The Intergalactic Cowboy

Today was a tale of two people whose progress in their challenges was not as great as hoped.
My thirteen year old student was shown how to play barre chords, using the E Major shape today. She had been shown how to do it with the A Major shape two weeks ago. I had hoped that she had developed the hand strength to handle both shapes today but it was just a little too much exertion for her over too little time. Her public schooling started last week, which requires an expenditure of energy and concentration as well. I may have to give her some time off to practice and absorb the challenges that I have presented to her. Her technique is the best of any student that I have ever taught.
My friend D went to the orthopedist today in hopes of being told that she can begin re-learning how to walk soon. I was disappointed to find out that the doctor told her to stay off of her broken leg for SIX MORE WEEKS and then visit the doctor again. This six more weeks will be spent at the linoleum / flourescent nursing home that I described in a previous entry. The lack of stimulation in this facility is mind numbing. All that I can do is visit her, bring her food and tell her news of the outside world. She does not deserve the amount of bad luck that she has experienced.
With patient encouragement,
I.C.

The past two days have been characterised by success in the field of relaxation, with the consequential river of health that relaxation brings. This success has come about despite the distractions that usually derail the relaxed state that my mornings usually begin with. The dream that I had early this morning probably contributed to this.
I dreamed that my Dad was still alive and was sitting in the den with my Mom. It occured to me in the dream that I could basically count on my parents for a few important things while I was growing up. My relationship with my parents certainly had its faults and resentments, but it occured to me that having imperfect parents was a lot better than having no one to give me guidance in life and that I should not be so pessimistic in my thoughts concerning this relationship. I woke up feeling thankful for the parents that I did have growing up in life. So, I guess the message here is that we should be thankful for whatever parenting and mentoring that we were given in life, regardless of how many unresolved issues are still grinding within us.
With forgiveness,
I.C.

This was one of the headlines on the front page of the Atlanta Constitution yesterday. That title would make a good title for an Intergalactic Cowboy cd wouldn’t it ? I could not use it because it would be disrespectful to the memory of the poor woman who was actually murdered last year on the running, walking, bike path in northwest Georgia which actually bears this name. The Silver Comet Trail is built over an obsolete railroad line, which extends west for miles from northwest Atlanta to a point near to the Alabama state line.
I did make a killing on the stock market today. I bought some Baidu stock six days ago and just sold it for a $22/share profit. My donation to the American Red Cross has just been mailed off. Other charities will be receiving their share of this in the near future.
Somebody stop me !
I.C.

I have just read RF’s descriptions of the circulations that were presented in Spain. Some of them are totally unfamiliar to me. Playing circulations in a group are such a big responsibility ! One of the requirements for the Circulations Special Project in Massachusetts is to be familiar enough with C major to take it onstage. I don’t see how a person could be ready for this course without meeting with a Guitar Craft Circle on a regular basis. The circulation charts from Spain will be helpful to all Circles with members that are preparing for the upcoming course.
My preoccupations are with learning the material that my students want me to teach them. This material was created by bands such as Paramore, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Guns and Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This challenge keeps me happily busy, but takes away time that might be used in preparation for guitar courses or intergalactic cowboy performances.
Tomorrow, my Mom goes to the doctor to get more information about having knee replacement surgery. This surgery is somewhat risky.
At the nursing home, D is feeling more alert than last week, probably due to her medications being administered in lower doses. She is still unable to put any weight on her broken leg.
More later,
I.C.

Yesterday afternoon I sold my Google stock. I was dissappointed that I had lost a little money on it. I had bought the stock after everyone else had bought it and then the earlier buyers of the stock started selling. At 4:15 pm yesterday Google announced its earnings for the second quarter, which were below analysts’ estimates. The stock then went down 40 dollars a share in after hours trading. I said 40 dollars a share ! If I hadn’t sold my stock at 2pm, I would have suffered a devastating financial loss. At 1 pm today the market was down 200 points from yesterday’s close. This kind of volatility could bankrupt someone in just a few minutes. If you go to the Yahoo financial message board for the stock Baidu.com you can read an entry from a man who put a second mortgage on his house without telling his wife about it. He bought a huge amount of Baidu stock which went down about 5 dollars a share today. He is desperately asking for financial advice from any experienced trader out there about what he should do. ” Should I get out now or should I hope for a price increase on Monday ” he asks. His get rich quick scheme is not working out.
With relief,
I.C.

My two most recent students have been really good at learning the guitar skills that I have shown them. I began the tuition of my third new guitar student today. He is a fifteen year old male, who is about six feet tall with long fingers. He seems to be at the intermediate level of guitar playing even though he has only been playing for a few weeks and has never had a guitar lesson before. He demonstrated a quick ability to enact several primary exercises with the good guitar technique that I showed him today. He knows how to play a major scale and can even play the intro to “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns and Roses, which involves using the fourth finger of his left hand. His feel for the instrument is so good that I suspected that he had been given previous guitar training, but his grandmother confirmed that he had only been playing for a few weeks, learning whatever he could off of the internet. His parents encouraged him to learn guitar after he bought the popular computer game where you play air guitar; I do not know the name of that game. He may need someone to show him the chromatic lead guitar lines that these modern metal guitarist play. I do not know those scales and I doubt that the only other guitar teacher in town knows those scales either. (He is an older man than me.) I can teach him the six modes that he does not already know. I can teach him the concept of a one-four-five chord progression and some pentatonic scales with passing tones added to them. I can demonstrate how to learn a song by listening to it and I can give him hints on how to write a song that he hears in his head. I suspect, however, that this student will need training in areas that I am not skilled in and I hope that I can somehow direct him to someone who can give him the training that he needs.
Rock on,
I.C.

