My youngest is now the proud owner of a Leopard Gecko. She named it “McNugget”. McNugget eats meal worms which, apparently, are just larvae….
…it took less than one month of Kaylee caring for McNugget for us to “learn” this.
Jodie and I have joked that we’ll need to rip Kaylee’s bedroom down to the studs and rebuild when she goes off to college. I’m not sure if I’m joking anymore…
Live life. Take care. Don’t keep live bait in your bedroom.
The Rubber Band shook the dust off of our guitars, drums, and mics to perform at the Westwood Club on June 12th. We played for a couple of hours to a crowd made up of our neighbors, friends, and families in a pergola overlooking a shaded grassy field. It was the perfect summer kickoff.
Here are some pictures from the event.
And here are some video clips for the newer songs in our lineup.
Schools Out
Here Comes Your Man
The Man Who Sold the World
Corduroy
I Got Mine
Just What I Needed
Creep
Self Esteem
More videos are available on YouTube if you’re interested.
Thank you to Nora and Steve for allowing us to play. I hope you’ll invite us back, because we’d love to play for you again soon.
There’s something about having a new driver in the house that …. well, it inspires me to embarrass her, I guess. Truth be told, Ashley’s become a very good driver. She started her first job this week ( summer jobs, remember those? ) and we’ve been carpooling with her behind the wheel. Everything was going great until I took her car out ( we’ve started calling her “Turbo Smurf” ) for lunch and triggered the dash to light up like a Christmas Tree. Technically, I “broke” her car and have been getting just the tiniest of stink eyes ever sense.
Live live. Stay healthy. Don’t drive your daughters’ car
I took a hiatus on drawing and started writing some original music, and then something unexpected happened – I wanted to start drawing again. Fortunately, my family has been on a roll as far as providing me with material.
As far as music this song is called, “With or Without Me.”
It’s about being a Dad ( or Mom ) with kids that are growing up just a little too fast. Yes, it still needs some polish ( starting with a nice kick drum ), but I’m trying.
We added a Mini Cooper to our stable for our newest driver.
Thing is? Now I want one, too!
They’re like little Go-Karts. Coming from a Honda Pilot ( and before that, a minivan ), I forgot how much fun smaller cars are. For starters? You can park em’ anywhere. But, I also like the smaller confines of the interior, too. I swear I can hear my own echo in mine, sometimes, when I am driving alone.
Still Undetectable
In other news – if there is any cancer in my body, it’s behaving. I have been in remission for just over four years now. My anxiety still goes through the roof every single time I get blood work done, though, You would think I’d be more relaxed the further out I am from treatment, but no. It’s taken four years to get back to living and every time I get tested I feel like everything could just fall apart again. I hear the 5-year and 10-year marks are monumental, but I still find myself celebrating ( just a little ) every day.
This song is called “Another Night”. It’s about loss – and a little defiance, too. I wrote the lyrics for it a few years ago after my Dad passed away. No one can tell you it’ll be okay when something like that happens. No one. It just takes time. I didn’t play much when he was alive. I hope, somewhere, he is listening now.
Yup. Ashley is driving. She loves it, too. Last night she even drove us on the highway so we could go shopping at Costco.
The benefits are two-fold.
First, it’ll take some of the responsibility off of Mom and Dad during next school year as she’ll be able to drive her sister and herself to school. Second, I have a whole new muse for comics!
I do worry, though. There’s more distractions and traffic than when I was her age. I guess part of her growing up though is trusting her not be that person playing Wordle on their mobile phone while weaving through traffic.
Oh, wait. Thats me…
Stay healthy. Live life. Put the mobile phone down.
I don’t know what property management company approved of this, but it definitely made me stop in my tracks before following my ravenous family into the restaurant for dinner.
The sushi was actually pretty good ( although the restaurant closed a few months later ). I imagine the bait was even better because that shop is still in business.
Good-bye, 2025, you were a good year. I guess I am in the minority as 25′ seemed to have a bad rapport amongst a lot of my friends and family, but for me it was good.
I’ve seen my girls grow up a little more and become their own not-so-little people.
I’ve started playing music with a new, smaller, group of people with the hopes of doing some open mics next year.
I’ve been happily employed at Poway Unified for the better part of a year now. It was a nice change of pace compared to the last couple of employers I had. The people are great, the workload is manageable, and for the first time in a long time, I believe in the product ( education ).
I just finished walking in the 2025 ZERO Prostate Cancer Walk at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Some of my closest friends and family joined me for a leisurely early morning stroll with several hundred other survivors, patients, families, and supporters. This year we raised just over $1000 dollars. Thank you so much for your support.
ZERO reached out to me ( literally ) the day before the event and asked if I would speak. I reluctantly agreed, prepared a speech, and was more than a little relieved that, in the chaos, the organizers never invited me up to the microphone.
Sometimes things sound better on paper, anyway – especially when you’re vying for the attention of a half-awake crowd under the San Diego flight path, with jets doing their best to drown you out.
So, here’s what I was going to say…
Hi. My name is Scott.
I’m a prostate cancer survivor.
This is my fifth walk.
I missed my first one in 2019 because I was still reeling from my diagnosis and all the awesome decisions that go with it ….
Decisions like….
Do I tell my kids?
My family?
My friends?
The answer for me was yes.
And I’m glad I did because they were, have been, and continue to be my own little support group.
A lot of them are here today —-
——-aaaaaaaand I squeezed donations out of the ones who couldn’t be.
For such a common cancer, prostate cancer isn’t really talked about much. And I get it – sure – the prostate just isn’t as sexy to talk about as boobs.
And …. while I see sports teams of every shape and form wearing pink every October, blue is typically just an afterthought – like an accent color on a uniform.
That’s not to diminish any other cancer – we all have our battles to fight, right? But the fact is : guys don’t like talking about their prostates. All of the accessories attached to the prostate are fair game – sure, but problems and worries and cancer? Hell, no.
That’s why I appreciate ZERO and this walk and their mission to keep men informed. ZERO gives a voice to something that no one wants to talk about.
After my diagnosis I remember spending a lot of time on Google playing doctor
——-and a lot of time with my doctor telling me to stay off of Google.
The problem with Google is that if you tell it you have a papercut? Google will have you wrapping a tourniquet around your finger and racing to the emergency room for a blood infusion.
And then there’s ZERO – a concise, informative mecca of information.
If you haven’t visited in a while, you should. There’s information for those who have been newly diagnosed, caregivers – and survivors, like me.
Surviving is part of the battle, too – and I mean any cancer, not just prostate cancer.
Diagnosis and treatment is just part of the battle.
After all that shit, you still gotta’ survive. And, I don’t mean just live – I mean you gotta sort out what the hell just happened to you, pick up the pieces, glue em’ all back together, and try and make something beautiful out of the mess it left behind.
When I was diagnosed years ago no one could tell me, honestly, if I’d be alright – and I don’t think I would have believed them anyway.
I’m still working on it – but, yeah, I think I’ll be okay.
But only because of the support I’ve had from
——-my family
My friends.
My doctors.
——-and organizations like ZERO.
Thank you.
If you want to read more about my prostate cancer journey I’ve posted ( and illustrated it ) here on DrawnAndCoded.
I can’t emphasize enough how I wouldn’t be here today without the love and support of so many people.
Thanks again.
Live live. Stay Healthy. And take care of yourselves out there.
drawnandcoded.com 