Amazing Drum Lesson, Odyssey Movie, and Small Moldy Jam Session

 

Yesterday was so, so hot. The church where Travalon and I go to Mass was having a festival, but we couldn't bring ourselves to check it out for even a few minutes after Mass; instead, we went home and sat in air conditioning. I felt like a slug and was kind of down, but on the way to my drum lesson we stopped by the mini rail yard off Fair Oaks, and we saw some graffiti.

The lesson was going to be taught by a woman from Brazil who runs an all-woman samba group. We students got there, but the "real" drummers had a lesson before us, and it was running late, so we had time to chat. One of my fellow students knows a lot about graffiti and even told me where to get supplies. I'm not planning to paint any train cars anytime soon, except maybe model train cars. Then we had the lesson, and the woman teaching it barely said a word, maybe because she doesn't speak much English. We started an infectious groove, and then she would come over and show us how she wanted us to change it up. We drummed for a solid hour, and at first I thought, "I can't do this!" but then the endorphins must have kicked in, and I was flying high. My FitBit said I did "sport" for almost an hour. Oh yeah, both before and after the lesson, I said, "Obrigada" to her, which is Portuguese for "thanks," and both times she gave me a big hug.

After getting cleaned up, I met Famie and the red-headed flute player at a Thai restaurant for dinner. We almost had to leave before getting our food, but they brought it out with enough time for us to eat for ten minutes, since the movie had so many previews. (I brought half my curry squash with tofu home, and even though it sat in the hot car for three hours, I had it for lunch today and feel fine.) Then we went to see The Odyssey. It is a very long movie with a lot of violence, but the story is much deeper than what I remembered from reading it in high school. At that time I thought Odysseus was very clever and resourceful, but now I realize he was a jerk who got himself into situations and then destroyed other people's peace to get himself out of them. For example, I felt VERY sorry for the cyclops, who was just minding his own business, making cheese. At the end of the movie, Odysseus surveys the carnage and realizes how many lives he has destroyed by being so stupid, so at least he had an epiphany. Don't even get me started on Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter to the gods for success in battle and then was shocked that his wife killed him when he got home. And I'm not sure why the haters were complaining about a black woman playing Helen of Troy, since she is gorgeous, or a trans man playing a youthful guard who was sacrificed by Odysseus. Most of the actors seemed perfect for their parts. I liked how Agamemnon looked kind of like Darth Vader, but then when he talked, he sounded like a loser, because he was a loser. Who sacrifices his own daughter? They didn't show this in the movie, but he also brought another woman home with him, so can you really blame his wife for killing him?

Today was still very hot, so I only went for a walk in the morning and then stayed inside until going to a small Moldy Jam group at the house of the guy who had his ukulele in the pouch of his guitar case that one time. It was going to be a small group, and there was a woman who was coming, then she wasn't, then she was. There are two women who have similar names, and I thought this was the woman who is a lot, if you know what I mean, but it was a different woman who is much pleasanter. The host had a washtub bass that he had lent to someone two years ago and then couldn't remember who he lent it to, and then two days ago it appeared on his front lawn. He played it on a song, then the really good mandolinist who had the terrible saw accident with his fingers a while back (but is recovered now) played it, and then the other woman played it. Only the guy playing guitar and I didn't try it. I brought both Mandy and the violin but only played fiddle, but it's okay because Mandy will gets lots of love at Choro tomorrow night. The host played guitar, ukulele, and concertina accordion, and the other woman brought a guitar and a fiddle but mostly played different sizes of recorders. Then she told a story and I realized she was Katzooks's sister! I haven't seen Katzooks in ages, and it's been decades since I had seen her sister, until I'd seen her recently at small Moldy Jam groups. Isn't that crazy? What a small world it is!

Tonight Travalon watched videos of British steam locomotives (one was called Capricorn, and another looked like a double-decker locomotive), but yesterday while I was hanging out with the ladies, he went to Mazomanie and took more photos of train art.

I think he has some more photos on his good camera so that's something to look forward to tomorrow.

Famous Hat