Day 16: Ukulele & Me

About seven or eight years ago I moved to Hawaii from what used to be a small city in Texas and I stayed in Hawaii for three years. I remember walking down this long street from the apartment I used to live to the bus stop and back after school with my mom and I just recall being in such disbelief that I am able to say that I live in Hawaii. My mind could not wrap around that idea just yet. In middle school we had to take a music class and in music class we learned how to play the ukulele. Although they were just brief lessons of learning few chords and strumming, I had really enjoyed the experience. The teacher was incredible and supportive, his passion for music clearly was presented in his teaching which probably made me like that class a lot more than the rest of the students who took this lesson a bit more lighthearted. In that same year for Christmas I had asked my parents for an ukulele of my own with the idea that I was going to continue playing and building up with what I have learned from class. That Christmas morning I did get my ukulele and I was in awe that my ukulele was sitting there under the tree waiting to play. I picked up the ukulele and I started strumming and just like that I got discouraged. I did not sound good at all! Annoyed I kind of just put my ukulele away in my closet and it kind of just ended there.

Fast forward those seven or eights year, before I left for college I saw my ukulele sitting in my closet (I have moved back from Hawaii to Texas) and I knew I could just not leave it there to gather dust. Although frankly that was all it was doing even when I lived in that house and I took my ukulele with me to college. For some reason I knew that I was going to be stress, my anxiety was not going to cooperate with me on some days, and feeling homesick were all emotions I was going to feel while I am living on my own (which at first they were) and if I started playing my ukulele again I would get to hear the beautiful singsong voice and find a way to escape the anxiety. Through out my first year of college, whenever my roommate would go to work or when I had my room to myself I would get my ukulele and just strum. It did not matter if I was just strumming or plucking random chords, all I wanted was to listen to my ukulele. I fiddle around with my ukulele more than I actually do play songs because I get annoyed easily still when I cannot get the strumming pattern, chords, and vocals down for a song. And from there on, I felt more at ease and I gained a little more confidence in myself too. I never really understood what was the big hoopla in playing an instrument but now I do. You create this bond with your instrument and when you do not feel like talking to anyone you seem to escape into making music. So maybe if I continued to play my ukulele when I was in middle school I would of been a better player today but at least I did not entirely give up. I can go for hours playing my ukulele and I am totally okay with that.

Do you have an instrument? What do you play?



xx Chavelita

What price tag?

To begin with, I have never had a job where I earned a salary nor have I ever been interviewed for a job (other than write a reflective paper as to why I wanted the job and usually it is the same reason as to why I want the job) position but since when does having a job mean you have to get paid or get something out of it in return? I've done numerous of jobs over the past year such as sing to the local nursing home, greet people at the entrance and pass out programs, stuff endless envelopes for the upcoming school year, even went to a presentation with my sponsor for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and heard quite interesting stories. What do I get in return you may ask? Satisfaction. For me it does not matter what the price tag these jobs have but by the end of the shift the moment when that person you helped out says thank you or praise you, at that moment when you have no words to explain as to how much you are thankful that they have picked you to do the job is enough for me. (It is also probably one of the greatest feeling to encounter.)

When I sang at the local nursing home it was my first that I ever sang in public, singing Amazing Grace and watching all those faces glow with new life gave me goosebumps. So glad I did not forget the lyrics though because then I will be getting goosebumps for the wrong reason. Most of the time they do treat those people with love and kindness, but not all do in addition they may get lonely. They are still people regardless of age and I feel sometimes people lose hope in the older generation but instead we should be learning from them. Just showing a hint of a caring gesture for others will get you places, and trust me it will change your life too. At the end of those two hours when we had to thank all the people who came to watch us sing, this lady sitting on one of the couches pulled me into a hug and was telling me how much I had reminded me of her granddaughter. She even told me "I love you", and like the socially awkward person that I am I replied with "thank you". Hey at least that was better than staring silently at her! I had no idea how I was supposed to reply to that because this was the first time something like this has happened to me, a complete stranger showing such passion to another complete stranger. It is the little things like these that makes me want to get out there and do more for my community. Restore some of the peace and know that it was you who was able to accomplish something. Even if it may be the minimalist thing such as cleaning the kitchen or the toilet you can still put your name on that task.

I could have not done this alone though. Everyone needs a push and I would like to thank my teachers of the International Baccalaureate program for giving me that push to remove my outer shell and help get my feet out the door. To go out there and create new stories that are just waiting to be made. Most of these stories would have not been created if I did not have a constant push to do more. This is probably coming out mushy again ahaha but the advice for today is that do not forget to think about others. Do not be selfish and think, "what is it to me? what am I going to get out of this?" because helping does not cost anything but time. Use your time wisely. You will always have time to think about yourself even maybe too much time because even I do get fed up about thinking about myself that I have to start writing down my own thoughts such as what I am doing right now. I'm pretty sure that you are stressing over things you can't change so why not think about things you can do to change something?

When was the last time you helped someone and what did you do to complete this task?

 Easter Parade with MADD

xx Chavelita