Guitar Guitar Guitar!!!!

     I practiced my acoustic a lot today and then did some on the electric as well. I also ordered 2 dozen picks and a guitar stand. If you know those times when you are more inspired to practice, well this is one of them. I have a Takamine G340SC and a Jackson SL2H. Unfortunately my amp is crap but that doesn't affect the finger work that needs to be done. I've been working to improve just outright technical proficiency in the picking hand and strength in my left hand. Piano is doing some help I can notice already, and I see this will be a dual benefit. The best thing I know of doing so far for that is repeating scale type patterns and also ones that shift up or down. Picks similar to Fender medium are the best for me. I'd like to see what other guitarists of different styles prefer just out of curiosity.

Hammer Throlololo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ1TEjhZLCM
This is a pretty funny video.

Got My Wisdom Teeth Taken Out

     The only remarkable memory of the procedure itself was out of embarrassment trying not to smile from the nitrous oxide. Next they put the IV in my hand and I don't remember going out, so it must have been sudden. When I went home, the pain wasn't bad. It never ended up hurting and I didn't ever have to use the pain pills. I guess the anti-inflammatory medication did its job well. Unfortunately I had some bad gas and more recently periods of dizziness. I was supposed to be knocked out the day of the surgery but after sleeping a little bit I was back 80 percent or so and able to function fine. Hopefully later surgeries I may have to have end up going this well.

$8 an hour outside is harder than working inside

     The 1st time when I worked like 7 hours without food and wore my back out I had to think of it as getting paid to work out. This time I was applying a weather proof coating to all of this wood I stacked and it was not fun because of all this crap I got all over myself. Then I got rained on. I just thought how back at the office I pack boxes at, the same three hours would have passed by easily. I'm looking at making some relatively passive income. I want to learn about investment, and of course it would be nice to get things figured out and start selling on ebay.

Parkour and Freerunning Training

     Parkour is a discipline where one trains his or her body to go through difficult obstacles with smooth and efficient movement. Like with martial arts, most of the experience is defined by the training itself. Freerunning is different in that practitioners move about with the most creative and visually appealing movements rather than ones designed to move quickly. Usually I train doing a mix of both although I mainly focus on parkour techniques. I haven't put much work into flipping or handstands because I'm more into parkour but I do plan on getting some basic flips down solid eventually and learning handstands. This summer I'm going to do a lot of work on running faster, jumping higher, doing better climbups, and being able to do all of that for a longer period of time. If you haven't heard of it, watch a lot of videos on youtube, and look up the MTV show as well as the G4 show. My friend Drew who taught me a lot is on the G4 show and hopefully there will be more seasons to come. When you look at that stuff, don't just think you can't do it. It is a day to day process and you don't have to do risky things you aren't ready for. Preparation and safety is essential, and it is very fun as well to train.

Bach is the greatest

     I'm just saying what anyone into polyphony can agree with. The man was like Neo living in the Matrix. He was a total badass and took no prisoners. Once he threw his wig at a student and said that they should have been a cobbler. Another time when probably jealous musicians, one of which he insulted by comparing his bassoon playing to a goat, tried to attack him, he fended them off with a ceremonial dagger he had with him. The man had a limited time on earth not leaving any room for incompetence. In all seriousness though, Bach is a one time deal. Rarely does the world ever get people with such a winning combination of talent, work ethic, and opportunity. Here is a good documentary laying out some of the basics about him. http://adf.ly/1XMyz  Just for the hell of it, I'll add a link to something awesome. http://adf.ly/1XN0a That particular pedal solo is usually never played so fast but Koopman is showing the type of flair Bach undoubtedly let loose as it was remarked that he could play things with his feet that others couldn't play with their hands. His music is teeming with technical and intellectual power; so lively and so full that it is just the extreme of the extreme.

Government Auctions

     I've been wanting to start buying things and selling them on ebay. I'm going to start small with garage sales around town and stuff like that but eventually I'd like to make some larger purchases with government liquidation, government auctions of seized criminal stuff, and wholesale sites online. Unfortunately the 1st two require you to arrange your own shipping if it isn't close enough to drive and the latter usually requires a business license and/or very large minimum purchases. This stuff is crazy though. Not only are there huge trucks and ridiculous things being sold, but they are selling boxes of 50 laptops with the hard drives removed and the way bidding is going so far it can be had for less than $10 per laptop. I also saw in Ohio a lot of 70 fireman helmets being sold. There are a lot of random things but huge deals. http://adf.ly/1XMjw