Phenomenon

What a delicious day!

I woke up this morning at 8:30 am with the biggest smile on my face. The day was breezy, the birds were chirping and I made a decision right then that I am taking today off for a well-deserved break after a really tremulous week at work.

While thinking of what million things that I could do for this day, I looked at the stack of books on my night table and saw that it is a good time for me to start reading Alexander McCall Smith's "The Sunday Philosophy Club". With Yo-Yo Ma at the background, I recalled thinking, this is such a perfect day to stay home and relax.

After a couple of chapters, I decided to finally get up and do some activity. Looking at my VCR I was suddenly reminded that I got American Idol recorded for the Final 6 going to Final 4 (yeah, Japan is soooo delayed in airing this show, but love it still! Go Jordin Sparks!)So I sat for 2 hours watching this episode down to the result, ah the beauty of having this recorded, no need to put up wiht ProActiv's advertising and AKB48's annoying recap of the show - fast forwarded.
And then... finally I decided to continue my morning as a couch potato. I put "Eat drink man woman" on. Not only that movie was very well-made (kudos to Director Ang Lee), Master Chu's Sunday feast was extremely mouth watering and the topics in the movie were thought provoking. If you haven't seen it, do not let the title discourage you, it is worth your time and an excellent cultural exposure for the Chinese culture.

So at 2 pm I am left with the fulfilled feeling and was somewhat ready to embrace something more exciting for the day. Maybe a bit of a work out?
The easy pace I've adopted for the day discourage myself from jumping onto the bicycle to go to the gym, so the pilates video it is. Quoting Ellen Barrett, "Now I am ready to conquer the day!" I jumped into the shower and already thought about going to Ochanomizu's guitar street and get myself a guitar!

Going to Ochanomizu is one of my favorite past time. The music instruments sold on this street are mostly guitars, but the big shops like Shimokura or Kurosawa will always have a good selection of other instruments as well.
My first stop was Shimokura, the guy led me to the classical and accoustic guitar section. Yes, they had the Yamaha I was looking for, but the price seems to me a little higher than what I expected. But still, I wanted to give it a go and see if it had the sound that I wanted.

A very interesting phenomenon happened at that very moment. I was able to play again! Just out of nowhere, all old pieces that I learned some 15 years ago flew through my fingers again, as if it was only yesterday that I played those songs. It was very emotional, I nearly cried feeling very much at home holding and playing that guitar.
It made me think of a conversation I had with a friend of mine 3 years ago when I just bought the Takamine. I remembered that time completely puzzled why I feel distant from the guitar, not wanting to pick up the guitar at all times the way I used to, and why the songs just seemed to challenge me at every step of the way. I just could not understand why it was so hard doing something that I used to love so much.
My friend then said to me, "Don't worry, Tari, it will be like riding a bicycle, it will come back to you in no time."
That "no time" never arrived back to me, which resulted in me giving up trying to play the guitar again until last week. That was when I came to realization that maybe I haven't found the one! Today, that very moment when I held and played that classical guitar, I realized that I've come home at last. How silly, a classically trained guitarist trying to do the same thing on an accoustic! Of course it's not going to be the same thing.

I am not one to fret about prices when it comes to things that I feel I belong to. But somehow even after spending 20 minutes playing with the Yamaha, I still feel that something was missing.
So, I decided to leave the store to give it some thought and come back again later. I walked the entire guitar street, going into every single one of them, in search of the one. Much to my dismay, they don't have that many selections when it came to classical guitars. Until finally I went into Kurosawa's Dr. Sound. I know this shop is often recommended for their specialty in catering all custom-made string instruments, mostly violins and guitars. Thought they just might have the one. I was very pleased that they have an entire floor dedicated for the classical guitars. They have all brands that was not even mentioned in the other stores. I was hooked! I started with trying different models from Julian (reasonable), Juan Hernandez (EXPENSIVE!), Yamaha (reasonable), Antonio Lopez (EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!), and finally Antonio Sanchez (from moderate to EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!).
I spent nearly 30 minutes with one of the Antonio Sanchez's, and fell in love with the round and smooth tone that came out from the series. While I was trying the guitars, the shop guy was educating me on the differences from the wood made and proving the different vibrations that came from each wood could pro-create quite a different effect that could make such a huge difference in the sound production. And then he joined in and started jamming with me which was so much fun. I haven't jammed with anyone on the guitars in so long that it was like finding an oasis.
I finally hit home with one of the Studio models. Estudio-2 Cedar, to be very exact. Yeah, it's almost the cheapest in the collection. Heck, I haven't played regularly in nearly 15 years, I'm not about to spend an outrageous amount of money on something I bought on a whim! Maybe one day when I master the Spanish guitar skill!