Had breakfast with Ken, then pretty much just rested up for the trip tomorrow. woot!
practice.. 2023 Aug 30 Wed.. jam session
all day.. chill and practice
That's it.. after breakfast I set up the tv to play spotify playlists and practiced jamming with the harmonica. Then I watched movies and videos and then I would practice some more. Then it was time to get ready and head out for..
6pm.. dinner and jam session
This started out the regular way.. dinner! I was running late so I just had chicken strips and fries at the restaurant there at the Holiday Inn. Jam sessions go in a circle and each musician takes a turn calling out the song we then all play along with. I skipped a turn, then when it got back to me again, they reminded me to tell a joke.. So I told the new John Deer story again.. haha! It was great and I got several comments and adoration after about the story. woot!
practice.. 2023 Aug 29 Tue.. literary rug
7pm.. writing prompt at literary rug
first love sort of
It didn't have to be this way or that way. It doesn't have to have happened at all, in fact.
I was reaching for a gallon of milk. To get these fingers into the handle is a full body experience. I wasn't paying attention to much else as I missed a couple times. Then I came back to the real world.. a cry.. crying.. I realized my butt had knocked over a little boy. Empathy hit like a bolt and I turned to see what I had done.
I.. and I mean my but here.. took out the rest of his family. All dead instantly. After all the reports and paperwork, I was officially the boy's replacement family. This was in Wyoming, after all, and that's how things get done there.
On the way home, we stopped suddenly as deer cross the road. I reach my small arm out and try to stop John from flying out the window. I failed. Raised by deer.. I hear he's doing fine.
practice.. 2023 Aug 28 Mon.. listening
morning.. thinking
I spent some time catching up this little blog thing. It made me think about what I'm actually doing with it. I thought I was committed to publishing little pieces of things I work on each day. It's turned into just a little report each day, with hardly any pictures or recordings of anything I'm working on. Over the next few weeks, I'll start fleshing this out and making more intentional practices around setting direction and making sure I'm trying something hard each day. I don't know what that will look like.
afternoon.. portfolio
I've been thinking about how I got decent at playing the piano years ago. It was mostly just going every Sunday to the church with my dad a few hours before meetings started. I would just flip through the hymn book and play all the songs I knew and then it would be sort of obvious where I needed improvement and I would pause and work out tough passages and challenge myself to try adding more than just the melody.
For a while now, I've been working on just a list of stuff I want to work on like that. It's not all just hymns, any longer. I have jokes and stories and harmonica and singing and poetry and web sites and all kinds of stuff I want to come back to. I think I'll just start with a portfolio page which will list my material of all types in different arrangements that make sense to me as I build up a way to review old material and add new material and watch the magic of everything growing and twisting and becoming really fun and great. I don't know what it will look like and it will likely change as the material and I grow and my needs change. I'm reminding myself to let that take years, and not put off the actual practicing of the material which is really where I learn what needs to come next.
practice.. 2023 Aug 27 Sun.. chill day
all day.. chill
Another day of not doing much at all. I'm worried about this a little. I can get a little hard on myself about too many days like this. Still, Ken was here and we watched some videos and stuff. I practiced the harmonica a little and watched some educational videos about harmonica and then also a little about whistling musically. I might start throwing a whistle or two into the jam session stuff and see how it goes. We did get out for lunch and ice cream at this little place called the Rusty Truck. It wasn't a terrible day.
practice.. 2023 Aug 26 Sat.. jam session
10am.. jam session
One of the highlights of my week! We had a usual time.. haha! I'm always coming away with this feeling that I can try harder and I can get stuff prepared. I did tell the John Deer story as I'm calling it now.. with the butt knocking over a kid then taking out the rest of his family and I had to adopt.. haha!
noon.. lunch with Ken
Ken and Paul got to the Ichiban restaurant before I did. That was fine. Ken bought us all lunch. It was pretty good. I forgot to switch my fried rice for noodles. The fried rice is fine. I just find noodles easier to eat. haha! The rest of the day was pretty chill. Ken and I eventually went to the casino where I lost all the money I took out quite quickly. Ken did much better and gave me more money to keep me from getting bored until we both put it all back into the machines.. ugh.. haha!
practice.. 2023 Aug 25 Fri.. renewal
all day..
