We closed on our town home last Friday. I had to sign a couple affidavits saying I wouldn't operate a music business out of my home or deduct any more losses from my music on my taxes in order for them to agree to give us a mortgage.
...It didn't occur to me until I just wrote it out, but, it sure looks like I totally sold out. Only instead of cashing out for the man, I'm giving the man all my money.
I digress. So, we're homeowners. Landlords, actually, since the previous owners (I used to call them the "current owners." It's fun to call them "previous owners." In my head, I rub my hands together and snicker when I say it) aren't moving out until Monday, June 15. They gave us $300 at closing as rent. I gotta’ say, the landlord mantle does wonders for your self esteem. Just the name makes me feel like a noble. “What’s that you say, peasant? Speak up! I’m a LANDLORD!”
Jaime and I are going over tonight to get the keys and stuff. I wonder if they'll give us a tour and tell stories about different parts of the place. It's interesting to think how many stories are attached to a place that was built in 1983. I'm really looking forward to adding our own and making it even better.
Speaking of making it better, I cashed in most of my American Express Rewards points for $150 in Home Depot gift cards. I'm going to blow it all next Wednesday. Jaime and I went window shopping there last week and already know everything we want to get (to begin, at least): new bathroom sink, new kitchen faucet, paint and painting supplies, lumber and manly stuff for the desk I'm going to build for myself. So yeah, the gift cards will pretty much only pay for my desk materials and some painters tape. Sigh...
I managed to abuse my calling as 1st counselor in the Ward Young Men’s presidency and declared next Tuesday evening’s activity a service venture for the faltering Forsyth family. The teachers and priests are helping us move. It’s nice that the new place is only about 150 yards from our apartment. Should I make them carry the couch on their backs while I lay on it? After all, I am getting them them pizza and sodas. And c’mon, haven’t you heard - I’m a landlord.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Cameron's house
"The place is like a museum. It's very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything." - Ferris B.
Cameron's house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off is for Sale.
Don't ask me why i know these things. Just ask yourself why you don't know these things.
"Now's the time to buy!"
Cameron's house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off is for Sale.
Don't ask me why i know these things. Just ask yourself why you don't know these things.
"Now's the time to buy!"
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Soiled Dove is back on.
The shoot was pushed a week later. May 29th will be good. Ignore my weepy post below. And come out to the show if you're around.
Monday, May 11, 2009
understandable random breakdown
was just going through this director's reel and came upon this spot. darn tootin' funny.
Friday, May 8, 2009
It was bound to happen.
It has happened. Until now, my sometimes life consuming "day job" only butted heads with my music ambitions in the sense that it was a huge time commitment, even for a "day job." It leaves much less time for writing and refining my sound then would be ideal, but "ideal" is a stupid hope for a musician like myself, and I've never whined that I wasn't swimming in time, freedom and disposable income, while I sit around and play guitar. I am grateful for my job and I'm lucky to have it. It's pretty kick-A as day jobs go (even if it does creep into the night pretty often). I've only sought for balance. In my usual foolishness, I have wanted to do/have a piece of it all.
Friday, May 29 was slated to be a great show at a great venue - the Soiled Dove Underground in Denver, opening up for Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. I will now be in LA on a TV shoot that night, unable to return until Saturday morning. Basically, 16 hours too late to play the Soiled Dove. The thing that pains me the most is that I know people who have already purchased tickets to this show to see me. Plus, I will really miss the extra revenue of playing this show at this time when Jaime and I are trying to buy a home.
It was not a fun thing to call up the Talent Buyer at the Soiled Dove and tell him I had to go back on my commitment and he had to find someone else. I hope I haven't completely tainted my rep.
I have a responsibility to my employer and as much as it pains me to admit to my struggling independent songwriter colleagues, my priority is with CP+B (= blasphemy that may result in complete loss of respect from many of my talented musician friends). This is the first time I've really had to let a venue down and go back on my word. Let alone a stellar venue like the Soiled Dove, and a stellar show like Ryan Shupe. It stings. I'm hurting today, and I'll be hurting in LA on Friday, May 29. Maybe I'll write a song about it. When I get the time. Back to work.
