Genius, genius

Probably the most genius thing I've ever done
has been to put tweezers in my car.
{image}

I never notice I have a forest growing until I am in the
car, far away from my make-up bag, and most likely late
for something. But never again will my eyebrows
be uncultivated; I have now perfected the
art of plucking my eyebrows while waiting at lights, which I
do a lot of throughout the day. My "kids" even tell me when
the lights turn green. It's like a game to them.

I talk way too much about unsightly hair on this blog.

My Mustache and Willies

I do support the troops and all, I just get the willies every time
I get pulled over. The willies are those really awful chilly feelings you
get when you are trouble. The exchange is just awkward to me.
Parent/child relationship feel.

I had a terrible, no good, very awful day yesterday.

I was coming out from an appointment when one of my
client's mother called me; I'm an awesome listener and I may
not have been paying attention as great as I should have. I may
have pulled out a little close in front of a vehicle. It wasn't that awful
though. Really. But I do realize that I am distracted and
pull into the nearest store parking lot to finish my call.

I am a good citizen for pulling over right?

Naturally, I was surprised when I get out of my car to grab
something from the trunk and a very menacing police officer is
leaning up against my car. Whoa!! Where'd you come from?!

"Do you know what you did?" he said.

"Uh... you mean pulling out in front of that car out there? I didn't
see him, sir. I am truly sorry."

He looked really mean. It was making me nervous.
"Do you know why you did that? That is called reckless driving."

"I really didn't see him sir until I was already out in the lane..."

"You know why?" he interrupts. "Because you were on that thing,"
pointing at my offending cell phone sitting on the seat.

Man, this is going to make my mom so happy. She is always telling
me to get off my phone when I drive because I'm too distracted.
I realize denial is never going to work. I pull out the big guns: sympathy.

"Yes, sir. You are right. May I tell you why I was so distracted?"
He looked really mean. Did I mention that?

Silence.

"Can I?"

More glaring. And then a slight nod.

"Well sir, I am a PSR Worker and that happened to be a call from
one of the client with not the greatest news. I really didn't see that other
car. I realized I was far too distracted, thus while I pulled into this lot
to finish the call. I am usually quite a responsible driver."

(PSR Worker and police have to work together occasionally. I had
a friend who got out of a $80 ticket because she was able to convince
them that her driving record was really important to keep clean to be
able to transport clients. Handy knowledge in times like this.)

He asks me lots of questions: who do I work for, where was I headed, ect.
He takes my license and registration and tells me to go sit down while he
does his little laptop thing in the car. I am biting my nails. I got a ticket
not two months ago will that effect how awesome I look as a responsible
PSR/citizen?
He walks back I give him my "sorry-I-am-such-an-idiot-and-this-will-never-
happen-again" look. He tells me that I really need to watch my driving
because I have two citations from 2010. I want to tell him that that was
soooo last year; I am a reformed woman! But I don't.

A not so bad interaction and I got away with nothing but a nose bleed.
No seriously my nose started bleeding a few minutes later.

Life could have gotten a lot better, but it didn't.
I went and picked up one of my kids. A six year old who is learning
English. I am talking with him about meditation (right what six year old
is going to use meditation?) when he starts pointing and laughing at my face.
All my insecurities come out.
Did I write on myself with pen?
Do I have a big zit that needs popping?
Is my nose really that ugly?
What did I eat for lunch?

He blurts out,"You have a mustache!"
I hurry and turn around to see who of my co-workers heard.
I'm dying in my seat. I try to hurry and talk to him about making fun
of people but he is just laughing too hard. So I do the only logical thing:

I put him in time-out.
(He deserved it. He was being mean to me.)

Then run to the bathroom to check out this mustache.

Truth: I use Nair.
And we are close that I can tell you that.
I hadn't used it in a while, but honestly it wasn't that bad. No black hairs,
just a little long around the edges of my mouth.

We had a good long discussion about making fun of people.

Mister says he doesn't see the stache. But he is too sweet so
honestly can't be trusted.

Pearls Before Breakfast

I ran into this story today and it really got to my heart strings.

January 12th, in the middle of morning rush hour, Joshua Bell performed
six classical pieces. 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them on the way
to their morning jobs. They didn't know it but the musician they heard
was one of the most renowned violinist in the world.

He always performs with the same violin. And no other would do even
for this gig. It was handcrafted in 1713 out of the finest spruce, maple
and willow. Bell bought it a few years ago, the price tag at 3.5 million
dollars.{image}

Three days before doing his stunt in the Metro station, Joshua
Bell had filled the house at Boston's stately Symphony Hall, where
pretty good seats went for $100. But on this Friday, he was just another
performer competing for the attention of busy people on their way to work.

He started with what is considered one of the most difficult violin
pieces to master: Bach's "Chaconne." It is an exhausting 14 minutes
of single, succinct musical progression repeated in dozens of variations.
It is said to celebrate the breadth of human possibility. He clearly wasn't going
to cheap out of this performance. He played with gusto, his body leaning into
the music and arching on tiptoes at the high notes. The sound was symphonic.

Three minutes went by before something happened. 63 people had already
zipped on by when, finally there was a breakthrough of sorts. A man
altered his gait for a second, turned his head to notice that there was
some guy playing music. He kept walking, but it was something.
Things didn't get much better. In less than 3/4 an hour that Bell played,
seven people stopped what they were doing to hand around and take in the
performance, at least for a minute. 27 people gave money, most of them
on the run--for a total of $32 and change.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy.
His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid
stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and
the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action
was repeated by several other children.
All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

Bell afterward said that, "it was a strange feeling, that
people were actually, ah...ignoring me. At a music hall,
I'll get upset if someone coughs or it someone's cellphone goes off.
But here my expectation quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any
acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful
when someone threw a dollar instead of change."
This is from a man whose talent can command $1000 a minute.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
-W.H. Davies, "Leisure"

British author John Lane writes about the lost of appreciation
for beauty in the modern world. This experiement at the Metro
station may be symptomatic of that, he said -- not because people
didn't have the capacity to understand beauty,
but because it was irrelevant to them.

If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen
to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music
every written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we
are deaf and blind to something like that--then what else are we missing?

{Story found here.}