This was just a series of movies and naps. Ken and I did go to the casino.. deposit only.. later in the evening. That is all.
practice.. 2023 Aug 24 Thu.. the rest of the tech stuff
morning.. slow and easy
That is all. I slept really well. Ken and I were at the casino.. deposit only.. until 3 am. I slept long and well. I got up around 11 or noon. I got up and watched Ken do some stuff in the yard and then we chilled in the living room. It was too late for him to go eat or anything. I just waited until he left for work.
afternoon.. lunch and tech stuff
I ended up at Taco John's for lunch and then I was close enough that I just went and hung out at the library. Having learned how to do it, I finished moving web site domains to the Cloudflare registrar.. southsoundstory.org and .com today. Once it was all working, I copied all the receipts and let the Story Guild people know that it was all done and we're registered for another year. I got some Wendy's on the way home and caught up on these silly entries.
practice.. 2023 Aug 23 Wed.. sustain and jam
afternoon.. arrange room
That was it.. I tried before I left to move my bed around so I could reach all the corners to make it and keep the sheets fixed up by myself. It's been bugging me that nothing quite worked except the bed after that.. The desk was taking up too much space and there was unusable open space just too small to set up the music keyboard. Today I fixed it.. I moved the clothes to the other space, then the desk in that corner and now the keyboard is all set up again. I just need to ask Ken to help me reach some cords and yeah.. woohoo!
6pm.. jam session
I couldn't quite drive fast enough and slept a lot last Wednesday, so I missed the jam session at the Holiday Inn in Riverton. Tonight I was back! We had a really good time. I had all the mic stuff set up nicely and got some good solos in, even. We were in the lobby outside the conference room where we usually play. It made for some technical difficulties that I didn't have to deal with. It was good to be back!
practice.. 2023 Aug 22 Tue.. literary rug!
7pm.. literary rug!
I was really excited to get back to this one. I rested all day and headed in around 5pm for dinner at the Deka Guy Hee.. the restaurant at the Shoshone Rose Casino. The special was a loaded baked potato topped with steak and cheese and sour cream.. It was pretty amazing. I told the group about the trip a little and then I finished with the Bubba Wolff story I told at Stories in the Park. After, we had time for a writing prompt. This is what I came up with..
choosePeople stare. It's a thing. For me it's like air or like water for fish. I'm inspiring. This i know because people tell me all the time. Two times now, in Ontario Oregon someone told me I was amazing when they saw me eating with chopsticks at Panda Express.The thing is I don't feel amazing. It's just me eating.. again. My head is often full of frustration at all the things I wish I could do or the envy of others doing those things with no thought.Mitchell reminded us of these things we forget about that are lovely. I feel humbled that I've inspired someone unknowingly just by doing a normal thing. Maybe I just accept that and remember to share my amazement with others so they can remember their open miraculous skills.
practice.. 2023 Aug 21 Mon.. connect and relax
10am.. breakfast
Ken and I went to Trailhead for breakfast. It was some good connecting time. The rest of the day was a mix of hanging out and just chilling by myself.
afternoon.. meeting people..
Henry called me up and we picked up Treyson and Nick. They both have disabilities and were quite fun to hang out with. I tried some of my jokes about disabilities and staring and stuff. It was pretty fun. Treyson said he could never go so hard on his own disability. At some point I was talking about my hands and the fact that I didn't have opposable thumbs.. even monkeys have those.. haha!
practice.. 2023 Aug 20 Sun.. tech stuff
all afternoon.. domain registration
It's pretty boring stuff, actually, doing some of the web site managing for the Story Guild people. Simply, Google Domains is shutting down so I did some homework and we're moving everything to Cloudflare. I tested it on the fanningtheembers.org site that isn't that critical this time of year and also on my personal mitchtells.us site. It's not complete, yet, but I'm learning a lot? haha! and ugh..
practice.. 2023 Aug 19 Sat.. jam session!
10am.. jam again!
I'm home! I really missed the two jam sessions a week here in Wyoming. I'm right where I was when I left.. I know I would love to practice more. I will. Ken left for Utah to get Kayden home. I watched this entire little series called Pretty Little Things and slept some good sleep! Again, renewal is an important practice!
practice.. 2023 Aug 18 Fri.. physical activity mission
9am.. Henry
We went in to Lander. I ate and then we went to the casino.. deposit only.. Then we played racquetball.. sort of.. at the gym. After I dropped him off, I went home and slept some more. Renewing is long after these long trips, I recall.
practice.. 2023 Aug 17 Thu.. renew
all day..
I finished the drive home. I had breakfast at a place in Logan called Angie's. I slept a few times along the way home and passed out happily in my own bed. I woke up a little bit to say hi to Ken and Henry and now I'm sleeping again!
practice.. 2023 Aug 16 Wed.. sustain
9am.. breakfast and physical activity mission
I came across this local place called Mr. V's and had a great breakfast. Then I was happy to sign up at the YMCA in Caldwell. I swam and rolled around the indoor track a half mile and stretched out using the recumbent bike.
