Quartz and the meaning of life

Thanksgiving was fantabulous.

I went to Megan’s house down in CT and had a wonderful time with her family. I am a little sad her father wasn’t around, for I wanted to ask him about chemistry and internships and companies in the area for my summer internship, but it was fun nonetheless. I ate delicious food, GREAT pies and sweets and whatnot (the highlights were pecan pie – courtesy of Meg –  and sweet potato pie – made by Jesus himself -), went to see alpacas (oooh the smell will be remembered forever), had a great black Friday with Megan and her friends, talked about China-Taiwan relationship and Romania’s politics with Muraki san at Thanksgiving lunch, AND made my own sweets for the lovely family she has. I know cooking is not that hard, but spreading that stupid crust dough with a rolling pin was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was my workout for the break. For serious. 

I also had a crash course in guitar taught by Jesus. He was really helpful, and his tips will live within me forever. Moreover, we talked about quartz crystals and he gave me a really beautiful crystal dug up in Arkansas, near his hometown. He explained to me all the different properties and how it can heal a lot of emotional problems. Then he proceeded to show me his own collection of crystals, and there was this one particular crystal that just fascinated me, and still does. It was in the shape of a half moon, but the crystals grew in a weird way and there was actually a bridge between the two sides of the half moon. So symbolic, and deep too. And then there’s another one. The bottom fell off, but the crystals said “oh no bitch, we’re gonna pwn you and grow there too”, so it’s now a rebirth type of crystal. I loved it. I’m happy I got to meet so many great people over the break. 

My crystal is meant to focus on people coming together as a family. So adequate.

Now, all I need to do is focus and get back on track, and write my study abroad proposal, because my application is due this Friday (!!) Shocking indeed.

If you made a mistake

If you make a mistake, just leave it alone and continue with the song. Go on to the next note, focus on what’s coming, not on what was already sung. 

This is a very important lesson I learnt today during my guitar lesson. And you know what? It’s so hard to keep on moving, and not care about your mistakes. Even when you read music and you don’t know the note and you want to stop and think about it because, you want it to be a perfect reading, but you can’t really do that because, the metronom is ticking and you need to move on to the next note. And then you fail and you need to start all over again.

This sounds so much like life. When you know you made a mistake and you want to right it, but you shouldn’t because the clock is ticking and you need to think of the next step you are going to take. You should stop living in the past.

I should stop living in the past.

From now on, I will try to continue with the song, skip the notes I can’t read on the spot, and maybe go back to them when I have time, or do the reading again. By then I will have known it by heart from other reading exercises. This is why great musicians are so chill. They appreciate the big picture better than the rest of us do. We tire ourselves with small things that shouldn’t be so important. It doesn’t matter if you made 50 errors in a concert if in the end it turns out to be a great concert. When you play with other people, you can’t stop to correct your error, and why should you? To draw attention to it? Just let it slide and enjoy the good music. Enjoy the life.

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It’s so ridiculous I can’t believe it. I can’t get this person out of my head. It’s driving me crazy.

All would be wonderful if he showed even one small sign that he knows I exist. The world is so cruel.