It's been two weeks, so here's the latest news:

Lovely Lady Leslie's ring arrived via UPS in the past week. It's her birthday this coming Wednesday. I'll figure out a way to tell her I love her and want her hand in marriage very soon. I know she reads this, and more importantly, SHE knows it's coming. I just have to figure out a stealthy way to do it.

Yesterday, I saw "Fahrenheit 9/11". There are many more erudite ways I can say it, but America's current president MUST be removed from office. The movie didn't even mention that his grandfather found it necessary for the sake of the almighty dollar to do business with Adolf Hitler until 1942, when he had to be ORDERED to stop by the Roosevelt administration.

Now, I must get back to my songbook, which is almost finished and readable throughout. Register to vote. PLEASE!!!!

Now HERE'S an experiment. I've decided that at this late hour (1:20 AM CDT) I am going to type until I either pass out or my fingers atrophy. The following will be ruminations, exhaltations and a few stops for micturitions (look it up). I hope I can keep the mood light, so here we go:

Name: John Paul Spencer
Date Of Birth: April 29, 19- bum bum bum bum
Place Of Birth: Yeadon, PA
Occupation: Medical Coding Supervisor (It has its moments)
Eyes: 2 (brown; seeing if you're paying attention)
Hair: Brown (I would have typed "See 'Eyes'", but I didn't want the reader to think that I only had two hairs on my head; I actually have quite a bit of hair for a male my age; my poor friends)
Height: 5' 10" (5' 11' if I feel like standing up straight)
Shoe Size: 12 (NO, I've never tried to power a row boat with these, but it's only a matter of time)
Ethnicity: 1/2 Italian, 1/4 German, 1/8 English, 1/8 Protestant Irish (what a freakin' mess!)
Religion: Jonestown People's Temple (only survivor: We shall rise again! May I offer you a Kool-Aid?)
Favorite Living Musician: Richard Thompson
Favorite Dead Musician: Let's put it this way. Richard Thompson is one of the only musical heroes still breathing.
Favorite Movie: "Cool Hand Luke"
Favorite Album: "Astral Weeks" by Van Morrison
Favorite Song: Yea, right. Like I can narrow THAT down.
Favorite Actor: James Stewart
Favorite Actress: Anne Bancroft
Favorite Male Vocalist: Tim Buckley
Favorite Female Vocalist: Sandy Denny
Favorite Food: The Philly chicken cheesesteak
Favorite Dessert: Leslie (more on her later)
Favorite Historical Moment: The Murder Of Julius Caesar
Least Favorite Historical Moment: The 2000 Presidential "Election".
Favorite Book: Narcissus and Goldmund by.....
Favorite Author: Hermann Hesse
Favorite Politician: Eugene McCarthy
Least Favorite Politician: Joseph Stalin
Preferred Sex Symbol: Brigit Bardot

In addition, I prefer to do the cooking if I have all the ingredients; I like candles, incense, dogs and cats, birds from a distance and the smell of burning leaves. I like cold weather; I eat meat and am not ashamed; I loved my grandmother; the fastest way to buy my friendship is through junk food; I think Tom Cruise sucks; I never listen to anything but NPR; I have a very firm belief in the afterlife; I have no belief in people in power; I don't know what the Function keys on this keyboard do; I have never been to Spain, and unlike Hoyt Axton, I don't kinda like the music; the scariest thing I ever saw in my life was Patti LaBelle live; I like watching people fall; I think it's even funnier when animals do it; I think Russia is slowly slipping back into dictatorship, and they couldn't care less; I wish I could play piano, but I'm stuck with guitar; I can outsing any white man alive given half a chance; I'd rather listen to the dumbest folk song in the world than the best heavy metal song in the world.

Now that we all know me, let's take a listen to what's on my CD player:

"They'll be trains of blossoms...they'll be trains of music"

Laura Nyro. A best-of collection. I love her music. It gives me instant hope. I'm very surprised that no one I know is online tonight. As stated in earlier posts, Lovely Lady Leslie is not a night person. She fell asleep at roughly midnight. She's wonderful. It took too damned long, but I found my perfect match. She's all things to me.

I'm in my home office in Milwaukee, home of sausage, cheese, beer and (in the last month) 5 billion gallons of shit in Lake Michigan. Mmmm, what a stew! Serve some on a cracker today!!!!

