Fun at a party, anything casual. But I wouldn't pay money for it. It's just a bit of fun.

@ShiroKuro I'm glad for you that it went well. I was able to maintain my focus pretty well and the flubs I made were not disastrous. Kudos to you for maintaining focus. Class this spring has been challenging. I'm slowly working through why. Part of it is because there's only one other student in class. That's both a pro and a con. The pro being that we each get half an hour of class time. The con being lack of varied input. I'm also noticing, since I don't memorize, that reading through one of the pieces I'm working on is pretty much doable, but as soon as I start to incorporate some suggestions from the class, it gets harder. Sometimes, much harder. My focus moves from reading to the suggestions so I start missing notes, etc. It's kind of frustrating. But that's the process. Once it all gets incorporated, things smooth out a bit. Just something of a bumpy ride, I guess.

Love old coins.

Good for you. I love Walmart+. I couldn't live without it.

@bernard Wasn't it Citizens United (the irony and sarcasm can't be lost on many) that declared corporations are people and can give whatever they want to candidates? I could be conflating two SOTUS cases but I don't think so. I'm thinking of a case (the same?) when they ruled corporations have free speech. As far as AIPAC not being required to register as a foreign agent when it is a foreign agent, Lewis Carroll would have had a field day with it.

We have sink holes. I never heard of one taking anyone's house personally but it happens.

@bernard Speaking about the global trade in oil, as I said in a different thread, our gas at the pump rose from $3.50 to iirc $4.75 in the last two weeks. They'd better do away with pennies if I'm not going to be worried about pennies. Jeez.

When I was learning Bach's First Contrapunctus from the Art of Fugue, I listened to various recordings - and after I had it in my hands, I started playing the piece while listening to recordings. It was illuminating - and helpful. I learned how different artists phrased and accented the piece - and tempo variations that I didn't fully appreciate while listening to them perform the work. It was VERY helpful. My teacher who chaired the piano department at the American Conservatory liked for us to listen to performances and recordings of works we're working on. The best it can do is give on some ideas. As for "imitating" a master, that would require having their technique. On the other hand, one of my favorite pieces is Albeniz's "Evocation". I play it more luxuriously than any recording I've ever heard. Decades ago, I played it for a pro classical pianist - and she told me she loved what I did with it. Nice thing about not having to perform for a competition - is one can occasionally break the rules a bit. More recently, I learned "Standchen" by Schubert/Liszt. I fell in love with the way that Khatia Buniatshvili plays it. Still, I again have played along while listening to her through headphones - and gotten some ideas. No one will confuse my performance with hers - but I have stolen some of her ideas. work.

I do get Tangle but haven’t been reading it recently. I did read this - thanks for posting it.

I received a message from the Universe. It said, "You need to be silent now. The time for words has passed, and the time for action had arrived." Who am I to disagree? ; So, from today, I will occasionally send private messages. Be well, everyone!

@Big_Al I can't remember what I did exactly, but I read about it and got advice from people on PW. In the end it was super easy, and I didn't do anything special to protect the parts outside of the logo. It may be because this is a Yamaha, and the finish is probably as indestructible as you can get for a piano. ??

Well, what I read and listen to (stuff about real estate and about the economy in general) seems to all be pointing to a consensus that we're about to hit something like the 2008 situation but structurally different and even worse. I hope I can buy real estate soon because frankly it's so low here now I don't care if it goes lower. I was paying my rent today and Mr. Monopoly the owner was at the office. He was very friendly because he remembered meeting me when he got parked his car on the road and got out of it a few months ago, and I was likewise. It's all fun and games until the land you live on gets sold to private equity.

It's scheduled to pass through my area on July 11th. I'll certainly make an attempt to see it if the trackside crowds aren't too enormous. Big Al

Q: What do you call a lazy kangaroo? A: A pouch potato.

Oh, and I decided to be a team player, sign the papers, and move on with life. I also reconciled with my cousin and SIL this morning. It's not a perfect world. My father certainly never said any such thing. It's time for me to move forward.

Always been a big fan of his.