Nothing much happened today, so theoretically, I should just say goodnight to the diary junkies and call it a day.

But that would be a waste of space – I own it, and I can use it.

Reminds me of a funny story my parents told me – on a sightseeing bus during a holiday in Switzerland, my mom was reading a book, when my father poked her in the ribs and said “Look out of the window! We paid for it!”

I decided not to go to office today – combination of a Monday Mo(u)rning and an upcoming cold. Stayed at home and caught up with some reading, writing and playing music.

Carpenter came in as promised, took measurements of the quadrant in the basement garage that will become my den. Turns out that he does vinyl flooring as well, so looks like a package deal. Estimates tomorrow.

My daughter Anjali cribbed that I never mention our cat Honey in the diary. Well, I believe I did recently, and for good measure, I did so again

Honey is technically older than Judo, and came into the house first. Judo came later. They started off the same size, but now Judo is a wee bit bigger than her (like 10 times? . However, despite the fact that they are supposed to be mortal enemies, they get on fine with each other. You haven’t lived until you have seen Honey chase her “sibling” through the garden. Or until you have seen a cat who prefers dog-food.

IAC, it appears that Honey is in the mommy way. If anyone is looking for a kitten for the home, book now!

Spent the evening experimenting with mixer settings and extreme reverb/echo. Got all my guitars tuned to the same key. Spent a lot of time with the Paloma, and not just for sentimental reasons. Replaced the strings on my Cosmiq Active Acoustic. I was right – plain metal G strings on acoustics are evil.

Had a couple of emails asking about my guitars. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here you go. The three missing ones are back in Belgaum. Some day, I must go and retrieve the stuff. Lots of gear there.

Had an email asking me how good I am at playing the guitar.

The honest answer is – not very. While I can manage a riff or too, and used to play reasonably competent bass, I basically play rhythm (and fairly well, at that) to accompany my singing. I enjoy singing, and the guitar was an easy instrument to learn, so I did. In college, I played for a semi-professional band called “Agni” (no relation to various groups bearing that name today), but that is no certification of quality. While we were good, it was by the standards of the day. If you compare us to what guys like Mrinal and his friends can do today, we were beginners, and still are.

Which doesn’t bother me in the least. We played largely because we enjoyed doing so, and because the people who watched us enjoyed listening to us. And I suspect that the current generation of rockers is in a similar situation.

Anyway, music is my primary hobby. I enjoy playing and singing alone, for an audience, or just with a couple of friends. Which explains the jam sessions with Mrinal every now and then.

However….

A couple of days ago, I was discussing with an old friend and college-band mate – Abhijeet Rane. (I still refer to him that way, even though he is now married to my wife’s younger sister, Keerti. It is basically to remind our wives that Abhi and I were friends first – they came later.

In the course of the discussion, we decided that we were rather unique.

Millions of people watch movies (especially Hindi movies) where the hero stands on stage singing songs to his love interest, and walks off into the sunset with her, hand in hand. And millions of guys probably fantasized about doing the same thing, but never did.

Well – Abhi and I did.

We may not have been the best act in town, but try beating that.