Day 1 of FAST......and etc....

these are just random thoughts as usual

I officially started my fast on Friday at midnight and am now going through the second day. One thing that stands out as a result is how much I always depend on food to kill boredom. This fast is rough (I never heard anyone say it was all pink ribbons and ice cream) but the willpower needs to be worked and the digestive system really needs a rest. I want to be able to keep up with folks half my age - haha.....

I'm still on my hiatus and I made great strides because of it. As a pianist, I feel that I have grown tremendously. Maybe it's because I tend to take in information slowly, and with the lack of overstimulation from others telling me how to play MY INSTRUMENT without any knowledge of my experience, I'm free to actually DO MUSIC (not just go through the motions to please others.) I miss the individual folks on the scene and I support you all in spirit, but I DO NOT MISS THE SCENE AT ALL. But I'll be back on it, and folks can bet that it will be some fresh stuff.

This is the first day of me being 30. The strange thing is that I don't feel it, but maybe that's just me. A lot of folks my age are (or were) married with kids and are settled into what they will be doing for the rest of their lives. Not saying that this kind of life is better or worse, but it's not my thing. Probably the marriage part, but it has to be with the RIGHT PERSON. The RIGHT PERSON is someone whose temperament is compatible with mine. It's like if she's boiling water, I can be ice-cold, and together we will make a nice relaxing bath. Or she's the same temperature as I am and we combine our resources to have more of what we had as individuals. TEMPERAMENT is the key word; a lot of folks (especially you vain women out there) fail to realize that there are some guys out there who could care less about how hot you are if you are all chaotic inside. There are a few women I know (I can probably count all of them on two or three fingers) who may be very physically attractive but what really matters is their aura. What's your outlook on life? How do you live IN THE MOMENT? Do you have an Icarus complex (always reaching for impossible goals and becoming crabby when you fail)?

Anyway, I'm composing less and transcribing more. It seems that when I first started learning jazz, I jumped into the theory first without actually practicing the PERFORMANCE aspect of it. Yes I know how to spell a BSusb9 chord, but I also know how to spell NEUROSURGERY. That doesn't make me a competent NEUROSURGEON, does it? So all I'm doing for practice is transcribing (which means I'm basically playing along with recordings and writing the notes down ONLY after I've absorbed the music enough to write it from memory.)

stay tuned.....