Which Fun?

Heroism  is taking the microphone and belting 4th octave F#s.

Nationalism is winning your bet on a sports match where the winner is the same nationality as yours.

National Interest refers to highly popular but greatly irresponsible persons wringing their dirty laundry on TV while the mediocre masses pretend to take logical sides  and quote hand me down pseudo intellectual statements.

Spirituality is the best talisman invoked whenever incompetent and immature decisions are made.

Freedom is the ability to choose without any coercion between mediocrity and ignorance.

Advancement is non confrontation of the truth and seeking refuge in the queues of the embassies, no questions asked.

National pride comes from the ability to name-drop at an instant individual achievers and tag oneself to said achievements without any exertion of effort.

Welcome to Philippines, 2012. It's not that fun, really. Please. 

I Have 16 Dreams

Recently, dreams have occupied and slowly staged mini coups in my brain, in tolerable frequencies.

Nope, these are not the ones that occur during sleep more like nightmares turned inside out.

Not the ones that leave us with glassy eyes, much like fairy tale princesses waiting in vain.

I am not also referring to the ones synonymous with slave driving goals, thinly disguised as dreams reachable -  the types that require life and limb to attain. Say, getting a degree in law or finishing one's comprehensive papers or whatnot without losing one's sanity.

I'm talking of top of mind dreams - ones that don't have eternal value, really - but  would not hurt to have either.

These are 16 things that, when given 5 seconds , I can instantly enumerate without even thinking.

1.  A house with a clean, comfy kitchen - pantry and utensils lined up for good cooking and conversation. There are mixed books on one side neatly tucked. Trash is segregated, and pots and pans shelved.
2. Separate work areas for digital recording and art works.
3. Travel minus the guilt of knowing I'd have to get back to a totally different work environment.
4. A good afternoon nap that exceeds 5  minutes.
5. A Macbook Pro.
6. Getting good at programming.
7. Excellent driving skills.
8. Sting calling me to fly over and add guitar tracks to his current work.
9. Chocolate bars that don't fatten and lead to diabetes.
10. The ability to talk to inanimate objects.
11. Be Tony Stark for one day. Or, wait is it really Stark or is it Robert Downey, Jr.? I am stumped. 
12. To draft policies and laws for the city for a day - and have the power to implement it strictly, obliterating violators to particles.
13. Meet Steve Howe of Yes and ask him any question that would make an impression.
14. The uncanny ability to file my office documents faster than a speeding bullet.  
15. Great pearly white teeth.
16. Good posture.

Dream on, baby. Here's YES from the Talk Tour, (yes, that's YESWEST-Rabin-Yes, for those who insist) with ENDLESS DREAM. 

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the clip above, and do not earn money with the video. The clip belongs to the rightful owners, and is shared for enjoyment purposes only.

TianoBM2012

It's Just Talk

I'll be straight forward with this.

I find it funny and absurd to observe how people dislike the discomforts of honest communication.  Yes, it can be masked by a talkative, ranting front of a persona, but it can never be faked. We can talk all we want without saying anything.

Real communication involves skilled conversation. It is rich experience with both parties learning from each other by the exchange of ideas. It demands honesty, which nurtures mutual trust in the process.

It also implies the pulling down of defenses at a level  where both parties meet halfway.

If music be the language of the soul, an introvert snob musician is an oxymoron.  How can one be the audience's resonating voice, when one can't even communicate?

While a painter splashes random colors on the canvas to evoke emotions and provide catharsis, why the lamb's silence and incoherent 'spaced-out' statements during a normal conversation?

There must be something incongruous with a dynamic and highly motivational speaker who can not clearly confront and deal with what happens within the organization. Enough said.

Social networking hits big, because it feeds the anonymity and irresponsibility in us. We click and remain invisible. We watch and remain irresponsible.

Armed with ignorant bliss, we act as judges and click the dislike button for the few well meaning souls who simply  share what they have to the world. When pressed for a logical reason, we resort to ad hominem arguments and simply walk out.

We love to hide behind the walls called protocol, we enjoy the sterility of clean hands and call it delegation. We do not want to hear the piercing unadulterated truth uncovered by real conversation. It stings, it is uncomfortable, it takes time, it derails us from our planned schedules, we do not want it.

Conversation demands work, just like a lot of things. The more one digs deeper, deeper meaning is unearthed.  Unless , we all love to live the lie and would want to keep the truth buried until kingdom come.

 TianoBM2012

  

MEANWHILE, here's Pat Metheny with the track of the same title, '(It's Just) Talk' from the album 'Still Life (Talking)'. 

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the clip above, and do not earn money with the video. The clip belongs to the rightful owners, and is shared for enjoyment purposes only.