Well, yesterday was a total bust. I was supposed to open for MC Lars in Monterey and was looking forward to it, despite being pretty damn sick. Instead of renting a car, I was offered a ride by some friends who were also going to the show, but I didn’t know when exactly they’d pick me up. So I waited from 11 am till 6 pm waiting for them to show up. Keep in mind that it’s a 2 1/2 hour ride according to google, and I have to get there early for sound checks.

The guys giving me a ride got a flat coming over the bridge, and since we were already cutting it really close, I just had to say fuck it. So I missed my first show ever, which makes me feel terrible, but at least I finally got to eat bacon wrapped in a pancake at Bender’s Bar and Grill.

Speaking of bacon, I totally want to serve chocolate chip and bacon cookies at our party on Saturday, but Shan won’t let me do it. At least we’ll still have absinthe (I told her the green coloring was seasonal).

So yesterday was a waste of a day, but I’m feeling less sick today. Shan and I just arrived at Golden Haven Spa in Calistoga. Calistoga is known for it’s hot springs mineral water, and GHS has a spa in our room so we can soak in mineral water the whole time we are here.

The trip was originally planned so we could chill in the spa and watch The Office’s christmas episode but that’s not going to happen with the Office on haitus atm.

I truly believe that I am the first casualty of the writers strike.

So I wasn’t all that stoked about coming until I decided to try an experiment out while I’m here. The Levi’s store in downtown SF used to have a hot tub for customers to use. The idea was that you buy a pair of raw denim 501’s in the store, then soak for an hour as the jeans shrank to fit y’r hot bod. They even had a special room that was basically a drying room. You stood in the room for 15 minutes as hot air was blasted at you. Pretty nifty right? Levi’s policy was that if you were unhappy with your fit, they would return the jeans, no problem.

Shan went with a few of her friends when she was sixteen, and of the 6 pairs soaked, only 2 people kept their jeans. With numbers like that, you can see why Levi’s stopped doing it, but you have to imagine how much those two people must have loved their jeans. Levi’s didn’t just sell them some denim, they sold them an experience, and they left with custom fitting jeans.

So I have decided to soak for an hour and dry off in my black Imperial Kings. I’ve had my Imperials for 3-4 months and have probably worn them for 40-50 days. The denim is still raw, so the hot tub should shrink it a bit, but it will restretch out. The end result should be pretty fitted.

The added element of mineral water is what I’m curious about. Mineral water stinks. It’s very sulfury smelling, or “ass” smelling according to Kiya. He says they should end up like any soaked pair of jeans, but they’ll stink. I actually think the smell won’t stick with the jeans after they have dried, but if it does I’ll just have to wash ‘em when we get home. Mineral water is filled with minerals (obviously) that you don’t find in water anywhere else. These minerals have characteristics that many believe to be healing, but will they effect denim any differently?

I can’t wait to find out. Might even video blog it, oh joy!