Guitar Nails

There are days I feel like a dork when I look at my hands. The left hand sports nails filed below the tip, while the right hand is a thing of beauty. Five gloriously growing long nails. Such are the hands of a classical guitar player. In fact, my right hand is the envy of my teacher.

I find it rather funny that I couldn't grow my nails to save my life and now that I am taking lessons, the nails won't stop growing. Keeping the left hand short is as much a chore as shaping the right hand.

So it only goes to show me that the main outcome of my guitar lessons is some pretty nice nails.

Oh The Insanity...My Own, That Is...

I'm a cross-stitcher, needleworker, enjoyer of the needle arts...I don't know what you want to call it. Anyway, this is the newest project I'm working on. After years of making beautiful pieces of artwork for everyone else; I am finally working on a piece for myself.

If I am lucky, I will have this piece finished within 5 years. Needless to say, it will take countless hours. One inch of the fabric I am working contains 25 x's. That means one square inch contains 625 stitches. 625 intsy tinsy bitty x's. I'll have presbyopia by the time I'm finished. I worked 19 stitches to begin and in those 19 stitches I used 12 colors. There are 90 different colors in this work.

I've actually started and will blog about the progress from time to time. It will be a love hate relationship, but I fully intent to have it finished and framed while I can still enjoy it.

Wish me luck and good lighting!!

Can't You Play It On A Classical Guitar?

Good friends provide the humor of life. My closest friend, KP, has been amused for years by my antics. I won't bore you with all the details, but I finally had my big laugh at her expense.

"Can't you play it on a classical guitar?" Oh dear, such an innocent question, really. The answer is no, but here is what made it so funny. Follow me back to the previous evening....

As my guitar lesson was ending, I asked Jeff if he could play the intro to Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." Of course, I knew it would be a silly question, but I asked regardless. Without hesitation, he uncased his guitar, plugged it into the amp and BAM!

As I am sitting there drooling (over his guitar playing abilities), I realize that I am jealous of his talent. So, now it's back to practicing regularly. Anyway I digress. I love the intro to that song, and he played it perfectly, without a warm-up, without missing a beat. It was great and I was happy.

So KP and I are conversing Thursday and I'm sharing my awe at Jeff's guitar awesomeness...I told her that in our conversation, I mentioned to him, that I wanted to learn to play the intro. So I was now looking at electric guitars as well.

In all seriousness, she asked me, "can't you play it on an classical guitar?" I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. Maybe you had to be there, but for anyone who enjoys the hard rock/metal genre, you would know how silly a question this is.

Some songs are made for classical, other for electric. Guess I should be a good friend and introduce her to hard rock and metal.

To Die Doing What You Love

Prayers for Kim Martin, an old acquaintance. I knew her from a church I attended several years ago. She was in a Bible study program I facilitated for a couple of years.

Her husband, Vyarl, a skilled helicopter pilot, and a U.S. Coast Guard reservist (I'll always remember him saying, "It's pronounced VERL, not VIRAL" was killed in a "helicopter crash" on Sunday. Vyarl was 2nd in Command on the flight.

In the interview with NBC5, Kim said he died doing what he loved.

Should we all be so lucky.

Quote of the Month

"It was bumpy, then it was bumpier, then it wasn't bumpy."

Random passenger on Continental flight that crashed at Denver International Airport.