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THANKSGIVING 2014

11/26/2014

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I said goodbye today to a colleague.  He is moving on to another job, more money and exciting opportunities.  I am sad for me, happy for him and of course, I am hoping that we stay in touch. 

Over the last few months we have shared a lot of laughs. He has even talked me off the ledge a couple of times and said, “ A little harsh, try again,” when I was getting ready to hit the send button on an email to half the world.  He became someone I could vent to and bounce ideas off of.  In short, he became a friend.

What is unusual about this particular friendship is when I met him, I didn’t like him.  At all.  I consider myself a great judge of character but I really missed the boat, the train and the spaceship on him.  I dare to say he didn’t like me much either and found me an annoyance in his day to day existence.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we ended up sitting next to each other.  Something I quite frankly thought was going to suck.  But over the months, as we peeled away the layers and baggage we both had, we found out we had a lot more in common than we thought.  We shared a sense of humor and some common opinions about our jobs and we realized, “Hey!  I really like this other person!

Sometimes you meet someone and at the time, you have no idea that this person will be in your life for a long time, maybe forever.  I have kept a diary for most of my life and not long ago, I pulled a couple of old ones out and starting reading.

One entry I found very humorous.  When I first came to California, over twenty years ago, I was working at a sports store.  My first day there, I wrote about the job, the mall and then, almost as an afterthought, “Oh and I met this girl named Janeen.”

Over those twenty plus years, there have been seven jobs, a couple of boyfriends, two apartments and one home.  The one constant? That girl named Janeen. When I broke up with the guy I moved out to California with, she helped me move. She was the first person who got to my house when I had my fire.  She loves football as much as I do and we have been to numerous games, Super Bowl parties, Christmas Eves and just plain girl talk dinners.  I suspect we will be friends until the day we die.

So this Thanksgiving, what am I thankful for?  Not being a "great” judge of character and those afterthought meetings.   

Wishing you all the joy, laughter and love the surprises in life can bring. Have a great Thanksgiving!


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CALIFORNIA INTOXICATION

11/17/2014

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This weekend, we performed at The Blarney Stone in Fountain Valley.  We got a visit from a former L.A. Lyon’s drummer, Jinx Miyao.  Jinx went back to Japan a few years back and he was in town for a visit.

At the end of the night he said something that really got me thinking.

“When I went back to Japan, I thought, I will always be in Japan.  But coming to California again, makes me want to be back here.”

Oh California.  When you leave her, she is like that one love you never get over.  Just like that one love, she can be volatile (seen the real estate market lately?) and depressing (traffic has gone from a five hour “rush hour” thing to dealing with snails on Prozac almost twenty-four seven!)  She’s also mighty expensive to keep happy (rent, insurance, care registration) and difficult to figure out (take the 210 to the 57 to the 5 to the 22 and got off on the second exit).

Yet, she is warm and beautiful.  Full of energy, promise and diversity.  Never a dull moment this California.  Just when you think you got her all figured out, she shakes things up a bit, sometimes literally in the middle of the night, in the form of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.

I was born in San Diego, so technically, I am a native, although my parents took me back to Wisconsin where they grew up when I was a toddler.  My father had gotten a job and newly married, they decided to make the move.  After several years out here, the company my dad worked for was going under and my grandfather was sick, so back they went to the frozen Tundra.

I grew up hearing about this magical place out west that never had winter. I am sure that’s why from almost the time I could form sentences, I told people I would live in California someday and be an actress or a singer.  My parents came for visits after I moved out here, but never came back to live.  My father always said leaving was one of the biggest regrets of his life.

“That was the happiest time of our lives, out in San Diego.  I wish we would have stuck it out when it got a little hard.”

I remembered those words when I first came out here.  I got lost, A LOT! The guy I was living with at the time was out on the road running sound for a rock band and I didn’t have a friend in the world.  I went on auditions for bands and music projects and instead of going up against a couple of people, there were 20 to 30 other girls.  If you told someone in Wisconsin you were in a band, they were amazed.  In California, they usually said, “So am I.”

