Thursday, January 31, 2008

Hiatus

I've got alot going on right now. No ukulele for awhile. No bowling for awhile.

No more posts for awhile either.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Panicked And Way Behind

You know what it's like when you plan just enough time to get to an important meeting across town? You look at the clock and grab your keys and run out the door and get into your car and you think to yourself, "I have just enough time to get there. I'll be fine."

You take off down the street and you discover that you left your wallet and have to go back home. Once you get on the road AGAIN, you discover that traffic is stopped for road construction. And then once traffic gets going, you get stuck behind someone driving 20 miles per hour and you manage to hit every single red light. Once you reach your destination, you cannot find a place to park! You end up being 20 minutes late. You know how stressful and frustrating that can feel?

That is how my life has been for the past two weeks. It's felt like one of the most stressful times of recent memory. I just keep hitting obstacle after obstacle with work stuff. I've lost sleep. I've even lost 5 pounds in the last week. It's nuts.

I am working so hard, but I still feel like I am sinking. I just feel like if I could only stay awake a few more hours each day, I might be able to get caught up. Bleah.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

My New Boyfriend!

Last Friday, I went to dinner with some friends. And this was no ordinary dinner. I had been looking forward to this since September when Ross and Maggie first told me about their amazing experience at Bryan Zupon's Z Kitchen. If you don't know about Bryan, you can read about him in this NY Times article. Read it. After some rescheduling and more rescheduling, we were finally able to get over to his dorm room for dinner on Friday night.

Our courses included:

Scallop, avocado mosaic, olive oil-poached grapefruit, tomato-cumin chutney, mustard, Sichuan peppercorn, Old Bay



Red snapper, fennel, raisins, candied olive, pomegranate


And then there was the course that changed my life. The course that made me feel like I had died and gone to heaven. It was BACON-WRAPPED BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Bacon-wrapped pork belly) Oh. My. God. I fell in love. See that picture below? That is my boyfriend. My boyfriend is BACON!

Seattle Meets New York – Bacon Wrapped Bacon Buns: Pork belly, Nueske’s bacon, miso-butterscotch, snow peas

Bryan said that this dish might be his "greatest achievement and contribution to humanity at large." I agree. It was so delicious.

To see some of our other dishes, go here. I even licked my dessert plate!!!

After the meal, I went home and cried. Never has a meal moved me to tears before. But this one did. I love bacon. Bacon loves me. Maybe I should write a song for my new boyfriend on the ukulele. Woot!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

My Little Radio Show Is Back

I'm back on the air beginning tomorrow morning! This school semester I'll be djing Friday mornings from 8-10am. Tune in locally to 89.3FM or online.


I am so excited. I've missed being on the air. I have no idea what I am going to play tomorrow. All I have been listening to is "A Good Start" by Maria Taylor over and over and over.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Weekend of Lessons

As DJ Lance Rock might say, learning is awesome!!! This weekend, I had two lessons: uke and bowling. The music lesson was fascinating. I remember very little from my piano lessons when I was little. Even so, Mrs. Alexander never taught me anything about chord theory or the cycle of fifths. All I can remember from those days is eating peppermints in her living room. (Sorry if you wasted your money on me, Mom.) I still have a long way to go, but I am finally understanding the relationship of notes on a scale and finding that scale on the uke. Lots of little lightbulbs were going off on Saturday. My goal right now is to work out the introduction to Rosanne Cash's "Seven Year Ache." After my lesson, I got about halfway there.

Today, I went out to Village Lanes to have my first bowling lesson with Larry. Larry is in a league with my hero, Mr. Perkins. He averages in the 220s and has been teaching bowling for years. He had a little notebook and a instruction manual and was extremely enthusiastic. After just 15 minutes, I increased my score by 20 points. And no more straight rolling. I can roll with a curve, baby!! Gutterglory is going to be so impressed. I wanted to stay after my lesson and bowl, but I ripped myself out of there after three games. Larry and his brother were really impressed with the progress that I had made. Next week, he is going to show me the math and the geometry of positioning in regard to picking up spares.

These lessons definitely lifted me out of my funk from last week

I found this video today and I like it alot. She's not playing a soprano banjo uke like I do, but she's inspirational nonetheless. This song is actually gorgeous.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Honeymoon Is Over

So, today was my sixth day at my new job. I kinda drifted last week... I had to wait for my shiny new laptop to arrive and then get that set up. I shopped for office supplies. I read their 2006 tax return. I brought in some extra artwork from home to hang on the walls. I sent out some emails. I piddled around on the files on the server and in the accounting data file. Easy as pie.

