I’m posting this link because when I make Google searches on my name — yes, I really do want to see what pops up first — an ancient YouTube channel is numero uno, unfortunately. I can’t get rid of it. I don’t know the email address that was used to start it. For the past twenty years, I’ve had the same email addresses; I must have used someone else’s…which is bizarre, but not unthinkable. That channel was a collaboration with one of my children, who, I’m sure, does not wish to be named. I stopped posting content due to the turn towards mockery the videos took. My fault. I always meant to change the theme but dropped it instead. I’m pleased that only two videos were posted. Still, after all these years, it comes first in a Google search. I really wish there was a way to nuke it.
Here is my current channel: Jill Domschot YouTube . Please subscribe and like my videos, obviously. Also, if you’d like to join a livestream, let me know in the comments. Livestreams are preferable, in my opinion, unless there’s nobody there to talk to.
The weekend began with a storm. It was the first of Roswell Night Skies’* Movie in the Park; we were showing Lilo & Stitch, and when I arrived on scene, the crew that had been enlisted to set up the screen were battling heavy winds. They were determined, however, and the nonprofit board’s president did not want to cancel the first event of the season. We made it about halfway through before the wind and slanting rain drove our audience away. It was fun while it lasted. To the positive, the venue this year is Roswell’s Cielo Grande Events Area, which has a natural slope that is perfect for an audience. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate this Friday, when we will be showing The Iron Giant. Be there at dusk and bring a blanket or lawn chairs. There will be concessions.
After the storm, my weekend never lost its turbulence. I had numerous stacked events on my schedule, including the Corpus Christi procession on Sunday. Corpus Christi is generally at the start of June, which is the hottest month in Roswell. The internet says it’s July, but the average high is the same. In my experience, it can top 100 on multiple days in June, but what do I know? The point being the Corpus Christi procession is a hot one, done at fake high noon**.
There are much longer and more elaborate processions around the world than ours; we have four altars to place the monstrance on around the parish campus, each with its own Bible reading and prayer. The choir chants, and the various groups carry their banners and wear their matching uniforms, and the altar servers carry the cross and incense. The priest carries Christ’s eucharistic presence in the monstrance.
As an Altar and Rosary member, I helped carry flowers from altar to altar. A few years ago, a priest that used to be with our parish asked us to scatter flower petals along the path; apparently that was what they did in his native land of Nigeria. The bookkeeper balked at the price of petals from the flowershop and asked why I didn’t pluck them from the rosebushes out front. For my part, I questioned if stripping the church roses of petals was part of my secretarial duties. Calling a flowershop, yes. I can pick up a phone. Making the elderly people cry over decimated rosebushes–not really part of my job description. Since then, we have carried red and white bouquets and skipped the petals.
How ever we decorate the altars, we have a fairly big campus and have never yet sought city approval to process up the street chanting, let alone scatrering petals–although, when I went to the grocery store near the a parish after this year’s procession, I could smell the incense that had drifted there on the wind. We didn’t get approval for that either!
My weekend ended with dessert and lemonade shared with a friend indoors, which was pleasant and cool. Thank God for these summer relief strategies.
Now that it’s Monday again, I’m wondering why life is so difficult. Not my job per se, although I do plan funerals as a regular course of events and sometimes step in to sing a capella in funerals, quinceañeras, or weddings when there are no musicians. Well, that is not quite true. Every time I’ve been asked to sing at these Masses a capella, I’ve found other people to sing with me. But, no, it’s not the difficulties of my job or the increasing busyness of the office that makes everything a tangle of problems, despite that I’m exhausted.
My friend was telling me yesterday, after we’d been talking for a few hours, that she had nothing to speak about except negative subjects. She’s experienced more than her fair share of trauma and recently went through a breakup, which has forced her to start life over.
Regarding having nothing else to speak about, I both agreed and disagreed with her. Trauma can put people in that position, where the nervous system is on edge. Talking through the negatives can help us heal. Sometimes, we need to talk through the negatives. Forcing positivity can be counterproductive to the nervous system just as ignoring clunking sounds in your car’s engine can cause further damage. There is no sense in whistling while your house is burning down, either. On the other hand, making small steps forward and acknowledging successes are also part of the process of healing, and there is always something to be proud of or grateful for, no matter how small. For my friend, she has a new place to live, a new job, and she loves artwork: creating it and looking at it. All positives.
My positives would include dragonflies and accordions, of course.
