It takes a braver person than I to tackle Miami Beach on Spring Break

So after Ft Lauderdale we drove to Miami.  We were tired and it was drizzling out so we weren’t feeling super motivated, but we decided we’d go do the Let’s Roam in Miami Beach.

Which sounds excellent.  Except it’s Spring Break.  And Spring Break in Miami Beach isn’t just a thing for the movies lol. But by the time we clued into that we were already there so…

We started off with this mermaid; no students in sight :)

This Let’s Roam was slightly less fun - partially in that it was focused around Art Deco buildings, which is not a style either of us care for, and partially because parts of it were poorly designed (involved backtracking instead of a smooth loop).   BUT - it did get us to visit way more of the city than we otherwise would’ve, and we prob learned a thing or two.

I have no idea what's happening here...

Definitely we learned we don’t care for Art Deco ;-P.   We also learned there’s a definite age break in the different areas of town on spring break.   Down by the beach was the younger crowd.  I loved the energy and enthusiasm there; it made me happy just watching it.  But I had zero interest in participating.  I’d like to blame getting old, but tbh I was the same in my 20s.  Lol I remember being in NZ and the people I was travelling w were all clubbing and 15 mins into the first one I was like”I’m good, I’ll meet you back at the hostel” lol.  So yeah, I can’t even say it was ever my thing, but I can appreciate how it would be for others.

Also of note - the police presence everywhere was insane.  I’ve literally never seen so many cops anywhere.  All were being pleasant and approachable, but definitely there keeping an eye on things.  And - many roads were closed to cars, which - as a pedestrian in this situation - was lovely :)

Was a lovely patio dinner

We continued our travels and as we looped back found ourselves in a more grownup area lol.  This was also pedestrians only but instead of clubs and bars was patio-style dining and quite nicely done.   Once we finished our roaming, we looped back here for a really excellent dinner.   I was really pleased for a night that had been threatening rain the whole time we had a really good night and it kindly held off :)

We finished off the night celebrating pi day as appropriate before returning to our slightly dodgy and very loud motel for the evening.

Tomorrow - the Everglades - plausibly in the pouring rain.

Ft Lauderdale

So after Cocoa Beach we drove to Ft Lauderdale. We got stopped at more lift bridges in our drive to the parking lot than we have the whole time we’ve lived in Thorold. Lol and for much more luxurious ships too!

So this was our first Let’s Roam of the trip. For those who are new here, Let’s Roam is a company that does puzzle-based scavenger hunts all over the world. And I was lucky enough to receive a year’s subscription from my parents for Xmas. Sooo we’ve at least partially planned this trip around cities that have tours.

Ft Lauderdale was So Much Fun! For a city that I’d heard of and literally nothing more, I had zero expectations. And there was a fair amount of traffic going in, which was less fun. But the “wander with purpose” was great.

We started by following the river (also admiring some gorgeous yachts); 

 

While this was far from the most spectacular, it definitely had the best duck.

then visited some historic houses;

This one was actually next to the one actually on the tour, but I liked the pic ;)

learned about the bricks with names on them;

I was tempted to keep looking for more of Cindy's story

met some nice Dutch guys who took a pic of C and I in a giant chair; 

 

learned about the arts centre, some statues, and the library (surprisingly the locals we asked for directions did not know where the library was but all were very into helping us find it!). 

This challenge at the art centre made me laugh

We also completed several challenges along the way that were mostly taking pics of each other or other random things.

I got 10 points for this pic of train tracks - I think I should've gotten extra for the raised bridge!

So yeah - we were only there maybe an hour and a half, but had a great time and really enjoyed the city. It looks like there’s probably quite the nightlife as well, but we were long gone by then…

Cocoa Beach

Drove down Hwy 1 to Cocoa Beach this am; a much nicer drive than the interstate likely would’ve been :). We were targeting Ron Jon’s Surf Shop which Chris had fond memories of from a lifetime ago. Found it easily and somehow snagged amazing parking. When we got out of the car it was warm and sunny! Win!

