The power of music revisited

I'm happy with most of the posts I make to my blogs (both this and my baking blog), but every now and then, there's a post that I'm just not happy with - a subject that I couldn't do justice to. The one in particular that I'm thinking of was on the power of music. But I found a video that conveys every bit of meaning that I wanted to but couldn't. It's worth a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F_PxO1QJ1c

True meanings

I feel that the word enchantment is bandied around a bit too much and used a bit too cheaply these days, and that the true meaning of the word has been lost in the fog of overuse. But the other evening, I (re)discovered what I think should be used as the definition of the word: a full moon, on a beautifully clear, crisp evening over the skies of Oxford. Utterly enchanting.

Bad days

There are some days when even fantastic news that you've hoped for for years is not enough truly to lift your spirits.

Gourmet selection of pain

We all know that there are different types of pain. There are dull aches, stabbing pains, prickly pains, burning pains and all the myriad of combinations in between. Recently, I started going to a masseuse in an attempt to work out some of the worst knots in my muscles. It's only since then that I've discovered quite how many different flavours pain comes in (and by that, I just mean physical pain; emotion/psychological pain is a whole other kettle of fish). There are ticklish pains that make you want to laugh in a you-either-laugh-or-you-cry sort of way. There are uncomfortable pains that you're not sure whether it's just discomfort or actually pain. There are tearing pains that feel like you're muscles are being ripped apart. And then there's the most delightfully excruciating sort of pain, that I can only describe as an exquisite pain. I hasten to add that it's in no way pleasant - actually, quite the opposite; it's the sort of pain that I dread the most. But it's so... pure and, well, almost delicate, that you can't help but admire it. It's a bit like a safecracker breaking into a bank vault - you don't approve and you don't like it at all, but you can't help appreciate the craft. If you've not experienced it, then you probably have no idea what I mean by an exquisite pain, but I've mulled this over for a while now, and I can think of no other description of it. But if you're curious, go find your nearest sports masseur/masseuse and experience it for yourself. I'm not going to say that you won't regret it (because several times now, halfway through the massage I've started having second thoughts...), but it's certainly an experience!

Hunger

We tend to think of hunger as a bad thing. It usually is, I suppose; especially if you consider how much malnutrition and starvation is happening in the world. But it struck me today that hunger isn't always a bad thing. I was on my way back home after a run that followed a cycle, and I was hungry. I mean really hungry. But there was something sort of... pleasurable about it, and not in a masochistic way. It was a niggling hunger that I knew wouldn't go away unless I ate something - not even a distraction would shake it. Just enough discomfort to make me know that I'd had a decent workout, but not enough to be painful (I daresay almost anyone who has hit the wall before will probably agree that hunger can be painful). And then I started fantasising about the food and drink I would have when I eventually made it back. I think this is the best bit of being that hungry - the anticipation of the first bite of food or the first gulp of drink. Sometimes I get pretty weird cravings for things when I have an exercise-induced pang of hunger; this time around it was pretty normal - I wanted some cola-flavoured sweets.

So yeah... that's about it really. Hunger can be pleasurable sometimes...

Beeps of pointlessness

Why do mobile phones have a setting that makes them beep every time you press a key? These key tones are incredibly annoying for everyone around, but seemingly serve no purpose whatsoever. I'm inclined to suggest that if you need the phone to beep every time you press a key when you, in fact, are the one pressing that key and (presumably) watching the screen to see the result of said key press, then you're probably not quite up to working a mobile phone yet.

In vino veritas

The loosening of the tongue that comes with inebriation applies also to the internal voice; Occasionally, alcohol will break through the veneer of the lies that you tell yourself without realising it.

On the benefits of curvature

Curly fries are better than normal fries. This is a universal truth and I think the few people who disagree with this statement are just plain wrong. But I'm fairly sure that it's not the curvature that makes curly fries so tasty, but rather the seasoning. So why don't they put that same seasoning on straight fries?

It's the little things

I just had a realisation (in the shower, naturally). It's a realisation that sounds very similar to thoughts I've had previously, and it will suprise none of you (or at least not those of you who know me), but I think it's actually quite significant. It was one of those realisations that completely stops you in your tracks when it strikes you and makes you wonder how you never thought of it before. This time around, it is this: A decent shower and a cup of tea makes the world a better place in almost any situation.

I realise that that sounds a little trite, but I genuinely mean it literally. Think of any situation - pick the absolute worst thing that you can imagine happening; Your best friend is involved in a car crash and there's nothing you can do to help, your home country is invaded by a foreign power and is now at war, there's a plague science has never come across and is powerless to deal with sweeping the globe, you wake up with a horrifying realisation that you're going blind and deaf - literally anything. Now picture the exact same situation, but now you have a shower and a cup of tea and imagine how you feel - still pretty darned awful, but slightly calmer, slightly more in control. Perhaps not perceptibly better (and if you're in such a situation, I doubt you'd consciously notice the improvement), but definitely incrementally better.

Now take the other extreme - think of the best thing you can imagine. You fall utterly, hopelessly, uncontrollably in love and the object of your desires reciprocates, you land that dream job that you never believed might even be a possibility, you win big on the lottery just at the moment when you thought you were going to have to declare bankruptcy - again, absolutely anything. Picture it with a shower and a cup of tea afterwards - you're ecstatic still, but now you're even more energised.

It works for everything in between too. You're feeling too hot? Shower and a cup of tea. Had a long, tiring day? Shower and a cup of tea. Someone was horrid to you at work? Shower and a cup of tea. An old friend calls you up out of the blue and you have a lovely conversation over the phone? Shower and a cup of tea. In fact, the only things I can think of that aren't improved by a shower and a cup of tea are water and energy shortages. But with anything else, a shower and a cup of tea might not be the solution (it rarely is), but it'll certainly improve matters. It's the little things.

I've just got out of the shower - I think I'll go and make a cup of tea...