The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings

It's nice outside today and I hope it lasts, though odds are that it won't. There's two trees outside the window of our drawing room (Chris and I decided to class the office/computer/spare bedroom up a bit). They are big, tall pine trees and one is on the corner of our lot so that I can almost see its top when I'm sitting down at my desk. The window and my desk are also in such a position that when I'm sitting here looking out, all I can see is trees and patches of sky. I like this view since I can either pretend that I am on a floor that is above ground level (higher floors always seem more exciting and better, but yet so above-the-fray and peaceful) or that I am not in Lansing, MI. Perhaps this view is indicative of a country home where I go to write and I have a foreign housekeeper in the next room who may or may not be plotting to kill me one of these days. Perhaps I'm in Illinois. Perhaps I'm just somewhere where the day-to-day hassles of people and noise and banality are banished, at least for the moment.

Anyway, I'm still unemployed and I'm trying to do worthwhile and productive things while I have all the time in the world. I am trying to amp up (speed up) my guitar learning, but I get discouraged very easily. Chris thinks that it's because I find it difficult, but I think it's a bit more than that. I like to think I'm not the type of person who tries something once and then quits if she's not immediately successful in the endeavor. I'm more the type of person who tries something and instantly feels that she'll never be successful in the endeavor. It's not that I'm diametrically opposed to hard work, it's more that I worry that even with a lot of hard work, I'll end up mediocre at best. Then again, whenever I think about how easily I become discouraged and hopeless, I also think that I tend to be persistent in pursuing things and that I often get what I want in the end. Then, I feel a little better. And, I can play the Futurama theme song on guitar, so there's that.

I was reading a copy of the History Channel's magazine and I found this anecdote very amusing: not that long ago, Iowa wanted to add the wild sunflower to their state's list of destructive weeds and therefore encourage the plant's destruction. Kansas found out about this, and so they threatened to name the Eastern Goldfinch (Iowa's state bird) as their official game bird. Also, apparently some people mock Iowa by claiming the state's name is an acronym for "Idiots Out Wandering Around." Oh, how I love state rivalries.

The Mariner's Revenge Song

Youtube has now twice failed to post my video on my blog. So, here's the video I made.

I hope you like it!

Get Over It

As a burgeoning songwriter, I've given a lot of thought to my future career. Most of this consists of daydreaming about being friends with famous people and everyone adoring me and all my talent (your standard fantasy). So, when I picture this, I am always reticent to write a break-up song. They're usually very bitter and signify that the writer is not over that past relationship. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of really good break-up songs, but I thought it would be nice to pretend to be one of those people that doesn't even think about bad boyfriends/girlfriends from the past. But, it turns out I've written a break-up song. This only came about because I came up with an idea that was simply too good to resist. I think I like the song, but of course I don't sing it well because...I don't sing well. Anyway, I don't want to give away what the song is about--I'm hoping that before too long, I'll have figured out a guitar part for it and then I'll record it and post it here. Let's just say that this song will most likely never be played on mainstream radio.