The shop itself was an adventure and the checkout line a commitment, but we managed to grab some much needed art so that’s all good :). And C got the tshirt. Literally ;) 

Random tree art :)

We walked down to the beach which was huge and gorgeous but slightly too cold for an enjoyable beach experience and definitely windy. 

Boardwalk to the beach

Drove through town which was super cute and way nicer than the surf shop area before heading up to the hwy to continue our adventures.

I have to admit, prior to coming I had zero idea of Florida geography. Like I had to look up what cities were where in my planning - but even then, I didn’t really understand how Florida is pieced together. SO many bridges and water everywhere- which I kinda love :). But definitely am slightly discombobulated by random landstrips everywhere that are connected into some sort of vague semblance of a cohesive state.

Not quite warm yet

Cold today, but at least sunny. Spent most of it wearing my big puffy whale watching jacket. Amazing how happy it makes me just to have sunshine and hear birds.

Went this morning on an airboat ride - really enjoyed it. A little disconcerting how little water they need to traverse. Also disconcerting to see cows grazing on apparent tiny islands! Lol but they can walk across and I guess the gators mostly consider them too big to be prey - although we did see at least one recent carcass. 

The headsets let us hear the guide as well as ear protection

Lots of gators - had a lot of fun w my camera. Apparently not nearly as many as normal due to ridiculous cold, but far more than the zero I’ve ever seen before. 

The odd couple

I also realized I haven’t posted pics off my camera from the last Costa Rica trip OR even the maritime road trip Mum and I did. So there’s another project for my list ;)

Lunch was at a random Cuban/Mexican restaurant which was super tasty but way too much food! I wish the weather had been slightly better as the patio looked lovely, but alas, a little too cold for that.

We went to see manatees which are interesting critters. Lots there but mostly all we could see was the snout for a couple seconds. They always made a little snorting sound when they came up which helped me spot them. Occasionally saw snout and back. So admittedly didn’t capture my attention as long as some other animals can. Gorgeous drive there though.

Took C’s parents back and then went to run an errand followed by random driving around. Let us figure out a little more of how we want to do the rest of the road trip (aka not highway :).

Sitting in the sun now - still wearing my jacket but enjoying the feel of sunlight on my face and the sound of the wind in the trees. When it sets we’ll likely go find dinner :)

A sleepless post

So I got about an hour’s sleep in the car. C drove the rest of the way to New Smyrna Beach where his parents are staying. We got there about 10:30am so overall had made very good time. We hung out for a bit; I was getting very close to crashing but then C and his parents went to run some errands so I got to have a wonderful life refreshing nap.

I will say though - we stopped at a gas station and there were an INSANE number of people and the noise…. My brain couldn’t handle it. Pandemic? What pandemic? Small doses. 

This dude was in the gas station; welcome to Florida ;)

We had a pretty easy day, went for a walk around the campground, then for a drive with Chris' parents to the touristy area of town, which was super cute, before yummy dinner.

I am somehow still technically awake but my brain shut down sometime mid dinner. Lol. Just waiting till it’s at least the average 5year old’s bedtime before crashing. Also, clocks go forward tonight so on the one night I desperately need sleep, we lose an hour. Fail. Night.

The adventure begins

*posts backdated to when they were actually written*

So today was insane. Worked till 12:30, cleaned the house, packed, and showered - ready just in time for C to get home from work. He had a quick shower while I loaded the car and we were off a little after 3. We breezed through the border at the Rainbow bridge - no line and about 30 seconds at the booth.

Then we were off. Chris drove the first section - we stopped for food at Cracker Barrel in Eerie, then pretty much only stopped for bio breaks or gas.

The restroom in West Virginia was particularly pretty

 
C drove till we hit Virginia - he wanted to get to drive through the tunnel. We had the start of the storm near the border and the first part of the drive, but have seen all sorts of signs warning “do not travel on Saturday; severe winter storm” etc etc. we figure we were a couple hours ahead of it.

