"...True Poets, They Who Are Seers, Seek to Express the Universe in Terms of Music."

Day fourteen: A picture of something you wish you were better at.

MUSIC.  The thing I most wish I was better at is playing musical instruments.  I play piano, I'm picking up the ukulele, and I played some guitar for awhile but now it just feels huge and awkward in my hands compared to my uke.
But I'm just average.  And I want to be, "Daang.  That girl has got some serious talent."

I feel like a part of me is lacking, or is not fully developed...like I can't fully express myself yet.  Ideally, I would be proficiently awesome at playing the

• Piano
• Ukulele
• Guitar
• Drums
• Harmonica
• Tambourine (Does that really even count?)
• Harp
• That small flute-ish instrument like from Lord of the Rings

Yeah.  Pretty much.  And no, that's not unrealistic.  I'll get there.  Even if it's not until the millenium.  :)

"Music is the purest form of art...therefore true poets, they who are seers, seek to express the universe in terms of music... The singer has everything within him.  The notes come out from his very life.  They are not materials gathered from outside."  ~Rabindranath Tagore Indian poet, playwright, and essayist; won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913  

Endings

Day thirteen: A picture of something you wish you could change.

           There are a lot of things that I wish I could change.  I wish I could change the world into a better, peaceful place where people simply believed in being good.  I wish I could change my height, the cost of gas, the media, and how long the Autumn season lasts.

      But today--today is different.  Today I wish I could change endings.

      You see, everyone's life is a story.  (Hence the blog title.)  And everyone's story consists of many different chapters.  Some chapters are long, some are short, some are sweet, some are sad.  Everyone's chapters vary, spanning a wide range of painful, trying, scary, lonely, to infatuating, lovely, peaceful, exciting, or joyous.  Every reach of emotion these chapters touch is essential and important.  Opposition and trials are indeed a great blessing, and that is not ever something I wish I could change.

      But the endings.

      What about the chapters that close in a way that is so unsatisfying that you can't possibly make sense of it?  What about the chapters where the main character in your life suddenly walks away, only to be glimpsed here and there as a total stranger, and you never found out what really happened, or how things might have been different if times had only been.... What?  If they had only been what?  That's the problem--you don't know.  And of course you will continue on with your story, searching inward for some self-made closure, learning from it what you can and beginning anew, where happiness will be waiting for you just around the corner.

      But there is still that tiny little part of you that yearns for the hidden story, wondering why things happened the way they did, what compelled that person to act in such a way, if things could have been different if you had acted more maturely, if your ending was really how it was supposed to turn out, etc.

      In some cases, these questions will be soothed further in the future when you will look behind you and understand the purpose and necessity behind these things.

      But some will not.  The fact still remains that at that moment-- the moment when you came to realize that things have changed and you must close a chapter that was so much a part of you and claimed so much of your heart, never to open it again-- that it was an ending that made your heart sad.

      And that is what I wish I could change.

The Source of Awesomeness

Day twelve: A picture of yourself and a family member.

I'm pretty sure this picture is self-explanatory as to the nature of my relationship with my brother.

Ten Reasons Why Ryan Kasparian is the Source of Awesomeness

1. He's 13 years old and can grow a scary good mexi-stache.

2. He's pro at pwning all the newb-lets at Star Craft.

3. He can never take a picture without pulling an abnormal facial expression.  (At least, not that I know of.) 

4. He has a shirt that reads, "What? I can't hear you over the sound of my AWESOMENESS!"
5. We dominate at team Mario Kart. 

6. He's already way talented at composing some sick-rad original songs on the piano.

7. Whenever I come home from college, he walks in and states with a straight face, "Sister."  Then he proceeds to do whatever else he was doing previously.

8. You will hear the word "Sp-gowsh" (or something of that sort) at least once a day.

9. He has a legitimate afro.

10. He's one of the nicest kids you will ever meet.

Here's to you, brosef :) 

Journeys

Day eleven: A picture of something you love.

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.  ~Miriam Beard

TRAVELING.  The world.  The open road.  The adventure.  The serenity.  The expanse of human experience.

What more can I say than quote the great words of those before me?

The following is two stanzas of a 15 stanza poem by Walt Whitman.  The whole poem is absolutely fabulous.  It is my favorite poem-- if you can spare five to ten minutes, fulfill your quota of great, classic literature for the day and read the rest.        

Song of the Open Road

BY WALT WHITMAN

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,

I do not want the constellations any nearer,

I know they are very well where they are,

I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,

I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,

I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

The earth expanding right hand and left hand,

The picture alive, every part in its best light,

The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,

The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.

O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?

Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?

Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?

O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,

You express me better than I can express myself,

You shall be more to me than my poem.

Continued at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178711

Further Linkage to Fun Traveling Tips:  Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

How to Travel the World Part One: http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-travel-the-world-part-1-pre-trip/
How to Travel the World Part Two: http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/how-to-travel-the-world-part-2-on-the-road/

Goodbye, Social Life

Day ten: A picture of something you hate.

How fitting, as it is the first day of class and I already feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of homework that I am going to have this semester.  You know, some college professors can be absolutely ridiculous.  Rant rant rant.  I hate homework.  And yet I am of my own free will choosing to spend thousands of dollars just to be given this homework in the first place.  Talk about irony.

Life Ain't Life Without Laquisha

Day nine: A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.

Dear Wendy Kimble,

Floating on logs, tin-foiling cars, sneaking pizzas into movie theaters, creating fake husbands, road trips, saran wrapping, making T-shirts with nail polish, laughing like ugly men, blanket fort sleepovers, water parks, Brandon Flowers, hair dying parties, car chases, concerts, chairs in the hot tub, Winger's chicken, wash-off wrist tattoos, the Killers, cardboard cut-outs....
Where would my life be without you?

Shaniqua and Laquisha, soul sisters forever!
Because I don't shine if you don't shine.  <3

There's Nothing Like A Fresh Breath of Demotivation

Day eight: A picture that makes you laugh.



Bahahahaha.  Let's be honest.



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