Interest meme

[cactuswatcher]

from masqthephlsphr

Meme-age:

* Scan my interest list and pick out the one that seems the most odd to you.
* I'll explain it.
* Then you post this in your journal so other people can ask you about your interests.

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to ask you about the tenor banjo. ; )

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

What do you want to know about it?

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Why it's on your list. ; )

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I only ask because I could talk for days about anything on my interest list. I started playing the mandolin when I was in graduate school instead of writing my (fill in the blank) or studying for my (fill in the blank) test. Just one of those things that kept me sane, as I'm sure you understand.

Fast forward to 2004. I have a great urge to get a better mandolin. It's called MAS (Mandolin Acquisition Syndrome.) I go to the local huge music store and find one I like, and buy it. On the wall they also have a used tenor banjo (which is a little unusual to see these days). Over the years I've learned a little about them so, when I got home I looked up a few things more about them. Turns out they are tuned similarly to, but not exactly the same as, a mandolin. I go back to the store and ask to try it. The folks in the store don't even know how to tune the darn thing, but I'm still interested enough to buy it. I get it home put a new set of strings on it tune it up, and ... Good Lord! Not only can I play it right away, it sounds good! I learn more things like in Ireland, the celtic music, I like playing, is frequently played on tenor banjos. So I'm very happy with what was a somewhat risky purchase. ;o)

Incidentally, (for those who may not know) a tenor banjo is not the 5-string banjo most of you have heard played with country music. It's the 4-string instrument that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

That was a risky purchase. Glad it worked out. Was it expensive?

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

It was more than I should have spent on a whim, but a lot less than I'd spend on a new computer for instance.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Sometimes whims are good. They end up being what makes us the most having.

But that is a big "sometimes." ; )

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

My purchase of a mandolin back in grad school was relatively a bigger financial gamble. I couldn't play any musical instrument then, though I could read music. That was probably my best whim ever! I try not to think about the bad ones. ;o)