What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

I wish I knew how to play an instrument.

I’m a huge music fan…always have been. But I’ve never been able to play an instrument. I’ve tried, though. When I was in high school, my mom–who was my school’s computer teacher at the time–became friends with the band teacher and they convinced me to join band. I really, REALLY didn’t want to, but back then my mom had a habit of strong-arming me into doing things, even if I showed literally zero interest in them. I didn’t even know what instrument I wanted to play, but the band teacher told me to go with tenor sax. And even though I’d be the only person in the band that didn’t already know how to play my instrument, the band teacher assured me that he would teach me how to play, in between teaching the rest of the band what they needed to know.

Obviously, that’s not what happened. He never had time to teach me anything one-on-one, so I never actually learned how to play my instrument. To make matters worse, the marching band eventually went on a week-long class trip out of state. The band teacher had the idea that he would take us on a tour of colleges around the country. We’d get a tour of each campus and then we’d play with the college marching band. Sounds cool, right? Well, it was…for everyone else. For me, it was a nightmare. Because I got called out on not being able to play my instrument. Every. Fucking. Time.

The only highlight of that trip was the tail end of it. We were supposed to tour some college in Atlanta (I can’t remember which one, maybe Clark?) and the college’s band teacher had to cancel last minute. So we were essentially stuck in ATL for a day or two with nothing to do. We ended up just going to Atlantic Station and walking around for a bit. Cool place, even though I’m not really a fan of malls.

A few months after that trip, and halfway through the school year, the band teacher ended up quitting the school. The rumor was that he got up to no good on the trip and someone found out, but no one knew if the rumor was true or not. I didn’t really care, honestly. I was just glad that I was able to take my sax back to Guitar Center and get some decent money for it. After that, I never touched an instrument again. But part of me still wishes I had actually learned how to play that sax, instead of just being promised a lesson that never happened. Oh well. Maybe one day.

Thanks for reading.

Song of the Day: People Under the Stairs – Blowin Wax

One of my favorite songs of all time that also has some sax in it. RIP Double K.