Almudena

I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It’s not ours to understand

The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil take the rest

All is for the best
Believe in what we’re told
Blind men in the market
Buying what we’re sold
Believe in what we’re told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death

-Rush


I am listening to the new Rush album and i am blown away at how Geddy can still hit those high notes. He can still screech. He's 58 years old! And the rest of the band sounds great as well. There are a truly unique group.


Maria was at Bender Tuesday and i gave her a disc with part of the new live album on it. She really loved it. She says she still listens to all the discs i gave her when we were dating eons ago. I'm kind of like a one man support group for women who really like Rush.

Save Them, For They Are Precious Few

That's the PSA. I'm going to be on the George Papandreou show next month. Check your listings! 10:00 GMT + 1 on channel ΦΣΔ.


Now i'm going to grill a 1/2 kilo steak before i go teach! Today is a holiday; St. Almudena. Only in Madrid.


from traditioninaction.org;


The devotion to Our Lady of Almudena, patroness of Madrid, began in the 11th century. Tradition tells us that when Dom Alfonso VI conquered Madrid in 1083, he immediately ordered the purification of the Church of Santa Maria, which had been profaned by the Moors.

Since the statue of Our Lady, which the Apostle St. James had placed in that building in the early days of the Chuch, had disappeared, the King, together with the religious authorities, made a procession praying to Our Lord to help them find the statue. The pious cortege processed around the walls of the city, singing and praying.

At a certain moment, part of the wall fell and they found the statue of Our Lady that had been hidden there for over 300 years. On either side of the statue were two candles – still lighted and burning – that Catholics had placed there in homage of the Virgin before closing the niche where they had hidden her statue. Almudena means market or granary, and this name was given to the statue because the place where it was hidden was near the Moorish granary.


What a load of moosh.

The Ever-Bending Story

The new Rush Album is pretty epic, just as the concert was last year at Jones Beach with the Seester.  One more class at 20:00 - then i'm taking him (Miguel Angel) to Bender Tuesday. His sister and her sister, Teresa and Menchu (also students) may come too. 18:57. Time to fly. The quiz is written, the discs are burned, and manana is the holiday. I still work 5 hours, but not til 16:30! Hasta manana!

How many more times?

Okay, so for the 3rd time in the Kingdom of Spain (Kingdom! Give me a break - get over yourself!) i am performing the age old ritual of listening to a new new Rush release. It's a live release, TIME MACHINE, from Cleveland in of this year. I've been waiting for new Rush albums since 1982 (SIGNALS.) In NJ, CT, Jamaica, VA and now Madrid. I get around. In so many ways.

I am exhausted down to my toes. And allergies are killing my ears. Throat. Brain maybe.

But manana is Bender Tuesday and i think my students Menchu, Teresa and Menchu are coming because Weds. is a holiday (The Virgen Almudena, whoever she was - this country has way too many Virgens to be normal. Doesn't anybody ever get laid in this country???)


don't ask me, i'm just compromising
but my butt has a second sight
-Traditional

i am completely dominating my Fantasy Hockey League. It's way early, though. Football, not so much, but i'm coming off a Championship Title last year.

I'm only halfway thru the first disc and i need to sleep. I am old.

Puertollano

Drownin', in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown.
But now it's gone, it doesn't matter what for.
So when you build your house, then call me home.
-Fleetwood mac

Just got back from seeing Julie down in Puertollano. We went for a walk in the a pine forest with her 11 year old son Eduardo and then out to dinner for Pierna de Cordero (leg of lamb.) We also had pate of quail. I met her older son, Roberto (16) as well. Nice kids. Eduardo plays drums and Roberto plays piano (very well.) I played a bit too. It had been a long time since playing keyboards. 


Julie and i had great fun. Laughing a lot, listening to music. It's beautiful down there. It had been over a year since i had left Madrid. I think i will be doing it a bit more often. 


i finally kissed a woman who is over 40! This is a big accomplishment. Sue had always told me women hit their sexual peak at 40 and then we split up when she was 39! Shennanigans! I call a foul! Technical and otherwise. 


She is agnostic now but was raised Jewish, so that's another first for me. I'm breaking 43 year old records left and right here! 


Go Jaybo..., go Jaybo..., go Jaybo...!


