You Can’t Please Everyone
From the wisdom of Aesop:
A man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?”
So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”
So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”
Well the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passersby began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours—you and your hulking son?”
The man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together, he was drowned.
“That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them:
“Please all, and you will please none.”
Wisdom of the ages that I would do well to remember.
It’s important to do the right thing, and to aim for a win-win all the time. Sometimes, though, even that won’t be enough to please everyone.
50 Years From Now
MSNBC did a great piece on how the world might look in 50 years, as predicted by some of the futurists today:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/18/915263.aspx
Now that I’m aware of the Singularity’s concepts, I really see the progress we’re making technologically. It’s moving very quickly, and I think it’s exciting to see this kind of progress.
The Singularity
Lately I’ve been fascinated with the technological singularity, an intelligence explosion caused by the advancement of our computing power. (more…)
Farewell Jazz Combo
For over seven years, I’ve played in a combo. My combo’s personnel had shifted from year to year, but each year I have participated in a small jazz combo of some kind. (The only person who has also been in my combo since the beginning was Andy Poppen, since we went to high school together.)
My combo started in sixth or seventh grade; we learned Jazz as we went and played through high school. When I arrived at college, I continued in a jazz combo and even began playing a regular weekly gig for a while. As part of an actual “Jazz Combo” class, we also played once each month during the school year at a “jazz combo forum” — which gave us an opportunity to play and be critiqued by our jazz directors.
Tonight marked the last “combo night” that I’ll be participating in for the foreseeable future.
As I have shifted my focus from Music to Computer Science, I have found myself gradually drifting away from some of the musical activities which have been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. My change of majors has given me an enlightened perspective on how I view the activities which take precedence in my life. By switching to Computer Science — and piano — away from Music Education and a Horn focus, I now spend my time a lot differently.
To be quite honest, I don’t miss playing horn at all; I enjoy playing piano from time to time, whereas horn had become a chore. But the change inside of me has gone farther: I don’t even have any desire to play in Wind Symphony, primarily because of the large time commitment (though playing piano in a large ensemble itself tends to be rather boring). That’s just because I enjoy working efficiently and at a quick pace — ensemble rehearsals require a lot of patience and compromise at the high school and college level (professional ensembles tend to “lay things down” efficiently, if Prof. Meunier’s descriptions of those ensembles are accurate). If music were my main interest, I think I would enjoy the process more — but I’ve discovered that my true passion, at least at this point in my life, lies within the technology industry.
Dr. Romain has placed a strong emphasis on shaping the combo program here into a more academic exercise, advocating that next semester each combo will be required to practice two hours a week, with regular reports from the group regarding attendance. As my priorities and class load have shifted, Jazz Combo will not fit into the puzzle that is my academic priorities and projects next semester. Thus I have decided to discontinue that part of my musical life, until such a time as I can dedicate more to that medium.
Perhaps I will play on occasion in a small group — I did enjoy the experience and atmosphere. Ah well… this is all just a reflection of my own priorities settling into place as I continue through life.
