Nov 19, 2004 • Day 3 of tracking

While we're here in LA to make this record, the three of us have been staying at the band house which is not far at all from the studio. We record from noon to midnight or one every day except Sundays, and the regular schedule allowed us to settle into a satisfactory routine within the first couple of days up here...And we do love our routines... so we are able to get up and exercise and shower, drink some espresso and eat a little morning grub before getting to work.

At our little house, Sean and Chris sleep in the larger of the two bedrooms and I'm just across the hall in other room. It's always like old times when we are living together. At night when we all head off to bed, invariably, Sean and Chris soon pick back up and continue to go off on what is inevitably a ridiculous topic, begun before turning in, and I fall asleep with my head towards my open door, so I can efficiently eavesdrop on their hilarious ramblings, rantings, and philosophies, which, like most things, reach their peak afterhours.

When we were really little, and spending the night at the Thile house in Idyllwild, if I was having trouble sleeping, I'd sometimes go into the hall outside of the boys room so I could hear Sean and Chris talking, and I'd fall asleep with my head resting on the steadily breathing side of Gretel, (the Thile's very sweet, three-legged dog). I love thinking back on those scenes and am scared to death of losing them as the years peal back the layers of accessible memory files. Thank goodness for journals.