Mediocrity

So it's my first day of work and I'm severely disturbed by how bored I already am. So far I have completed Number 4 in the Scott Pilgrim Series, watched a short documentary about chocolate makers, and finished another episode of Fullmetal Alchemist. With nothing else to do, I decided it was a superb idea to blog about how bored I actually am.

However, at this point in life, I guess I can't complain. When it comes down to it, I'm getting paid to be bored.

I guess I just wanted to make a short woo-hoo for the fact that it's Summer (though the weather disagrees). For some reason in Bowling Green, whatever season it is, the weather will always disagree. It's a contestable fellow.

On another note, I learned about this guy: Jonathan Coulton.

He made more than half a million dollars last year just by selling nerdy music on the internet, a dollar a song. This is heartening. There is hope for the mediocre musician!


And in pursuit of escaping this mediocrity that is part of who I am, I have put it on my to-do list to learn cello and clarinet before August. A friend is teaching me cello in return for guitar lessons, and I'm just sort of hoping that the clarinet will work out. Two more instruments to be slightly acceptable at!

Which brings us to something else I've been thinking about. Is it better to be extremely good at just one instrument, or to be mediocre at a lot of instruments? I, for one, have fallen into the latter, and I'm not sure if I made the right choice. I start to wonder what would have happened if I had put all my energies into the bass, my first instrument. I might've been really good. I could have been known as "The Bassist" amongst my friends, could have played with random bands and could have had cool bass solos that would make all the ladies swoon...
Was picking up the guitar the worst mistake in my life?

I doubt it. If I could learn to play music all over again, I don't think I would do anything differently. Bass would definitely be my first instrument, just because it teaches you everything you need to know about the functions of songs. But I could never stick with it. It is the foundation for modern music, but there is too much in me that wants to build on top of it.

I suppose musical excellence of the highest degree might not be my calling. I like music too much for that. One instrument is boring; I need variety, or else it becomes dull.

Anyway, I think I've killed half an hour.
Thanks for reading
Isaac