Gee-tar!

Si, toco la guitarra.

I left my Takamine Jasmine guitar in the Caribbean for two reasons; one because of American Eagle's horrific luggage restrictions (70 lbs is IT), which caused numerous students to wind up leaving the overweight limits of their belongings on the counter at American Airlines only to have it later thrown away; and two, because with what various baggage apes have already done to my hard case, I figured it was only a matter of time before they smashed it, and my guitar, into splinters.

So the Jasmine sits in storage, destrung, and hopefully to survive so that I can play it in August.

But this left me the promise of a summer sans guitar, which was unacceptable, and since I got the Jasmine over 10 years ago, and while it has impressive sound quality for a very beginning guitar, it's still a very beginning guitar.

Dad and I buzzed over to Greensboro to the nearest Guitar Center and grabbed an upgraded Takamine, and who the hell would have thought I could get a guitar with a solid cedar top for under 300 bucks? And I managed to ambivalent my way (yeah, it's all right; not bad sound quality as my heart is racing with love for this instrument) down to 350 for guitar, hard case, silk/steel strings, and 9V batteries (for my tuner) and that includes the tax. Booyah.

Ah, how I love my guitar... and then it was dinner at Outback. REAL BEEF!!!! The return of the "I got beef that DOESN'T poison me" dance. For some reason, a good deal of the Caribbean beef is the relative consistency of pate, which can't be right, despite the fact that I know for a fact they have cows because I have seen them by the side of the road, and in Lance aux Epines, Dave and I nearly got run over by them.

I've still been having some trouble sleeping. I swear, it's like medical school has traumatized me in some way. I have trouble getting to sleep, trouble sleeping through the night, and in that state of susceptibility between sleep and waking, manage to convince myself of things like "Shit, I have to study the perineum and learn it well in the next week." Upon waking? "No I don't... I'm done with anatomy. I don't have to study the perineum until I'm prepping for the USMLEs, brain."

And last night it was something about learning or teaching biochem while living on a big grounded ship in Grenada. Why? Who knows...

So this isn't too restful, as you might imagine, which is why I'm writing this approximately 50 minutes after awakening at 2 PM. Sigh.

But I'll tackle it. I apparently still just need some wind down, and what better way to get than then playing guitar.

American Airlines sent me an email promising me 10K frequent flier miles for the inconvenience they put me through, though they were only referring to the delay in Grenada and not the delay in San Juan, the two breakfast vouchers (the second of which I couldn't even use) and having to potentially PAY for a pillow and blanket, not to mention having to argue over whether I'd have to be charged for their incompetence, so I'm probably going to still write them a little love note expressing my satisfaction.

What's funny is that on Thursday, I'm flying up to New Hampshire to hang out with my mom, a fact that I *did not even consider* when buying my guitar. Damn that 70 lb weight requirement! So, I looked up the Southwest airlines website to see what kind of finagling I was going to have to do...

None. I can check THREE pieces of luggage without paying anything, for a grand total of 150 lbs. Southwest... commonly known as America's most ghetto airline... allows you over TWICE the luggage allowance that American Eagle's commuters give you. Make a note of it. Now, while I can't fly Southwest to Grenada, I sure as HELL can fly it on the commuter flights around the US, which I certainly will from now on, frequent flier miles or no.