Updates And Stuff

Wow! A lot of stuff has happened since the last post! And when I say "a lot of stuff" I mean a few things. A lot of things sounds better.

1. My passport arrived. Now I can start collecting cool immigration stamps. There is one thing that worries me a little bit. The front cover looks normal, as does the ID page. But the page after the ID page has this logo and is stamped "NOT VALID FOR RE-ENTRY TO THE UNITED STATES".

2. Syd Barrett died at the age of 60. Syd was one of the guys who started Pink Floyd, the other one of note being Roger Waters. David Gilmore was brought into the band to take up the slack for Syd Barrett when he started to loose his grip on reality. Syd came up with the early band's signature sound by playing his guitar with a Zippo lighter, and fed the guitar into an echo / distortion machine. Syd songs are so different from the stuff Waters was writing, that it is easy to pick them out of the early albums. Here are some Syd Barrett songs when he was with Pink Floyd.

1. Scream Thy Last Scream (unreleased bootleg thing - not good audio quality)
2. Bike.
3. See Emily Play. (VIDEO!!)
4. Arnold Lane. (VIDEO!!_
5. Astronomy Domine.
6. Apples And Oranges (released as a B side single)
7. Scarecrow. (VIDEO!!)
8. Vegetable Man (another B side single. Good luck finding this one in print!).

And then there is the Syd Barrett solo work! This was done after he left the band. It seems he did not leave willingly, his unpredictable behavior caused the band to sort of leave him behind.

1. Effervescing Elephant.
2. Birdy Hop.
3. Word Song.
4. Milky way.
5. Terrapin.
6. No Good Trying.

It is pointless to try to "figure out" what these songs mean. If they have any meaning at all, it was only to Syd himself. You either enjoy his stuff or you do not. It really is that simple. Syd was one of those people who will just never come around again.

3. My Generals and Chiefs Of Staff have begun to plan my conquest of Europe. The invasion date is top secret, so as to catch everyone off guard. Nobody will know when I will arrive by air! I will just show up, probably in London. I want to have a long layover at LHR Airport so I can leave and go to the city for the sole purpose of having many pints of ale. As long as I am not flying the plane, I figure I might as well be drinking. Many tankards of ale shall meet their untimely demise! Anyone who wants to join my army is welcome to enlist - I need many troops to pull off my plan to drink all the beer in London.

4. My war planners also came up with "Operation Ditch Work" that will allow me to go to Sanibel this Friday after work! All I need is a life size, full color, cutout of myself. I will put this cutout in my cubicle Friday night. Nobody will realize I am not there Saturday! Nifty huh? If Operation Ditch Work is a success, I will have four days on the West Coast of Florida. I will arrive Friday night, in time to stop by The Jackaranda for a drink.