Lately I took a few music lessons. I had only taken 3 piano lessons a couple of summers ago, and 2 guitar lessons when I was 14. I always wanted to learn music but for various reasons I never got to develop in that direction. So I always felt a big gap in my life for it. I felt sad that I didn’t even know the first thing about it. The biggest mystery to me is how everything in music comes together. Why does one thing go with another. What is the process of creating it. How does it express and affect emotion. There are some songs that are so perfect I wonder how they could have been created by a human. Or maybe they were not?

Learning music from scratch at this point is more than a challenge. Between all my work goals and projects and family I don’t have the necessary time to practice enough hours in a day in order to make the quick progress I feel compelled to. My natural instinct is to immerse myself in what I do and work on it until it’s done (this by the way is why I stay away from soap operas and TV shows like Lost; they never give me the sense of completion after the intense buildup).

But I came up with a trick that helps me understand and learn music. I started comparing everything I learn to what I already know about design and photography. I never realized before how similar the principles are. They are practically the same. The only difference is that in one discipline they are applied to sight and they display across space, and the other is applied to hearing and expresses across time. My new teacher was brilliant in this way that she also has some design experience and she could draw comparisons between the two disciplines to explain concepts to me the way I can understand.

This fascinates me. Everything in life is just so connected, yet it has all its own intricacies. But without getting into the abstract side of this, I still think I found a way to learn things like music easier. By knowing one thing really well, all you need to learn about something else is its diversion, the difference. Then apply all the principles you already know to it, and there, mysteries get solved one by one :-)

I’m very excited about this little discovery of mine. So let’s see how learning music goes!

I found this essay online and it spoke to me… Many of these things I have been realizing and learning over the past years, and the rest are things I would like to learn. I never want to look back on my life and feel like I’ve wasted even a moment of it…

If I Could Live My Life Again

If I could live my life again, I’d laugh at my misfortunes more and other people’s predicaments less. Spend more time counting my blessings, less time scrutinizing my blemishes.

I’d spend more time playing with my children and grandchildren, less time watching professional athletes perform. More time enjoying what I have, less time thinking about the things I don’t have.

If I could live my life again, I’d walk in the rain more without an umbrella and listen less to weather reports. I’d spend much more time outdoors in small towns and much less time in tall buildings and big cities. I’d eat more of everything healthy and delicious, less of everything each meal, saving enough on the bill to feed a starving child.

If I could live my life again, I’d get more beach sand between my toes and less friction between myself and others. I’d take more long baths and fewer showers (I can’t explain why I’ve always been in such a hurry to spend my time). I’d spend more time with old people and animals, less time with strangers at clubs and parties.

I’d act the age of my children and grandchildren more and act my own age less. I’d visit libraries, bookstores, and computer networks more and I’d shop and watch TV less. I’d play the piano more and play fewer mindless games like solitaire. I’d give my spouse and children more tender touches and much less advice.

If I could live my life again, I’d spend more time fully involved in the present moment, less time remembering and anticipating. I’d be more aware of my core values and life mission, and less concerned with the reasons why I might not measure up.

I’d smile more, frown less. I’d express my feelings more, try less to impress my friends and neighbours. I’d forgive and ask forgiveness more, and curse my adversaries less - but most of all I’d be more spontaneous and active, less hesitant and subdued.

When a great idea or spur-of-the-moment adventure popped up - an Easter egg hunt, an open house at school, a game of hide-and-seek, an oppurtunity to solve a problem at work or to satisfy a disgruntled customer, a hay ride, a chance to build a snowman or paint over graffiti, an invitation to watch a lunar eclipse or a shuttle launch. I’d be less likely to stay in my chair objecting, “It’s not in our plan” and more inclined to jump up and say, “Yes, let’s”.

Source: Brother Jeremiah’s free-verse style from “I’d Pick more Daisies.”

My blog is attacked by spammers and there are currently 1,500 comments in queue for approval. I don’t think I’ll be going through them anytime soon… Sorry if you posted a comment, I will probably not see it. Feel free to email me though…

It’s amazing how much faster I seem to reach the 24/7 supermarket two blocks from home when I am simply taking a walk to “change scenery”… as opposed to those times when I am rushing there to buy food.

If you contacted me from this website recently and were wondering why I have not replied… I have NOT received your message! The contact form seems to have been broken for a while now.

I have been so busy working on the launch of the life management project that I did not pay attention to the lack of email from here… I do need some serious life managing, don’t I? Hehe.

So anyway, it’s fixed! You can email me all you want now :-)

Having family over for the holidays… best thing in the world!

I know Halloween was like eons ago, but I thought I’d upload a photo anyway! This year I went to some fancy-shmancy  Masquerade Ball. This photo is from the pre-party gathering at a friend’s place.

I am thinking that masquerade balls must have been so exciting in the old times when society was extremely concerned about etiquette and being proper. At that time, to wear a mask must have been liberating - one could be anonymous and free of inhibitions. These days? Now anything goes, mask or not. Halloween or not!

