Weekend roundup
So we had a nice sunshiney weekend, which was excellent. On Saturday we held the guitar lesson outdoors once again, and unlike last week I was not a complete drooling bonehead. Guitar Teacher challenged me to play through my practice song, "Rainbow Connection," from beginning to end. Which I did, not perfectly smoothly but without any big major mistakes, and this included hitting the bass note first in each chord (which means I had to pay attention to which string I was striking), and also doing the different endings for each verse, the bridge, and the outro (which meant I had to pay attention to the notations in the book.)
The reason it can be a good idea to practice through a song is, you can work on such details.
So GT said nice things about the fact my practicing was really starting to show, which was encouraging. My classmate had been working on "Leaving On A Jet Plane," just on his own (we didn't really have homework this week, possibly because we were both so stupid last week), so that's the next thing we're working on. It also has its own little flourishes that I don't get yet, but it has a nice down-down-up-up-down-up rhythm that's very pleasant to play. (Until you get to the complicated bit and have to screech to a halt and figure it out. I need to remember to play the whole thing at the same low speed so the screeching halt is not necessary!)
Later in the day I was invited to a 70s-themed 40th birthday party in Dartmouth, for an occupational therapist I knew as a student. I confess, I had one of my freakouts about that on Thursday or Friday--Oh noes, I won't know anyone there and I'll miss the barn and it will be the WORST THING EVER...
And luckily at that point some shred of sanity took hold and said, "Pop quiz: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired?"
Well, Tired for sure. And possibly also Hungry.
At which point I calmed down, reminded myself that it was the crazy part of my brain talking--or at least the part that cannot face anything new when I'm tired--and also that (a) the birthday person was a dear, so (b) her partner who made such a point of inviting me was also obviously a dear, and (c) I would know at least one other guest and a lot of the others would be occupational therapists, who are always great, and (d) I didn't have to stay for the whole party, right?
At which point I realized I was being an idiot, bought a DVD of a Cheech & Chong movie (hey, that's pretty seventies, don't you think?) dug out my best 70s-style tee, and had a great time at the party.
Especially when the Elvis impersonator showed up. The same Elvis impersonator who serenaded me (at work) for my fortieth. He's much funnier when he's happening to somebody else!
I even made it to the barn afterward, just in time to bring in the horses, although after I helped with that I didn't really have the ambition to do much else. I got back out on Sunday for a little bit.
Sunday night I watched a few more episodes of Robin Hood (I haven't settled in to watch the World Cup at all yet) and am increasingly more angry at the show for killing off Marian. Dammit!
Also, on Sunday I made that Brown Sugar Pork Roast I found a while back. In Atlantic Canada, the local Chinese restaurants make this dish called honey-garlic spare ribs. I never saw them on the menus in Dallas, which leads me to wonder whether they're a local aberration.
Well, when I tasted the pork roast I realized I had pretty much made a single, giant, honey-garlic spare rib. This is... not a bad thing. (Also, the recipe tells you to "pour off excess juices." Yeah, into a JAR, so you can heat it up later over your rice!)
Incidentally, the recipe calls for cooking 7-9 hours on "low." I did more like three and a half to four hours on "high" and it worked out fine.
And on that note, I think I'm caught up.
The reason it can be a good idea to practice through a song is, you can work on such details.
So GT said nice things about the fact my practicing was really starting to show, which was encouraging. My classmate had been working on "Leaving On A Jet Plane," just on his own (we didn't really have homework this week, possibly because we were both so stupid last week), so that's the next thing we're working on. It also has its own little flourishes that I don't get yet, but it has a nice down-down-up-up-down-up rhythm that's very pleasant to play. (Until you get to the complicated bit and have to screech to a halt and figure it out. I need to remember to play the whole thing at the same low speed so the screeching halt is not necessary!)
Later in the day I was invited to a 70s-themed 40th birthday party in Dartmouth, for an occupational therapist I knew as a student. I confess, I had one of my freakouts about that on Thursday or Friday--Oh noes, I won't know anyone there and I'll miss the barn and it will be the WORST THING EVER...
And luckily at that point some shred of sanity took hold and said, "Pop quiz: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired?"
Well, Tired for sure. And possibly also Hungry.
At which point I calmed down, reminded myself that it was the crazy part of my brain talking--or at least the part that cannot face anything new when I'm tired--and also that (a) the birthday person was a dear, so (b) her partner who made such a point of inviting me was also obviously a dear, and (c) I would know at least one other guest and a lot of the others would be occupational therapists, who are always great, and (d) I didn't have to stay for the whole party, right?
At which point I realized I was being an idiot, bought a DVD of a Cheech & Chong movie (hey, that's pretty seventies, don't you think?) dug out my best 70s-style tee, and had a great time at the party.
Especially when the Elvis impersonator showed up. The same Elvis impersonator who serenaded me (at work) for my fortieth. He's much funnier when he's happening to somebody else!
I even made it to the barn afterward, just in time to bring in the horses, although after I helped with that I didn't really have the ambition to do much else. I got back out on Sunday for a little bit.
Sunday night I watched a few more episodes of Robin Hood (I haven't settled in to watch the World Cup at all yet) and am increasingly more angry at the show for killing off Marian. Dammit!
Also, on Sunday I made that Brown Sugar Pork Roast I found a while back. In Atlantic Canada, the local Chinese restaurants make this dish called honey-garlic spare ribs. I never saw them on the menus in Dallas, which leads me to wonder whether they're a local aberration.
Well, when I tasted the pork roast I realized I had pretty much made a single, giant, honey-garlic spare rib. This is... not a bad thing. (Also, the recipe tells you to "pour off excess juices." Yeah, into a JAR, so you can heat it up later over your rice!)
Incidentally, the recipe calls for cooking 7-9 hours on "low." I did more like three and a half to four hours on "high" and it worked out fine.
And on that note, I think I'm caught up.