By the way--the walk I took today during my lunch break was on the Mountain to Sea Trail as talked about here at this link. I just wanted to share that--it's BITCHIN'. I'm just so tired of GYMS. There's nothing to look at--well--THERE IS--but I shouldn't be if you get my meaning...but seriously, GYMS have their place, but recently, very, how should I say this...PROBLEMATIC. So--since I seem to be having a problem staying conscious at my desk (there's a story there) at the Fire Department, Nyleen (my long-suffering wife) said I should take walks during my lunch.

So if I keel over and die from a heart attack...go talk to Miss I-Got-An-Idea-Honey!

She lives in Brea.

HELLO OUT THERE!!! I'm really starting to see the light now. No...really, I am. Moreso now at age 40 then ever before.

First--and this probably has a lot to deal with in terms of my new position at OCFA--but what is there to be scared of???? Sincerely...rejection? Feeling stupid? Hurting your rep? WHAT? I guess at the beginning of my new assignment sitting in a room full of "big name" reps from other disciplines within our fire department, I was pretty overwhelmed. But as soon as I realized they put their pants on the same I do in the morning (something I teach in marching band and in leadership consults that I do), that even if they have more experience that doesn't make them an expert on what WE do in ECC. So therefore, I spoke up. And it's spilling over into other parts of my life. More on this to come?? Maybe....MAAAAAAAAAAAAYBE.

Second--the "fallout", or more accurately, the MANIA revolving around the Kingsmen and their first appearance in more than 20 years as a drum and bugle corps at the Walnut Show is STILL reverberating almost a full week later. I was honored to be a part of that by helping to develop a script and hype the crap out of the corps as they set up at the show. It was basically a 3 1/2 minute history lesson on the corps. The Kingsmen TORE IT UP!!! It was a fantastic unbelievable performance. And as soon as I get the go ahead from the powers that be, I'll put a link up here so you can hear my Pearly Tones and get a glimpse of "history in the making".

Third--a rather ROTUND friend of mine warned me about my sudden interest in self-preservation as I attempt to start walking on my lunch break to maybe lose a tad of POUNDAGE. He reminded me that fat people shouldn't walk because our thighs rub together--and well, it being summer and hot and all--we could start a freakin' brush fire! So--I guess I'll be walking out on the streets. Oh oh...does that make me a street walker?

Fourth--same previously aforementioned friend motivated me through a clever psychological torture method that was successful in it's goal--to GET ME TO UPDATE MY DAMN BLOG!

So...we're even Steven now brah?

Yeah.

Whatever Turner.

NOW GET OUTTA HERE...and I promise I'll be better in my blog upkeep.

OK...here's a definition of a small world PERSONIFIED by the following events.

Last night, as you could read in my blog, a co-worker and good friend was chiding me about my blog and that I should update it more often. So...in a fit of childish knee-jerkish "I'll show him" rage, I started a new entry into my blog--I was planning on not saying ANYTHING, but ended up saying a lot. GO READ IT NOW.

Anyway...TODAY, while at work....onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn my lunch break, yeah, MY LUNCH BREAK, I went to my blog to see if anyone had left a comment. And lo behold my friend did, telling me good job blah blah blah. I then went over to my own profile as I was going to start doing something. I can't remember. But in my profile, there are certain words that are linked so that you can go check out the profiles of other like-minded people on whatever subject. So, in my "hometown" area, I listed Brea as my hometown. That's where I live. Well, I on a whim today...ON MY LUNCH BREAK...clicked on Brea and up came a bunch of profiles from people I would assume have some connection to Brea if not actual residents.

And I noticed a profile with the name of Dave Bourgeois (that's French...and it sounds like "booogshz-waaaahhhh"). Well, I was friends with a like-named lad in Pasadena back when I was in 7th grade or thereabouts. I thought--heck, what are the chances. So I emailed him the following quick email...

Hi Dave-I stumbled across your blog during the process of writing my own blog. Your name is interesting, as I grew up in a neighborhood with a friend with your same name. Not what I would call the most common name in the world. My friend had a sister named Bethany or just Beth, a few years younger. And they lived in a 3-story condo at the end of my street in Pasadena. We all went to the same church as well-First Church of the Nazarene. Common friends were Tim Lenderman, Steve Elder, Pastor Mark (now I can't remember his name)...etc, etc.

So-wild chance as it may be, but IS THIS YOU????

And if so, do you remember me?

