Hello, Parking Karma

Every once in a while, the gods of parking smile upon me. In the last couple of days, they must've been in an extra-good mood. Let us count the miracles:

1) Lori and I went to host an outdoor milonga in Rittenhouse Square in Philadephia. A very crowded, central spot in Philadelphia. No place to park. Ever. And even if You find one, the meters are expensive and You have to come back and refuel them every 2 hours.

But we just drove into the square, and there it was: A parking spot right by the square. It seemed unlikely. But it was real. We parked, got out, discovered that in this particular spot, we'd only need to pay for the coming 2:07 hours (though it only accepted payment for two hours at a time). Miracle #1.

2) We only paid for 2 hours, and after the milonga really got going, we forgot to go back and pay for the last 7 minutes. In Philadelphia, I've learned, this is a sure way of getting a ticket. But we didn't. Miracle #2.

3) We went for dinner after the milonga, at a nice restaurant on South Street. South Street is another very busy area, and the notion of looking for parking there is total craziness. We drove around just to feel like we did our duty before getting into a parking lot, and all of a sudden, right in the middle of the (truly packed) street, there it was: A parking spot just for us, half a block from the restaurant. Miracl #3.

3.5) We later went to get ice cream. Couldn't find parking space, which made us realize we could just buy the ice cream (while I wait in the car) and eat on while driving home. Was better this way anyway. I'll put it in the miracle list. Why not? Miracle #3.5.

4) We went to Princeton (New Jersey) today for a tango crash course. After the course, we looked for a place to eat (it's about 1.5 hours from home, and we were too hungry to wait). I voted for Indian food. Lori rarely disagrees to such a notion. We drove downtown to the main street. Not a lot of parking, but not too tight. We saw a spot we liked, and pulled in. After getting out of the car, we asked a passing family where we might find an Indian restaurant. The man pointed up the street, the woman down the street, and the kids just ignored us. Then the grown-ups apologized and said that they're not really sure, and walked off. We consulted the oracle (Lori's iPhone), and it informed us that there's indeed an Indian restaurant in town, and the address was... right across the street from where we parked. Miracle #4.

The world is smiling at us right now. I will try to remember to smile back.

Playing for Change

(thank You, Dafna)

Dafna sent me a link, in a short, 3-line Email, saying she thinks I would like the concept.

I watched. At first I thought hey, this is pretty neat.

As I kept watching, I could feel the chills running up and down my spine.

This is inspiring. Amazing. Beautiful. If You have a couple of minutes, take a look: http://www.playingforchange.com/journey/introduction. Or here:



You can find more by going on YouTube and typing "Playing for Change."

There are times I want to just drop everything I'm doing, and just do music, music, music. There is magic in it, elation, and a beauty unlike anything else.

I think about all the people in the videos, singing and playing so beautifully with people they have never seen. And I feel such respect and awe for them. They have been playing for a long time, putting in hours and days and months and years into making their music so beautiful, some of them under conditions that less than ideal: Pokei Kiaas, playing his upright bass on the dusty dirt between shacks in Guguleto, South Africa; or Junior Kissangwa Mbouta, barely squeezing his full drum set into his skinny porch above the streets of the Congo...

Enjoy. And thank You, Dafna.

Ole!

I finally started taking guitar lessons in an organized way. Flamenco guitar. Yeah baby. Right now I'm still sounding like a chicken pecking at a guitar, but I have faith.

I took another class today, at the end of which my teacher asked me what sort of sports I do. We ended up talking about martial arts and Jeet Kune Do, and that's when I discovered that my teacher met Bruce Lee once, to watch him train.

Funny world.

The story of finding this guitar teacher is a nice one. I decided it's time to take lessons, and called up a nearby music store. They said yes, we can teach guitar, but not really flamenco guitar, and so they gave me the number for a teacher that used to work for them, but now opened his own business. I called him and he said yes, we could teach You some flamenco guitar here, but we wouldn't really be able to take You very far. So he gave me a number for another guy, who's a performing artist. I called up this guy, and he said oh yes, I'd be happy to teach You, but I always refer potential students to my teacher first, and only if he can't take anybody on, I will take them - out of respect, You know. So I called up the guy's teacher and he said sure, come on by.

So that's who I've been studying with. Great guy, great guitarist, lots of fun. Lori has been joining to take flamenco dance classes, and so while she stomps I peck, and there is lots of noise and merriment.

I find this story very heartwarming - that people would be willing to literally lose business, in order to provide the best learning experience possible. That's real professionalism. And real humility.

On other fronts: I feel like I'm not doing any service (as in, helping other people). Starting to think about it more seriously.