Poco Adagio

It's a little thing I started out of curiosity. And out of middle school blog-obsession nostalgia--an accouterment for my ravenous, half-deprived brain to don for the manifestation of its little coquetry with this world. I'll be posting some music apropos of the blog title, especially some Ravel, my favorite composer of all time, apparently (and Ligeti too, of course). Ask me. Who am I?

[humansofnewyork]

“I first ran for Congress in 1999, and I got beat. I just got whooped. I had been in the state legislature for a long time, I was in the minority party, I wasn’t getting a lot done, and I was away from my family and putting a lot of strain on Michelle. Then for me to run and lose that bad, I was thinking maybe this isn’t what I was cut out to do. I was forty years old, and I’d invested a lot of time and effort into something that didn’t seem to be working. But the thing that got me through that moment, and any other time that I’ve felt stuck, is to remind myself that it’s about the work. Because if you’re worrying about yourself—if you’re thinking: ‘Am I succeeding? Am I in the right position? Am I being appreciated?’ – then you’re going to end up feeling frustrated and stuck. But if you can keep it about the work, you’ll always have a path. There’s always something to be done.”

[sunnyday324]

This.

[sunnyday324]

Poco Adagio turned 2 today!

[sunnyday324]

I really want one of those. Like, I'm dying.

[sunnyday324]

I think I am in love, no homo.

[sunnyday324]

This is one of my favorite songs of all time by John Dowland. This version is sung by Sting, and yes, it's actually a fantastic match. Despite his popular music background, String actually does a wonderful job singing 16th century music. The reason I like this song is that every time I hear it, especially that "Hellish, hellish jarring sounds, to banish friendly sleep" is oh-- so. great. and it gives me chills down my back.

I agree with what he says in the beginning though; silence undisturbed is a thing of beauty. Don't you ever feel that deep umph-y satisfaction the last few seconds of an amazing song and everything is just--silent--?-- It's sort of the same here:

silence

.is

a

looking

bird:the

turn

ing;edge,of

life

(inquiry before snow

[sunnyday324]

He not busy being born is busy dying

Bob Dylan

[sunnyday324]

Visit Original Link

Oh my god. Oh... my... god... Did I tell you that about two years ago my hard drive to my old, now long gone MacBook Pro was damaged and I lost about 10,000 songs as a result? Well, guess what? YEP! I somehow found a backup of it before it was crushed and now I can has all the music back!!!! You have no idea how exciting this is...... AHHHH. So, what? To celebrate, I've prepared a recording of me singing along to American Pie (along with hundreds of other kids) by Don McLean, by--get ready for it--Don McLean and the CTYers! I didn't know it before, but I think that guy who's singing the loudest is probably me... yes, I do love this song and it will be one of my favorites for ever and ever and ever. Welp, enjoy it--the whole nine minutes; it contains multitudes of attached inappropriate words lyrics that accompany our freedom as children (did you know "children" in Latin is "liberi" because they are free?) and our passionate love... for CTY and Passionfruit and the world.

[sunnyday324]

Visit Original Link

Ah, the familiar pizzicatos of Ravel's Quatuor à Cordes... Assez vif - Très rythmé, he wrote--well, only for the first one and a half minutes. The middle section, lasting nearly two and a half minutes, communicates through a subtle romance with a quasi-chromatic scale that literally melts before your ears like salted butter and the violin croons with a simple yet sentimental melody while the background pizzes hints of the main theme, and before you can get enough of it the quartet returns to the rhythmic pizzicatos to end the movement in a resounding cadence. I love it. I hope you do too.

[sunnyday324]

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

You, apparently. You're adorable! I love the Mona Lisa smile on your face and the little antenna that makes you look like a moving joystick... and your eyes little buttons.

[sunnyday324]

And I'd figured I'll tell you, when you go lonely, an' I figure everybody does, right? Because as a matter of fact everybody does. I figure if you're a woman, Man if you're really a woman, You already know what you need, man. You already know what you're looking for, Man, I found out out at fourteen years old And I been lookin' for it every since, too, man. But, if you happen to be a young cat, You know like about seventeen years old, just about, If you happen to be a young cat and you ain't figured it out yet, I'll tell you what you need, baby, When you got those strange thoughts in your head You got those strange little weirdenesses happening to you, you don't know what they are, I'll tell ya what you need-- You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe, Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe. You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe. Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe.

Janis Joplin

[sunnyday324]

This has been my favorite song all summer. Isn't it so fucking awesome? Tell me it's awesome cuz it is.

[sunnyday324]

Le Petit Prince

Yesterday I read the Le Petit Prince for the third time. It's one of those books that remain fresh even after multiple readings, and that's one of the reasons why I keep coming back to it. One of the other reasons is that Le Petit Prince holds a handful of truthy lines that pop out and it's so tasty just reading them over and over again. You know, this book is also one of those rare ones that can easily put me into tears, and it's so crisp and juicy when I'm caressing the book into my arms and little drops of warm tears roll down my cheek because what I just read is so true and throbbingly beautiful. Those lines also reminds me of several aspects of meditation, and as far as I can see Antoine de Saint-Exupéry could have been someone who came close to nirvana. I dunno. He at lease seems to have had a pure heart although he might not have known what nirvana is. Well, he is (was) someone special because not only can those who have refined their hearts recognize others of similar state, but we see the effects of Saint-Exupéry's elevated state through popular recognition; I have yet to meet someone out of those who have read Le Petit Prince who does not like it. Rather, most or all of them embrace the book fondly. So I want to share some lines from that book with you, and the second quote is especially intriguing because it reminds me of some of my colleague meditators:

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true... I cannot carry this body with me. It is too heavy. But it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about old shells..."

When you meditate deeply enough, at some point you defeat the fear of death and know in your heart that there is no death--that we continue our lives however long we want and can end it by choice and at that point you can also choose to keep your body or dispose of it. The little prince's way of traveling to his planet--disposing of his body--reminds me of traveling with your mind. Some of my colleagues who have reached elevated states of mind can transform their minds--become--anything they wish to be. A flying eagle, a preying alligator, a snake, anything: because they recognize that what is part of this universe is they, that they are the universe and that they create their universe. This relates back to the first quote in that really, "what is essential is invisible to the eye." Our five senses, fortunately, are fake. Not that they are not real, but that they are only good in making us feel like everything we see, touch, smell, taste, feel are real; but "only with the heart [can one] see rightly." We must transcend the "eye" and see the world with the heart that recognizes our true self.

Maybe this feels like gibberish, but it's my best way of expressing it. It really doesn't matter whether it's believable or not, because I know it's true... and that's why Le Petit Prince is so much more valuable and meaningful to me than it had been before I'd discovered meditation--and it makes me cry every time I read it because it is so beautiful and inspiring. Enough of my talk now. I think I'll resort to pictures for later posts. Welp. There goes my first post anyway.