"These go to eleven."

I'm commuting today.  The rest of the family gets to stay home and sleep in.  Except for the border collie.  He's up.  You probably saw that one coming.

We got unpacked and caught up on laundry yesterday but got sidetracked into cleaning a few out-of-the-way places.  My wife got far more done than I did, but I found an interesting bit of inspiration in my garage.

While trying to clear a spot to work, and walk, I came across an old stereo amp and receiver that a friend of mine gave me... let's call it three years ago.  About that same time, my wife was preparing the living room for the new rug she got for Christmas.  There were a pair of old Kenwood bookshelf speakers in there that I had set up for the surround system but they never really worked that well and every time I checked, someone had pulled the wires out.  (Border collie?)

In another [not so big] twist for today's entry, I took them outside and hooked them up to the stereo.  I had to dig into the box of cables and such to connect them, get an appropriate power source installed, and repair an outlet in the living room (it was family room in the fuse panel box) before I got it all together but then it worked.

25 years old this month

The old stereo.  The old speakers.  The old cables.  They were on a new shelf and playing new music and it sounded much better than Pandora on my iPad.

Writing for the screen is about showing instead of telling.  I've been told that people like the "same but different" and it's been articulated as "Familiar but fresh."  Great.  Going for that.  But what does it mean?

In my garage I can see it.  Clear as day.  I've been shown new from old, fresh from familiar, and it is inspiring.

Now that I'm facing the blank page, I know that I'll need to sift through my "garage" and find those "old components," then put them up on a "new shelf" for the "fresh sound."  It seems intimidating, but I know there's something great hiding in there someone.  After all, last night I came up with the amazing rock-and-roll song title of "Rock, Party, Scissors."

That's right.  I did it first.  Expect to hear it within 6 months -- but not from me.