Do you ever have those moments where you get really lost in an idea that you think could be a good one but is probably completely unrealistic?

Hi, yes, my name is Claire and I’ve been hardcore obsessed with looking up ukuleles on Amazon for the past two weeks.

Don’t ask me how it started. (Okay… it was probably listening to too much Twenty One Pilots. That’s a good guess, honestly.)

Before I knew it, I was just browsing around the website, looking at different models and sizes. Like window shopping, but online: nothing too serious.

Then I made the mistake of Googling the fateful phrase “best ukuleles for beginners”... and whoah man, I got sucked in.

You know how sometimes it’s really easy to get trapped in the rabbit hole that is the internet? How you’ll start watching a harmless cooking video one night and somehow end up with a random top ten video two hours later?

This was me. But with ukuleles.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: I have no earthly idea how to play the ukulele. I do know that I tried to teach myself acoustic guitar last year and failed spectacularly. I do know that a ukulele is kinda like a smaller guitar but you strum it differently and it comes it different sizes. But that’s all I know.

However, that didn’t stop me from reading blog post after blog post about the pros and cons of different brands of ukuleles for beginners, and the debate between getting a cheaper, mediocre one or buying a more expensive, nicer one.

I felt like I was floundering, and for a very good reason. I had no idea what was going on and yet I couldn’t pull myself away. Morbid curiosity, at its best.

I finally escaped after over an hour of scouring Amazon and the reviews that customers had left. I had won. I was free.

And then came the ads.

Amazon does personalized ads on some websites, and before I knew it, there were ukulele ads everywhere. Twitter. Facebook. Even Odyssey. Those DANG ukuleles just wouldn’t let me live.

I’m trying to quit cold turkey, but it is very, very hard; just look at this beauty. I feel like it's just waiting for me to try it out. “Play me, Claire… Learn all the Twenty One Pilots covers you want and make your dreams come true…”

What I have learned from this ordeal is that I have more self-control than I thought. Because let’s be real… $35 for a ukulele is a steal. It’s like the thing is begging to be bought.

But sometimes I think it’s better to be more realistic. Without finding someone who could actually teach me ukulele, I’m afraid that my purchase, and excitement, would be for nothing. It’d just be another repeat of my acoustic guitar failure and I don’t want that to happen again. (I just wanted to learn a friggin chord, dangit).

So I guess the moral of this story is to have short term goals, but be realistic about them. Don’t waste $35 on a ukulele you might never play.

That turned into a weird metaphor, but I’m going with it.

Good luck with all your endeavors, friends. You’ll find me at my laptop trying very hard not to look at the ads on my screen.