...18 years ago...

Rabbit, Rabbit! up and out. Go to the "Day and Night Teller" for money then to drugstore. My right eye hurts. I think I should change my saline solution and enzyme my lenses. I haven't done that since we left. I'm so irresponsible. I know its in my best interest to wear contact lenses - my eyesight is really bad and its impossible to play shows with glasses - they steam up and slide off my face. One of my worst fears is that I'll go blind - I guess I'm lucky that I'm fine otherwise. I'll lay off the contacts for a few days and hope it clears up. I also have a killer cold - so that may be irritating my eyes too.

Rabbit Rabbit. I still wear contact lenses.

We get stuff at the store then leave and drive East of Interstate 10. Stop at "The Thing" - a "South Of The Border" type place. We pay the 75 cents to see "the thing". [Warning - spoiler ahead - don't read on if you want see for yourself] The "thing" turns out to be a series of three sheds with antiques in them - the first being an old tractor. "Thee Thing" turns out to be a mummified woman and child. I really wonder if it was real or not.

The Thing is still there.

Lee takes over and drives into New Mexico. Stop and eat. end up in El Paso at 11:30. check into a "La Quinta Inn". Two rooms. Dan seems pissed - fuck it. I enzyme and shower and wash my hair. Watch the end of "Straw Dogs" - a Sam Peckinpah movie with Dustin Hoffman. Violent. Then Letterman. Heat disinfect then write.

I had forgotten that back then the disinfection method for my contacts was "cooking" them every night. Here's the lowdown on "Straw Dogs".

We plan to drive the 500 miles to our new home Austin tomorrow. It will be nice to be in one place for a while. It will also be nice to finish the album and then be home in Philly. I wonder about the perceptions people have of what we do. I sometimes feel; This is great - I do something that I love and get paid for it - make a living at it (just recently) - I probably won't have the chance to do it again. But sometimes I get tired of the driving, the setup, the beer, the people, the radio stations, the other band members. Sometimes I think it's not human to do this. Think about it - a new town every day, a new bed, a new environment to get used to. It's very hard work - most people don't understand that. Of course at the same time it can be a ton of fun. This tour has been fun most of the time. It has been out most intensive to date - Phoenix was our 46th show since September 12th. December 4th will be in Austin. Plus we now have to record our third album in under 11 days. That's a lot of work.

Here's me getting analytical about it all. I'm getting tired just reading this.

The new songs are OK. Some I really like but others I'm afraid are not worked out enough, or I'm not confident enough in yet, or I'm not satisfied with yet. I suppose we'll do alright - only time will tell. As for the others views on this - the Dead Milkmen and "success"? - I say success in quotes because it's all relative - we have sold 45 thousand of the first record and 35 of the second - it's very good for an independent band. We do tour but shows are inconsistent....its getting late and we have a long drive tomorrow. I'll continue this log and hope for what's right and good.

Bucky Fellini turned out pretty good I think in hindsight. We kept up the touring and for the most part the shows got better and better. Once we had a proper booking agent and contracts, things were OK - most of the time.