Birthday bubbly and Satan's slots

For all of you who celebrated love this weekend, I hope you had a wonderful and fulfilling Valentine’s Day.

Me? I went to the Gulf Coast to drink and gamble my problems away.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Tomorrow is my grandmother’s 80th birthday. (Happy birthday Grandma!!!) She lives in Ocean Springs, near Biloxi (the Gulf Coast’s very own version of Vegas…on a MUCH smaller scale.) So, Sunday we hit up the Hard Rock for a birthday lunch. And since it was Valentine’s weekend, there happened to be free champagne with all meals. I might have had a few glasses. Then I might have felt lucky and decided to play the slots. It was, after all, my first time in a casino. Luckily, I set a very low ($20) limit and swore once I blew that, I’d step away from the machines. Needless to say, I didn’t hit it big. I walked away very disappointed. Those bright flashing lights will never fool me again. Alas, the thrill is gone.

My Aunt Jayme, me and Grandma after our lunch at the Hard Rock. Grandma's a hottie for 80, huh? She's a feisty little spit-fire, too! I hope I'm that much fun at 80!

On a completely unrelated note, I started guitar lessons last week. My attempts to teach myself proved pretty futile. As Mitch Hedberg said, “I taught myself how to play the guitar, which was a bad decision... because I didn't know how to play it, so I was a crappy teacher. I would never have went to me.” So, I decided to bring in professional help.

The bad news is I’m terrible. The good news is my teacher swears he’s taught worse. I guess that’s comforting? The majority of the lesson was spent correcting my apparently horrible pick-holding technique (or lack-there-of). The rest was spent listening to me completely screw up basic chords. Thank God my teacher is one of the most patient people I’ve ever met. I’m trying hard not to show him how impatient I am. There were times I wanted to yell at my guitar for being so obviously at fault when I couldn’t get my fingers on the right strings. Instead, I took deep, cleansing breaths and probably looked like a total lunatic. I told him to let me know if he ever decides there’s no way in Hades I’m going to learn. No use wasting time on a hopeless case, ya know?

Oh, and for an update on my last post: Kevin and I are currently not together. According to him, we’re on a break until he can prove he’s capable of compromise. He has two people interested in his land and cattle and he’s talking about selling them and moving closer to me. I hope he means it. But I also hope it’s what he really wants. I don’t want him making sacrifices for me that he’ll regret later. I don’t want him to look back and wish he hadn’t given those things up.

In the meantime, I’m going to throw myself into life here in my new town. I’m going to do things for me (like my guitar lessons) and see what I can do to become involved in my little community.
And I’m definitely NOT going to retreat to drinking and gambling. So, no worries. I don't want to be a loser.

Me and Mama after the slots proved to be hateful little money stealers. (That's my sad face.)