A is for Apple

A is also for the second string pair on the Mandolin. Today, I started the second string, and all I can say is WOW. Once I started the second string, and really got used to playing it, it seemed to open this door to me that led to this room of endless opportunity. When I was just getting started on the first string, I felt I was at this very basic place. I'm still at this very basic place, don't get me wrong, but now it's like I'm not limited to one string anymore... there are three more (I know, you're saying WOAH, 3 strings, you should contain yourself Ryan). But let's look at it this way, I'm half way done to having learned notes on all four string pairs! And then the road is to learning how to play stuff on those notes I learned! Fascinating. I got Sarah and me a couple of chord books at Alamo Music tonight... guitar for her, and mandolin for me of course. Oh, and a few fancy new picks. Each has its own little characteristic. The little pointy one has a real distinct clarity about it, like a hummingbird's wings helping it hover next to a feeder; the gray rigid one is a little more toned down, but picks very nice still; the thick one gives a fat 'ol sound... heavy like peanut butter; this other one is square-like but pointed at the end and is more traditional bluegrass sounding... not quite peanut butter, not quite a hummingbird. More along the lines of sun tea before a family picnic.

In the midst of national mourning, a need to focus the job sights a little, and a desire to think outside the box with my future, I'm feeling a tone of satisfaction with what I'm dwelling in at home, with my wife, with myself, and with our puppies. I made this really great lemon chicken dinner tonight... I have been picking up the stuff on my mandolin quite well, and I just got a bowling ball for league night with Mikey and Jesse, and it all seems a metaphor for the great stuff I do have going in my life.

On a more reflective thought, the other day I got this whiff of what seemed like kerosine and I thought back to how I knew it was possibly that particular smell... which made me think of my dad and how, regardless of how things are now between him and me, that we once shared a bond of father and son. So I thought back to a lot of things that he taught me... the typical stuff of knowing the differences between tools, checking things on a car, building stuff. That was a great time, and I do remember my dad and growing up fondly.

Sometime in the (near?) future I'll have the shot at raising a son or a daughter, and that will be the most fun I can ever imagine... probably the most challenging as well! For now I'm really enjoying being a couple with Sarah and concentrating on our needs.

I've lost the focus of this blog since I've now been away for more than an hour... been talking to Todd direct from New York City. He's great and I'm glad he's my friend. I shall close with the thought that no matter where people are in this life around us, there's no map book needed to find a friend traveling at a different pace than you. You just need a phone.