About 3 days before I moved back up to Ohio, I totalled my car. It sucked. Badly. And what sucks worse is that I had no cash sitting around to buy a new one. And I've got too much debt already, I don't need to be taking out another loan. So I've been car-less since I moved from Florida.

That was in NOVEMBER. Now, I've had a vehicle to drive. Just not my OWN vehicle to drive. I've been rolling around in a Suburban belonging to my stepdad with 263,000 miles on it for a few months now. And since I've only been working 2 days a week, getting that cash together for a new ride of my own has been a slow process. But I'm there now. I have all the money I plan on spending.

All week long, it's been Craigslist, then Autotrader.com, then driving around to some dealerships, then more Craigslist, etc. I've come across a few possibilities, and I feel like I've driven more different cars this week than the rest of my life combined. So far, I've got nothing. Well, I do have another appointment Sunday AM to look at a Talon TSi, which, I'm really hoping is in good enough condition that I'll try and make this guy an offer.

I hope this one works out. I'm so so so done with bumming rides.

Well as you know, I've been spending a lot of time trying to better my guitar playing. This means solos. And lot's of 'em. Really I've been able to hold my own playing rhythm for quite some time now, and frankly, I'm starting to get bored with it. But all this lead work is a whole new beast. I'm working with a lot of Metallica songs currently, and for a few reasons:

1. Kirk Hammett is the man. And his solos are totally bad-ass.
2. I'm already super familiar with their guitar style; I'm already an expert on their whole rhythm catalog.
3. Playing the solos at regular speed can't be any tougher than playing the rhythms at 120%.

I'm now comfortable playing through Fade to Black, Orion, and The Unforgiven. But I'm not perfect on any of them yet. So, periodically, when I feel I've made some vast improvement on one, I'll probably put up a new video. We'll see though, once I start to get more songs down pat, It'll be an awful lot of videos.
The goal for now is to be able to play those 3, plus 3 more by this time next month. I know, I know, that sounds like a long time, for someone who sits home and plays so many hours a day. But that's a lot of notes to learn. Three whole solos? And to get these 3 down perfect? I think a month may actually be optimistic.

So I was reading an article about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and I got an idea. I think his $10,000 goal might be a bit high, but I think I'm going to give it a shot. $0 to $5,000. Should take a *while* to get started, hell, it's tough just getting entry into the freerolls. they fill up so quickly it's ridiculous. then I've got to win a few of em. Then play some *really* low limits to build up even a small bankroll. This is going to take a *long* time. But, I think I can do it. wish me luck.