I played guitar and people watched

They even clapped! Today at Piecora's, Charlotte Thistle's guitar students, including yours truly, performed in front of an audience. The students ranged from wee to middle-aged; the audience consisted almost entirely of parents. The pizza and salad were excellent. Here's the gallery Reed put together. I played an instrumental version of "Falling Slowly," the Oscar-winning song from Once; Reed played "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" by Mountain Goats, and its tale of an abusive father (that is what it's about, right?) provided an effective thematic counterpoint to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which followed.

In other news, I finally had the Berry Bar at Portage Bay Cafe this morning at brunch, and it was... a bit anticlimactic, but still good. My French toast ended up being dinner, too. My friend Jill and I spent part of brunch talking about the navel-gazing that blogging can lead to, and the ultimate descent into the mundane and frivolous -- here's what I ate for breakfast -- came up. So now, dear reader, you know what I had: French toast. Man. It's 9:25 p.m., but I'll still kind of hungry. Maybe I'll heat up a veggie dog.

It has benefits, just not the usual kind

Yep. I'll likely be heading down the West Coast in early June; in July, it's on to Europe; and eventually I'll say goodbye to Seattle. But you know what? For now my job is going to Madison Beach Park, as I did today, and soaking up some rays. I had a fantastic last day: a mellow six hours at work, root beer floats (organic root beer + Häagen-Dazs = awesomeness), a nice time at the beach with Sarah from work, and a festive last-day-of-work dinner at Cafe Lago with Alka. Oh, and also tea at 22 Doors with Alka and Matty, whose Dreamlets will be featured May 23 on NWsource.

Tomorrow it's off to the Seattle Cheese Festival with Reed, possibly preceded by coffee with Nichole. And Sunday is my guitar recital at Piecora's, and another edition of the writing workshop. And Monday... picnic lunch with Sarah DeWeerdt in Lake City! Very exciting. I'll hopefully also be finding some time to plan for the coming months' travels. And maybe looking into getting my car's tape player repaired?

NaNoWriMo begins!

Yes, National Novel Writing Month has begun, and I've dutifully written my first 1,800 words, though I can't access the site because, hey, it's the first day and everyone is trying to do the same thing. That's okay, though. My plan this year is to use last year's writing pattern -- around 1,700 words a day, and not too much above or below the magic number. My goal is to write nearly every day, so writing becomes a natural part of each day and it feels weird when I don't do it. I'm excited that at least two friends who completed novels last year are giving it a try again this time. And if you're reading this and hadn't considered the possibility... it's not too late! The weekend is nearly upon us, which means ample time for catching up.

Got some cool links from friends today, including Japander, an invaluable collection of Asian ads made by American celebrities to make a quick buck where (they presumably hope) no one who regularly pays attention to them will notice their work. And from pandering to pandas: Emily sent me this link to a story about bears whose affection knows almost no bounds. (The link seems to be acting up; see if it loads on your computer, and if not, let me know.) And then there's this amazing array of sidewalk-art optical illusions.

I'm pretty enamored of the Capitol Hill blog these days (see sidebar link), and a recent post hit particularly close to home -- kind of literally. Believe it or not, nearly a week after its arrival at the bus stop, the chair is still there. Except that now it has a tiny (empty) Jaegermeister bottle adorning its comfy cushion.

I'm taking guitar lessons, by the way. It's reminding me how much a person has to practice just to be decent at an instrument. I haven't played any instrument since high school (oboe), and even then, under the pressure of band class and various solo and ensemble festivals, I was a rather woeful non-practicer. Hopefully I can solidify my knowledge of the mystical G, D, and C chords this week, and can also practice my scales and the four-string figure that starts Iron & Wine's "Naked As We Came," which is my first melodic assignment. In case you're interested, here's my teacher.