Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Aloha

I thought I had updated this since Tuesday, but I guess not. I'M STILL ALIVE. I can eat now, too. So my old-person, proton-pump inhibitor drugs seem to be doing their job. Unfortunately, the drugs don't treat hypochondria, and I read that unexplained stomach pain/ulcers can sometimes be a sign of ovarian cancer, and I'm an Ashkenazi Jew, so...

I'm sure my doctor loves getting my semi-hysterical emails.

In other news, October is not starting well in general. That is not fair. October is for walking through crisp, dry leaves and drinking cider and eating all the Halloween candy too early. Instead, so far, we have mass murder, and the death of a beloved rock star, and the still-looming threat of nuclear war. It just doesn't seem right.

Also, apples - October is for cooking with apples.


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A couple of weeks ago, I tried to convince Susie to take group guitar lessons with other kids her age. She insisted that she HATED guitar. To my knowledge, she has never even touched one. But she was adamant. "I'd like to play ukulele, though," she said.

??????

"Lots of my friends have one," she added, when she saw the confusion on my face. Okay, then, I guess it's a thing. The guy at the music store confirmed my suspicions. "Oh, yeah, it's gotten really popular. Come Christmas, this whole wall will be covered with them," he said.

I hate it when I'm the last to know about a trend. Did any of you know that ukuleles are the musical instrument du jour?

So now Susie has a ukulele. She took a free lesson, but she didn't like it. "Too confusing," she said. So instead Susie is learning to play this thing from some old guy in Seattle via YouTube. That arrangement is saving me a heck of a lot of money, so I try not to worry that he's some wacko luring young ukulele players to their doom.

They just...appeared.
Wacko or not, he's apparently good at teaching. Susie can already play Rainbow Connection, Cecilia, and some other songs. But what's freaking me out is that, a few mornings ago, 2 plastic leis mysteriously appeared on the kitchen table. "Did you put those there?" I asked Larry.

"No," he said. "Where did they come from?"

So I asked each of the kids. NO ONE knows how they got there. I can only assume that the ukulele playing attracted them. As time goes on, grass skirts will appear in my closet. Pineapples will show up in the fridge.

It's weird how many Hawaiian stereotypes I have stuck in my brain, actually. I blame the ukulele.















15 comments:

  1. My son got one for Christmas (a ukulele, not a plastic lei). Can you post a link for the YouTube guy??????

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  2. I like that you can eat again and that you have TWO Seattle references in this post. I don't like the scary stats on cancer. Back when I was Susie's age, prior to the dawn of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, I taught myself to play the ukulele. It hurt my fingers a lot less than playing the guitar, so there's that.
    This week has been hurting my heart.

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    1. Okay, I give up. I only see one Seattle reference. What's the other one?

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    2. The link was from Fred Hutchinson -- a Seattle hospital/research center.

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  3. Oh yeah. My oldest daughter and her friends have been making the rounds on the ukulele the last couple of years. I'm glad the proton pump thimg is working for you! Too many tragedies. I have so many people to worry about now it feels like the whole world is on fire.

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  4. I'm glad your stomach is getting better.

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  5. My 13-year-old daughter has TWO ukuleles! She also taught herself how to play by watching some YouTube videos. It really is a thing!

    Glad you are feeling better!

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  6. My granddaughter plays a ukulele! And I'm glad you are feeling so much better!

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  7. My daughter has one here that she needs to send to a boyfriend she just broke up with. Guess that's kind of relevant lol

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  8. Becky and one of the other girls were playing their ukeleles and singing around the camp fire! I bet that is where Susie got inspired! And it turns out that two other girls from the troop just got ukes too! Becky says they can form a ukelele band!

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  9. Ukelele, really? Sounds like fun, especially if a trip to Hawaii is in the mix. :)

    Glad you're feeling some better.

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  10. I'm so glad to hear you are able to eat now.

    Our high school has a Ukelele Club. So, yeah, it's a thing among the youth. BUT my husband has a ukelele. This is a sure sign that the ukelele trend is on the way out.

    I like when he plays the ukelele. He has a book of Jewish Songs for the Ukelele. Who knew such a thing would exist?

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  11. Okay, this keeps eating my comments, so if there are duplicates, please delete!

    But anyway, I wanted to mention that if you got an abdominal CAT scan, they should notice any tumors within the area they scanned (which probably went low enough to notice ovarian cancer? unless it was strictly upper abdomen?). I hope this is reassuring!

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