"Save The Country". This is my theme song this year. I've never been able to vote in an election that meant so much to the world. I want to be able to say I svaed the country after election day this year. Here's hoping. "Save the people/save the children/save the country".......

My favorite sport is Ice Hockey, but the NHL is about to self-destruct, so I may have to drop sports altogether. It may be all for the better. I am rather lazy when it comes to creating music, which is something I love to do. Maybe a lack of hockey will spur me on to greater heights.

HEY! I just noticed that my Austrian friend and fellow Laura Nyro fan Dani (Daniela) just signed on. Let's see if I get a message..... so far nothing........I know she has a choir concert today in Vienna (she lives there)......

I'll interrupt if anything happens on that front. So I was trying this tooth-whitening kit earlier where you have to paint your teeth with this goopy peroxide stuff, and it was just damned silly. You're supposed to put it on at night before you go to sleep. Therein lies the problem; I very rarely sleep, so I kept salvating, turning this goop on my teeth to WET goop on my teeth. I wiped it off with a tissue. I'll try again tomorrow when I actually go to sleep.
I have high hopes for my teeth. I recently gave up soda (or "pop", as they call it here in the Midwest; "pop" to me is either a punch in the eye or anyone's dad; curse this infernal language!) and am drinking virtually nothing but water. I gave up caffeine along with that, so I'm feeling much healthier.

I'm sitting here thinking that if I keep typing, maybe I can bring Blogger.com to its knees. Wouldn't that be something? I like being a wordsmith. Nothing makes The Man meet his maker faster than too much information. I'll never stop typing. I shall rule the world by never being silent AHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

So recently I got a cell phone, and I think I've gotten more wrong numbers than calls from people I actually know. Apparently, my cell phone number used to belong to someone who fixes car air conditioning systems. I get a lot of voice mails asking me to fix people's air conditioning. It's rather humorous. This is solved by hitting the number which matches up to the "Delete Message" command. I thank whatever higher power that is that my number didn't belong to a gigolo.

I mentioned before that I write songs. I had a bit of a problem a few weeks ago when about a quart of soda spilled onto my song notebook. Luckily, I stored all of my songs on computer discs, so no harm done. A lot of these songs are awful, but I keep at it. It keeps the mind sharp.

I've decided to take the initiative and Instant Message Dani...Let's see what happens....

(As I chat with Dani..the new album now playing in my 12-disc changer is "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" by The Byrds [extended reissue])....
Myth number one exposed: Dani's choir concert is actually TOMORROW; rehearsal is today...from 3 to 7 PM Viennese time...concert tomorrow at 8:30 (same time zone)...apparently they have to rehearse how to enter and exit the stage..I suggested that the choir should surprise the audience and sing the entire concert while standing on one leg....this idea is being rightfully ignored...I've suggested that if it doesn't go well then explain that this choir concert was an avant garde jazz interpretation....this is of Renaissance and Baroque music...this plan may not work...Her choir director's name is Vijay. I suddenyl want to write a song called "The Hindus Of Vienna". It will be a waltz on sitars. It sounds like the choir concert will feature Italian folk songs. Dani is in a relationship with an Italian (from Italy) named Angelo. Dani likes mostly female vocalists, being one herself. That makes sense. We're currently talking about modern interpretations of Bach. I mentioned "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", she mentioned "For All We Know" by the Carpenters (She stumped me; i didn't know about that one). I like Richard Carpenter's vocal arrangements. We both don't care for the songs "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" and "White Christmas". I really don't like show tunes. Dani likes some operas, but not musicals. For operas, it depends on her mood. I've now sent her the IM background of a fishtank. It's very relaxing. Kind of like watching Bob Ross paint a landscape (God rest his soul).

SO as the night goes deeper, My thoughts of blogging the reader to death have subsided. I shall soon turn in for a night's sleep next to Lovely Lady Leslie, and probably with the assistance of our cat Sadie, who likes to help me fall asleep by laying on my chest. And at the same time, I'm getting kind of hungry. I hope I've let a little light into my world. I bid you good night.

Another night, another song by Donovan.

