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Sandcastles: A Metaphor For Life Edition #92 — April 2, 2007 Hello, fellow Earth Tribesmen (and ladies!). I've been busy lately and just now, at 10pm, I remembered that my newsletter is due before midnight — at least according to my own self-imposed deadline. But hey, I'm quick. Here, I'll prove it... I've been working diligently on my music lately, putting in lots and lots of hours. I spend a huge amount of time on the little details, sometimes listening to a 3 second musical passage hundreds of times by the time it's perfected. They say that God is in the details and I guess there must at least be a few saints in some of mine. But it's a lot of work, and when I'm finally done and someone says "Hey, this is really good!" then I'll say "Yeah, I thought so too." (Why do you think I spent years trying to perfect it?) No matter what happens with my songs, the payoff seems to be in the creation process itself. There's nothing like "getting it right" and standing back to listen to something that would never have existed had I not brought it into the world. It's a very proud moment, but then again...it is only a moment. Which reminds me: A friend of mine sent me an email today with a picture of a sandcastle. It was a tribute to 9/11 and the twin towers. Here, someone had invested a lot of time, care and obvious skill last summer in recreating the twin towers out of beach sand; complete with plane stuck in the higher floors. That sandcastle is long gone now, probably rained on or blown away by the wind the following day. But it's not important that it didn't last very long. What mattered is that someone had the experience of building something from nothing using only the materials available. And furthermore, it was something that people could enjoy as a reminder of just how creative we human beings can be when we put our minds and hearts into it. I've been working on my music for many, many years. But in the back of my mind I am always aware that no matter what happens to the song, it will someday be forgotten. I will die. And so will all the listeners. And then history will bury it in the overflow of new ideas and more pertinent discoveries. There are few things that we still cherish from the past, except as tradeable antiquities, or to remind ourselves of the past, when life was still new and unburdened by far too much life experience. (Sorry, that's not supposed to come off moany, but you know what I mean... ). But even so, I love my work. All of it. No matter what I do, I realize it is all just one little act during one little moment in time. And that's okay by me. After all, I'm here for the joy of it, not to torture myself with thoughts of insignificance or that one day the universe will get along fine without me. (I'll be somewhere else by then, probably apprenticing on some beach, playing in the sand, letting the occasional bikini distract me from my creative endeavours. Yup, sounds like heaven to me!). And now, for your viewing pleasure, I found a nice little website with some great sandcastle pictures and plenty of links to the art of sandcastle making. Sandcastles may not last, but at least the sand does. Thank you for being here at this very moment. I hope you are having some fun with the illusion of reality too! :) And remember, don't feed the seagulls. (Unless it's something from McDonalds. That oughta fix em!)
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