I Can Juggle

I mean, I'm not hitting the road with a vaudeville act or anything, but I can throw three things back and forth in circles in front of me and keep them from falling down for a bit. Occasionally, I can even decide to stop on my own before anything goes wrong. In my mind, that means I can juggle.

The most exciting part of this for me is the fact that I actually understand how to do it. Before, whenever I would see someone juggling, my mind couldn't even process what was happening. It felt like I was a different kind of person, not imbued with the ability to perform the task I was witnessing. I was resigned to my status as a non-juggler, and I had no ambition to change it.

I think it's a great idea to attempt to identify and break down those types of self-imposed barriers, though. It's one of the the things about The Off-Season I am most excited about. Theres a type of self confidence that comes from doing the thing you thought you couldn't do that you just don't get from anywhere else. It's an interesting change of pace from the random ego-gambling that comes from rooting for (and against) people who are playing a game you have nothing to do with. Winning that kind of a bet sure feels great, but even that feeling is a bit hollow at the end of the day.

So, having reached a point where I feel reasonably honest in saying that can, in fact, juggle (I even tried different sized items with some success!) it is now time to pick the next task. Once again, it's a skill that many, many of you have and may think little of, but I'm excited to take it on. I'm going to try to learn how to sing a song while accompanying myself on guitar.

I'm not starting from scratch on this. I have a few things going for me that should make this a fairly easy process. I can sing pretty well, and have been doing it for years. That shouldn't be a problem at all. I also know a good number of chords, and can get from one to the other with some facility. I can even recreate the progression of U2's The Fly to the point that you might recognize it. I can also sing that song very well, but combining those two skills currently lies beyond my field of comprehension. It baffles me that anyone can make their minds work in two different ways like that, despite my many friends who can do it with ease. So that's the challenge.

You might think I would be using The Fly to begin, but that song simply isn't good enough to be the one thing I can play for people. Instead, I am going to be working with an old favorite that my father used to sing to me when I was small. It's called "Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod" and it's based on a cute children's' story. There are likely many versions of this tune, but I'm going to be attempting to cover the one done by The Brothers Four on their album Cross Country Concert. If you like things that are great, go download it now.

And wish me luck!