This morning I'm listening to Inti-Illimani's Palimsesto and trying really hard to stay in the present moment: the sun, the breeze, the sound of a chain hitting against a flag pole, barking dogs, all things that the computer is really good at trying to make me forget about ( Read more... )

Wow! Suddenly old friends are updating their livejournals constantly again! I enjoy reading their posts, though I can't think of anything specific to say in comments. LJ posts are so much better than 140-character status updates ( Read more... )

This week I've been practicing Green Sleeves. It’s too early to say if it’s easy or intuitive yet, but I have noticed something interesting about it: the version I've been playing is written in the Dorian mode, which is to say that it’s in a-minor with a couple accidentals, specifically f-sharp in stead of f. There are two f-sharps in the song, ( Read more... )

For the past week I've had a fever; if I'm remembering correctly, my first since being back in the U.S. Though it was not fun as I was going through it, it served to put some things into perspective ( Read more... )

"Norweigian Wood" is playing on the stereo system of this coffee shop. they turned it up specifically for this song. only in Wala walla, where it's foggy and cars slosh through last night's rain, would this song make sense and not sound dated or cliche ( Read more... )

This morning I feel close to South America. I want to write a cueca to describe this anachronistically warm January sun shining on my face, the smell of Julia and Rossie making bacon. Today's going to be a trying day, but I have the energy to deal with it ( Read more... )

I realize that I haven't updated LJ in a while. Mostly this is because whenever I sit down to write ,angry and negative feelings come out and it ends up feeling like I've written them all down before ( Read more... )

Today I began a new relationship with my guitar: one that involves rest strokes and free strokes played nearer to the bridge than to the fret board, alternating finger pattern drills, propping my foot up and holding the guitar on the other leg, and filing my nails with 100-grain sandpaper. I had my first classical lesson which, now that I have an ( Read more... )

I just had another one of those sacred moments of insight thanks to the I-Ching. I always write about these moments in general terms, always mention the hexagram I drew, (in this case, hexagram 24,) and never going into the specifics of the question I asked. this is because it feels some how crude to copy what I wrote in braille in the dark from ( Read more... )

Lots of things are confusing right now. I woke up with the sentiment and melody to that Counting Crows song, "Long December," in my head. I played it on guitar as I realized that it was snowing outside ( Read more... )