Music and Musings

I play piano about like I play golf. Just well enough that I sometimes hit something that makes it appear that I know what I'm doing. This revelation did not come to me as I plonked on the keys this morning; I've made it before. What was new was the disappointment that in both I show occasional flashes of ability never developed because I don't apply myself to practicing them.

Golf is one thing. I don't do it that often -- Wednesday and yesterday being a novel experience of playing on consecutive days -- and if I can't break 100 but I can find more balls than I lose then I call it a successful outing.

(I won varsity letters in high school swimming and my affinity for water has extended to my golf game. On one par-5 yesterday which has a long pond bordering its left-hand side nearly its entire length my tee shot rolled into the water but stayed close enough to the edge that I could retrieve it. I hit the next shot back into the water but again within a club's reach of the edge. On my third try I was finally able to lose the ball for good by splashing it into a swamp. Did I say the hole was a par-5? I misspoke. It was a par-9. And do you know what? Despite my struggles, I managed to birdie that sucker!)

My musical misadventures aren't as excusable. I have a digital piano in my living room and a total of five guitars around the house. Not having the means to record them lately has thwarted me some but that doesn't account for the more than two decades before that. When I die, I won't rue the gym workouts that I missed -- especially if I suffer a fatal heart attack on the treadmill.

But I will regret not playing music more often.

I don't have any illusions that I was ever going to make a living at it. I wouldn't have the patience for the BS you have to have to make it, even if by some fluke I had the talent and the look and the drive to do it. As proud as I am of some of my compositions, there are so many more rhythms and melodies bounding around inside my brain I would like to have shared, even if only with my cat and any neighbors I might have annoyed in the process of recording them. Instead I'm wasting the chance. What a shame.

Random unrelated thought: The directions on the protein powder jug say you can mix it with water or milk. Do not believe this. Mix it with milk it tastes good. Mix it with water and it tastes like something you drink trying to win a bet.

Postscript to random unrelated thought: I did not win the bet.