Twenty Year Time Machine

Had a really good weekend (which is good, because this week so far has been uphill both ways).

Friday night: Gaming. D&D 4th edition with some of K's tribe members. I manage to convince KF to join us at the last minute, thereby preventing him from mouldering in his office until the wee hours. J brought Fred's Burgers and old-fashioned fat-tacular ice cream. (First two ingredients: butterfat and buttermilk.) I conked out at midnight.

Saturday: Haircut, violin lesson, volunteering at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and dinner with the Dads. I was exhausted after shelving food for 3 hours, but cheerful. My co-volunteer spoke mainly Spanish, so I was kept mentally entertained by struggling to remember vocabulary.

Sunday: loafing about, including some minor house chores, reading in the sun, and a vegetable-tacular trip to the local farmer's market. K made a giant egg bake full of broccoli and cauliflower.

The highlight of the weekend was really the violin lesson. I played violin semi-seriously when I was a kid: started when I was 9, stopped when I was 13. I like to think I was a decent violinist, and the main reason I stopped was because we had moved to San Francisco and it seemed clear to me that it was time to decide if I was going to be really serious about violin or let it go. I decided I didn't want to be yet another Asian Girl Who Plays Violin.

I've always harbored a desire to play again, Sherlock Holmes-style, and so have kept the violin with me, as well as my sheet music and stand. I even had the poor thing repaired at a local violin store a few years back. But mostly it hid in its dark case.

Earlier this year I looked for violin teachers on Craigslist and found one who just happened to grow up in the same region of LA as I did, and even played with my Junior High orchestra conductor. He's a Berkeley grad, lives not far away, and was very kind and encouraging. He seemed pleased that I still remembered a few things (including a general sense for when notes are out of tune), and had lots of good advice about my bad thumb posture (BOTH hands, drat the luck). I was really encouraged and heartened.

So, now I'm back to practicing. K says it isn't too bad, and I find it very enjoyable. Some of the stuff even seems to be coming back, which is great. Many thanks to Mom and Dad and C for tolerating the whining and screeching of my practicing all those years ago, and paying for the lessons!