Monday, May 23

2:00 pm
Hope Community Center

Finally getting a couple minutes to chow down some lunch.  I've had a damned phone stuck to my ear all morning.

Christ, there's a lot of paperwork involved in being a musician.  Nobody told me that when I was 16, dreaming of being a Rock Star.  Nobody ever said I'd need to practically go to fucking law school or get an MBA to do this shit.

But I guess I'm doing okay without the college degree, ha ha.

Speaking of college... Mr. Joe Cool is in the other room studying for his final exams.  He better keep his grades up if he plans to go to college.  And he WILL go to college, if his mother or I have anything to say about it.  It ain't like it used to be when Dorothea and I were kids, you could opt not to go and still do okay in life.  These days a college degree is practically a requirement for success.

Not that my kids will ever want for anything, financially.  But they still need to be able to make it on their own, to succeed in their chosen professions through their own blood, sweat, and tears.  They need to be their own people, stand on their own two feet.

Jess is handling his first day of expulsion pretty well.  No bitching or whining, even when he had to get up early to catch the train with me.  He grumbled a little but I told him to shut up and get his ass out of bed; if I could be up and running on 4 hours of sleep so could he.  He's way damned younger than I am.

Of course he promptly fell asleep on the train.

Once we got out here Yolanda set me up in an office and Jess helped clean up the place, scrub down the kitchen, get all the activities for the afterschool programs set up.  When the kids get here he's gonna tutor reading or math, whatever the kids need help with.  He's had his nose in his own books since he finished the manual labor.

Honestly, he's probably being way more productive here than he would have been at school.  Maybe getting expelled is a good thing, ha ha.

Well, not for his Mama's blood pressure.

Man, it's good to be home.  Back to normal life for a few weeks.  Rolled in around 2:30 am, climbed in bed with Cate and fell right asleep.  So much for the traditional Welcome-Home Shag.  I was completely wiped after last night's show, and the plane ride didn't help.  Couldn't sleep, was still coming down.  By the time I hit the front door I was ready to collapse.

I did get a quickie in the shower this morning, though.  Heh heh.

That's gonna have to last me a couple days.  Jess and I are hanging at the Jersey house while Cate stays in the City.  She's got a super-busy schedule this week since she's taking Thursday and Friday and all next week off.  Thursday morning we fly to Vegas for Danny's wedding.  That oughta be fun, and probably a little scary since my Wife's in charge of the Bachelor Party.  Lord knows what she has up her sleeve.

And next week is gonna be completely NUTS.  Steph's birthday, Prom night, her graduation... plus I volunteered myself for another one of those benefit shows.  When am I gonna learn?  Cate says "never," ha ha.  She's probably right.

Since Jesse's doing his penance 'til Wednesday and I have Foundation business it's just easier for us to stay in Jersey.  Plus I'm helping Obie out on his project at Sanctuary.  It's coming along nicely; I have a few ideas.  Which he'll probably change as soon as I leave the studio, ha ha.

Even though Jesse's in the doghouse I'm looking forward to hanging with him for the next few days.  I feel like we haven't had much time together lately.  We haven't really talked in a few weeks.  Maybe tonight we'll go into town and grab a pizza together, and he can fill me in on what's going on in his life.

Just father and son.  I like that idea.