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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 28, 2016 19:41:19 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2016 21:21:58 GMT -5
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jun 29, 2016 9:00:59 GMT -5
Looking back, most of the changes I can see that've happened have been for the better. Keep that in mind Confessor. The worst part is not knowing. Wise words, my friend. True words
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 29, 2016 10:57:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the good wishes and kind words berkley , DE Sinclair , Icctrombone , and The Captain . I'm somewhat lucky in that I'm essentially a freelancer and still have my weekly gigs and another open mic night to keep me going. So it's not like when I sometimes read on here that people have lost their jobs and they are suddenly left with the scary prospect of having no money coming in. That's a really unfortunate situation and I really feel for those people. I will still continue to work...I'm just gonna take a bit of a hit in my monthly wage until I can find something else to replace the lost open mic. From that perspective, I really shouldn't grumble too much and, as some of you are suggesting, this might just be the thing that lands me in a much better situation in the end. Let's hope so. Did you consider music tutoring? My youngest son had a private guitar instructor for two years, and from discussions with the man I understood that there was a lot of demand and some good money to be made there. He especially loved the flexible schedules that allowed him to train for his infernal ultramarathons. As I understand it, it was even his main source of income apart from his weekend gigs.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 29, 2016 11:24:48 GMT -5
Thanks for the good wishes and kind words berkley , DE Sinclair , Icctrombone , and The Captain . I'm somewhat lucky in that I'm essentially a freelancer and still have my weekly gigs and another open mic night to keep me going. So it's not like when I sometimes read on here that people have lost their jobs and they are suddenly left with the scary prospect of having no money coming in. That's a really unfortunate situation and I really feel for those people. I will still continue to work...I'm just gonna take a bit of a hit in my monthly wage until I can find something else to replace the lost open mic. From that perspective, I really shouldn't grumble too much and, as some of you are suggesting, this might just be the thing that lands me in a much better situation in the end. Let's hope so. Did you consider music tutoring? My youngest son had a private guitar instructor for two years, and from discussions with the man I understood that there was a lot of demand and some good money to be made there. He especially loved the flexible schedules that allowed him to train for his infernal ultramarathons. As I understand it, it was even his main source of income apart from his weekend gigs. You know, in recent years, a lot of people have suggested that I should start giving either guitar or singing lessons. I don't know...I sometimes think I'd be quite good as a teacher, in that I can be patient, I'm articulate and I enjoy encouraging other, less experienced musicians. I'm not sure about singing tutoring though because (and this is gonna sound arrogant), as far as pop or rock style singing goes, I'm something of a natural. I've never had a lesson in my life, so I'm not sure what I could tell students in order to help them improve vocally. Teaching guitar might be a better bet because, although I'm a strong player, I'm certainly not virtuoso in any way and I've had to work to be as good as I am. I dunno...it's worth thinking about and I'm sure there would be plenty of demand and a reasonable amount of money to be made, especially at beginner level, but, I don't know. It sort of scares me a bit too. It's quite a responsibility to take on students, isn't it?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 29, 2016 12:10:01 GMT -5
Did you consider music tutoring? My youngest son had a private guitar instructor for two years, and from discussions with the man I understood that there was a lot of demand and some good money to be made there. He especially loved the flexible schedules that allowed him to train for his infernal ultramarathons. As I understand it, it was even his main source of income apart from his weekend gigs. You know, in recent years, a lot of people have suggested that I should start giving either guitar or singing lessons. I don't know...I sometimes think I'd be quite good as a teacher, in that I can be patient, I'm articulate and I enjoy encouraging other, less experienced musicians. I'm not sure about singing tutoring though because (and this is gonna sound arrogant), as far as pop or rock style singing goes, I'm something of a natural. I've never had a lesson in my life, so I'm not sure what I could tell students in order to help them improve vocally. Teaching guitar might be a better bet because, although I'm a strong player, I'm certainly not virtuoso in any way and I've had to work to be as good as I am. I dunno...it's worth thinking about and I'm sure there would be plenty of demand and a reasonable amount of money to be made, especially at beginner level, but, I don't know. It sort of scares me a bit too. It's quite a responsibility to take on students, isn't it? It is, but as a lifelong teacher (not of music, alas, as I can't play anything), I can reassure you : a patient and friendly teacher will always have a very positive impact on a student's life, even if said student never gets very good. My own kid never learned to play his bass as he lacked the perseverance to practice, but his teacher was a great influence on him. Here was an adult ready to teach him something without criticizing him for not learning fast enough, one who would never stress him out about his future, one who was always patient. It's important to relate to other adults than one's parents. My own karate students, kids and adults alike, seem to really find something worthwhile in our classes -even those who decide that fighting isn't for them after all. Personally, I think you'd make one heck of a guitar teacher!