So we swapped at midnight. I was expecting to drive only for a couple hours and then pull over, but I was WIRED lol. And omg having SO much fun rocking out to my road trip playlist.

So the first adventure was seeing the “fog warning” signs. A lot of them, with no sign of fog. Thinking ‘hmmm they really take their fog seriously’ lol. Yeah. There’s a reason for that. Went from decent, visibility to super low, and then to non existent. Like legitimately white out conditions without the risk of sliding on ice.

Interestingly the speed limits change along that stretch, and they glow super bright. Plus side, I could see the new and rapidly dropping speed limit, down side - you know what happens to your visibility in fog when you turn on highbeams? Yeah - same effect. I could see the speed limit and nothing else.

Super scary. The road was also winding there; I ended up driving based at least in strong part by seeing on the nav system where the road turns. Scary, but effective.

I eventually made it through and the fog was mostly lifted, at which point C woke up briefly said “oh, it’s really foggy” and went back to sleep ;)

The next adventure I think might’ve been Charlotte? But I’m not actually sure. Some city where the hwy suddenly got very wide - which is usually good (esp when there’s no traffic) but then lanes on both sides and occasionally in the middle started randomly appearing and disappearing. Less fun. The express lanes are toll routes so it had to do with when and how those merge, but it was pouring rain at this point and v hard to see. Eventually I realized I could sit in the second lane and it stayed put. After that it got easier but wasn’t the most fun.

The rest of the drive was comparatively easy. I’m sure Virginia and West Virginia would’ve been stunning but of course it was dark so who knows? There was a ton of light pollution though that made for some great night skies.

The Google lady welcomed us every time we crossed state lines, except going into Georgia for some reason lol. Maybe they don’t like visitors.

Anyways, I was really enjoying the solo concert I was performing and completely spun on sugar and caffeine, so I ended up driving till about 6. All good until I had to get through Saturday with no sleep ;)

Where's the line between ambitious goals and ridiculous ones?

Continuing the piano games - they're being a bit interrupted in March for a variety of reasons, but I'm hoping I can at least get one more song in.   The last couple weeks have been "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - which, btw, is an awesome name.  And if you'd asked me I would've said I'd never heard of it; likewise, when I heard it - I'd definitely heard it before but had no idea what it was called (so have you, I'm certain!).   But when I play it, I feel like I'm in a fantasy film somewhere - likely involving sprightly trolls.   In my world, those two words can coexist.  Someday, I'll write the story.  You know - in all the free time identified at the end of this post.   (For the curious - here's yesterday's attempt: https://youtu.be/omokc4bl0ew; for those of you who actually know how to play, please be kind!)

So what amused me about this one is that it speeds up as it goes, which is both super fun and super frustrating.  I ended up teaching it to myself backward so I'd get the most practice with the end/fast bits and the least with the beginning slow bits.  lol idk?  Worked for me.   Also, I decided it definitely should start quiet and then get louder (even though my lovely iPhone recording didn't really capture that).  Which lead me to look up the *actual* sheet music which verified that is exactly what's supposed to happen *sigh*.  My little app has definitely failed me there.  Zero dynamic markers ever.   But the last couple songs I've just started making stuff up cause it amuses me to do so, and also cause I'm *really* bad at controlling volume so I figure it's good practice :).   

The other thing that my app doesn't have is pedal cues.  Which tbh, atm is probably best since I struggle with two hands -- two hands and a foot is definitely too much for my little brain.  I only know this cause the workbook I'm going through DOES teach such things lol.  And I get that it's best I learn it as I go, so I'm slightly frustrated it's not included at the beginner level, but also going along w it for now.

