General Updates! Which Are Exciting! Because Reasons!

Hey, I forgot that I didn't have a post scheduled for Friday, because I'm a responsible adult who keeps track of things. Heh.

Here are your weekly updates from the world of Laura.

The ukulele is just as easy to learn as the internet says it is. Also it is fun. Also my fingertips are swollen, red, and slightly numb.

It is possible that The Brother and I have found a gym we can join that is moderately affordable (if we share the cost and do a family membership with Dad.) I've had to take some time off due to the cold and due to my lungs shriveling up with exposure to cold air, causing near-death. I have very wisely filled this free time by eating to combat boredom. The Brother has been working out with Dad, and when I got a bit of extra free time, I joined them. I like this gym. It is a good gym. This is especially fortuitous because I took one look at this picture and decided I needed more exercise, even though the problem is mostly caused by me deciding to sit in an incredibly unflattering way on the edge of a chair. Since this is how I nearly-always sit, fitness must happen.

Since this picture was taken, I went back to said gym and did a 5K on the elliptical machine and a 10K on the stationary bicycle. Also I listened to a beautiful hour of The Dream Thieves on audiobook, which I highly recommend.

I have found a blogger I enjoy very much, and you should read her stuff. Her name is Kate Brannen, and she is hilarious. 

You should all read Gloria O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King; it is brilliant (just like A.S. King is).

Ukulele Update

Hey, remember that one time I made a humiliating video of myself fake-playing a cardboard ukulele (labeled "beige flats") for a crowd of stuffed animals at the library?

Well, it paid off, because the library has a shiny new ukulele to use for children's programming! Sometimes being a hopeless case gets your library free stuff. Sometimes. Other times it just gets you 300 magazines to the face when the bookend that was wedging them in place slips.

I've resolved to create a practice schedule, and I found a YouTuber who does ukulele lessons. He comes highly recommended. I'm ready for finger-calluses and to make all who overhear my practices cringe and flee in horror. I am going to learn the ukulele. I am READY.

To top that all off, I know a real live person who plays--she can help me--and Jennifer can help! Jennifer can do anything musical. She has skills. Basically, Jen is Julie Andrews without the habit and the children wearing clothes made of curtains.

The only way I could be happier about this situation would be if the ukulele came with a box of DeBrand's Chocolates.

Happy Ukulele Day, everybody! With any luck, someday I'll be this good.

Sometimes Work Is Fake-Playing a Cardboard Ukulele

Yes, I strummed a cardboard ukulele. It is all because I applied for a mini grant that could win the library a ukulele for children's programming. Not only did I rock out with a cardboard uke, I did it on camera and then put the video on the internet, summing up in one 30 second video both 1. why I am fun to hang out with (I think) and 2. why I am still single.

Sometimes, to get the kids at your library cool stuff, you have to be an idiot.

I hope you enjoy my fake-ukulele-playing face. It says, "please laugh at me" and also "please don't laugh at me." The rest of the application was much less embarrassing.. I might not be able to fake-play a ukulele (or REALLY play a ukulele), but I can write out an application for a ukulele, so there's that at least.

I wonder if Jennifer realizes that she's going to be drafted into learning the ukulele so she can teach me the ukulele...