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…

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 :-)

Wow… I wish I could have tea with whoever wrote these lyrics. The song itself is addictive, hear it here.

———-

what you thinking of
man what you do and what you think you can do
what you are
what you do
looking out, it ripples on the dance floor
what you mean is what you get
did you forget to know what the end is?
to begin clearing
looking out, it ripples on the dance floor

dream machine
did you get everything you asked for?
dream machine
rattlesnake charmed on the dance floor

love’s rage
broken page
electric lights and glass bone nights
electric lines run through your minds
distractions with radio contraptions
pipe ashes
night glasses
tick-tock
hear the wind lick the window
ignited
you’re invited
grow wings sprouting from the backbone

dream machine
mister jones you don’t know what you came for
dream machine
rattlesnake charmed on the dance floor

we are like those two mirrors steaming in the rain
oh, we are those two lovers holding each other’s hands
dream with me
dream with me
rattlesnake charmed on the dance floor

I am stunned… To me, this is ART in its purest form… it has the power to lift us up, and leave us a little better of a person than it found us.

What a spirit they have! When you see people like them who express themselves with so much heart, and then push the limits even further… to me it’s like seeing God. And I am not talking about a religious experience. But about the reminder of all the possibilities that lie out there, waiting for us to reach into.

I read in a book once something that I will never forget… That instead of asking myself “What is the meaning of my life?” I could ask “How can I give my life a meaning?”…

It is truly humbling to see people like these two dancers (Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei), who have taken one of the worst things that could possibly happen to someone (and especially to a dancer) and USED it to give their lives so much meaning, and to touch in such an inspiring way millions of hearts and minds.

Click here to see the video on YouTube and read the incredibly touching story behind this.

So, my site is fiiiiiinally up!

Still might need to do some more ironing up on the code but I couldn’t wait any longer!

I have been so busy with so many other things, and will continue to be; yet having a place to post updates and keep in touch with friends was long overdue. I hear quite a few people often complain from wondering if I am still alive… I think they will appreciate this website the most ;-)

For those of you who know me from Flickr - I will continue to post my artistic work there; here you might see more “by-the-way” kind of pictures, outtakes and mostly snapshots. At least for now I plan to keep this site simple.

Soo anyway… welcome all, and hopefully I’ll see you around :-)