Joyce Gail's Boyfriend

Happy 18th Birthday, Scruffy!!!

Dead Mountains And Visions

So what's the big deal? They're just mountains! They'll grow back in a hundred thousand years! So what if the people living in the valleys are threatened by tornadoes and floods all the time! There's millions of dollars just sitting there under all those nasty-looking trees!

Umm... This crime was committed near Aunt "10'"s house. It's one in a whole series of decapitations in the area. I had a dream about this when I was a kid, by the way. Last summer, when the perpetrators were blasting this mountain there was dust everywhere around 10's house. It reminded me of the dream I had when I was, like, 10 years old. I didn't know how to interpret the vision back then. In the dream I was really scared, and I was seeing smoke, and I thought it was the end of time. When I saw my vision coming true last summer I knew what everything meant. The smoke in my dream was the dust from the mountain. There were fires up there, too, but it was mostly dust. I'm a part-time psychic. I've accurately predicted quite a few things in my life... Most notably, our house burning down. I usually can't predict things that are actually useful, though. I guess I've still not really learned how to control my "psychic powers." But, that's another topic for another day... But, anyway, the mountain in this picture is just about half as tall as it used to be. I'll try to sketch the way the mountain used to look right about here:

Mickey Vs. Mouse

World Record Books, Here I Come!

I was always kinda sickly as a child. It seemed that I was always sick, growing up. I had a three-year stretch without being sick period, from 2003-2006. It was amazing! Ever since January I've been sick, like, every other week. I think my immune system got screwed up, or something, in January when I had bronchitis. I finally got over that in mid-March. Toward the end of April I got sick again. On May 22nd, yes, I got sick again. And, on June 13th I got sick yet again! So, I've decided to make the most of my sickness. I'm going to try to be in the Guinness Book Of World Records for being sick more times in a year than anyone else in the world!

Anger Management Issues

Cruel Connection Reunion!

Black Sabbath's back, man!

By The Way

Meet Mickey! We got this little monster on May 6th for an anniversary present. I keep forgetting to mention him on here. Been kinda busy with stuff...

US. Postal Service Idea

(Forward from Roger)

Payback is fun!!
WRITE IT ON THE BACK OF YOUR ENVELOPES or front. WE THINK THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. WE'LL START WRITING IT ON THE FRONT OF OUR ENVELOPES, TOO! ----------

Including BillsYou may have heard in the news that a couple of Post Offices in Texas have been forced to take down small posters that say 'IN GOD WE TRUST,' The law, they say, is being violated. Anyway, we heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write ' IN GOD WE TRUST' on the back of all our mail. After all, that's our National Motto, and -----all the money we use to buy stamps. We think it's a wonderful idea.. We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed.

If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of writing or stamping..........'IN GOD WE TRUST ' on our envelopes sounds good to us ...SOME PEOPLE ARE HAVING A STAMP MADE TOO........lets use it as our signature on e-mails, too!

It's been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, we have a very hard time understanding why there's such a fuss about having' In God We Trust!' on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance. Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to 'sit down and shut up'? If you agree, pass this on, if not, delete!!!

BUT REMEMBER IF YOU DELETE THIS, that's one reason why this world is in the mess we're in now. WE SIT BACK & LET IT HAPPEN!!

IN GOD WE TRUST
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission. -Eleanor Roosevelt-

That Old Drunk Man!

Eat More Popcorn!!!

Earthly Possessions

Here is what I left the house with when it was on fire, on 4-2-09:

My shoes.

My jacket.

My long johns.

My MP3 player.

My 4-track recorder.

I didn't realize, at the time, that our house was going to burn to the ground, or else I would've tried to save some other things... Our computer, our CDs, our camera, our camcorder, our *BRAND NEW* big-screen TV!!! I didn't know what was going on, though. I tried to call 9-1-1, and tell them that *SOMETHING* just happened, but the phone was dead. When I laid the phone down I saw my MP3 player, and my 4-track recorder laying nearby, so I grabbed them. This was everything I owned as we watched our house burn... As I walked away with Baby Girl it hit me, for the first time, exactly how unimportant all of our earthly possessions really were. The only thing that mattered was that we were okay. I didn't care about anything else, almost immediately.