I've started buying some "real" (aka not on the app) sheet music as well.  I've got both a beginner and an intermediate version of Pirates of the Caribbean (remember my 10 year plan is the expert level one ;).  The beginner one I'll have this month if I get my life under control.  Int I haven't started yet.   The biggest challenge there is flipping pages!  lol BUT technology win.  I've ordered a foot pedal that will do that for me thanks to the magic of bluetooth.  So yeah, I can't work a pedal to make cool piano sounds, but I'm reasonably certain I can stomp on one when I need a page to turn ;). I also found an app that will turn half pages, so if you're strategic in your page flipping, you never have wait for the next note to appear.

I've started working my way through the intermediate Flowkey songs.  Even some that I never did the beginner version for.   Honestly, I would absolutely still consider these still beginner.  They're longer than the actual beginner ones and have like maybe one bar that's more complex, but still comparatively super-simple.  My tentative plan is, I spent the first three + months doing the beginner songs, I'll spend the next four on intermediate, then the rest of the year on advanced.   I don't think the progression is too fast since, as I mentioned, intermediate is really just longer beginner.   But I DO wonder if I'll be able to knock out all the songs I want to.  Which is most of the ones I've already done as well as a couple new ones that are only available in Intermediate.   And, of course, I now have actual sheet music I'd like to learn to (Beauty and the Beast is also in that list - please tell me Disney is beginner friendly?!?!).   The one thing that gets me about the sheet music is lots of it doesn't bother to included a speed?!?!  Like I follow instructions really well and have a metronome on my phone - please give me a number!  This slow/fast business just isn't working for me ;). And wtf does "brightly" mean?!?!  Sheesh.  

Okay so I just went and looked up what would be next up by this theory:

• Ten of the songs I've learned so far have Intermediate versions.  10!  Some of them are really just long beginner versions, but some of them are ridiculous.  At least one I have no idea how to even read the music, much less play it.
• There are four or five new FK songs that I'd like to add to my list.
• I need to not lose the ones I've already learned (made that mistake!  Oops!)
• I have a handful of sheet music songs I'd like to learn that are about that level
• I'm working my way through the next "12 week" technique course (welcome to arpeggios and broken chords) which I'm enjoying but realistically going to need to do twice since I had to modify significantly to be able to do the exercises.   Also it takes me 2-3 times as long every day as the beginner version did, which means less time for songs.
• Finish level 1 workbook (this is super helpful but oh so boring)
• I'd like to get to the point in "technique" where I can do some of the interesting YouTube exercises instead of just up the scale/down the scale.   Alas, I am a ways from that yet.
• My bass-clef reading is improving but still has lots of room for improvement.
• My technique course came with a music theory course.  Which I'm sure is excellent but omg I'd rather do so many other things (including work!) So not sure how much of that will happen.  But I feel like I should learn at least some basics.  So we shall see.

Right - so that might not be the most reasonable list for four months ;)  By year end maybe.  So far I've done exactly three intermediate songs.  I still work full time and then some, stab stuff regularly, am learning Spanish, and try to workout on an almost daily basis.  So it's fully plausible there are not actually enough hours to accomplish all that.  But hey - if it takes a few extra months, that's okay :).  I'd really like to get at least one or two "advanced" in within the first year.  But we shall see.  Oh yeah - and maybe write about some sprightly trolls ;-P

And, you know, family and friends and all those kinds of people ;)

As soon as I master cloning, I'm set!

PS - I googled "sprightly trolls" -- those are definitely not the trolls I meant.  So disappointed.  Google has failed me.

Planning a New Adventure

*Written Mar 2, but published retroactively cause I'm never sure the wisdom of publishing when we're away together; will do the same for our whole trip*

So Chris' parents generally go to Florida every winter; this has been interrupted by COVID of late, but this year it's back on.  We, traditionally, go away every February for vacation.  This also has been interrupted by COVID, but also by C taking a teaching job which ensures he can never go away in Feb and by us buying a house, ensuring we also have no money to travel.  Booo.

