What now?

I had a very rough day yesterday. Several issues, including one I'm not willing to discuss here, have been bringing me down quite a bit lately, and then the announcement from TFA's lead singer, which was made exactly five minutes after our lead guitarist said that he didn't want to play without her. It was the ultimate diva move.

I'm hopeful that Paulito will see his way through this. We played as a band before Eileen. We had a lot of good song ideas that got ignored because they didn't feature Eileen. We learned other songs solely because they were liked by Eileen. A lot of our identity is Eileen, but she wasn't the whole show.

If Paulito calls it a day, we're done. John would likely bail, even if Digger and I wanted to continue without him. But I associate our sound as more Paulito with Eileen, and I always have. When Eileen left the stage, we kept playing. When Paulito did - usually for a quick bathroom break - there was no music.

I don't know what to do about this. No one's talking right now. If we wait to converse with Paulito, does he make up his mind to leave? Then again, can we persuade him anyway? The only thing I could say is that there will now be less drama. Eileen herself said that "females bring drama," after all.

If he stayed, do we want to stay as a four-piece, or do we look to get another singer? Could we find one that plays keys? That would be my preference: getting a female keyboardist that can sing. Oh, Paulito mentioned that he works with a guy that plays keys. I know the gender's wrong, but a keyboard player opens up another dimension of songs for us. It might also give Paulito enough impetus to stay.

So, we have the following options for Paulito. Since it's him that's likely on the fencepost now, these options are really his, not anyone else's:

• Stay as a four-piece band;
• Find a new female lead that plays keys;
• Go with the keys-playing co-worker;
• Find a girl that only sings;
• Pull the plug.

Though that last option scares me, who knows? Maybe it truly is the best option. In none of these options do I get out from behind the drums. Most of my concerns, of which I've ranted on this blog, would still be there. So I'd still have to stay emotionally detached (or as close as I can get) from the band and learn to be happy with my lot.

I was not in the mood to bowl last night. But it's great that I did. I bowled a new high series (544) at a league. My first game was a 211. Yes, in front of other people! Like last time, my third game suffered, but it was still a 158, which is about what my average was going into the league, so I can't complain much. We killed the other team the first game but narrowly lost the other two. At one point, our entire team had ten consecutive strikes. Great stuff.

I was 3-for-3 in making standing seven pins, and I don't remember missing the ten, but I know I had a couple of 6-10s that I pulled left. There's an improvement or two to be made, but you know, I can be in this league and do okay. My first game was the best on the team... except for Dave, the guy's that helped me all along. He joined as a sub and was in the 230's every game.

Okay, on to math. What I did get done yesterday was a good amount of math, and I need such production to be the morn from now until exam day.