Yesterday

Was invited to go to a wine/liquor tasting event in New York today. I declined, as I usually do most invitations, and instead sat at home and imbibed some Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal.

Michelle's steadily getting better at guitar, but more importantly, her patience is growing by leaps and bounds. She can now practice a song for 35 straight seconds before getting distracted by something shiny. What's even more amazing, there's a 50% chance that that shiny something is an item she already owns, and doesn't require me to drive her to buy immediately. These two put together explain the sharp drop in my frequency of driving to the store from 20 times/day 2 years ago to 4 times/day these days. The sneaky third factor is that she probably already has most of what's in most stores by now. I am slowly earning my freedom.

Still recovering from the emotional drain The Happening inflicted on me.

Last One

Boring movies have a poor effect on my hygeine. Yesterday's movie put me to sleep so well, I decided not to waste the state and render watching the movie a worthless experience; I ended up going to sleep without showering. Today I was more careful and showered in the afternoon, as I have another boring movie lined up for this evening.

Yesterday Michelle went to her friend's house, and managed to escape with a half-a-piece of cake. Today she proudly got yesterday's booty out of the refrigerator, and in an exercise in generosity, offered me half. A family-wide battle immediately ensued for the cake, and my half of the half-piece quickly disappeared from my horizons. Mom demanded to know how much she was getting, and although Mario didn't voice any concerns about his fate, he was clearly having trouble controlling his drooling. Dad was sitting at his computer in the other room, but his silent protests were more eloquent than any complaints he could have delivered out loud.

Being a veteran of such conflicts, I quickly forfeited my share, and suggested that we all just satisfy ourselves with letting Michelle stuff herself, and then make her feel guilty afterwards for the rest of her life. Unfortunately immediate gratification was more popular today, and Mom didn't give up till Michelle conceded her a sliver. Once the sliver was successfully chomped, Michelle realized that the peace offering was a mistake, and that she had merely whetted the beast's appetite. Sensing danger, she smeared the fork with cake in the most unappetizing way she could, and began running around the room with it, offering a lick to anyone who wanted one. This quenched most appetites without even requiring her to deliver on her offer. Crisis successfully negotiated, and having gotten away with just a small tithe to the lioness, Michelle chomped the rest of the cake in peace. All that remains now is an extra dirty dish in the middle of the cluttered kitchen table, and not being the first one left out, it isn't particularly likely to cause a fit from the resident dishwasher. Another point for Michelle.

I ended up recording some vocals for the Natasha song, but with completely different lyrics. Meanwhile, here's the Guitar Pro version, with the original lyrics, the synth representing the vocals.