practice.. 2023 Nov 30 Thu.. last leg

practice.. 2023 Nov 29 Wed.. traveling nap

practice.. 2023 Nov 28 Tue.. sick.. heading home

practice.. 2023 Nov 27 Mon.. open mic!

open mic!

Still not well.. hope I didn't get anyone sick..

practice.. 2023 Nov 26 Sun.. renew

all day.. sick day.. ugh!

I had breakfast with Sandy and started getting the froggy throat Jonathan had when I was there last week. I ended up getting a room at Motel 6 for a couple nights and passed out as soon as I could check in at 3 pm. Good rest and renewal!

practice.. 2023 Nov 25 Sat.. chill day with music

all day.. napping and music

I guess I did end up working out at the gym a little, as well. I caught the evening show at Rhythms.. mostly jazzy stuff. I spent the night at Planet Fitness. I was pretty proud of myself. I went inside to pee at 1 am and ran into an old friend from the apartment in Tumwater 10 or so years ago named Jordan. He might show up at the open mic at Rhythms Monday night.

practice.. 2023 Nov 24 Fri.. Tellabration!

morning.. drive and work out

That was it. & finished the trip to Olympia and had plenty of time to check in at the gym and at Rhythms Coffee.

7pm.. Tellabration!

This was fun! I told Ann expanded version of the little Johnny Deer story that started with the vampire making my huge butt in the first place. I got the best groan ever or of an audience after I said Johnny had a tractor company!

10pm.. salsa dance

I ended up checking in and staying for the salsa dance, then spent the night at David's house.

practice.. 2023 Nov 23 Thu.. Thanksgiving

all day.. at Dan's house

I left Jonathan's and headed straight to Dan's house for Thanksgiving. I did take one little side road at the top of the pass before Pendleton. Dinner and catching up was fun.

practice.. 2023 Nov 22 Wed.. hang out in Idaho

all day.. chill in Idaho

We all got up and had breakfast, then headed to Walmart. I got some backup clothes to wear for the storytelling show Friday. Then I went to the Y and swam for an hour or it so. Sierra worked her butt off on Thanksgiving dinner and we entertained ourselves and the kids. It was fun. I slept well the night before and the swim loosened up all the joints nicely!

practice.. 2023 Nov 21 Tue.. travel to Idaho

all day.. driving mostly!

I got antsy at 3 am and started driving to the festivities this weekend. I made it to Jonathan's in Idaho. I drove through Jordan Canyon and ate breakfast at Angie's, a restaurant in Jordan that I found on a previous trip. Johnathan and Sierra fed me barbeque chicken and we went to bed after a movie.

practice.. 2023 Nov 20 Mon.. I wrote!

all day.. medium

yeah.. I wrote a little bit of a thing.. I don't know what's next which I published on Medium. Ken has already been in Idaho visiting his mom for Thanksgiving, so I also dug out the cat litter.

practice.. 2023 Nov 19 Sun.. story practice

morning.. recover

I slept in and just had a good peaceful day thinking about stories I could tell for Tellabration this Friday.

7pm.. practice

I settled at the last possible moment on the John Deer story I've been playing around with. It was only 3 minutes long thanks to comedy paring it down. I'm thinking of ways to expand a little.

practice.. 2023 Nov 18 Sat.. trip to Casper

all day.. jam and drive

That's it! After jam session, I got a message from Henry asking for a ride to Casper to pick up a new puppy! I said yes.

practice.. 2023 Nov 17 Fri.. open mic

morning.. chill breakfast

This was at Burger king and I missed breakfast. I still ate and played my games.. wordle, a mini crossword, connections, and 3 levels of sudoku, all from the New York Times people. It's a nice morning routine item that feels like it keeps my brain working or something.. haha!

6 pm.. open mic

This was the one by the Literary Rug people on the first and third Fridays. I read the leaf slam poem from last month and told the story with the song it's okay.

practice.. 2023 Nov 16 Thu.. bleh..

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all day.. nothing much?