4pm.. connect
I was trying to get in touch with Johnathan to drop off a floaty thing for one of his girls. I ended up visiting with his mom, Bethany, while I waited for his reply. I made it to his house to find out he was pretty sick.
6pm.. travel
Driving and napping.. my new favorite pastime! I'm sleeping at the rest area past Burley on the way to Utah and on home in the morning.
practice.. 2023 Aug 15 Tue.. connect
most of the day.. drive and nap
I got to Dan's house and he tightened clamps and checked water levels.. all is well. Then I stopped and visited with Dad at his house. I'm very tired and sleep easily on the road.. too easily.. so I headed to Idaho and took several naps along the way.
7pm.. catch up with Mary
That's it. Then I'll sleep here, as well.
practice.. 2023 Aug 14 Mon.. one more open mic
10am.. exhausted breakfast
yup! I went to bed around 3 or 4 am and still got up and went to breakfast with Sandy. I mentioned how tired I was and ended up sleeping at her house for a little bit. It was nice. Then I can't downtown and snoozed even more, played harmonica on the car by the park.
2pm.. homework
I made my way to Rhythms Coffee where I would be the rest of the day. I got the web site updated for the Story Guild and chilled with David and Kim all afternoon.
7pm.. open mic!
I played two harmonica songs and got myself all caught up here in this blog while listening to everyone else. I'm heading back to eastern Washington tonight. We'll see how far I make it. woot!
practice.. 2023 Aug 13 Sun.. dance!
10am.. breakfast
I time up at David's house. I passed out in my car this time. It was lovely. I slept like a baby and just wandered inside a couple times. The last time, I did sleep a couple hours inside on the couch, then got up in time for breakfast.
noon.. dance!
We had more workshops then a dance at the fountain in downtown Olympia. I got sunburnt and that wasn't the worst thing.
5pm.. disaster!
I stuck around seconds too long and didn't get to the bathroom at Taco Bell in time.. ugh.. no more details. It all worked out and I'm only a little mortified.. haha!
7pm.. last dance
The dance weekend was officially over at the Medicine Creek Winery tonight. There was an after party which I sort of slept through.. haha! I did go inside, them passed out on David's couch.
practice.. 2023 Aug 12 Sat.. everything
10am.. breakfast
I got to see Sandy again! Not much new since the couple days we last met. I woke up at David's house and did some wandering on the way to breakfast.
11am.. learning!
We had several dance workshops throughout the day. My favorite was about connecting with partners and not sticking forcefully to lead and follow roles. We had fun getting the basics of robot dancing, as well.
3pm.. dinner?
yes.. there is an intentional ❓ there.. haha! We all went to dinner at our friend Marya's house. It was beautiful. I ended up posted by the front door greeting people. I loved it. I got appetizers, then had to leave before dinner for the next thing on my separate list..
6pm.. Stories in the Park!
yup! Finally the actual event! It was a lovely evening and we didn't even get close to finished before the other group was done eating. I told my little version of the Three Little Pigs where Bubba Wolff was not as vicious as he is usually made out to be.
9pm.. dance!
Specifically, a.. Sexy Psychedelic Circus Dance. My outfit says everything about a lively lovely evening..
practice.. 2023 Aug 11 Fri.. back to dancing
3pm.. fix car
Dan got all the radiator hoses installed and I got on the road to Olympia again around 4pm. I missed the Stories in the Park party at Maggie's house.
8pm.. dance!
I really missed dancing! Tonight was amazing and fun and rewarding and yeah.. I had a great time connecting with everyone and we ended up partying until the wee hours of the morning, as they say.
practice.. 2023 Aug 10 Thu.. connect
6pm.. reception
A nice long day! I just hung out all day. Hannah had her wedding reception tonight and I struck around trying to be helpful after. I caught up with a few friends from the Ephrata area during the couple hours. My niece Audrey and I had a nice conversation at one point that felt really connecting.
practice.. 2023 Aug 8 Tue.. story and dance!
10am.. breakfast with Sandy!
I missed this part of Olympia quite a bit! After sleeping at Planet Fitness a couple hours, I woke up embarrassed to go in and pee, for some reason. Instead, I drove around all night gathering ideas about places I could park. Eventually, I came right back and slept another couple hours there at Planet Fitness before breakfast time. Sandy really does pay attention and wasn't entirely surprised I was in town.
