The Joys of Music...

Here comes another music post, this time dealing with how great music can make anyone feel.

As a teacher, I tend to get the typical 10am look on students faces, aka "why the fuck did I stay up till 4am when I had to get up at 9am?". They are tired and you need to give them a good jolt to wake them up enough to get the class started and having them sort of listen to what I have to say. It is not an easy task by any possible measure but an important one nonetheless.

Now you might be wondering, why does this have to do with music? Did you plug your mp3 player with some speakers in class? NO. Better. The classroom I teach in 3 times a week happens to have an actual piano in it. And I don't mean no synthesizer, I mean an actual long tail piano right at the back of the room.

So I got into class a bit earlier than usual today, walked to the back, asked the students if they wanted to do some singing to wake up, and somebody asked for "Bohemian Rhapsody" right as I was about to start playing it. It's a coincidence with odds raised based on the fact that it's one of the 3 songs I know on the piano, plus a really popular one to sing in groups, so the effect was doubled when I started the song the second they finished calling it out.

The students were a little shy, so I started the first verse, and they all started singing along, all the way till the end of the first solo. I stopped before the breakdown because I had to start teaching (and because I don't know how to play it) but the effect was done. The class was all smiles, with applause included, and at least for the first 15 minutes of class they were more awake than they usually are.

And that my friends, is the joys of music...

European blood not good enough for americans?

So last week they were doing a blood drive at my work place, and as I was talking with some of the organizers, I learned that I would not qualify to donate blood even if I tried to because I had lived in Europe for over 5 years. Here's a copy paste from the rules:
You are not eligible to donate if:
[...]
You spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 5 years or more from January 1, 1980, to present, in any combination of country(ies) in Europe, including
[...]
- France
[...]
- Spain
[...]


Seeing how that's where I spent most of my life, I guess my blood is not good enough! At least I have a better excuse not to donate than "I hate needles"... The sad thing is that I actually wanted to help this time (for once).

You don't know you've been missing something until you try it...

Today I would like to write something on a VERY positive note, so don't expect any usual grumbling from an old man. I would like to talk about those things that you don't know are great until you try them and then realize that you've been missing out for a long time. The same as the first time you get laid (or at least first time you enjoy it, for those of you that might have had a bad first experience), the day you learn how to surf/snowboard, or even the day you meet someone that you can simply connect with effortlessly.

In this occasion I am talking about something I did not realize still existed in the world we live today: total respect, kindness and camaraderie among total strangers. In the society we live in, we have slowly devolved into individuals that think of our needs and rarely do little things like saying hello to a stranger on the streets. Try that on the streets and you'll get a wide variety of reactions, from a smile to a look of "why the fuck are you talking to me you prick?!". Maybe people just grew old of saying hi to strangers, maybe we're tired, or maybe there is just too many people. Fortunately, there is a small group that will still do such a small token of kindness: Motorcycle riders.

So I rented a motorcycle over the week-end and went riding on nice mountain roads for about 6 hours a day, and as much as the sensation of freedom you get from riding the bike is great, what really touched me, and made me want to write this long bla bla bla is the feeling of camaraderie you get among riders. I was told during my license classes how riders stand up for each other, and are generally happy kind people, but I didn't realize how far that statement goes. Every rider I saw while riding waved hi to me, and I quickly joined the ranks of those doing it. It is something as simple as extending your arm, or making some room on a lane for a new rider (me) to switch lanes without getting run over, or just generally asking how was the ride when you stop at the same places. But every single rider I crossed paths with (and there were a lot) was all smiles, showing a happiness you don't generally see on car drivers which spend more time cursing at each other (I'm the first to do so). It's like being part of a "secret" society where everyone is friends with each other for the simple reason of being on two wheels. It is something I am glad I found, and I realize now how much I missed that feeling.