[Stronkey Kong]

 

Hi. I'm Stronkey Kong. I've been on NF for almost 9 years now. I'm just as fat as when I joined... but maybe a bit healthier overall. I'll take it.

 

Last challenge tanked because of a putative Covid-19 infection, and I spent most of April managing and recovering. I'm at like 99% now though. All the symptoms are gone, but I'm still regaining bits of strength from weeks of barely eating and getting things back in balance. This is my last day off from a week-long (and long overdue) vacation, where I got some gardening done, but not finished, and I still need to fix my bathtub.

 

I recently bought a bass guitar and am (obsessively) learning to play it. I've been playing guitar since I was 13, and can even sit at a keyboard and dink around with chords without getting lost. I have an unpolished knack for music, and I want to start writing/recording my own stuff and maybe join a band for fun at some point.

 

I also bought an electronic drum kit, but that's not top priority.

 

(Nyango Star vid, not part of theme... but I just can't bring myself to delete it)

Yeah... I just turned 38, so I might just be getting an early start on a mid-life crisis thing, but I'm just gonna roll with it and have some fun...

 

Playing music is great for a lot of reasons... keeps me active (at least better than TV and video games), it can be a way to connect with other people, and it definitely lifts my mood and keeps me engaged intellectually... but I am getting a little bit obsessed and need to take care of other things. I'm focusing on learning RB and Soul at the moment, so might as well go with a Blues Brothers theme... cuz I've heard them sing more Soul songs than actual blues songs... and whatever, these gifs are fun.

 

 

GOALS:

 

1) Plant based diet:: Don't eat like Jake and Elwood

Before I got sick, I was eating a '99% plant based diet' and made to a bit past 30 days. It was going very well. I'd lost a few pounds and had zero acid reflux and was overall feeling really good. When I got sick I gave up because I wanted comfort food and couldn't eat much with my sore throat and nausea and lack of taste. Now I'm dealing with upset stomach and acid reflux etc. again. So I need to go back. But I'm going to aim for 90%... meaning 18 or 19 of my meals each week should be entirely plant based. The other 2-3 meals are just allowed to deviate for the sake of flexibility and filling in a few nutritional gaps.

 

2) Stay Active: I could easily sit around in all my free minutes playing music and watching videos about music. But I need to make sure I get some actual exercise again. For starters I'm going to start going Morning Burpees (with a pushup). I'll start with 5 on day one, and add one every day till I hit thirty. After that I'll do another activity like walking, quick calisthenics routines, and gardening/house work all count. 5 days per week.

 

 

3) Fix more than I break and don't leave a trail of destruction everywhere

I have a long list of projects and things to do in or around the house. Usually, once I get started, 1 hour can become 3 or 4. Every day I'm off of work make at least 1 hour of progress toward  gardening or getting things fixed in the house.

 

4) Get good at BASS! -- I'm taking online lessons through a self-paced study platform, that also has web forum just like this with practice logs you're supposed to maintain... actually using the same web platform and is almost identical except for the color palate and minor format things... so if I mistakenly just insert a post on this thread about rambling about bass guitar and music theory or whatever, just know that I'm really tired and got my forums mixed up 🤣

 

Practice Bass everyday, and post in my practice log. And for fun I'll post some videos of the songs I'm learning. I think the direction I'm heading in is to learn Soul and R&B bass as my focus. So I'll be learning and transcribing (learning by ear) those along with some rock, blues, and jazz gems mixed in there.

 

Maybe I should learn 'Rawhide' 🤔
 

Spoiler

 Last night I sat down and transcribed the bass line for this classic:

 

 

I'm also working on this one...

I learned the main line from some sheets/tabs, but I need to figure out the chorus and bridge etc. Shouldn't be long.

 

And this one...

I figured out the main line last week, but need to sit down with the recording and figure out the rest.

 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

4) BASS! -- I'm taking online lessons through a self-paced study platform, that also has web forum just like this with practice logs you're supposed to maintain... actually using the same web platform and is almost identical except for the color palate and minor format things... so if I mistakenly just insert a post on this thread about rambling about bass guitar and music theory or whatever, just know that I'm really tired and got my forums mixed up 🤣

 

Following my friend.

[Snarkyfishguts]

Very cool challenge! I’m so glad you are feeling better. 
 

 

[Conquius]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:03 PM, Stronkey Kong said:

1) Plant based diet

 

I've got some good Plant Based recipes if you're interested. I've been vegan for 3 years, and I love to cook. Other than that, looking forward to hearing more about the bass progress 😎

[Stronkey Kong]

On 5/1/2022 at 8:42 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

 

Following my friend.

