I’m Happy Just to Dance With You

How about a “Music Monday” post? Here’s one of my favorite Beatles songs “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You”. I love this song because George is on vocals while John and Paul sing backing. I really like the rhythm guitar too. This particular version (the music part) is a rare live recording.

Here’s the regular album version, higher quality.

Back to Normal Distance

Today I ran my normal route, which is about 5 miles. Although my knee is still sore, it feels good to be back to a regular routine. I think if I am careful to not twist my knee (in other words, just run straight) then I won’t re-injure myself. Now that I am putting on miles again, my appetite has grown again.

Which is a good thing.

Now I can eat and drink without fear!

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Noodling Around on the Guitar

This past “bachelor summer” I bought an inexpensive classical guitar for myself to play. I haven’t really played guitar before (I’ve played keyboard and bass a bit), but Koa has taken a year of lessons and it looked so fun and sounded great. I thought I could have some fun noodling around on the guitar too. And yes, after watching a bunch of YouTube videos and practicing a bit, I could actually play some chords that don’t sound half bad!

I realize that with my current level of commitment I won’t ever excel at guitar, but even at my beginner/hobbyist level there is a lot of value for me in playing my ~5 chords. Look out, here comes a list!

Playing my guitar:

  • exercises a new part of my brain
  • improves hand-eye coordination
  • stretches out the fingers
  • is relaxing!

I also like to goof around on my bass guitar which is also fun. The problem is that I need to plug into an amp, and I don’t have a proper bass amp anymore. It just doesn’t sound right going through a tiny practice amp.

But what is neat about playing both guitar and bass is that you can sort of piece things together between the two instruments, and when things click and make sense, it’s a nice thing. It’s kind of obvious since they are essentially the same instrument, but it is still really satisfying to make the connection.

Satisfying enough to bring a huge smile to my face.

Classical Guitar
Classical Guitar

Rainy Run

Just returned from a 4.4 mile run. There is a huge storm coming tomorrow so I wanted to get a run in this evening. When I left the house it was barely drizzling but after about 5 minutes, I was running in the rain. I splashed through a few puddles and got my feet soaked. I thought it would suck.

But it was so fun!

I felt like a kid playing in the rain.

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Running Machine

One common thought that enters my mind as I am running my daily route is a kind of fun way to think of how my mind and body are related. In Haruki Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Vintage International), he compared the human body to a beast of burden, in that if you stress your muscles, they will complain at first but then eventually comply to the extra effort. I have for a long time thought of my body as some kind of machine or robot, sort of like one of those Japanese giant robots, where my brain is the pilot of this running machine, and I have to keep watch on the functions of the different parts of the machine.

The pilot keeps tabs on the status of my knees, ankles, leg muscles in general, breathing, and hydration level. For the most part, I let my body run on auto-pilot, never needing to actually adjust my speed (except when crossing intersections), and just monitor the statuses. My breathing also never really changes except when I go on a long uphill. It’s actually fun to notice that my body requires more oxygen, and imagine the “pilot” order the body to inhale and exhale with more force and more speed. Then at the top of the hill, the body goes into a “recovery mode” and the heart and breathing rate drop back down to normal.

Since I have been nursing a sore knee the past month or so, the pilot’s control center is a little more lively in that his status displays show some damage to the right knee. I am visualizing a picture of my body as if it were viewed by a heat-sensitive night-vision-goggle type of thing or MRI. When my knee hurts, that part of the scan is glowing red. And sometimes my shoulder would get a little sore before it loosens up, and I’d imagine the pilot in my brain having to monitor that part of the machine as well.

It’s really bizarre what goes through my mind sometimes! But I think it’s actually kind of fun too, and just another aspect of running that makes it so enjoyable to me. I never know where my thoughts are going to take me, but I always end my run feeling way better than at the beginning.