Friday, May 29 was slated to be a great show at a great venue - the Soiled Dove Underground in Denver, opening up for Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. I will now be in LA on a TV shoot that night, unable to return until Saturday morning. Basically, 16 hours too late to play the Soiled Dove. The thing that pains me the most is that I know people who have already purchased tickets to this show to see me. Plus, I will really miss the extra revenue of playing this show at this time when Jaime and I are trying to buy a home.
It was not a fun thing to call up the Talent Buyer at the Soiled Dove and tell him I had to go back on my commitment and he had to find someone else. I hope I haven't completely tainted my rep.
I have a responsibility to my employer and as much as it pains me to admit to my struggling independent songwriter colleagues, my priority is with CP+B (= blasphemy that may result in complete loss of respect from many of my talented musician friends). This is the first time I've really had to let a venue down and go back on my word. Let alone a stellar venue like the Soiled Dove, and a stellar show like Ryan Shupe. It stings. I'm hurting today, and I'll be hurting in LA on Friday, May 29. Maybe I'll write a song about it. When I get the time. Back to work.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Calling all good vibes.
"It's a good time to buy!"
"Time to buy now is great"
"Good now buy time is to."
"Buy to time good a it's!"
These are variations of comments with which my peers who are not in the real estate business have been kind enough to share with me recently. Still, buying a home is scary business. But it's super exciting too. It has consumed all of my conversations with Jaime recently. Last night we went on a long walk around our neighborhood. When we started the walk, I wasn't sure if I could stomach a mortgage and everything that comes with it. It was like a summer night, calm, quiet and warm, with as many stars as a suburb bordering open space can hope for. We finished by walking to the town home we like the most, less than a block from our current apartment. By the end of walk Jaime and an experiment in faith prevailed.
We’re making an offer on this place this week.
Red brick townhome, set on a hill reminiscent of San Fransisco row houses when viewed together, at night, through one eye, squinting. Hardwood floors, fireplace, basement, three bedrooms, lots of grass outside the back door, and in the same neighborhood and town we have grown to love in the last year and a half. Open space and trails a block away. Boulder is minutes away. Denver 30 minutes away. But Louisville all by itself is fantastic, regardless of the urban hubs nearby. Just needs a new main floor paint job, new kitchen appliances, and maybe a central A/C installation in the future. Fans will have to do for now.
Please send out good vibes that we get all we’re asking the sellers for.
"Time to buy now is great"
"Good now buy time is to."
"Buy to time good a it's!"
These are variations of comments with which my peers who are not in the real estate business have been kind enough to share with me recently. Still, buying a home is scary business. But it's super exciting too. It has consumed all of my conversations with Jaime recently. Last night we went on a long walk around our neighborhood. When we started the walk, I wasn't sure if I could stomach a mortgage and everything that comes with it. It was like a summer night, calm, quiet and warm, with as many stars as a suburb bordering open space can hope for. We finished by walking to the town home we like the most, less than a block from our current apartment. By the end of walk Jaime and an experiment in faith prevailed.
We’re making an offer on this place this week.
Red brick townhome, set on a hill reminiscent of San Fransisco row houses when viewed together, at night, through one eye, squinting. Hardwood floors, fireplace, basement, three bedrooms, lots of grass outside the back door, and in the same neighborhood and town we have grown to love in the last year and a half. Open space and trails a block away. Boulder is minutes away. Denver 30 minutes away. But Louisville all by itself is fantastic, regardless of the urban hubs nearby. Just needs a new main floor paint job, new kitchen appliances, and maybe a central A/C installation in the future. Fans will have to do for now.
Please send out good vibes that we get all we’re asking the sellers for.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
TV show idea.
Jaime's mom emails random questions to all her kids and kids-in-law. Yesterday the question was:
If you had your OWN TV show, what would you call it and what part would you play AND what night would you have it on?
