A Crash and my Sanshin

Saturday was my first day back, and I couldn't stay away from my taiko friends. Even after spending oodles of time together, Karen was still willing to pick me up so we could go see some other Odaiko New England members perform at an outdoor event in West Boylston.

It was great to see them. They did such a good job. I had fun, broke my sunglasses, and got a sunburn. After hanging out for a bit, Karen and I headed home.

We were casually chatting, passing Brandeis, not far at all from my house... when a red car traveling the other direction got kinda close to the center line and then swerved the other direction, flying over the curb, up a steep embankment, hit a tree, and landed with a bang on the edge of the road. I called 911 on Karen's phone... eventually the driver got out of the car on her own... Karen and I helped her get her things from the back seat, trying to encourage her to come away from the car since there was a noticeable gas leak... but something was wrong with her leg, so it didn't seem easy for her to walk... there was an off-duty fire fighter on the scene... the police, fire, ambulance all showed up (at least I think there was a fire truck there)... Karen and I were concerned with the woman's welfare, but we also had to talk to the police as witnesses... In the end, it seems like the driver of the crashed car will be okay and no one else was involved.

The rest of Saturday was mostly asleep.
Most of Sunday was asleep.

This morning I woke up, still a little unsure of where I was initially. (I can't shake the feeling that I'm in a new place, instead of at home. This isn't all that surprising given the fact that over two and a half weeks my lodging changed something like 9 times.)

Unfortunately, when I woke up this time, I started thinking about all the things I need to get done. I have a lot to do. I have a LOT to do.

But this morning I decided to procrastinate by playing my sanshin.

"Sanshin?" you ask.

It's an Okinawan musical instrument with three strings that are played by plucking. The name sanshin literally means "three strings".

When I was at the Kodo apprentice center, one of the apprentices (Masa) taught me a couple of lines from Shima Uta, a very well known Okinawan song. So, before I left Japan I bought a sanshin.

I would definately rather play my sanshin than get caught up on billing my clients.