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February 28, 2005

Weekend Blues

Saturday was kinda rough. There were medication issues on my part, and general stir craziness issues. I had another irritating series of phone encounters with one of my relatives who shall remain nameless, but suffice it to say that I have a phone number that corresponds to my cell phone, which I give to my relatives. The relative in question will call that number and then call the house if I don't immediately answer.

What if I happen to be in the shower when this person calls? What if I'm not in the mood to talk? What if my wife and I are otherwise engaged in marital activities?(Yes, Virginia, I was just talking about Kim and I getting busy.) When the impatient relative calls the house, then Susan will answer the phone and start trying to hand it off to me. Not a good situation, natch. So do us all a favor, okay? When someone gives you a number to reach them at, don't go all private detective if you have to leave a voice mail once in a while, okay?

Sunday was kinda weird. By about 2:30, I was going a little bit nuts. So I decided to get some food and wound up at Yangkee Noodle, an oriental noodle place at the Oxmoor Mall. Kim didn't like the place the one time we'd eaten there, so since I was on my own I figured that this would be a good time to try it out again.

I was right-- I got chicken with soba noodles and some veggies, along with a Thai pesto sauce. The bowl was huge and I really enjoyed the hell out of it, even if my mouth was on fire by the time I was done.

The other reason I had gone to Oxmoor was the Willis Music caddy-corner to the noodle shop. I walked in this small little
store and just about fell down when I saw the number of guitars they had crammed in there. I walked around in there for a good fifteen minutes, aching to pick up on of the Flying V's or Strats. I couldn't bring myself to do it since I haven't played in something like five years or so. I finally bought some strings for my guitar along with a couple of picks (I'm a pick fiend. I will buy picks every time I go into a music store if I'm not careful).

While I wouldn't pick up one of the guitars, I did ask the guy at the counter to demo the electronic drum kits. He brought a set of sticks and some headphones over and sat me down. Two minutes later, I was playing drums for the first time. Now, I'm a rhythm head, I'm always bouncing my feet or tapping along with music. Sometimes at work I'll have my headphones on and a good song will come on. Before I know it, I'm playing drums on my keyboard, thumping along like the village idiot.

I actually wanted to play the drums before I ever picked up a guitar, but they were just too expensive. So I've always been interested but I've never had the chance to goof around. I was in heaven. This kit was incredible. Everything was touch sensitive, including the cymbals, and since it's digital, you can change the sound of the kit with the touch of a button. These things have come a long way from the techno-only drum pads that were prevalent in the 80's.

I eventually gave it up, though, and headed back home. I mostly restrung my guitar (aside from breaking one of the new strings right off), and played around until my fingers got sore, which took all of about five minutes. I've played again today and I've mostly gotten the setup straightened out, but I'm still not happy with the way the bridge is floating right now.. it's like the strings are too tight and they're shifting the bridge forward. I'm going to take it up to Mom's music on Frankfort Avenue tomorrow and see what they can do for it.

But the weekend was kinda shaky, although it turned out okay. I've got to remember to keep something like my regular schedule so that my meds don't get screwed up. I spend too much time at work, and going to and from, to have the weekends screwed up by my inherently screwed up brain chemistry.

Posted by john at February 28, 2005 08:21 PM

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