Ikigai. That which makes life worth living is my favorite definition. I think I’ll start posting different things that fall into this category for me. Todays will be hard to beat though.

My five-year-old daughter and I stayed home together today. She told me,” When I was in Mommies tummy and it was dark outside, I looked through her belly button and saw a shooting star. I wished for a Daddy just like you.”

Another Path

My normal daily routine takes me on short walks around the building I work in. The area is quiet and the landscape is reasonably nice. The lower area of the parking lot is a natural wash and there are some old growth trees there. The area is plagued by progress and construction continues all around us. During the summer months, I walk only in the morning. Now that autumn has arrived, I can walk anytime.

Today, I broke routine and headed out along one of the main roads, away from the building. I exchanged the relative silence of the parking lot for the hiss of traffic. Well, I cheated a bit. I had my daughter’s mp3 player and Ottmar’s bootleg recording of his 1999 tour took the edge off the sound of passing cars.

Heading away from the buildings, the deserts hold is still strong. Wildflowers have popped up along the sidewalk. The creosote smells wonderful as usual. The tiny leaves of this bush are such a vibrant green, if you touched them, your hand would come away wet with the color.

As usual, time is my enemy. Checking my watch, I knew it was time to turn around and head back to my desk. On the return trip, I realized that lately I had been thinking in incomplete sentences. This walk had allowed me finish some thoughts and hopefully make way for some new ideas.

The next time you have the choice, take a new way.

Borya sets a trap for me

Borya asks: Actually I start wondering if u play guitar and in case that not, why not?!


After two days of thinking the question over, I’ll try to answer. As long as I’ve actively listened to music I’ve been drawn to the guitar. More than just listening to music with guitars in it, but music built around the guitar. I grew tired of music with lyrics. I felt there was more to the experience than listening to someone else’s story with no room for my own thoughts and feelings.

I tried learning to play guitar when I was younger. The lessons failed miserably. The student and teacher were a horrible match. I had no interest in learning folk music and the teacher knew no other style. I accepted the failure and went back to my role as the listener. Peeling away the spoken word and looking for the voice of the guitar.

My first reward in instrumental guitar came from the appearance of Joe Satriani in the mid to late 1980’s. The first song I heard on the radio was The Crush of Love. That song made me pull my car over and just sit and listen. To me, this was what music should be. The guitar as the voice. Sure the music can be described as hard but when you look inside, it’s amazing. It’s not just volume and noise. Somebody is thinking when these pieces are composed.

When I made my move to the desert southwest, I felt I should explore the culture a bit. What caught my imagination was the mystical image of the open desert. A lone figure in the distance and the sound of Spanish guitar. Oh, and some tequila too. The concept of flamenco music was pretty vague for someone who grew up in the area I did. I knew what it was in general but had no real understanding. I tried a few CD’s blindly, just to test the music out. These tests failed miserably. Still, I held hope that there was a flamenco match for me somewhere. It didn’t have to be traditional flamenco. Maybe something that held some of the elements. If I only knew then what was waiting for me.

So, after I was hit with the musical avalanche that is Ottmar Liebert, my view of music intensified again. Changing and growing as it should. I thought maybe I would try guitar lessons once more. A friend loaned me a spare acoustic and I played around with it. In the end, it never felt like I was on the right side of the experience. For me, I truly believe I am the listener. As Ottmar himself has said, the relationship between the musician and the audience is a symbiotic one. I’m just doing my part.