Progress report – Week 2 of the experiment

Since the last time I put pen to paper, figuratively, I’ve been able to practice three times – two guitar sessions and one bass session. The bass session always feels a bit new to me, even though I’m running through the basics again, as the strings feel different, fighting buzzing (from the bass itself, not the amplified sounds – which means that I’m still hitting the notes mostly ok) is still something that’s a conscious effort, and using my fingers rather than a pick and not in a “first-beat-is-always-on-the-index-finger” way that I used to play (it’s not really a proper way to pluck the bass) all have an alien feel, given my focus on the guitar. Not thinking about chords and playing single notes, while also a skill for the guitar, definitely is something to get used to again, especially since most teachers, not books, focus on guitar chords, rather than single notes.

For the guitar, the focus on “Hello, Shooting Star” is starting to pay off – it’s starting to sound a bit more natural, though I’m still working on that Bm transition. Also, I’ve started working on the chorus, where the Gadd9 chord comes in, but that’s still not quite as smooth. Right now, I’m focused on just forming the Gadd9 chord itself and moving up and down the fretboard to get to and from it, and it’s still a work in progress. Hopefully, when my next lesson comes around on the 18th, it’ll be a little smoother than it is now.

In other news, the Sacramento Kings are still frustrating me this season. We’ve won a couple now, but both of those games were pretty lousy – in each game we practically only played well during one quarter, but that was enough to keep us in the games through the more mediocre parts of the game. Ones we lost were harder fought, like the last one in Miami, where we lost by 3 to a 3-pt well defended shot by Tyler Herro, was probably the best effort we’ve given so far this season. (While Herro’s shot was the one that won the game, we lost primarily on the two Miami plays prior to that shot, where they scored on buckets made after multiple offensive rebounds, and by us being out of timeouts after Herro’s shot, leading us to try to do something on the fly with 1.2 seconds left.) The officiating’s been tough, and while our challenges have been mostly won, they’re not coming on the hyper-critical plays of the game, and leave a lot to be desired when we get a bad call that actually changes the game with no challenge available – and this seems to be happening a lot. Still, it’s early in the season, but we’re 2-5 and that means getting our win percentage to end at .500 is starting to get harder (right now we’re at 55% of remaining games need to be won to hit .500).

So, what’s on the plan for this upcoming week? Guitar practice at least three times – “Hello, Shooting Star”, Justinguitar stuff, and strumming (including trying to figure out how to get my foot – especially my left foot – to maintain rhythm while playing). Might not get a bass session in – depends on if I get one in early in the week. Travelling up to Sactown for the end of the week – family business – while the Kings come down here to SoCal. Bad timing, anyone? At least I’ll get to watch the game live on TV.

I did put in a couple hours building models this week, though. Still can’t settle, working on two different kits right now – one HG Gundam Builders kit, and an RG 00 Raiser (damn those parts are small on the RGs). Also played two sessions of racquetball – frustrating, but I got some exercise in. In that way, I’m staying somewhat healthy – my latest medical labs confirmed that this week.

So here’s to starting out November somewhat on the right foot. Daylight savings approaches, and it’s getting colder out, but gotta keep on movin’.

昨日までの僕らは死んだ。
そう思えば前だけ向いていられるぜ…だろ？

[The ‘us’ that we were through yesterday are dead. If we think like that, we can just look on ahead… right?] – “JUST ONE LIFE” (SPYAIR)

My 2 yen,

Akiosama