Muscial prodigies

I picked up my violin today at lunch for the first time in months. It amazes me how my fingers never seem to forget what they're supposed to do. Today I realized, however, that how I hear and interpret the music is significantly different than when I was at my musical peak.

Child prodigies will never be able to play music the same way adults do. I've come up with the reason why - a child learns to read the music, play the notes, and emulate what they hear others do. They can't feel what the composer was feeling when they wrote it. They have no life experience to compare to. They don't know heartbreak or sadness or angst.

As I play music that I played as a kid, I play it much differently now. The notes might not be as technically accurate as they once were, I might be slightly out of tune on some notes, and my rhythm isn't as crisp as it once was, but I feel the music. Now I interpret the music - I alter tempos and my dynamics are much more great. I see the notes on the paper as a mere guide and let my emotions of the moment take over.

You think I would've learned by now

The sun sucks. Actually, I love the sun. My skin sucks. I hate being perpetually pasty white. If I spend more than an hour in the sun without sunblock, I'm toast. This past Saturday, Carolyn, Declan and I accompanied Matt to one of his nerd club rocket launches. It was really neat to see, but we were out in the sun (shaded in a tent occasionally) for a good five hours. They had sunblock on, Matt and I did not.

I didn't think of it before we left, and when we were there, it was offered, but I figured "hey, I feel fine, I don't need it." I'm so dumb. Of course, I'm in terrible discomfort from the tops of my feet to just below my eyes. And I look ridiculous. My chin itches like crazy, my arms and legs hurt, my ankles and tops of my feet hurt and it is torture to wear shoes.

The worst part - I'll peel and be as white as I was before I started. And I'll never learn...

My Idol thoughts

I've been watching American Idol since the beginning of the show, and my initial favorite was David Archuletta. However, he has bored me (yeah, I'm as fickle as everyone else who watches the show) and I've got a new favorite.



David Cook, simply puts, kicks ass. The guy picks not only the perfect songs for him, but the perfect arrangements. Even in a week as crappy as Dolly Parton week, he stuck out and was just awesome. You can bet I'm going to be voting for him this year. We don't need a repeat of the Daughtry situation!