Should I Post?

What should I write about? My mother's puppy named Lucy, who torments me but who I am trying every day to love? About my new car that is not an SUV but that does have very sexy tires? Should I write about the fiasco that was procuring them? The boy I had to flirt with shamelessly to get those tires?

Should I write about how my mother broke her toe underneath a horse? Should I write about the vacation I took from riding when my hopes and dreams began to fall apart at the end of February? Should I write about how, when my vacation from riding horses turned into a hiatus, I decided not to return to riding?

Should I write about how I feel like I'm missing a leg without riding but at the same time I'm so very, very happy about my decision? Should I write about how, every time someone asks me if I've quit, I feel like screaming "Yes, I've quit, because my fucking horse is dead!" Maybe that would be overkill, but maybe it would get people to stop asking.

Maybe instead I should write about the little boy I used to work with, and how I fought and fought to be allowed to still visit him every week. Maybe I should write about how every now and then, when I'm on one of those visits I fought to get, he looks into my eyes and the entire world is cured of its ills because he smiles at me. That's all it takes.

I could write about work but it would bore you to tears, so I won't even go there.

Should I write about my beautiful guitar that hung on my wall for about four years never being touched? About how I quit touching that guitar due to a burst of stage fright I had one night, which was when I quit playing and singing?



Maybe I should talk about getting back on stage again. How my anxiety is more related to fixing my hair before a performance than the performance itself.



I could equally write about how I've begun to sing and write music again. I've been playing my guitar until the unfortunate souls I live with have begged me to please, please shut up so they could have a moment's peace. I could write about the vocal lessons I've signed up for and the record label my vocal coach has recommended me to. I could write about the band I auditioned to sing with last week and how they emailed me again for a call-back. (Or is it a callback?)

I honestly think about writing on this blog every single day. I've no idea how to start or where to start.

I figure that a good place to start would be a picture of me doing what has currently captured my soul.

Country Music is NOT THAT BAD....

I love country music. I will never stop loving country music. I think I spent over two consecutive hours today listening to country music, from Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson (And if anyone knows someone who is in prison this Mother's Day, be sure to tell them to have Mamma Tried played for their mother on the radio station) all the way to the newer country artists like Sugarland and Taylor Swift.

Teardrops on my Guitar: Really, I have to say that it is brilliant. And there have been many, many people who have caused me to leave teardrops on my guitar. Thankfully, they don't stain the finish. Baby Girl by Sugarland? "It's a long way from here/ To the place where the homefires burn/ Well its two thousand miles and one left turn" I dunno, the song just speaks to me. A friend drove out to The Ranch last week and she was amazed that you could get to my house with an hour and a half of driving and two turns.

New country doesn't really do it for me in the same way that old country does. I love most of the original Johnny Cash because of how plain and simple it is. Most of the new country has added so many musical interludes, doubling up on the voices, tons more backup, and a lot more extra ... stuff.

Country music is bashed all the time. I hear it in jokes, I hear it in the groans I get when I freely profess my undying love for Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, and Gary Allan. (If any of you fine men are reading, and you would like to marry a 22 year old Sociology graduate, please contact me ASAP. Thanks.) People actually groan.

But the thing is, the new country? Has pretty much no twang at all. There aren't too many stories about bird dogs, the farm going under, little Timmy losing his leg, and someone's wife cheating with his brother. I mean, those songs exist -- but not in today's mainstream country.

I think what really made me love country with all that I have to love country with was my Culture class last year. I never considered Rednecks a culture, I never thought that we could be considered our own people, with our own set of norms, traditions, unspoken rules, language types, and so forth. But the more I look at culture, the more I look at Redneck culture, the more I realize that wow, we really are a grou punto ourselves. We are worthy of recognition, we do have our own style of music, ways of life.

And if you listen to the lyrics of our style of music you'll find that it is not that much different than your average easy-listening station. Which is why the hardcores like me stick to Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Don Williams, original Johnny Cash, and of course, Hank Williams.

Toonses

[Country Music Rednecks]

This is me getting famous...

So, I've gotten the pics of open mic night from a kind soul who was dear enough to send them my way. Here is me and Gibby, on stage in all of our rockin' glory.

Here we have a very few of the people who came to see me on stage. Here are the girls. We have me at the bottom right, beside me we have Nora with the black curly hair. Then there is Maria and apparently I have met her before last Tuesday. On the opposite side of the table we have my party girl KIMMI who does nothing but... well, party.

This is a tough time for me to be blogging as I've now officially started packing and getting ready to leave the city MY GOD I AM LEAVING THE CITY AND I CAN'T WAIT.

Toonses