Man I am SO glad I am busy beyond belief right now.  Why?  Because it keeps me from having to dwell upon Georgia getting their asses KICKED by Tennessee this past weekend, and then the next day I got to witness Atlanta lose in person to the Titans.  Because of everything going on, I can easily divert my attention to something else thankfully because this past weekend just sucked for me in the football world.  I even got killed in my fantasy league at work!  So what's been keeping me so busy?  Well for one, someone I work with had their final day two weeks ago, so my workload increased a wee bit.  Then last week the other person I work with turned in her resignation.  There were three, and now there is one - me.  Needless to say I'm putting in a little more time with the job which has resulted in me being online at night doing work and not sleeping much.  Plus, it was getting to be crunch time on finishing the new NoiseCult CD in time for the Overkill show this week.  Thursday night we started mastering at my place because I've got the setup to do it.  Matt, our old drummer and engineer, came down with the final mixes and we worked on it for several hours.  The next night I spent some time finishing it up, or so I thought.  Don came down to check it out...we listened to it a couple of times...and I thought that was it.  Saturday I get up and drive out to see my dad to watch the UGA/UT game, and like I already stated, Georgia got killed.  I get home after running a few errands, and was just looking forward to relaxing for a night...but it was not meant to be.  Don called me about 8:30 to tell me he checked out the final master at one of the audio studios he has access to and the high end was crackling a little bit.  So I pull the final mixes back up and start tweaking them again...at least I thought I did.  I listened back to a couple of songs and was going nuts wondering why they sounded so bad...then I realized I was mastering the tracks that were already mastered.  After wasting hours on that, I started over, got everything done, and the CD is now COMPLETE!  More on this in a minute.  Sunday I had to get up early to go watch Atlanta lose, and it was unbearable heat-wise.  Sun just beating down with no wind.  All I wanted to do was go home and lay down to watch TV...but my day was just starting.  We had band practice later that day, and then that night headed up to 102.9 to be the in-studio guests on the Local Buzz.  The last time we were on there, we were only on for about 30 minutes and two songs got played.  This time we were on for 90 minutes and had three songs played off the new CD.  I am NOT complaining at all about this...it just meant I got home later than I thought I would and it took me forever to unwind and try to sleep Sunday night because I was so pumped from our new CD getting airplay.  The price I pay for being a rock icon...hahaha.  It was so cool being on the Local Buzz getting to talk about the new CD and the upcoming show opening for Overkill.  Aljon, the host, and the VERY lovely producer Anna were very cool to us as always.  Both of them told us they got a great response from when we played the show they put on at The Gibson Showcase a couple of weeks ago, and we will definitely be asked to play other events.  Plus, I got to do one of my favorite things - talk about myself...hahaha!  It was a great time on the show and I can't wait to do it again.  To think a couple of years ago we wondered how we could maybe get a song on there to being the in-studio guests for a show playing our new CD is pretty friggin awesome!  And remember, this Wednesday October 10th come out to see us open for Overkill at The Muse!!!

I think I wrote a while back about a married couple I work with who has brought their 5 year old son by the office a time or two.  He's the one I talk about superheroes with and he hangs on my every word because of my vast knowledge...as pathetic as that might be...haha.  Anyway, his dad told me at work that his wife was showing the son some of the NoiseCult videos we have online and told him "Dad...I was watching Bo screaming and singing!"  His dad asked him if he liked the songs, and his son actually said "He sounds rough and tough, and since I'm rough and tough I liked them".  Can you believe a 5 year old said that?  He did.  The kid is VERY bright obviously...haha.  Yes, there is hope for the future!  Honestly though, I think that's pretty hilarious.  His dad told me the kid has never said "rough and tough" before.  I guess the music was inspiring.

Now for the CD.  I have to say that the balls this CD has are so huge that you need a XXXL jock to carry them.  These songs are full-on metal in the purest form, and to me is light-years above the other two we've done.  Granted, the first two are pretty incredible, but this one is like our "Master of Puppets".  I'm VERY happy with it, and at no time do I cringe when a song is playing or think "I wish we had done this..." when listening.  We'll have new songs up soon on the NoiseCult myspace page, so keep checking it out.  Or you could always come out to the Overkill show Wednesday night and buy one.  Soon we'll have it for sale at noisecult.com and have it uploaded to itunes as well.  Man what a week...the new CD is being released, we get to open for Overkill, and Sunday I'll be witnessing true rock gods as the ONLY Van Halen with David Lee Roth takes the stage in Indianapolis.  Add to this that Georgia plays here against Vandy this weekend, we have a gig on the 20th where the promoter wants us to play for an hour so we have to get Ben (our new drummer) up to speed on a couple more songs and life isn't slowing down for a second.