And guess what? The guy responded back. He said that he had no idea who I was and that if I ever contacted him again he'd have me arrested! I'M KIDDING!! No...he actually typed back and said, "YEP, IT'S ME! But I don't remember you at all." I was heartbroken. Actually I wasn't. I was bummed though. He moved before we became REAL good friends but really the point of this story is this.

WE LIVE IN A VERY SMALL WORLD!! I mean...FREAKY small. I didn't expect a response from the guy, much less a response that confirmed it was the same guy. Unless...unless...unless he's lying to me!!!

OHHHHHHHHHH CRAP!! Maybe that's what's happening!??? :-)))))) I kid...I kid...oh well...just wanted to pass it on.

ARE YOU HAPPY DUMITRU???

For the LOVE OF GOD!!!!

Ok...I'm being schooled by a co-worker friend of mine (we go WAYYYYYYYY back) that I should post more often entries into my blog. "How else are you going to build a readership!?" he scoffs. Well, WTF??? I'm busy. GEEEEEEEEEZO PETE!!! Annnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm sort of new to this concept of BLOGGING and sharing my thoughts with a "readership". Whatever. No one likes me, so why the heck would anyone want to read what I think??

Well...fine. Here I am. See?? Aren't I cool? I'm posting now. Heeeeehannnh ha. Now what?

Ok...so, let's give you a quick run down of what's going on in my life...

• Massive amount of things coming to a head at the old OCFA as we get nearer to the launch date of this new TEMD program that I'm the supervisor of. Yeah...sure...I'LL TAKE THE JOB!!!! NO PROBLEM!!! Not. But anyway, I asked for it, now there's no whining allowed. Many things have to be completed, and my list, once long, is only sort of long.
• Marching band season is REALLY heating up, and I'm looking at being EXTREMELY disciplined this season and writing carefully and religiously on a work schedule that makes sense, and gets things done. If I don't stick to it, I WILL FAIL. And I hate doing THAT.
• Drum corps season has officially begun, and I'm MC'ing two major events. One is the "Corps at the Crest" at Mt. Sac on Saturday--THIS SATURDAY! And then I'm MC'ing the world famous Loud Music Symposium for the first time. This will be a slightly different manner of "announcing" for me (one of my few talents), as I'll be on a stage instead of hidden away in a pressbox at a football field. So...not sure what the genius minds behind LMS want me to do exactly, but as of late, I'm deciding to NOT FREAKING BE NERVOUS ABOUT IT LIKE I USUALLY GET ABOUT NEW THINGS and just go the hell out and tear it up.
• Speaking of tearing it up...there's a new drum and bugle corps in town, and they are about ready to DEMOLISH Mt. Sac. I speak of course of the immortal Kingsmen Alumni Corps that UNBELIEVABLY hyping right now. And they have good reason to. What started as a dream has over the last year turned into a VERY real "reality", and ex-members and "special guests" (members of other corps wanting to experience the Kingsmen mystique) are literally dropping what they are doing in their lives and committing to making this group happen. AND BOY IS IT HAPPENING. I have been invited by the executive folks that are running this project to come out to their camp at beautiful California Baptist University in Riverside on Friday night to "meet the corps" and practice a special script with them for their performance on Saturday night at the show at Mt. Sac. I cannot begin to fathom the emotions of these guys--some pushing into their late 50's and who haven't played since the 70's--as they relive an incredible journey they had in their youth. I'm jealous as heck--but I'm happier and supportive of this group. And just like these guys, even though I'm not performing, I CANNOT WAIT to see them perform on Saturday night.
• Father's Day was great for me, but also tough. I called my dad in Pasadena, and we had a great talk for about a half hour. I made sure he knew how much I loved him, how much of an inspiration he's been to me as well as so many other people (referring specifically to his picking up the tuba back in 1987 to give him something to do after retiring...and hasn't stopped since until just a couple of months ago, taking a self-imposed break from playing and performing so much). I've had a pretty good relationship with my dad over the years...but I just think he doesn't realize that despite his imperfections, he did as good a job being a dad as he think he knew how, and I just want him to not leave this earth without me telling him that. One of my best friends, Ron Zeilinger, recently lost his dad, and I marveled at his committment to his dad in the last days, and how he was able to get close to him and talk to him and let him know he cared and loved him. JEEEEEZ...what am I doing???? This is going to turn into a freakin' blubber fest. Well--I love my dad, and he's been on my mind A LOT lately.

That's about it...I need to go to bed now. Thanks to my good friend Jon Dumitru for "inspiring" me to not give up on the blog and to keep on typing. Damn you!! :-) And before I end this tirade....two questions.

