音楽したいなら練習しなくちゃいけない！
I got a new phone! It's the first new phone in three years. It's a Samsung Intensity and I love it so far. The sound quality isn't great, but it has a keyboard which is fantastic. Now I want to figure out how to get a custom ringtone for the first time ever!
My dad and I went to a music shop today to look at guitars. It came out somehow that I want to learn guitar. The whole story, actually, is that I want to be able to play something besides hand drums (although I am working on that djembe fund!). I'm considering guitar and piano, mostly. I really want to be able to play so many instruments, and curse the stupid idiot I was as a child who never wanted to practice. But realistically, I barely have time to even learn one. First of all, buying/renting an instrument is expensive, paying for lessons is expensive, getting the instrument to/from school is expensive and not fun, and practice is time-consuming. This is just try of music in general. It takes work! Anything does.
But my dad seems pretty stoked by the idea that I want to play, so he had my trying out his guitar the other day. It's a jumbo guitar because he's so big, and I could barely get my hand around the neck. Today at the shop, he was looking at new guitars for himself, and I was given a small, nylon-stringed guitar (a Breedlove) with a slimmer neck. It was a huge improvement. I know from playing violin that string instruments are hard on your fingers, but nylon was so much more comfortable than steel. The sound does seem a little different, but I'm not hung up on it. And the size of the guitar was perfect. We didn't buy it today, because I'm leaving in less than seven days and won't be back till Thanksgiving, so there's not much point in starting to play now. Dad says he'll get me the guitar for Christmas and he'll teach me, then in winter I'll take lessons at school. For the record, this is an expensive deal. The guitar is over $200, maybe closer to $300. Lessons at school are around $300-400. I don't like to cough up that kind of money and my dad likes it even less. So I think he's pretty excited about someone else in the family caring about guitar. All this, the guitar, the lessons, was his idea. I wasn't going to ask for it. I was going to try to improvise until I figured out what I really wanted to do. But you know what, guitar is a wonderful instrument, I do want to learn it, and I think it'll be a lot of fun. And it'll be great to do something with my dad that he's excited about. We share very few interests. Even our tastes in music are very different. I hope this all works out, because I think it'll be great.
Speaking of my dad, tomorrow he and I are going to a baseball game. He's hung up on George Steinbrenner's death so I expect to hear about little else the whole day... lol. We'll be sitting right out in the sun D: But I haven't been to a baseball game in ages, so I'm looking forward to it. I'll bring The Inheritance of Loss for when I'm less than enthralled by the game. Dad will understand XD
Tonight my friends and I are having a bonfire at Erin's, woo!
Then this week is last-minute shopping and packing, then it's off to JASC... I can't believe how fast the summer went by. Actually, it doesn't feel like it went by quickly... it was a very high stress summer. But I'm so apprehensive about JASC that I can't believe it's time to leave already. OMG. I really hope it goes well and I don't come off as too big a fool. Everyone seems so smart.
Then the fall semester starts, my friends will almost all be in Japan... so I'll have to work hard at getting to know more people in the English major. <3 I have a shocking zero Japanese classes for next semester. There's Japanese Lit and SocioLing (which will likely deal with Japanese linguistics too, since the teacher is Japanese), but neither are legit Japanese language classes. Hopefully I don't fall too out of practice. These days I'm fairly communicable. I would like to expand my kanji comprehension so I can take JPLT.
And I've got a pipe dream... I really hope to find a boyfriend soon. I'm tired of being single and want to shake things up. It might not happen because I am shy, picky and bad at flirting. But, you know, it's on my mind for various reasons...
Am also considering apping for the International House. There's only one spot... should I do it? I'm not sure.
Lastly, fandom news - X-men: Second Coming #2 came out last week. I didn't even know about it. I want to buy it, but I'm going to wait till I'm back at school since it definitely won't arrive in time. There are some strong mentions of Kurt and his death. A great conversation with Wolvie and Storm. But actually, I'd like to talk about that more later, put some effort in it, since I feel pretty strongly about everything that happened during Second Coming. I think it was Marvel at its best, at least regarding X-books. Not everyone agrees and I'll admit there are plenty of weak spots. Then again, I have low expectations for superhero comics in general, so maybe it's not hard to impress me. But I'll rant about it another time and you can decide for yourself... Suffice to say, Storm's line, "Every time I feel like I've cried all the tears I have to cry... there he [Kurt] is again" was so beautiful, touching... and unexpected. I believe it's a Mike Carey line. I adore Mike Carey. Sometimes his writing style seems bland to me, but he's really good at capturing emotion without compromising action. His characters are so charmingly human. Some people prefer their escapist fantasies to be extremely fantastical, but I like a healthy dose of humanity, otherwise the story doesn't draw me in at all.
