I Love Weekends

I love when the weekend finally gets here, especially after a week like the last couple I have had. Not that the last 2 weeks have been overly challenging, but I find myself ready to disengage the brain for a bit. I used to make big plans for all the things I wanted to get done on the weekends but I am accepting that it is a much better plan to see what I feel like doing before I commit to everything. This weekend I do have to prepare for some travel next week but I have left a large window of time open to see a movie or 3. Perhaps this will be my weekend to look for some updates to my wardrobe. I have already stopped by the auto dealer to see when the new model of hybrid will be available for me to drive (another month, makes me sad). Most importantly this weekend I will seek out a new place to eat.

When I worked as a musician, weekends were usually very busy with setting up for a gig, playing, tearing down after a show then trying to find a late night snack. I did really enjoy the opportunity to continuously meet new people and discuss some really random topics with people who had consumed a little more than they should have. On a good night, when all the musicians were in sync with each other the experience was like no other feeling. The satisfaction that comes from making contact with a room full of people is something that has no substitute. Most nights, however, there seemed to be a rift between at least 2 players and made the music project the frustration onto everyone leaving an uncomfortable feeling for me.

Having attempted several forms of creativity I have found that the immediate feedback that one gets with music is near impossible. I believe that most art is a language that is used to explain the feelings that words cannot. I find expressing myself with words to be a serious challenge these days, a challenge worth the effort. I learned how share my emotions through music and a few other ways but putting them into written form is something I must try to do. The difficulty for me with written communication is I am not sure how I am connecting with the reader most of the time. If I could see the readers faces while they read I would feel so much more comfortable with how I express myself.

When I write I try to form each sentence the same way I would a phrase of music in the past. I sometimes write a sentence as many ways as I can think of before deciding which version to use. Improvisation is not something I can do with writing as I could with music, there is much more permanence with writing. Sometimes I wish I had spent more time expanding my vocabulary so that I could have more options in trying to achieve the desired rhythm for a sentence. Choosing the right words and making the right phrases can really be a stretch for me sometimes. Someday's I wish I could substitute a few notes in place of words just because it would make more sense to me.

Setting the mood for the delivery of the communication is something I am spending a lot of time thinking about. It has been said that T-Bone Walker to turn any time of day into 3am with his music. I occasionally read something that draws me into it in this way and I am working on this ability more every time I write. How nice it would be if I could show you the world as seen through my eyes and to hear things as I do through the use of words. I am quite sure that this will plague me in the same way as trying to paint a picture with sounds has. The quest to be understood is one without end.

This weekend, I will do many of the things on my list of "have to get done" stuff but my mind will be working on how to better express my thoughts. I will also be spending a fair amount of time playing with Spike so maybe when I sit down to type he won't be so tempted to walk across my keyboard. It's time to get the weekend started.