Mood Swings

How 'Bout A Survey?

Hi, my name is:
Lucas York Black, of "Sling Blade" fame.

My eyes are:
One is purple, and the other one is light gray.

I want to have kids:
That are born with the ability to automatically know how to use ear muffs.

I wish I was:
The man on the flying trapese.

Currently I am:
Sleepy, and (somewhat) watching "Sling Blade" again.

I love::
God and Baby Girl, and that God rescued me and Baby Girl from the fire. Side note: I also love how good everyone has been to us.

Never in my life have:
I been a rodeo clown.

My favorite animals are:
Cats and birds.

Right now, I am listening to.
"Sling Blade," kinda.

If your gonna talk smack about me:
I'll make fun of you for using the improper version of "your."

The one person who can drive me nuts:
This dude, James, at work. He thinks he's some kind of boss, or something, but he's just a flunky like me.

When I'm nervous:
I laugh uncontrollably.

The last song I listened to was:
Nirvana's "Ain't It A Shame," from their boxed set.

My hair is:
Almost gone.

When I was 4:
I was totally spoiled by all of my relatives.

My mom:.
Is my hero.

My dad:
Looks like Walter Mathou, and he, too, is a "Grumpy Old Man." He's my hero, too, though.

Last Christmas:
We didn't know that it was going to be our last Christmas at View Avenue.

I should be:
Sleeping, or pooping, or something other than this!

When I look down:
My neck hurts.

My current annoyance is:
A spider bite on my right arm.

The thing I want to buy is:
Lots of stuff, but mostly guitars.

If you visited the place I grew up:
You'd laugh, because it's a part of someone's yard now.

Most recent thing I've bought myself was:
A bottle of Mountain Dew Throwback. It tastes just like today's Mountain Dew! What a rip off!

Most recent thing someone else bought me was:
Juby gave me some shoes. :D They didn't fit his son, so he didn't technically buy them for me. My cousin, Chris, bought me some shoes, though. Heh. He bought some clothes for me, too. That was really nice of him. I feel bad now for not being closer to him over the years. I've just got so many cousins, though! It's hard to love them all!

If I was an animal i would be.
Some kind of bird, because it'd be neat to fly.

Yesterday I:
Worked, of course.

Last night I was:
Ummm... Oh yeah, we watched "The Omen II."

Tomorrow I am:
Doing absolutely nothing. It's going to be awesome!

Tonight I am:
Going to the mall.

My favorite piece of jewelery is:
Baby Girl's necklace, and my wedding ring.

I am looking forward to:
Nothing really. I like to live each day as it comes.

The one that knows the most about me is:
Dead.

If I could tell my friends one thing it would be:
Thanks, man!

If my special someone were to bring me flowers I would want them to be:
Phlox are cool.

Now it’s your turn to tell me YOUR story....

Current Status

Things just keep getting better for Cruel Music (insert sarcasm here). I just read the news that Geocities is shutting down. Geocities has hosted the Cruel Music web page for over 11 years now. They're going to call it quits sometime this summer. So what is going to happen to the Cruel Music page? What is going to happen to Cruel Music period? The last Cruel Music CD was a compilation entitled "The End." Well, as I hinted in my last post, Cruel Music is not dead by a long shot. Just because I lost everything I owned I'm not going to quit playing, or recording music. I am going to re-build the Cruel Music legacy. It might take some time, but this phoenix is going to rise from the ashes! So, it kinda all goes hand-in-hand. Geocities is closing, which forces the Cruel Music web page to close. So, I'm going to re-build the Cruel Music site elsewhere. Perhaps... Hmm... I wonder... My Space??? I'm getting pretty excited about the possibilities of taking Cruel Music to My Space. The Geocities page was fun, and all, but I could do so much more with My Space. Most importantly -- Sound clips! It's only fitting that I take the page to My Space, since that's where I met Denise. But, first things first... It's time to start salvaging the remaining Cruel Music recordings.