I mentioned before about the increased workload, and how I've been logging in from home at night to do some stuff.  I've been staying up later and am having a very hard time sleeping...but what else is new.  I've been a chronic insomniac for most of my life...sleeping is a HUGE burden to me.  I can be completely exhausted, about to drop, and as soon as I get in bed it takes at least an hour or so to fall asleep.  I really don't have a bedtime...I just go to bed when I'm about to drop.  Otherwise I'll lay down and just stare at the ceiling.  Some nights I go to bed at midnight...some nights it's two in the morning...it just varies.  I have no idea why...I've just dealt with it for years.  So with the extra workload and the work on the CD and everything, I've needed something to do at night to relax and unwind, so I've been watching the new Ken Burns movie "War".  This is the guy who did that big series on baseball and the Civil War in case you've never heard of him.  It ran on PBS, but since I wanted to watch it at my convenience, I rented the DVD's.  It is absolutely incredible.  I own many documentaries on World War II on DVD, but this is SO different because of the personal touch it puts on everything along with tons of footage I've never seen.  It lasts about 10 hours and is broken up into 6 separate DVD's, so it does last a while, but every minute of it is pretty compelling.  Listening to the stories of not only the soldiers, but the civilians and what they experienced is amazing.  This is what drives me nuts about current times.

One thing I'm very thankful for is having a job that will allow me to work at home when something comes up.  Last Wednesday night ended pretty typically...I was still laughing over the new "South Park" where Cartman faked having Tourette's, fed the dogs, and went to sleep.  I wake up Thursday morning, chug a protein shake down, grab a cigarette and go into the garage to let the dogs out.  As usually I light the cigarette and sit down in one of my chairs in the backyard trying to get my brain to wake up, and Vic drops to the ground and starts licking himself.  Now we all know dogs like to lick themselves in certain areas, and that's what I thought he was doing.  I get up and walk over towards him telling him to stop...and then I see what he was doing.  He wasn't licking his groin...it was his tail.  And the area he was licking was completely hairless for about 4 inches, bloody, and raw.  I freaked out.  I don't have kids and may never have any, but I love my two dogs as if they are my kids, so when I saw this I instantly ran inside to call the vet.  They were going to squeeze me in that morning thankfully.  So for the next hour I stayed outside keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't chew on his tail.  As they usually do, the dogs were excited beyond belief when I grabbed their leashes because they were expecting a fun adventure.  Yes, I took Jessi also because both were going to go in two weeks for a rabies shot so I figured I'd go ahead and do it then.  They run out to the car and hop in the backseat like they're expecting to go frolic in the dog park.  We get to the vet's, and they knew something was up.  This was the first time I've had this happen...they didn't want to get out of the car.  I give a quick tug at their leashes to get them out of the car, and they unwillingly go inside.  I know a visit to the doctor sucks, but the way they acted just cracked me up.  I'm sitting in the waiting room, and one of the assistants comes out to take Jessi back to get weighed.  I hand the leash over and instantly Jessi acts like a passive protester and drops all-fours to lay on her belly.  I had to grab her collar, scoop her up, and help her on her way.  Oh, and then they were going to take Vic back as well.  He was going to have no part of it.  They get weighed and we all head back to an exam room.  Picture this - Jessi, a 65 pound Shepherd/Huskie mix is cowering under the chair I'm sitting in while Vic, my 110 pound German Shepherd has his front legs over my shoulders as the vet is cleaning off the are on his tail...and the whole time he's panting like crazy and drooling.  When it was Jessi's turn for shots, Vic was on the other side of the room while she jumped up on me whining as her temperature was taken and the shots were given.  I swear, they are quite a handful but I love it.  Now, the bad part comes later...Vic has to take pills to keep an infection from setting in AND I have to rub this stuff on the raw area of his tail.  He got wise to me REAL quick.  I'd hide the pills in peanut butter...and it worked the first day...but after that he knew something was hidden in the peanut butter and would have no part of it.  It's worked before, so I had to find something else.  I ended up feeding the dogs more canned food than I usually do so I can soak the pills in beef sauce.  It's the only thing that works...but while Vic is eating I can't get near him or he'll run away.  Why?  Because he knows that as soon as he's done I'm going to put this gel on his tail and for whatever reason he HATES it.  As frustrating as it is, I can't help but laugh at how smart he is.  When I'm putting the gel on the sore spot, you would think I was holding a hot iron to him as much as he whines.  The first time I did it I literally had to lay on top of him to hold him down so I could apply it.  Since then, it's been a little easier...but not much.  I'm sure the area hurts, but it's not like I'm poking him there with a fork or something.

Anyway, it's late and I'm going to watch more of the "War" documentary to chill out.  Or I might watch "Wrong Turn 2" starring Henry Rollins.  Yeah, I think I'll go with the latter and give a full review next time....plus I'm sure I'll have a TON to write about us opening for Overkill and the road trip to see THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN!!!!!