Sunday, June 24, 2012

Yankee Soldiers in Portsmouth

Writer's block sucks.

I am writing this post because I've not posted much this month. For the last two months I've averaged a post about every other day. This will only be my 5th post for this month, if you can count yesterday as an actual post.

It's not like I haven't had anything going on to write about. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I've been out of my house doing actual stuff more than usual. There is plenty to write about, but every time I sit down to do it, nothing comes out.

My theory is that now that summer is here I'm out doing more and have trouble concentrating when I sit down at my computer. I just came from some event and will be running out to another soon. My mind is on the things I've been doing or are about to do. The months when I was doing lots of writing were when I was in school and I was sitting at my computer all day anyway. Knowing I was doing nothing else for months may have been my motivation to write.

If this is true, then I may have trouble writing during the summer, but will build up enough things to write about that I should have plenty of material to carry me through the winter. I don't really know. It's just a theory.

To make some attempt at this post, I will try to cover some of the things I've been up to.

Adam and I have done a lot of shows. Summer is here and the DJ business is picking up. We've played for the local Chamber of Commerce, several bars and have done a lot of weddings. The weddings are my favorite. I have decided to start taking my camera to get pictures of what happens once the liquor has been flowing for a few hours. Videotaping two middle aged fat guys act out Michael Jackson's Beat It would give my blog traffic for months. At that same wedding, when we played LMFAO's Sexy and I Know It about a dozen pre-teens ran out on the dance floor and did a choreographed dance routine complete with the guy that has the box on his head. It was cute until it got to the wiggle wiggle part. Then, it was a little disturbing to watch. Most those kids were twelve. Who taught them to do that?

I have spent a significant amount of time with Red. Things are going very well with us, but it gets a little difficult sometimes trying to decide what to share with our readers and what to keep private. Last weekend, we attended a wedding in New Hampshire and had a very difficult time traveling there. For the full story of our adventure with United Airlines and our missed flight click here for my post at Studio 30 Plus.

They were practicing for something and did not like
my presence.  I hid in the trees to get more pictures.

They found me.
Despite the troubles getting there, the trip was great. I was chased off by some Civil War soldiers in Portsmouth who did not appreciate having their pictures taken. Maybe they didn't know what a camera was.

The 'general' actually said, "I order you off this property."

I reminded him that he wasn't a real general, so didn't have any real authority, but the look in his eyes when he started toward me made me stop questioning and leave. Well, I sort of left. Being proud of my Southern heritage (except for that unfortunate slave fiasco), I decided to keep snapping pictures. The general soon discovered me and exercised his supposed authority again.

Since the city was founded in 1623, they consider themselves to be rather historic. Due to all the threatened gun play, I decided to venture into a more modern part of the city. I wandered through many unique shops and found a LIFE IS GOOD merchandise store. I had never heard of this brand so I checked it out. It is mostly clothing and other accessories depicting cartoon likenesses of life's good things. Playing frisbee. Grandma's cooking. A comfortable bed. Falling in love. A beautiful song. You get the picture.

A few blocks later I found another store.

This store sold a very similar line of products,
only a little bit different.
That evening, I searched for crabs on the beach with one of the other bridesmaids, Red and I took a harbor cruise, we ate incredibly expensive meals for the next two days and met a lot of great people. I hated to have to fly back and bring the weekend to an end.



Well, this post just took on a life of it's own once I started typing. I've heard the best cure for writer's block is to write and it seems to have worked in this case. I meant to write about the things that have been keeping me busy this summer, but it looks like this post ended up being mostly about the past weekend. I don't feel like going back to edit it, so it is going to stay as is. I have to get to another show with Adam tonight anyway.

On Tuesday, I am hopping a plane with my daughter to head to Portland, Oregon for my cousin's wedding. We are staying there for an entire week, so we will have plenty of time to see the city and hopefully get into a little bit of trouble. We will be meeting up with Jen of "Jen" e sais quoi to help us find the hot spots. Plus, she has promised my daughter some quality vintage clothes shopping, so expect me to be wandering off on my own while they do their girl stuff. I hate shopping.

I'm taking my laptop with me, so I will try to keep you posted  on what we are up to.

42 comments:

  1. I live in Portland, Oregon, so I'll look for your name in the "Crime & Punishment" section of "The Oregonian." Be sure to say hi to Portlandia, the second largest hammered copper sculpture in the world. She looks like she's taking a dump if you ask me!

