Life should be more like video games (or: eine kleine nachtmusik)
I was listening to a great episode of This American Life while going to the store today, and in the background of one story was the best music. I'm not much of a music person, but I had heard it before, I just couldn't remember the name of it. Tonight I tracked it down.
Skip to 1:56 if it doesn't start there, the first two minutes are all warm up and credits and stuff. If it's not already on highest quality, I'd suggest clicking the cog and picking the highest one. (Edit: Seems you can't pick a quality when it's embedded. Use the link to go directly to Youtube and you'll get the cog.)
Ravel's Bolero, by the London Symphony Orchestra. The video is great not just for the music, but because it shows all the instruments and people as well.
Watching it depressed me. What an interesting life it would be to have spent your whole life playing an instrument, to practice every day and to now be so good at it, to hold a job where you're playing it every day. What's more depressing is there are countless other lives that would be just as interesting. And we'll never get to live them.
The life we're leading now might be very interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that there are countless other ones out there just as interesting. Things like reading books, LJ, blogs, TV shows help a little, but it's just a glimpse.
Video games are spoiling me. The current one I'm playing allows you to be any job in the game. Today I'll be X, tomorrow Y, the next day maybe I'll want to be Z. I can become an expert in any or all of them.
The older I get, the more aware I am of how... restricted? we are. One life. Even if you live it the best you can every day, you'll still miss out on the vast majority of things in the world.
More and more I understand why the idea of an afterlife is so appealing to people.
Well, this post turned out darker than I had intended. If you want to be cheered up, listen to this week's episode of This American Life, it's really funny. Also, depending on when you read this post, the alternate subject line might not fit. :P
Click to viewSkip to 1:56 if it doesn't start there, the first two minutes are all warm up and credits and stuff. If it's not already on highest quality, I'd suggest clicking the cog and picking the highest one. (Edit: Seems you can't pick a quality when it's embedded. Use the link to go directly to Youtube and you'll get the cog.)
Ravel's Bolero, by the London Symphony Orchestra. The video is great not just for the music, but because it shows all the instruments and people as well.
Watching it depressed me. What an interesting life it would be to have spent your whole life playing an instrument, to practice every day and to now be so good at it, to hold a job where you're playing it every day. What's more depressing is there are countless other lives that would be just as interesting. And we'll never get to live them.
The life we're leading now might be very interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that there are countless other ones out there just as interesting. Things like reading books, LJ, blogs, TV shows help a little, but it's just a glimpse.
Video games are spoiling me. The current one I'm playing allows you to be any job in the game. Today I'll be X, tomorrow Y, the next day maybe I'll want to be Z. I can become an expert in any or all of them.
The older I get, the more aware I am of how... restricted? we are. One life. Even if you live it the best you can every day, you'll still miss out on the vast majority of things in the world.
More and more I understand why the idea of an afterlife is so appealing to people.
Well, this post turned out darker than I had intended. If you want to be cheered up, listen to this week's episode of This American Life, it's really funny. Also, depending on when you read this post, the alternate subject line might not fit. :P