Guitar Progress, Sushi, and a Slice of Life

Construction in my neighbourhood is ongoing as I write this. The construction workers are so kind. One of them took my garbage because I guess the garbage location was changed due to said construction.

By the time I got home on Saturday night, I only had a little time to practise guitar. In that short time when I was practising Misery (The Moffatts cover), I figured out how to play The Imps Song (Level 2) from the Doom soundtrack completely by accident. Not the main melody, but those undertones! I think I was switching between E and Em. Possibly an Am. After a while, I start to forget the chord names, and they just become a shape to me. I'll have to work out the main melody at some point, maybe a back burner project.

I mentioned in my last entry that in order to level up my guitar game that it is going to be important to study music styles and bands that I don't necessarily like. I got thinking about this later and I realised that the learning curve really does parallel my time in art/design school. I actually switched out from that degree program because simply put, I didn't have the maturity of the mindset to be there. Prior to that, I studied design at a technical school and I didn't have the patience or the maturity to go back to the art and design fundamentals. What I didn't realise at the time that going to art or design school is not about drawing what you like. It is about developing your skill as an artist so that you can draw anything that is in front of you. I think that guitar is much the same way that you have to learn those fundamentals that you don't necessarily like in order to get good at it. You have to put the time and work into it.

Sunday was a stay home day where I got caught up on my blog as you saw. ^^; But after that, I went to Sushiro one last time to take advantage of the Tamagotchi promo going on. I posted a thread of photos on BlueSky here. If anyone remembers Tamagotchi: Corner Shop for Nintendo DS, you had the chance to run a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. It feels like everything came full circle after the Sushiro collaboration. It's cool that Tamagotchi is still going, but there is something so quintessentially 90s about the series/brand.

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As they say, don't go shopping when you're hungry! After I was finished at Sushiro, I went to go grocery shopping for food staples. I had to use the restroom while I was there. Along the way, I saw two kids came running out in front of me to hug a poster. They kept saying, ママ (Mama!), and their father kept repeating to them, そんなことないよ！ (That's not true. That's not the case.) It was cute, endearing, and a reminder of childhood innocence. This conversation continued for a while outside as I used the restroom.

Last night, I continued my guitar practise. I continued to work on Happy Birthday, and Last Christmas. I also went back to review Stop by the Spice Girls some more. I've noticed that Last Christmas and Stop have been helpful to really try to nail down that Bm chord change faster. I also began studying how to palm mute. It's a bit of a learning curve, but it sounds so neat!

I fell asleep while I was writing this last night originally, so I am posting the update now.

Quick Update

Hey guys!

Today was mainly a stay in day.

There was some construction happening in my neighbourhood, and I guess the garbage site was temporarily moved. One of the workers was so kind to take my garbage. 🙏

I stopped at my local post office to collect the Earthbound handbook that I had shipped to me after I don't know how many years of procrastination. They really nailed the 1990s design!

On my way back home, I stopped by the neighbourhood bakery to buy some bread. There, a mother and her young kindergarten aged son were in line. I gave a free English lesson while we were waiting. My fallback on these free demo lessons is:

Do you like (item)?/ Yes, I do./No, I don't.
Do you like ice cream?
Yes, I do.
Do you like natto?
Yes, I do.
Do you like... natto ice cream?
No, I don't! Yucky!

The kids always have fun with this play on words, and you can swap out the foods with different things to localise it. The original song is called Do You Like (Broccoli Ice Cream)? from Super Simple Songs.

The mother had to repeatedly tell her son not to touch the breads, so a new expression I taught was No touching! The whole interaction was really cute.

Because of the amount of time that has passed since I backed the Kickstarter project, I didn't get all the items included. But that was completely, and totally my fault. But space is at a premium here in Japan, so it's fine. I like to think that I'm doing better, but indeed it seems I am still a master procrastinator!

Speaking of procrastination, I have posted the fully fleshed out part 1 of the Mishima/Tokyo trip here. I decided to edit that entry instead of deleting and reposting it. Part 2 will be forthcoming.

Also, if you guys can respond to the survey that I posted here, I'd really appreciate it! It just takes a second to respond as to whether my Moffatts getup is fashion (👕) or cosplay (🦸‍♀️).

Thank you so much. 🙏 🙏 🙏