Oh my, I realised it's been a while since I touched on this series, but 5 months? Gosh... So much has happened in the meanwhile. Without getting into to much detail, life has taught me that out of all this, what really matters. And music is definitely right up there. I have the opportunity, for the 1st time in my life, to work from home (doing ghostwriting with @lex-zaiya).
I keep trying to get back into the corporate world but my experiences of shitty bosses are just getting worse and worse. I have to believe that there is a better way, that doesn't keep leading me to labour court. Sigh.
So, back to the music, I have some exciting plans and some creating and shuffling that's been buzzing around my head but that I've had to kind of put on the back burner as @zakludick and I have just navigated one massive WTF to the next through the whole of 2023.
Musiczone Song challenge Phase 2 (ENG/ESP) - "Girl Power Blues!" by @jasperdick (original) . I'm still going to finish it and change the lyrics/ melody a bit but I need to cut a whole bunch of syllables and inhibitions to make it as awesome as I want. I Need that Shania Twain energy that she had when she was like fuck the word and fuck what you think I am a goddess (if you haven't watched the Netflix series on her life, please do!). I think I'll keep the wig if we do a video soon though! such a rocking colour. Or I could just dye my hair blue again? I'm one of those work-from-home mommies now so I can do what I like :pMy father and my uncle both passed on, very close together a few months ago (half a year now, actually) and I've been writing, but I haven;t been able to finish anything. Jasper and I are working on a few new songs, incuding a freaking awesome upbeat one, which @jasperdick posted here
I am also expecting the delivery of a very special gift in the next week or so. A gorgeous ukulele, which is a gift from my uncle Barry who passed away recently. Purchasing this ukulele for me was one of the last things he did, and I am incredibly emotional and excited in anticipation of its arrival. I've never played one before, but I am already writing a song for it: in memory of my dad and my uncle. In a way, I get to keep them alive through music: which is just so special.
Guitarwise, Last year we were super lucky to Win the Tom's Heritage Square Busker's competition and the prize was this gorgeous Ibanez guitar. 
I've never won anything in my life and I was so overwhelmed that I didn't realize at the time that the guitar just isn't right for me. I have had it for exactly a year now and it's only been on stage once and hardly ever gets played. Not a scratch on it... It's still brand new. Sad actually.
It's a lovely guitar with great sound BUT after a year of aching hands, I've realized it's not for me.
I have played nylon string my whole life and it's a real battle for me to play neat chords on the steel string and to not sound awful. Makes it difficult to be creative if you're not enjoying what you're playing.
At our last Cottage Club gig, I tried out this gorgeous Cort nylon string (owned by Amanda Risi: Bill Knight's partner) and I'm dying to get my hands on one.
It's also plug-and-play (but nylon instead of steel) so we can use it on stage but it's not as cumbersome as the Ibanez and it's just the perfect fit for me.
So I guess now the hunt begins for something similar and I'll have to see whether or not I can facilitate a trade or if I'll have to sell my Ibanez privately 1st.
I know my guitar new is like R10k and the Cort is around R6k. Obviously, these are brand new prices, and 2nd hand stuff is priced differently, but considering my Ibanez is almost untouched, I'm sure I'll get a good price for it, and with the balance, I can look at the other things I need quite urgently for my growing home studio.
I need to invest in a condenser microphone (both for my work as well as song recording), a good pair of noise-canceling headphones, and a mic stand (for my ordinary microphone).
At least, I've managed to purchase one of these tripod selfie doohdaahs which will make filming at gigs as well as homemade videos you YouTube and Hive a breeze! I've been meaning to buy one for ages, so at least that's one thing off my growing list of toys I need to buy!
winkwink 😍😜I guess I'd better start recording videos so I can start saving like @zakludick with his Warhammer Hobby fund. Smart guy hey. That's why I love him