Wait a Minuet

I think everyone should do something that's hard. Sometimes just living is hard enough, I get that, but working on something that you can only do poorly is good for you. You're on the steep part of the learning curve, the part where you gain the most from your effort. It also puts other parts of your life in perspective. I may not be a great cook, but I'm not bad at it. I'm bad at the violin. Perspective.
Six months ago my violin came from Sharon Dee Strings. I was very excited. I tuned it, and could play for about 5 minutes before my hands were sore. Well, play is a pretty generous word. It made noise. Last night I made a video of myself playing. Poorly. I'd love to say that it was the pressure of the video that made me suck, but that's not really true. It's probably a pretty good representation of a run through of Bach's Minute No. 1. That's really the song I played. Sorry Bach. The sound is a little more off than usual though because I'm playing with a mute on. The kids were in bed and violins are pretty loud.
I bought a violin because I'd wanted one for a very long time. I didn't play an instrument as a kid. Well, I did dink around on the guitar for a few months as an early teen but I just couldn't get it. Not practicing didn't help much. Resources back in the 80's were pretty scarce. I had my mom's old guitar, a song book, and a one hour group lesson a week where I was too shy to say anything. The internet has really changed self teaching of an instrument. Go do a youtube search for guitar lesson. It's amazing what's out there. You can learn just about anything from the safety of your own living room, including the violin.
I decided that I couldn't go back in time to relearn anything as a kid, so I might as well hop to it and try as an adult. I ordered a violin, a tuner, a few books, found a bunch of you tube videos, and set to work. I've played every single day since that first day. Some days have been as long at two hours, but lately it's been about half an hour a day. I should really take lessons, I'm sure that would help me get better, but why? I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. I love playing, even though I'm bad. I love making music. I really love taking a new page of music and sorting out the dots and turning paper into music. It's like audible soduku for me. Every song is a puzzle, a challenge that I get to sort out. I've learned so much about reading music and the structure of music and I've tried to read quite a lot about music theory. I play classical, Irish fiddle, American fiddle and gypsy music. I've also messed around with guitar, ukulele, a couple of fifes and the xaphoon, but I always play my violin. 
When I was a teen I picked up a guitar and though of being famous. When it didn't come easy, I figured out I wasn't going to be famous, and I put it down. Now that I'm old, and not so worried about fame, I can just have fun. That's what I'm doing, having a lot of fun.

Books I've finished this week. Nothing. I'm so close to finishing a great book about genes and psychology and the human traits that are wired into us. It's fascinating, but I'll wait until I've actually finished it.
In the mean time, if you want to read a book that will make you think about your parenting, try The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris. It should go on your shelf next to any parenting books you have.