HighlandPiper

I’m also practicing like mad. It seems to be helping.

. . . and it sounded good. Next step is to pull out the tape recorder and see if it really sounds good, or if I’m deluding myself.

I’ve got a sunny back yard and a shady front yard. I’m making plans, though not terribly ambitious ones. My daffodils are coming up (through the snow!) and I’m going to plant Shasta daisies, sunflowers, and some other red, orange and yellow annuals in the sunny areas. For the shade? Impatiens, maybe? I’m not crazy about them, but I’ve got some pretty deep shade. I need flowers that grow in the dark!

I’ve been paying down the card a bit, but the balance is still high. What with my roof now needing some repairs, I’m thinking my cash-flow problems will continue.

I’ve got both my MSRs (march, strathspey, reel; that is, a typical competition set) pretty well memorized. Now for the big tunes!

Learning to play an instrument is great! If you start, try to meet up with other people who play—the social aspect will help reinforce your desire to practice and get more involved.

I’ve hit a practice problem. That is, I’m not practicing like I should be. I’ve got to recommit to practicing every day, even though I am tired when I get home from work. Other people are tired when they get home, too, but the ones who get better practice anyway. So . . . starting tonight, I’m going to practice every single day, even if the practice is on the short side.

Well, yeah, I’ve been doing this. So every week for the past few months I’ve been buying a jar or two or three of . . . peanut butter. Yes, that’s right—the same peanut butter that just got recalled. So I’ve been helping to make poor people sick. Don’t I feel just great right now?

Every time I go grocery shopping (which isn’t more than once every ten days or two weeks) I’m going to start buying a little bit of peanut butter, tuna, soup, and juice to put in the big barrel at the back of the church.

My mental issue is that I always think that the world’s problems are just too big—if I can’t end world hunger, what’s the point of my little tiny efforts? And I don’t want to think that way any longer. A jar of peanut butter isn’t going to end world hunger, but it has to be better than doing nothing.

I’m working on two MSRs (march, strathspey, reel) and a piobaireachd (“classical” bagpipe music) . . . trying to start getting ready for contest season next summer. I’ve said it before, but my instructor is a genius.

Despite being crazy busy at work lately, I’ve also been practicing my head off. One of my first teachers always said that, if you want to improve, you have to practice EVERY day . . . even when you are busy and even when you are exhausted. I did that for a long time . . . and then slacked off for a long time. I’m trying to get back at it.

So, I bought a house. I love it. But houses eat money. In the long run, all will be well, but I’m making no progress at paying down my current credit card debt. For now, I’ll settle for not letting it get any worse.

Well, I finally got up the nerve to talk to a professional piper (with a truly global reputation) and beg for lessons. He said “Okay.” So I’ve been driving two hours in and two hours back for lessons for a month or two now. And, oh yeah, it is SO worth every minute of it. The man is a genius.

I’m going to go practice some more. Now.

After I finished my dissertation and got my Ph.D., I sent thank you notes to my adviser and to the friends and relatives who sent me gifts or helped me through—except for one aunt (whom I seldom see) who gave me a nice gift two months after the fact, when my flurry of note-writing had subsided and I was packing to move. So I owe her a note. And I would also like to thank two of my undergraduate professors who helped guide me into the great field of history in the first place. I also owe a letter to my grandmother. I think I’m going to take care of all this today, even if some of the grading I’m planning to spend the day on doesn’t get done.

We’ll sit around at dinner and my dad will start off with “There are strange things done in the midnight sun . . .” I think my mom thinks we are strange.

OK, I haven’t read ALL the classics—but I’ve read a lot of them, and there’s lots of good stuff out there. The good news is that a lot of the “classics” got to be that way because they are fun to read. Have you read the Canterbury Tales? Hilarious! Good luck to you!

For those not in the know, competitive bagpipers are ranked in order of skill. One starts at novice and moves up through the grades, from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1, and then finally to open or professional. I doubt that I will ever be good enough to be ranked among the pros. But I’ve been stuck in amateur grade 2 for the last twelve years. I want to move up.

How does one get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

And yet it is. I make enough money that I should be able to pay my debt down, and yet every month I wind up putting just as much (or more) on my credit cards as I paid off the month before.

My resolution—unless I must buy something with a credit card (like plane tickets) I am going to start paying with cash or check. No more groceries, gas, or meals out on plastic.

As a piper for seventeen years, let me give you some advice. You can’t learn to do this alone. By far the best bagpipe site on the web is bobdunsire.com. Go there. Read. Go to the section called “Beginners and Intermediate.” Tell people where you live and ask for suggestions about teachers in the area. Thousands of pipers visit the site every day, and people will help you.