The second blackjack post is coming for anyone who cares, but first for something completely different:

Little moments can be powerful.  They don't necesarily have to be life-changing powerful, but they can certainly be unforgettable.  In my concert-going life, a most memorable moment was at a concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  We were waiting for the concert to begin.  Anticipation was high - they are among my favorites.  The stage was dark, and suddenly the lights came up bright exactly simulatenous with the ringing out of the first chords of my favorite song of theirs: Listen to Her Heart.  Unforgettable.

I've always loved rock guitar, and I've always admired those who could play it.  Even though I've played a couple of different instruments, my dabbling in the guitar had ended in frustration.  The fingerings just seemed to hard.  This time I resolved to try a little harder.  I've been at it a couple of months now, and I'm really enjoying it.  As with most things, it just takes some committment and practice.  The hardest part is not playing the chords - at least the first couple dozen of them are reasonably easy to learn.  The hard part (so far) is the transition between the chords; the changing of the finger positions on the fret board to change from one chord to another.  It's difficult to do it fast enough.  When I think about how the professional musicians just seem to effortlessly fly between one chord and another, I am filled with admiration.

One way that I have tried to keep the practice interesting is to play the opening chords to favorite songs.  Of course, eventually I got around to 'Listen to her Heart'.  You can look the chords up on the internet easily enough. Sometimes I look at the chords and just know I'm not ready for the difficult changes I see.   But 'Listen to Her Heart" looked dooable.  But it was not until I sat down to play it that I realized just how dooable.  The whole freaking song is basically two chords, and not any two chords but A-major and A-major7.  The change back and forth between these two chords is the simple lifting and replacing of one finger.  I could not only play it, but play along with the song, at speed, within 5 or 10 minutes.

I almost feel betrayed.  What seemed magical, I can easily do myself with only a short amount of practice.  It almost seems like I've been flim-flammed.  Mr. Petty was posing up on that stage as a guitar god, when he was just moving one finger up and down a mere 3 millimeters to play that beloved chord progression.  I didn't think that learning to play the guitar would be so disillusioning.

 Of course, I'm kind of kidding - I can't really be mad until "Breakdown" stops kicking my ass.  And I suppose that it's really Mike Campbell I should be pissed with, if anyone.

Rock on Tom!