I played my games at breakfast at Taco Bell then headed to Walmart. The last time I was in Lander.. Tuesday for Literary Rug.. I got there early and stopped at the music store across the street. I had a harmonica stolen from the car a few weeks ago. I picked up a used one at the music store and today I got a bottle of rubbing alcohol to soak the harmonica in. It plays really well! I missed practice with the Riverton side jam people. That was at 5 pm and I didn't get myself up and moving. I felt bad again. I wondered why I skip that opportunity so often. I'll keep working on music and get myself going more often.

I'm catching up on a few days of blog entries. The daily practice is good.. I'm seeing myself do the things that I don't always give myself credit for. It's morphing, too. Now that I'm using the tablet more, I might write a lot of these entries by hand. I may also just link to some practice sessions I recorded or created instead of always thinking I have to write it all out like this. hmm..

practice.. 2023 Nov 15 Wed.. jam session

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5pm.. jam session

It looks like that was about it today. I'm still catching up a day late for this one. I watched a movie about Herb Alpert.. a trumpet player and artist. I felt like I wasn't even trying.. again. I'm thinking I'm fine, though. It was a good kick in the butt. I'm wondering if some of that feeling is just good old impostor syndrome.

practice.. 2023 Nov 14 Tue.. literary rug!

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morning.. ideas and errands

I got up and moving early.. strange.. I had music playing all night while I slept. I woke up with the phrase "tone poem" in my head. When I asked Google for a definition, it brought up "symphonic poem" and talked about it being a storytelling experience or intent using music for mood and progression. I thought I might try telling my day in that way.. no words, just emotion? Then I went to breakfast and then went to Walmart to get the house key copied. Working on the tablet reminded me there was no charging available at my desk.. the way the room was arranged a while ago. I found an extension cord and I used my insurance benefit to buy a new electric toothbrush.

6pm.. literary rug!

I did it! I tried the morning idea and told the three little pigs story with no words. It was fun and I only wish I recorded it. Then I told the version I do where Bubba Wolff is a self defense instructor and he signs the two little brothers of the oldest sister pig up for classes after destroying their homes. The writing prompt was about changing stories like that, so I started writing out a version of Goldilocks where Bubba Wolff was babysitting a little blonde daughter of Little Red.

practice.. 2023 Nov 13 Mon.. rest and email

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all day.. thought about..

Some days are about setting myself up for the future. It feels like I didn't do much today.. looking back from Thursday, honestly. I realized the Chromebook tablet I have just needed charging. I tested that theory and also ended up taking some apps off that seemed distracting or also might have been using up the battery. I also seem to have cleaned up some email.

practice.. 2023 Nov 12 Sun.. easy day

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all day.. catching up

I looked up my timeline and browser history. I'm pretty sure I just got caught up with the daily practice blog then never ended up writing anything about the rest of that day for some reason. (Admission.. I'm catching up like that on Thu Nov 16 before bed.) It appears I was still thinking about writing tablets using e-ink, along with some other topics around music and art. Ken and I had a nice meal at KFC then wandered around Walmart after.

practice.. 2023 Nov 11 Sat.. fun busy day

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10am.. jam session

This was just a usual jam session. i had breakfast on the way in at the casino in Lander. I played and even sang a little bit at the jam session. I didn't try any of my own ideas.. I just kept passing my turn to the next guy. It was a lovely morning.

noon.. hanging a bit

I tried to hand out with Henry. It didn't last long before he got called away on other stuff. No worries.. I ended up at the gym with a good 10 minutes on a bike and another 10 minutes on the rowing machine. That was cool, too. I weighed in and I'm still right there between 210 and 215 on that scale. I'm a little surprised it hasn't gone up. I'm not doing all that much to make it go down, so that wasn't a shock.

afternoon.. adventures with Ken

We didn't do anything too extraordinary. We tried a Mexican place here in Riverton called Luna. It was pretty good food. Then we went to the casino and played a good while. I ran out of money pretty quick, which often means Ken does well.. sort of.. haha! Anyway, they had this slot tournament going so we stayed a bit longer than normal. I ended up getting to play one round. We came back for the awards announcements and yeah.. Ken played and shot right up so we stayed around longer again. Normally, I don't say much about all this.. I just ended up walking a lot more today than I have in a very long while.

practice.. 2023 Nov 10 Fri.. homework

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all day.. catching up

I've been considering the little devices I talked about yesterday. I don't know if I'm going to buy anything. I can feel some wisdom growing as I put more and more of the songs and other content into my new systems. One idea has been a link in songs to a playlist or at least a song or video that I can listen to while I sing the song on repeat or play along with the harmonica.

