A Tchaikovsky I'm Not

In another one of my "quest for knowledge" moments earlier this week, I decided I'd try to learn to play the piano. I picked up some books and read those while I waited for a keyboard to arrive via mail order. Seeing as how I have absolutely zero previous music experience, this should be a real joy early on in the learning process. I can't read music, I don't know chords, all piano keys look alike to me, and I've never seriously attempted to play an instrument before. At least I'm not tone-deaf. That's a plus.

I picked up a Yamaha DGX-203 keyboard and a stand yesterday, and I promptly set it up against the wall in my dining room. After dealing with the learning curve of the keyboard itself (the amount of buttons and functions on this thing is ridiculous), I set forth on my journey to figure out what the hell I was doing from Alfred's Adult Piano Course.

I ended up playing for about 3-4 hours yesterday evening. I still have no idea how to read music, but I can sort of play a staggered version of "Jingle Bells" by looking at how the notes are positioned in relation to each other. Making my hands operate independently is the real challenge. My respect level for pianists has gone through the roof in the past 24 hours. How the heck can you be hitting three keys at the same time with your left hand, while your right hand is tapping away on 2-3 other separate keys? I think this answers the question as to whether or not I'm naturally ambidextrous.

But, there is some good news: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.

No, wait... That's not it. Damn those Geico commercials. The good news is that I've been researching how other self-instructed pianists have been progressing on the Piano World forums. It looks like I can expect to play a semi-respectable piece about a year from now. Yep. Just 365 days... Looks like I have some work in front of me. But, hey, as long as I'm having fun with it, I could care less.