Some side projects:

Learning how to speak Spanish again! Dios Mio.
Just so you know the history of my endeavors in Spanish speaking: in college I took the equivalent of Spanish 1, went on to Spanish 2, took a step back and did a combined Spanish 1 &2 class, went on to Spanish 3, took Spanish 3 again.. and finally decided, that's it--I cannot learn Spanish at the U anymore! I have to go to Mexico! So I took Spanish 4 in Cuernavaca, Mexico and it was amazing! Learned a lot--forgot it all! Entiende? Así, necesito aprender español otra vez.

Learning how to play a couple of songs on my guitar
It's been a lot of fun! I always look forward to it even though I probably practice for less then ten minutes a day. Calloused fingers? Oh yeah, it's getting there. It is difficult... There's too much to say about learning the guitar. In fact, it seems all I ever write about is my guitar. I'm so glad I finally did it. I am actually looking to buy a different acoustic guitar.... mine sucks.

Defining my new sort of nonprofit-esque idea
I have a more serious side project in its very, very beginning stages. At this point, I am still trying to define exactly what are the goals of the project, who my audience will be, what my mission is, how I plan to execute the whole thing. I have a sea of resources available to me--I'm lucky! I hope it materializes, I hope it grows, and I hope it will help lots of people. To say it is in its very, very beginning stages is a little bit inaccurate.. I mean, it stems from something my brain has been churning about since college. It has evolved so much, though. Now that I'm a "working professional" it makes all the more sense and...it's exciting.

Painting or re-paper walling the kitchen (this is my mom's birthday gift)
There is not a whole lot to say... but it seems like it will be fun to do! I may not know how to change a tire or fix a computer but I like being a handy-woman. I like building, fixing, and painting things around the house.

Writing my autobiography (I was serious!)
I'll get around to it one day. I'd like to start it off as a secret blog... seems more manageable than a word doc or something! With the entry titles being the chapter titles, you know? I really think it will be a great experience to put my entire life in perspective. It really is for my own personal development and I don't honestly intend to publish it or anything. It's all for me. My future children might want to peek at it someday, who knows :) I encourage everyone to write theirs. Really! Some topics I will be writing about: my relationship with each member of my family, my childhood years, the moving years, middle school years, my high school years, college years, my career path, failed relationships with the opposite sex, my lack of religion, the history of my friendships, my best friends will have their own chapters as well.

Get a strong Butt
Um.. a couple of years ago I was really into getting a strong butt and it worked for a while. I just stopped working on it and well, yeah. I want to get a strong butt. I wont' say "again" because, well, I was starting to get close and it just never really satisfied me. This is awkward.

Good list of side projects, I think!

Saliva/Drowning Pool/City Sleeps @ The Rock

I finally bought the tickets today, wa-hoo! I managed to find someone who likes Saliva and Drowning Pool but the fact that I no longer have a go-to concert buddy makes me sad... he joined the Marines. Well, we miss ya buddy! Certainly there are concerts worth going to alone if I have to but who wants to?! You'd think finding a concert buddy would be easy but it is not... I was just always so fortunate in the past.

Anyway... I am particularly excited for this concert for several reasons...

1. Dinner with a good friend who will be in town for the show
   
2. Being surrounded by heavy and aggressive music to match my frustration of the last couple of weeks (and some nice, slower ones about relationships too, of course)
   
3. It's just going to be a fun day

I'm ready for this.. I've been so stressed, frustrated, temperamental, sad. It's been an odd February and an awful start to the new year. :) But I know me and everything will be great. I'll see.

Stars and Geetars

One of my favorite lines from a song is from "No good without you" by Tyrone Wells. It goes somethin' like..

I played my guitar and I told the stars
that your love was amazing, amazing amazing

That was...until I found out it was NOT "and I told the stars." It is actually "and was told to stop."

..wha? Whatever. You told them stars, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Autobiography, part II

Just kidding... my life has not been ordinary, is not ordinary, I am not ordinary at all. Who can really fight that one?

Autobiography

I'm going to write an autobiography. My sister tells me no one would read it; it'd be so damn boring! People laugh but here's the thing... it'd be about such an ordinary life that everyone would relate!

Easter Bunny Gets Drunk At Easter

So.. I broke the G string while trying to tune it that first night. I asked my brother where I could get it re-strung and dude refused to tell me. Just absolutely refused because it was apparently such a dumb idea.. "Well, let's preteeend I was going to pay someone to do it, where would I go?" Nothing.

I understand now why it was a ridiculous request. At first I thought, oh well, both dad and bro know how to string a guitar. But, I managed to figure out how to string it all by myself. Yeah--without YouTube! So! I bought a new set of strings today and restrung them all! It's easy!

Easter Bunny Gets Drunk At Easter (EBGDAE--guitar strings from high to low) woo hoo!

First thing first... learn guitar language. I'll employ a few people to get me started properly afterward. I bought this beginner's book/DVD set this afternoon. That's where I learned about Easter bunnies getting drunk :)

I really don't know if I can do this.. Guitar maintenance I can do. Guitar playing.. is a whole other story.

I'll say it again..Part II

Everyone knows I love concerts and I love them specifically because there are always guitars involved.

I'm enamored by guitars and acoustic covers/originals. Sometimes I glow over it; it's kind of embarrassing.

I'd love to find a coffee shop or some kind of venue with daily or weekly acoustic performances. It'd be my guaranteed "happy spot." I'm not quite looking for the open mike night type of stuff. I'm not looking for something extremely out of the ordinary and I know they're out there. There's just no point in being ambitious about finding said places..at least not yet, you know? YouTube videos don't exactly make the cut but when you're stuck to your desk at work for most of the day, and by day I mean day and night, then youTube vids will have to do.

I bought a cheap guitar. It will be here Wednesday! It's black and girly. I don't expect it to be a quality guitar by any means. I also don't believe it will be an easy task to learn what chords are what, how to hold, or how to tune. I'm told a decent guitar will cost in upwards of $600.. mine cost $0.01 on eBay with a $35 s&h charge.

Clearly I am sacrificing ease of use (strings are harder to play), quality of sound, and more. But hey, I knew what I was getting, I'm just testing the waters here. I think anyone would agree it was smart to go cheap for now. I even weighed buying an old yet working guitar from someone I knew or via Craigslist. I weighed buying a new cheap guitar via a mass retailer and then there was good old eBay. So there you go, I browsed and made my somewhat impulse buy! The rest is history!

My next steps are to look into beginner's lessons on the way home from work. I've glossed over various guitar books and web sites. I am so over my head!

A co-worker reminds me I will get calloused fingers. :)

..............................

With this blog being "Part II" of an earlier post, here are the URLs for context:

• "I'll say it again" (2008)
  
• "Let's talk about guitars" (2007)
  
• I'm just going to say this again" (2005)
  

Things to do: Part II

I would also love to volunteer my time somewhere. Volunteer what time where? what? I know!!! I know.

I'd love to knock off a couple of books on my reading list.

I want to get back into the swing of working out.

Things to do:

I'm starting a pretty exciting side project :) I'm hopeful about it but let us see where this goes...

I bought a cheap guitar to strum on.. if I discover I truly, absolutely, hopelessly, hands-down suck at this.. fine! I think I owe it to myself to at least learn one simple song.. a chorus or something. Who knows, I just may be a rock star at this.

I want to learn how to play chess finally...

I feel like this is the year I finally learn how to swim.

Off to bed... This week has been painful. I'm drained.
-S