I found this rather sad

Over at a forum I hang at someone posted this little story.

__________

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work . Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk . A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100. This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

__________

There was a video on YouTube.



I found this rather sad. Are we so busy? Are we so wrapped up in our lives that we can't see beauty and passion anymore?

Sigh. I worry about people sometimes.

Life goes on

It's been an 'interesting' week.

Due to really childish behavior on my part I lost a good friend. I feel really lousy about it but there's not a damned thing I can do.

On the other hand, I helped another friend escape an abusive relationship. By constantly being there for her I gave her the confidence to tell their abuser, "Good bye and drop dead". I talked to her last night and she was doing very well. She's going to be fine.

And my edits are coming along well. I've managed to work past the fear that's a constant thing in my life and get to work. I'm keeping up.

What does this show? I'm only human. I do good things and bad things. I'm just going to have to try harder to do more of the former and less of the latter. I'll never be perfect but I'll do my best.

It's a strange world.

Another song

From an old favorite movie. It suits my mood today.



Half asleep I hear a voice.
Is it only in my mind?
Or is it someone calling me,
someone I failed and left behind?

To work it out I let them in.
All the good guys and the bad guys that I've been.
All the devils that disturbed me,
and the angels that defeated them somehow,
come together in me now.

Face to face I greet the cast.
Set in silence we begin.
Companions in an empty room,
I taste their victory and sin.

To work it out I let them in.
All the good guys and the bad guys that I've been.
All the devils that disturbed me,
and the angels that defeated them somehow,
come together in me now.

A tale of beauty and the beast,
I defend my soul from those who would accuse me.
I share the famine and the feast.
I have been the world and felt it turning,
seen the jester yearning to amuse me

Like a circus on parade,
seldom close enough to see.
I wander through an angry crowd,
and wonder what became of me?

To work it out I let them in.
All the good guys and the bad guys that I've been.
All the devils that disturbed me,
and the angels that defeated them somehow,
come together in me now.

Chicago here I come!

I'll be gone a few days. I'm partying with friends in Chicago.

I'm taking my equipment along, just in case. *evil grin*

Try not to die of envy while I'm gone.

Sigh

I have to start taking my meds again. My depression is back and I'd better start treating it ASAP.

February blahs

Still have me in their grip. But it's loosening.

Sigh

I should post more often, but I've just not been in the mood.

My project with Celina is going okay. Not great but it's going.

I lost a few more books to another flood in my basement. Just a few, but still. I wish I could afford proper storage for them.

And I've got a bad case of winter blah's. Bears have the right idea. Sleeping until early April seems like a fine idea at the moment.

Oh well. Back to the real world.

Happy New Year

Here's wishing all my friends the very best in the New Year.

Despite what I've said earlier and elsewhere I do have a resolution for this year. To whit, I'm going to try and get my faith back

Twas a good Christmas

I went to my folks on Christmas Eve. Spent the night there and went to my sister's with my parents on Christmas Day. All my siblings plus their kids showed up. Dinner was good and I spent the day eating, drinking, talking and trying to avoid tripping over semi-domesticated house apes. Boxing Day we all went to breakfast at a local hotel's restaurant and then I came home.

It was fun plus not too exciting which is always a plus in my opinion.

The gifts I got were few but good.

From my folks I got the book What Is America?: A Short History of the New World Order. I finished it in a day. It's an excursion into the history of the U.S.A. and how its past has made it the confusing country it seems to the rest of the world. The most fascinating, and sickening, part is how the European portion of the US performed ethnic cleansing on the people already here. I use that word in exactly the meaning you think. I also got a little money from them.

My oldest brother and his SO gave me a copy of The Hebredene Journals, a book his SO wrote.

My other brother and his family gave me a $50 gift card for one of the local grocery chains. That should keep me in food for at least a week.

Yesterday I went and bought some new equipment for one of my favorite activities. I got some containers to keep loose accouterments in, some latex gloves and a couple of D-rings for my cuffs. I also got a couple of new floggers and a paratrooper's bag to carry all my stuff around.

It was a good Christmas.

I'm not quite…

At the point of saying, "Bah! Humbug!" But I'm close.

For some reason I am just not in the Christmas spirit this year.

Tsk

Been way too long since I posted something here.

Not a lot to report though.

My latest writing project continues apace.

And Saturday I get to go out drinking with some of my favorite people in the world. One in particular. Although I'm way too much of a coward to put the moves on her.

That's all. Carry on.

Well, that was interesting

I realized this morning that I no longer have any interest in being in a relationship.

Or rather, I've put such an event in the same category as winning the lottery. It's not going to happen and I'm not going to waste time, money or emotional energy on it.

Interesting.

I love it

When people say nice things about my work. Especially when they are people I like or admire.

Last night I was doing an author's chat with my co-author, Celina Summers.

She had just read my latest e-book, Gillian's Place. She said it was one of the five best books she read this year.

That made me feel good.

Update

Things seem to be turning around.

I've gotten back into the habit of sleeping all night. Damn, that's nice.

And my new writing project is coming along nicely. It's hard keeping up with my co-author though. She's a bleeding writing machine. *wink*

Life's good.

Update

Monday was Turkey Day here in Canada. Had a great time at my sister's. Ate, drank and talked. Some of my favorite things.

We had an election yesterday. The outcome wasn't a surprise. Thanks to gerrymandering, attack ads and a rather unethical use of taxpayer's money the neo-Marxists, sorry, Conservatives, improved their position. At least they've still got a minority.

The pliable party, I mean the Liberals, kinda took it in the balls. Not surprising. The guy leading them is a nice guy and very smart but a piss poor leader.

The silver spoon socialists, I mean the NDP, improved their standing. Unfortunately they don't represent the blue collar workers and farmers that they used to. In some ways it's not surprising as there's a lot less of those people in Canada than there used to be. But somebody has to be concerned about the lives of those folk that are involved with physical labor. Everybody else depends on them.

Ah well. C'est la vie.

On the positive side I've started a new writing project. I'm working with another author at one of my e-publishers on a historical vampire novel (we hope) set in 1788 London. I'm writing the hero's part and she's doing the heroine's. I was very flattered when she insisted that I be her co-author. She's a very good and prolific writer. I hope I'll be able to hold up my end of the bargain.

That's it. Have a good one.

Sigh

I do believe it's time to go back to the doctor.

I cannot seem to get my sleeping habits under control and neither can I seem to chase away the dark funk I'm in these days.

Crap.

Sigh

Insomnia strikes again.

Today's going to be a long day of peering through a mask of fatigue and trying to nap.

Sigh.

Been too long

Sorry, been caught up in the drama of my life.

Not much to report. I'll be going to another play party next week. Should be fun.

Especially if that tasty Dungeon Monitor is there again.

Have a great day, every one.

Sigh

I'm feeling awfully alone these days.

I don't know why but all my friends seem to be drifting away. Or maybe I'm drifting away from them.

Life's such a bitch sometimes.

This is disheartening

It turns out the truth may not set you free.

Sad, but I've known this for years.

There's a book I read many years ago, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change. In it the authors posited a very interesting hypothesis, information disease.

I wrote an an essay on it a couple of years ago.

It could be said everyone suffers from information disease in some form. There's simply too much information in existence and we haven't the time to go through it all. And information disease is hard to treat.

Still, as the Washington Post article pointed out, the truth isn't completely without effect.

We should be aware that it isn't the cure all we believe it to be.