I got a new car lol XD It's on finance this black Peugeot 208. I don't know the details though, so long as it gets me from A-Z I don't mind.
I drove my last Charger (it was a HEMI) into a ditch up north, and the insurance company gave me more than I was expecting, so I got this nice little turbocharged Volvo (S60 T6) in January as my current car. It's 325 HP with 354 lbs of torque, and I'm still not crystal clear on the difference between those two other than torque has to do with how quick the car is - torque sounds like turning power transferred to the axle/wheels (I think of a torque wrench). I prefer cars that are fun to drive since I do a lot of driving.
Craftsman cordless string trimmer. Got a $50 Dremel-type rotary tool for free as part of a Craftsman promotion at Lowes.
I've done that, too. In fact, my first sun tea jar was a big vinegar jug similar to the cider jug in the photo. I've used everything from gallon crocks with spigots to big canning jars.
A two hundred thousand dollar truck. I just wish the monthly payments weren't more than most people's mortgage.
I recently got four new additions for the aquarium(all babies): two Buenos Aires and two Skirted Tetra; the former did fine but about a day later one of the Tetra died.
A Lifestraw Go filtering water bottle. I wished I had one on my recent trip when my backup water container leaked and I had no reliably clean water source for the night. Now I have all the accoutrements for camping and trekking, just wish I'd started doing this years ago, instead of at the age at which while everything is pert-near fine, it's no longer a given. Of course, one never knows for sure anyway, but I'm thinking about odds and inevitability.
A new printer. My old printer kept telling me I had the wrong print head installed, and changing the print head didn't fix that. So whole new bloody printer. I didn't even need to print anything urgently, but I needed to use the scanner, and the built-in scanner didn't work while the printer was in an error condition. My spare scanner had been in storage too long, and that didn't work either.
Hasn't come in yet, but a classical guitar foot rest to properly elevate my left foot and get my knees and elbows in the correct position. I never took them seriously until I started taking Classical lessons, and, boy, they aren't kidding. It's crazy physical... like you're supposed to do stretches and exercises to optimize your playing. There's these little forearm and back muscles I never knew I had. Nothing like playing other guitar styles.
And I have my eye on some Bulgarian classical guitars at the local shop. They're not cheap, but my steel string acoustic isn't doing it for me, and you really need a good one to play properly. I just want to make sure I'm going to stick with the official classical program first before I invest. But I'm definitely turning into that mid-life crisis 40s guy who buys guitars. Better than buying a Corvette and having affairs with my bartenders!
My college roommate was a classical guitar major until she realized she wasn't ever going to be good enough to play professionally and she didn't want to teach. She ended up getting a degree in viticulture and working as a county extension agent for forty years.
Yup. That sums up about 99.98% of all aspiring professional artists. Hell, all but the tippity-top performers need to do both to pay the rent.
I never bonded with a steel acoustic. Tried it for a few months then returned to the shop and traded it in for an old secondhand Spanish guitar. Amazing tone. I then went on to buy a hand made George Love guitar. Broke my heart to sell it… but at least I sold it to a guy who a student at the Royal college of music and a GeorgeLove enthusiast. Have you considered a good secondhand option as a starting point? Very. It requires a lot of practice. Enjoy. The classical guitar is a rewarding instrument once you grasp the basics.
Yeah, the regular acoustic is for all the rocky/folky/bluesy stuff I've been playing for 30 years. And I still play an electric every day. Biggest thing with classical is the finger picking obviously. Which I've always been able to noodle with but never made an attempt to become proficient. We're working to rectify that. And all the notes and chords are the same but their expressions are different. Lots and lots of inversions--what rockers would call the Hendrix Major with that third in the bass instead of the root. But the pop I, IV, V progression has its roots in classical apparently. My teacher says the traditional Viennese composers stuck to it fairly religiously. At least the basic shit I'm starting with. It's still C to F to G but the notes get expressed all over the fretboard instead of those nice tight blues boxes. It's hard!
I'm realizing I don't know a damned thing about music, except that I like what I like and don't like what I don't. But I don't know even know why that is.
My main guitar during the decades I played was a twelve string acoustic Contessa. I still have her, but she has been quiet for many years. My husband has mostly, but not completely, retired from music after over sixty years of performance. To my astonishment, he mentioned selling some of the many instruments we've accumulated over the years. He's always been adamantly against such a thing, hoping that one of the kids or grandkids would show more than a passing interest in music. My cello alone would net enough money to pay for a good part of the trip to Scotland my daughter nad I are planning for next year. He can't play it himself and I gave up playing twenty years ago, but he still refused to let me sell it. Bless its heart, it deserves someone to love it and make it sing again.
That is something I have noticed with musicians, they see their instruments as beloved friends. BB King and Lucille come to mind as an example of this. But I am well outside the musical community. For me the essential part of carrying a tune, is the bucket with a lid.
This weekend all I got was the gumption to clean up the front of my house. Pulled a bunch of weeds from the paver stone walk way, trimmed up the bushes, cleared off the porch, cut the grass. It looks like people live here again. I have some pavers to replace on the front steps, but that means glueing them back down. I went to Home Depot for the glue goo; it’s a specialized adhesive for gluing those cap stones on retaining walls. A quintessential Karen type walked up to me and asked where the potting soil would be. I told her I didn’t work there, but I assumed it would be outside in the garden center. She said she didn’t like my attitude and was going to talk to the manager about me. This after I told her I didn’t work there. Why do people think I work at Home Depot?
Rick Beato is live right now doing a classical guitar thing (I guess this will turn into a link to the video when it's over, if not I'll change it): Classical Ideas for Rock Guitar
I recently bought a Ninja Airfryer, grill and smoker. I say 'I' but it was my husband's idea, and he promised he'd do all the cooking if we got one it... so it was a no-brainer on that promise!
