Getting my Guitar!

Moving with only suitcases forces one to make some difficult choices.  What can one really call "essential" for survival in a new country?  The essential tag really depends on how much something will be used and the size and weight of said item.  Are hobbies and passions important?  What if the equipment for hobbies and passions is bulky?  Where is the line between hobby and passion?

All this uncertainty and the size limits of our bags ended with me leaving a lot of my hobby and passion equipment at home.  Old video game consoles were easy to pack up and leave behind, since they wouldn't function with the voltage and television frame rates of Europe, anyway.  Brewing equipment is generally inexpensive and some brewing can be done even with cobbled together materials... kind of.  Music instruments are altogether different.  All the instruments I can play are large and expensive (I knew I should have majored in jaw harp instead of trombone!) and I didn't know what kind of living arrangement we would have.  Loud brass instruments generally don't work in apartment buildings, so I am glad not to have brought them along.  I managed to throw a couple of pairs of drumsticks into the suitcases to practice my snare drum rudiments.  It's nice to tap on tables, but wasn't really as stimulating as a melody instrument for me.  A folk guitar would play in an apartment nicely, if only I could find a good deal here...

Enter the used "stuff for sale" market here in Ireland.  In Iowa, I was able to use Craigslist to great effect in buying and selling goods (but no services... not on Craigslist...eeewwww.)  Unfortunately, Craigslist isn't used by many here in Dublin.  Goods do go up on the site, but it isn't the first (or second, or third) choice of sellers here.  We did manage to find the buying and selling websites most used in Ireland, and I began trolling.  Sadly, trolling seems like the perfect word for it, because I wasn't impressed with the offerings on the site.  Lots of cheap instruments, but few of any quality.  Quality instruments (even mediocre ones) were marked up to insane levels, and I wasn't moved by any of them.  Finally, I gave up and decided to buy new.

Yamaha F310 Box Art

Guitar on stand.  Strap is attached with a shoelace I
found on the ground.

I found a very highly-reviewed Yamaha guitar on the UK Amazon site.  It is a beginner-level instrument, so I wasn't expecting perfection.  It arrived with all bits and bobs intact and functioning.  I have since been playing for for a few hours a day.  Turns out a few months without playing music causes a musical backup, and it has been pouring out of me like a bursting dam ever since.