However, we are both fairly stir crazy, and COVID restrictions are lifting, so we decided we'd road trip to Florida and visit his parents for a day or two during March Break.  So that's a long drive I was not super looking forward to, and one to get to a place I honestly had very little interest in visiting (the people - yes.  The place?  Less so).  Someday I'd love to do Disney as an adult, but that's not feasible this year, and otherwise what's in Florida beyond crazy news stories, spring break students, and retirees?  hmmmm. Google and Fl tourism didn't help :( 

Well.  Mum and Dad gave us an awesome Xmas gift this year of a year of unlimited Let's Roam.   So this is a scavenger hunt company, that I've done several hunts with.  I think my favourite so far was Charlottetown with Mum in the Before Times.  It's done on your phone and has you explore the city and learn completely random stuff.  So with that in mind, I did a quick search for Florida.  There are a bunch.  Awesome.  

It even has a great card!

I'm sure you can see where my thinking started to drift - road trip around scavenger hunts!   Right, so the last time I was in Fl, I was 8 and we flew in.  Suffice to say my knowledge of Fl geography is limited to finding the state on the map.   So Google maps to the rescue.

Started with how long does it take to get to Fl and what states do we drive through.   Once I had that, I looked for hunts around where C's parents are.  Also I very much wanted to go to the Everglades and C wanted to go to Gatorland, so I put those in our misc list.   Then I google mapped those two areas (uh the Everglades are substantial so that took more than I expected to figure out), and looked at what cities between C's parents and there had hunts.  All good.   

Then C suggested he'd like to go to Everglades City -- which is way farther than I was intending.  And maybe the keys?   hmmmm okay, so instead of a centralised trip from C's parents' location, maybe it should be a continual road trip.

In the end I ended up with an awesome but slightly insane potential road trip - that included 2 nights with C's parents, a boat trip they recommended, Gatorland, Everglades, the Keys, drives along both costs, and scavenger hunts in up to 9 cities!  Even including two outside of Fl on the way home (before we hit cold).

Draft plan, definitely subject to change.
Also - notice how close we'll be to the Bahamas?!?!  
I'd so rather go there!

Now all we need is the weather to cooperate and nothing dramatic to happen w COVID again and we're good to go!   Plus side, I'm actually really looking forward to it now.  Down side, it's going to be *very* close quarters and I, at least, won't likely sleep.   Here's hoping we're still married and speaking at the end ;-P

My river is more of a slow creek atm

So I heard this song on a YouTube video of songs beginner players should be able to play, and one, for "year 3" I really liked (side note -- I can't be a beginner for 3 years?!?!  That's so disheartening) - anyways I wrote down the title with  “really pretty” under my 'things to learn' category.   So of course instead of giving it a reasonable time, I went and found it in my app and it has beginner, int, and advanced versions….   Sweet!

Song is River Flows In You - spoiler alert: it doesn't sound like that when I play it

Well beginner was too boring so I decided to start with intermediate. Right. Have I mentioned I am very much still a beginner player? So I learned like the first 4 bars painfully. And then realized it got harder from there. Learned a bit more, while also playing other songs… Kinda paused it for a week or two while I finished learning more beginner appropriate songs.  Then I had a break from my "technique" class (one week off between beginner and advanced versions.   Don't worry - the "advanced" class has a dumbed down version for us beginners).   So I decided I’d give it a week with all the focus on this and see if it was feasible. 

Yeah - it's like the day I decided to start measuring how long it actually takes me to do a moderately complex stabbing?  I'm at almost 60h on that thing now.  I was happier not knowing ;)

I'm determined this will get finished this year ;-P

But so far we've got:

• Day 1: Review the little bit I'd already learned
• Introduce the hard parts
• Individual hands through the whole thing on wait mode (wait mode means it doesn't move till you hit the right key)
• Day 2: Focus on hard spots
• 2nd half at 50%
• Failed attempt at full thing at 50%
• RH only at 75%
• Day 3: hard parts only, 50%  (the novelty wore off and this was starting to get frustrating here)
• Day 4: all @ 50%: good
• 2nd half @ 75% (was struggling with this)
• Day Off
• Day 5: whole thing @ 75%: iffy but got through it (Seemingly proving the day off is good for brain to practice)
• 100% individual hands
• Day 6: 100% easy early bars: good
• 100% middle section: decent
• 100% hard section: really iffy
• Whole thing @ 75%: good
• Day 7: 100%, whole thing, SO CLOSE!

