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321st Friday Blog Roundup

Tonight marks the end of the year (and perhaps, where you are, it’s already the end of the year), and I haven’t really processed that.  I’d like to do a post for my own sake wrapping up all my thoughts from this year, but I’ve obviously run out of time.  So would it be strange if I put it off until I had more time?  Say, mid-January?

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My parents bought the Wolvog a guitar, which he loves hardcore, and I have been breaking in for him every night.  New strings only hold a tune for a little bit and then the guitar needs to be re-tuned.  So I’ve been tuning, playing, tuning, playing while things download on the computer (I’m excellent at multitasking).  And I have come to love his little half-guitar even though it looks ridiculous on me, and it is now completely broken in and wonderful.

So it was time to return to taking care of my own guitar.  A while back, I tried to have my guitar restrung at a local store because I’m too much of a pussy to do it myself (I knew anyone who plays guitar was probably thinking that in their head anyway), and the woman refused to help unless I would leave the guitar there.  Which I wouldn’t.

So on Wednesday night, I took it to a guitar store a few towns away where the most wholesome boy in the world restrung it for me.  You could seriously dip cookies in this boy — he was like a great big glass of wholesome milk.  He lovingly restrung the guitar for me with the same type of care new husbands use to caress their wife’s cheek on their wedding night.

And now, much to Josh’s chagrin, the breaking in process starts anew.  I hope he enjoys listening to out-of-tune G-chords!

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The Weekly What If: What if you could instantly know how to play any instrument in the world — and do it remarkably well.  Which instrument would you choose?

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And now, the blogs…

Adventures in Infertility-Land has a post about memories that are attached to clothing.  It is again the season where she lost her son, and the same clothes that she wore during that pregnancy have been taken out of storage.  She writes, “I have thought about throwing this stuff out, not wanting to literally wear the memories on my body, but I haven’t.”  It is an achingly beautiful post filled with more questions than answers.

Adventures of a Dam Engineer has a post about waiting, and I love how it begins: “Why I feel compelled to keep the ticker up is beyond me.  I suppose it’s my personality to always measure accomplishments or lack thereof.”  It is a small post, one that briefly touches on a few points, but in the relating of the day-to-day things still contains that silent partner; the waiting.  And you feel it between every letter on the post.

As Fast As My Baby Can has a sad story about a friend’s sister’s loss, pointing out how fragile the world is at its heart.  She points out that while this may be common knowledge, this experience drove home this point physically.  She explains, “When I got that call, I felt for a few moments in time, a rip through the gingerly held together fabric of my life, the fabric that keeps me sane and in reality and moving forward.”  You can practically hear her friend’s voice, frantic within the phone call.

Lastly, Here We Go Again has a post about the days after Christmas, ones that she has reclaimed for her own relaxation and enjoyment.  I thought it was brilliant, actually, knowing that you have this small sea of time after all the chaos of the holiday; taking that for yourself and holding it sacred.  I wonder if people went into their holiday next year focused not on the stress, but on their own small holiday after the holiday, if they would be able to hold the stress at bay.  It’s a sweet post about her Christmas holiday and the afterward.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy last day of 2010.  The most wholesome boy in the world restrung my guitar (and no, that’s not dirty, Calliope).  Answer the Weekly What If.  And the last four blog posts of 2010 to read.

On Saturday, the Creme de la Creme will go up, so happy reading!

17 comments

1 cgd { 12.31.10 at 8:59 am }

wishing you a very happy new year.

2 Sushigirl { 12.31.10 at 9:02 am }

I’d love to be able to play the piano, I have had lessons in the past and, while I was ok if I worked at it, I’m not one of those gifted people who can play instantly. I’d also love to be able to sing!

3 Sushigirl { 12.31.10 at 9:02 am }

Oh, and have a fantastic New Year’s Eve and an excellent New Year!

4 Shannon { 12.31.10 at 9:49 am }

The viola or cello, definitely. Nothing calms my soul more than listening to string instruments, I can only imagine how soothing it would be to actually be able to play one.

