Killing Some Time

I've started practicing drumming again. It's been a long while. I think, mostly, I felt intimidated by a practice pad. They're cold, and expressionless, when compared with the awesome sound of a full acoustic drum kit. Having spent a few days now actually tapping out simple patterns though, I can definitely see the benefit. Paradiddles, triplets, five seven and nine stroke rolls, and even single stroke rolls are quickly becoming more comfortable. I'm still not very fast though; I expect that will come with time and practice. I can feel blisters starting to form on the side of my index fingers, small ones. If I pace my playing properly, those should fade and my fingers will be stronger. The tiredness in my fingers, wrists, and to a lesser extent, my shoulders, will also fade as the muscles reacquaint themselves to that type of movement and become stronger. I've remembered tips read a long time ago about practicing while watching TV - I don't have a TV, but Netflix is close enough. Theme songs and opening credits to movies are playing to the gentle tap of my 7B's as I distractedly lean back in my chair. Speaking of 7B's, I used to think that the "rock" sized drumsticks were the best thing to ever strike a skin. They're definitely exactly what they're intended to be, I'm sure, but I think I prefer the slimmer and lighter sticks these days. They feel faster in my hands and easier to control. I used to demand for myself wooden tips, thinking that they were somehow superior without actually trying a good pair with nylon tips. There is so much equipment out there, and it's probably very unlikely that I will master all of it, or even understand the purpose of half of it, but I think  going forward I will have to keep an open mind about my personal studies in music.