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    1. Thank you. I will check it out. I haven't really started researching to see what is there yet.

      Delete
  2. I love Life is Good products! They make me happy, plus their t-shirts are very soft and comfy and they come in all these great colors, with the cutest little pictures...dang it, now you are forcing me to go online to buy a new one.

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    1. LIFE IS GOOD looked like good stuff. the LIFE IS CRAP line was a spoof version of the first. They looked exactly the same, but showed the bad things that happen in life.

      Delete
  3. I hate the writers block. Fortunately, I have writing buddy who is always good for a laugh and a beer and we will normally feed off of each other until we both have interesting material. I had insomnia last night which is always good for a post or two, but nothing came until I decided I might fall asleep, then I had like three great ideas....ask me if I remember any of them? I wanted sleep.

    Ugh.
    Have fun Mr. DJ (my sister is actually DJ the DJ)

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    1. I think I have written about having writer's block a few different times and each time, once I get going, it just takes care of itself. The hardest part is getting started.

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  4. Watching a rousing episode of Barney usually unblocks the writer block for me.

    *whistles*

    HA!

    Kidding.

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    1. I'm glad you were kidding. 10 minutes of Barney usually leaves me sobbing in bed for 3 days.

      Delete
  5. Yeah, being a stealthy photo ninja has it's dangerous side. Be always vigilant.

    I need something from that LIfe is Crap store. That is so awesome. I have some stuff from LIfe is Good, mostly because their shirts are super mega soft. But I'm too big of a cynic to actually get into the ideal behind it.

    So jealous you get to go to P-town. So so so very jealous. :(

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    1. LIFE IS CRAP had depictions of birds crapping on people, someone stepping in dog poo, locking your keys in the car, etc.

      I will have my camera on me and powered up on Portland, so expect some good photos.

      Delete
  6. I'm not so much suffering with writer's block, more a condition called, 'Icantbearsed-alitis.' This is characterized by extreme fatigue, lack of motivation and running out of coffee.

    It's so great to hear that things are still going strong with you and Red. News on the two of you always makes me smile. :)

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    1. Things are going well. Thank you. It's amazing how this worked out.

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  7. You will be meeting Jen? I am so envious of you. She seems like such an amazing woman. My hope is that you will write about what it was like to meet such a witty blogger. Of course, I want more Red posts, but I understand that you two choose to keep most of the private.

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    1. Thank you. We discuss what goes up and what doesn't. We are generally in agreement. Being too public would just complicate things. There have been no issues with the current balance, so we don't want to mess with something that works.

      Jen volunteered to be our personal tour guide and show us around her city. I am very excited to have a local to show us. Even more excited that it's her.

      Delete
  8. Loved your craziness with the general lol. You know, we need a camera taking pictures of you taking pictures - sort of a candid camera affair. :)

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    1. That guy had a major power trip going on. I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel in his head for a moment. He was a very angry little man.

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  9. Brett, I write maybe 4 times a month! I think you are doing just fine :) Always entertaining...and PLEASE GET VIDEO OF THE DANCING!!!

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    1. I need to invest in a decent video camera. I tried to get video last night of a 70 year old man out on the dance floor trying to do today's dances and hit in the 20-something girls.

      He was dressed in a gold suit complete with hat. It was great, but it was too dark for my camera to get anything good.

      Delete
  10. Quite a busy life you've got: pissing "soldiers" off and documenting disturbing dances - life's good indeed! Hope your summer continues this way. So which one's your hobby and what's putting food on the table - DJing, photography, blogging?

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    1. Those are all hobbies. I make a little money on them, but I am a grad student in an education program. I substitute teach for most of my money.

      Delete
  11. What an awesome weekend it was. I was honestly surprised to hear you had writers' block. Of course, you covered the travel woes in your Feature Post, but with all the pictures of the harbor cruise? And all the food - oh my, the food!

    Yes, I was surprised. Sometimes when we have the most to say is when it is hardest to get it out.

    Have fun in Oregon. I can't wait for your return.

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    1. It wasn't for lack of material. I think I just didn't feel like writing. It was an amazing weekend and I look forward to having another one.