But no worries if your sight is clouded temporarily by how bad everything is. The storm we experienced while trying to run the movie on Friday seemed to dissipate after we’d packed up the equipment. We couldn’t see that while our screen was blowing down or the rain pelting the sound mixer. Nor was it wise to continue with the movie, not knowing what Roswell would throw at us next.
A last relevant point: in the Corpus Christi homily, our priest spoke about following Christ, how his presence has been given to us in the Eucharist–it is very real and personal. And the procession is an embodiment of this concept. When life gets difficult, sometimes all we have is the presence of Christ. That is no small thing. It is the biggest thing. It is vital.
*Roswell Night Skies is not a Catholic organization, despite that I talk about Catholicism in this post. I’m just writing about my life in Roswell.
**Under daylight savings time, high noon is actually 1 p.m. We’ve been distorted by a false sense of time!
I originally posted this on Facebook and did not get any non-comedic feedback. The truth is I don’t know how to finish the last line. No, really. It’s sad but true.
Help me finish the last line of my back cover copy:
When overworked PDex driver Hector Ruedas agrees to train his maybe girlfriend Arora’s son to deliver packages to the worst residences in Roswell, New Mexico, he expects a long day, not a murder at the PDex warehouse and a missing delivery driver. The long day turns into a long week of hacked security footage, a haunted meat factory, and a gang of breakdancers in the business of black-market gadgets. With Arora acting as his secretary and an entire team of unqualified detectives from the local Catholic church – including a priest – Hector is pulled into a bizarre investigation in which the clues are heralded by local ghosts and spiritual manifestations. Funny, fast-paced, and delightfully offbeat, Delivering 2nd Chances…
…delivers up a very special workplace comedy?
…will make you sing for joy?
…will love you better than a meth prostitute?
…gives our beloved delivery driver yet another opportunity to fix Roswell’s deep problems, even if he has to get beaten up in the process?
P.S. The book will be published as soon as the book cover is done.
I made four videos last week and failed to post any of them. Today, I put together clips of my videos and am still debating whether I should upload. My problem — and I am not alone — is that I would prefer to simply live my life without any kind of social media. I like writing books and driving people crazy with my daily accordion practice. Also, let it be said that I may not be a perfectionist, but I should adhere to a basic standard of video lighting and mics and maybe even video editing software before I continue.
I’m going to give a recap of important points I managed to elucidate in my videos, but first I’d Iike to highlight a bit of Roswell news:
For many years, Roswell has had a skating rink. Yes, it’s true. I was surprised, too. When my children were younger, they went with friends to the skating rink for birthday parties, or just fun nights at the rink. Such nostalgia for me! I loved going to my local skate rink when I was a child and teenager. It was one of the most exciting places to be because it was open late, the DJ spun dance tunes, the lights made you glow, and there was delicious concession stand food. Well, I thought it was delicious when I was young. Cotton candy. Nachos. Licorice whips. Chili dogs. Greasy pepperoni pizza. Sodas in those small waxy cups that don’t exist anymore because everything went supersized.
When we first moved to Roswell, the local rink was known as Cheap Skates. It is now known as the Nebula Arcade and Roller Rink. That’s the name they use on Facebook, so I assume the latter is the official name. The BIG news is that they have registered as a nonprofit, and they are looking for sponsors to keep skating free for children. I honestly hope they can make a go of it. For more info, go to their Facebook page.
And back to my regularly scheduled videos:
I have been keeping a “Dearest Diary” of my musical adventures on real paper that rustles when the wind blows. In one video, I read a not very exciting piece about playing polkas and keeping up on daily vocal exercises.
Real paper for everyone.
Then, I launched into my difficulty playing the accordion with thumbs, since I do not use thumbs often on my button accordions. I played a few scales using my right thumb as the starting finger and ruminated on how perfectionism will prevent many people from starting on a musical instrument in the first place. If you then stop doing stuff because you can’t live up to your perfectionistic expectations, the only perfect creation you’ll end up with will be the hole you dug for your own grave.
The face I make when I screw up but know there’s a bit of earth out back.
On another video, I discovered something very important:
There are 120 bass buttons. This one with the divot is the C anchor button so that you can find the other notes!
In another video, I discussed needing the kind of map I invented for my MapWriter stories, some of which made it in this book of shorts:
Grin like the mad scientist you are.
