Life on hold

The hobbies and things I love the most: writing, exercising, playing bass, and reading have all been on hold the last few weeks. Why? Because the Detroit Red Wings are in the playoffs. They're sucking up a lot of my free time. I love it but I feel disconnected from my routines.

The problem isn't just that there are games to watch, but that the damned games (3 of them) have started after 10:00 p.m. Craziness. I've stayed up until 2:00 a.m. or later 3 times in the last week or so. It just throws off everything.

I write about sports a fair amount on this blog, but I'm actually not a huge sports fan, at least not compared to a lot of guys these days. There are men that do nothing but watch sports every night of the week. I try to keep time for my family, Church and hobbies and keep sports watching to a minimum. But when the Red Wings are in the playoffs or MSU's in March Madness, I have to watch. I just can't pull myself away from the games. I make all the sacrifices I can to see every play.

The Red Wings are playing game 7 of the Western Conference semi-finals tonight and the winner moves onto the conference finals. Tonight's game is huge. I just have to see it, no matter how rusty I'm getting on bass or how little sleep I will get. And I won't regret it at all.

The newest addition to our family

No, we didn't have a baby. The likelihood of that is pretty low. But I did get a new baby, in a manner of speaking.

I've been really wanting to learn to play bass guitar. I didn't want to have to buy a cheap electric bass and then have to buy an amp and all sorts of gear. Since I'll be playing around the house, I figured I'd try to learn on an acoustic. The local music store, Blue Fish Music in Plymouth, had exactly what I was looking for: an inexpensive, decent sounding, easy-to-play acoustic/electric. It's a Dean EABC.

It doesn't have the knock out sound of a true electric bass, but I figure I can move up to something more powerful after I get comfortable with the instrument. I only paid $150 (out the door) so if I lose interest down the road, I won't have lost a lot of money.

So far I'm loving it. My fingers are aching from "playing" for hours last night and again a bit this morning.

Without a doubt, besides reading and writing, I've needed another creative source/outlet and I think the bass will be that. I tried getting back into guitar, but I just don't have the passion and patience to re-teach myself.