Zen Guitar Studio

Hola.

I found my roommate, and I'm super stoked. Her name is Kristen and she's alright with my weird musician lifestyle. She's a transferring Junior like me and she's majoring in psychology. She seems serious in her studies like I am, which is a major plus and it's even her first time moving out from her parents house too. I don't know what she'll think of me, but I'm hoping we get along well. I'm sure everything will be fine. She's an athlete, so maybe we can play sports together occasionally. I haven't played basketball in forever and I am in no mood to ever be competitive with anyone anymore so it might actually be fun. She'll probably kick my ass.

I finally posted my Fear of the Dark video. I'm stoked that it got such a positive response, 50 hits in the first couple hours of upload! I'm assuming that's just my youtube subscribers, so cool. I feel like I have my little piece of fame, even if it's silly. I'm hoping it can get me more clients in the long run, make some money with lessons to buy food and not cut too terribly into my savings.

Okay I have to promise myself here and now that I will allow myself to spend money in Ellensburg. I have too, it's going to be expensive to move out and this is why I've saved so much this summer.

Here's my freaking amazing logo. I don't really care if it looks like a massage parlor, it's mine and I love it. 

I guess my main sales pitch with the logo is that guitar can help you relax and center yourself. Jacob saw this and said it made me sound like a hippie, or something, I don't know. Katelynn said if she saw this logo she would expect the instructor would be Asian but my name is very clearly printed under the logo and Emily Wilson is definitely not an Asian name.

It's only 3:45 pm, Katelynn was over yesterday and we hung out and had a good time. I told her that these days are going to be the days that I miss living here. We walked through town and I realized how much I really do despise living here though. Though it's always been a safe place to live, I feel like I should get out in the world. It's funny to think that I'm going from a small town to a place that isn't by any means huge but I don't think I would want to live in a big city, either. 

Yup, things have been going really good. I've got 28 days until I get out of here and I can't believe how much this year has flown by. It was a pretty good year at CBC, definitely easier than my first year there. I really wore out my interest in Japanese culture and language. I will always have some connection with that subculture, but I'm so over it. 

I go through pretty drastic phases in my life that take over my spare time. I guess the guitar is my new phase, but I can't let it take over to the point that it interferes with my studies and what's important. The guitar is really important to me too, though, because it's going to make me some money if I'm able to get students to teach. 

Jacob recently hired his old bandmate to be an accountant. He he, with my business I'll be my own accountant and I won't have to pay anyone! But still, it makes me excited that Jacob now has an employee. I want his business to do very well after I'm gone, I hope that my videos can help him get students. I'm sure he appreciates that I'm taking the time to make the progress videos. 

My lesson yesterday went really well. We sort of B.S.'d about stuff that we don't normally talk about. I told him that he's been a huge benefit in my life because his lessons have helped me so much, and he responded, "How?" I didn't really know what to say. He continued, "Because you know Emily, when it comes down to it everything in life is about impressing others. It's depressing but true... Why are you learning this? Why do you put on makeup in the morning? It all boils down to this."

It's so true, though I don't know if it's necessarily depressing. Man is responsible for his or her own life. I feel like by learning a skill I am trying to portray my discipline as a human being. I don't know how much it is to impress people, but I suppose every musician has a number of reasons that they do what they do. 

All I know is right now, I have practiced a total of 351 hours since I started getting lessons. That's 14 days in four months. 

You hit your first milestone at 1,000, then at 5,000 something else will "click," then at 10,000 you have successfully mastered the guitar. I want to someday get 10,000, but it's a long road and I will just chunk away at it as I go. 

I need to find some songs to learn! My goal this week is to learn a few easy songs to better prepare me for giving lessons for wide ranges of music. I don't know what I'm going to learn though, ugh I need a random song chooser or something.

peace.