Fail

I've been a musician as long as I've had memory. I think I'm up to about 22 years, now. I started with piano, moved to guitar, moved to bass guitar, and finally moved to drums. As my arthritis has gotten progressively worse, I've lost my ability to play the first three. Now, I only play drums.

When we moved out to Oklahoma, I was drumless. I sold my electric set a little while before we left Florida (story for another day). I found myself a beautiful acoustic set with a retail of $2400. It wasn't long before it was mine.

All was well at our old (sewagey) apartment. One side from us was vacant. The other side never minded if I played. That said, it was very difficult for me, because I don't like people hearing me practice because that's when I make all my mistakes.

When we moved in to our new apartment, that's where the problems came in. Both of our neighbors knew I had a kit and okayed certain times to play. The first time I played, our neighbor across the hall beat my door down to tell me to stop. His kid was napping. The second time I played, our downstairs neighbor came up to tell me I missed lots of beats and asked if his wife could watch me play for a while. That REALLY made me self-conscious. I stopped playing then.

I finally made the very hard choice to sell my beautiful new acoustic set and buy another electric. I finally found someone on Craig's List who would trade one for one with me. It was at a loss on my end, but I really needed to play again.

Tonight, Rachel and I drove 70 miles each way to trade kits. I brought the new one home, set it up, and started trying it out so I could get everything set where I wanted it. While using it, the downstairs neighbor came up and asked me to stop. They could hear everything.

Why do I even try? :(