Finger dents

So I did something tonight that I’ve almost never done before, even though I’ve been a musician for twenty years: I practiced.

*Gasp!*

Shocking, I know, but this afternoon, I had a long conversation (so long that The Wife paged me on my cell phone to ask where the hell I was and if I was planning on coming home at some point) with a fellow musician who owns a store in town (no, it’s not Josh)and I found myself holding forth that either you choose to make time for music in your life or not; either you play or you don’t. And it got me thinking that, hey, for a long time now, almost for as long as I’ve been a musician, I’ve been pretty half-ass about it.

Oh sure, I can pick up the horn (that’d be a 1994 vintage Selmer Super Action 80 Model II tenor saxophone with an Otto Link 6* and Vandoren Java 3s for those of you not in the know) and rip off a couple scales. I can read down most basic charts at first sight with about 80 percent accuracy, and I’m more than happy to solo over any changes that are remotely blues based. But all that’s easy, and is hold-over from high school when I spent a hell of a lot of time in the band room messing around with music.

While I don’t have to be furrowed-brow-hermit serious to play, I was thinking that maybe I should make a practice plan for myself, and carve out a little niche each day so that I have time to play, and a plan for what I’m going to play.

OK, so I’m still planless, but I played a little guitar tonight. I’m right at the very beginning stages of that instrument, and while it’s frustrating, it’s also fun to figure out things as I go. For example, I found a C major arpeggio tonight not by ear, but by figuring out what the hell I was doing. It was cool. But now I have dents in the tips of my fingers from the strings.

Raining

I’m wet. The dog is wet. Jaques-the-Rock, who spent the night outside, is wet. The entryway, however is dry after the roofing job that our contractor buddy did for us a couple months ago. Hooray.

And Moo, one of the cowboys, was giving us hints this morning. I went downstairs to let the dogs outside and there he was, sprawled across the top of the water heater.

Dumb Questions

Conventional wisdom (and a whole passel of primary and secondary teachers) says “there is no such thing as a dumb question.”

I disagree.

Today, while looking at the empty chair of my boss, someone asked if he was around. Hmmm… Yeah, he’s just covered with invisible paint.

What’s the dumbest question you’ve been asked or asked lately? (Yeah, and this one doesn’t count, PITA)

Spooky

Yesterday, probably at about three in the afternoon or so, while I was building stairs for our deck, some random person pulled into the field behind our house in a red Ford Ranger stepside and parked and sat there, listening to *really loud* heavy metal.

Said metal head was still there an hour-and-a-half later, after a minivan came, stayed just long enough for either a friend to do a health and welfare check or a dealer to unload a dimebag, and left.

The really spooky part was that the person was *still* there at 1 a.m. when I got up to reload the wood stove. I almost called the cops right there. I decided to wait until the morning, though, and now the nutjob is gone and all is right with my world again.

More photos

So I’ve finally arisen from my rump and have posted more photos (mostly of the kid, of course) at flickr. Check ‘em out!

Is balance the key?

Obviously, I’ve been busy. Being a new dad will do that. As will starting a new job. As will launching a business. As will playing in a band. As will heating with wood.

During my early morning (ie 5:30 a.m.) sessions with the wood pile, I’ve been trying to come up with some sort of method to my madness; figure out some way to find enough time to get everything done. But now I’m wondering if that’s really the right approach.

After all, if I try to do a little bit of everything, will I do enough of anything? Maybe, instead of seeking balance, I should instead search for priorities. I could do some soul searching and try to figure out what the important things in my life are, then focus on those instead of giving a whole lot of time to worrying about realitively inconsequential stuff.