Just a blah day

Hmm, really didn't do much interesting today. I played around with my guitar, researched on how to build a tube amp for it ^_^ Kind of expensive though o.o Lee and I had a fight but we made up <3 ^_^ Right now, I'm tired and I think someone is going to flip my off button. Sooo, byee ^_^y

Forget...

Forget about what I said yesterday about it being cold. Today is cold. Much colder than yesterday or so it seems. I just can't get rid of this chill in my bones. Even trying to wolf down my Moroccan style soup now barely scratches the surface o.o I hope, no, I pray that mom closed the windows before she left for work. Knowing my luck, not only did she not close them, but she opened mine O.O

I feel like goofing around with my guitar today. I sort of play around with it everyday. But some days, like today, I actually want to play with it. I want to hold it and feel it vibrate under my strumming. Yes, today is one of those days. I'll do that once I get home. But for now, I need to finish my soup and warm up before heading home.

Open G

I reverted my guitar's tuning back to normal this morning. Instead, of tuning my electric guitar to open G, I decided to tune my acoustic guitar instead. Lee has been using my electric guitar to teach me. I would have love to see the look on his face if he picked it up while it was tuned differently. But, then he'll start asking questions and I want to surprise him once I learn more ^_^

Trying something new

I tuned my guitar to an open G tonight. I was plateauing with the standard tuning and wanted something different and challenging. I chose open G not because it was easier to do open chords, but because it's one of the common tuning for Blues guitar. I love Blues guitar ^_^ The new tuning will cause me to relearn all the basics: scales, chords, etc. Some thing different. Something challenging. ^_^

On a side note (lol), tomorrow is Alice's birthday <3 I'm going to hang out with her after school so we can celebrate her birthday. Then we'll go our different ways: me with Lee and Alice with Sheila. Our friendship has changed in the past few years, but I still love her dearly <3 <3 <3

On stage

OMG! I got to play guitar on stage, a real stage! I'm so hyper now! LOL ^_^

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the grill and met up with Lee and his dad. There wasn't really much for me to help with and I ended up talking with the guitarist of last night's group. She was showing me various techniques and such. One thing lead to another and I found myself on stage showing off what I know. Sure, it was tiny audience, some captive, but it was still an audience. And it was still a stage. And it was still full blown equipment that my music was coursing through ^_^

Hurricanes and more weirdness

First off, there's a full hurricane in the Atlantic: Sandy. It does look like she's going to go up the east coast this time.

Second, my posts that wouldn't post, have posted o.O This is so freaking annoying >.< I'm trying to post at least once a day and I do write up and post it. But Blogger seems to be screwing up on the publishing of it >.<

Lee had to help his dad tonight. So, I took the time to fire up my Minecraft server and do a multi with Yvonne and Kyle along with goof around with my guitar.

End of First Quarter

First quarter of high school ends this week. No school Friday! What's weird is that there are no classes in college either o.O Oh well, it's doubly awesome ^_^ We did have a test in American History and I most likely aced it ^_^ Yay me! ^_^

Lee works tonight with his dad. So maybe I'll meet up with Yvonne or Kyle or both or none later. Right now, I need to shower because I just came back from running with my dogs. I'll probably play around with my guitar until mom gets home afterwards.

I've noticed that I've gotten into the habit of writing posts for here and saving them as drafts but never posting them. Sometimes I get so busy that I forget to even post them. I need to get out of that habit. I don't like post dating things. It feels like I'm cheating.

Quiet Monday

Another quiet Monday. Lee's working and it's raining. So I'm stuck home tonight o.o I finished what little I had that might be called "homework" hours ago. So, I'm here with my guitar trying to learn the blues lol ^_^ A perfect fit hehe ^_^ Of course it doesn't help that my background music is Industrial >.<

Pizza, movies and practice

Pizza night! And movies. And guitar playing and practice ^_^ Lee's here tonight. Just Lee and my mom of course o.o lol It's intermission between movies. Lee's hunting for the next one while I'm supposed to be practicing my guitar. Obviously I'm posting here instead >.< LOL We're both stuffed with pizza and have finished two movies so far.

I really don't know why Lee hangs around. Most people would have bailed on me long ago if we spent Friday nights like this. Anyway, he calls: "I don't hear any music!" LOL

Practicing for summer

Today seemed so much like a real spring day, beautiful sky, almost no humidity, warm temps ^_^ Mom and I did the shopping early this morning; by the time we finished it was just after noon. With the weather being so nice, I took Tom and Jack out running with me. I did about 10k today. I probably would have done more, but I didn't want to risk making the dogs sick. Maybe tomorrow, I'll try doing 15k after school.

After I got showered, Lee came over. I don't think that he would have cared if I was all sweaty and stuff, but I did o.o Anyway, we practiced guitar for awhile in my room and listened to music. Eventually he had to go home for dinner, but hope he'll be back for a little while later.