What Next?

Most of the 250 Cruel Music releases were lost in the fire. Cruel Music is, obviously, going to be going away for a while now, until we can re-group, and try to make sense of everything. I did manage to pull a few of the tapes out of the ashes. Some of them are, remarkably, in pretty good condition. Some others can be re-built. Most are gone, though. A lot was accomplished during the 28 months that we lived there. I recorded something every month. It was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. Now the majority of those 28 months of work is gone. I do have a handful of songs left on my Zoom PS-04. Some were things that I was working on for the 29th release, and some were still stored on there from the 28th release. I'm going to do a compilation-type CD of that material within the next few days. Like a "Best Of The 28 Months..." Then, my 29 months of work will be done.

What next? I'm going to delicately sift through the remaining Cruel Music releases, and salvage everything I can from the recordings we've done over the last 21 years, and digitally remaster all of it to CD and/or DVD format... That's something that I've been meaning to do for a while now, but never got around to it. Now I have an excuse to get started.

We lost all of our clothes, almost all of my guitars, over 600 audio CDs, nearly 100 video games, the car, old pictures, etc. Of all the things we lost in the fire all the creativity of Cruel Music was one of the most painful things for me to lose. I've been meaning to put all of the Cruel Music stuff out in the studio for a few months, but I just left them in the closet. If I would've put everything in the studio I'd have all 250 releases today. But, because I put them in the closet I have *SOME* of it left, at least. Oddly enough, that closet was the only part of our house that was still standing after the fire. If they would have been anywhere else in the house I wouldn't have any of them left.

What Happened?

The irony of the newly-redesigned (in February) Cruel Music homepage is ridiculous... The news stories are never accurate... The rumors are hilarious...