Another lovely evening! I read my Nothing Seems Right poem and then told about Bubba Wolff and his troubles with those pigs.. I think that's what I'll be telling at Stories in the Park Saturday.
practice.. 2023 Aug 7 Mon.. open mic!
11am.. breakfast and travel
I tested the fix Ryan made to the radiator hose with a drive to Omak for breakfast. I went to Dan's house after ordering new hoses from O'Reilly's. They'll get here sometime between Wed and Fri. I got to Dan's house just fine and he thought the house looked alright so I headed to Olympia. There were lots of wrecks along the way.. 3, I think.. but I got the just as the open mic at Rhythms Coffee was getting started!
7pm.. open mic!
I really miss these people! Daniel and I chatted quite a bit and them I ended up playing the Eensy Weensy Spider melody on the harmonica with a couple little jam flourishes to make a longer couple of verses.. It was a good night! Good night! haha!
practice.. 2023 Aug 6 Sun.. wandering adventure
afternoon.. radiator hose
bleh.. Everyone wandered off after breakfast. We did a little Sunday school lesson and I fell asleep.. oops! I was in Dad's camp recliner and they just left me there.. haha! I decided to go back to town and get gas for tomorrow when the car started overheating. I got myself to the side of the road and finally got ahold of Lara Sue who sent Dan and Ryan to rescue me. It's running okay. I need to replace the hose that Ryan trimmed and clamped back on. I'll just do all of them while I'm here where they can help.
practice.. 2023 Aug 5 Sat.. connecting
all day.. connecting and sustaining
I mean it's family reunion.. haha! It's been a great day. I'm tired and my feet hurt. I parked by the tent site and that means walking to the bathrooms alone added up the steps. I didn't carry my phone around, so I just guessed about 8000 steps! Swimming and hanging out was fun. We took a side trip in to Omak and stopped at a few places. yup.. good times!
practice.. 2023 Aug 4 Fri.. wander then connect
6am.. wake up
The rest area has one room.. an outhouse style toilet. The sign on it was a female and I saw no male building. I was the only one there, so I just peed at the front of the car into the bushes. In the morning, I realized there was originally a man and woman, but the sign was damaged.. haha! Sleeping in the car was new again and it took a while to get comfortable. I did sleep well eventually and it was good.
8am.. breakfast
I got on the road and found gas at Coeur d' Alene. On my way to find breakfast after that, I spied a little building called Breakfast Nook and found a Hawaiian omelet! It sounded amazing and it was.. also it was simpler than I imagined.. just cheese and ham and pineapple.. still amazing!
9am.. physical activity mission
yup! I'm trying to stay true to my intention and stopped at a Planet Fitness after breakfast. I just did a few minutes on a really strange rowing machine then did my stretching thing where I pedal on the recumbent bike a couple minutes then stretch open the hips. After riding in the car all day, it felt really great. Planet Fitness has massage chairs, so I finished there.
3pm.. connect
After the rest of the drive and a couple stops at Walmarts, I got to the Liar's Cove Resort where we're doing family reunion stuff. I jumped in the lake, furthering my physical activity mission goals and started catching up with everyone.. duh! haha!
practice.. 2023 Aug 3 Thu.. wanderer!
all day!
yup! It was just me driving and taking in the wonder of the world today. I got to take a different route to Washington so I ended up driving through Yellowstone for the first time I can remember. It was very much tourist season.. the old joke about why can't we shoot them if they're in season comes to mind. It was rainy, as well, so I drove up to Old Faithful then didn't get out and roll anywhere to see it up close. It's only a few hours away, so I'll get back another time. I fell asleep at a lovely pitch black rest area just past Alberton Montana.
practice.. 2023 Aug 2 Wed..
afternoon.. nap and listen
After new tires and breakfast, I put on a playlist of mostly harmonica solos. I finally got up just in time to get dinner and then go to the jam session at the Holiday Inn here in Riverton. I didn't try too much new. The receiver end of the mic died at like 3 hours, though it is supposed to last 6 hours. bleh.. I can just add a power cord to the stuff I bring. I might just end up looking into the other kit I found for $44.. hmm..
practice.. 2023 Aug 1 Tue.. learn!
all day.. off and on..
I listened to a lot of harmonica players and teachers throughout the day today. This guy Tomlin has a podcast and he got several players to offer advice for practicing. One guy talked about trains and gears. Chugging slowly at first gear then getting faster or more complex in higher gears. It works on licks, as well, or whole songs if I'm doing solo stuff.
Another idea was something I knew or thought of in another art.. comedy.. Basically, listen to others before trying the thing they're showing you or the thing I'm trying to figure out. Listening to myself, via recording every practice, was along the same line.. listen deeply.
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