blackbyrd2: I'm having one of those months where you

Blackbyrd (

blackbyrd2) wrote,
@ 2008-04-19 13:48:00

I'm having one of those months where you just wish you were some(one?)where else, ya know?
It's not that I hate my job, or even that the living in a hotel is really that difficult, but that I just wish I could be home, NOT working in the field, and doing the things I really want to do.

ms_issicran really needs to win the lottery.

I went to the music store today to see about renting a violin and taking lessons, but the mutes they had didn't seem to do a whole lot, and I don't know about you, but I can't think of anything more dreadful than being the neighbor of someone who has just taken up the violin, and is practicing in the hotel room next door.

I've been spending too much time recently rehashing my divorce in my head and yearning for some opportunities to vent a little on some people for being complete and utter assholes, what with the whole violating trust and such, but even that's not a clear case of "Gee that'd make me feel better," because really, I also owe them thanks for opening the gates of hell and letting me out.

I'm feeling a little depressed, and while I'm pretty sure this is just an extra-low spot in the cycle, and everything will be peachy keen in a few days as I move into a more manic phase, right now it pretty much sucks. (No, I don't think I'm diagnosably bipolar, but I think I have some tendencies in that direction.)

There's work to be done here, but it is (as it always seems to be lately) all about picking up after others and finishing their work. That's the most dreary kind, because it's all about re-reading all their notes, examining all the data, hopefully coming to the same conclusions, or at least being able to justify the conclusions they arrived at, and assembling it all into a nice, readable package. (All the while wondering why they couldn't have finished this themselves before they left.)

It's Springtime back home, and while it's reasonably nice around here, it isn't home, and while I need to be here to earn the money to do the things I would want to do if I were home, such logic doesn't make me feel any better about not being there.

On top of that, I'm tired. Maybe that's what this is all about. I'm just cranky 'cause I need my nap.

(Post a new comment)

	padparadscha 2008-04-19 10:39 pm UTC (link)
	Well, there's being in the apartment below a neighbor who has JUST TAKEN UP both tap dance and juggling ... that poor dope. Not much I can do to fix crankiness. Normally when someone's cranky I post a fun cheer-up link, but all I can find is a kitten video, and I don't know if you're the type who'd enjoy three minutes of a Scottish Fold kitten ... (Reply to this)(Thread)

nolawitch
2008-04-19 11:49 pm UTC (link)

No, there is a neighbor more heinous and vile than that, more obnoxious than an Irish clog dancer or an accordian player or an American Idol wannabe. That neighbor is the young, wrongly married couple who had no business dating let alone getting married. They shriek at each other and throw things at the drop of a hat. They drive onto the lawn of the building trying to run the other down. They have no sense that their loud fights air their dirty laundry to everyone within earshot, usually up to three hundred yards away, and we don't need to know that he's a cheating piece of shit and she's a shitty piece of ass. Inevitably, they spawn and bring another miserable soul into their violet and nasty psychodrama. That infant screams and sometimes they both hit it making it scream even more in a cacophonous harmony to their yelling fights.

Give me a person learning a musical instrument over a young family any day of the week. At least the nascent musician will improve; the family will only get bigger and worse.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	blackbyrd2 2008-04-20 12:16 am UTC (link)
	OK, first I read NOLA's comment, then I watched the kitten vid. :) Yay. (Reply to this)(Parent)

nin_man
2008-04-20 01:01 am UTC (link)

You could be the neighbor of a couple blown out of their trailer by a hurricane and now taking up residence in the local motor lodge who frequently have loud violent fights and even louder and perhaps even more violent makeup sex. Or having another neighbor who sleeps through his alarm at 5 in the morning (even though you can hear it JUST FINE, thanks) and who spends much the night prior snoring so loudly you wonder if it is picked up on seismographs.

