Adios a Fifo el Embustero Loco

FIDEL STEPS DOWN

Though he's simply turning power over to his brother Raul (also none too young), still, for the first time in 49 years, the Cuban head of state is officially NOT Fidel Castro. Now the question is who will fill Raul's previous seat as Vice President / heir to the throne. Will it be Carlos Lage? (probably.) Or Felipe Perez Roque (who's at least 100% as communist as Fidel himself)? Or somebody else? And can they hold power in Cuba with an iron fist after El Caballo himself is gone?? We'll just have to wait and see...

Derek Alexander Gay

Born February 12. Congratulations to Mike and Ruth!

Piano

When I was a child I used to play the piano at church for like 10 minutes every Sunday after service. Then when I was going to community college, I used to sit in the piano practice rooms and teach myself various songs. Wow, that was a long time ago already. Then at my 4-year college, I took 2 or 3 semesters of piano lessons.

But I never had a piano in my own home. Until now.

I found one on craigslist.org for the stupidly cheap price of $300. Naturally, I suspected it would be a piece of garbage, but I went and checked it out, and amazingly, it's in great shape! Every key works and it sounds pretty nice. It could use a tuning, but it's not desparate for one. So, I got some friends together and we were able to move it into my apartment.

I should've done this a long time ago! It seems I've had a bit of a decline in interest in my guitars... I don't know why; I just wasn't playing guitar as much lately. So that's probably why I turned my attention back to piano. But in any case, it's so great for me to actually be able to practice piano in the convenience of my own home! I know, there's probably some of you that have been able to take that for granted your whole lives, but let me tell you, I'm still thrilled about it!

So last night I taught myself "Victor's Piano Solo" by listening to that part of Corpse Bride over and over while I practiced. It's amazing to me how quickly I'm making all this progress now that I can actually play whenever I want!