As a general rule I am morally opposed to doing anything on purpose that hurts me. I believe it is called masochism when you are into that.
However, learning to play guitar hurts. For one, it takes a while to develop calluses and I have delicate “I work in an office and I am a lady” fingers. As a result, I can only play for about 20 minutes at a time. Which is fine for now because I do not know how to play much yet. The second part that hurts is parting with my finger nails. As an ex-biter, they were a source of pride, not to mention they highlighted my long, elegant fingers (gotta love your good features where you have them). Also, I have lost my ever present swiss army knife, as I happened to use my finger nails for everything. I would buy a real swiss army knife as a replacement, only I live in a country where there are security guards to get in the super market and I am not sure it will go over well.
So far, I really like my guitar teacher. She is patient and encouraging but not timid in correcting my mistakes. She lives in a very religious nieghborhood and she is a very religious woman so I was a little nervous that she wouldn’t understand me or be able to service my needs as an artist. She quickly corrected my assumtions by teaching me posture through Ani DeFranco lyrics and chords to “The House of the Rising Sun,” which is about a whore house. Turns out she did not grow up religious and she was in a bunch of bands before she became religious. I signed up for 12 lessons which commits me to the instrument. In addition, I started learning music theory on youtube. I found a really good series by an adorably geeky young man who laughs at all his own jokes. I am in the beginner lessons so I already know much of it but I am still learning quite a bit. It is super interesting and makes me wish I were more math minded.
I am working a bunch of angles and contacts to get a new job. The ultimate goal is to get an entry level position at the Israel Museum and stay there the rest of my life moving up through the ranks. I have been in the small gallery and small non-profit world long enough to know I don’t want to start my own business or work for a startup and I do want to work for a big, established institution. I like the power, organization and reputation that comes with a big institution. I support anyone who wants to carve at it on their own but I have had enough of peddling against the current. I can do the most interesting and important work in my field at the biggest institution I can find. Don’t judge me, it is still a non-profit, educational institution. I am only 25% hippy, remember?
I bought Rosetta Stone German on ebay but the seller hasn’t accepted my payment and isn’t answering messages. Its been three days. I think it may be time to alert ebay that there is a problem. It would make me feel really good to start that so in a few months I can begin grad school applications and honestly say I have started studying German (you need the language in art history because the theory is written in German, and yes I know there are much more pretty languages to learn). I hope the payment goes through and the program works because it was a killer price.
The holidays are coming up, which of course means I will become incurably homesick. It is starting already. Doesn’t help that when I have conversations with acquaintences it is normal for them to say things like “did you find a husband yet?” or “don’t worry that you don’t have family here, you will make one.” Lovely. Rub in my singleness. That doesn’t make me feel broken and lonely or anything. Appreciated.