Not that that ever happened to me and my wife or anything.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

blackbyrd2
2008-04-20 06:01 am UTC (link)

Yes, I am grateful that the hotel walls seem to be relatively thick, and I don't have to deal with people like that, or like NOLA's example up above. However, I don't think explaining that to the guy I've woken up with my screeching and scratching at the violin is really going to cut it. I doubt he is going to care about how good you and I think he has it. He's probably going to be completely unreasonable about how bad he thinks he has it. ;)

There's just no pleasing some people.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	serrana 2008-04-20 01:10 am UTC (link)
	http://www.dailykitten.com/ It's a daily picture of, well, a kitten. Often cheers me up. I can now play "Arran Boat Song" on the violin. Badly. But I can do it, dangit! No, I wouldn't do it in a hotel room, either. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	blackbyrd2 2008-04-20 06:16 am UTC (link)
	I'm not sure what it says about me that these links are so helpful, but thanks. :) I drug the bow across the strings a couple times in the store. I think I could quickly learn not to screech, but I bet my fingering would be abyssmal. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	serrana 2008-04-20 02:38 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, no, you'd screech. I still screech a lot. Screeching is part of the deal (Herself calls it the dying squirrel noise). (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chanlemur 2008-04-20 01:28 am UTC (link)
	Stay strong, Guy. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	blackbyrd2 2008-04-20 06:14 am UTC (link)
	THanks Jeffrey. The various kitten links people are supplying are helping lots. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

Back when I played the cello

tigrismus
2008-04-20 02:46 am UTC (link)

there were two kinds of mutes I saw, one that would go over a string or two which didn't mute that much, and a big honkin black rubber thing that went over the whole bridge, which monstrosity I think is called a practice mute. I could've played all night and never disturbed a soul with that puppy, but it does drastically change the sound quality so only use it when you have to.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: Back when I played the cello

blackbyrd2
2008-04-20 06:12 am UTC (link)

The second of those is what I had in mind when I asked for a mute, but the first is what they had. Two of them. One was black rubber, the other was a wire contraption. The wire one didn't do anything, and the rubber one muted the resonance from the two middle strings, but didn't really make it much quieter. Also, it appeared to be a mother to put on. I think that is essentially what the big black rubber blocks do, and I worried that I'd never learn whether or not I was doing anything right or wrong with a big one installed.
Also, violins don't have frets, which leads me to think that perhaps a good ear is much more critical to being able to play a violin than, say, a guitar. I'm not all that sure I have that ear.
At any rate, I'm reconsidering for now. Maybe on my next deployment, if they send me back here for another two months, as I expect them to, then I might give it another shot.

I would actually be learning cello if all things were equal, as I love the sound so very much. However, it's both difficult to transport a cello out to the woods for a camping weekend, and cheap cellos, which you don't mind exposing to the huge changes in humidity found when camping, are not easily found, unlike violins, which can be picked up as cheaply as $50. Also? Not so many Irish jigs written for cello. ;)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Have you considered the viola?

tigrismus
2008-04-20 04:07 pm UTC (link)

it's got a lovely, throaty alto tone, and tuned like the cello so you could transfer your learning (somewhat!) if you decide to, but still transportable, and should be cheaper than a cello. Also, not as shrieky as the violin when first starting, and probably jigs are more easily transferred to viola than cello.

The mute won't mess your ear training up, it's just that you won't want to *only* play with the mute and never hear the pure sound. You can get practice mutes online, and they're cheap cheap.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Have you considered the viola?

blackbyrd2
2008-04-20 05:03 pm UTC (link)

I saw them a while back at Amazon for 12.95, so I've been considering that.

And I've thought about a viola, too. There's about a thousand factors involved, and I doubt I'll ever make a final decision, but I thought the violin was a good place to start. If I can learn to play it reasonably well, I could probably learn a cello, too. We'll see how things shape up as this deployment wears on.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Have you considered the viola?

tigrismus
2008-04-20 06:08 pm UTC (link)

I think you can find them less than that, too...here's one place. They really work well.

Viola and cello are strung the same way, CGDA, an octave apart. Violin is GDAE, basically adding an upper string and dropping the lowest string of the viola, so transferring between it and cello wouldn't be quite as easy.

It does sound like the violin repertoire would be more up your alley, though... if you're not totally sure you could try renting from a local music store rather than buying right away- it would let you try the different instruments and decide if you have a strong preference. They may even have cheap used ones for sale when school students turn them in. Bonne chance, and enjoy!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Mini Sitemap:

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…