Happy 2011!

5 HereWeGoAJen { 12.31.10 at 10:20 am }

Piano! I would definitely take the ability to play piano. Now, I am awesome at many things, but I have absolutely no musical talent at all. I’m so bad that when we watch the opening episodes of American Idol, I have to whisper to Matt, “is that person good or bad?” because I can honestly not even hear the difference.

My after-Christmas is still going peacefully. (There is rather a lot of laundry for a holiday though.) I think next year I am going to plan a specific Christmas activity for each day of Real Christmas so we can enjoy these days even more.

6 m. { 12.31.10 at 10:43 am }

The bass guitar. Without a doubt. I would rock it. And then I would start a punk rock band.

My after-Xmas is blissful, but the pangs of “I really should be working” are starting to poke at me. I may have made some vague promises about some projects getting done over the break, but sleeping in, playing angry birds and visiting with friends all felt like much better uses of my time. I am trying to hold onto the holiday after the holiday just a little bit longer before the full on guilt sets in.

Happy new year, everyone!

7 Sarah { 12.31.10 at 11:01 am }

Hmm, the violin or the cello I think. I played the piano growing up, but always wanted to play the violin. And I love me some Yo-Yo Ma :).

8 luna { 12.31.10 at 11:42 am }

that’s funny — when you tweeted that the most wholesome boy in the world did it, I assumed you meant that josh bent and did you a favor (so you could later torment him), or that the wolvog learned how.

happy new year!

9 Kerrik { 12.31.10 at 12:02 pm }

Definitely the violin. I love the piano, but I played violin as a kid (not well, I might add) and I really do miss playing in an orchestra and the sense of accomplishment and togetherness it brought. I keep thinking I’ll take it up again one day, but each time I try I am disgusted by how awful I sound and how much I have forgotten.

Happy New Year!

10 Meghan { 12.31.10 at 1:47 pm }

I want to be a fiddler inu next life. I actually bought a fiddle about 9 years ago and was going to teach myself but then didn’t. I want to sit around the campfire fiddling…

11 Michelle { 12.31.10 at 2:06 pm }

Piano, definitely the piano! I’d love to play that and sing along. I can play the flute though…and because I that, I had a teaching gig where I taught the ‘dreaded’ band class for 2 years! Yup, it was all geek but of course I made it a truly saucy, spectacular experience!!!

Happy New Year to you, Mel. Thanks for being such a huge, enormours, ROCK for us all. May 2011 rock YOUR world! 😉

12 neakycan { 01.01.11 at 12:00 am }

the tin whistle

13 Baby Smiling In Back Seat { 01.01.11 at 1:00 am }

I always wanted to play the guitar, but inexplicably my mom wouldn’t let me take lessons as a kid (but I did take piano, violin, and voice lessons). I never had rock star aspirations, but I thought it would be nice for singalongs.

Anytime someone else starts strumming a guitar and a singalong breaks out, my husband is horrified. Perhaps it’s better I never learned.

14 a { 01.01.11 at 10:56 am }

I can play the piano, but not well. I would like to be able to play the violin, though…

15 ebc { 01.01.11 at 2:57 pm }

The cello. Which I did take up two years ago because I figured once babies came along, I wouldn’t have the time or energy to learn a new instrument from scratch (at the rate I’m going, I’ll be Yo.Yo.Ma. before that’s gonna happen). Though I definitely couldn’t play it instantly (and still can’t play anything complicated), it has been a calming mental escape during the craziness of IVF and a new life long love. Plus, I love that if I try and practice hard the cello, I will get better and succeed. Which of course it not true of my other hobby of baby making.

16 Toni { 01.01.11 at 10:23 pm }

Can I got for two? The drums, because I have since I was 9 but my Dad made me play flute instead, and the French horn because it looks so complicated and in band there were only two people who played, so it always seemed very precious, almost on the verge of extinction.

Happy New Year!

17 Geochick { 01.04.11 at 2:31 pm }

Thanks for the shout-out!

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