Mindfulness Week 1; Day 3

The year 2016 is just a few hours away, so this will be my last complete post of 2015.

Continue to use the mindfulness meditation procedure. Have to work more on changing a habit.

Good piano day, as Let it Snow is coming together. Hopefully soon I'll feel ok enough with it to send it to my internet teacher for some direction. 

Diet was abandoned today as was riding the exercise bike; will start again tomorrow with the new year.

Looks like the acoustic guitar duo might be starting soon too.

HAPPY 2016 TO ALL WHO ARE READING THIS AND MAY IT BE A HEALTHY YEAR FULL OF FUN, LIFE, ACCOMPLISHMENT, AND COMPASSION FOR SELF AND OTHERS.

Peace

Mindfulness Week 1; Day 2

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Had a nice visit with some family visiting. Struggling with piano but I'm hanging in there. Trying to deal with some weird fingerings. Encouraged by my brother who suggested that it was sounding beautiful. Don't want to give up. 

Meditation in early part of day met with some better zoning in than the latter one.

Mindfulness Week 1; Day 1

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Continue to work on my piano song, being a little less critical of myself than I was yesterday. Worked on understanding how to use my computer to share songs that I've recorded on GarageBand.

Worked on mindfulness material today appropriate for week one (of eight). 

December 28

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Trying today to get back to exercise and healthier eating.

Reading my Mindfulness book ... Almost ready to start my eight week run at it.

Celebrated my daughter's birthday today!

Practiced "Let it Snow" but man it's goin' slow. Watched part of a Keith Richards biography and just really enjoyed it.

Sometimes the idea of playing guitar sounds like such a cool thing; othertimes, I'm into the piano. I have a difficult time realizing that I can do both. 

Young Syd Barrett

Sunday

A grueling day at the piano that was made more grueling because I didn't think it would be so grueling. Working on the first four measures of "Let it Snow."

Started reading my Oscar Wilde book which begins with "The Picture of Dorian Gray," and continued reading the Mindfulness book.

Piano, Technology, and Football Blues

Working on learning "Let it Snow," and it is not happening easily. Printer not working. Philadelphia Eagles losing at halftime. They lose this game, and they miss the playoffs.

Addendum added 12/31/15 for future reference: I believe I started Let it Snow on this day, 12/26/15.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Goodnight

Maternal Grandmom

Recently learned some interesting things about my maternal grandmother, thanks to a little research on the Internet.

Learned that her last residence before coming to America was Messina, Italy, and that she came on the ship "Patria" built in 1882. I think she traveled on that ship to America in 1908 when she was eight years old. The ship sank in a disaster in 1940 killing 267 people. Here are a few pictures of the ship:

Christmas Day, 2015

Rode the exercise bike for something more than 1/2 hour today, but my diet took a hit! 

Watched the move about Brian Wilson, "Love and Mercy," and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. A movie about music, creativity, mental illness, love, and more. 

Selected a bunch of piano lessons to watch; just need my printer to cooperate.

Christmas gifts include, but weren't limited to: a microphone with a usb jack, a book of Oscar Wilde's works, and the DVD "Love and Mercy."

Went to Catholic Mass last night and I was surprised at how emotional it was for me. Just looking at all the people who seemed so real and good, listening to the timeless Christmas music, and thinking of my dad (during "Angels We Have Heard on High"), led to an ambush of emotion.

The picture on my post for December 24th was of the inside of the Church. The priest seemed like quite a nice guy. It was cool going to a parish Church that I haven't attended in years. Still not sure where all this spirituality stuff is going for me. Here's a couple of pictures of my son taken today:

Here's a picture of my youngest, taken yesterday:

And here's a picture of my middle child taken yesterday:

Christmas Eve, 2015

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Mindfulness Piano / Christmas Eve's Eve

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Reading a cool book: "Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan For Finding Peace in a Frantic World" by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. 

Continued some work on the piano. Before going to sleep, will read a little of Mildred Portney Chase's "Just Being at the Piano," which may go along nicely with the mindfulness book I mentioned above.

Continue to struggle with issues of faith and Christianity, but feel myself moving more towards Christianity, even if slowly.

Next Step

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Finished the 30 day piano program; onto the next installment. Feeling a little frustrated but will move on.