But I stuck it out.  I met some wonderful people, some of who are still part of what I call my “California family.”  I got to sing in all different parts of California and Nevada. Many I had never even heard of (Parker and Bishop are rarely discussed in the Midwest).  I even got my own piece of the California dream, a house with a tiny postage size yard that natives look at and say, “Wow, you have a lot of outdoor space!’

I have been thinking about this California thing a lot lately.  I have a job that at some point will be leaving the state.  The question of whether I would move or not has come up.  There are days when I am sitting on the 210 for an hour when it doesn’t seem totally out of the question. 

But then, a day like yesterday happens.  We were watching football, where almost everyone was freezing, in shorts and sweatshirts, with the windows open.  At half time, I went outside and picked a few lemons off my tree.

 The picture I posted is not some vacation shot.  It is my view from my gym, less than one mile from my door.  I see it every day.

 Would I leave her, this crazy, intoxicating, unpredictable love of mine?  Not yet.  Maybe not ever.

 


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STILL

11/9/2014

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Friday was 16 years since I took over running L.A. Lyon (check out the  My View From The Stage post for the full story if you haven’t already!) The anniversary got me thinking about how little has changed in those sixteen years.

 I am not talking about technology.  In 1998, I still got my music by buying cds, I had never texted and I don’t think I even had a cell phone.  If I did, it made phone calls, it didn’t tell me who the current quarterback is for the Minnesota Vikings. The way we live our day to day life has changed dramatically, but I was thinking about what I am calling STILL. Not the Lionel Richie song, but as in I AM STILL:

  • Struggling with my weight. I got on the scale this weekend and almost fainted.  It isn’t an issue with my dryer, as I been telling myself over the past few weeks, so back to trying to get off 15 pounds, yet again!

  • Not financially secure.  I have had various degrees of this issue over the years.  This year better than last, but not as good as 10 years ago.

  • Working incredibly hard.  I never thought at this age I would still be hauling equipment into clubs, worrying about job security and exploring ways to make myself more marketable.

It’s easy to look at the negative STILLS.  Probably why those came to mind first.  Yet, when I think of my parents at my age, I know that they could never have kept up with me.  I can’t imagine my mother doing four and half sets in heels, or even my dad loading in the band equipment without a lot of moaning, groaning and pain the next day. At this point in their lives, they were starting to wind down their working lives, not thinking about possibly opening up a business.

So I decided to look at the OTHER STILLS.  As in I AM STILL:

  • Moving all my weight around, able to do physical things I would have never imagined and enjoying good health.

  •  Bringing in income, at not one, but two very different jobs, that allow me to have a roof over my head and food for me and my four legged family.

  • Working incredibly hard.  Entertaining people and helping them have a great birthday, a great Halloween, or just a great weekend after a lousy week at work. Learning new things every day and being challenged at a job, while knowing there might be another wonderful opportunity just around the corner.  Creating, be it set lists, my blog or a new home project.

  • Laughing every day! At my life, at the D-Man, at Samantha and Kato, or at something someone says at a gig or at work.

We all have our STILLS.  At this time of the year, as we approach Thanksgiving, I realized I am pretty thankful for mine.



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A LUCKY HALLLOWEEN WEEKEND

11/2/2014

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This Halloween weekend was a busy one! I did two costumes, one with L.A. Lyon at Route 66 Roadhouse and one in my corporate life! Then Saturday the D-Man and I headed over to Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia for The Breeder's Cup.  I felt lucky, even though I didn't won much money on the horses.  Lucky to be able to go to a sporting event I loved.  Lucky to have not one, but two jobs I like.  And lucky to be able to have fun with some great people!  I hope your Halloween weekend was filled with treats, a few tricks and lots of friends and family.
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Costume Fun at Work and Route 66

11/2/2014

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