I would like to have a map because I don’t know the best route to reach my goals. How do I become a better accordionist than Frankie Yankovic or Javier Ríos? How do I become a successful author? My books are already amazing, but who will buy them? If only I had an interactive map, I might know if I should continue posting videos, or instead should focus on drinking tea.
Roswell just had its grand ribbon-cutting ceremony for the cultural plaza, which is just behind the county courthouse on Main Street. I was not able to go, due to other obligations, so you will have to settle for an image of the courthouse, which is clearly a sight to behold. I believe the green dome on the top is for astronomical purposes that eventually triggered the alien crash-landing, but it’s just a rumor and I have no scientific proof.
Part of the cultural plaza, found on Facebook
The new plaza is a gated venue complete with reatrooms, which means Roswell is really moving up in the world. I suspect they will host events with live music and food trucks, since that is what the ribbon-cutting event boasted. The music was provided by the Gruuv, which is a local band that has an accomplished accordion player, Alex Palomino (who also plays other instruments). I’m in awe of multi-talented people who can pick up new skills with ease.
The Old Antigua’s
Antigua’s restaurant is officially gone, and the new restaurant in there will be Geli’s. Geli’s used to be across town on Second Street, and I really enjoy their food. Antigua’s had a different vibe for Roswell, though, with a well-stocked bar and dishes that were a little more upscale than other local restaurants. They also often had live music, and people keep telling me one of the owners, Sal Aguilar, is a very accomplished accordion player, too. Well, it seems all my local news must involve an accordion player or two.
The Old Geli’s
My news: I have none! My book, Delivering 2nd Chances is in limbo, and I haven’t finished the sequel to Order of the PenTriagon. I did play El Chubasco on one of my accordions. I dearly love that song. Just type it in Google, and you will begin to understand. Regarding Roswell, school is at the tail end of its year, summer is almost upon us, and the UFO Fest happens around the 4th of July. The Roswell Astronomy Club will be keeping their eyes peeled. Actually, that’s a real club. Generally, they search the night for comets and other phenomena, but who knows?
I talk about my accordion adventures in this YouTube video: Adventures With the Accordion. If you want to learn about the accordions I’ve acquired over the years and hear the distinct sound each one has, you’ll want to listen to the video. I discuss how I came to purchase a piano accordion from Facebook Marketplace last week, even though I was only scrolling on Marketplace in search of the perfect classic truck. This is a regular habit of mine. Someday, I will have the classic truck of my dreams. Instead, I found an accordion and purchased it on a whim.
The part I wanted to focus on here is where I purchased it from. The seller on Facebook told me it was at the “music shop.” What did he mean? Roswell has a music store at the mall, but they do not sell vintage accordions. Rather, they sell standard new instruments like keyboards and guitars, along with equipment pertaining to playing and amplifying instruments. It turns out there’s a music store right next to Chero’s Boots.
Chero’s Boots in the old Payless building
Neo Music Exchange
It’s a consignment music store, and I believe the Facebook seller traded or outright purchased a different accordion from the shop and left the one I purchased there on consignment. But before you get excited about the possibility of finding an accordion for yourself, the shop, Neo Music Exchange, doesn’t regularly deal in accordions. It’s a rock music store with numerous guitars. It was still an adventure worth having, as I drove out there on my lunchbreak and had to drive really fast (going the exact speed limit, of course) to get back to work on time and in the process exchanged money for a heavy suitcase filled with musical delights. Adventures often involve going without the comforts of our usual tasty foods and cozy naps, which is what I normally enjoy on my lunch hour. Just as Bilbo had to leave his Hobbit hole and tankard of ale to fight a dragon, so I had to leave my cheeseburger and the dark shadowy reading room at the church to procure an old accordion that sounds like an organ.
My Three Accordions resembling Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear
On another day, I might have also popped in next door to gaze at the beautifully tooled boots I can’t afford. Have you been to Chero’s Boots? I have a couple of times. Once, to admire the goods, and another time to purchase tickets to see Los Huracanes at the fairgrounds.
For my weekend adventure, I went to the movie in the park that was put on by Main Street Roswell but operated by Roswell Night Skies. It was the first movie in the Park of the year — the official summer lineup will start the first Friday in June at Cielo Grande Park. Last summer, we played movies in Russ DeKay Soccer Complex, but the city no longer operates there and, therefore, we can’t get a permit to use it this year. Instead, NMMI (which owns the property) will now use it as their own soccer complex. Or whatever. I don’t know what their plans are.
