Wednesday, June 27, 2007

This self-betterment program may appear to have expanded, over the past three weeks, to encompass a regular inability to log into Blogger, but don’t be fooled. That’s actually been custom for the better part of a year or two now, having outlived several self-betterment plans, and I’m certain it’ll outlast several more. You should know, though, I renewed hosting with GoDaddy recently, so you can be damn sure those forty bucks will go the distance.

There were four things enumerated last time–tennis, chess, cooking, and violin–and although I’ve gathered the instruments and tools needed for each one, it’s the guitar that’s been winning lately. I’ll get around to the original plan eventually, when waking at a godawful hour to exercise becomes godawesome, or when paying other people to cook loses its appeal.

But for now, it’s the guitar. Wouldn’t you know it, the one pursuit that requires virtually no setup ends up taking hours and hours of time. There’s a kind of physical, instant feedback too in the calluses and learned chords, where you wake up the following morning and have something to show for the road traveled.

Since no discussion is complete without a cursory look at the hottest media, I’ll tell you this: in my weaker moments, before I reacquired my human guitar, the Internet spoke to me in hushed tones.

“In place of a guitar I shall make you a poor man’s guitar hero,” it whispered.

It pointed the way. I drank and was ashamed.

I’m not so ashamed, though, to declare it really is a poor man’s Guitar Hero. Give it a try, if dignity permits, but for heaven’s sake keep it to yourself. Some things just aren’t meant for the public forum.