Dreadfully bored

Hi guys. I hope things are going well for you all. Peace, Rick, I hope you are doing alright. Craig, did that pin drive ever show up? I plan to nag Mike to get me an MP3 player for my car, and it'd be really cool if I had one of them nifty little things full o' dada and such... hint hint....

Here's how things are going with me. I started drafting and design at Hocking College two weeks ago and it is kickin' my a**. It's been eons since I had to think in the abstract, and my math skills are abysmal. Oddly enough, I am having great fun anyway, even though the little high school graduates laugh at me all the time. They are light years faster than I am on the CAD (computer assisted design). One of 'em called me Grandma the other day. Damn whippersnappers. I get the concepts, but manipulating the design program to do what I want it to is giving me fits. Singing is much more fun.

Anybody thought of doing a little acoustic project just for something to do? I can't give up music or I'll shrivel up and blow away like a tumbleweed. I'm even looking at doing a solo for a Christmas program at one of our area churches- an aria or hymn or maybe. Ack. Speaking of Christmas, can I have your addresses for my Christmas card list? I hope it's not too obnoxious but I enoy sending out cards around then if I have the time. Please stay in touch or I'll have to stalk you. All of you.

Hey Steph, glad to hear things are going good for you....good luck in school!

That stinking pen drive never did show up...it's still on backorder along with an MP3 player that emma ordered. I'll just send ya a refund cause I hate keeping you on hold for that.

Actually, me and Mike had talked about doing an acoustic thing and were thinking of asking you if that would be something you might be into. It holds some advantages - less people to screw things up, less equipment issues, and it frees up where you can play and who you can play with. The downside, at least for Mike is that he's primarily an electric player so it'd be a bigger switch for him.

But, it's worth looking into and I'd be game.

Don't worry about a refund if it doesn't show up, Craig. Just put it toward next year's party- Mike and I had a blast.

I'd be pleased to be part of anything musical you and Mike have in mind. Woo- whoo! Where do I sign up? IIRC you said a couple of the songs we did were good candidates for acoustic...and Mike wouldn't have to ditch the electric guitar altogether if I had my way. I saw an AWESOME duo once with a singer and an electric guitar and the sound was really nice. Of course they were doing stuff like Sade. That's pretty low key. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

I actually enjoy playing acoustic guitar. My hand and wrist hate it though. Ever since I hurt myself in that damn factory it's given me problems.
Doesn't mean it can't be done though.

If we go that route, I wonder if there's a thinline el/acoustic or a piezo setup that will give you a more "electric" action but the actual sound of an acoustic.

Ok, I went to go see a band tonight at the Mill 'cause I'm going nuts here, and it just made me feel worse. They sucked, and we could be SOOOO much better. I got invited to sing for fun with a different band next Friday and I think I'm gonna take them up on it. I have no idea if they're any good, but I do know I was sure missing percussion from Rick with this band tonight. They were so....blah. I didn't ask to sing with them because 1.) I didn't want to be associated with them and 2.) I was jealous they were playing out and I wasn't.

By the way, would either (or both) of you like to take part in a duo (or trio) with me at a Christmas walking tour my village's churches put on every year? I think you only have to play one piece for each walking tour group, in one location. I can sing a capella, but I think it's so much prettier with instrumentation....if you think you'd like to do it, let me know and I'll try to get signed up it. I had sacred music in mind, and if you want I could get a recording for you to learn it as opposed to the sheet music. Maybe it'd give us something to practice on till we figure out what, if anything, we want to do. (By the way, I hope I'm not offending anyone but I'm not religious; I just like to sing and it's a venue. There would be no conversion attempts on my part.)

I'm with ya missing a full band, breaks my heart that it's all kaput. I haven't had the hear to go see any music!

I'm still very willing to try a 3-piece doing acoustic, if you are willing...it won't take much for us to put together songs that way.

I dunno about Christmas music, for me to do that it would violate a 20 year moratorium I've given myself...I did some of that in high school and hated it so bad I swore I'd swallow a burning porcupine before playing Christmas tunes again. I hate to be a scrooge, but I really really dislike Christmas music for some reason....love the season, but besides Greenleaves most of it makes me want to go postal.

Great! Thanks! I just squirted Pepsi through my nose. "Swallow a burning porcupine." Do ya mind if I use that?

Please, PLEASE don't go swallow a burning porcupine. That won't be necessary. I can understand where you're coming from- even if I hear Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire only once a year I still feel like I want to hurt someone.

I was pretty sure I wanted to do something not so much Christmas-y as something subtly religious classical, preferably in Italian or French. Think Haydn, Schubert, or Bach. Definitely not Little Drummer Boy or any of that ilk.

And for the record, I prefer not to think of it as kaput so much as on hiatus. Ya just never know. Am I willing to try a 3-piece acoustic? You betcha. We'll be the best dang 3-piece acoustic there is.

Well, let me talk with Mike and see what we wanna do and we'll go from there. I am super uber busy right now with work, it's our worst time of the year so I'm kind of hard pressed for hobby time at the moment but as soon as I have some I'll work on it in earnest. In the mean time, if you have some ideas of something more demure or acoustic songs that fit your voice, drop some ideas and we'll go from there. Unlike with a full band, it really just comes down to can we arrange it on 2 guitars, and in general that's easier than fitting it to a full band.

Okey dokey, no pressure. It's supposed to be fun, not deadlines. I can sure sympathize with you about being busy. I don't work, but classes are making time management a challenge right now. I'll chill for now till I hear what you've decided.