Well, let’s see what has happened to ol’ Charlie since the last time I related anything…. Dave was here last weekend, and we went to the Detroit Symphony to hear them play Mozart’s 38th symphony (a joy) and the world premiere of “Desert Sorrows” by Mohammed Fairouz (mixed; I liked it, Dave thought it was gimmicky). We also ate at most of our favorite restaurants, and even co-created some tasty spaghetti for dinner one night. No, we did not go to the auto show. (Actual auto show link here.)

I think I managed to miss reporting that I spent New Year’s at Dave’s house, just hanging out and going out to eat at our favorite Louisville restaurants. (Notice a pattern here?) For New Year’s Eve, we created crock-pot sauerbraten from one of ‘s holiday gift cookbooks, and it was splendid. Then we rang in the year with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on CNN, as we usually do.

Otherwise, things have been unexciting. The weather has been cold but not very snowy, unlike parts of the country to the south and east. What little snow has fallen has stayed, since it’s not melting. I don’t mind; this is about what winter should be, finally. I noted as I walked into my office from the parking lot that there was a passel of robins (that’s an ornithological term, “passel”). Apparently we will have no “first robin of spring” because they’re not going away in the winter anymore. I hope they make it through the next few weeks.

I’ve been spending a good bit of time in Second Life, working out the learning curve so that I can actually have a little fun and not just walk off a boardwalk into the ocean all the time. Though, I guess I could also be a merman if I really can’t stay out of the water; I found an avatar for one that looked pretty cool. I seem also to have outgrown the motion sickness I reported back in November. That pleases me no end, as motion sickness is one of my less favorite things. I’ve done nothing to facilitate this except keep playing; no meds or anything else.

Anything else? Not really. I played an open mic a couple of weeks ago, and that’s been the only time I played guitar all year. I have to make some time for it this weekend, because I think I actually have started missing playing.