Wednesday. Last night it occurred to me the dry mouth had come and gone and now come again about the time I'd started, then stopped, then started again a prescription for the allergies. Remember the allergies? Not so evident anymore, but anyway I looked the stuff up and one of the side effects is indeed dry mouth. So I suspect. I suspect. But then it's been easy to wonder about this and that, make correlations to that and this, only to discover I was in error. Still, I do suspect, and will ask the MD when I see him next.

Up this morning with the alarm at six, back now from breakfast at eight. A decent enough night's sleep, I'd guess, although I also suspect I'll want another “nap” later after the guitar lesson. Clouds and such, no sun yet this morning if indeed the sun is going to show at all, but we'll look again later and decide on what the day may hold - sun, rain or snow - here in the coal fields of Oakland.

I've put in quite a bit of time on the guitar compared to my practicing in the past, not something I've pushed to do, it's just getting easier (and perhaps more fun) to sit down, pick up the guitar and play. Well, pick. I'm not sure we've reached “play” yet, as in actual music. Still, let's see if I do any better at the lesson. Takes time, it does, doesn't happen overnight (repeat this as often as is necessary to keep the spirits up), hup! hup!

Later. Not a great lesson I'm afraid, but better. I'm looking forward to more progress this week after continued work with the chords. And learning a new song, Link Wray's Rumble, that has chords and a short but tasty descending riff at the end playable by we beginners. It has that shift from a D to a B7 chord, of course. It's not the playing of the chords, although fingering the B7 has its moments, it's the moving between them on the beat and hearing something that sounds like, well a D and then a B7, that's the problem. Sound opaque? Believe me, better opaque than listening to my playing.

Still overcast. One or two pictures as I waited outside for my guitar lesson. I like old funky windows and bricks - what can I say? - although I've been noticing a recent lack of sharpness. This one camera? This one lens? These two eyes? This one I was less certain about, but I took the picture. There's something there, perhaps from a different direction, but the same lack of sharpness in any of the elements: foreground or background.

Interesting area, though, interesting walkways and doors opening into funky apartments. Not sure how loud you can turn up your guitar in a building like this, but it's probably not all that different than the building I'm living in. A photo live-work studio that didn't have next door neighbors might be an interesting place to crank up an instrument. I'd think. Musing here. A thought in passing.

Later still. An early afternoon nap: good. An hour or so of going semi-conscious seems to put things back in order. Some time on the guitar futzing with that D - B7 chord thing, better than I thought, but not much. We'll be back to them later. And again tomorrow. And again for however long it takes. But that's the program, we're explaining, not complaining. Sorta.

I'm thinking of sushi and sake this early evening for dinner for no good reason. Not good in the sense I suspect I just want to get out of here and sushi and sake are two things close by I can eat/drink with some enthusiasm, the sake coming in a size that limits my consumption while still adding the required spin to an evening.