But What Now?

I’m smiling at my title because I’m not supposed to actually answer this question. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please read my last post here.

I bought an iPod nano last weekend so that I can listen to audiobooks while I walk. Carrying that bulky CD player was becoming a drag. So, I spent the first couple of days figuring out how to rip an 8 CD audiobook into iTunes and make it bookmarkable (i.e., it’s an audiobook rather than a song). Anyway, I got that figured out. So, then I ripped about 50 CDs of music and a put a few videos onto it.

Now that I have all this music on here, I am listening to songs and albums I haven’t listened to in a very long time. This is a revelation!! I’m sitting here listening to an old Arlo Guthrie CD “Running Down The Road” and this song is “My Creole Bell!” is playing. I learned this song on the guitar last year from a Stefan Grossman country blues instruction video! I’m wanting to run upstairs and pick up my guitar and start playing again right now! On the same CD there is another song that I learned when I was 15 years old, “Coming Into Los Angeles.” In fact, it’s the first full song I ever learned on the guitar (which, if you know the song and like it as much as I do, you’ll understand how it’s not very difficult to play some really cool stuff pretty quickly).

Maybe I can blame my job for ignoring my beautiful guitar and leaving it strapped into its case, but it’s really all about the choices I make. I also know that when I’m not pulled in the way too many different directions time-wise and energy-wise, I will dust off the things I love to do and I will do them again. So, maybe I’m a musician, maybe that’s who I am!

Let’s face it, I can blame my job for all kinds of things. My bad back, exercising too little, waking up in the morning with too much noise in my head about doing, doing, doing, and not pursuing creative hobbies. The cool thing is that I am also making choices for myself every day. And every day I get closer to the choice I’m making about my job.

And every day and every moment I also get to live fully in the present. This means that I must remember to pick up my guitar and play and I must remember to listen to my favorite music.

Ok, that does it, I’m a musician, that’s who I am. Who are you? What have you not been doing because you don’t have enough time?

Check out this video of my guitar teacher Stefan Grossman teaching My Creole Bell. I love his teaching style.