Still grieving... RIP Kurt Wagner.
My dad and I went to a music shop today to look at guitars. It came out somehow that I want to learn guitar. The whole story, actually, is that I want to be able to play something besides hand drums (although I am working on that djembe fund!). I'm considering guitar and piano, mostly. I really want to be able to play so many instruments, and curse the stupid idiot I was as a child who never wanted to practice. But realistically, I barely have time to even learn one. First of all, buying/renting an instrument is expensive, paying for lessons is expensive, getting the instrument to/from school is expensive and not fun, and practice is time-consuming. This is just try of music in general. It takes work! Anything does.
But my dad seems pretty stoked by the idea that I want to play, so he had my trying out his guitar the other day. It's a jumbo guitar because he's so big, and I could barely get my hand around the neck. Today at the shop, he was looking at new guitars for himself, and I was given a small, nylon-stringed guitar (a Breedlove) with a slimmer neck. It was a huge improvement. I know from playing violin that string instruments are hard on your fingers, but nylon was so much more comfortable than steel. The sound does seem a little different, but I'm not hung up on it. And the size of the guitar was perfect. We didn't buy it today, because I'm leaving in less than seven days and won't be back till Thanksgiving, so there's not much point in starting to play now. Dad says he'll get me the guitar for Christmas and he'll teach me, then in winter I'll take lessons at school. For the record, this is an expensive deal. The guitar is over $200, maybe closer to $300. Lessons at school are around $300-400. I don't like to cough up that kind of money and my dad likes it even less. So I think he's pretty excited about someone else in the family caring about guitar. All this, the guitar, the lessons, was his idea. I wasn't going to ask for it. I was going to try to improvise until I figured out what I really wanted to do. But you know what, guitar is a wonderful instrument, I do want to learn it, and I think it'll be a lot of fun. And it'll be great to do something with my dad that he's excited about. We share very few interests. Even our tastes in music are very different. I hope this all works out, because I think it'll be great.
Speaking of my dad, tomorrow he and I are going to a baseball game. He's hung up on George Steinbrenner's death so I expect to hear about little else the whole day... lol. We'll be sitting right out in the sun D: But I haven't been to a baseball game in ages, so I'm looking forward to it. I'll bring The Inheritance of Loss for when I'm less than enthralled by the game. Dad will understand XD
Tonight my friends and I are having a bonfire at Erin's, woo!
Then this week is last-minute shopping and packing, then it's off to JASC... I can't believe how fast the summer went by. Actually, it doesn't feel like it went by quickly... it was a very high stress summer. But I'm so apprehensive about JASC that I can't believe it's time to leave already. OMG. I really hope it goes well and I don't come off as too big a fool. Everyone seems so smart.
Then the fall semester starts, my friends will almost all be in Japan... so I'll have to work hard at getting to know more people in the English major. <3 I have a shocking zero Japanese classes for next semester. There's Japanese Lit and SocioLing (which will likely deal with Japanese linguistics too, since the teacher is Japanese), but neither are legit Japanese language classes. Hopefully I don't fall too out of practice. These days I'm fairly communicable. I would like to expand my kanji comprehension so I can take JPLT.
And I've got a pipe dream... I really hope to find a boyfriend soon. I'm tired of being single and want to shake things up. It might not happen because I am shy, picky and bad at flirting. But, you know, it's on my mind for various reasons...
Am also considering apping for the International House. There's only one spot... should I do it? I'm not sure.
Lastly, fandom news - X-men: Second Coming #2 came out last week. I didn't even know about it. I want to buy it, but I'm going to wait till I'm back at school since it definitely won't arrive in time. There are some strong mentions of Kurt and his death. A great conversation with Wolvie and Storm. But actually, I'd like to talk about that more later, put some effort in it, since I feel pretty strongly about everything that happened during Second Coming. I think it was Marvel at its best, at least regarding X-books. Not everyone agrees and I'll admit there are plenty of weak spots. Then again, I have low expectations for superhero comics in general, so maybe it's not hard to impress me. But I'll rant about it another time and you can decide for yourself... Suffice to say, Storm's line, "Every time I feel like I've cried all the tears I have to cry... there he [Kurt] is again" was so beautiful, touching... and unexpected. I believe it's a Mike Carey line. I adore Mike Carey. Sometimes his writing style seems bland to me, but he's really good at capturing emotion without compromising action. His characters are so charmingly human. Some people prefer their escapist fantasies to be extremely fantastical, but I like a healthy dose of humanity, otherwise the story doesn't draw me in at all.
Still grieving... RIP Kurt Wagner.