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Never from guitar playing, but I have had it.

RICE.  That's the cure.  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  Although elevation isn't actually necessary in this case because it's not a contusion and you don't need to worry about blood clotting with tendonitis.  RICE is the cure for most bumps, bruises, and miscellaneous owies.

Johnny Cash performed several times each at Folsom Prison and San Quentin Prison.  The albums from Folsom and San Quentin are classics.  There was a recently released  remastered version of the San Quentin album that includes some of the stage talk that's worth a listen.  It gets down to who Johnny Cash is. 

Merle Haggard (I think it was) first heard Johnny Cash when he was an inmate at one of those prisons.  He said that Johnny Cash came in and talked to them like he was one of them - mostly because he was just as crazy and just as bold.  So then when he talked about the Gospel the way their mommas tried to teach them it really hit home.  I think that's cool that the Lord could use a reformed druggie wildman to go into a prison and evangelize folks who then turn their lives around not because the guy saying it was a well-educated and well-doctrined preacher who spoke from his head and from his book but because he was a madman just as crazy as the rest of them and spoke from his heart.  Merle Haggard of course went on to become quite the outlaw country star himself.  He wrote what is possibly the BEST country line ever "I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole..." in Mama Tried.

- Zurf

Another sign of geezerhood.  When I'm watching TV with my daughter and thinking that the female leads' mothers are quite attractive but the leads should put on a sweater to cover her shoulders.

- Zurf

Covers are over-rated.  Play it your way.

- Zurf

I'm glad we have a well-constructed house.  Some homes are now built with engineered joists, and those would have been a disaster with this situation.  The joists in my house are all solid 2x10 wood resting on a 10" steel I-beam as the center support.  Solid construction.  The joists will dry out fine and stay just as sturdy and solid as they ever have been.  Had the engineered ones become as wet, I can only imagine the hassle of replacement ... 

As it is, it looks like almost all of the flooring is going to require replacement, all of the ceiling in the basement, and probably all fo the drywall.  What a mess. 

- Zurf

Well, I took a good song and turned it into a rubbish song by playing a piano rock song as a guitar bluegrass song, and that's "Crocodile Rock."  Getting those high G's for the "la" verse is tough, I practically always miss it, and it never fails to get a laugh because I generally sing baritone and sometimes as high as a low tenor, but surely never the high tenor needed for those notes.

Another rubbish song I've learned is Jimmy Buffett's "Were You Born an <<here the song uses a crass term for the southern most end of the alimentary canal>>".  It was written for a guy who cut Jimmy Buffett off in traffic on Interstate 95. 

Finally, I've been trying to do a fairly close to original version of John Denver's "Grandma's Featherbed".  My kids love it, especially the part about sneaking a piggy from the shed into bed with everyone. 

I like doing these fun songs.  Perhaps they are rubbish, or perhaps not.  I guess a real rubbish song would br something like "Kung Fu Fighting" (those cats were fast as lightning). 

- Zurf

Well, Alzheimer's sucks.  Sorry you had to get mixed up in that.  But it's sure great to hear that you're picking and playing and singing.  Keep that up for sure! 

Welcome aboard.  We're glad you're here.

- Zurf

Headcase -

Check your e-mail.  I sent you a little present.

- Zurf

Yep.  Go back and talk to them.  Talk rationally and calmly.  If they ask what you want to be satisfied, know what you want.  I'd want my $35 back, plus get my Ernie Ball 10s back, and finally to watch them shove their 9s into a dark and foreboding place.  Seriously.  Who uses 9s?   

I'll bet I know the shop you went to.  Go and explain all the irregularities you've perceived to the manager, or better yet to the owner.  Whether or not you get satisfaction for it, they ought to know that their practices/policies are not being perceived well by their customers.  In the age of internet shopping and being able find how-to guides on absolutely anything, that's not helpful to their staying in business. 

- Zurf

Spiritual by Johnny Cash   How can you beat this line when sung as a prayer rather than a blasphemy     "Jeeeeeeesus.  Jeeeeeesus!   I don't want to die (pregnant pause) alone." 

Unchained by Johnny Cash  I'm learning this one, I can play it OK with the music but get wrapped up in the lyrics and forget the chords to play.  Johnny Cash didn't write it from what I can recall of the liner notes.  It moved him and so he did it as a cover.  Anyway, there's a line in it that compares the singer (it's written in first person) to a homeless person and perfectly epitomizes how some people's spirits just don't seem to be at "home" on Earth. 

I have a soft spot for people who have given their lives over to the bottle.  I've seen a lot of good people go down that path, some family among them.  So, I think "Early Morning Rain" by Gordon Lightfoot is one that touches me deeply.  A woman comes to take him home. He misses home terribly but he can't stay sobor long enough to get on the plane and breaks his own heart.  It is a measured and decisive entry into the Hell of drinking one's self to death.  I don't know if I've ever heard a song that so aptly describes a person confronted by the choice of love and family or the bottle, and selecting the bottle knowing what it means.  I've heard several versions and I don't know who wrote it, but the version I prefer to hear is Gordon Lightfoot's.  I've been working on that one too.  Mine is nowhere as poignant (skillful, interesting, etc.) as his.  It's brilliant how early in the song he sings about the fun of drinking "Now the liquor tasted good, and the women all were fast" and later in the song it's obvious that he's already passed the stage of social drinking and has lost a lot of himself to the booze when he sings "I'm stuck here in the grass, cold and drunk as I can be".  The first line is sung almost whistfully, as a fond memory, and the second line is practically spit out with a real hardness to his voice.  What a skilled storyteller Gordon Lightfoot is. 

- Zurf