Procrastination is fun... not

OK, I'm going to waste a bit of time here and then go back to gainful employment, which given the current state of the newspaper business, I should appreciate while I still have it. I did two phone interviews with authors this morning and now should be turning them into copy for the paper, really! Soon, soon...

My $29.95 investment in a Chris Thiele mandolin instructional CD has already been worthwhile, I believe. I am roughly 15 minutes into it (I think it might be as long as 85 or 90 minutes) and already I have learned a good up-and-down pick exercise AND most importantly have grasped at long last the timing involved in "pick stroke theory," which was so totally eluding me it was embarrassing. What I really want to know is why god why did my erstwhile music teacher NOT bother to lay down the basics with me???????? So now, two years after acquiring this instrument, I am FINALLY going back and learning the basics of timing. It's v. exciting as I can combine tablature reading with musical notation reading (at least in terms of time values of the notes, if not where the heck they fall on the fretboard). Have been working assiduously on "Red Haired Boy" for the last few days and now have gone back to the previously-learned but never mastered "Liberty" and trying to get that timing down as well. At the end of the week I will reward myself with moving to the next lesson on the DVD. Progress may finally be made!