January 31st, 2026. The Coming of George.

The weather's been insane, but now I've got stuff to climb outside! No longer just the Islands of Catonsville. Now we have MOUNTAINS!!!

Huh. I am not sure HOW we're getting that temperature in the house, but the humidity is as terrifying as this steel xenomorph Ana gave me for my birthday many years ago!

I’ll be picking my brother up from BWI in about 24 hours. I’m excited to have him around, even though this coming week MIGHT be a disaster. I’m hoping we’ll be able to lean into the brotherly Love part more than the motherly care part. Not to be morbid, but I’ll (probably) have the former longer than I’ll have the latter.

I’ve pretty much taken off from everything for the week. Juels has tomorrow’s open mic (was going to be Josiah but he caught COVID). Rowan has Monday’s VOM (he ALWAYS has Monday’s VOM). Clifton has Tuesday’s SPARK. Heather has Wednesday’s Live from the Lair. Saturday we’ll have my big birthday show and it’ll be the first time my brother’s seen that, so I’ll probably be a little nervewracked. REALLY hoping we triple the number of tickets sold!

In any case, I could probably be doing a lot more to prep for the week, but I think I’d rather just enjoy the week.

Thursday night Heather and I went to check out the Atwater's Open Mic in Catonsville, MD. It was a really Lovely night. A different feel than any of mine, and part of that comes from the sheer enthusiasm the venue itself has for the event. I'd contacted Atwater's about having an open mic many years ago, but a) I didn't want to have to run things up stairs and b) at the time they refused to stay open later than 5pm. Nowadays, with the complete revamp of the second storey (Hell, I'll climb all SORTS of stairs with gear to play with a fireplace!!!) and their menu ($18 burgers and alcohol will of course pay an open mic host) I'm glad to see they've changed their mind!

Carl hosting the Atwater's Acoustic Open Mic.