This whole thing still feels like some kind of nightmare, and that this has been one really long, horrible day. It's just too unreal. It was 1:45am. I was going to take a bath before we went to bed. I was reading the Bible while I was waiting for my water to get full. The last thing I read was Deuteronomy, Chapter 4. It was saying don't be afraid of the fire, and talking about moving on to a new land. It was a little freaky, in hindsight. Heh heh. I turned my bath water off, but I kept reading till the end of the page, so I could mark where I left off. I laid the Bible down on the washing machine, and then, almost immediately, BOOOOOOOM!!!! That huge, awful explosion... It was a really bad feeling. I knew something was very wrong, because the explosion kinda knocked the wind right out of me. The lights went out... It was pitch black, but I could see, somehow. The walls and ceiling were caving in all around me. I looked over toward the bath tub, and that wall fell. It kinda brushed me on my right shoulder. It would've fell right on top of me, if I'd got in the tub, and if I would've quit reading the Bible sooner. I didn't know what was going on. A million things crossed my mind, but a fire was the furthest thing from my mind. I thought, "Maybe it was a drunk driver hitting the house." "Maybe the termites around the bath tub wall were finally taking over." "Maybe an asteroid landed in our yard." Then, I yelled for Denise to see if she was alright, and if she knew what the crap had just happened. Then, she started screaming. I ran out of the bathroom to be with her. The hallway was twisted and mangled. I could see the stars through our ceiling. That's when I first smelled the smoke. Denise was in our bedroom. Every door in the house was blown off the hinges, and laying around in `the house. Every window was busted. There was glass everywhere. I grabbed Denise, and just held her, making sure she was okay. Then, I saw a flickering light coming from our garage... The fire was coming. It still didn't dawn on me, though, how bad the fire was. I knew that our house was ruined, and would never be liveable again, but I still didn't know what was going on. Denise threw my shoes to me, and I went out in the yard for a better look. The house next door was *GONE.* There was nothing there, but a field of lumber. It looked like a bulldozer just flattened the house. I saw that half of our garage was blown off in the blast, and that my car was buried in the rubble. I still didn't really see any fire. I went back in the bedroom, and tried to call 911, but the phone was dead. I got my MP3 player off the table next to our bed, and got my 4-track portable studio recorder, and held on to them. I didn't even think about anything else in the bedroom... Not my red Fender guitar, not the external backup hard drive on the computer, not the camcorder, or the digital camera, not even my super-secret stash of money (which was pictured in this very blog a couple posts ago, and which had grown to $2,100). I knew we were going to have to leave, but I guess I thought I would have more time to come back for that other stuff. I gave Denise a garbage bag, so she could get some things. Then, I just kinda went into shock, and stood there for a minute, not knowing what to do. One of the birds that lived on our porch was in the bedroom, flapping its wings in the corner, and freaking out. I chased it back toward the door... Denise got the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, and I started to go out to the garage with it, but then I saw huge blazes of fire in the garage. I laid the fire extinguisher down on top of our microwave, and said, "No fire extinguisher is going to take care of that." Then, we went outside. Neighbors were standing all around. Some of them were motioning for us to come toward them, but we just stayed in the yard. I went back in the house again, and tried to get to Denise's closet... It was in the other bathroom, which was right beside the garage, which was where the fire was coming from in the first place. As soon as I went in the bathroom door the wall to my right fell down, and fire was blazing right at my face. Then, I ran back outside to be with Denise. I took her to the safety of our side yard, by my studio, and told her to stay there, and I went back inside again, trying to make it to my closet at the other end of the house. As soon as I walked in the door the black smoke started gagging me. For some reason I walked through the house one last time, through all the smoke, and went out the back door, instead of just turning around, and going back out the front door. That's when we finally gave up, and went to a neighbor's house. We definitely had a few angels in there with us. We "just happened" to be in all the right places at the right times. If we would've been asleep, we probably would've died. If I would've been in the bath tub, I probably would've been crushed under that wall. If Denise would've been in the other bathroom, she would've been trapped. That was the first part of the house to go, really. The fire hit our garage first, but that bathroom was right beside of the garage. She had just left that bathroom, and went into our bedroom, like, 2 minutes earlier. We lost everything we owned, but we got out without a scratch on us.

The End

Before...

After!

I'm A Rich Monkey!

Our income tax refund came in yesterday. $1,700!!! Woo hoo!

This is the most money I've had in a long time! I can finally start saving money again. Life just keeps getting better!

There was one item of business that I had to take care of, though... The TV in our bedroom has been ready to blow up for, like, a year now. So, I couldn't wait to buy a new TV. It's a Sanyo 32" flatscreen, and it's great!

It's really, really skinny!

And, it's really clear!

So, that was my mom and dad's anniversary present that I got for us. Heh heh. Happy 35th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

The Joys Of Bronchitis

I mentioned in a previous post that I was sick... It's more than sick! It's bronchitis, and I'm almost in my fourth week of having it now. 25 days I've had this, man! I've never had bronchitis before, and I hope I never get it again! For some reason it won't leave me. It's grown quite fond of me. It's sucking my will to live! Well, not really, but I can't figure it out. Jonathan had it first. Then, Debra got it. One, or the other, of them gave it to me. One of us gave it to Dad. I gave it to Baby Girl. Jonathan got better. Dad got better. Debra got better. Jonathan caught it again. Baby Girl got better. Debra caught it again. Dad caught it again. Then, Mom caught it. Jonathan got over it. Debra, Mom, and Dad got over it... Are you noticing a theme here? I'VE NEVER GOT RID OF IT THE WHOLE TIME!!! I'm still hacking and gagging my lungs out! It's kinda putting a damper on things for me. I recorded the last Cruel Music piece being sick. I don't want to record another sick album! It's been done before! Actually it was done before last month. You die-hard Cruel Music fans out there will recall that I recorded an album called "Sick" back in 2002, and it dealt with me being sick. I'm so sick of being sick!