Random Things I Like

Here is a list of things that I like. Not a list of everything, just kind of those things that you might miss if you don't think about it.







the clatter of billiard balls when they hit

the sound of a fan at night

when people say your name in a conversation with them

the smell of new shoes

the feel of flower petals

seeing glass sparkle

seeing the spark of an "aha!" moment in someone's eyes

the satisfaction of a job well done

trying my best at something and others appreciating it

Random Things I Dislike

Have you ever been talking with someone or doing something and thought about something that bothers you? Kinda like pet peeves. Well, here's a list of such things for me.







getting into a car with a wet umbrella

getting new shoes dirty for no good reason

thinking about something you wish you had said or done

dirty sinks

wanting to be two places (or more) at once

things rolling around in a car while you're driving

Times, They are so Slow

I once had a work supervisor who used to ask "why do the days go by so slow but the weeks go by so fast?" Why is it that when you have five weeks until break the weeks go by fast but as you near a break, time goes by so slow? We have two weeks left until Christmas break, and it feels like it's dragging. I like to think of myself as having a semi-scientific mind. And so it's weird to me to think about time in a different sense than in science. Time is never changing, always moving at the same constant rate--or so we define it in science. But unscientifically, we also base time on how we feel. "Time is dragging on." "Break flew by." Just like everything else, we base time on how we feel. Right now I feel like time is so slow, but whether I feel like it or not, time is still moving at the same speed. It's crazy how our minds make it seem fast when we are engaged and busy and slow when we are waiting for it to pass.

Guitar Peeve

Okay, so I have a pet peeve. First of all, I am a self-proclaimed musician. The first instrument that I endeavored to learn, or should I say, taught myself, was the guitar. After that I tried my hand at the cello, and most recently, I started playing brass instruments. The pet peeve I want to talk about has to do with my first love, the guitar. Now, I know a lot of people claim to play the guitar. For some it’s an understatement and for others, well…Anyway, when I taught myself how to play, I started out with a book that taught me the notes on the guitar—not just the string names but also all the notes on the fret board. From there I learned basic chords so that I could play them in songs. I had a vast set of key options in which I could choose to play any song I wanted. Once I matured in my ability, I moved on to learning how to do basic bar chords and power chords which opened up a new set of options for my playing. And finally, my last endeavor to date has been learning how to read and perform rifts and picking and such using tabs. My next project will be to master scales for soloing.
Anyway, moving on to my pet peeve. Over the last few years, I have noticed that many new, blooming guitarists are praised for their abilities, but when asked to play a simple chord, they are clueless. What do they play? Power chords and bar chords. That’s it. When asked to play a simple song, they can’t because they haven’t looked up the tabs—all they should have to do is pick a key and play simple chords so they can sing the song! I couldn’t believe it! These people who “seem” to be so “amazing” can only play the songs that they’ve memorized through tabs or that they can play down the whole fret board using one hand position. Bravo, you learned three hand positions and now you’ve arrived! What ever happened to being able to switch between chords? Actually knowing chords? I’m sorry, but in my opinion, unless you know the basic chords too, I’m not impressed. I can memorize tabs, but can you reproduce it on the spot? Can you stand up in front of people with chords and lyrics and lead out in a song service? Can you change the key to a different one and be all right? Then I’ll think you’ve gotten somewhere.