Today I meant to do some sewing, but felt kind of sleepy after a pancake breakfast (not too surprising), so I’ve been puttering around listening to music and playing with the computer. I burned a CD of the songs I bought from iTunes after my visit to Ann Arbor, and listened to Todd Rundgren, and sent a couple of people an mp3 of a Nicole Willis song I like—“If This Ain’t Love (Don’t Know What Is)”—and replied to an email from Lex.
Lexie is my very oldest friend, and we have been very well in touch lately by email, pretty much on a daily basis, which has been nice. We met 40 years ago, when I was six and she was four.
I don’t know if I mentioned BioBags biodegradable bags here. If I did, I need to unrecommend them, as they have a regrettable tendency to break, spewing cat litter all over the floor. Maybe there’s another brand of biodegradable bag that is better.
Lisa M. recently had a Perspective air on KQED on the subject of not flushing the toilet so much. She wasn’t allowed to say this on the air but told me on the phone that one of the secrets to infrequent toilet flushing (skip this if you’re easily grossed out) is to put toilet paper that only has pee on it into the trash rather than into the toilet. Then, by the time you flush the toilet (per the “if it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down” rule), there won’t be tons of toilet paper in the toilet.
She assured me that this does not give her trash an unappealing odor so I started doing the same thing and can confirm that this is true.
I got out my electric guitar today, for the first time in a year or so, and played through the snippets I’d written previously. They all sounded terrible, which was mystifying. Then I realized I’d tuned the top two strings a note too high. This does make a difference.
I’ve decided maybe it’s not an entirely wholesome idea to take guitar lessons from the very-attractive-but-married guy, nor would it be at all convenient, since he teaches clear across town, so I have been looking around for teachers and have emailed a couple of folks.
When I started playing the trumpet again as an adult, I took lessons at the Community Music Center, which was good because you pay for a semester at a time, which gives you time to build up some momentum. Unless you like throwing money away, you don’t have to debate whether or not to go back for your second lesson. As it happened, I absolutely loved my teacher, Lauraine Carpenter, who started pushing me into performance opportunities right away, and I ultimately ended up going back to school for a music degree.
I’ve been looking at the Community Music Center’s website for a guitar teacher—they have lots—but while they bill themselves as being affordable, it actually costs as much for a lesson there as it would to take a private lesson with a pro player, so I might not end up there, or I might.
I’d love to be playing the trumpet, but it’s so loud and I hate playing it right over the head of the building manager, knowing that probably every note is making her angry. I have looked into the Yamaha Silent Brass thing, but it gets very mixed reviews. A lot of people say to just get a good mute (for about $500 less).
Maybe the main thing about the trumpet, though, is that it demands a daily commitment, which I don’t have time for these days. If I really wanted to perform, I’d have to practice at least an hour a day, and I just can’t.
I’m thinking that if I learned guitar fundamentals, I could write songs and sing them while I accompanied myself and maybe record them on the Mac, but it wouldn’t be something I’d have to do every day.
1 comment:
A mute, you say! Had they invented those when you were still living with yer Pa and me?
Post a Comment