Guitar

Just had my first guitar lesson and it was amazing! Learned the start of a bunch of chords and was given Alison Kraus' Don't say a thing to practice this week. I love it! Bill was teasing me though because he could tell I've been formally trained on instruments all these years since I kept asking questions about posture, positioning, and what's considered proper form. Oops, I guess it's better to have been taught too much structure all these years than too little. And he says their keeping an eye out for a case for me too. Only downside is that my fingertips are a little bit sore, but that'll pass as soon as I build up some half-way decent calluses.
Learned some new words in French from translating songs. Compter-to count, Rever-to dream, impregner-to penetrate, libre-free.

Take the Leap

I think I have become addicted to French pop music, which is funny because I still can't understand what they're saying. But that's only a matter of time. I'm loving Couer de Pirate though, and I looked up the translation to some of her songs and they're beautiful. Her CD was definitely a worthwhile investment.

I'm currently working on an information slide show too. I figured I'd make one for Morgan's parents on why they should allow her to come to Europe with me. Don't know that it'll work, but at the least it'll show my determination to them.

I'm also trying to get my blog set up more how I want it to be. I found a list tool, but it's unfortunately not quite how I was hoping it would appear. I also need to work out the photo ideas I have more...it would probably help if I knew what it was I wanted exactly.
Last week Jen and I finished season 5 of How I Met Your Mother, and it was incredible. My favorite line was Lily's

Sometimes you have to listen to what the world is telling you. And then take the leap.

Well, I think the world spoke to me this week. The day after hearing that line and thinking it was something special, I was working at the bagelshop, and a regular customer of ours for years came in. Bill's a really nice guy from NY, loves his everything bagels, and happens to work in a string shop in the valley called Apela's. I've talked to him before about bringing my guitar in to have it's tuning knobs replaced, but never really followed through. So Bill comes in, and we get to talking and I finally decide-hey, I just need to get this done-and ask Bill when he normally works so I can drop by because I can't really make the effort to learn guitar without it in working condition.

(Mind you, I've been trying to think for weeks how I'm going to busk across Europe because my metal instruments are too heavy to bring across. I've been wishing I could play guitar because I could easily pick one up over there and if I could only sing it would be perfect. I have also been thinking about bringing my harmonica cause it's small and I could easily mess around with it as I traveled though I can't really play it.)

Bill's response is that he works Mon, Tues, and Thursdays, and that if I'm interested he gives guitar lessons. This really excited me and I asked, "Really!? I'm completely interested." He then informed me, "Yeah, I give guitar, voice, and harmonica lessons." I just stared at him and said, "I think the world just spoke to me, and if I don't listen to something being yelled at me so blatently I must be stupid."

So, Tuesday is my first guitar/voice/harmonica lesson. And to make it even better, he's not going to teach me formally because I already know all the music theory and structure and techniques. Rather, he's gonna teach me methods of playing, help me memorize fun songs from all different genre's and give me tools for imrpovising to help me busk. And he's going to teach me to play my awesome old vintage harmonicas. I'm so excited I can't even begin to tell you.

I'm antsy in Spokane again. Shocking I'm sure. Tomorrow I'll head to Pullman to hang out with Heather and Alex. I had hoped to make it a bit further than that, I was actually trying to get to Crater Lake, but too much of the park is closed for winter, so I'll save that for the spring. At least I get to hang out with cool people this way.
I dreamed of Europe the other day. I found this to be a good omen seeing as how irregularly I dream as it is. My mom actually managed to make me feel bad about going yesterday though. And slightly more fearful for what I'm doing, though it won't stop me from going! Finished my second unit of French today, just to prove it to myself too. Oh well, tomorrow will be good for me.

I'm in a good place now. Enjoying hanging at Starbucks with Jen and Joleen, working on my playlists, and listening to good music. Something soothing about life right now. I have my goals and have plenty of time to dream.
Jen just informed me she got me the same present for Christmas that I gave her, so she re-wrapped it in the paper I gave her. I can't wait, it's going to make my day. I also just heard the most amazing phrase.

I'm an equal opportunity hater. I hate everyone equally.

I found it extra awesome since it was stated by a friendly, mild-tempered individual with a smile on his face.

Snow Play

Last night was so much fun! Heather, Alex, and I took the Alex's snow skate out and attempted to learn how to use it. Well, rather Heather and I tried learn while Alex who already knows it watched our attempts.

After we got tired of falling, we went up to the Douglas snow fort and had fun making improvements. It was pretty incredible to begin with, so really we were just building up the walls higher. We figured if we build up the back and side walls really high, we can call the front panel an awesome skylight window since it was the view out onto the mountain. We even delegated out jobs. I was the brick maker-I sat up on the hill and found huge snow chunks and rolled them down, Heather was the brick layer-she stacked them appropriately and logically, and Drew was the mortar- he layed and packed the snow between snow bricks to make sure they held. We were highly successful overall and it was really quite fabulous. It already has a bench, a fridge and a garbage can for beer cans, two windows, and a backdoor secret slide entrance(which I learned I can go down, but I really suck at climbing back up).

Of course the evening could only be completed by sharing the biggest cup of noodles I've ever seen-it took three of us to eat the thing. Sheer deliciousness.

Winter Sports Time!

So I'm up at Schweitzer, and as usual its a wonderful time. Last night we went sledding, but we went down the ski runs, starting at the terrain park down thru the bunny hill. It was a lot of fun, and we weren't supposed to be there. (One-because the slopes were closed, and two-because your not supposed to sled the slopes at all.) I was on a toboggan which wouldn't steer so I kept falling off and was slower than all the others. As a result I was one of the two of us caught by a groomer and chastised. Then when we got to the bunny hill jumps, a guy yelled at us from the lodge balcony and waved a flashlight threateningly at us. Then they sent the groomers down there to chase us off. It was an adventure!

This morning I went and rented ski gear, and Heather, Alex, and I spent all morning out on the slopes. I love this mountain. Heather gave me an awesome shirt for Christmas that is thin, really warm, and dries super fast for traveling purposes, but its perfect for skiing! I know my legs are going to be nice and sore tomorrow, which is awesome. Today only my right arm is sore, and sadly, that's because Heather and I were Wii sword fighting yesterday for a little too long.

pranks

So I'm sitting at the bagelshop on my day off because the artic wind has finally come down so it's really cold, and being the cheapskate I am, my apartment is also rather chilly. But the real reason I chose to come here of all places is that I am attempting to prank my mom. She's not particularly tech. savvy, so I've taken great pleasure in spending my morning learning how to make my own ringtones. I currently have a ringtone of Tardy for the Party waiting for her, and I'm going to assign it to Morgan so that we can call her when all the bagel girls are at dinner tomorrow night. It's only fair that we all get to partake in the joy of seeing her shocked and horrified face, right?
But of course, since it's so cold, as soon as get here, she grabs her purse(cell phone inside) and goes to let the dogs out since she can't leave them outside. She better get back soon, because I want to make sure I get her all taken care of, and my computer battery is draining quicker than I would wish.
I'm also trying to determine more such pranks to play, because I'm having far more fun than I should doing this. And it's far more fun, and more successful than trying to figure out what to get her for Christmas. I've been scrounging for ideas all month, and still nothing! So if anyone has ideas for either, let me know!