At which point do we draw the line between practice and self-inflicted torture? When I found out that we were playing "The Time Has Come" this week, I immediately went into intense practice mode, learning the bass solo over and over. The fact that it's Thursday and I'm still too slow to do the bass solo with the team isn't what worries me. What worries me is that since Tuesday evening I've had this ache in the palm of my left hand, definitely caused by twisting my hand at an awkward angle on the fretboard of my bass for prolonged amounts of time. Seriously, it hurts. 3 more days of practice to go, and I'm just hoping that this doesn't permanently damage my hand or something.

I really shouldn't complain. As musicians we have to be ready to play any song required of us, and if we can't, we really have nobody to blame but ourselves. This is actually a really nice song, but I'm beginning to detest it. It's one of the songs I had to play the very first time I was put up on the bass, and I actually messed up the solo big time, to the point where Daryl had to come in with his electric and cover for me. Cut to six months later, with a week to get the solo right, and I'm still nowhere there. At this rate sure habis one lar. To make matters worse, when I hinted to the worship leader that we may not be able to do the bass solo, she went like =( , which meant I'd jolly well start practising.

It's about at this point that people start saying "Don't worry. Just focus on God." or "Aiyah you can one lar." which is extremely annoying, to the point where I usually shut myself up and go away before I say something nasty. It's really not the words that irritate me, but the way it's said. It's so dismissive of my struggle, as if saying those "magic words" will make it go away. Tip of the day folks - belittling somebody's difficulties is NOT a form of encouragement.

I need a palm massage. By a GIRL. Before somebody (yes, I'm glaring at you) starts questioning my orientation again.

posted by NEB at 10:39 AM

---