Learning to Read

I am becoming accustomed to my new lifestyle. Living alone I have longer strands of uninterrupted moments, and this leads to more focused attention on whatever task is at hand. I have been practicing guitar 1-2 hours a day, my fingers have toughened up quickly after a one month layoff. I have also noticed another jump in progress.

A few weeks ago I decided to buy a cord which hooks up the ipod/computer to the amp. I am not sure why I did not do this earlier, because it is great to have the guitar sound and the backup music emit from the same source (also a nice sound when playing movies from the computer). I have the laptop set up on a small stand next to the amp, and when I want to practice to backing tracks I link to YouTube and jam away (I forgot to mention that I can connect to the city wifi from my apt., but the signal is choppy so it does not work all the time).

Yesterday I wanted to jam to backing tracks but could not get a steady internet signal so I plugged in the ipod and put it on shuffle. For most of the songs I was able to find the appropriate notes/scales and play along easily enough. What surprised me was the ability to play along with any style of song, rather than just blues. But even more than that, I found myself playing without having to over analyze what I was doing - it felt like speaking or writing - After 13 months of practice I had finally reached the point where playing the guitar felt somewhat natural and easy. I felt a comfort with the pentatonic scale which had been missing, I was able to mesh all the patterns along the frets so that it felt like one big pattern, at least for the bottom 3 strings. The coordination between fretting and picking hand had also improved, the two working together without over thinking everything. Consequently the speed increased, which made the notes begin to sound like music. The vibrato was also sounding better, although that still needs a lot of work.

I was reminded of the day I learned to read - sitting in front of the tv watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon (I was 4 or 5 years old), I was able to read the credits at the end of the cartoon - it was a beautiful feeling as I was able to string the words together with speed and clarity to understand the meaning behind the symbols. Having reached the first plateau of the guitar quest makes me excited, and makes me want to practice longer and harder.

Surprise

I was left a voicemail this morning from Dottie at work. She said a letter was waiting for me on my desk, and that I would be pleased with it. I took this to mean that I was offered the job I interviewed for a few days ago. I decided to go into work and retrieve the letter, and a couple of hours later I opened it to find the first sentence of the letter stating that the job had been offered to another applicant. My mind can usually anticipate the correct sequence of cause and effect, but this time I was completely inaccurate in my deduction. Wondering how I could possibly be pleased with not being offered the job, I read on to find that I was being offered expanded duties in my current position, and beginning on May 1st my job would become a 40 hour per week, full time position.

After thinking over the letter I agree with Dottie's prediction that I would be pleased, although the outcome was far from what I had imagined. I get to keep my current position but with 10 added hours initially, and going to 40 on May 1. Completely unexpected, yet still a favorable outcome.

Beachcombing

First Month in Chicago, Winter, 1991

I'm working on settling into my new apt, and am beginning to feel comfortable. The living room has the guitars, amp, and computer, the kitchen is filled with green plants and a table for me to eat and work on, and one of the bedrooms is set up for painting.

Yesterday I listened to one of Will Basinski's Disintegration Loops. The piece is 45 minutes long, I love running to it when I am out on the snowy South Farms route – white space in all directions, the wind messing with my balance and resolve – the music makes everything settle into a dream reality. So yesterday I plugged the piece into my amp, and then picked up the strat guitar. I lit a couple of candles and let the piece sink into the room and I began to hit the strings with the pick. I soon found that the notes F, D, G, and A # worked well with it, it was pretty cool to hear the sounds of the guitar mesh with the music in the amp. After 35 minutes of playing along to the ethereal music I discovered that what I was playing was the G pentatonic scale. Once I realized this I was able to play many more notes, and much quicker, as I have the pentatonic scale memorized. When the piece ended I wanted to play it again but my fingers were sore. The month long lay off has made them a bit soft.

The full time job opening at the UPD will soon be decided. I submitted my resume/cover letter, which I feel confident about, and then I was required to take a test at a local employment agency. I ran 4 miles in snow to get there, and then ran back after I completed the 90 minute test. I feel I did well in 3 of the 4 categories, but I messed up the data entry part by reading the wrong list of numbers. Tomorrow is the final step, a group interview with 5 people at 10:30am. I have no illusions about my interviewing skills, I pretty much suck. I plan to run 8-10 miles at dawn tomorrow, that should put me into a favorable state of mind. Regardless of the outcome, I believe I will be happy with the future direction of my life.

