Plenty of time to drag out my ukulele

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - More than a decade ago, I set out to achieve three goals, not necessarily in the order listed below.

     • I wanted to become comfortable speaking - and understanding others speaking - a foreign language.

    • I wanted to publish a novel. (Publish, not just write)

    • I wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument.

     On the foreign language front, I am relatively comfortable with Spanish, though the longer I am away from living in Mexico, the weaker it gets. Still, two weeks ago I had a lively conversation - all in Spanish - with a mechanic who was fixing a dent in my Toyota Tundra.
     My novels (The Fracking War, Fracking Justice and The Devil's Pipeline) are all out there circulating.
     And the musical instrument?
   Well, after giving myself a frozen shoulder learning to play a full-size guitar, I was advised by a music pro to take up the ukulele. He said the best thing about a uke is that if you aren't that skilled on the strings, you can always just sing louder and cover up your ineptness. He was soooo right.
     The ineptness is more pronounced now, largely because I have barely tuned my eight-string in the last few years.
     But today I was encouraged by the video below featuring Neil Diamond. He performs a Covid-19-inspired remake of his classic "Sweet Caroline." It's great.
    And given that I (and probably you) have at least several weeks more of "sheltering in place" it got me to pull my uke down off the wall. Perhaps I can come up with a few parody numbers myself.
    Don't look for me on Youtube anytime soon, however.
Or for a reunion tour of The Four Headlamps.