Up to Day 29

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. 

Up to Day 29 of my 30 day piano program. I'd like to practice even a little bit each day.

Picture taken two days ago of me and my lovely wife (with daughter #2 photo bombing):

A picture taken two days ago of me and daughter #1 (with daughter #2 photo bombing):

Up to Day 28

Up to Day 28 of my piano program. This one is going to take awhile as it deals with a particular weakness of mine: the left hand. I'll get through it.

No exercise today. Road trip to see my dad for Christmas, and my brother came too:

I'm the guy kneeling on your left. Now, take a look at the following picture, and compare it to the one below it!!!

The walrus is my dad !!!!!

Up to 27

Rode exercise bike yesterday and today, each time for about an hour.

Up to Day 27 in my piano program. A big issue I need to work on is keeping rhythm.

May start an acoustic guitar duo.

Up to Day 26

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Played my last Christmas gig of this season tonight with the band at a coffee shop.

I am having a great time with my piano learning material. Up to Day 26 (out of 30). Learning some great stuff!

24

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Enjoying my piano learning material. Up to Day 24 (out of 30). Used some of the material provided to make flash cards of notes on the bass cleff. Bought a notebook where I'll hopefully start writing lyrics/ideas for my acoustic album.

Announcement :)

I hereby announce that neither my difficulty with playing the bass cleff or my difficulty with proper piano fingerings will preclude me from being a success with the piano. I don't care how old I am. I won't be a Billy Joel or an Elton John, but I can still be successful at expressing myself on the piano.  

Piano Patience

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Up to Lesson 23 in my piano program. This is going to be a long term commitment thing and that's ok. I guess. I'm impatient.

Played some Christmas music with some folks at a coffee shop today. Little or no audience.

Goals, 2016

Thinking of some goals for 2016:

1) At least some piano practice daily

2) Work on the Swing Guitar book when I get a chance

3) Write and record a CD of original acoustic guitar songs

4) Keep losing weight 

Inversions

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Practiced inversions for a couple of piano chords for a (very) short period.

Chord Inversions, Guitar

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Been listening and/or watching ROCKY related stuff. It's very inspirational. Trying to use it to help my piano learning, too. 

Working on Day 19 (out of 30) on my piano program. I guess there's no way away from them: the dreaded chord inversions. Will. Not. Give. Up.

Played a benefit today for a a charity, and it went ok. 

Thinking of going back to the Swing Guitar book to learn some lead stuff; it seemed to be quite helpful. Will not give up piano, though.

ROCKY, guitar, piano, and gig

Ate a bunch of cookies last night. Rode exercise bike for an hour while watching ROCKY. A great film.

Changed strings on my acoustic guitar. Always wanted to make a simple album using mainly an acoustic.

Up to Day 18 (out of 30) in my piano program.

Played with some folks some Christmas music for a residence of older folks. Went well. They really seem to appreciate it, and it's nice playing to an attentive audience!

Up to 17

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Up to lesson 17 in my piano learning program. Playing two Christmas show benefits this weekend.

Up to Day 14

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Up to Day 14 (out of 30) on my piano learning program. 

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Santa and Health

Busy Day... Started out playing another charity gig for the Church. Had fun with the guitar, utilizing some swing stuff learned in the swing book. Went food shopping to prepare for a week of attempting to eat healthy. Up to Day 11 in my piano learning program. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES beat the Patriots! Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Playing 3 more Christmas gigs this year... Had so much fun with guitar that I was second guessing piano stuff, but I'll stick to both.

Merry Christmas charity

Rode exercise bike for a total of 1/2 hour. Played a charity gig with three of us today. If you take a look at the pics below, you can see that I've lost some weight since last year! (The first pic is from last year; I'm in the blue shirt on the far right. The second pic is from today at the same venue; I'm in the red shirt on the far right):

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

Up to day 9

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Up to day 9 in my piano learning program. Learning more about my laptop.

Up to Day 8

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Worked on Day 7 of my piano learning material. Still really like it. 

Up to Day 7

Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Practiced piano a bit last night. Up to "Day 7" in my piano study material. I'm enjoying it. 

Taking better care of myself, and losing some weight in the process. I used money originally earmarked for a guitar to get my very own laptop computer and the online piano lessons.