August 08, 2004 - 12:19 AM

Can't Sleep, My History Is Changing

Dude, I am so fuckin' spaced right now. It's strange. Not only lacking in sleep, I've also got my bio clock turned completely around and I'm trying to deal with a handful of "Big Things" happening in my universe.

I've been working like crazy at the new studio this past week. Saturday through Wednesday, I was assisting on a session for a Godsmack live DVD with an engineer named Andy Johns. He's famous for having worked with Led Zeppelin (including Stairway to Heaven), the Rolling Stones (including Exile on Main Street), Rod Stewart, and Van Halen (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge). While fun (and boy did he have some stories to tell), it was also taxing, especially the run of 15 hour days that began on Monday. Thursday, I did a session with Gregg Armstrong who was the man behind the group The New Radicals (their song "You Get What You Give" was all over the radio, movie previews, and WB-type tv shows back in '98). He was doing a rough mix of a couple songs for which Santana wanted him to work out some vocals. That session ran from 11 AM to 5 AM.

Originally, the studio schedule then had me booked for a new session on Friday that ran from 5PM to midnight. However, the producers of the Godsmack show wanted to make a few changes to the final mix of one of the songs we had done, so they asked the studio to squeeze them in from 9 AM to 4 PM, and of course, I had to work that session since I was the assistant on the original one. I managed to get two hours of sleep at home (this following two previous nights where I had gotten 5, then 3, hours of sleep) before driving back. I asked the studio owners to try to find a replacement for me for the 5 PM session since I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake for it, and they graciously accomodated me. What we didn't know at the time was that my being removed from that session actually worked out in the favor of fate, because while we did make the proper fixes for the Godsmack show by 4 PM, we realized that the same changes had to be made to all of the songs. Since they had a deadline of Monday to get the DVD to the pressing plant, we were rebooked once again, this time for after the 5 PM session ended at 12. Delirious, I drove home, showered, and collapsed for the best 5-hour sleep I've ever had.

Waking up at 11 PM, I returned to the studio and worked with the engineer to finish up the remixes. We got through 10 of the 14 songs before the end time of 9 AM, at which point we had to pack it up. It looks like we'll be heading back in to finish things up Sunday at midnight since another session is running this weekend in the studio. I have no idea how I'm going to rejigger my sleep schedule to be ready to go at midnight for a run through the night, or how I'll be able to reset it once we're done. While I did the graveyard shift thing for 8 months back when I was a runner at the Enterprise two years ago, I have NO desire to be on that sleep schedule ever again.

In the midst of the Godsmack session during the week (a session which was plagued by computer and equipment problems as well as tension from personality clashes between the producers and the engineers), I received a call from Soph. She asked me what I was doing at the end of this month. When i replied that I had no idea yet, she told me to buy a plane ticket to Boston. Immediately, I asked "Why? Are you? Is it...? Tell me!"

If you remember, back at the begining of July, I teased you with the revelation that my parents, when they were in town, had some big news for me. One of the bombshells they dropped was that Soph was planning on getting married sometime this summer. She's been engaged to her fiance G for a year and a half now, but they weren't really making plans for a wedding yet, so this was an out of leftfield announcement. Stunned silence was followed by me doing my best not to curse (out of sheer happiness of course) in front of my parents while I called Soph on my cell phone. I berated her for not telling me about it, then grilled her for facts. Nothing was set yet: in fact, they didn't have any plans in motion, just the notion that it would be nice to have a tiny ceremony without all the excessive trimmings. Basically, she wants to take the money that my parents would give her for the wedding and turn that into an investment in a house. Plus, she's never really been the kind of girl who dreams of a big fancy schmancy wedding, I don't think, so this seems pragmatic and in character for her.

I hadn't heard from her about the wedding since that initial announcement, and I had pretty much set it off to the side, thinking that she hadn't been able to make the proper arrangements in time, so they would postpone until later this year or even next year. This was a relief because there was the worry of trying to get an airplane ticket at the last minute hanging over my head as soon as the words "married this summer" had been spoken. Now, with one phone call, a few sentences, I was scrambling to figure out a schedule for the end of August in my mind. Sophia had indeed decided to go ahead with the wedding on the 28th.

This works out pretty well with other plans I had brewing involving a trip to the East Coast. See, the other news that my parents had revealed to me was that they had just bought a house near Phoenix, Arizona. It turns out that my dad had an interview at an Indian Reservation to become the pediatrician there which went well, so they did some house hunting and plunked down a chunk of cash on a home in a retirement community near the reservation. So, what of the house in Maryland? The place that has been "home" for 25 of my 27 years on this earth? They had finally put it on the market, as they said they might, and had been taking offers for a few weeks. Regardless of whether or not it sold by September, they would move to Phoenix and let the real estate agent handle the sale. So, I had limited time to go back home for one last visit.

Now, the opportunity strikes. My dad will be driving to Arizona next week, taking a bunch of stuff with him, and he'll start the settling down process while my mom handles the affairs in Maryland. Sometime during the last full week of August, he'll fly back home, and they'll drive up to Boston on the 27th. Right now, I'm looking to book a flight from Burbank to Baltimore on the 24th so that I can have time to see Mark and Y and have a good cry goodbye at 142 Mount Royal Avenue. It's going to be strange, to not have a reason to go back to Maryland anymore beyond wanting to see a few friends, and to not have a place to stay. Cripes.

I'll travel with my parents to Boston, have a great time at the wedding (it's not even going to be a "wedding and reception" thing...more like just a gathering of close family and a handful of friends), perhaps stick around for a few days to check out Phil and Jen's place and see a couple of MY friends, and then fly back from Boston to L.A. on the 30th or 31st. By the time I touch down, my sister will be married, my home in Maryland will no longer be "home", and my parents will be on their way to a new life in Phoenix.

Speaking of weddings, it was a year ago on July 24th that my recollections of and ruminations on Phil's wedding served as my first diary entry. I can't believe that I totally forgot to commemorate the one year anniversary of my diary. Bah!

Now Listening To : Snow Patrol-Final Straw
Random Thought : Oh, by the way, Nick or Tony or someone, would you be willing to give me a ride to or from the airport?

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