Russ DeKay Park & the inflatable screen
Usually, it’s hot by May in Roswell. This last weekend was an exception. The movie in the park was as cold as the one we helped with during the Christmas Fair on Main Street. I had put on a jacket for the event and ended up running home for my coat, and I was still cold. While it only dipped to about 40 degrees that night and did not freeze, the temperature in the park was colder than the rest of town. This was owing to the heavy rain that saturated the earth and grass combined with the cold breeze. Nobody needs or wants a swamp cooler when temperatures are below sixty. The crowd was relatively small, about seventy-five people, but they stuck it out on their blankets, many wearing shorts and t-shirts.
My weekend adventures ended with Mass this morning. The songs were fun to sing today, and my priest gave a very important announcement: he will be leaving us to go to Illinois and have his own adventure at a Catholic parish and school. I will miss him, and it’s difficult not to cry. Actually, I have already cried. He is my boss and my spiritual mentor, and what if his replacement is lazy, passive-aggressive, or doesn’t want to have full-time staff? Priests are, after all, human beings with their own foibles and opinions. I guess that is an adventure not yet seen. This is why faith in God is paramount. I know God is with me and will take care of me, even as far as his kindnesses such as providing the means to purchase accordions and good health that allows me to be participate in nonprofits.
Oh, speaking of, another mini adventure was the Mass and Altar & Rosary Society meeting on Saturday morning. Yes, these are the types of adventures I have. Don’t judge my boring life. Anyway, I was voted in as secretary for the society. It is what it is. I will happily take the meeting notes starting in July.
May we all have adventures in the coming week. Blessings from Roswell!
When our sacristan and music director was hired on at the church, we promised him the church had a slow season. As time went on, he asked us with desperation filling his eyes, “When???!!!” The truth is, the Catholic church has something for every season, and constants such as baptisms, funerals, and the occasional wedding. There are youth groups and VBS programs and just when you think you’re going to get a break, the new religious education year starts once again.
But still, I’m breathing a big sigh at the moment (while doing my weekly laundry at the relaxing laundromat) because we just made it through the Confirmation Mass, which officially ends much of the stress for everyone in the office — not 100%, as we still have a couple more religious education classes, with an end-of-year Mass, and then will come May crownings. Crowning the Mary statues are happy events because they involve flowers, many pretty, colorful flowers.
Because I was a part-time catechist last year for the adult religious education program, I was invited to the catechist dinner last night. It was peaceful, the relief of the priest evident. We had this dinner at a nearby restaurant, Los Cerritos. Los Cerritos might be the first restaurant I went to in Roswell…unless you count visiting here when my now twenty-two-year-old daughter was a baby. Back then, we went to a local place called Farley’s, and I have zero recollection of the food eaten. Maybe pizza. These were the days before we’d discovered the kids had allergies to wheat — not gluten intolerance or celiac, but actual allergies in the old-fashioned sense. For example, I accidentally ingested a wheat host at the Confirmation Mass the other night and had an instant asthma attack and developed hives on my knees of all the places. It was ridiculous. I was only there to sing, and my priest had prepared a low-gluten host for me. But instead of my priest, the bishop was suddenly in front of me holding out a host– and what was I to do?
Anyway, that diversion aside, Los Cerritos was the first restaurant I experienced of Roswell in the more recent past ten or eleven years instead of twenty-plus. I know what to eat there that doesn’t bother me, and I order it every time, the camarones a la diabla. If you don’t like spicy food, I don’t recommend this dish, especially at this restaurant. I’m addicted to the thrill of endorphins produced by the heat. I also like that it’s served with rice and a simple salad.
Don’t take me wrong; life has a way of throwing multiple stressors your way just when you think you can relax with a cold drink and spicy shrimp. I already know of some of these that are coming my way. Others are unknown, and for good reason. Humans might want to give up if they knew what was headed their way. In fact, Roswell has had a series of deadly car accidents lately. When I was driving to the laundromat, I passed an accident involving a motorcycle that was crushed. That can’t be good. One accident in the past few months was caused by the sheer recklessness of someone I know, and he injured numerous people, killing one. Talk about stress.
God protect us when we drive or consider being aggressive or reckless on the road.
