Schadenfreude

Firstly, Happy Valentines Day. I hope that you all survived the holiday. Mine was actually pretty good. Shaun, Kevin, Darcy, and I zipped over to SarahLyla’s after work where we had a pinata, foosball, and nachos. Obviously, we used my bo staff for pinata destruction.

Any greatness of the Valentines day was shadowed this morning by a mountain of frustration. Everything was going well, I went to the gym, had a great breakfast (Cinnamon TC!), and even packed up for work early. I decided to bring my guitar and my music so that I could practice during lunch as my weeknights have been packed with work and play. Listening to the local jazz station which was featuring Esperanza Spalding, I contently pull into the work parking lot, grab my stuff, and start walking to the door of the building, when suddenly, just as the wind picks up with that type of dark ferocity that slows one’s step, my music binder breaks.

Lord almighty, what a disaster.

Instantly, 100+ pages of music explode southward. I desperately put down my guitar and lunch and start sprinting across the parking lot grabbing whatever I can. The pages of music fan out over the deep snowbanks that border the parking lot, strained and filtered by the pine trees and shrubbery on the southern side of the lot.

I bound over the curb and immediately sink to my knees in snow. Plowing forward, my ears bitterly cold as I’d left my hat at home, I grab handfuls of music sheets from their captor branches, hugging them close to my body as the wind shows its angst and disperses the sheets deeper and deeper into the brush. It takes only a moment for me to learn that nature, boasting its sick sick humor, has made the earth here perfectly supple for thorny shrubbery.

And so for 15 minutes, I trudged through deep snow, collecting whatever sheets of music I could. My dress shoes packed full of snow and ice, my hands and pants ripped from thorns, but beyond all that… my music… I lost a lot to the wind.

11 thoughts on “Schadenfreude

  • 2/15/2011 at 9:11 am
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    This just in.

    I counted the sheets that I was able to retrieve: 72

    And thankfully, the four most important sheets are amongst those recovered.

    Reply
    • 2/15/2011 at 1:22 pm
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      New Update!

      One of my sharp eyed coworkers noticed a page of music out his window. Upon closer investigation around the side of the building I’ve found another 18 sheets!

      Awesome!

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  • 2/15/2011 at 9:22 am
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    How did your lunch make out through all of this?

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    • 2/15/2011 at 9:37 am
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      My lunch is so heavy with deliciousness that no amount of wind can budge it. It was a reliable anchor throughout the ordeal.

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  • 2/15/2011 at 2:13 pm
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    I don’t think this is the right title for this post because I feel no pleasure from this misfortune–only a lot of OCD anxiety from the thought of less than pristine music sheets.

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    • 2/15/2011 at 2:22 pm
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      I guess I was hoping that some entertainment might become of this unfortunate incident.

      The lot of papers now sits on my desk under a book. I’m hoping they will flatten neatly.

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      • 2/16/2011 at 10:35 am
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        Maybe a little ironing on low (very low!) would help too. I always kind of like it when things get rumpled and well worn looking, like when your favorite recipe in a cookbook is all stained and wrinkly (granted I see the other side as Tom hates this). Plus you might want your music to be clear and readable a little more than a recipe book.

        Sorry about your music though, glad you recovered a lot of it.

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      • 2/16/2011 at 11:46 am
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        Photocopy them.

        And make two while you are at it!

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  • 2/15/2011 at 9:09 pm
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    At least all the gold nuggets of karaoke band songs reside safely in your brain!

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  • 2/16/2011 at 12:26 pm
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    the only thing i can offer is the hope that someone out there needed a dose of inspiration and needed to be saved by your unexpected music blowing their way. You probably indirectly inspired someone to get started writing music again that has been stuck doing what they don’t love to do for too many years. ;)
    this is the counsel that comforted me the many times I’ve……..
    examples:
    1) new laptop stolen in church- made way for the opportunity of a brand new black macbook worth twice as much to enter my life for free, (didn’t happen till a year later.. but worth the experience.)
    2) favorite bag with favorite jacket/sunglasses/3 books/ arabic school books/homework/ important planner with names/addresses etc,.favorite travel sized bible and personal journal with my past months of travel and personal discovery all recorded in it. Oh yeah, and wallet. ALL STOLEN at the McDonalds in Tahrir Square in Cairo Egypt. (shouldn’t have been in MCd’s in the first place. that lesson was learned)
    … that one was hard… can’t really replace any of those items while living there.
    but i figured somebody needed to peer into my life and be transformed by my oddball collection of items and writings. Had to let it go and forgive them for spending $130 at adidas on my card :) … apparently they hadn’t read my bible yet. ;)
    3) HD crash twice… well. Needed to get off the internet for a season anyways. Yup, my attention was had and felt better after my sabbatical.
    4) only pair of shoes i had broke on my feet in the middle of the streets in Nashville, Cairo, Alexandria, Mexico City, Jerusalem… (this is strange re-occuring phenomina)…. each time, something good has come from it. Best one was a man in a pharmacy in Alexandria fixed them for me for free and I bought him sweets…
    …ok… to long… all done, and claudio is yelling at me to hurry up :)

    Reply

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