(no subject)
I've been pretty busy organizing my life. I've almost fixed my up all night, needs naps to get through the day, go to sleep tired wake up tired sleep schedule. It was hard to think clearly being as sleep deprived as I was the last couple months. And I've been...hmmm...organizing academics, thinking about some decisions that probably need to be made.
Yesterday I did what is probably one of the coolest things I've done in my life! "Coolest" meaning fulfilling. I picked up my guitar and tried to play some of my favorite showtunes. I was trying to come up with softer, acoustic versions of songs that are typically sung belted with piano and/or orchestra accompaniment. I wasn't successful in actually coming up with an arrangement for any song, but what did I expect? - I play guitar so little that I can barely switch between chords without causing a noticeable pause in playing. But instead of giving up, like I have when I've tried this once or twice in the past, I just kept switching songs until I found something I could play. It's not one of the songs I had originally intended on working with (it's not the typically belted type), and I wasn't even able to play through the entire thing, but it was a good place to start, and I really enjoyed working on it. In fact, coming up with a performance level arrangement for it is the first thing I've come up with in months that has made me want to spend more time on something other than my laptop/internet!
Another cool thing this weekend was reading The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey by Muhammad Ali and Hana Yasmeen Ali. To be honest, I didn't read it cover to cover because I was originally just skimming to take notes, but after a while, I abandoned taking notes and the biography I was supposed to compose (one of the afore mentioned school decisions), and decided to just read it and enjoy it. It's the type of religious account that I would normally disregard with an unabashed "BULLSHIT", but ..it was like the Voltaire quote about not agreeing with a word you say but fighting for your right to say it -- This was more like "I may not agree with a word you say, but you've expressed yourself so beautifully that I can't help but be touched by it."
Luciana, I need to write you a proper comment. I hope everything's going well at work and with your law studies!
Yesterday I did what is probably one of the coolest things I've done in my life! "Coolest" meaning fulfilling. I picked up my guitar and tried to play some of my favorite showtunes. I was trying to come up with softer, acoustic versions of songs that are typically sung belted with piano and/or orchestra accompaniment. I wasn't successful in actually coming up with an arrangement for any song, but what did I expect? - I play guitar so little that I can barely switch between chords without causing a noticeable pause in playing. But instead of giving up, like I have when I've tried this once or twice in the past, I just kept switching songs until I found something I could play. It's not one of the songs I had originally intended on working with (it's not the typically belted type), and I wasn't even able to play through the entire thing, but it was a good place to start, and I really enjoyed working on it. In fact, coming up with a performance level arrangement for it is the first thing I've come up with in months that has made me want to spend more time on something other than my laptop/internet!
Another cool thing this weekend was reading The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey by Muhammad Ali and Hana Yasmeen Ali. To be honest, I didn't read it cover to cover because I was originally just skimming to take notes, but after a while, I abandoned taking notes and the biography I was supposed to compose (one of the afore mentioned school decisions), and decided to just read it and enjoy it. It's the type of religious account that I would normally disregard with an unabashed "BULLSHIT", but ..it was like the Voltaire quote about not agreeing with a word you say but fighting for your right to say it -- This was more like "I may not agree with a word you say, but you've expressed yourself so beautifully that I can't help but be touched by it."
Luciana, I need to write you a proper comment. I hope everything's going well at work and with your law studies!