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My project is growing.

Cheri's coming back from Flin Flon in a couple of hours. For those unfamiliar with Manitoba geography, Flin Flin is way the hell north, on the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. It's a mining town, or was; the jazz band Cheri plays in was doing a performance and clinics there this weekend. It's a long way from Winnipeg - nine hours by bus.

While I miss Cheri, I got a lot done:

- Looked after Mo (he had some minor surgery this week to empty an aural hematoma, so he's cooped up in a head-cone). Took him for six walks in the last couple of days. He seems to have great fun shoving his cone into the ground, and then quickly lifting it up, producing a shower of leaves.
- Cleaned up the house
- Pulled the weeds, trimmed the irises, trimmed the peonies
- Cleaned the house
- Handed out candy
- Ate candy nom nom
- Practiced guitar, a lot. I've been working on the Scofield/Mayer arrangement of Ray Charles' "I don't need no doctor". I've got the main riff, and I think I've figured out all the jazzy chords. I'm sort of proud of myself: it's rare that I complete songs other than my own. Normally I lose interest really quickly. But this one's a lot of fun.
- Picking Cheri up at 12:30-1ish this morning. We're going to feel it when we get up at 6:00...

I wrote exam #1 this week, and passed. Lots of tricky questions, like the one about how to best minimize the tax impacts of a deferred preferred. But, it's done! Time to start studying for exam 2.

The broker I was talking to before the exam, who was writing one of the Wealth Management Essentials tests, was a bit puzzled as to why I was doing the course with no intention of actually becoming a broker/financial planner/mutual fund sales rep/etc. Apparently, I have a strange sense of "fun".

Plus, I'm pretty sure I'd have to get a haircut, and I'm growing it out again.

It's spring, or it must be, because I'm running and writing again. I bought new running shoes for the first time since I started running. I think that was in the summer of 2003, when I was about to start grad school. James could confirm. Anyway, long overdue, and they're much nicer than the ratty old pair I've been using.

So, writing again. My poems were rejected from Grain last year, and I think I know why. I was going over them last night, and found a typo ("mental" instead of "metal" - inexcusable). That's probably an automatic "No!" from an overworked editorial staff, and I can't say I blame them. But still, I looked over all the poems I submitted, and I still think they're strong -- one of them is easily the best I've ever written. I just need to find a place that agrees with me.

I've also been practicing guitar regularly. I'm playing music that's way beyond my level, and loving it. Right now, I'm working on the J.S. Bach lute prelude, BWV 999. It's a grade seven piece, and I just finished the grade two repertoire book, to give you an idea of my ability. But it's a wonderful piece, and I love playing through it. Week after week, I can feel it getting better.

I think that's about it.

Article. Sad, but probably necessary. Still, I remember playing in/near that as a kid.

The orchestra will disband in November. I think this is really, really sad. I own quite a few of the orchestra's recordings, and they've always gone out of their way to showcase Canadian composers and talents. Their recording of Colin McPhee's music, which I heard just before we started playing his Concerto for Wind Orchestra in my first year of university, is honestly one of the biggest musical influences I've ever had.

What do you want to bet they'll take the funds saved and fund another damned indie music program on Radio 3.

Canada's federal budget promises tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs).

This would basically give Canada an equivalent of the USA's Roth IRA, and the Roth IRA = win. Long and short: contributions aren't tax deductible, but they grow tax free.

Happy five years, Cheri.

To continue where I left off in late September:

In late October, I started taking classical guitar lessons with a teacher in St. Vital. I've had a lesson pretty much every week, and once I was broken of my bad habits (left hand position like a blues player, guitar tilted towards me instead of flat against me, etc), things started coming along. I'm still a rank beginner, but I'm practicing every day, and I can tell month-to-month how I've been improving. My goal is Asturias in five years. Right now, I'm playing Royal Conservatory grade two repertoire.

I submitted five poems to Grain in mid-October, and kept writing. I got my rejection letter today, a complete form letter (not even really a letter per se, more of a strip of paper, perhaps to keep their costs down). With those rejected poems freed up, I've now got enough good poems for two submissions packages next time. Still, it's disheartening. I really, really wanted Grain to be my first publication. However, I still feel I'm writing at a level that could be published, and I'm not going to give up. I'm writing most days, and thinking about how the poems I've written as a whole since high school might one day shape into a manuscript. One thing's for certain, though: doing this in isolation is difficult. I think I need to join some kind of writing group, or at least meet some writers here in Winnipeg.

Back to practicing. Giuliani studies beckon.

I bought a classical guitar a couple of weeks ago. It's a Yamaha, solid spruce top, and plays beautifully. I wanted to get a solid top/back/sides guitar, but really couldn't justify the price tag when I'm still a rank beginner. But anyway, I love the guitar I bought, and today I figured out the guitar solo from "Gimme Shelter": it's all just a blues scale. I'm sure this is terrifically obvious to everyone else, but I'm awful at learning things by ear, so learning this made me happy. And playing this guitar makes me happy, unlike my piece of crap electric, which is impossible to keep in tune and is downright difficult to play next to the classical.

I'm also playing through some classical pieces from my mother's conservatory book. All grade one pieces, but I enjoy them, and they're pretty. Sanz, Sor, etc., all the famous Spaniards' simple etudes. I can see why she took up guitar in the first place. The variety of tones you can coax from it's really amazing. I'm also in love with the fact that I don't have to use a pick. Part of the problem with learning right-handed guitar as a lefty is that all the fretwork feels natural, but the picking is awkward. When you use fingers instead of a pick, it feels much more natural, and you can play all sorts of things that you just couldn't with a pick.

My usual writing update: still writing. Got lots of pieces in progress, and we'll see about another fall submission. This year, it'll be to Grain instead of Prairie Fire. Not that it'll make a difference in terms of the outcome, but I figure a little variety isn't bad. I just need to kill my inner perfectionist and submit what I have now, instead of endlessly tweaking and barely improving.