Vegas Vaguely

I got a gig to write a score for an ad when I was in HK and this was one of the drafts that they didn’t choose. I like this how this sounds though especially the kids laughing.

Written in early 2004 just as it became the Year of the Monkey. I was learning how to get better guitar sounds going direct into the computer. I think i did this one in Tracktion.

this tracks perfectly highlights my lack of keyboard skills.

Built this around some obscure asian singing I found

just a little thing

I was experimenting with guitar direct into the computer and wanted some more earthy tones. I know the reverb is ridiculous.

I’d been back in Australia after spending years in Asia and stumbled into my first and only online relationship with this woman in Newcastle. I never met her in person but I did get this track out of it. The title comes from her admission that she had a thing for black leather.

I was trying to channel David Holmes which is probably more obvious than it should be. I did have a better mix of this that got lost in HD failure. This was a recreation that somehow never quite captured the earlier version.

Just reopened Live to sort out some tracks and find missing files and stumbled on this track I was working on about 4 years ago. I dropped a quick chord on it and it’s now making a lot more sense. think of rainy days and anticipating someone that you love coming home soon.

This is a little experiment of mine called 655321

I can’t remember what that number stands for anymore. Other than a typo while counting backwards

Hi All

Just got back form 5 days in San Diego and we had a great time without breaking the bank or going crazy in Amusement Park hell.

Here are some the tips I thought I should share with my fellow parents.

1. the Go San Diego card

This thing is great and if you’re going to be in SD for a more than a couple of days it makes a lot of sense.

Here’s the link for their site. : Go San Diego card

The card is basically a passport for most the attractions in the SD area. it covers the big ones, Sea World, Legoland and the Zoo and also gets you into a bunch of other museums and things like whale watching and harbor cruises.

It’s only really worth it if you’re going to be there for a few days as it’s physically impossible to cover the miles and the attractions in a shorter time frame. 5 days was pretty much perfect for us, I had done a lot of research and had a game plan of which places on which days and for once things went according to plan and we did everything we had planned.

$$ wise I also found (through the Mouse Savers website) a travel agent called ares that sells the cards online. Mouse Savers is a site dedicated to Disney amusement parks and their Sth Cali page has a lot of options and they update with new deals regularly.

Here’s the ARES link: ARES travel

Costco also has the cards sometimes so check your local one.

If you get the Go SD Card plan to get to the big attractions a little early as you will need to go to guest services and get entry tickets which can mean time in the queues. While you can use the ticket booths, typically we found Guest Services tend to have faster moving queues.

2. Timing and Approach

No matter how you are paying for entry, you do need to get an early start with the amusement parks etc and it’s worth knowing the opening time of each one. Plan to get there 30 minutes at least before that as the parking lines take time and ticket offices get crowded around the opening time.

Once inside head to the furthest point of the park. Use the map they give you and ignore the siren song of empty queues for the first rides you pass. Let everybody else fall for that and get blocked up in long queues. You then work back towards the front in short lines (with other savvy visitors) and by the time you get towards the front again often the crush is over and you get shorter queues. Also plan to have your lunch either a little early or later than typical and you can ride while everyone else stands in cafeteria lines. We’re on a budget so we packed our own lunches pretty much each day and that worked out great. Legoland has good and varied food options by the way.

This worked for us like a charm.

Also bring a stroller, even if you kids have outgrown it as you can put your backpacks/food/coats in it. You have to walk around all day at these parks and the stroller is a godsend. The parks are all stroller friendly.

3. Location

This is more subjective I guess but we stayed in Carlsbad towards the northern part of SD county which worked out really well for us. I am a surfer and grew up at the beach so maybe I’m biased. However Legoland and the Safari Park are close and staying in a beach suburb made the holiday a little more special rather than being in the city. You can get anywhere in 30 to 40 mins from there and there are lots of options for dining etc. Via Italia in Encinitas is fantastic if you like italian. We ate there twice it was so good not super expensive and really fast kitchen. Good pizzas.

4. Hidden Gems/Must See

If you or your kids have a musical bent The Museum of Making Music was very cool and is often not so crowded. You can play a bunch of instruments and follow the development of musical instrument from the 1900’s till now. It also in Carlsbad hidden in a business park very close to Legoland. It’s not huge and that makes a nice change to some of the larger attractions. You can cover it in a hour but my 5 year old and I ended up spending 2 and half hours there playing instruments and checking everything out.

The Birch Aquarium was excellent. It’s part of the Scripps Institute and is in the grounds of the UCSD at La Jolla and sits on the cliffs above the ocean. The view alone is stellar and while not being huge there is loads of stuff to interest and delight young kids. We spent 4 hours there there and my daughter did not want to leave. If you were in a rush you could cover it in 2 hours I think.

Historic Route 101

If you have time take the Historic Route 101 instead of the 5 freeway one time, you get to see all the cool little towns along the ocean and a bunch of beautiful beaches etc. best to a have sat nav for this as some of the way is not signposted very well. Here’s a NYC travelogue on the 101

That’s all I have time for now. I’ll post more to this if I think any other worthwhile tips.

Cheers

Brett