      Delete
  12. I'm suffering from the summer writer's block thing, too. The only thing that's kept me motivated is the crackpot scientist that installed a ray gun next to my vacation rental in Gold Beach, OR. (He's ridding the Pacific Ocean of radioactivity.) But now that he's turned down the volume on the damn device, I've gone back to San Diego and lost a great source for new material.

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    1. I want to play with the ray gun. I wonder if he would let me.

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  13. I'm averaging two posts a month this year, and that's fine with me. The less I write the more I can read about you crazy kids :p

    Re-enactment people are a little strange at times. I know a lot of medieval guys who take themselves way too seriously. I like dressing up in costumes as the next person, but if you think you can call me a squire and order me about then you can jog on.

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    1. They were pretty laid back except for the guy in charge. He really didn't want me there.

      Delete
  14. I am so jealous that you get to meet Jen!

    But seriously, take your time with the writing. I feel like I am kinda stretching myself thin these days with everything I am taking on in terms of blogging... and all of that comes after my real-world responsibilities.

    Just post when you can, because we will always be back, knowing that it will always be good stuff.

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    1. Thank you. I will keep writing at least somewhat regularly.

      I am excited to meet Jen and anticipate that she will show us parts of the city that we would never find on our own.

      Delete
  15. I just posted my third post for the month. And I thought I was going alright!

    Ugh, writers block is the absolute worst. Makes you feel like utter shit.

    I second Youngman Browns last sentence.

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    1. Sorry it took so long to respond to this comment. It was in my SPAM folder and I just found it.

      Thank you for the encouragement.

      Delete
  16. As a civil war re-enactor and historical attire fabricator, the 150th anniversary of the civil war is on-going throughout the country and it is very important to re-enactors to be as historically accurate as possible. At some events they will not allow modern cameras only tin type cameras.

    If they were practicing then they probably didn't want things that were mistakes to be filmed. I have had people contact me for garments that refuse to use my services since I use a sewing machine and don't hand stitch the clothing. There are some real sticklers in that circle of people!

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    1. I didn't know about the anniversary. That may explain why they were there. It appeared that the soldiers were all new. He was teaching them how to march in formation and react to the various orders.

      The place I was in was a public area in a historical village and it was during operating hours (the only reason I resisted leaving at first). I was trying to be unobtrusive, but had to leave anyway.

      I wasn't upset. I just like messing with people and saw this as an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.

      Delete
  17. I think anyone who writes suffers writer's block at some point or another. And it looks like you got through it. I keep a notebook with me quite often so I can write things in there to hopefully have topics when that block hits me.

    I've only ever traveled through Portsmouth, but heard it is a fun little place. One day I'll have to stop when I go through!

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    1. It hits me every know and then. It's getting started that is the hard part. Once I get going, I am usually ok.

      Portsmouth had all sorts of things to look at. I would have loved to have more time.

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  18. I find myself in a bit of a slump lately too. I have plenty of things to write about. My brain is actually back-logged with brilliant post ideas but I lack the motivation to write. I blame the summer.

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    1. My issue is similar. I have ideas and lots of notes for posts. I just have to get them on the computer.

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  19. Hey, if your writer's block is the result of an awesome summer, then that's a GOOD problem to have!!

    And also? I love that the 'general' got his uniform in knots over your pics. Too bad you didn't get one of the look on his face when you informed him he wasn't a real general, I'll bet it was priceless!

    Enjoy Portland!

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    1. I should have kept taking pictures during the argument. I didn't think of it until afterward.

      Thank you.

      Delete
  20. I am struggling with blogging and my things I have going on. I just wrote my first post in two weeks. Time is so valuable. Have fun in Portland!

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    1. Time gets away very fast. It will slow down again in the fall.

      Just reached Portland last night. Ready to tackle the town today.

      Delete
  21. Hey Brett, I've been following along and trying to keep up with everyone on my phone but commenting from it it rather hit and miss so i try not to do it.
    I like that you sat down with little expectation and the whole post unfolded it front of you. Funny how that works.

    It sounds like you guys are having an awesome time and i imagine that you are incredibly busy but i passed a bloggy award on to you. If you get some time, stop by to check it out.

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    1. Thank you. He are having a great time. I keep intending to put up a post about what we are doing, but by the time we get back to the hotel, I am wiped out. Oregon is beautiful and I will get some pictures up. Tonight hopefully.

      Thanks for the award. I will go check it out.

      Delete

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