I think I just did something really bad.

I'm in the Science Leaders of Tomorrow club - we meet every other Sunday afternoon in the reinforced bunker? We deal with all kinds of hazardous materials - corrosive acids, visual poisons, toxic alien algae - stuff a teacher is usually supposed to help you with. But we're allowed to handle it ourselves, and are responsible for its proper disposal.

I was in charge of Hazardous Materials for last month. Everything else I got rid of completely legally and safely, I swear!! I've got all the receipts - I can show them to you. But the containment unit for the anti-matter never arrived. It's like this mini-fridge they send you with a return address already on it? Except you have to pay for the shipping.

Anyway I was waiting and waiting for it to arrive, and the cardboard box I was keeping the anti-matter in was getting squishier and squishier, and if you stared at it long enough it looked like it was melting. And then the time-space around it was starting to warp in a super-critical way. And the "use by" date was like totally two months ago, so it was super ripe and I was getting really worried, and didn't know what to do...

So I dumped it in the lagoon.

I figured: it's deep! It'll be fine. But as soon as I had peddled the little paddle boat back to the shore and was tying it up then WHOOOM! there's this huge water-splosion, and like the entire contents of the lagoon became this giant mushroom cloud of water, straight up into the sky, and then comes smashing back down. On me. And probably you.

Yeah, that was me. And I totally apologize.

I want to take full responsibility for this, and say that the Science Leaders of Tomorrow had nothing to do with it. I am going to meet with the Dean right now and come clean. I know he'll be stern with me, but fair. Just like with the anti-time fluid spill, and the intelligent peanut allergy virus release, and Maxor, the galaxy devouring mega-worm.

I keep telling the other Science Leaders that maybe one of them should take over on the Hazardous Materials duty but they keep insisting I'm the best person for it. So I'm not going to let them down. Go Science Leaders of Tomorrow!!!

Oh that's just my friend's band warming up for the show, @Ella Shanks. Power Value Stance! That's their name. They're in Science Leaders of Tomorrow club with me. And if you've seen those stange lights around campus? Like the little blue one, and the green one, and the red one? Those were pigeons that got electrified during their practices. It seems to wear off after awhile. You'll have a blast I promise!

It's them and Mind in Two Worlds and One-Party System that are opening for @Hormiga Man and his Cassandra Propaganda tonight. It's supposed to start at 9 but you know those things never start on time.

You should totally go. I've got earplugs and goggles and a protective smock you can wear if you want to play it safe. But I'm sure it will be fine! Let's go!!!

I thought the Cassandra Propaganda show turned out really well? Didn't you?

Actually I didn't stay to see them. Was it good? I left with my friends from Power Value Stance after they were done, and we went and hung out in the woods and tried to find @timberlina's tree house (we didn't).

Anyway, at the show that was me standing right up next to the stage for Power Value Stance. I'm sure that @Hormiga Man didn't mind that we didn't stay - we've seen his show enough times before and it's better to let the "new blood" get closer to the action. I also know him well because he's always in the Science Leaders of Tomorrow club's dumpsters looking for material for his cabinets, and, since I'm in charge of Waste Disposal for the club we run into each other a lot.

The Cassandra Propaganda is always working on new routines, though, really, they're always worth seeing! And sorry I can't tell you more about their show because there's a blood NDA you sign as part of buying the ticket whenever they play. I think there's actually a kind of binding spell that keeps you from discussing it.

Power Value Stance is having another show next Friday. It's at an all-ages show at Sapir/Whorf, which is the anarchist bookstore in town. @Hormiga Man and his Cassandra Propaganda will be there, and not sure who else, but if you and your band want to play there @Kayla May I'm sure you can be on the bill. You can open!!

I'm now playing tambourine with Power Value Stance, which is like my dream come true. It's actually a really important part of their new sound, since with it they can now broadcast color higher into the 700THz range. But boy does my arm get tired!

I was at the music store in town today, buying a new strap for my tambourine, and the staff is completely new. It's like they fired all the knowledgeable people who used to work there and replaced them with these super grumbly guys in trench coats and hats. They don't know where anything is (not a guitar strap, a TAMBOURINE STRAP!!!) and they are terrible at customer service because they don't speak, just let out this continuous kind of white-noise hiss. Plus, they don't look healthy at all. Kind of pale. And glowing. Like an old black and white TV screen.

They've also got to do something about the static electricity in that place. I was getting zapped when I'd walk across the carpet and touch anything. I'm considering upgrading the zils in my tambourine, because they're not giving me all the resonance I want in the Linear B thz range, but when I reached out to touch the Chromium 9000 titanium tambourine I got such a shock I nearly fell off my feet! Other people in there trying out the amps were blowing fuses right and left. It was a total mess.

I think I might have to start buying my tambourine parts online.

Just when I'm about to get my big break in the chromosonic shoegazer scene, @Hormiga Man and his Cassandra Propaganda refuse to play out. "No more shows! Studio only!" he says. And Power Value Stance isn't big enough to get anybody to show up on our own. I was playing my tambourine to a janitor and his dog last night at the Spoon Bender.

Worse, The Cassandra Propaganda has taken over the practice space on campus and won't let anybody else in. That's what that big continuous arc flash is east of the gym. It's got its own line right to the school's generator and they're just cranking it 24/7. But they won't even let anybody in.

@Big Jim can't you kick them out and let some other kids in there?

That's IT. I've had it with @Hormiga Man and his Cassandra Propaganda. That's why I pulled his plug.

Hey, I'm in Science Leaders of Tomorrow. I KNOW about safety. That's why I'm in charge of Hazardous Waste Disposal, and believe you me I had to take a lot of tests about it! Over and over and over.

But I just couldn't take it anymore! Just when my tambourining is really starting to take off, I NEED that practice space. It just isn't fair. That's why I got on the big rubber gloves and the goggles and the insulated boots and disconnected their main.

It wasn't my fault that @Hormiga Man had his head in another dimension. Well, the whole top half of his body. When we broke down the door and went in with our flashlights, it was really weird because all he was was a butt. All he is is a butt. On two legs. The rest of him got trapped on the "other side" when I killed the power and his portal closed. On him.

But he seems fine, really. "@Hormiga Man Butt" can walk around and do things just like he was really here. So he's still driving somehow. And breathing. And apparently eating and drinking, but I don't want to talk about that.

I'm very sorry about the campus-wide power outage that it caused, though. They just had to replace a bunch of transformers. But all better now, huh?

NOW back to my true love in life, the tambourine.

A reminder for everybody to come out and catch my band, Power Value Stance, tonight at 8 for the big V-D dance! Debatable Teal opens, we're in the middle and Weird Owl rounds it all out before the Heart of Psyhigh Manifests at 10:17. Short sets - don't be late! And prepared to have your mind blown. For the past month, Tulka has been showing me the mysteries of chromatic resonance on his childirma, which I'm doing a pretty good job of on my electrified tambourine. I'd love for you to come hear it! xxx ooo