Carpe Diem

Have you ever thought you wouldn't miss something, but then, you found out you did? What a stupid question, huh? Doesn't quite make sense, does it? How about if you found out you missed something but you kept putting it off? Well, let me explain.

On Sunday, I was working on my "weekend list" (see Saturday's post). It was about noon and I decided I might like to go see a movie. I had been thinking in the back of my mind of going to a movie since last Wednesday. But, that never happened and before I knew it I had exhausted myself of all the news sites online and it was about 1:30. All of a sudden, I thought to myself, geez, I sure want to play the piano right now. and lo-and-behold, I have a piano literally in my own backyard I can play whenever I want. So I got out my piano books and looked through them to find some of my favorite songbooks.

Needless to say, I did not find ANY. I found a whole bunch of sheet music and old pop music books, but no books or sheet music of any music of any SUBSTANCE that I was feeling like playing that afternoon. I wanted Fur Elise. I wanted Moonlight Sonata. I wanted Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I wanted a Mozart Sonata or Minuet. I found nothing in my collection. I USED to have ALL of these. Where did they go???? I'll have to check at my mom and dad's. Maybe Audrey still has them.

However, my landlord has MILLIONS of books in her piano studio. Ok, not millions, but a lot. So, I found a Beethoven book and found two of my all time favorite things to play when I feel quiet and sort of depressed. Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata. For close to 2 hours I played and it was heaven. I had never played Moonlight all the way through...but this was great. It was the right arrangement for me and the right mood to keep me plugging away. It was glorious. I loved it. Now all I want to do is come home and play the piano over and over. I had not played these kinds of songs for YEARS. Absolutely YEARS. I was amazed at how it all came back to me. I did rather well sight-reading Moonlight if I do say so myself!!

To me, sometimes playing is soooo cathartic. I am not good at it and I probably choose to play things that are easier than my potential, but I don't care. I do it because I enjoy the energy that flows out of me with the music. It's spectacular. I'd like to buy a piano. A real one. Not an electronic keyboard. I want a REAL piano. One I have to get tuned by a funny looking weird old guy. One that cats ker-plunk & ka-plink on when I leave the cover up off the keys. One that I can put stuff on the top of. Like a plant. Pictures. Metronome. Candles. Stacks and stacks of music books. Anything I want. I want that.

Now that I'm done with my degrees for a while and I'm getting better acclimated at work, I've got time on my hands. I want to get back into playing. I have really, really missed that -the sounds, the feel of the keys, the mesh or mute of sound with the pedals, the wrong keys protesting, the pages of music trying to turn themselves too soon, the ache in the hands/fingers from reaching and stretching to cover the keyboard (well, maybe that just happens to me with my short bony hands/fingers). Most of all, I miss getting lost in the act of playing. Maybe I'll ask Holly, my land lady to show me around her studio and point me in the direction of other things I might like to play. Then maybe I'll write some of my own music. I used to do that when I was younger. I had a whole music book full of little songs and stuff that I wrote. I have no idea what happened to that book. I'd like to find it!! I have a feeling it might have went into the wood stove at one time or simply lost/thrown away. That would be sad. I was a creative kid. Until life happened and adult-hood intruded. Although I was a busy, uber-responsible kid, I was creative and I wrote music and stories as a hobby. Too bad most of those have been lost, thrown away, or destroyed.

But the moral of the story here today kids: if you feel like being creative, and need a creative outlet...don't stop. Don't push it down. Don't wait until tomorrow. Do it now. Seize the day.