- Posted from my iPad

Guitar practice

I'm home tonight. Lee's working with his dad and my friends are busy do other stuff. So it's just me and my guitar. I made an interesting discovery. When I first got my guitar, I was practicing almost every day but not getting far. I did make improvements from when I first started, but I seemed to have stopped getting any better. At times it seemed that I was getting worse >.< Well, this weekend, because of the SAT and stuff, I didn't really get much time to practice. When I finally did find the time, I found that I could play better than before I took a break. O.O It looks like the same principle holds for guitar playing as it does for running: take a break.

Rubber balls and guitars

Lee spent the night last night ^_^ We snuggled up in front of the TV watching Austin City Limits and fell asleep ^_^ <3 He came with us this morning for breakfast then we dropped him off at his house and did our shopping. One of the things he recommended for me to do is to get a "Pinkie" ball and just squeeze it. The idea was that by squeezing it, I my fingers would get stronger and I would be able to fret better on my guitar. Makes sense. He said that a "Pinkie" ball is a brand of pink rubber ball. He would get me one if I wanted him to or if I couldn't find one in the store. Well, I didn't find a true "Pinkie" ball, but I found a ball like it for a dollar. So, I've been smooshing on and off all day. However, there's a problem. Sasha my cat decided that it's her ball and she tries to take it from me anytime she sees me with it >.< LOL She's so cute ^_^ And my dogs think it's theirs and watch me closely hoping that I would throw it for them ^_^ My animals are so silly ^_^

Movie night

Just finished watching "The Crow" That was an ancient movie. No cell phones. No computers. A record player. Special effects were simple but not bad. The story was kind of interesting. I guess the movie was over okay. We don't think we're going to watch another movie tonight.

Instead, Lee is hooking my guitar up so he can teach me some more. He says that I need the practice, which is true ^_^ So as soon as he unhooks my guitar cable from my computer and hooks it up out here, I'll be off.

I'm taking Intro to Music Theory as one of my classes. Like I said in a previous post, I want to be able to talk with Lee about one of the things he loves most: music. Music in away, brought us together. Music is my personal gift to him. I love to look in his eyes when I make it just for him. I love him so much <3 <3 <3 <3

Five day holiday!

We have five, lovely, glorious days off from school starting tonight ^_^ I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. But Thursday, I'll be out of town. Friday, my friends and I will be at the mall laughing at all the crazies ^_^ I'll be with Lee Friday night and maybe Saturday or Sunday. ^_^

I did dance class with Lee's mom and little sister tonight. Afterwards, we all went back to their house since my curfew is at 11pm tonight: no school tomorrow, remember ^_^ We watched "Tangled" because it was Hannah's turn to choose a movie and ate popcorn and snuggle on the couch ^_^ Hannah actually fell asleep snuggling with me <3 I helped get her to bed after the movie ^_^ Amanda, Lee's older sister, gave me ride home.

I've looking at guitars at Sam Ash's website, the place where my dad got me my current one. They have a few inexpensive ones there, but they're smaller than mine. In fact, I don't think I've seen any that were 7/8ths scale there. Dad must have been lucky. But anyway, I was thinking about getting a lefty guitar. But the cheapest lefty they have are about $160 and are definitely a girly-girl guitar: a flower, a heart, a star, all sparkly pink >.< The cheapest "normal" looking guitar is about $190, way too much. And to be honest, I'm doing quite well with my righty guitar ^_^

Blues guitar

I spent the afternoon and evening over at Lee's practicing my guitar and talking and snuggling and kissing. But you probably could have guessed that ^_^ Anyway, he's becoming more serious about teaching me what he knows about playing. He's beginning to pickup on when I just want to play around with my guitar and when I'm really trying to learn ^_^ Hannah seems to be trying to learn too. But Lee thinks she's just imitating her new hero: me O.O I'm actually someone's here ^_^ Anyway, I'm trying to learn blues guitar. It's slower than pop and rock and such. Country is also a good style to learn, but I like blues and jazz more ^_^ Of course, my liking of blues confuses Lee who now has to adjust he teaching style ^_^ But! He is making the effort ^_^ Something about blues makes me want to play along. Hugh Laurie, Dr House from the TV serious "House" has an album of him playing blues songs. There was even a PBS special with him playing, but I think that was about either New Orleans or the Blues in general. I think both. I think they're one in the same. I don't know why, I just do.

