Just a quick post to mention that I am overwhelmed by all the ways being in a band is (positively) affecting my life. I intend to go into detail in the near future, but am feeling particularly thankful to myself for creating and sticking with this opportunity. This new chapter in my life is an exciting one.

Heh, the chorus to this song (which Ginger Presley is covering, btw) says it well:

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride.
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no.
I've got to keep on movin'.

I hope you're all having lovely weekends. :)

The Natural kind of high, even! (The maryjane induced highs are much fewer and far between these days, which is mostly going well...)

So, I've been diligently working at my guitar goals, (detailed HERE).

My "January Song", Strong Enough (Sheryl Crow) has been progressing quite nicely. It's certainly not perfect, but I can play and sing through the whole thing fairly smoothly with few mistakes. I'm extremely proud, as I thought one of the chords in the chorus (B Minor) was going to be the death of me.

Tonight, I played and sung through it for Ryan, and when I finished, he applauded and said "Time to put that one in the bank, babe. What's the February Song?"

Well, the "February Song" is Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd). I pulled out the tab for THAT, and realized the only chord in it that I didn't know was A Minor. I consulted my handy-dandy chord finder book, and discovered that A Minor is a very simple chord (especially given that I already know A Major and C Major, and that it's pretty close to both of those). So, um, now I can pretty much play the February Song. I still have to get the vocals just right, and figure out some of the rythms, but, essentially, it's going to be a piece of cake. (I'm not attempting the intro/solo yet, as right now, I'm focusing on learning as many chords as I can.)

With the ease of that, I decided to look at another song I've been wanting to learn, but that wasn't put on the monthly list of songs (Just Wait-Blues Traveler), and realized that A Minor was one of the chords in that (which I now know how to play) and that the only other chord in it I don't know how to play was F Major.

Back to the chord finder book. Now, F Major is certainly not a piece of cake, but compared to B Minor, it's not too bad. I imagine I'll have both Wish You Were Here and Just Wait nailed within a couple of weeks.

I'm feeling pretty good about my progress on the guitar. :)

For anyone who's interested, Lyrics to the songs mentioned above under the cuts:

( Strong Enough Lyrics )

( Wish You Were Here Lyrics )

( Just Wait Lyrics )

No matter how many times I hear the song "Eclipse", I get chills at the final line:

and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

( Full Lyrics )

I will worship for life anyone that shares a song lyric that makes me laugh harder than this one does:

"My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo.
I wanna sink her with my pink torpedo."

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Ryan left a bit ago to meet up with one of the Phat Phunktion guys who's in town about the audtion on Thursday. Before he left, he said, I want you to listen to the song "Always" on the Phat Phunktion play list. He said it really speaks about how he's feeling right now...

( Always )

"Where'd all the good people go?

I've been changing channels, I don't see them on the TV shows.

Where'd all the good people go?

We got heaps and heaps of what we sow."

 

Can I get a "Hell Yeah" for Jack Johnson? How about a "Hell Yeah" for Friday?

 

Sadie is getting spayed today. After today, I'll be the only one left in the household who's able to have babies. (At least, as far as I know, I'm able to have babies!)  That's a relief. Sort of, I guess.  I came in to work early in order to leave early to pick her up.  Arriving an hour and a half early enabled me to park 2 and 1/2 blocks closer than I usually do! That's sweet, cause its fricking COLD outside!

 

It should be an interesting, and busy weekend. I can't believe its Friday already, but I guess that happens when you're off on Monday.  If all goes as planned, I'll be meeting two people in "real life" that I met on the interent.  (John and Joy for those of you are familiar with the ULC forum.) John was one of the first people I ever started chatting with, so its pretty exciting, and Joy, his lovely new blushing bride is one of the most kind hearted people I've ever encountered.

 

If it warms up at all, I hope to get much done in the garden this weekend. We're also getting some friends to come over to help finish fencing our yard. (A top priority, since Sadie took off after a bunny last night. We live just a block down from a busy street, so this was quite terrifying for me. I hyperventilated and everything! Not good. First anxiety attack in a while.)  Finishing the fence should also help with the neighbor problems we've been having, including keeping them the hell out of a yard unless they've been invited.  The evil neighbor is pouring a concrete driveway in back (no permits, I think I've mentioned this). Last night they were pouring the cement, and 2 men were standing in OUR YARD in MY GARDEN watching.  I let the dogs out. They left. *evil grin*

Often, a song can express what I’m feeling better than my own words can.  Occasionally, I might share song lyrics that describe how I’m feeling on any given day. Not very original, I know, but such is life.  I’ll try to remember to put them behind cuts so people who have no interest in the soundtrack of my life can skip over them easily.

 

The past day or so, I’ve been in deep thought over some one I may have hurt.  I never intended to hurt this person, but being human, I some times act without first considering all of the possible consequences of my actions.  It turns out that there was a bit of a misunderstanding that caused some of these emotions, but anyway, the whole situation has me feeling:

 

( Tangled )
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I've been digging the Green Day American Idiot CD since I got it a couple weeks ago. There's not one song on it that I skip. The whole thing just makes me want to rock out with wild abandon. My favorite song for today is "Extraordinary Girl". I was in the car with Ryan a bit ago listening to it, and trying to get him to listen to the lyrics. (I'm the one who gets drawn to a song by the singing and/or lyrics, for him, its ALL about the drumming.) So, he was listening, and when the song was done, he said "Damn, that could have been written about YOU." My thoughts exactly! :)

( The lyrics )

Well we just arrived home from my mom's house, and I love and admire that woman so much, I can't possibly express it.  We were all eating lunch (My mom, step-dad, brother, husband, sister, and her boyfriend) and my mom was talking about Janelle and I when we were little.  She was saying that I was always the one trying to use reason and understanding, and Janelle would always just fly off the handle demanding to get her way. (Not much has changed!)  Its so interesting to hear stories from my childhood where it was actually a happy or funny time.  I seem to have blocked a lot of the happy times out and remember all the rotten stuff.  Wish there was a way to turn that all around and forget the crap and remember the good stuff.

If I am half the mother to my future children that my mother is to me, my kids will be damn lucky.