Another thing I did was catch up on my daily practice journal entries. Normally I would think this was cheating. I've been writing most of the drafts in the app.capacities.io spot that I've been using to stash songs as well. These entries all show up as a daily note in that app. I've been writing on time and even throughout the day updating. I just had to publish the notes to the blog. Otherwise it's been a quiet rest and renewal day.

practice.. 2023 Nov 9 Thu.. locked out!

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morning.. breakfast and playing
afternoon.. locked out!

I got home from breakfast which was more lunchtime but still my first meal? haha! The door was locked. I ended up driving to Lander and getting the house key from Ken. Then I tried connecting with friends in the area. I ultimately just went to the gym then headed to Walmart. I rolled around on the wheels and ate at Subway. It was a decently active day, though none of it was really planned? hmm..

evening.. shopping

I'm feeling this need to get another tablet of some kind. I took the one I have to Literary Rug with me and its battery was dead. I had thought it was fully charged and just sitting on my desk. I'm thinking also about a unit that could double as a music carrier.. so I can bring it along and have the chords and words to songs I'm learning right there with me. These devices with e-ink and e-paper that I can also write on feel like the right choice. I still don't know what I would put in the device. I'm not really adding much to the portfolio with the devices I own. bleh.. haha!

practice.. 2023 Nov 8 Wed.. oops!

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all day.. sleep

I took a little too much stuff to help me sleep and ended up sleeping through the jam session. I had a stomach ache all day, as well.

practice.. 2023 Nov 7 Tue.. literary rug!

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first half.. breakfast and vr fun

I'm trying to lift the depression again. It's not easy. It's slower than I wish. That might be the only thing I'm saying about that. How that goes is the same. I'm down and feeling blah blah blah, then I get up one day with just an inkling of energy and I try to get things moving again. The first thing I do is look around and pick up the pieces. I remember now how that was the worst part sometimes. I don't think I've felt this low for a while. At that time, I set up the stash of stories in Google Drive that I still use.

Today.. this week.. the last few times I've had this burst of energy.. I noticed physical things.. my hair and beard and nails were out of control. The energy goes to start fixing those things. Lately that's the limit. I'm wiped out and the next burst comes so much later that it feels like I'm doing the same things again. I'm always catching up. It's similar to pushing to get in shape.. too hard.. and injuring myself. The answer there is to maintain.. I find a level that doesn't invite myself and that I can do consistently.

The same could be my strategy with all the life stuff. I've been doing this practice blog fairly consistently. I've been attending jam sessions and open mic sessions regularly. I've been playing Wordle, sudoku and other little mental games each day. Today, in addition to all that at breakfast, I came home and played Beat Saber for 25 minutes, writing up a pretty good sweat.

6pm.. literary rug!

Ken brought some of his clients and we had a great time with the usual stories and readings. I talked about having the stuff stolen from the car. For the writing prompt, we wrote about people important to us. I chose Ken since he was sitting right there.. haha! I'll keep it going, I think. I just did a couple of limerick verses so far.

practice.. 2023 Nov 6 Mon.. stuff

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early morning.. reading?

I don't remember putting it on hold, but I got a notification that the book Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger was ready to check out in the Libby app. I listened to some in the early morning before sleeping and yeah.. I'm impressed. I'm a little inspired.

