OK, we're done with that. I have some steps to take today to further my new career as a rock and roll star. I've been making little diagrams and such attached to cardboard that I can refer to when I'm playing, makes it much easier to figure out the fingering. I have more to make today after getting copies made down the block from my beginner's book. Pretty minor stuff to be excited about, but that's the way it's done (IMHO) when life is on track and exciting.

Little cardboard cutouts are exciting?

Strange, but true. I'd argue cutting out little pieces of paper and taping them to cardboard is often more satisfying than acquiring colorful guitars and exotic cameras. Back to the formative years when a pencil, paper and a long afternoon were at the top of one's very best list and nobody was thinking about climbing a mountain to pepper the old wise man with silly questions. Pencils, pens and a big sheet of paper can go very far in sorting out life's eternal conundrums. Add glue and a pair of scissors when you get older. Life since clouded that very clear understanding, but it all seems to be coming back now in retirement.

Are you after a gold star or is this your usual trying to convince yourself hup! hup! hup! business?

The nature of our world. Who can tell when we're bullshitting? Bullshitting yourself is often the hardest to figure out, hardest for even the smartest here in Oakland.

Later. Spoke too soon. Another late morning nap, however, seems to have turned things in the right direction. Did I mention I went out last night and bought spreadable cheddar cheese, crackers and a bit of sake? I didn't? Probably shouldn't have bought the cheddar. They warn you about the cheddar. Didn't even taste that good. I consumed but one glass of the sake therefore suspecting it was the cheese and not the alcohol. Now and then you need to break a rule or two in this life.

My little copy, cut and paste on cardboard project, however, has now been completed and I'm looking forward to practicing with this fingering information nearby. Exciting stuff, after a nap.

Later still. Contacted the doctor for the ear, nose and throat referral, set out to take a walk and decided life was too short to be setting out to take a walk (not a good thought, but you can see why I contacted the doc), came back and picked at the guitar for a while, my clever pasted together card (as mentioned) turning out to be not all that useful. But a start. A start. We are making progress, paper, scissors and cardboard; ear, nose and throat progress.

I mentioned some months back, when I bought it, that I'd gotten a new bathroom scale. It was really nice, quite accurate, looked great with a clear glass top. In moving the scale to the side in the bathroom with my foot yesterday, I dinged it against the base of the toilet, not all that hard, causing it to shatter. No sharp edges, it was safety glass and broke into a pile of little glass nuggets, but my, my. No more glass topped scales for the bathroom, I'm afraid, attractive as they may be.