I finally got a chance to open the card some of my fellow taikomates gave me in honor of my 10th recital, and there was a too generous gift as well! "Yooooouuuuuu guuuuuuuys, I'm all verklempt."
In keeping with my geekish nature, I knew the second I looked at the gift card what I wanted. And of course it comes with a story. Yeah yeah Jeff, it will be TMI, but you'll endure...
About 4 years ago (more?) I noticed the Kokiriko at the Dojo (the snakey shaker thing) was coming untied. No big deal I thought, I'm a knot tying fiend from over 30 years of sailing, plus 7 years of Girl Scouts and a serious macrame addiction all through the 70's. This little bit of string and wood should hold no mysteries for me, I'll just take it home and whip it back together. (For you knot nuts, that was a pun. Whipping is a way of finishing off a line so it doesn't unravel. Seeeeee I TOLD you I was a geek for this stuff.)
Well I tell you, I must have retied that stupid thing about 20 times -- and still not tight enough to work right. For those of you who come over to my little space to play, you might recall it sitting on my bar. I see it everyday, mocking me -- "Heh, tie ME will ya!" it sneers each time I pass it laying there.
My mates' gift will cover getting a new one to replace the one at the Dojo (with a bit left over for something indulgent too!), and will allow me to be less conservative in my disassembly of the old one to really figure out how it works. They've given me a triple gift.
1) I can give a new Kokiriko to our Mu Daiko dojo we all get to use.
2) I get to kick the old one's metaphorical ass.
3) I'll know HOW to fix these thingies for the next time. As their mystery will have been revealed to me. HA take that you inanimate object that's been eating at my mildly OCD addled brain!
I tell ya, Taiko people are the BEST!