But things changed this week. I am finally getting a idea of what my job is going to be. And I am a little scared. It's a whole lotta work. More than I thought. I am going to have to make some system changes here that I know it is going to make me into the bad guy at work. And that stinks. Sigh.


In any case, I love the robot on the wall in my office.

And I loaded my work laptop with all my Richard Hawley music. Yay!

Could It Get Any Worse?

Why, yes! Yes, it can!

I have been so enthusiastic about my new bowling ball. Right after I got it, my score increased by 30 points. I was rockin' it! But since those initial games, my scores have radically dropped. Over the past few days, my scores have been abysmal. I have been averaging around 65.

Monday night, I went to see Mr. Perkins at J&J Pro Shop in Northgate Mall. I had to get the thumb hole on my ball enlarged due to what Mr. Perkins' calls "bowler's thumb." While waiting my turn, I met a Jackie who had recently wanted to learn to bowl since that is what her husband did all the time.

She was having Mr. Perkins fit her for ball. It was pink and purple, her favorite colors. She had only bowled one game in her life, which was last weekend... with her TUTOR! Her husband and Mr. Perkins (and I) convinced her to go with a fingertip grip. While waiting for the drilling and such, Jackie and I sat and talked about what we're learning... the stance, the number of steps on the approach, the release, etc. Her husband bowls close to 200.

After leaving J&J Pro Shop, I headed to Village Lanes for our league's handicap night for the newcomers. I just wanted to practice a little more. My scores dipped again... 57, 61, & 96. Ugh. I was frustrated and disappointed, but still determined.

Last night, I went to the lanes again after work before heading to Chapel Hill for a rock show. Jackie was there! We bowled side-by-side. She was bowling in the 80s and 90s. I was bowling in the fifties and then I hit a new low... a 47. I wanted to cry. Even the guy working the desk at the bowling alley laughed at my score. In response to my 59 score of my first game, he said, "Man, I can bowl better than that left-handed."

Jackie and I discussed her bowling coach and she called him to see if he would be willing to coach me, too. He was. He is going to give me and Jackie a lesson on Sunday afternoon. Just the two of us. Maybe, he'll have a cool clipboard like this one.


In the meantime, no more bowling this week. Instead, I am going to concentrate on ukulele practice. It's time to just give the bowling a rest as practicing is not helping.

Friday, January 4, 2008

2007 Top Ten List

1. Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge (Mute)
2. Club 8 - The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming (Labrador)
3. Iron & Wine - Shepherd's Dog (Sub Pop)
4. Bishop Allen - The Broken String (Dead Oceans)
5. Great Lake Swimmers - Onigiara (Nettwerk)
6. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
7. Little Name - How To Live and Swim (Sleepy)
8. Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir (Sub Pop)
9. The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge)
10. Elliott Smith - New Moon (Kill Rock Stars)

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Bowled Over and Over-Bowled

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? Maybe to lose weight or to practice guitar or to ride your bike to work? I have a few. None of those that I mentioned. I have things on my list such as practice ukulele two hours a week, floss more, and to throw away socks.

One resolution that I might need to make is to cut down on bowling. I seem to have a bit of a problem. When my bowling team finished the season this fall, I was pumped to become a better bowler. I wanted my own ball, my own shoes, my own bowling bag. Right before Christmas, my teammates granted my wish and bought me a ball of my own. There it is on the left under the Christmas tree angels.



The day after I got my ball, I bowled eight games. I bowled eight more games the day after that. I even played hooky from work to bowl! I was sick with a cold/flu/sinus infection for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, so I wasn't able to bowl at Village Lanes those days, but I bowled with my nephews on the Wii at which time I bowled a 210.

Yesterday I was feeling better and I bowled eight games. Alone. And tonight, my intention was to only go bowl two games to try out my new wrist support, but two games quickly turned to seven games. When I am alone at the bowling alley, I just can't seem to stop. I am going back to the bowling alley tomorrow, but I'll have friends to tear me away from the lanes after a reasonable number of games.



You might think that all this bowling is improving my game. It's not... which is so frustrating. But I now know that with this new equipment and my new knowledge, I have the potential to bowl in the 130s-140s. (Before I was bowling in the 90s.) But trying to master my fingertip-grip ball and this darth-vader-looking wrist support is causing me to score all over the place... as low as 66 and as hight as 145. I just need to practice more. I need to bowl. MORE MORE MORE!

Tonight, my arm hurts. I think I have bowled over my arm limit. How much bowling is too much? When does enthusiasm turn to obsession?