So I finally broke down and bought a new drum set. I have been itching to get a new kit for years (I got rid of my last set like 15 years ago, then had a practice kit for a couple years back in the late 90’s), but I’ve always let it slide on the priority list. All this playing on Rock Band got me really wanting a new kit, much the same way that Guitar Hero renewed my interest in playing guitar. So I did some searching on Musicians Friend (The greatest music store ever!), and found a pretty good low end Pearl kit that didn’t break the bank. Got a set of decent set of Paiste cymbals, and I’m in business. The kit arrived on Friday, but unfortunately, the cymbals didn’t get here until Monday.
I got her setup, and semi-tuned (any drummer knows this is an ongoing process) on Friday. Yesterday I got the cymbals, and got them all set. The dogs are NOT happy about this renewed obsession, but they’ll get used to it. I tried taking it slow and giving Benny treats while I was tuning and stuff, which seems to help. But he’s a complete pansy ass, so he gets all stressed. China just goes somewhere else, and she’s fine.
We flew out to LA on Saturday morning for my Grandmother’s 80th birthday party.
After getting to bed at about 2:00AM (we stayed up grilling food and playing Rock Band with Laura and Ivan), we were up at 5:00AM and off to IAD. Arrived at LAX at about 9:30AM, and Jon & Mel picked us up. Went and had breakfast with them, had a nice walk on the strand in blazing hot Southern California sun (love it!), then went back to their house to see miss Lucy. Jon was awesome to let us borrow his X5, and we hit the road down to the desert.
We got down to Palm Desert around 3:30, and got checked into our hotel. Temperature was in the 90’s by the time we got down there. Got freshened up, dressed up, and headed to the party. The party was great! It was the first time in 19 years, that all of the grandchildren were together. I hadn’t met my 4 cousins from one of my Uncle’s yet, since they rarely make it down to the desert together. My grandmother had a blast dancing the night away. You seriously would never know the woman was 80! After the party, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Woke up at 7:00AM on Sunday and headed over to the Grandparents house to see the babies, and have some breakfast. After breakfast we hung out for a couple more hours shooting the shit, then headed back up to LA. We made it back up to Jon & Mel’s house around 3:30PM. After a beer and some quality pit bull time, we made a bee line for the beach (Another nice sunny hot SoCal day). Took another nice long walk, then had some sushi. After dinner, we had some coffee, and headed back to LAX.
Flight took off at about 10:30PM. Had first class seats on the way back. They were nice, but neither of us managed to get much sleep. Arrived back at IAD around 6:30AM Monday to frosty temperatures. Got home, changed the sheets on the bed and crashed till about 1:00PM.
In other news, we decided to throw a party for my Birthday this year. Seemed like a good excuse to get people together to play Rock Band, and since My Birthday is the same week as Cinco de Mayo, eat Mexican and drink lot’s of tequilla and cerveza. If you didn’t get an invite, and you wanna come, holla at me, and if I like you enough, I might send you an invite 😉