WHO THE HELL IS LAGUNA CRUISER!? I feel sorry for you based on your comment if you think I or my two schmuck friends are "sexy". PLEASE...you must have better taste than that kind sir.

And second...WHO THE HELL IS FRANK JOHNSON? Didn't realize I had to go to Steve Ambriz's vigil for me to be able to honor him in my small way. As far as I could tell, I CLEARLY stated that I had JUST MET HIM!! Sooooooooooooooooo....THIS is what blogging is about!!! RAD!!! Well, "Frank", thanks for starting hostile and turning nice. Link me up--and I'll return the favor. But stick a sock in the hostility and learn to read. The only bandwagon I jumped on was back in 6th grade when I started playing trombone.

I'm alive...and kicking...

It's been a long week. A VERY long week. Many things coming to a head at the Fire Department that are better left unsaid on this public forum, but for those that have or have had jobs--one word--FRICKEN' POLITICS!!!!!!! GAWWWWWWWWWWWWWD!!! And I just found out today that we are losing one of our truly great dispatchers who is going to another career. This was a person I greatly admired as she was able to balance having 2 kids, a husband, a very active life involved in school events for her kids, AND working full time at this nutbag place. She was always--and I mean ALWAYS--ready to work, ready to do ANYTHING that was asked of her, never a problem employee, no attitude, no typical dispatcher BULLSHIT...and now, we lost her. Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat. Losing solid good attitude employees is always tough. But it also means that however I can in my leadership position, I have to keep on trying setting a good example myself and trying to motivate others to do the same. 911 dispatchers though--we're a tough crowd.

So--needless to say, sitting in my office this morning, I was pretty bummed. So I decided to venture over to Lee Rudnicki's blog. He's always good to get me in a good mood with his writings. And reading this latest entry solved two issues for me.

1. Made me realize that my earlier posting about the purple T-Rex weirdness was not all that weird...

and...

2. Reading this entry was just what the doctor ordered to get me out of a bit of funk. Of course, you may go over and read it and think it's not that funny.

Your loss.

OK...off to go do some more thinking and creating stuff.

Oh yeah...if you're in southern California on July 7th with no plans, allow me to make your plans for you.

BE HERE. I'm the MC. And you WILL enjoy it.

--insert requisite evil laughter here--

I just HAD to do this...

Yep...that's me on the right...dude in the center is a bad $$%#*()&% cop...and friend (HI BUDDY!) and the dude on the left...he's a buddy too. We're all happy employees at the Orange County Fire Authority.

Happy Happy Happy.

Now get outta here...

HELP!!! MY SHOULDER!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!

Oh my...I forget I had this picture. This would be me, looking rather spiffy and minus the disaster scene that was my hair the other morning, and the Executive Director of Esperanza, a one Mr. Alan Cox, who is enjoying what appears to be a pre-meal teeth baring before he takes a chunk out of my shoulder!! Good LORD!! Haaaaaa...that's some funny stuff there, Maynard. I can't remember when the picture was taken, but based on what I'm wearing, I'm confident it was at a WGI event, most likely the Las Vegas Regional back in 2001 or thereabouts. Alan and I...we go...WAYYYYYYYYYY back...don't we Alan? :-) You know what you get when you get two Type A personalities together like us?? Well, apparently one turns into a cannibal! But pure hilarity. He and his compatriot Bob James, the OTHER Voice of Southern California, would torment me to NO end at winter guard shows. It was bedlam personified. They'd always come in and do a sound check, yell at me that music wasn't loud enough, and then sit with me for a spell while I was trying to run a show and do all they could to make me laugh. And if you know me like I know me, well, you know I'm rather fun to make laugh. I'll leave it at that...

I have no idea what my problem is as of late, but this morning--PING!!!! My eyes open at 0200hrs, as I awaken with the echos of a most disturbing dream that I think is a prophetic message to me. I dreamed that I was next to a school bus of some kind, lots of people milling around, and some one was saying "You should go pet the Tyranosaurus!" Now--I know what you're thinking--and well, in the dream, I thought the same thing!!

"Uhhhhhhhhh...I'm not about to have some dream with homosexual overtones about petting a fricken Tyranosaurus." But what did I do?

Well I had to go look!!!

