I will confess I am someone who piles it up. I have an addictive personality. Don’t go just yet, I am not talking about anything bad or illegal. Let me try to explain.
If you ever met me, you know I’ve been exploring different things in my life.
At first, when I arrived in Chicago, there was gigging. I did a ton of audition. I went to many clubs to jam, I answered many ads and posted a few. Then I’ve got into a professional band, we did three concerts per week (5 or more in the summer) and that calmed me down.
Then I started writing. I’ve always jolted down a few thoughts but I never dreamt of penning a whole novel. I was 28 years old. I wanted to write one book before I turned 30. I wrote 5. Yes, I got carried away. There’s a pattern developing here.
Then I got interested in little boats, the kind you put together. They were made of plastic, I had to glue them, rig them, paint them, display them. Many fascinating hours spent on that. Oh, the fun, the days!
After that, I’ve got my first kid and I picked up piano. Fortunately my kid slept a lot. That was great because I could do 5 hours of practice every day. Then, as they grew up, they slept much less and I hopped from piano to band, family band to be exact. That lasted a good strong long time. We were pretty good.
Then my daughter got her 16 birthday and told me she didn’t want to do music anymore. I’ve never forced anyone to play, so, just like that, we stopped.
We’re now arriving slowly to today. What am I doing today? Well, after a detour through cooking to feed my family, then woodworking and filling up the house with my creations, I am now back on piano and drums. Practicing is the goal. Oh, and listening. I try to sit down and listen to music. Much harder than it sounds.
So, why oh why is the title of this blog “Adding it up”? It’s because when I become interested in something, I fall into it, I swim in it, I go as far off the shore as I can, I almost drown every time. I start with 30 minutes daily, which, invariably becomes 5 to 6 to 10 to 16 hours per day! An all consuming, all devouring, all involving passion for God-knows-what!
That’s me. Sometimes I like myself, sometimes I don’t. Depends of the day.