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I said all those same things after seeing the first teaser. TIE Fighters again? Really?!?? If the galaxy is still embroiled in conflict, technological advances and weapons design could have been slowed to a crawl... although that is the exact opposite of what real-world history has shown. War is the single best way of pushing the limits of what's capable.

A few more potential spoilers here.

BB-8? "Beach Ball"? And Ms. Fisher has had a long chronicled battle with various nasty substances. She was a real mess for a very long time. That takes a toll.

The opening shot looks like a badly painted matte. But if they clean that up a bit, it's going to look amazing. I like that they mostly feature the old folks in this one. That makes me slightly more interested in this.

That describes my life for the last couple of months. Long stressful days, strung into never-ending weeks, which are chained together into months of misery. My last full day off was in March. Most of my work days have been averaging about 10 hours each, with many 14+ hours ones tacked on for good measure. This week has been brutal... and even if I weren't already exhausted, it would still be a ****ty week. The guy producing can be a schmuck... but this week he's been a lot worse than normal. And don't get me started on the keyboard players... the Three Stooges... except it isn't funny to watch then spend minutes between songs trying to figure out how to change patches. And then get no level out of them when they start playing... only to have it get INSANELY LOUD at some random point not quite halfway through the song when they figure out what's wrong with the patch they built. Totally clueless... but arrogant douchebags about it. And the poor monitor guy is going insane... because they are all on in-ear monitors, so they blame him when they can't hear... then freak out on him when it gets deafening... even though he hasn't touched anything at all, and it's all on them. I'm not loving my job right now.

I know that feel, bro. Actually, after Blizzardpalooza 2015, we are actually down to bare ground in most places. I have only one tiny patch of snow in my back yard now... which is pretty remarkable, since this time a month ago it was full of drifts taller than I am. I still haven't put my windshield scraper, shovels, and ice melt away for the year yet. I keep waiting for a surprise. Another long weekend of work. Joan Armatrading, Cassandra Wilson, and Dweezil Zappa. Not all at the same time this weekend, though. However: That is a show I'd love to see!

Happy Easter! (Posted from work...) (Zoomie celebrates the holiday with friends...)

Anime convention in town this weekend. My yearly opportunity to feel both archaically ancient, and like a perverse degenerate. All the just-technically teen children dressed up in trampy makeup... sexy 8"-heeled ****-me shoes... the thigh-high lace stockings... the impossibly tight and revealing cleavage-baring tops... and the microscopically skimpy barely-there bottoms. Whew! And that's just the guys! Some of the girls outfits are really outrageous! Damn conventioneers ate up all the parking spaces for blocks around here, and I got into a fender-bender looking for a spot in a garage this morning. Always a great way to start your day, exchanging insurance info with the flustered-looking mom driving a car full of Pokemon characters. Huge rock and roll show tonight. The drummer from Bad Co., the bassist from Megadeth, the guitarist/ singer from the Allman Brothers Band, the singer from Extreme, and the organist for the Boston Red Sox (yeah, I don't know either... but he's actually really good...) all on stage jamming. Kinda weird and surreal... and fits well with the anime madness going on next door. Looks to be a long show tonight. I fully plan on not getting home until after 1 am tonight... and that's awesome, because I don't have to be to work tomorrow until 8am. Yes... I'll be reporting to work on Easter Sunday far earlier than many people will be out doing egg hunts. Because I'll sleep when I'm dead, that's why. (Any day now...)

So tired. I could sleep forever. I'll catch up on some rest, the first day I have off... on the 17th.

Got my taxes done today... I'm getting a little over 7-grand back. BUT... I have to pay close to 9-thousand for my dad. Fortunately for me, those are separate accounts... but it still feels like the government wins this time... and I cant say that I like it.

Spent the weekend at my lady friend's place. My last weekend of freedom for a while. 7-day work weeks as far as the eye can see.

Had a super crappy day. I spent almost half an our looking for parking at the train station. The subway stopped dead while I was trying to get to work. Then unloaded everybody at the next station. They said there would be shuttle buses to take us the rest of the way. It took almost 40 minutes for any to arrive, then there weren't enough to fit the thousands of people now waiting. In short, it took me almost 3 hours to make it to work, and I arrived close to 15 minutes after we were supposed to start, and over an hour and a half after I planned on being there. Someone got trapped under one of the trains. Nobody knows how. Work was a bitch too. 11 bands... all apparently populated with several dozen divas apiece. I didn't leave work until close to midnight... after biting my tongue until I could taste blood far more times than I ever imagined possible on a single work shift. A day to put me right over the top.

In case y'all haven't seen it... Full version of the Tie Fighter Anime: (This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.) It's pretty glorious.

I think I could quick draw a sword in under a minute... maybe even several seconds in fact. But I'd like to use pencil. Ink is too unforgiving.

Hmm... I'm still pretty unenthused about getting an XBox One. Or the PS4 whatever... I honestly think I'd prefer this: http://www.atgames.net/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=CV450&Category=100720

Spent the day doing laundry, and making out bills and paperwork forms for dad. All of my favorite things at once... At least there was no snow to shovel today. I know it all had to get done, and today was really the only day I had to do it... but work will seem like a vacation by comparison. My lady friend was feeling ill today, otherwise I'd likely have been over her place all day. So it kinda worked out.

I've been reading all the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories on my Kindle. I've wanted to read them for years, but could never find print books. I'm almost done with them though...

We do use students... but for some reason, the college likes to to be around and supervise, so they don't get, like, hurt or killed or whatever...

Maintenance week at work: At once both unbelievably productive... and yet brutally mind bendingly tedious. But at least we will be coming back to work shows in a place that is cleaner, better organized, more efficient, and where (almost...) everything works as it should. But still... most of the actual work this week was repetitive and dull. EXCEPT setting up 30-odd feet of scaffolding up on uneven stairs in the balcony to change otherwise inaccessible house lights. THAT'S just colon-clenchingly terrifying.

Dad is finally out of the Palm Beach VA, and back at his home. I'm just waiting for the bills to start rolling in...

It's official... Worst. Winter. Ever. (Based on snowfall amounts, measured in inches... In this area... Since records have been kept...) Feels like a hollow victory. There was no "Win" in this winter. Now that we broke the record, that means we never have to get snow ever again... right?

Battle of the bands tonight... beyond Thunderdome. 7 bands enter... one band leaves. I think they should fight it out gladiator style and the last 5 musicians left alive will be forced to become a band. Even if it's 4 drummers and a bassist. Spring break next week. Whoot.

Dad is doing better, though they haven't discharged him yet. I'm exhausted. Long days at work... bad night's sleep... changes in the weather... daylight saving time... worry that I might have to fly to Florida again... Hopefully I can catch up on rest next week. Spring break is here already somehow. Time flies when you can't get to work thanks to insane snowstorms, I guess.

Thanks. And the show worked out better once the cast was on handheld mics and the drums were encased in plexi. The choir and the woodwinds were still pointless once the rock band started playing... but on the couple of times where they were featured without drums and guitar, they sounded OK. If I were to do it again, with more time... I would have set up a sub mixer on stage and run ALL our 58's (about 20) from it to the choir, then submixed that to stereo, or maybe bass, tenor, alto, soprano as separate outputs back to the FOH board. That still would have been clunky and imperfect... but I'd have had more level. Next time...

Dad is in the hospital again with a major case of pneumonia. He's in the ICU. It's always something...