Another diversion aside, this is the post in which I encourage you not to take breaks for granted. Rest and relax when you can because you can’t look forward to a nebulous future that doesn’t exist, in which you will finally be caught up and can enjoy the joyous riot of flowers surrounding Mary. You have to take that moment now. There are no guarantees on life. In fact, evwn though I like to believe I will publish my next book soon, the Amazon empire could come crumbling down, leaving self-publishers lacking a good way to publish and get their works out there without spending even more money than they’ve already spent.
Peace out. Currently, I’m enjoying one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers: Concédeme by El Coyote. By the way, I’m pretty sure all my playlists on Spotify are public and accessible if you’re interested: My liked songs. Spotify called my list Banda as a default (which I did not change), but it is equal parts Norteño.
So, I’m lazy when it comes to the banal parts of life. I prefer the mysteries of the world. Uncharted territory — books yet to be written. Summaries of written books? Yikes!
On the About page, I posted a short blurb AI had come up with for my book (yes, dreaded AI; this is what AI is actually good at, not writing new creative works!) Here is the shorter one:
Hector Ruedas is a delivery driver, not a detective. Unfortunately, the universe in Roswell disagrees.
Between a trainee with illegal gadgets, a boss who may or may not be a witch, a murdered coworker, and a warehouse that keeps producing ghosts instead of answers, Hector finds himself piecing together a conspiracy that spans black‑market tech, street gangs, and the afterlife itself.
Delivering 2nd Chances is a paranormal mystery packed with sharp dialogue, chaotic investigations, and a reluctant hero who just wanted to finish his route—before the dead started asking for help.
A longer AI version, which I find intriguing and might be able to work with is this:
Delivering goods is supposed to be simple. Hector Ruedas’ job never is.
Hector is a middle‑aged PDex delivery driver with a short fuse, a soft heart, and a bad habit of stumbling into trouble. On what should have been a routine training day with nineteen‑year‑old Kevin Smart—a gadget‑obsessed trainee with secrets of his own—Hector instead finds himself navigating vicious dogs, hostile customers, breakdancing gangs, and a warehouse that just became a crime scene.
When a coworker is murdered, another vanishes, and security footage is mysteriously erased, Hector’s unofficial detective instincts kick in. As the investigation widens, so do the questions: Why are delivery trucks linked to black‑market tech and performance‑enhancing drugs? Who is hacking surveillance systems across town? And why do ghosts—very specific, very persistent ghosts—keep pointing at cameras and demanding justice?
With the help of a sharp‑witted church secretary, a reluctant trainee, an exorcist priest, and a growing cast of unlikely allies, Hector is pulled into a case that blurs the line between the supernatural and the criminal, the sacred and the absurd.
Part mystery, part paranormal noir, and part workplace comedy, Delivering 2nd Chances is a fast‑paced, character‑driven story about grief, loyalty, and what happens when the truth refuses to stay buried—even if it has to haunt you to be heard.
What do you think? Which do you prefer? I might try my hand at writing my own now. In the past, I’ve had input from others when it came to writing my blurbs. Now that I’ve lost contact with many of writing friends, at least to the extent that I would ask them for help, I’m finding myself clutching at straws. That is what I think of AI help. Clutching at straws. It seems like a lot of fun, but it loses fascination in short order when you can see its cracks. Do you remember Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? They had specific tests they ran to detect whether a “human” was not. There are definitely tells with our AI programs.
This is a little off the subject, but I’ve been obsessively watching AI created Studio Ghibli inspired videos on YouTube. They are clearly human directed videos that people are putting together using AI software. In other words, there is human creativity involved, just as in the character images I created here. But there are weird little tells that they are AI (just look at the numbering on Wilford’s measuring tape). Sometimes, you can’t force AI to replicate a room you just dictated in detail that it would create, and sometimes, it does wonky things like adding extra stoves or moving around objects in the room. I like these videos because they are soothing and have backgrounds with lo-fi piano music and sounds of rain and food boiling and sizzling. Also, the details are very exact and use intense color and focus. Some of the creators seem to be newer at it than others, with weird jumps to new scenes when one scene has gone awry. Some are seamless.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make videos like that, but also very frustrating, knowing how hard it is for AI programs to fully comply with instructions. Of course, humans have difficulty with this, too, but a human will fail in human ways. E.g., a human might animate a character putting food in a grocery cart and forget something from the grocery list. AI will put anomalies in the cart, like a carton of McDonald’s French fries. Who knew you could pick up such items off the grocery store shelf (British English was probably the default language choice)?
Jill Domschot 