I had my first drum class today, at which I shared my reason for taking the class: "I'm staring a band, so I have to learn to play an instrument. This is the one I want to learn." It was physically strenuous, and taxing on my abilities to relax and, at times, distinguish left from right, but on the whole thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening.

First we said some things in Japanese. Then we followed Kaoru around a circle for a while, doing various things with our arms and legs. We brought our arms up and down, and then had them hand heavy and swing from left to right in timing with our steps. When we joined this with a third step for which we had to bend backward and touch a hand to the opposite foot -- well, this will take practice. We kicked our knees up and our feet back and jogged and took a water break. I was really glad I didn't go to yoga that morning and chose to sleep in instead.

After our water break, we partnered up and had to test the extent to which the other person relaxed their arms. This is accomplished by moving the arm around, back and forth, and dropping it. The people being tested are supposed to relax their arms, though they will often help or resist their tester. My arms did both. At one point, the tester dropped my arm and it stayed in place, and Kaoru came over to try to show me how a relaxed arm is supposed to move/make fun of me.

Then we learned how to bring our arms up and bring the sticks down. The idea is that your torso does the moving and your arms follow the inertia of the rest of your body, conveying more force to the swings down (rather than using your arm to hit the drum). When this idea was applied to actually hitting the drum with the sticks (bachi), my arms became very involved and are now very sore.

*****

I asked a friend who played taiko if he thought that they could be incorporated into an indie rock band. He thinks so. He also won an award for singing karaoke in Japan (in Japanese) and I recruited him to sing some vocals in Japanese. I think Boobie Circus will be big in Japan.

*****

It has been brought to my attention that there are also blue-footed boobies. Having a circus of red and blue-footed boobies (the bird itself is white) conjures patriotic images. Something to think about.

*****

How are your guitar lessons going? I hope you have been practicing!

My Jivamukti yoga class yesterday involved chanting in Sanskrit about Krishna. I think we should have a song about Krishna, and find someone who can sing in Sanskrit for the chorus. I don't know what the song should be about because I don't actually know what I was chanting.

I listened to Sumo and I like "Mejor No Hablas de Ciertas." "Heroina" and Wolf Parade's "Modern World" serve as a good Point/Counterpoint: "I'm in love with this modern world" and "I'm not in love with the modern world," respectively.

My grandma has Worishofer sandals. She is officially a sexy grandma.