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A Girl Scout Day
Sep. 16th, 2006 11:39 pmI feel a little like one of those people who make $80,000+ but don't know where all their money goes to, only I feel this way about time instead of money. I don't have kids, I never work over forty hours a week, and I can exercise and/or read during my commute, but I still feel frustrated by my lack of time.
It might be partly because there are so many cool things to do that there are always many that I can't do. For example, today, in addition to all the things I'm used to not having time to do, I missed a body flow class because it was during guitar class, I missed the last half of the tie-dye games party and I missed going ballroom dancing because those were during the reefer-madness party.
This is the kind of problem I like.
So we had our first (of about ten) beginning guitar class today from Informal Classes. The instructor seems great. He seems highly experienced and he's figured out how to get us playing pretty things right away by just learning a few easy things. He had a great mini-lecture about practice. Basically the bad news is that if you want to be good, you'll have to practice. But the good news is that if you practice you will actually improve. And if you can just get yourself to like practicing somehow, that would be ideal.
And he's trying to teach both rhythm and melody techniques.
We are learning both a blues riff and the song "Amazing Grace" that require only one string at a time, only one note at a time, and no stretching at all. It's mostly recommended to use your index finger only against the fret, but if that gets too sore, you could use another finger.
The instructions said to bring a guitar and $15 for a method book. He forgot to specify that you should have strings on your guitar. One lady came in with a guitar with only four of its six strings present. She had a good excuse, though--it's a borrowed guitar, and she didn't want to replace the strings if the class wasn't going to make, and the sixth person didn't sign up until late yesterday afternoon. Also, the bridge was loose from the guitar, so a repair was also going to be required.
We ended up with eight students overall. In a horrible classroom where there are long tables with seats attached directly to the tables. It was recommended that we sit on the tables! I let the missing-string lady borrow my guitar once I felt comfortable that I could learn the things on my own at home this week. (So I got in my good turn for the day, like a good Girl Scout.) She decided that she did like the class enough to get the guitar strung by next time.
The instructor said that on many guitars the bridge isn't supposed to be attached--it's held in place by the pressure of the strings, so hers might not be broken. He recommended a place to get strings and advice about the bridge.
**
I tie-dyed a shirt--can't tell how it will come out until we untie it tomorrow, but it looks like it will at least have lots of cool colors on it.
I also brought my Dogville game, but one of the hosts' sons couldn't make it to the party. So I left the game there until the next party. Another good turn!
**
For the reefer-madness party we were told to dress like a beatnik or a square. I came as the ultimate square: a Girl Scout. Yes, in my actual vest from junior high school. (Or maybe as a beatnik disguised as a square, because I also had red dye on my hands from before I put on rubber gloves at the tie-dye party.) The hostess was dressed as a Stepford wife, which apparently creeped only me out. I haven't even seen that movie yet (either version). The host was a square who looked like a tired police detective. There was also a woman all in black, fake-smoking a cigarette. In all, two beatniks and four squares. A smaller-than-usual party, but still nice.
We also were advised to bring 50's related items such as jello salad in Tupperware, spam, Twister, and "special" brownies. I brought a wholesome game (Yahtzee) and nifty party snacks (fiery cheese fries). The hosts actually had special brownies themselves: they were chocolate mint flavored! We watched "Reefer Madness," which although at times was just as exaggerated as I'd heard, also had an actual plot. The DVD that movie came on also had out-takes from 1930's movies (though I couldn't find a mention of these on the cover).
Bed-time now.
It might be partly because there are so many cool things to do that there are always many that I can't do. For example, today, in addition to all the things I'm used to not having time to do, I missed a body flow class because it was during guitar class, I missed the last half of the tie-dye games party and I missed going ballroom dancing because those were during the reefer-madness party.
This is the kind of problem I like.
So we had our first (of about ten) beginning guitar class today from Informal Classes. The instructor seems great. He seems highly experienced and he's figured out how to get us playing pretty things right away by just learning a few easy things. He had a great mini-lecture about practice. Basically the bad news is that if you want to be good, you'll have to practice. But the good news is that if you practice you will actually improve. And if you can just get yourself to like practicing somehow, that would be ideal.
And he's trying to teach both rhythm and melody techniques.
We are learning both a blues riff and the song "Amazing Grace" that require only one string at a time, only one note at a time, and no stretching at all. It's mostly recommended to use your index finger only against the fret, but if that gets too sore, you could use another finger.
The instructions said to bring a guitar and $15 for a method book. He forgot to specify that you should have strings on your guitar. One lady came in with a guitar with only four of its six strings present. She had a good excuse, though--it's a borrowed guitar, and she didn't want to replace the strings if the class wasn't going to make, and the sixth person didn't sign up until late yesterday afternoon. Also, the bridge was loose from the guitar, so a repair was also going to be required.
We ended up with eight students overall. In a horrible classroom where there are long tables with seats attached directly to the tables. It was recommended that we sit on the tables! I let the missing-string lady borrow my guitar once I felt comfortable that I could learn the things on my own at home this week. (So I got in my good turn for the day, like a good Girl Scout.) She decided that she did like the class enough to get the guitar strung by next time.
The instructor said that on many guitars the bridge isn't supposed to be attached--it's held in place by the pressure of the strings, so hers might not be broken. He recommended a place to get strings and advice about the bridge.
**
I tie-dyed a shirt--can't tell how it will come out until we untie it tomorrow, but it looks like it will at least have lots of cool colors on it.
I also brought my Dogville game, but one of the hosts' sons couldn't make it to the party. So I left the game there until the next party. Another good turn!
**
For the reefer-madness party we were told to dress like a beatnik or a square. I came as the ultimate square: a Girl Scout. Yes, in my actual vest from junior high school. (Or maybe as a beatnik disguised as a square, because I also had red dye on my hands from before I put on rubber gloves at the tie-dye party.) The hostess was dressed as a Stepford wife, which apparently creeped only me out. I haven't even seen that movie yet (either version). The host was a square who looked like a tired police detective. There was also a woman all in black, fake-smoking a cigarette. In all, two beatniks and four squares. A smaller-than-usual party, but still nice.
We also were advised to bring 50's related items such as jello salad in Tupperware, spam, Twister, and "special" brownies. I brought a wholesome game (Yahtzee) and nifty party snacks (fiery cheese fries). The hosts actually had special brownies themselves: they were chocolate mint flavored! We watched "Reefer Madness," which although at times was just as exaggerated as I'd heard, also had an actual plot. The DVD that movie came on also had out-takes from 1930's movies (though I couldn't find a mention of these on the cover).
Bed-time now.