It seems that whenever I'm disgusted by current musical trends, I go back to the '60's. A little more uplifting, a little more fast and loose with musical styles. Donovan was really flighty musically. I dig him.
Am I the only one who's fucking sick and tired of hearing about the still-dead Ronald Reagan. LET IT GO! He hasn't known who anyone else is in years. He shouldn't be on currency, he's not a hero, he ruined the economy and put weapons in the hands of our future enemies. This is not a hero. This was an atavistic fool who couldn't recognize a true threat to America. I'm most insulted by the fact that he let AIDS burrow into the American fabric, spread and kill thousands for no other reason but for political expediency.
On to the uplifting! My bandmate in the Jumping Frenchmen Of Maine, Bassman Dylan, and his wife had a baby boy yesterday. Xavier James. They call him "XJ" It's so Jaguar. I'm not sure I can call him that, but hey, the kid is loved! Now THAT'S a whole lot better than a dead president.
The humidity broke last night. I'm back to comfortable again. The cold keeps me thinking. I pity the reader, but hey, whatever floats MY boat!
I'm coming into Friday, and feeling a little thirsty, a little rammy, a little musical and a little funny. I'll take it.

And so it ends...

The National Hockey League handed out the Stanley Cup for what may be the final time. Tampa Bay took it. They earned it. It was nice to see Dave Andreychuk take a cup after 22 years in the league.

Now the important work begins. It's time to jumpstart the musical bandwagon. I'm in the midst of cleaning up the songbook and putting it in a new binder. Unfortunately, I'll be on my own until roughly Mid July, as the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine take a hiatus for childbirth and doctoral setup work by the other member of the band. So it's time for me to take the reins of my own career.

I'm finishing up listening to the Hollies' Greatest Hits. Do yourself a favor sometime; listen to the drumming of Bernie Calvert of the The Hollies. The guy was sharp.

12:30 AM CST. Out of the darkness of a new day, a ray of light shoots from my fingers.
In a time when all the world is electric with hate, conflict and other forms of nonsense, I feel incredibly empowered almost to the point of being bulletproof.
I am not famous. I am not a Hollywood star, a man of money or influence, a Casanova or even a guy who can cook the greatest meal on Earth. I am but a simple citizen of the Universe. Doesn't that put it all in perspective? OPEN YOUR EYES....WIDER. Doesn't that feel good? Don't you feel your face stretching? Don't you sense the use of blood vessels that you've let grow dormant and calcify?
Now check out your hands. Bend your fingers at half-staff. Now just randomly flex and straighten those knuckled suckers. AREN'T THEY GREAT? Tap the tip of your nose repeatedly. If you try hard enough, you can tap your upper lip at the same time.
I'd be willing to wager that you're smiling in spite of yourself right now. And yet you are beginning to feel good, and all in all it didn't take much, and best of all, it didn't cost you a thing. When in doubt, dear friend, dilate! This has nothing to do with your eyes. Your whole body has to do it or it just won't work. When one part of your body and mind dilate, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, eventually - or maybe instantaneously - your heart is going to do it too. It's at that point that you're hooked. You couldn't stop it if you tried, and why would you want to? This has nothing to do with chocolate or beer or speed or sex or cold or heat or air or water. It's all up to you.
MAN, I hope you feel good right now. I hope you feel infected by light and happiness. Thanks for stumbling in....

(I always knew that if I put my mind to it, I could make a great benevolent cult leader. The best part? I don't even want your money or want to make you wear white robes and hand out flowers or want to make you drink Kool-Aid.)

Now that the good feelings are spreading inside the reader, I'll tell you the concrete things going on in my immediate universe. I'm listening to the Best of Brewer & Shipley, drinking some water (I gave up soda; no more caffeine and I'm still stoked; how does THAT happen?) and feeling more in love with Lovely Lady Leslie than ever before. She sleeps a room away, and I know she falls asleep frustrated every night because I'm not next to her due to my nocturnal habits. When you truly love someone, geography in three dimensions doesn't mean anything. The geography of the heart is where love lies, and with her, I always know the way. AS this band says, "Shake off the demon/see how the angel run". While not grammatically correct, I know the feeling. The demon has been shaken, and my soul is finally doing some soft traveling. I live in the same house as that angel. I'm in the best place in the world. As I once saw in a Bob Mould video, "What you see is not what you get/what you see is what you have". When you look up on a sunny day my friend, you have the whole fucking universe!!