Keeping up Appearances

As you know, Internet, I am competitive. It is not something that I try to do, it is merely WHAT I do. It is not that I really want to be competitive. I just want to win. So now that we've established the theme for the post, let's get to the meat. We have a new next door neighbor. The husband has been very busy outside, so we see him a lot and spend a good amount of time chatting. Right after the Dexter-Ann Arbor run we chatted and I found out he is a runner too. Faboo! But he runs 5-7 miles a day. I run 2. Then his wife got pretty hanging baskets. I don't have any of those. He has projects and you see him ALWAYS working on them. It was not too bad, Internet, until last week when I saw an Evola truck pull up and deliver a piano. I play piano. I play piano rather frequently. So last night when we were sitting out on the porch, we could hear the husband playing the piano. As he played, I recognized the songs: Hey, I thought, Moonlight Sonata is MY piece! And that Chopin waltz is one I play! Piece after piece it seemed he choose from my music library, increasing the difficulty with each one. Finally, he played a part of Clair de Lune. That amounted to all out war. I never really worked through that piece, as it is intimidating, but it is a beautiful one that I grew up listening to. So, the proverbial gauntlet is out, right there in front of my porch, and The Neighbor does not even know he threw it out. So today, instead of pulling out the worn DeBussy music from which to begin picking, I dragged out my dusty violin. Why? Don't know. Except that I haven't heard him play that instrument yet (I came to find out he plays the banjo with wild abandon), and I feel like I may have a one-up on him. Of course, I can't play the violin very well, never having followed through with lessons past Suzuki Book 2, but it made me feel better to squeak out some old tunes. You should know, Internet, that I have a SCIENCE degree - which I thought gave me a competative edge over him - until I found out he is an engineer. So the marathon running, banjo picking, piano playing engineer next door is about to engage in a race that he doesn't know he is running. It's better that way- I've got the element of surprise! And, by the way, I didn't hear ONE IOTA of Mozart, so he better step up his game a bit.