o tempora, o mores!

So, I didn’t go out to the little shop/studio where I have my lessons, today. Instead, I called, asking about rescheduling procedure(s). Jeff [Lesson Director guy; he does all the coordination and scheduling] asked me if I wanted to talk to Doug [my teacher] for a sec. So I was like, “Hey, sure.”

So, after a few questions and all that jazz, I hopped on MSN to take my first lesson–granted, it was one-way, considering I don’t have one–via webcam.

I’m sure this is not an irregular thing, what with these here crazy computers and their tubes and all…but it was still pretty nifty. Obviously, you have the comfort of your own home without the impersonal hassle of one of those teach-yourself videos

He asks, “So, as far as this goes, where are you?”
“Er…I’m pretty much in the dark, here.”
“Oh-kay, that’s cool, we can start from the beginning.”

Turns out that my concept of in the dark and others’…well, obviously they differ. See, it seems to me that if you’re interested in playing an instrument that you might find out a little bit about it before going in and having lessons. So, he starts going on about the purpose and alternate tunings and of frets and capos and all that…and I just laughed,

“Well, maybe I’m not entirely in the dark. I know the uses, it’s just…I can’t use them yet. I know what notes it plays, I know what chords are; I play piano. So we don’t need to go over scales.”
“OH!” he says. “Okay. See, I thought we literally had to go from square one.”
My fault for being unclear.

It went pretty well, though. He has me doing very basic stuff just so I can get used to the feel for it. I’m satisfied; this one was a freebie–I still get to make up my missed in-person lesson!
The only real downside is that I had to be thorough to the point of annoyance on explaining how I was holding it and playing so he could correct error. This [playing] is not the easiest of tasks in front of a computer…or, at least, in the chair I’m in. Actually, I’m sure it’d be fine with a smaller guitar, but my Ibanez Electric-Acoustic is a beast. Here:

It’s an ungainly beast. A beautiful sounding beast, but still a beast. :3

But now that I’m talking about my guitar instead of the lesson…there are a few quirks about it. Some are neat, others…not so much.
Neat: For the tone-deaf, there’s an onboard tuner to help tune the guitar. I have a pretty decent sense of pitch, though, and I can tune it along with my piano or with humming.
Not so much: …seriously, it’s huge.
Neat: Electric-acoustic guitars have the wonderful application of an amp.
Not so much: There’s only one pin for the strap. This is common with acoustis, apparently. You just but a strap with a lace or string at one end, and that’s the end you attach to the top of the neck, under the strings. This isn’t favored, though, as the strap gets in your way as you play. I can get another pin installed at Picker’s for a small fee…but that means hole-drilling in my gee-tar. Ahh!

So, since I’m avoiding getting any work done, I think I will resume my practice. Phwee~

By no means am I a patient person. By, actually, reading a friend’s mother’s blog, I decided, the other day, that I need to make a point of pausing to enjoy at least one little thing in the course of my day. It doesn’t matter if it’s simple or complex–actually, in my opinion, the simpler…the better. People are too concerned with luxury or grandeur to allow themselves to be pleased by simple things.

Last Friday, I was on lunch break, sitting with a friend in a room adjacent to the cafeteria because said friend and I been showing new students where they need to be [because no one takes a tour upon enrollment or attends orientations]. This happened to be the band and orchestral practice hall. So, reasonably, you’d expect people to come in and play. And they did. There were a few horrid violin bouts, but they moved into the soundproof practice room.
At one point, a young man came in with an acoustic guitar nestled in its case, slung over his back. He grabbed a chair, removed it from its bed, plucked a chord, decided it needed finer tuning. He took care of this and started to produce this quiet little Spanish melody that made nice background noise to the friend and my quiet conversation. Beneath our notice, the tempo and volume began to grow–well, until I did notice, and I waved down my friend’s sentence and suggested that we just listen.

Turns out, he’s fairly accomplished. It was a long song–I wonder if his fingers were tired? Anyway, it was thoroughly pleasant. As something of an audiophile, I highly appreciate things like that…especially when they’re random-ish. He left, and we thanked him for the accompaniment to our meal.

And yesterday, a couple of my friends and I went to be atrociously girly and get pedicures. I’d forgotten how nice that was. Normally, I just do all that stuff myself, but, on occasion, it is one of those pleasantries that I enjoy.
Granted, it was something I pursued, but I don’t think that matters all too much.

I haven’t found my moment, today. Hopefully, I’ll be able to spend some time in one of the parks near my school today…the weather isn’t stifling, and I’m feeling better, now–I recently had a cold–so…yeah. ^^

I wonder…if more people set aside just a moment–even if only a minute–to relish something in their environment, daily, would the world be more content, on the whole?