Right so today, being Day 7, I played it through all the way. Note correct but fairly horrible. Lol when things get fast or I feel frantic I pound all the keys at full force. This is not a pound the keys kinda song lol. So yeah - refinement needed. But it's fun and I was super proud of myself.   And while I'm quite certain for long grown-up pieces a week is nothing, but for me with 'easy' pieces that are almost all less than 30 bars, a week is an excessively long time ;-P

Side note - when I’m super focused in riding, I hold my breath. This is usually bad, esp on XC where courses last much longer than my ability to not breath. Today I discovered it turns out I do this in piano too ;). I guess this is the first song that’s been challenging enough but definitely have caught myself a few times at the end with a big exhale lol 

The other thing that's moderately amusing (at least to me) which also aligns to riding is that I talk to myself (good thing I play in front of a mirror), I talk to the dogs (who listen enthusiastically), and I talk to the app (which doesn't listen at all).  Sometimes it's friendly and positive, sometimes it's snarky and sarcastic, but generally it amuses me.   I can't imagine what the dogs think is going on -- I sit there staring at a wall clicking buttons (cause I pretty well always have headphones on) and occasionally talking to them.   lol normal is boring.

Anyways - scales and arpeggios and octaves and hands together exercises and other such things go back in the schedule on Sun, so I have tomorrow to keep playing with this one and then we’ll see. Lol prob a week of remembering all the ones I’ve already learned would be good. Cause I can def only play one at a time right now.  I tried playing one I *know* I can play well and failed horribly lol.  So yeah - sole focus potentially not so good for a brand-new beginner.  But all good.

*edited to add*: here's my attempt the day after originally writing this post:

The babiest of baby steps.

The piano adventures continue.   Today I learned all about arpeggios.  YouTube instructors fly through these at super speed. But then my buddy (read complete stranger) Zach actually broke down what it was and I thought oh yeah - I can do that. It can’t be that different from scales. Well. Let me tell you. I can’t, in fact, do that; at least not faster than the average snail. And it CAN be more challenging than scales lol. But maybe someday I’ll be able to. So I've added it to the list of things to practice and away I go.

It was an interesting experience though to see what a big gap there is in YouTube "beginner" lessons.  Most of them do okay with complete beginner -- aka my Day 1, which introduces where to find - and what IS - "middle C".  They mostly all cover that, and even the other keys.   An astonishing number forget about teaching what the black keys are all about.  And even those that do 101 level well, then suddenly skip to "how to speed up your arpeggios" -- which was what I hit.  Ummm wtf?!?!   Like I don't even know what that is?  Why should I be concerned about speeding it up, if it doesn't even exist?

Another one which got me was "how to make scales more interesting" -- great!  It's been not quite three months and I'm already bored out of my mind with scales.  Let's do this!  Yeah.  Hard no.  Despite being tagged for beginners, it was SO far beyond my capabilities I'm not even sure what he was doing, much less am I capable of replicating it.  Maybe at the six month or one year mark I'll revisit that one.  Sheesh.

Progress-wise -- for the most part I can learn a Flowkey beginner song pretty solidly within a week.  But Intermediate is still a BIG jump for me.  I have one that I'm determined to learn, so will prob butcher my way through it with brute force, but in general it's tedious, frustrating, and sad -- so I'm sticking with beginners for the moment.  They're still challenging enough.  But it makes me hesitate to go to "real" sheet music cause I feel like it's ALL going to be more advanced than that.   Ah well.  Some day ;)

This came across my FB today; felt it applied to pianoing ;)

dd