is odd. If I eat a lot I do feel a lot better but then it comes back.

Sorry to take this back on topic. Hah. Well, it finally got me. The big C. Arrived in NJ Friday, got sick Saturday night, been getting progressively worse. Long (× 1K) story short . . . I ended up near someone who had it and by association and identical symptoms the hospital said I had it too but didn't test me but did the other person and confirmed. They are an anti-you knownwhater. I've gotten the main jab and a nitro boost. They were over it in 2 days .... Its spreading in me like a slow death. It's hitting my lungs now. The ER and Dr. said the current one is hitting ppl who have had the big V hard. So much for that b.s. eh? Been isolated since sunday. Had to go to urgent care today. Told them 1 home test and 1 drug store test sent out said negative. They laughed in their Jersey drone and said, "Naaawwww sweetie, you's got the kawvid. We'll have the REAL test results tomawwow and it'll be pazitive.". Told me to go home because there is nothing you can do with the current one except wait it out. If you start to get short of breath get to an ER before you get short of life. Other than that hunker down and have fun. It's right about in that chest area now. Having some trouble but not bad. Im gonna take a few shots of fireball, a couple sleeping pills, slap on the ol bipap, and hit the sac. My eyeballs feel like someone has been tapping them with a ballpeen hammer. Hehe ... Ballpeen. That's a fun word. Eh heh.hehheh hehehe. I'm here all alone in this cabin I rented right along the delaware in my home town. Its nice and quiet. I can think of worse ways to go. Btw I don't believe that's going to happen. Hoping it does, but nah. If I want it then it won't happen. LOL Been real dudes. Ya know, just in case.

Oh what a tangled web we weave . . . But hey. It's been one hell of a *****ing ride so ***** it. It's 4am and I haven't slept since I got here. I have no idea how I'm still alive. Thank God I rowed those 60 miles on the row machine last week and got in great shape . . . Edit: btw I got here Friday . . .

Already got my electric percolator pot set. Just have to plug it in tomorrow morning. Best coffee you ever had in a percolator. My sister still has her 60 year old glass percolator pot she uses every day on her stove.

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to it. Packing my amp and guitars right now actually. Going to leave really early in the morning.

As tempting as it has been at times I can't say I ever have. I got married very young. Haven't been around much at all actually. I tend to be loyal to a fault.