Little Things Out First

I've had so many topics bottled up. The one on the very bottom is the largest and I don't think I can get to that today. I will get the little ones out today because if I don't, I'll forget soon.

I've always been all about sunsets. The beauty of the sun disappearing into the ocean, the deep flush of the sky, the smoky clouds. But how much I've been missing out on sunrises! I've watched two sunrises in my life. I watched the first one on purpose, literally. Our family traveled to a Korean beach famous for sunrises and watched the New Year's sunrise. I just remember that it was freezing, that the sun was really red, and that it rose very quickly. I was in about fourth grade. It left an impression on me, but that's about it.

On Monday I just happened to be traveling east as the sun was rising. I set off at twilight driving west on Roswell Road, and in my rearview mirror I caught the yellow fringe of sky. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my rearview mirror; I had to remind myself that getting to Athens alive was more important than watching a beautiful sky. Half an hour later right as I got on one of the top bridges in Spaghetti Junction, the sun began to appear from the clouds. I don't know about you, but I find driving on those super-high bridges exhilarating. Exhilarating, on normal ugly days. Now, imagine gliding up the thing straight into the sunrise. It made my day. It was so pretty. Sunrise has a different quality than sunset... it's shinier and crisper. It's more yellow. It's just brighter and more refreshing. Heck, these are probably all psychological, but that's what I think.

The entire drive to Athens was beautiful. Bright, open skies with clouds that were the most distracting for driving, ever. I love the morning.

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You know why smells are so special?

Think of sounds. Think of voices, think of music. Think of CDs and videos and the radio.
Think of images. Think of sceneries and people. Think of photographs, drawings, and videos.
I think you get my drift. The presence of a smell, unlike that of sounds or images, requires that the original source be present. Technology hasn't developed that much yet, to reproduce smells out of computer "diffusers" or something. (Years ago I did read something about a TV that produced smell, but obviously no one uses it, so it doesn't count.) I hope they don't get to that in my lifetime, because the association of smell to certain events, places, and people is important to me and I'd like that to remain authentic.

Think of what life must've been like in Mozart's time. There was no "live" music. Because there was no recorded music, there was no "live" music. Music in itself meant live. Can you imagine how special music must have been?? The sound of a great violinist playing a masterpiece indicated that there was a great violinist playing a masterpiece in very close proximity. The sound of someone's voice indicated that the speaker was present nearby. Or think of life before photographs. Because things weren't easily reproduced, they were that much more special. Yes, they make perfumes and other fragrances by the bottle. But most of the time one commercial fragrance doesn't encompass all of the smells that comebine with it in real life. Anyhow... I don't care if this makes sense or not. Smells are just really special.

Freshly chopped collards, mystery smell, my room, the beach...

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I discovered today that I forgot how to play violin. While complaining about lack of ASYO I've neglected to practice at all, and now everything sounds like cat screech. I don't know how to use my bow, I don't know how to control tone, I'm not sure if I vibrate right. Much work to be done...