Archive for April, 2007
Protected: Language Drama
Published April 27, 2007 Family Jewels , Student Life Enter your password to view comments.Protected: How to Win Friends in HR
Published April 27, 2007 Work Life Enter your password to view comments.Remember that song from childhood…
Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
I’m going to the garden to eat worms…
Well, the work-related love just keeps rolling in. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the garden. Yum. Yum.
Thank you all for your kind words on finishing the course work required for my degree (and hopefully passing ye old Español).
Wanting to be done the work, and wanting to actually attend the ceremony, are two completely separate issues, however. I never, before actually finishing that last exam, ever dreamt of actually attending the ceremony…
– I’d have to take a Saturday off work.
– My family (particularly my kids) would probably be bored. Heck I’d probably be bored.
– I’d probably have to buy a new dress and cough up a deposit on the gown/robe/mumu.
– For one tiny moment, just when they call my name, I’d be the centre of attention… and that really isn’t that important to me.
– It’s really just fluff.
But now that I’ve actually experienced the satisfaction of being done, I’m not completely sure I want to skip it. I actually liked that feeling of self-satifaction. Now, I just can’t decide.
Over at Generation Exhausted, Shelley posted a link to a fascinating story from the Washington Post. What do you think would happen if one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made disguised himself as a street musician and opened his case and played in a Metro station in the middle of morning rush hour? They conducted just that experiment to explore the question “In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?”
The story has been almost haunting my thoughts… Would I stop? Would I, at the very least, have realized the significant beauty before me and mentioned it when the reporter called later? Or would I have been so wrapped up in life and the responsibility of getting to work on time that I would not have given a second glance to the gifts before me? What if my children were with me? Would I have paused with/for them?
I went to Joshua Bell’s website, because I admit I hadn’t even heard of him before the story, and was deeply moved by how beautiful the sounds were floating out of my computer. Surely music such as that would have stopped me in my tracks? And then I started to think about the many tourists I see here in the summer. At how it is sometimes amusing to see someone working so hard to take just the right photo of some landmark or other that I might pass every work day without even looking at twice. Might that be another case of being so wrapped up in everyday existence that we fail to see the beauty around us. (While I admit many tourist things are just gitch of sorts, and not a virtuoso as was present for the commuters on that day, surely life and nature have thrown treasures in my path that I have failed to see.) How very sad is that?
But almost as haunting was one line in the article: “If a great musician plays great music but no one hears… was he really any good?” Because really, even more important that what am I not seeing, is who am I not seeing. Who should be hearing applause yet I am failing to listen? What am I not appreciating or acknowledging?
While I do not know what I would have done if I had been a commuter on the morning of Bell’s performance, I hope that as I go about my days in future I am a little more cognizant of the treasures that cross my path.
So here is my challenge to you, dear readers, if you are up to it. Find me some unexpected beauty in your life. Is it that fountain outside your office building you never really notice? Is it the kid next door you haven’t gotten to know? Is it a street musician virtuoso who happens upon your path? My challenge is to pay attention to the beauty in your life and tell me about an opportunity where you find unexpected beauty. You can post it in the comments or write about it in your own blog (please share the link!) or just email me. I can’t wait to hear your stories.
Protected: Failure to Impress
Published April 10, 2007 Whining Enter your password to view comments.Saturday was a gorgeous day. The sun shone. I noticed that the occasional crocus was peeking out of the garden. While I was at work, the girls rode their bikes and prepared for the arrival of the Bunny. It was official… the last sleep before his arrival and you could feel the excitement in the air.
And as if that wasn’t enough as it was, the tooth fairy would be coming the very same evening. It was a cosmic double header.
The evening arrived, and we were ready…
And the funny thing about this landmark of spring… this herald of new beginnings… was the very day Mother Nature decided that both kids should get colds and she would bring her worst storm of the winter.
See the pretty crocus now??? My garden is off to a flying starting, don’t you think?
And the back yard…
But the bunny… oh the bunny. Did a little thing like a blizzard stop him? Did the risk of sniffles? No! Not only did he bring chocolate, but he managed to find the Webkinz koala! And the tooth fairy got through the storm as well!
Old Blue Socks 