| Feb. 3rd, 2010 @ 11:26 am Stuff with a side of more stuff |
|---|
So last week ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gracie_musica and I went to my bass teacher's gig on Thursday. I had a great time, and she said she did, too. It was the first time for me to see him perform since the gig of his I went to over a year and a half ago when I had just become his student. (It wasn't even 3 full weeks after I started lessons with him.) This particular show was with him and a singer/guitarist. They guys would do a few songs at a time together, both individually alone, in a rotating cycle until over 2 hours of music had passed.
A year and a half sure shows lots of change, but maybe not the kind that would be most expected. I always liked how he played, but I can tell my development as a musician. I know what he's doing now, whereas I didn't really know back then. I certainly didn't anticipate the mark of my bass playing progress was that I get it, but I do. Maybe not all musicians, but since he's my teacher, I get him. I recognize his techniques when he's using them.
There was also a nice personal element to things. When I walked in the place, which was very small, he saw me and came over to give me a hug. His fiancee who was sitting down came over to hug me, too, and invited that I sit with her. As I was waiting for Gracie, that didn't happen, but they still both made me feel very welcome. When the show was over, I got another hug from my teacher (both of these at his instigation), and even some more thanks when I had my lesson on Saturday.
He's pretty, so I'm not going to complain about getting hugs from a pretty, if engaged, man. But I like that it showed personal comfort with me. I contrast that with the one-armed hug I tried to give him after I left my first gig of his. That one was horribly awkward, but this time it wasn't. Yay, good stuff!
On Saturday, I saw Gracie again (because what's life without a little Gracie in it?), and later she and I and our mutual friend Jessica went to the Olive Garden. It was my first time to go there, and I had wanted to try it for a while. As we were telling Jessie about things, Gracie commented on my randomly singing at the show. I was not! I pointed out that someone behind us had requested "Free Bird" as a joke, and I started singing that. So I sang it again at the table, and one lady at the bar clapped for me. It was really cute.
What is it about Olive Garden, by the way? I didn't realize this until I was outside waiting for my friends. The name of the restaurant is OLIVE Garden, but the company's logo thing involves a bunch of grapes! Grapes. Not olives, even though the name of the place is Olive Garden. If you want a picture of grapes, call yourself The Vineyard or something.
And now to taxes. Don't groan. This part is good. I was working through mine last night, and I saw that I qualify for Making Work Pay tax credit. Gracie give me the tip on that one, and she was right. (Not that SHE had any doubt on that, mind you.)
I also found out, and this makes it even better, that I can use the interest from the car I bought in October to adjust my standard deduction. That's freaking amazing! I've been starting to get into some money stress exactly because I had bought a car, and this helps me so much. I'm looking forward to a nice return from both Federal and State that will give me a nice chunk of change to help give my account some breathing room again. |
