Musings

I want the Moonwalk to be over and done.

I want this because I have an urge to be creative, to make stuff, to write, to sew, to organise, to clear out. I don’t feel that I can focus on doing any of this because I’m terrified that I’ll (a) exhaust myself before the big night, (b) drop a box on my foot or similar and (c) I need to do Moonwalk related stuff like decide which snacks to take, organise transport, decorate bra, create play list for last few miles and so on.

My hairs needs more henna. It’s just a little too warm for leggings but not nearly hot enough for bare legs. Lacey patterned tights seem to be the answer but they seem to get holes really easily. Holey tights are part of my look sometimes. I do love outfit details that suddenly seem to startle. Like a perfect 1950s housewife look with a huge spider necklace. Can you buy fair trade, vegan, organic tights?

I’ve realised that my endless quest to discover my style is actually just that endless. People change all the time even if it’s just in very small ways and that includes me. Consequently what my style is will always be changing. I should embrace that change and not worry when my daily outfit choices revolve around half a dozen garments for a week or two.

I’ve been listening to The Red Hot Chili Peppers because just about every bass related thing I’ve read recently talks about what a big influence Flea was on them. One of the things I liked about Dear Heart when we were first dating was that he seemed to be the only person I knew who didn’t get the RHCP and couldn’t figure what all the fuss was about.

Photocopiers are really interesting things. I love all the hidden doors that one only discovers when the paper feed jams.

I’ve rather enjoyed rambling like this. I don’t know what any potential readers will make of it? Maybe the signifiers slide enough for them to muse as well.

How to string a bass guitar

On friday night Dear Heart suggested that he teach me how to restring a bass guitar. Given that (a) January is sobriety month so no trip to the pub in the offing, (b) Dear Heart has owned the bass for about five years and has never restrung it and (c) it was something I wanted to learn, I agreed with enthusiasm.

Things went well to start with. Dear Heart demonstrated how to remove the strings. My performance in this area was excellent and I was able to remove three without any damage to the body of the guitar. We cleaned up the fret boards with no problems.

Then we moved onto the tricky bit. Putting new strings on. Dear Heart started with the E string and demonstrated how to thread it into place and wrap it around the machinehead. Then he revealed that the strings would need stretching. A quick demo later and he left me to do the other three while he did some drum practice.

All went well on the A string, but made over confident by my success I broke the D string. After a moment of panic I calmly put the G string into place and then returned to the dilemma of the D string.

It was while trying to discover if I could manage to stretch this string enough to get it to work that it bit me. Yes, the sharp end of the string embedded itself in my thumb and drew blood. I only realised how much it was bleeding when I started wondering what the red stuff on the machine heads and the tuner was.

Obviously if this was a Stephen King novel the guitar would now have a taste for blood (following a curse) and be reading to shred to pieces the fingers of the next unfortunate to play it (sort of like The Red Shoes). Happily this is not a Stephen King novel.

Dear Heart advised putting the old D string back in place and purchasing new strings ASAP. I know understand why he always wants people to buy them for Christmas or birthdays.

So that’s one bass guitar restrung. It really is amazing how different new strings sound.

There’s just one thing that I still want to know. Are there are any crafting activities that reuse guitar strings?