So.
Filmed a great wedding yesterday, one that left me tired and sore and much deserving of a break. It’s a hazy Sunday morning, and another day that it’ll feel like it’s above 40°C with the humidity. Working nearly 13 hours and turning into a little puddle of Asian man means I’m consciously avoiding the outdoors today. I’ll be content to sip my coffee and peer out the window at the gently sunlit trees.
Even though it’s getting ever closer to her wedding, and Lisa has an increasing number of things to get done, we’ve been able to see each other more lately. I’ve realized that it’s not good enough to have her meet my needs. I have to fill a certain role in her life too. That’s what brings meaning to the relationship, cause it means she appreciates me the way I want to be appreciated. So often, it feels like that’s all I’ve ever wanted.
I’m glad to have developed a ritual get-together with Aaron too. When we don’t see each other one week, it feels like a year the next time we catch up. Tonight I’m heading over to his house for the start of bachelor week, something we’ve been excitedly planning for a while now. It’s the first time he’s had the house to himself since the kids were born, so I’ll be staying there for a few days of games, movies, barbecue, and general guy stuff, coming back home to feed the kitties every now and then. We’re doing a six person Magic tourney tomorrow, my first in the Constructed format, and everyone’s making new decks for the chance to open some M13 boosters. I think my deck concept is BRILLIANT and I can’t wait to try it out.
Chet Atkins has also been keeping me company lately. I’m so glad to have found his instructional DVD, where he talks with his old man charm about what he likes in each song and how to play them, phrase by phrase. I grew my thumbnail out nice and long for nearly two months, cut it off for practicality’s sake during wedding season, then immediately regretted the decision. The electric strings I’ve been using have a really flat, dull tone in the lower register, and since the bass line is so important in Chet’s arrangements, it’s like an entire part is missing from any song I try to learn. I’m going to try learning with a thumb pick, which is something I’ve been avoiding for a while now cause I hate the loss of sensitivity (like a condom on your thumb), but hopefully the compromise is worth it.
I have things to organize, chores to do, errands to run, and a house to clean before I leave. For now, I’ll enjoy the rest of the morning, wasting time.
I still think it’s easier to get ALL your fingerpicks, not just thumbpick. You’ll feel SO LOUD and powerful after : )
I was also thinking how I enjoy the change of seasons in your pictures as I go along your bloglife with you. Majel and cocktail is SO lazy summer. Beautiful.
I’ve definitely considered fingerpicks as well, but right now I think I’ve developed the ability to play with short fingernails by adjusting the angle I attack the strings. It’s not as loud as it could be, but it’s enough. The thumbnail is the only one that I couldn’t get to work.
With the steel stains on my nails, grandpa asked if I had a case of grey nails.
Steel stains? For playing steel-stringed guitar?
Yep.