Not sure If I answered all her questions but Saturday morning allowed me an opportunity to take a stab at the idea. Sorry this is so long. You're about to be subjected to my one-man brainstorming process and it's not always a clean, neat thing. Also, I should disclaim the hugely optimistic tone that follows. In most cases, it should not be mistaken for naivety. Just my ramblings.
I'm not sure what I'd call it. But it would only run full episodes on the Internet, not TV, with only teasers on actual TV. It would only run on hulu.com. And since hulu is ingeniously and jointly owned by old media rivals NBC and FOX, teasers for the show could run on all NBC and FOX networks (I think there's about 467,652,435,091 of them, roughly), and ad time would be paid for by NBC and FOX, not by me, since my show would be driving traffic to hulu.com, in their interest. And because it just sits on the internet and takes up server space, but not TV media time, I'd have much much less pressure and lower chances of getting the axe from the networks and being taken off the air in only 2 episodes. In short, I'd be given a longer chance to "make it," thus increasing the opportunity to build a fan base and allow the the grassroots, word-of-mouth thing do it's trick.
Oh, and the WOM would mos' def' do it's thing. Bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebookers would give me more positive "ad" media than FOX and NBC would ever give me on TV.
'Cause I'd hire good writers, like Christian Lander, and maybe even have a host like him or someone else that would be recognized by a few, but not everyone, and therefor would be affordable, but still be cool and culturally relevant. My show would be his/her "in" to the next level of fame, so he/she would be eager to to rock it (don't stop it).
Which brings me to my biggest problem. I don't know what it would be about. None of my initial ideas are exciting. I'm just going to keep on typing and whatever comes out is what it will have to be about:
It could be about smaller, up-and-coming, independent musical artists and bands that would otherwise never make it on TV, so they'd be hungry to be on the show. But they'd rock enough and have enough of a grassroots fan base that it would still be in the shows best interest to put them on a pedestal and interview them, let them play, have a camera follow them around for a couple shows/rehearsals/recording sessions and let the masses get to know them. (Maybe that's what the show would be called - "Pedestal.") It would be funny. and inspiring, and educational, and musical of course. And it would fill in a certain gap that MTV and VH1 NEVER fulfilled, let alone strayed from in the last 15 years.
Oh, get this: Because the video is online, links would pop up on bottom of the video (but not in an annoying way) that would allow you to actually click directly to other online content related to the topic being discussed. When you click on it, it opens a new window or browser tab and pauses the show. Just go back and push play to resume to the show. At the end of the show all the links will be listed out to click on them as well (which means all those websites will have an invested interest in the show as well). Just the beginning of INTERACTIVE TV.
In this new age of Pandora.com, people would tune in to discover new artists and otherwise willfully subject themselves to cerebral gelatinizing online video content that becomes a reliable source of entertainment and music education for millions (mwahahahahaha).
As the show becomes more successful we could partner with other companies for additional mutually beneficial opportunities: For example, Bose or other good computer audio OEMs could partner with us for special promotions and shared media, as it would obviously be beneficial to watch the show with killer speakers or headphones. Maybe that's a dumb idea. I dunno. Scratch that for now. Milk before meat.
(c) 2009 Eric Forsyth.
If you had your OWN TV show, what would you call it and what part would you play AND what night would you have it on?
Not sure If I answered all her questions but Saturday morning allowed me an opportunity to take a stab at the idea. Sorry this is so long. You're about to be subjected to my one-man brainstorming process and it's not always a clean, neat thing. Also, I should disclaim the hugely optimistic tone that follows. In most cases, it should not be mistaken for naivety. Just my ramblings.
Oh, and the WOM would mos' def' do it's thing. Bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebookers would give me more positive "ad" media than FOX and NBC would ever give me on TV.
'Cause I'd hire good writers, like Christian Lander, and maybe even have a host like him or someone else that would be recognized by a few, but not everyone, and therefor would be affordable, but still be cool and culturally relevant. My show would be his/her "in" to the next level of fame, so he/she would be eager to to rock it (don't stop it).