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jun 29, 2016 13:27:56 GMT -5
You know, in recent years, a lot of people have suggested that I should start giving either guitar or singing lessons. I don't know...I sometimes think I'd be quite good as a teacher, in that I can be patient, I'm articulate and I enjoy encouraging other, less experienced musicians. I'm not sure about singing tutoring though because (and this is gonna sound arrogant), as far as pop or rock style singing goes, I'm something of a natural. I've never had a lesson in my life, so I'm not sure what I could tell students in order to help them improve vocally. Teaching guitar might be a better bet because, although I'm a strong player, I'm certainly not virtuoso in any way and I've had to work to be as good as I am. I dunno...it's worth thinking about and I'm sure there would be plenty of demand and a reasonable amount of money to be made, especially at beginner level, but, I don't know. It sort of scares me a bit too. It's quite a responsibility to take on students, isn't it? It is, but as a lifelong teacher (not of music, alas, as I can't play anything), I can reassure you : a patient and friendly teacher will always have a very positive impact on a student's life, even if said student never gets very good. My own kid never learned to play his bass as he lacked the perseverance to practice, but his teacher was a great influence on him. Here was an adult ready to teach him something without criticizing him for not learning fast enough, one who would never stress him out about his future, one who was always patient. It's important to relate to other adults than one's parents. My own karate students, kids and adults alike, seem to really find something worthwhile in our classes -even those who decide that fighting isn't for them after all. Personally, I think you'd make one heck of a guitar teacher! My daughter played the flute in high school, but never really got very good. But her band teacher is still her favorite teacher of all time. It's now several years later, and she ran into him on her job. He still remembered her, which made her day. A good teacher can make a real difference.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 30, 2016 3:33:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys. For what it's worth, you've made me seriously consider this as an option now.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Jun 30, 2016 23:30:31 GMT -5
I'm in Utah right now essentially in the middle of my month long "goodbye USA" road trip. It has definitely had it's ups and downs. There are some things that have irked me to no end, but I've asked myself if I really should be annoyed with things that others may find quite trivial while trying to be patient and composed. That hasn't always worked. There are seven people on this road trip including myself. The others are my wife, her older brother, their mother, my wife's brother's wife, and the parents of the brother's wife. Basically four people in their older twenties and three seasoned folk (who don't speak English). What I hear on a daily basis is a mix of spoken Cantonese and Mandarin unless I'm being specifically and/or something has to be explained for me. I understand maybe about 5%. I've gotten used to that for the most part, and that isn't as bad. Since I'm on the road I should take the opportunity to learn more Mandarin, but I'm finding this setup to be just really a chore at times to tolerate. I think I prefer learning in a controlled environment. For two months I was alone before this trip started. And I made good progress. Now I feel like it's going down the drain even though I'm around a few native speakers. Overall I'm really indifferent to the entire situation. But there have been other "issues" I guess. We've been from San Francisco to LA, Vegas, Arizona, and now Utah. We'll be heading to Yellowstone later on. There has been a lot of shopping (the group really prefers outlets), and sightseeing. That's been nice for the most part. Also, I've managed to maintain my exercise regimen as best as I can on the road. I talked about this in another thread, but I do have some traveling equipment (nice resistance band set among other things) and I've utilized hotel gyms when I can (even though most suck) along with running every second day as I was before I went on the trip. I feel like I an asshole doing this, but let me just put my cards (complaints?) on the table and why I feel bothered by certain things I'm still not sure I should feel bothered by. Of course keep in mind this is just one side of the story and you're only hearing it from my perspective, right?