No, I do not have any blood diseases; just let me explain. On Saturday night I was visiting a local establishment that I have taken a liking to. An extremely drunk man walked in that I had never seen before. He was a big, muscular man of about 250 pounds in weight. He had a blond beard and a very boistrous demeanor.He seemed like someone who could knock a man unconcious with one blow from his mighty fist. He had a cut on the skin of his left arm; a cut that was abount two inches long and bleeding. Another person in the club was acquainted with him and offered to bandage the wound with a cocktail napkin and some scotch tape, which he did. The kind hearted person who administered the first aid then washed his hands in the bathroom. After another beer the injured man ripped off the homemade bandage and threw the bloody bandage against a cardboard container of salted peanuts. I was hoping that he would look away so that I could toss the peanuts into the trash before someone ate any of them. I told the injured man that he should pour some alcohol onto the wound to kill the germs and he poured beer onto the wound and the floor underneath. A bartender removed the bloody bandage from the bar but not the contaminated nuts. Then a patron who had just entered the bar grabbed a handful of nuts from the container and started eating them. Fortunately he walked away and I grabbed the container and explained to a bartender that they needed to be disposed of because they had touched a bloody bandage.
I have encountered one other person in this community with the same basic problem as this alcohol addicted person that I have just described. Both of these guys have speech patterns that have been permanently slurred from alcohol induced brain injuries. They both seem like people who would have a lot to offer the world if they could only control their intake of spirits. I have even given the other guy a ride home before so as to keep him out of an auto accident. I didn’t dare take the bleeding guy home, but I might be willing to on some future night if need be. All that I know to do is to set a good example to them by having my two responsible drinks and then leaving in a legally sober state.
Anyway, tonight I went back to the club and made an unusual request to the owner. I asked him if he had some disinfectant and a paper towel. I then explained that the bleeding man had rubbed his bloody elbow all over the bar on Saturday and that I wanted to disinfect that whole end of the bar. The owner cleaned that area for me and then cleaned the rest of the bar while I was watching as a gesture of taking care of my need for sterilization. He gave me a slightly funny vibe after doing it and I explained that I used to work at a hotel and had been given training about the dangers of bloodborn pathogens. I also mentioned that I did not think that the bloody man had AIDS or hepatitis, but that blood born diseases were just too contagious to take a chance with. I also mentioned that I had gotten a little grossed out the other night.
This diary entry is not intended to have any deep or hidden meaning. I am not trying to make a point or express any opinion. I just simply felt the need to relate it to you, my loyal readers.
In the spirit of sanitation,
I.C.

My day started well with a sitting that invoked a feeling of healthy energy flow throughout the body, mind and heart. This led to some joyous yard work and a trip to Kentucky Fried Chicken to purchase a chicken pot pie for D to eat in the nursing home. She has been eating very little of the nursing home food. When I arrived with the pie she was agreeable to the idea of eating it. After three bites, one of her doctors visited her and asked her if I was torturing her. What a counterproductive thing for a doctor to say ! I had succeeded in getting her to eat a few bites of food and he disrespects me like that. He asked me later if I was her therapist and I told him that I was her friend and caregiver. Even if I had been her therapist I did not deserve to be disrespected in that manner. I wonder if D now has an excuse to refuse to eat the food that I bring her from outside the nursing home. That would be a tragedy.By the end of the day I hope to get into the position of viewing my anger as an emotion rather than the totality of me. There certainly have been a lot of doctors doing destructive things recently.
Grrr!!!!
I.C.

The year, 1980. The place, The Agora, Atlanta. The youth movement ? Well, punk was dead; new wave was dead; we were not interested in the hardcore movement and did not want to shave our heads. We, The Nobz, just wanted to play whatever loud music that we could come up with and we enjoyed it ! That’s an ES-125 that I’m playing.
Photo - Cindy Seigelbaum
With high volume and feedback,
I.C.

It has been a good couple of days of running sound and engaging in eldercare. Tonight I teach a guitar class. D is feeling more alert today and was eating lunch when I visited her. My Mom visited her doctor today and her medications are being adjusted. I have had good luck remembering to check my bodily tension and to keep a relaxed energy flowing through me. Just a normal and unremarkable day.
With unremarkability,
I.C.
p.s. I wonder why helping the aged, teaching, relaxing and being attentive seem so unremarkable to me ? These are worthwhile activities and I should not act like they are insignificant. Anyone who engages in these activities is leading a good life !