The train ride was 1:15 and very comfy. Went thru lots of farm land. Brown farm land. We are dry as a bone.


So i'm going to answer the questions i know Mum is going to email me manana;


1) -No, we haven't talked about whether any children we might have would be raised Jewish or Buddhist.
2) -No, i haven't met / kicked the shit out of her ex-husband
3) I don't know if she can cook. But she was raised Jewish, so i guess "yes."
4) No, i don't know if she would be willing to move to the USA after we get married
5) No, still don't no what her bra size is

But if our paths never cross...

So it's hard to find
Someone with that kind
of intensity
You touched my hand
I played it cool
And you reached out your
Hand for me
But if our paths never cross
-Fleetwood Mac


Going to see Julie manana. Train is at 10:15. I'll get there 11:30. I am excited about seeing her again. Time to sleep.

Moosh Part II

A bottle of red
a bottle of white
perhaps both if you're a hemaphrodite
i'll meet you anytime you want
in our transgender restaurant
-Billy Joel / traditional (San Francisco)


i am listening to Godless Black Magic, the Wayward Platypus album, which i haven't listened to in ages. Julie asked to hear some of the stuff i've played on, and since the lyrics all had something to do with the divorce in one way or another, i thought i should include it. i like it. i like the last album  (Brunch with the River Man) better, but this was when we really started to jell jamming live. I had never heard the songs before we walked in to record. SO i just went almost completely on instinct with my initial response. I think phoenix was the only one we took two or three takes of. That song's a weird one which is why. Most everything else was one take. I think playing live adds an edge to things. It was a huge growth album for us. It's kind of the last thing (that i know of) that Mark played lead guitar on. He then got really into bass. He's my favorite bassist to play with, bar none.

Edges are good - just don't go over. That's bad. Lots of broken bones and squished organs. Not good. Moosh.

PSA: You should bring your bat to the dentist at least every six months

JUEVES

My last class was finished at 20:00. It is now 20:55 and i am listening to Genesis play the Duke suite live from 1980. It's very good. Atleti plays Udinese of Italia at 21:05 in The Europa League. Then bed i think. 5 1/2 hours manana. I am toast by friday. i suppose we all are. And i picked up another 2 hours of classes, Monday 9-11, from this new academy i work for. Esperanza is feeding me classes as if i was a little Asian dude at a hot dog eating contest. Fine by me. When you only get 9 solid months of work you take as much as you can handle.

It's 21:12. Do you know where your bat is?

Moosh

Bender Tuesday was a lot of fun, as usual.

Not one person got any of the following quiz questions. That's just sad.

What year did Peter Gabriel leave Genesis?
What was Genesis' first album without Peter Gabriel? a) a Trick of the Tail b) And then there were three c) Duke
What famous bassist is Peter Gabriel credited with discovering?

Easy, easy easy!


Yesterday was a holiday (All Saints Day.) Today is All Soul's Day. What the hell's the difference? I believe the difference is how long your ass has to stay in Purgatory.

Really? What a load of moosh.

Well, Monday was pay day. Happy happy, joy joy. In the Red October, is over. Good Riddance. Stupid fucking month. 2 more months and this year is over. I've had enough 2011 i think.

I went for sushi yesterday. There's a great place near here.

6 hours of class today. 5 manana. 7 on Friday.

Then down to Ciudad Real on Sunday to see Julie and meet her sons. I never dated anyone with kids before. I sound so domesticated.

Just announced; Winter Tour of Europe 2012

Mum, Mel, Janet and i will embark on following dates;

Dec 31, Jan 1  - Berlin
Jan 2, 3, - Prague
Jan 4, 5, 6, 7 - Vienna

It's my first European Tour in quite some time. Can't wait to see the fambly. I've never gone 1 1/2 years without seeing Mum or Mel.

My first class just cancelled because he had to go to Andorra, last minute, but i still get paid! I love this job! What the fuck is Andorra? Is it a type of hat?

Andorra is a wee little country at the top of the Iberian peninsula, bordering Spain and France. It's 468 square km and has a population of 68,000 people. 

Andorra? Seriously? You call that a country? What a load of moosh.


quiz answers

1975
A Trick of the Tail
Tony Levin

Nicola won the CD (Stick Men) by guessing Trick of the Tail when it was the last guess left.

 "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" —George W. Bush, Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000