I'm feeling better generally. I still haven't pinpointed whether a workout, like Friday night, makes me feel better, or if instead, I feel better about myself and life so I start doing the right stuff again. I took some time grinding down all my toenails Friday, as well. Again.. is a little self care a mood lifter? or is it a sign the mood has lifted? hmm.. Does it matter? I'm pretty sure they're a self reinforcing loop.. I can just do the one and the other is likely to follow almost automatically.. yes?

10am.. breakfast

I went out the door heading to Wendy's. They looked dead, which sometimes means only the drive thru is open. I passed them and ended up at Burger King. I ate and sat playing my nerdy puzzle games.. Wordle, a mini crossword, some three rounds of sudoku.. easy, medium and hard.. all from the New York Times people. This is another little thing I do each day and it takes 30 to 60 minutes, or longer. I haven't been giving myself credit for that energy.. until the last week or so, when I've been marking off the play check box above each day.

2pm.. blues.. not musical

I got back from breakfast and realized or verified they got a pair of ear buds the other night as well then they "broke into" my car the other night. This hurt a little. It also brought up some sadness about the whole state of things right now. The thing is, I haven't used those ear buds for over a month. They came to me free as a promotion when I bought a phone at some point. There's a sadness in my heart and it's taken a bit to take the focus off myself. I've never lived in a place where a need to steal was so strong. I'm seeing how much privilege and protection I've had over the years. I don't know what else to say about any of that. I'm not boasting. I've just been lucky for a very long time.

So I'm feeling down because I don't think I've tried at all to be a part of my neighborhood. I don't know why not and now I don't know how? It's a similar feeling to how I stop connecting with family and friends because I worry I'm a bother, then feel sad because I'm lonely, but I also feel like I'm the one who dropped the ball or whatever.. bleh.. another weird self perpetuating cycle.

practice.. 2023 Nov 5 Sun.. chill day

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all day.. not much

Mostly I just wandered around the internet. Ken and I went to Arby's for lunch. I tossed a card in my car and noticed a pill bottle in the wrong place. It looks like someone took my practice harmonica.. a $12 cheap one from the Fender people. I guess I'll try locking my doors. There's not much left in the car after they took an air compressor and a fitness watch a couple weeks ago.. maybe I'll have to inventory and see what needs to be in the car at all times like that so they don't break my windows to get the little I keep in there.

practice.. 2023 Nov 4 Sat.. jam session

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6am.. watching videos

I was just awake and started watching videos on Instagram when this came up.. feeling stuck

I really like the line.. "now is all there is of time.. all creation happens now." The other parts about focusing on things I can't control, and focusing on things I lack are right up there in my daily rumination ritual.

10am.. jam session

okay! I tried something! Finally! I tried Country Roads by John Denver. I had to switch keys down to G to sing it well. I am now in trouble.. They want me to sing more. haha!

afternoon.. chill

Ken and I tried a new restaurant in town.. Mt. Everest Nepalese and Indian Bistro.. long name.. haha! It was really great! We'll be back!

practice.. 2023 Nov 3 Fri.. open mic!

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6pm.. open mic

That was the big thing that happened. I did some songs on the harmonica and told a couple of stories. It was a good night!

8pm.. gym? what? yes!

I made it to the gym! I drove past the road and then I just turned around and went back and pedaled for 15 minutes. It felt good. I stretched just a couple more minutes and yeah.. It was a success getting there!

practice.. 2023 Nov 2 Thu.. bleh..

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all day.. chill

That's it. No music. No writing. I just took it easy today.. breakfast with Ken.. dinner at BK.. movies and napping the rest of the day.. bleh..

practice.. 2023 Nov 1 Wed.. jam session

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5pm.. dinner then jam session

I'm trying to think about all the stuff I might have worked on today. I mostly slept and watched movies. I got myself moving a little in the early afternoon to clean up a bit. I watched movies and napped and sort of wandered around on the internet a bit. Then I got to dinner at Taco Bell and headed to the Holiday Inn for the Wednesday jam session. woot! There were a couple things that I actually worked on.. we played You Ain't Going Nowhere and I also told the Ghost with Two Red Eyes story. It was just a great little jam session as usual!