the hummingbird

I am truly exhausted today. It's pretty late now and I haven't had a chance to write at all. My daughter's been enticed to come out of her cave to watch live tv as this Wicked Special is on. She came down and asked, "Is this live?" The question was strange because did she mean, is Cynthia Erivo singing live or is it live tv? I think she actually meant the second one but I answered by saying it's a live performance, recorded as live and yes, we are watching live tv. How times have changed. My children are only ever used to programming being on demand. The only thing they ever get to watch live is the news, and the only reason that they can is because I routinely put it on typically while we are having dinner. 

Sometimes, we are out and I'm rushing to get home by 6:30, my husband would say that I can just watch World News Tonight later on Hulu. But you know, it isn't the same for me. Watching the news when it's not live doesn't feel like watching the news at all. The ruse of immediacy, the currentness of the information, it feels less real if I'm basically watching a recording or a rerun. I mean, I know how the newscast is produced. I understand every aspect of it. I spent a portion of a semester as a newsroom intern, for crying out loud. But what it is to me: it's one of the last vestiges of traditional media that I cling to because I still kind of enjoy the illusion of timeliness. I mock the stand-uppers outside the streets of London where I know it is currently midnight and it is the international correspondent's job to report on that story, even if it's 10,000 miles away from her, and me for that matter. It's a stupid illusion that I see right through but I want it anyway. I'm going to stop here. I feel like I've now just compared watching the news to watching David Copperfield, who by the way, is really old now. I got last minute tickets last April and my daughter and I got to watch. We know it's not magic but we allowed ourselves to enjoy it anyway. 

My day started with school drop off as usual and then a dental appointment. Afterwards, I drove to Guitar Center for what is it, the fourth time in seven days? I wanted to speak with the lessons director in person because I had so many questions about the lessons. I wanted to know if I could tailor it all to what I need and maybe get someone who can help with the guitar bit and the recording side of things. After that, I was free to spend the rest of my time playing with the guitars in the store. Even on a random Thursday, there were definitely people in and out of there. I definitely spent over two hours in the store but it was productive. I feel like I really know what I would want for my next guitar now. I was admiring the display of acoustic-electric Martins and after playing a few of them, I realized that they were all kind of the same and they were all made in Mexico. While I have nothing against that, I feel bad buying a Martin guitar not made in Nazareth, PA because that's literally just an hour/hour and a half drive from here. After poring over the rest of the options, Yamahas, Taylors, Fenders, I felt like Matt (yeah, we're first name basis now haha) was getting a better understanding of what I was looking for and what my budget was etc. Steering me from the Martins that I had obsessed over (he said the American-made ones would start around $1800 and I just don't think my skill level warrants that expensive of a guitar), he asked me if I'd ever tried playing any of the Epiphones. And not only did he show me a few options, he offered to stick batteries in one, and hooked me up to an amp. 

As a person who has never played an electric guitar, this was like... putting eyeglasses on. All of a sudden I could hear each string clearly and now I realize that when I play a D chord and I hit more than the first four strings, it sounds not quite right? It's like, I hear it all... I really hear it! The hummingbird sounded good with my voice and being able to record it, plugging it in instead of mic'ing, seems like something I wanted to explore. Matt said he would leave the batteries in it (it's a pain to get it in and take it out and it's one of the complaints I'd seen about this instrument in the online reviews) because I said I'd come back on Sunday when I had a lesson. I'm still thinking about it. I need to check the reviews and pricing. And I also might need to shell out for the amp so really have to consider a lot of things. 

Playlist Recommendation: Back For Good, Take That