• listen to great music: Listen to Tubular Bells from Mike Oldfield. It is a historic piece, and you should listen to it on a real stereo, without having any distractions, in your living room. Get comfy, put it on, and get happy. I am not kidding – listening to this record actually makes me smile (and dance through the room, but that is a different story). I got this record as a gift from my father, which makes me realize that maybe I have grown up – at least partly – because isn’t it growing up to do something although your parents said it was right?

• Write a real letter: Yep, the one with paper and pencil. But do it right – use a blank sheet of high quality paper (take one out of your printer if you have nothing else around), don’t use paper with lines and holes and whatever else on it. Don’t use the block of paper with a company logo on it you got at your last conference. And get your old fountain pen back to work: Using it does not only improve your handwriting that has been crippled by ballpoint pens, but the blue ink also looks classy.
  If you have trouble writing in straight lines, put a lined sheet of paper underneath. Write a letter to a friend, to your parents, to your grandparents – whoever you think of who has not heard from you in a while. Send it next thing Monday. I guarantee you, they will be amazed. Why do I know? Well, because of the letter I received yesterday that amazed me, and that now caused me to get paper and ink out again.

Today, after revisiting the first chapers, I made a new attempt to get on with it. I started practicing the “F”, which is the first tune where you have to hit two strings with the same finger, which is quite a hassle. So now, for the next few days, you can find me here in my living room, picking up the guitar in a random moment, playing a few F’s, and putting it back in its stand.

I will get to the next chapter. For sure!