 

I think this guy is one of the instructors on 'Scott's Bass Lessons' -- the online bass academy I'm using. Don't think I'll be taking any slide bass lessons any time soon though. The mix of taps and slide was cool in parts, but a lot of it sounds too out of tune for my taste.

 

22 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Very cool challenge! I’m so glad you are feeling better. 
 

 

 

Thanks!

 

7 hours ago, Conquius said:

 

I've got some good Plant Based recipes if you're interested. I've been vegan for 3 years, and I love to cook. Other than that, looking forward to hearing more about the bass progress 😎

 

Have you mastered the art of plant based cheese using nutritional yeast? I have not, though most of my results have been edible, they haven't been great yet.

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Plant based diet: Zero week is clean out the fridge/pantry week -- so I'm eating some meats before they go to waste.

 

Stay active: I woke up late-ish so I didn't do anything active. Today, if it's not raining when I get up, I am gonna go outside and start clearing gravel from around my back deck so I can spread mulch and plant some things this weekend.

 

Fixin' stuff: Clearing gravel for future mulch beds is fixin' stuff.

 

BASS!: After @Tanktimus the Encourager's discussion of Led Zeppelin songs, I decided I had to learn the bassline to 'Ramble On'.

 

 

I just figured out the intro/verse bassline by ear in like 20 min... I'm very proud of this considering how much I've struggled with learning songs by ear in the past. And it's just proof that you can really gain and improve on musical superpowers with just a little persistence and practice.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Well done on picking it up so fast!

[Conquius]

7 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

Have you mastered the art of plant based cheese using nutritional yeast?

 

I make a lot of cheesy sauces using Nutritional Yeast (among other things). My partner has a great vegan mac & cheese recipe they adapted from Vegan Comfort Classics that uses a sunflower seed base.

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Dammit!

 

I bought another bass guitar.

 

It was cheap tho. It's a  4-string Yamaha BB300 -- which is a clone of a Fender P-bass, and has decent reviews for quality vs. price.

 

So why did I buy it?

 

There are basically three major types of electric basses: 'Precision' (P) basses, 'Jazz' (J) basses, and 'Modern' basses. The differences lie in the neck width, pickup types/positions, and the electronics/tone controls. The one I currently own (an Ibanez SG505EPH (I think is the full model name)) is kind of a hybrid J-Bass/Modern meaning it has two pickups, a narrower neck, and active electronics and a few other bells and whistles that make it able to cover the entire range of sounds for J and Modern basses. Plus, it has round wound strings, which sound brighter and can be more percussive for slap styles.

 

What my bass can't do however, is get the early 50's &60's 'Motown' sound... which came from a P-bass with flatwound strings and often some type of muting mechanism like shoving a sponge under the strings near the bridge. The sound is a nice smooth, thump that almost sounds like an upright/double bass. So that's what I'm gonna do with it. So long as it's as decent as reviewers say, it'll be a nice second guitar to have on hand when I want that sound.

 

I did nothing to do with goals today. 😕

[Snarkyfishguts]

3 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

I did nothing to do with goals today. 😕

This is just the beginning.  

[Scaly Freak]

19 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

I did nothing to do with goals today. 😕

 

You low-key geeked out about bass design and how it influences the instrument acoustics. I'd say that qualifies for goal #4.  

[Stronkey Kong]

Today I had to get up early, and got to work 2 hours earlier to attend our quarterly all-hands meeting. Ugh!

 

The good news is I won 'Employee of the Quarter' so I got a small bonus, an extra day off and the closest (non-handicapable) parking spot to the door. The little bonus pays for a good chunk of bass number 2 so that's nice.

 

Other than that I trudged through my shift and came home, relaxed, and played a little bass.

 

And I came up with a challenge theme to put together this weekend.

 

[Stronkey Kong]

20 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

This is just the beginning.  

 

... of my descent into NF Challenge chaos? It's still zero week!

 

4 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

You low-key geeked out about bass design and how it influences the instrument acoustics. I'd say that qualifies for goal #4.  

 

(see challenge title )

[Sciread77]

Ooh I’m here for this. Sorry you got the ‘Vid and glad you recovered. 

[Snarkyfishguts]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:08 AM, Stronkey Kong said:

of my descent into NF Challenge chaos? It's still zero week!

No! Of your upward journey to success! What is the point of a challenge if you start off perfectly? That’s just showing off 😁

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Ugh!

