17 July, 2012

It's Possible



Anything's possible.
I think I have a hard time remembering that sometimes.
Anything is possible.
I checked out a bunch of music books from the Berkeley library last week, and was playing through some of them this weekend. One of the books I got is Seussical the Musical. I was originally going to audition to be in it this fall at MET, but I don't get back until like a month after auditions. Anywho, as I was playing through the music for this show, the song "It's Possible" really stood out to me. In part, I'm sure because it's one of those songs that drives to the end (I like that), but also because it shows something that I think the world of Seuss tried really hard to foster and champion: Imagination.
Jojo is a Thinker who thinks strange Thinks. They (his parents, an army general, etc.) try to get him to conform, and this song is his secret indulgence in imagination. Taking a bath becomes this epic underwater adventure. In the end, Jojo's Thinks save his entire world.
As I've been at Bayer this summer, I've gotten to see how this same "battle" rages on in the real world. Time and time again, I've heard people praise the ability to "think outside the box" and "be a fresh set of eyes". Concurrently, there are forms to fill out, standard procedures to follow, licenses to adhere to, and acronyms (oh my goodness are there acronyms) to learn. Amid the roar of bustling bureaucracy, the drive of deadlines, and the rigid hierarchy, it seems like it's very easy for one small voice singing "anything's possible" to be heard.
It seems so easy, to me, to let the world wash away the imagination that comes so easily to children. I don't think I ever had that creative of an imagination (I'm kinda left-brained biased), but it's more than just straight-up imagining up fantasy worlds. It's some kind of naivete in which the thought "that's impossible" or "that would just be impractical" is non-existent. It's a willingness to pursue a dream, without an elaborate safety net or back-up plan. It's the confidence that the world is a good place, full of good people. That's what this song stirs up in my memory.
Try to remember that feeling, or, if that isn't what you grew up with, work towards it. Kids are happy, and I feel like it's because they realize that...
               

03 July, 2012

Part of Me

Whelp, Katy has gone and done it: she made it on to my blog.

In case you were wondering, Billboard's Hot 100 (while interesting [try looking up what was #1 the week you were born. Trippy{which apparently isn't a word in my computer's dictionary}] and comprehensive) is not the true sign of whether or not a song has "made it". No, that distinction actually goes to my blog. That's right- you know it's a good song if I've woken up with it stuck in my head :)

< /sarcasm>

Today's song was really just one line from Part of Me which played over and over in my mind this morning:


You're never gonna break my soul, this is the part of me
that you're never gonna ever take away from me.

I feel like everyone has so much baggage. Call it what you will: layers, or different hats that we wear, or masks, or whatever. I'm going to call it baggage. There are social norms that we conform to, relationships which we mold ourselves in to, defense mechanisms, insecurities, habits. The list goes on and on for reasons why anyone would carry around baggage, and it's as individual as the baggage itself.
What if we could get rid of it? What if we could let go, let the layers simply fall off? Would that be a good thing? I don't know. I've never done it. I like to think that it would be glorious. To see and be seen for exactly who and what you are. So often, I feel like the people that I "know" aren't actually people. They are the layers that I've grown accustomed to. The part of the person that Katy sings about, that is who I want to get to know.
I know that there is some pretty deep (ie confusing) stuff out there about what the ego is, how we define ourselves and such, but I feel like we all have at least a sense of what we are, deep inside. It's easier for me to reflect myself more clearly when I blog, so I hope you get to hear a more baggage-less me in my posts. Someday, hopefully I'll get better at being able to open up in person and share a part of me.