for one thing there's his brother who is the really competitive type. you know the kind... the kind that makes everything into a competition, even if it's something stupid like who can tie their shoes faster or who has the more beer in their fridge? he's one of those. since he and bryan both like to sing, somehow it became a competition for him to outsing bryan. the only problem is that... well... he's not very good, so bryan "wins" every time.

to humor eric, bryan agreed to pick up guitar and learn that so that when eric comes over he can sing rather than them fighting over it. the only problem is that guitar is really tough, so bryan needs to practice it a lot, so he's started asking me to sing when eric isn't around, which is most of the time, except right now i'm sick and sound like crap. in the mean time, bryan doesn't want to play by himself, and you can't play in "band mode" with just one person, so i have agreed to accompany him on drums.

i was a "drummer" in high school, in that i played the timpani, which is a type of drum. i never played set drum, i never marched in the drumline, and i was never really considered much of a drummer by anybody else. but i played a type of drum, i have decent rhythm, and i at least knew how to hold the drum sticks, so between the two of us i was marginally better equipped.

what i learned is that, oh yeah, there was a reason i quit playing timpani.

not that i'm particularly bad. in fact, i'm pretty decent. after once or twice through a song, i can get in the mid-90% accuracy range on medium difficulty. hard is a little beyond me just yet, but i'll get there i suppose. no, what i discovered is that my body just doesn't approve. after a few minutes of playing my hands start to cramp up. a little while after that my back starts to ache. a bit later my ankle starts to lock up. by the end i look like some curled up, hunch-backed freak of nature, limping around the house with my hands distorted and tucked to my chest.

i'm sure it's great entertainment for anybody else, watching me wince in time to the music, and when i'm not in pain it's actually pretty fun and i feel like i'm pretty good at something for once. it's good that bryan and i have something to do together again, where we can play cooperatively. we're both of similar skill levels, but doing separate things so we're not competing against each other but rather working together towards a common goal without feeling like one or the other of us is holding back the team. i just have to remember to quit after two or three hours and let my body heal up a little.