- When this all began in San Francisco, by the second or third day we had rented a road trip vehicle as expected. We have a Ford Expedition XLT currently packed to the ceiling because everyone brought a big suitcase (seriously our back cargo room is like a tetris setup). We rented from AVIS, but there was a snag. I essentially had to beg to be put on as a second driver because unbeknownst to me, they usually don't have debit card holders as alternate drivers. My brother in laws father in law (calling him Ming from now on) is driver #1, my brother in law one alternate driver (calling him Don from now on) and luckily I was able to get AVIS to list me as another alternate. And I do mean lucky, because before we went without me as a listed driver and once I saw what Ming could do driving, I immediately became concerned. We drove back to our Air B and B house when we left AVIS the first time. We almost got in an accident a couple of times on the way back. This is everyone's first trip to America except my wife. I had a feeling that Ming may struggle with some of the nuances of driving here in America, but I was shocked at how shaky he was. He has good driving skill operating a automobile, but he simply doesn't know the rules because he's never been here before. So we went back to AVIS because there was an issue with the air conditioning with the car. We got another Expedition and I was able to get listed as another driver. So going through the states we've nearly gotten in an accident a few times, and Ming drives so slow at times (especially in the beginning) I've had to witness the stink eye, honks, and even the bird from fellow motorists. He's gotten better after my coaching, but yeah...I can't fully relax when he's driving. I usually sit in the back while his daughter (brother in law's wife) is in the front trying to guide him with a Chinese GPS along with translating everything. When I point out what he's doing wrong at times, I feel like my advice either goes on deaf ears and/or is being downplayed as not being that serious of a concern. I mean I had to explain how a stop sign worked, how a traffic circle worked, and how the speed limit worked. I actually had to pull on the California driving guide because and show them the page talking about how the speed limit isn't as black and white. But when I point it out it isn't "Oh whoop you were right" it's more so "What, how can that be I don't understand"? I've done the fair share of driving in more complex places like LA or Vegas. I think my brother in law's wife (calling her Beth from now) has been on a lot of trips with her dad, and she loves her dad very much. But he doesn't know what he doesn't know and clearly lacks experience. I hate coming off as a jerk that just keeps pointing out errors, but my concern is for my safety and everyone else's. After a while I was just like "okay figure it out yourself". I stay silent of course and something bad has a bigger chance of occurring. Of course then I'm asked for help when they really can't figure something out. This has probably been my biggest annoyance on the trip. My wife sees my side of the situation, but isn't that supportive and I feel doesn't really get the logic of what I'm trying to point out. Everyone else seems indifferent to the entire thing. Oh to make things worse there is this stupid video camera for the car that Ming wants set up, but whenever you go just one mile past the speed limit an annoying beeping sound chimes in in Chinese telling you that you are over. It's extremely obnoxious. I understand if you want a video camera for certain situations. That's cool, but they can't get rid of the beeping. Ming doesn't mind it though and everyone else tried to figure out how to turn it off, but can't. I voted to just unplug it when I drive, but it seems that Ming would rather take double driving duty just to have that video camera working. God forbid if I'm uncomfortable as the driver. I said I refused to drive with that annoying thing on for two plus hours.
- The group takes FOREVER to decide on anything. There is constant standing around in a group discussing where to go or what to do, which results in time wasted at each stop. Now it's their trip, they can do whatever they want. It does kind of suck to feel like you're about to be investing in something whether it's shopping or sightseeing only to be bogged down by minutes and minutes of wasted time standing around and talking not knowing what the hell to do. I was trying to think back being in similar situations on trips with different groups and if there was ever such a problem in decisiveness, and I can't think of any situation. Maybe Americans just do first, think later?
- Me and my wife have had some spats on this trip. One in particular where I got so frustrated with her combative way of speaking when discussing an issue that I raised me voice for a second and slammed my hand on a counter in an outlet mall food court garnering a ton of stares. We didn't talk for a few minutes, we left the area, we met later, she cried, I said sorry, etc. She claimed it's just the way she speaks, and nothing more. I half agree with her. Cantonese do seem to have a very "loud" way of talking. On the other hand my wife does get really combative when discussing even the most basic things that aren't that serious. And the constant interrupting when I want to say something really ticks me off. This has had an effect the last few years. It's probably really bad, but now I just either agree, or say "mmm hmmm" to avoid an argument. Even if I don't agree. I just don't want to deal with bullshit. But of course my wife can pick up on and this and can get mad because I'm simply agreeing and not discussing an issue in depth that she wants to discuss. Which leads me to the next thing.