Anyway, I have some practice to do now. An online penpal suggested that I learn the intro to The Black Key's "Next Girl" I'm listening to that song now. It sounds easy and has a lot of repetitive notes and stanzas. I also have some practices that Lee gave me that I want to work on tonight ^_^

Discoveries and practice

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Emilie! ^_^ Can you guess what language we're learning? We stared French in my Intro to Language class ^_^ So for the next quarter, I'll be learning and practicing French ^_^ I aced my Spanish final ^_^

Lee came over after school to help me with my guitar practice. Since mom wasn't home, he couldn't come inside, but he knew that already and we planned on it. I brought my amp and guitar outside and he had is acoustic guitar. It was really nice out back. We practiced play guitar and such until mom came home. Then we went inside and just practiced playing guitar LOL ^_^ Mom didn't seem to mind me playing without my headphones. Apparently I'm not as horrible now as I was when I first started. >.< I wanted to go into my room and play, but Lee said the living room was fine. Besides it had more space. But I really, really wanted to go into my room o.o Next time ^_^

Anyway, while practicing, we talked. He wants to compose the musical scores for movies. He said that often the background music for a scene makes or breaks it. I also found out that some of the pieces he plays is his own creation. And one or two of the pieces were inspired by his muse, me ^_^ Mom commented that, yes, I was very amusing at times >.< lol ^_^ He plans on making a good chunk of money early on in life. That way he can spend more time with his wife and kids later on and not worry too much about money and such. He would also like to travel before starting college. You got to see the world to understand things he said, or something like that. I wish he could have stayed longer, but his mom was picking him up after work. He would have walked home, but he had his guitar. And it wasn't until his mom pulled in, that he thought about leaving his guitar here overnight. o.o Oh well, another time.

Clear night sky

A half full moon and stupid 8pm curfew >.< It's too nice a night to be trapped in the house so early. I barely made it home in time tonight. I know I wouldn't have if I hadn't got a lift on a scooter ^_^

I'm not sure if I'll be doing a second installment of my music lessons at the moment. Lee in his way knocked me upside my head. He said that I was spending way too much time book learning about music and playing the guitar. When asked how I learned to play a new video game, I told him that I just start playing and figure it out as I go along. It's more fun that way. He then said that what I should be doing to learn to play the guitar: Just do it! Yup, just like the Nike commercials. I should still read about chords and techniques and such. But I shouldn't worry about why everything is the way it is. To demonstrate, he took my guitar and just played, making it up as he went along, saying this is what he and the drummers did at the beach. Improv.

Surprises ^_^

This is my guitar except mine is black not red: Emily's Guitar What's awesome about it besides it being mine, is that my dad got the same thing for about $50 from Sam Ash. The receipt was in the packing papers ^_^

Anyway, Lee was waiting to accidently bump into me again after lunch ^_^ Why do I get all giddish and such when he does that? And this is only the second time he's done it o.o It seems like it takes for ever for me to get focused again on class.

Anyway, after school, Yvonne wanted Kyle and me to come over to her house. Her brothers had been working on something and wanted to show it off. So we get there and her brothers are acting as though they don't know what she's talking about. Finally, they break down and lead us around to their workshop.They had gotten a Honda CBR250 put together and working and lowered and customized to Yvonne's size and said it was hers when she got her license O.O Yvonne freaked out! Once Yvonne calmed down and Kyle and I picked up our eyeballs off the ground, they put a huge motorcycle lock on the wheel and gave Yvonne the key so she could start it up. They didn't want her taking off, thus the lock. Yvonne was on it before the key touched her hand. LOL ^_^ They gave her some quick lessons on starting it and such and she did just that. ^_^ Yvonne's eyes just sparkled. She then let Kyle and me try it out. Kyle's way too big for it, but it's perfect for me: Yvonne and I are nearly identical in size ^_^

Afterwards, I went downtown and met up with Lee ^_^ He had his scooter so we went riding ^_^ We talked. He wants to hear me play. He said that maybe he could give me some pointers and such. He wanted me to come over to his house but it was already late and I didn't want to get in trouble by missing curfew. So we said 'bye' and headed back to our own homes.

Practice

After signing off last night, I picked up my guitar and practiced for like an hour or more. About a week ago, I could barely do a few minutes of practice before having to rest my fingertips from the pain. Now, I'm up to an hour with only brief pauses in between "playing." I'm still learning four chords but they're coming more and more natural now. Even the chord of G is easier to do though I still have to pause a few moments while I get my fingers properly positioned. Overall, I'm making fewer dead notes now ^_^ I just wish I could find that guitarist from the beach last weekend. I think he can help me practice ^_^

Autumn is approaching

This is the third day that had an autumn feel to it. The sun was hot but there was a breeze that was nice and kept the worse of the heat away. There was even a chill in the air this morning. No clouds until around 1pm. But they never formed into anything and by the time my mom came home, they were gone completely again. Hmm, I need to decide on what I'm wearing for Halloween this year ^_^

I'm writing this entry in between breaks. I'm practicing with my guitar. I'm having problems tuning it though. It seems to have gone out of tune since last night. I guess that might be one of the reasons some guitars cost so much: they stay in tune much longer. Also, learning to play right handed when you're primarily left handed is a pain. I keep catching myself holding the guitar weird. But, so far, I've learned the A minor chord and am working on the C and G chords. The E minor chord looks extremely simple which means it'll be a pain to learn >.<

My online bestie is out of town for awhile. Her grampa is dying. Her and her family are in my thoughts and heart. Love you Taytay.