shwu

... and not that much better, though I have more songs under my “sort of can play” category, including “Comfortable” by John Mayer and “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne. Recent staples have been “Winding Road” by Bonnie Somerville, “Mr. Jones” and “Anna Begins” by Counting Crows; newest acquire is “Last Request” by Paolo Nutini. I don’t think I’ll ever be done learning (if what I’m doing is learning… perhaps it’s closer to ‘stagnating’), so this goal will probably never migrate to the “I’ve done this” list.

Plus, Guitar Hero is awesome and I can play way more songs on it!

12 miles from Tassajara road in the Carmel valley through redwood forest but mostly high, exposed manzanita shrub type terrain. Elevation change ~ 4000 ft? Buddy’s dogs didn’t do so well on the hot rocky ground – full on blisters and general fatigue resulted in one or both dogs being carried in addition to packs! Sykes was really cool – hot springs piped into man-fortified natural hot tubs on river cliffbanks. 10 mile hike out through mostly redwood forest to Big Sur state park.

First backpacking trip (full-ish pack, overnight)! Only 3-4 miles in and out, mostly rolling redwood forest. Very mosquitoey. Mmm camp stove quesadillas…

how many miles qualifies as a road trip? how many days? i’d say at least 2 full days of driving to get somewhere counts, regardless of mileage (as long as it’s reasonably high, say, 600 mi). in that case, i think my trip to Seattle two months ago may count… though i wouldn’t mind taking off onto the open road again to make sure.

so i went ahead and did it. 2 weeks ago, i bought my first real guitar. not the student kind that i had 10 years ago, practically made of plastic and strung with what might as well have been dental floss, but a serious guitar. Sam O recommended a particular brand called Art & Lutherie, which apparently makes its guitars from trees that fall over in the Canadian National Forests and so their guitars are not only home-grown but provide a valuable park service. online reviews were unanimously glowing, so i mosied on over to Gelb Music and started strumming. after some hemming and hawing (both mentally and musically), i slapped down some plastic and drove home with an auburn beauty in the backseat. name to be determined.

two weeks later, i have a small repetoire of “sort of can play” songs, including “Wonderwall” by Oasis, “Tea & Sympathy” by Jars of Clay, “Sullivan Street” by Counting Crows, “Walk Away” by Ben Harper, and “Crash” by Dave Matthews. spent an hour or so today feeling out the penultimate “Tears in Heaven”. cursed myself for not overcoming the temptation to pick at my calluses earlier. i’m going to have to be more disciplined about leaving my fingers alone if i’m going to have these calluses 4 life. what’s a peeler to do?

at any rate, i’m fairly encouraged by the rate at which i’ve been learning so far. it hasn’t been too structured, and i still can’t for the life of me sing and play at the same time if the rhythms are at all conflicting, but i can almost get through a song wince-free. watch out, Tracy Chapman. great things are in store.