- Sometimes I just don't care about things and want to be left the hell alone. There is a large part of me that is introverted. My wife isn't like that. Right now I'm typing this while listening to music and I'm having to endure constant interruptions from my wife every ten minutes because she wants to show me a cute picture of a dog doing something from Facebook, or she thinks I'm "sad" because I didn't say much at dinner and the last few hours. I was told this would just get worse if I have children, and that seems like a given. That is partly why these last two months when I had the house to myself was awesome. Of course I missed my wife, and when she came back I was really happy. I still want my fair share of time to myself. I'm not a wind up toy that can be social 24 hours a day. The only time that I for sure can enjoy to myself is when I go run or workout, which I'm about to do tonight.
- I guess this is just icing on the cake, but holy hell does my group have something to complain about at every restaurant. "This meat is really salty". Or "the dish seems really sour", and "don't you think it's too sweet"? Of course I just keep my head down and agree (yeah passive aggressive, but I just really don't care to engage), but in my head I'm thinking can't you just eat the fucking food? I mean even if you don't think it's good or whatever, just stop complaining about every little thing. Perhaps I'm just a dolt that will eat anything, but that isn't true because I know I'm a picky eater. If I have a complaint though I don't feel the need to complain about food every damn place.
Whatever. I know this was a long post, and I usually don't spill the beans (I don't like complaining like a little bitch), but I felt like I had to say something somewhere. By the way I hope I didn't come off as racial, pro American, or anything of the sort. That wasn't my intention. I'm just telling it like I see it. There is probably a ton of annoying shit I do as an American too that irk people. Well, going to pump some iron and try not to ponder my very near future and how I'll deal with it. See ya.
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Post by Bronze Age Brian on Jul 1, 2016 1:03:13 GMT -5
PapaShogun, sounds like a bad case of in-lawitis. Believe me I've been there, and it's never fun. I think you are handling your situation extremely well.
My cousin moved to Sweden two years ago and has struggled to learn Swedish, so anyone that learns a new language gets high praise from me.
I never got a chance to meet you IRL, but as a fellow Bay Arean (and since I've known of you from way back on a certain sports franchise's message board) I wish you all the best in Macau. I sincerely hope you post updates and share your new chapter in life overseas with us here.
好运
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 1, 2016 1:46:08 GMT -5
PapaShogun, sounds like a bad case of in-lawitis. Believe me I've been there, and it's never fun. I think you are handling your situation extremely well. My cousin moved to Sweden two years ago and has struggled to learn Swedish, so anyone that learns a new language gets high praise from me. I never got a chance to meet you IRL, but as a fellow Bay Arean (and since I've known of you from way back on a certain sports franchise's message board) I wish you all the best in Macau. I sincerely hope you post updates and share your new chapter in life overseas with us here. 好运 Thanks for the response. I'll definitely try to come here more often. Recently I feel like I should be spending more time here with the people as I've said before that I enjoy their insight and maturity about a great many things that are being discussed.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 1, 2016 8:29:05 GMT -5
“L’enfer, c’est les autres”
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Post by Spike-X on Jul 2, 2016 6:17:55 GMT -5
I went for a very enjoyable mountain bike ride today with a friend who's just getting into it. At one stage we met a kid going the other way. He called out, "Good afternoon sir, good afternoon madam" as he passed by. It was delightful.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jul 2, 2016 8:53:14 GMT -5
I went for a very enjoyable mountain bike ride today with a friend who's just getting into it. At one stage we met a kid going the other way. He called out, "Good afternoon sir, good afternoon madam" as he passed by. It was delightful. Where were you riding, 19th century England?
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 2, 2016 10:12:20 GMT -5
I had one of those moments in Charles Bukowski's poem The Shoelace yesterday. I'm out of town at my wife's family reunion and before we stopped at the hotel I got a bottle opener for the wine I brought because I forgot to bring mine. When we get the hotel and I go to open it the screw breaks off inside the cork when I try to pull it out. Then my son needs his cover out of the car to go to sleep with. Of course it's raining hard. I grab his cover and tiny little DS and GBA game cartridges fly everywhere, one into a mud puddle. So I dive down to find and grab it. Now soaked and muddy I take his cover up to him. I turned back around and got in the car to get me a 6 pack of Coors at the gas station. Where the last bottle I drink erupts in my lap on the pants that I had changed into. "it's not the large things in life that send a man to the madhouse no, it's the continuing series of small tragedies.": m.poemhunter.com/poem/the-shoelace/
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