Guitar Class: The Beginnings

I miss Spanish class but guitar class was pretty fun. Our instructer was this totally fun, laid-back, articulate guy that was surprisingly cute. By the 5th class every girl in our class will be in love with him I predict, including me. I've gotten a head start.

The class itself seems to bypass the "take it slow" and acquaint yourself with the guitar school of thought. Toward the end of the class we were trying to play a song by AC/DC. Another Spanish class. Do teachers no longer believe in beginner classes? I was scared. Very scared.

I'm determined to learn this piece of equipment as best as I can, as it is embarrassing going 27 years as the daughter of a music teacher, and not knowing how to play a single instrument. My 3 goals for the year (as written on our handout today): 1) bring my guitar to class every week 2) try to come on a full stomach 3) be able to play one impressive piece for martini hour.

New Zealand #3

I promised a 4 part series...lodging, people, food, and adventure. I didn't say the 4 parts were going to come consecutively or even in the same year.

FOOD:

This is a rather boring post I guess, but I felt the food deserved it's own post as New Zealand has AMAZING food. We were strangely warned by Rudivals acquaintance that the food was no good, so it was strange to us that EVERY SINGLE MEAL WAS AMAZING. Am I sounding like Tom Cruise? First, it's illegal to use hormones or something there and so all the food is pretty much organic. Michael, I'm not looking up definitions of what is organic or the laws in New Zealand...so your smart-aleck response goes here: You are an evil, evil man.

There's nothing necessarily special about the food, but for some reason the sauces and the way they cook it is near perfect. I was considering making it a 2 part post as I love food and we just went to so many great restaurants and had so many food experiences, but I realized no one else would be interested. The wine and cheese samplers were also wonderful.

Below is my birthday dinner at Swashbucklers. November 3rd, the first night we were there. Unfortunately I don't remember this meal very much as I was half dead. People who didn't know directions kept telling us directions. We didn't realize the restaurant would be about 40 mins of walking away, and that Kiwis will give you directions even though they don't know where the hell you are asking about--because it's considered polite or something to help. New Zealand is also about 3 hrs behind so we ate at 9:30 pm (12:30 am our time), we were very hungry.

J-and R's anniversary lunch. I think J's forehead got suck on Rudival's cheek.

This is one of the coolest places. We went there one our 3rd day in NZ. Bethel's Beach. It had this small little cafe next to this beach that served GREAT food for cheap. Dirt cheap. Actually since the currency conversion was in our favor, food was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, we got this aioli chips thing that were to die for! Why unfortunate? We kept trying to find the same chip everywhere else and got disappointed. It's like that old adage...if you first start off dating a supermodel...everyone else after will be disappointing.

Ooohh...Crazy Horse Steakhouse in Wellington. Fancy Schmancy. I heard the steak was great, I was kinda stuffed up, so I don't remember it that much, but I remember the ambience was lovely and it had the right texture, juice, and tasted relatively nice. The wine was wonderful.

Okay, this was one of our last fancy dinners in NZ, but it was SOOOO good. It was at this seafood place on the pier in Wellington and the seafood was SO fresh. I had this risotto thing with fish, and honestly...SO FREAKIN' GOOD! The wine here was also very nice.

Soon Doo Boo

This was supposed to be a fantastic weekend.

It was not, but it was supposed to be. On Saturday I was going to go rock climbing with Nanette and her friend, and then go to a party afterwards. On Sunday I was going to come home after church and have a Bar-B-Que with the Laskos.

What happened?

Well this happened:

I became a greenish sick mouse looking person around thurs morning and progressively got worse. Fever, chills, sore throat, no voice, sneezy, coughing, everything you can imagine, sick. Interestingly I did go out with Lasko to Disneyland California Adventure on weds evening...we rode the rapids ride, but since I was the only one who looked like a greenish sick mouse the next day, I suppose I cannot blame it on that.

One by one, I cancelled my plans. In fact, I pretty much slept through the weekend with the exception of getting a new dresser with Rich and going with him and Tawny to the Indian Cookhouse. Many thanks to Rich. Management can be nice sometimes.

So what can compensate for such a horrible weekend in which there was no goodness, just pain and suffering? One thing only. Soon Doo Boo.

Three syllables of heavenly Korean goodness. Perfect for ass-cold weather like tonight. It is everything that is politically incorrect about food. Will give you horrible breathe and will likely also lead to heartburn. But it is sooooooo good. Oh yeah, I went with Ben Warner, who provided good company and conversation, etc. But let's not forget the important thing...soon doo boo. Thank you soon doo boo. Thank you Korea.

Dinner

I actually have nothing to write, except that I felt Justin had enough top bill time on my blog. I couldn't take it anymore. I do want to mention I've had some wonderful dinners lately. Last night I went to Villa Nova with my wonderful friends Dan and Joy. It was a good time by all.

Also, my coworkers have lately gone into an "elaborate dinners" spirit, but I think I cannot elaborate anymore on this. The exclusivity factor.

There is also this thing called Restaurant Week in Newport. Let me know if anyone wants to join me ever in trying one of these out. I am always up for good food and Chef Specials!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Before I get to this important post, for all my coworkers, the answer is no--this is not my boyfriend...but let me introduce you to...


JUSTIN! So today we celebrated my good friend Justin's birthday. Justin is one of the few consistent readers of my blog, and plus, he's just a really wonderful person. For these reasons and more this post will be dedicated to Justin.

One great quality of Justin is that though he has likely wanted to kill me several times, and has likely had several good reasons to do so, he has never come near to physically hurting me. That's a great quality. He also has an awesome voice and is an amazing guitar (pronounced gihtaa'r) player. He is a big fat nerd and even better yet, a bigger LOTR freak than I am. Exponentially bigger. I think he has memorized the book.

Cheers to you Justin. You are still younger than me by 2 months, and I would like for you to give me the proper respect that someone 2 months older deserves---starting now.

Greatness

Behold! The instrument I will know how to play in about 3 months.

Today I went to the Guitar Center to buy my first guitar which I will use for my first guitar class. This trip was not as fun as the bike trip as 1) I knew how to bicycle and it was fun trying out bikes 2) I do not know how to guitar and it was embarrassing holding that piece of instrument trying to look as not lame as possible. Interestingly enough both places commented on how it would be difficult to find something my size. I AM NORMAL AMERICAN FEMALE HEIGHT.

I think Lasko also agreed I looked lame and possibly would embarrass him in guitar class, thus he kindly drew up a table for me (see below) which had different chords. This table I am to study and report my progress at work tomorrow. I tried it out for about 20 mins, with the chords sounding more and more like notes. However, my hands started hurting. I have lovely, soft, hands. In fact, they might be my most likeable quality. I am devastated that guitar playing may give me callouses. At the same time, I want some callouses because guitar playing hurts!

I could not hack it anymore and thus, I am procrastinating. I shall go back down and practice for 10 more mins and say I did 30 mins total tonight.