I have a project in mind. I want to look back at my old film negatives and interpret them not with chemicals, but with a pencil. I would like to make drawings based on the negatives. I will study the negatives on a light box, and then make digital photos of the ones which interest me. I will work the negative photos in Photoshop, first inverting them and then paring them down using filters so that they resemble a drawing. I will then use the digital study to aid me in my drawing. I would like to make 20-30 drawings from each period of my photography quest.

I am rereading Beachcombing at Miramar by Richard Bode. I came across this last night –

“I left my marriage exactly as I entered it three decades earlier. I had no mortgage, no credit-card balance, no bank loans. What I did have, somewhere in the middle of my mind, was a gyroscope, pointing me in a direction, telling me where I had to go. I set out, driving through snow-covered cornfields and prairie, crossing the Continental Divide, going from one coast to the other in quest of a place that felt like home.

And now I am here, walking the beach, watching the fist-sized shorebirds as they feed. They have no cache, no hoard, no store; like me, they live by their wits, taking what they want from the sea.

How is it, I ask myself, that I have so little money, yet I live so well?”

Library Blogging

Night Walk

I walked to the library this afternoon with my laptop to test the internet connection, after a delay of a few minutes my computer linked with the server and I am now writing this blog entry.

Yesterday Rachel and I did more shopping for both of our homes. I bought a kitchen table at Habitat's store, they will deliver it sometime next week. I believe I have everything I need except a sofa, so I will continue to check the 2nd hand shops for something.

I talked with the apt manager yesterday and she said Cyndi already moved out and I could move in whenever I would like. She also mentioned that they are working on replacing two bedroom windows, so I am going to wait until Saturday to move in. I have a feeling the windows will not be finished before I move in because when I walk by the apt on my way home from work I see no evidence of work being done.

I submitted my application for Leona's job a few days ago. Rachel helped me edit my resume and cover letter, both read pretty good. The job is currently open to internal applicants only and I have been thinking about who else would apply. My initial guess was anyone who was working part time, such as myself. This morning Leona mentioned that she doesn't think it fair that the job is not open to people outside the district because she has a friend who wants to apply. That led her to say that she knew of two people applying thus far. I questioned her about the two, she said I was one, the other being Caty from the APNC. I was surprised to hear this because Caty works full time at a place which I believed she enjoyed, and the pay would be similar. Caty is smart and competent, so my odds of getting the job have gotten slimmer, but I still like my chances. I will try my best and let things fall where they may. If I do not get the job I will still have my old position, and even though I will be broke most days, I will still be happy because I will have much time to do things that I love. I have been somewhat dreading having to work 40 hours a week - it is either no time and lots of money, or no money and lots of time - either one is fine by me.

Co-op Blogging

Rest Stop Outside Kankakee

I walked over to Lincoln Square this morning with my laptop to test the wifi connection. When I sat down in the main lobby all of the available connections were secure and needed a password. As I sat there wondering what to do, I recalled that Cyndi, the nice lady who just moved out of my soon-to-be apt, said that she would connect while at the Common Ground Food Co-op. So I packed up my stuff and walked a few hundred feet and found that there are attractive wood tables set up in the corridor leading to the store. I sat down at one of the tables, set up the laptop and tried to connect. I saw a connection for Guest and Guest Common Ground, I chose Guest and was successful at establishing a connection.

So as I sit here in the corridor, I just finished working on a recent picture I took while on the road to my parents on Christmas Eve, and am now writing this entry.

Yesterday was 57 degrees, all of the snow melted. I went for a run, I felt great, no asthma for a couple of weeks now, and getting sleep every night.

Last night Rachel's sister Amy and her husband Brian and son Andrew came over to celebrate the end of 2010. I made homemade sag paneer, Rachel made Samosas, rice pudding, and sweet dough balls. We drank Fat Tire India Pale Ale and played penny poker after the meal.

Andrew is currently a student at Univ of Chicago. Next year he is planning to study in Paris, France for a few months. He said he can't speak French, but he is smart and should pick it up quick. I like his style - he walks everywhere, refuses to ride in cars for environmental reasons, is a vegetarian, and always appears calm.