Something I'm bad at

It's always easy to write about stuff I'm good at. Today I'm covering something I'm bad at.

One of items lost in the shipwreck was my pack guitar. Today I finally got around to replacing it. A friend of mine had a smaller guitar in excellent condition for sale for a reasonable price. It's nice to have a guitar again -even though I'm not very good at it.

Sure, I can finger a bunch of cords and strum along, but I'm not going to lead any campfire songs. My singing voice is pretty bad. A decent singing voice goes a long ways towards covering up for marginal guitar skills. In my case marginal guitar skills are all I've got.

So why squeeze the budget to purchase something I'm not very good at? In spite of my limited skills I enjoy playing. It's therapeutic for me and healthier than a couple glasses of scotch.

My lovely wife, bless her soul, claims to enjoy listening to me play. Yes, I tell that woman I love her every day.

Back before the days of records and radios people had to make their own music. Most households had at least someone who could play something. It was pretty common for whole families to pull out instruments and jam together. While the selection and quality of music has gone up, something was lost.

For me, unless the musicians are really terrible, live music is a better experience than recorded. Some part of the human element is lost in a recording. There's nothing more real than being able to produce your own music, even if it's far from professional quality.

Another good thing about having a guitar is that there are plenty of people around who can play better than I can. It's nice to be able to say, hey check out my guitar. Before you know it they've played a bunch of songs and we've all had a good time.

-Sixbears

Hidden Skills

There are good things about having a few years under my belt. Over the years I've been able to acquire a few skills. Most of my skills might not rise to master level, but at least better than good enough. Good enough to do what needs doing.

As a homeowner it's nice to be able to solve most problems without calling in a professional. Those skills saved me a lot of money and aggravation over the years.

It's not just handyman skills either. Six or seven years ago I knew nothing about sailing. Now I know more than enough to get into trouble -everything from boat repair to navigation. (and how to abandon ship, but let's not dwell on that.)

There are some things that I plug away at with no real expectations of getting really good at it, like guitar playing and learning French. However, even though I'm not very good it's fun to learn and sometimes useful.

There are some things I don't normally bring up as they are beyond the scope of this blog. For example, I'm a pretty good chess player.

Back in my 20s and 30s I was heavily involved in some relatively esoteric pursuits. I even had a small business connected with that field. While I never completely left that world behind, I no longer follow every day to day developments.

Recently I was listening to podcasts relating to my old field of interest. They were terrible. The podcasters didn't know what they were talking about. Not only that, they were charging people for things they couldn't do very well at all. It almost made me want to dust off my old notes, get back up to speed and start a podcast of my own.

Almost.

There are only so many hours in the day and it's such a big and interesting world out there. A podcast, done right, is a huge time sink. Can't do everything. However, it did get me interested enough to dust off a few old skills and show the kids how it's done old school.

-Sixbears

The tools at hand

It's said that when your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails. Obviously it makes sense to have a lot of different tools in one's quiver. After all, we are a tool using species -not the only one, but the one with the most extensive tool kit.

People tend to use the tools and skill sets they have already have to solve problems. If you have a machine shop and the skills, a lot of your solutions will involve metal. A carpenter will try to solve problems using wood. A fiberglass man will build way too many things of fibers and resin. What's surprising is how many of those solutions actually work.

That's great, but sometimes it makes more sense to use a different material. Recently I was working on a tabernacle arrangement for my small sailing scow. A tabernacle is what holds a folding mast in place. Traditionally they are made out of wood.

My wooden design looks pretty clunky so I thought that by reinforcing it with fiberglass I could use less wood. Then it occurred to me that I've a nifty little welding machine and could actually make it out of steel. The steel would have to be treated to prevent rusting, but it would make a very strong arrangement and not very bulky at all. Right now I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to build it, but it's nice to have options.

I guess that's the point.

-Sixbears