I think next year, if I am still in NYC, I will go enjoy the humor and creativity at the Halloween parade. I saw it two years ago and it was just pure art!

On a sadder note, someone at the party liked my pink mask sooo much that they stole it from my purse :-(  I wouldn’t usually get attached to objects (most are pretty replaceable) but this mask was a precious gift from a precious person…

I think it would do good to humanity if things like empathy and big-picture thinking are taught in school!

Wow, I doubt anyone visits this place anymore since I haven’t written in such a looooong time but wanted to tell any interested parties that I am still alive :-) Just busy and a bit burnt out with my web work… and my computer time in general.

Here is a little photo of a funny Italian pigeon. Whatever people may say about them, I love pigeons… They remind me of my childhood and how I used to chase them around and watch them fly away. Don’t ask me why but little children in Bulgaria love to do that :-)

This one was intently exploring the nearby tables at a charming Florence cafe our group was sitting at. Was funny!

Mornings like this make me want to write here… I have always adored this rainy, gray and quiet kind of mood, my thoughts flowing freely, only sometimes interrupted by the sounds of raindrops and then the sleepy cars rushing to catch the green light on the corner, ripping through the puddles of water on the sides of the street…

Most of all I like to sit near my window and breathe in the dampness of the soil in the mini-garden in front of the house. It is invigorating, especially when mixed with the scent of french vanilla coffee, freshly brewed and ready for me to pour into a glass of milk - for some sort of latte a la Ilina.

I have not shot anything recently - with the exception of a commissioned shoot I will soon post about on Flickr. Things will change next month; I am planning a long trip including Bulgaria-home, Bulgaria-seaside, Belgium and Italy. Photography will be my main focus and I am sure will produce plenty of material. I am not much of a travel photographer, but my mom always pushes and inspires me creatively (except when she insists that I photograph the sunsets… but I oblige anyway, and then I am superglad because I end up using them in images like this one).

So, good things are coming - and hopefully with them the end to my artistically dry period… With so many dreams to look forward to sometimes it is easy to forget where we stand. But I guess all that matters is that we keep going.

Here I leave you with a funny little picture, makes me laugh every time I see it. Featuring my eye-shut-highness :) and of course charming Nick Counts from Flickr. He came for a day-long visit to NYC a month (or two) ago - and I had the greatest pleasure of meeting him in person:

Hey all… it is an early morning here and it is so gloomy and rainy outside… I am glad I don’t have to go anywhere today, just stay home and enjoy the sound of the raindrops.

…And take a little photo break from work! Yes, I have been working very intensely lately and not much time for anything else… but I have been productive, and that makes me very happy!

Those of you coming from Flickr to see the source photo I mentioned, it is the first one below. While browsing the photos from the Chicago Botanical Garden afternoon, I was struck once again by the incredible landscaping that was done there. I am convinced the main landscaper must have been a photographer… Every little corner looked like a retouched postcard, I swear, with all the shadows and highlights and shapes and colors carefully planned… Absolutely incredible! If you ever have the chance to go there you must! I found a few new pictures I liked that I had not paid much attention to before… I will definitely process them sometime soon for all of you to enjoy!

But here are some others. Quite a few of these are taken by my mom with her point-and-shoot cam. I didn’t have time to edit them too much… but I did what I could :-)

So, this is the source photo from my recent picture on Flickr:

Always loved these… sorry, not sure what you call them in English?

This is Her Gorgeousness, my beloved sister Monika… strikig a Botticelli pose:

Damn I love her…

This is us two taking pictures of this duck who kept looking over its shoulder as if Cindy Crawford gave him lessons! Was so cute :-)

Notice Monika using her high tech phone camera! Also notice how tanned she looks compared to me. That’s her natural skin color… She got the better genes :-))

Enchanting little flowery corner with a beautiful view.

Haha, here below my mom documented me taking this photo!

While Monika was counting the geese :-P Twelve!

Me showing my sis the pictures in the viewfinder inside a breathtakingly picturesque garden.

Mom taking a picture of me while I am taking a picture of my sister…

I think this is the reciprocation to the above:

Not sure why Monika is making this face but it is so “her” makes me laugh… Ahh… we love our mom!! :-)))

Ohhh the swan family! They were such funny characters. It felt like they were extras in a movie, were so perfect and just stood there - did not move at all! It was a mom swan, a dad swan, and three baby swans… I see now how baby swans are indeed way uglier than ducklings… Like that children’s story goes. I used to identify with that one a lot when I was little.

They were not good at posing though. Kept looking the other way. Cindy must have taken a lunch break when it was their turn.

Nice statue.

Below is something like this picture but a bit different… I loved these benches, they were everywhere and really added character to the place.

A part of the Japanese Garden. I have a better picture than this one, I will be editing it for Flickr though! Was so beautiful.

Some river near the entrance/exit and an abundance of flowers. The white circle on the left is a lamp.

A gorgeous waterfall and some funny ducks splashing around. And my sister’s adorable smile.

That’s all folks! Have a lovely day and try to enjoy the rain if you have it too wherever you are :-) Or the sun, for that matter!