Grateful Dead Music Forum

Life happened and I stopped playing for a while. Started back up casually and now working on something with one of my favorite collaborators. We're recording each session we get together and usually I cringe hearing myself knowing how much better I used to be just a few years back. But last week's session had some magic. Caught myself smiling during playback at what I accomplished many times. First time I've done that musically in almost 3 years. Hello, old friend!

I'm sure others have been there too. It's amazing. Been playing for 20 years and a few years off stage and didn't realize how much I worked at this craft to stay good.

Silence the inner critic and enjoy the ride!

Awesome!! I’m glad to hear you’re back at it!

Welcome back!

Comparison is the thief of joy, rock on!

Good to see a lot of the same old boardies still around, and coming back, too.

That's how it is for me, too. Other interests got in the way, and then it became a matter of time before guitar could circle around back as the lifelong satisfaction and challenge that I enjoy so much. When I first joined these boards, my life was work, work, work, with travel all over the globe. (Circled the globe 4 times, starting in Newark, heading West, and returning from Malaysia/Singapore; my 2nd passport needed extra pages added, it was so stamped up.)

But life is easy for me these days. Retired two years ago. (not my choice)

But with the way the stock market has heated up, haven't looked for work, don't have to look, and may never look. Thirty years solid, and done! (but have over 35 for SS, just didn't make much before the engineering degree)

Anyway, welcome back strumminsix! (And how can I get my username in red?)

Firstly, thank you, everybody. Figured my story resonated with more than a couple others here.

One of the weirdest things was being an admin on the board, checking in daily, but not playing guitar daily. LOL!

old man down wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:39 pm Good to see a lot of the same old boardies still around, and coming back, too.

That's how it is for me, too. Other interests got in the way, and then it became a matter of time before guitar could circle around back as the lifelong satisfaction and challenge that I enjoy so much. When I first joined these boards, my life was work, work, work, with travel all over the globe. (Circled the globe 4 times, starting in Newark, heading West, and returning from Malaysia/Singapore; my 2nd passport needed extra pages added, it was so stamped up.)

But life is easy for me these days. Retired two years ago. (not my choice)

But with the way the stock market has heated up, haven't looked for work, don't have to look, and may never look. Thirty years solid, and done! (but have over 35 for SS, just didn't make much before the engineering degree)

Anyway, welcome back strumminsix! (And how can I get my username in red?)

Dude! That sounds like an incredible adventure! You said it perfectly with, "the lifelong satisfaction and challenge that I enjoy so much". Amazingly accurate. May you investment mean you never have to work again.

Name in red cuz I'm an admin I suspect.