Project Update: #Uke50ByHeart

Following WDS 2016, I decided a couple of things. Primarily, that I don't have singular focus and that I am not sure what I would be willing to focus on at the exclusion of all else. I've been a guy with too many hobbies for a while: Dance, Photography, Bass Guitar.

One of the small-but-powerful ideas I took away from WDS came from the artist Judy Paul from Austin, whom I had the chance to go for a couple runs with while out in Portland. She had been a graphic designer and, when she decided to buckle down and start shipping art, began with 50 pieces themed on trees. (check out her instagram... it'll really spice up your feed)

So I decided that it's okay to settle on projects that have this structure: "I will ship X number of some creation". And the first project supports something that has been in progress for a year now. I've been learning to play ukulele since summer 2015.

Structure and Accounting

To put a serious structure around Ukulele, I have committed to this 50 songs by heart project with the goal that I can take my Uke anywhere and just start playing songs. I started this back in late August or so. And I have noticed since that this is the sort of project that can drag on and on.

So in order to ensure it won't drag on forever, I have this fancy spreadsheet to track what songs are on the list and how I am doing. I don't have a specific timeline for completion but I think I am just around the corner from working out a system.

• I will practice a song without the sheet music before me first and only if I forget a chord or lyrics, I will immediately use sheet music and consider it cheat sheet practice. If I can complete the song, it counts as a "play by heart".
• I am collecting information on when I mark a song active and when I consider it ready.
• When I have played it 5 times by heart, I will remove the song from active and consider it "ready".
• Over time, I hope to establish a sense of velocity and be able to estimate a finish date.

Doing It In Public - Youtube

As part of the process of doing this project, I am documenting my progress with recordings and publishing videos of me playing songs.  Over time, I hope to have a progression of videos where I suck at the beginning and I slowly morph into a Ukulele Master.  

In case you were worried that I'm going to get a big head, let me assure you its already much too late for that.  And also, the results of my videos are really quite humbling.  I am learning how to sing in addition to how to play and doing both at the same time is quite a challenge.

It took quite a number of tries to get this rough version of "Georgia On My Mind" down. In truth, I really hadn't practiced it quite enough and I was mostly trying to test the recording setup.

This video of me performing "All of Me" is my second attempt to publish anything. It's my 4th or 5th attempt at recording anything at all. (They're not all keepers and shouldn't be. Some things need to be created and tossed in the wastebin.)

I like this recording much better and it features "The Birthday Uke" which my family helped pay for and is my first K-brand Hawaiian Uke.

No Clear Timeline, But...

So there you have it. Project is in progress. There is no clear timeline but I think I am doing a better job of working out a practice regime that will allow me to complete the project in my lifetime. :)

Coffee with Tina - A #WDS2016 Story

It was Saturday morning in Portland, Oregon. I was on my way back to the hotel from a coffee run. As I was crossing the last street to my hotel, I made eye contact with a skinny homeless guy crossing the other way.

I thought it was a guy from a distance.

No… it wasn’t a guy. He was a she. And she was unkempt.

Long, stringy, unbrushed hair. Socks without shoes. One pant leg rolled higher than the other. Loose fitting Hawaiian shirt. Skin that had gotten a lot of sun. Lots of wrinkles. A welt forming from her left eyebrow. She was using a mop handle as an improvised walking stick.

She spoke up when we were mid cross-walk and said "I know you're in a rush but..."

She seemed earnest. I chose not to just shut her down. In the spirit of the weekend I chose to be kind, no matter how small the action.

Be Kind: The WDS2016 Challenge Coin

I invited her to come back out of the road and to tell me her story. She started with saying that she had a son, Skye, whom she desperately wanted to get back in touch with. It sounded like a rehearsed spiel. Lacking a bit of heart but the type of thing you say because people tend to help you more. (God, I'm so cynical.)

And then she said something about a box of voodoo donuts and a guy by the women's shelter and smoking bud… I didn't quite follow. It didn’t matter because she finished the next sentence with, "...I just want enough change to get a cup of coffee.”

I was already primed for that from buying coffee for a stranger as part of the #WDS2016 Hero’s Journey. "Coffee we can certainly do! Would you be willing to take a walk with me to the Starbucks?"

She said yes, so we crossed the street and walked together. I noticed a welt on her face that looked a few days old while we were talking and I and asked her what happened to her face.

She told me a story of intervening in an altercation outside the women's shelter. It sounded like she thought a woman was under threat, intervened, and was rather unexpectedly struck by the woman.

"...and I just want to know why she did that." She finished.

I told her that, “why” is an expensive question sometimes and that there may be no getting an answer. Still, there was something in that altercation that was very personal for her.

We crossed over to the corner where Starbucks is. She greeted the homeless guy sitting outside the Starbucks and rested her walking stick there between the newspaper dispensers.

I asked her if they'd give her a hard time for going in and she said no. So we walked in together and stood in line.

I asked, "Would you like a banana to go with your coffee?"

"Yes."

"Go ahead and grab one." And she grabbed one. I was glad. I figured she could probably use some good calories. Voodoo donuts are probably delicious and all but a banana seems sensible.

It occurred to me we didn't quite know one another's names.

"I'm Francis. What's your name?"

"I'm Tina." She replied and gently locked gazes for a moment. I looked her deeply in the eyes and studied her weathered face. Her skin was tan. Her wrinkles were deep. Her chin was hooked forward. I couldn’t tell what age she was.

The moment ended. We arrived at the register. She ordered her coffee and we didn't talk for the next moment or two. After paying, I glanced over my shoulder to see her standing at the espresso bar. There were tears in the corner of her eyes.

She was trying not to cry. I flipped through a quick sequence of thoughts: I hope it's not shame. It might be. Maybe it’s just good to be seen for a moment.

Maybe it's just hard to look people in the eye.

We were done paying. I invited Tina to take a few steps over to the place where we wait for drinks. She peeled and ate half of the banana. I stood sentinel nearby, her host and guardian for the next few moments.

Her drink arrived.

I asked Tina if she was walking back the way we had come, and she said, "Yes." I offered to walk with her and she accepted.

We stepped outside. She immediately turned to the right to cross the street leaving her walking stick behind. I ask her if she meant to leave it.

”He'll probably need protection." she said, referring to the homeless guy sitting against the newspaper machines.

We crossed and there was another homeless guy sitting on the corner verbalizing but not making clear words. She gently touched the back of his head as she continued on by. My hotel was to the left.

"Tina, I need to turn here!" And she continued onward and said “okay… goodbye!

We parted ways and I headed back to my hotel to get ready and head to my first day of #WDS2016 main stage presentations.

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Photo Credit: Starbucks | oh my. i discovered Double Choc Chip Fraps. need… | Flickr