Everybody is bored.  And having trouble accurately keeping track of time.  I think it’s the fact that every day is basically exactly the same, that there is no significant difference between weekdays and weekends is a big part of it.
I’m doing okay with it.  I’ve been viewing it as a kind of psychology experiment…”What will these people do?”  Something I have learned is that nearly all of my introvert friends weren’t really introverts…they started buckling back in March, almost immediately.  I’ve learned that I am absolutely an introvert…like I’m good at it.  Kinda thriving in this environment, to be honest.  It’s interesting…you know all the ways I’m “eccentric” and weird in the “normal” world?  I make complete sense in a crisis.  Everybody else gets “eccentric” and weird and freaks out…me?  Calm as a Hindu cow.
Anyway, wrote a bunch today.  There’s been a delay in the computer I’m building for the new studio…that might not be done until November.  But that’s cool…I can keep working on these old ones in the interim.

N.P.: “Mad World” – Me and My Nightmare

I have a general dislike for Sundays.  Always have.  According to the Bible, even God takes Sundays off.  If you believe in that sort of thing.  I dislike Sundays even if I don’t have to work on Monday.  I didn’t work a Monday for about 20 years, and I still never got on board with Sundays.

N.P.: “Dead Man’s Party” – Oingo Boingo

Sudan normalized relations with Israel this week, and nobody seemed to notice.  Had I relied on the U.S. media, I would have missed it myself.  But this is massive.  The terms of the deal allow Sudan to come off of the U.S.’s state sponsors of terrorism list, which is the first step to badly needed debt relief.
Look for Jordan and Oman soon, hopefully, soon, at some point, to be followed by Saudi Arabia.  Once that happens, it’s done.
People have been trying (and failing) to achieve peace in this region for centuries, and now that it’s happening: crickets.

N.P.: “House of Doom” – Black Label Society

Today I heard a noise outside, so I looked, and it was leaves blowing down the street.  You know what that means, dear reader…yes, fall is finally fucking here.  California summers are like that one asshole that just won’t leave the party though it’s clear he’s overstayed his welcome.  Summer here is just rude.  I have friends in other states who have been sending me pictures of the snow in their yards for weeks.  I’m stuck here acting giddy when a couple of leaves blow down the street.  Guess I’ll take it.

N.P.: “I Love My Radio – Us Remix” – Taffy

I am discontent.  More than usual.  I don’t know.  Maybe this is usual now.

N.P.: “Dirty Sticky Floors” – Dave Gahan

So everything I said last night about the Second Amendment also applies to the rest of the Amendments, generally: they do not enumerate rights, they place extensive limitations on the government.  The First Amendment protects the free speech of American citizens.  There generally isn’t as much confusion of interpretation of this Amendment as there is with the Second.  Yet, as clear as this protection is, our society is now one something called “Hate Speech” exists, and once labeled as such, can be silenced by the government.  This is so blatantly unconstitutional it’s disgusting.  Any law prohibiting or punishing so-called “hate speech” directly violate’s the protections of 1st Amendment.
If you think the way I do, you’ll understand that “hate speech” is the only speech that actually needs protecting.

N.P.: “Collapsing New People” – Die Krupps

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about gun rights and gun ownership recently, and I try not to get upset at their ignorance.  “It’s not their fault,” I tell myself, “They were educated in the American public school system…they can’t help it.”  That’s what I tell myself.  But it usually doesn’t work.  I usually end up in some bar, pounding whiskeys and muttering darkly about middle-school civics teachers needing to be shot in the balls.
So here’s Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States:  “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  That’s it.  One goddamn sentence.  And though it’s a diatribe compared to the guttural monosyllabic grunts one finds in what passes for journalism these days, it’s not even a particularly long or complex sentence.  I’m sure that many otherwise intelligent and educated contemporary Americans might have trouble deciphering some of the syntax, but I think the real confusion comes from a lack of philosophical perspective.  That lack, coupled with the confusion that arises when trying to decoct some sort of meaning from any Amendment in isolation, without reading and understanding the rest of the Constitution, is no doubt the genesis of the fundamental misunderstandings of many Amendments.  The first thing one must do is jettison the notion that the government “grants” rights.  It doesn’t.  Anything that you can’t do unless the government grants you permission is not a right, it’s a privilege.  Your rights to free speech, to keep and bear, to be free from unreasonable search and seizure…those are all inherent: you were born with them.
So to hear members of the herd bleating about the 2nd Amendment “applying” to hunting rifles or assault rifles or handguns is disheartening at best, terrifying at normal.  The 2nd Amendment, like so many other Amendments, restricts the government from having anything to do with citizens’ right to keep and bear.  And that is up to including forming a militia that is both armed and trained enough to keep the government itself in check.  You don’t have to like it, but that’s what it says: the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  Which means that all the regulation, the limitations, any gun control law, all of it is blatantly unconstitutional.
There are politicians presently running for office actually discussing compulsory buy-back programs and other euphemisms for governmental gun confiscation programs.  The foolish implementation of any such idea would mean immediate civil war.

N.P.: “When Worlds Collide – Re-Recorded” – Powerman 5000

Okay, so the new studio isn’t technically up and running or online until Halloween, but the reality is that I was in the new studio all day today, and have no intention of working in the old place anymore.  It’s still there, still fully functional, ready to go in case of emergency, I guess.  But the new studio is just someplace I want to be, whether I’m working or not.
Ugh…it’s late…gotta crash.  But meet me here tomorrow, dear reader…we’ll school some youngsters on some civics.

N.P.: “Twist in My Sobriety” – Tanita Tikaram

As part of some sort of perverse and ill-advised police reform plan, a career politician suggested yesterday that police be trained to shoot people in the leg.  I think that if one is going to put oneself in the position of regulating firearms usage at any level, one needs to have had at least some experience with firearms.

N.P.: “I Got You” – Split Enz”

More studio stuff today.  I appreciate vendors who will overnight parts, even on the weekend.

N.P.: “House of Pain” – Faster Pussycat