I kept looking at my e-mails and my schedule earlier and decided to RSVP to an event. It’s technically all weekend, coming and going and all, and if things go right, I can be there between shifts.

They have a preview weekend where I like to get my musical instruments, a chance to meet the teachers for music lessons and even get some free ones. I’ve hemmed and hawed about getting lessons, largely because of timing, affordability, gas, etc. But I’m not getting very far on my own with guitar practice or anything else.

So much seems to get in my way, and I sometimes let it. I’ve had so little energy, and Murphy’s Law keeps messing with me. Last weekend I slipped down the steps and banged the hell out of my left side (the bruise on my leg just below my hip is crazy red and purple, several inches wide and still hurts like hell after nearly a week…but it’s healing, slowly).

Then earlier tonight, letting the dogs out, I was trying to get one to move aside and ended up twisting my ankle so badly I could feel popping as I moved and tried to stay off of it. I have an icebag wrapped around it right now and am trying to find a better way to keep it on there when I get to bed. I don’t think it’d ever felt so bad, and I was terrified I broke it.

That’s all I freaking need–gotta finish mowing this weekend, and that crap happens?

I’m going to have some pain pills and treat it as best I can tonight, because I have a bit of push-mowing to do in the morning. If I don’t finish, I can kiss that RSVP goodbye per my agreement to myself. If I could’ve pinky-promised my brain, I would’ve.

I have to push-mow the front section of my yard because of what happened when I was getting rid of the old house and the new one came in. That section of yard hasn’t felt a mower blade since October because of the sheer amount of deep ruts left by tires and several-ton mobile home pieces. Also not helping was the several months of constant rainfall.

But now it’s drier–hotter, certainly, but when it rains, the muddiness doesn’t last that long. I’ve been chipping away at this central section of my circular drive, the way you would an old sun-baked sticker on a window with a razor blade. That’s the best way I can describe it, and thanks to the ruts, it’s taken me days to do what I could’ve done in less than an hour before.

Mind you, I’m going for safety, but I also have to go slow because the grass is over a foot high in several places and the ruts are largely covered up. there are a ton of crawdad holes and anthills scattered around the yard, impeding my progress.

What does this have to do with music lessons? I promised myself that if I finished that part of the yard before work tomorrow afternoon, then I would do all I could to make it to the RSVP events.

Once I’ve got the grass cut, I can see where the holes are, calculate how much more topsoil I need, and place some calls to get another load of soil (and maybe a far better wheelbarrow than the one I have, which is splintering and falling apart). This is one of those side-projects I really have to finish up as fast as I can, but not being able to knock the grass down has made it so hard to do right. I can’t use my riding mower over all those ruts–I’d end up bending the deck or breaking a blade, with the amount of troughs there are. Not good.

So, I do have some left over. I had to keep stopping because there would be a particularly brutal patch of ground, or I’d run out of gas. I really want to get it done so I can mow the grass down around my vegetable beds (which also need serious work). I have maybe 1/3 of what I had before left to do, and I just hope it doesn’t rain overnight so I can get it done without wet grass stuck in the blades every few feet.

And that I can put weight on this ankle. It’s gonna be hard enough walking around work tomorrow if it gets worse (I’ll have to make a trip to the drugstore for an ankle brace or something to help out), let alone hauling a guitar around for the intro lesson.

It’s summer, it’s getting hotter, and it’s insane how much needs doing outside.

But I also need some good, useful inside hobbies that are more than putting jigsaw puzzles together for my walls. And I want to remember how to read music, and know how to properly hold a guitar…all kinds of things.

I made myself a promise to finish that part of the yard tomorrow so I can go participate in music lesson orientation and get a great rate on lessons if I choose to follow through (and a free guitar if there’s some in stock–joy!). If there’s one thing I really miss about not having lessons of any kind, it’s that they gave me a great excuse to learn something new while being sociable.

I think that’s what’s most at stake here–it’s no fun learning something as important as music all on your own.

Time to go sleep this pain off and dream about playing awesome music.