Reading: Amber Chronicles by R. Zelazny
Music: Pendragon's "Artistic License"
TV/Movie: Third Rock From the Sun
Link o' the Day: Patrick's Pub's official website

Tuesday night was session night.

'twas a pretty good night. I brought both the mandolin and the octave mandolin with me last night and gave them both a decent workout. The evening started off with only a small group which was fine with me as it was easier to get tunes going that I knew better. I got to play four or five tunes in the first half hour.

More musicians arrived steadily over the next hour and the seating got awful crowded. The music was good, tho. I've been enjoying this one tune in particular called "The Banshee" and find that it goes well with another tune I'm currently learning called "The Hunter's Purse." I've been waiting for a chance to try out a couple of hornpipes I learned recently, but it's not a big hornpipe kind of crowd. It's tough enough to get polkas on the floor. I'm not overly concerned though. One thing I've learned over the past few months is that a.) tunes have a tendency to come around in their own time, and b.) if I really want to play a tune, I could always just start it or ask the session leader to start it. Plenty of time, and plenty more tunes to learn. I'm having a blast with it.

I really lucked out with this group. There's a good mix of players from all skill levels, and the session leader and other veteran ITM players are very encouraging.

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Going to be getting heavy into freelance tonight--mostly the Bulletin and the OTR encyclopedia. I'm going to see if I can sneak in half an hour's writing time--just enough time to jot down some further ideas and keep momentum moving forward.

And of course there's some mando practice.

Tomorrow is Pretty Maggie's birthday. She turns...well, I suppose it's not my place to reveal a lady's age. Suffice to say she's 10-11 years younger than me depending on which end of the birthday you're looking at. We'll have to see how she likes this year's birthday offerings. I'll admit that I'm not always the best gift buyer in the world. Still, I think she'll be happy. this is a pretty special year for her with the whole going back to school thing. I'm pretty proud of her.

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Today's link goes to Patrick's Pub's official website. This is where the Tuesday night sessions are held. Towards the bottom of the page (center right) is an animated GIF that cycles through three photos of the session players. If you squint, you can make me out in two of them. Look for the chap in the blue shirt, black pants, beard, and long ponytail, playing a mandolin.