And there it was...a big ass Tyranosaurus Rex just laying his happy ass on the ground, with some "handler" chick holding it's head. I'm thinking in my dream, "Cool...didn't know these bad boys were still around." I should have been thinking, "WAKE YOUR ASS UP NOW, NO GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS!!!" Said handler chick looks at me, and in a very demanding tone, tells me that I should pet it's belly.

OK...stay with me for a second. At this point in the dream, many red flags should have popped up for me. I'm relatively lucid in my dreaming, and I usually can figure things out in the old Dreamworld and pop myself out of these "I think I inhaled just a tad too much 20 years ago at Cal State Long Beach" type dreams. But for some reason--my alarm system was out of order.

So I pet the stupid T-Rex's stupid stomach while the stupid handler launched into a "The T-Rex was the most fierce dinosaur..." type educational sermon.

What did I say earlier?

NO GOOD WILL COME FROM THIS!!!

And the games began.

Instead of lying docilely in the lap of the handler chick, the T-Rex sort of "looks over it's shoulder" at me, and he turns PURPLE!! This is not going well. He starts to get pissed. I back away. Purple T-Rex decides to stand up and lunge at me. Stupid handler tells me I'm on my own. I start to ARGUE WITH THE HANDLER!! I'm surprised I didn't slap myself in real life while I was asleep for being such an idiot.

The rest I remember is blurry but it had to do with me jumping on top of the bus, screaming for my life, and wondering when VK was going to leave on tour, and where were my Converse shoes.

Truly. I have some mental issues I think I need to have a chat with someone about. Speaking of which, I was in a nearby Costco today during my lunch break from the hell known as the Orange County Fire Authority (more on THIS later), and there was a book there that was SCREAMING for me to look at--"20,000 Dreams--Your Guide to Interpreting Your Dreams".

I looked up purple T-Rex's.

It didn't have very good things to say about me.

That's it...I have to write drill now for the greatest little drum and bugle corps that keeps on pluggin' along--and who just might surprise some people come August back east.

Until then...have a great day...NOW GET OUTTA HERE!!

Uhhhhhh....duhhhhh....uhhhhh....

It's been....yeah....been really rough last few days. Lots going on at work for our new program coming on line. Some dispatchers starting to grumble--which is to be expected. This is MUCH larger than I thought. Ended up working a 12 hr day in my office--that's new!! IN AN OFFICE FOR 12 FREAKIN' HOURS!! Getting geared up for marching band drill design season. Getting my life worked out so I can adjudicate in the fall for SCSBOA. Trying to get things completed for So Cal Dream to get them ready for the first show of the season. Drum corps season starting. Announcing and MC'ing gigs coming up. My kids are getting bigger every day--my son is starting to look like a full back. Wife hates me--but likes my pay checks. Need to send some invoices out to a couple of clients. Need to confirm some things for the PC show in Walnut. May get the Newbury Park show to announce, too. Impulse Board of Directors--things coming down the pike with that.

(((sigh)))

Just look up at the top of this page for the description of The Observations of the H. This is typical.

And can we talk about the damn weather for a minute?? I'm partly a weather geek--have been for a long time. I keep my tabs on what's happening meterologically speaking. YESTERDAY, they were reporting "clear and continued hot hot hot for southern California, with highs in the metro Orange County area into the low 90's, and above 100 in the valleys."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh....the sun didn't come out from behind that big LOW CLOUD BANK in Orange County until WELL after 2pm.

Now, you may be thinking, "Turner--that's awfully trivial to be noticing the descrepancy between weather forecasting and actual weather." You're right. Perhaps I should be more concerned about the fact that the thought just struck me that today is 06/06/06. Or that the economy, touted as great, is close to imploding. Or that we're STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL in Iraq....STILLL!!! Or that Iran and their crazy punk-ass president keeps sticking his finger in the side of the U.S. to remind us he's NOT going away, or his nuclear capability. Or that China strangely has been building up their military with a budget that Rumsfield even admitted recently was WAY beyond what they thought it was. Or that the Cavaliers ARE tilting their drums this year with Jim Casella in charge. WTF was THAT???

I just want some damn normalcy, people.

And I don't think it's that freakin' hard to figure out if it's going to be hot....or cool....or clear...or cloudy.

That was a weak rant. But it's all I can do right now. Being that it's 5:50am, and I should have been on the road for work about 5 minutes ago.

And my hair is a mess.

An unadulterated horrendously skewed set of follicle, the likes of which I've NEVER seen. I must have gotten up in the middle of the night and stuck my head in a blender.

Bye for now. Did you get anything out this post? NO?

So??????????

Now get outta here....