 

Everywhere I dig in the yard I hit gravel or concrete. My gardening plans are changing drastically.

 

Today, I started clearing my overgrown yard. The grass and weeds are about 12-18 inches high, so I was hacking at it with a manual weedwacker (not sure if that's really what they're called). I got about half the back yard done, but the grass is thick. When I tired of all that I just moved on. I moved my compost pile over a few feet into the shady part of the yard. Then I started working on removing gravel from the area around my back deck so I could put down mulch for some flower beds. In the process I found an old concrete walkway. I gave up on all that and moved to the front yard and did some weeding and spread some more mulch. Then I took a little break and went through the flats of plants I have and planned out where I'm going to plant the rest.

 

Then I went back to the back yard and decided to do some more excavating... from the edge of the house to the back property line is all  3-4 inches of gravel on top of old concrete, I found out. This is the back part of the driveway, probably had a garage there at one point, part of it was also probably patio. The middle of the driveway, along the side of the house is gravel on top of soil. This is also where water seeps into the basement. Then the front of the driveway is (from an excavation I did a while back. Concrete or gravel, on top of brick. So basically, I've got my gutters dumping rainwater into a gravelly pond dammed on both ends by concrete. So I think If I remove a dam (or part of it) and crate a path to a low spot, and make a little rain garden, I can alleviate a lot of my basement water issues.

 

Ugh! So much to do.

 

Anywho, that's how I spent about 3-4 hours of my day.

[Stronkey Kong]

 

Stay Plant Based: Today was 100% plant based... yesterday tho, I had smoked brisket at my Mom's

Stay Active:  After stretching a bit I did 5 morning burpees... slow pathetic ones.... and that was enough to make me start sweating... ugh! Then I cleaned up the living room and dining room.

BASS!: I practiced tonight and logged it.

[juliebarkley]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:03 PM, Stronkey Kong said:

4) Get good at BASS! -- I'm taking online lessons through a self-paced study platform, that also has web forum just like this with practice logs you're supposed to maintain... actually using the same web platform and is almost identical except for the color palate and minor format things... so if I mistakenly just insert a post on this thread about rambling about bass guitar and music theory or whatever, just know that I'm really tired and got my forums mixed up 🤣

Am I the only one secretly hoping for a cross-post?

[Stronkey Kong]

End of Week 1:

 

1 Plant based diet: I tried, but based on my meal choices the last couple of days (wings and pizza) my heart isn't into this. So we'll just call it "Eat better than Jake and Elwood." As my garden gets growing, this will get easier. -- I have tomatoes and brocolli I need to get into the ground.

 

Addit: And I remembered I need to start using Lumen again. I stopped when I got sick, and haven't done it since. 😕

 

2 Stay Active: I did burpees on Monday and that was it. Burpees suck. I don't want to do more right now. Instead I'm going to do the NF Beginner KB workout M,W,F then do one of or any combination of walking, gardening, stat bike, or heavy bag on 3/4 of T,R, S, S.

 

3 Fixin' stuff: I started deep cleaning the kitchen. I haven't cleaned much at all except dishes since before I got sick. It's cluttered everywhere, the floor is dirty, and there's a trail of ants from the back door to the cat's food dish. 😕 I'll finish that up tomorrow, after some gardening.

 

4 Getting Good at Bass: I actually missed a couple of practices this week, but was satisfied with the progress I've made on some of the songs I'm learning.... I also bought a cheap trumpet and dug my old violin out of the closet... and my ocarina... so distractions. <sigh> Bass is the focus still, but I want to be able to at least play simple melodies on these other instruments. I'll keep playing bass (nearly) everyday and just turn to these instruments when I need a break. On trumpet and violin, I'm really just practicing making a decent sound come out of it. And I have a whole new respect for horn players... trumpet is hard.

[juliebarkley]

9 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

I did burpees on Monday and that was it. Burpees suck. I don't want to do more right now.

I saw "burpees" and thought "fun!", so I did some for you. You're welcome. (And also thank you for the idea.)

[Scaly Freak]

31 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

I saw "burpees" and thought "fun!"

 

[juliebarkley]

1 hour ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Just for that, I did some for you as well.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

I saw "burpees" and thought "fun!", 

[juliebarkley]

12 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Questioning my sanity gets you some burpees too.

[Stronkey Kong]

11 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Questioning my sanity gets you some burpees too.

 

There are resources available: https://www.crisistextline.org/topics/self-harm/#what-is-self-harm-1

 

When you're ready to admit you have a problem