Which brings me to my biggest problem. I don't know what it would be about. None of my initial ideas are exciting. I'm just going to keep on typing and whatever comes out is what it will have to be about:
It could be about smaller, up-and-coming, independent musical artists and bands that would otherwise never make it on TV, so they'd be hungry to be on the show. But they'd rock enough and have enough of a grassroots fan base that it would still be in the shows best interest to put them on a pedestal and interview them, let them play, have a camera follow them around for a couple shows/rehearsals/recording sessions and let the masses get to know them. (Maybe that's what the show would be called - "Pedestal.") It would be funny. and inspiring, and educational, and musical of course. And it would fill in a certain gap that MTV and VH1 NEVER fulfilled, let alone strayed from in the last 15 years.
Oh, get this: Because the video is online, links would pop up on bottom of the video (but not in an annoying way) that would allow you to actually click directly to other online content related to the topic being discussed. When you click on it, it opens a new window or browser tab and pauses the show. Just go back and push play to resume to the show. At the end of the show all the links will be listed out to click on them as well (which means all those websites will have an invested interest in the show as well). Just the beginning of INTERACTIVE TV.
In this new age of Pandora.com, people would tune in to discover new artists and otherwise willfully subject themselves to cerebral gelatinizing online video content that becomes a reliable source of entertainment and music education for millions (mwahahahahaha).
As the show becomes more successful we could partner with other companies for additional mutually beneficial opportunities: For example, Bose or other good computer audio OEMs could partner with us for special promotions and shared media, as it would obviously be beneficial to watch the show with killer speakers or headphones. Maybe that's a dumb idea. I dunno. Scratch that for now. Milk before meat.
(c) 2009 Eric Forsyth.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
No April fools
My hotmail account is where i get all my automatic notifications like "your credit card statement is ready," "you're bank account transfer is complete," "you have a new facebook message" or "You're a fool for ever leaving the Tetons."Targhee hit 500 inches of snow today. I received the above email to let me know. I'm crying inside, feeling like an april fool.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
If I had a Million Dollars
Notice there are no pictures of green dresses, monkeys or k-cars in this post.
However, I sometimes have the uncontrollable urge to spend money, similar to the urge to eat a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting....I'm sure many of you have experienced this/those.
New Leather Converse: Jack Purcell edition, origionally $75.00 on sale for $19.99. Boo ya.
After going to the gym last night I decided I needed to get what I call a medicine ball (that's not what Eric says it is). Anyway, it is at my desk, and I am sitting on it as I type. $16.00 TJ Maxx.
Midweight MTS underware from REI. Basically it's a very nice base layer for when I go snowboarding in the 12" of new snow tomorrow. It's very good at "wicking" away moisture for all the Anderson's out there. Origionally $35.00 - 20% off coupon and $12 dividend...$18.10.
And finally mine lieblings: 4 new awesome gobblets from Anthro originally $10.00 each on sale for $3.95. Some nice people come over so we can use them with you!! They make the cool riniging sound when you trace your finger around the edge with water.
However, I sometimes have the uncontrollable urge to spend money, similar to the urge to eat a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting....I'm sure many of you have experienced this/those.
New Leather Converse: Jack Purcell edition, origionally $75.00 on sale for $19.99. Boo ya.
After going to the gym last night I decided I needed to get what I call a medicine ball (that's not what Eric says it is). Anyway, it is at my desk, and I am sitting on it as I type. $16.00 TJ Maxx.
Midweight MTS underware from REI. Basically it's a very nice base layer for when I go snowboarding in the 12" of new snow tomorrow. It's very good at "wicking" away moisture for all the Anderson's out there. Origionally $35.00 - 20% off coupon and $12 dividend...$18.10.
And finally mine lieblings: 4 new awesome gobblets from Anthro originally $10.00 each on sale for $3.95. Some nice people come over so we can use them with you!! They make the cool riniging sound when you trace your finger around the edge with water.Regardless of all this cool stuff I got though, I still miss the fam and wish I were hanging out with all of you this week. I will see you soon though. Loves to all. Wish I had a fur coat...but not a real fur coat, that's cruel.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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