Monday, July 26, 2004
Last post before I go
Yo fans, comes now your beloved blues harp wailing lawyer bidding a temporary farewell. I'm off to Roanoke, VA in half an hour or so, and then I'll be in NJ and NYC for the rest of the week. I had a fabulous weekend. The Fred-neck Blues Festival turned out to be very fun. Liz and her band did great (Howard commented, "This was the best I've ever heard Liz.") while I was only mediocre. Lack of practice and not feeling the groove were part of it. But it got remedied by my brother's beautiful photos and a special appearance by Ryfie and her cousin Sammie. Then we went to Maria's for dinner and headed off to Duff's house party featuring Greg on bass and Kris on drums. What a fabulous night! The last time I remember having that good of a time was at Gavin's birthday party. How're you, Gavin?
Congrats to the Westcott Brothers for winning the Fred-neck blues competition. They're finally marching toward Memphis, TN. I'm so happy for them especially for Jeff Conlin since he missed his chance with Clarence Turner. Jeff deserves to go to Memphis more than anybody in his group because he's obviously the better player and he has paid his dues (Note to Jeff: Learn the left-hand bassline thing, man. Be better than Medeski!).
So before I leave, just want to share with you guys some new wisdom I've attained. Because of my law school training and my strive for righteousness, I've become very temperamental these days when it comes to real-life conflicts. Most of the time, I'm right and I know it (like dealing with bureaucracies and the lazy workers at Best Buy). But I've been trapped into believing I'm right that I have hurt other people's feelings by yelling at them or acting completely obnoxious. I still think there are rare situations where one should be unequivocably vocal and courageous about asserting his own "correct" views. However, the danger of that is the fire can easily blind your eyes and sane mentality. On a grander (and more mature) level, being tolerant beats being right. You can still be right and easy-going at the same time. Like Woody Allen says in Broadway Danny Rose, the three most important things in life are "acceptance, forgiveness, and love." I've forgotten to forgive sometimes and now I'm gradually becoming a more chilled person.
See you when I get back, folks!
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Congrats to the Westcott Brothers for winning the Fred-neck blues competition. They're finally marching toward Memphis, TN. I'm so happy for them especially for Jeff Conlin since he missed his chance with Clarence Turner. Jeff deserves to go to Memphis more than anybody in his group because he's obviously the better player and he has paid his dues (Note to Jeff: Learn the left-hand bassline thing, man. Be better than Medeski!).
So before I leave, just want to share with you guys some new wisdom I've attained. Because of my law school training and my strive for righteousness, I've become very temperamental these days when it comes to real-life conflicts. Most of the time, I'm right and I know it (like dealing with bureaucracies and the lazy workers at Best Buy). But I've been trapped into believing I'm right that I have hurt other people's feelings by yelling at them or acting completely obnoxious. I still think there are rare situations where one should be unequivocably vocal and courageous about asserting his own "correct" views. However, the danger of that is the fire can easily blind your eyes and sane mentality. On a grander (and more mature) level, being tolerant beats being right. You can still be right and easy-going at the same time. Like Woody Allen says in Broadway Danny Rose, the three most important things in life are "acceptance, forgiveness, and love." I've forgotten to forgive sometimes and now I'm gradually becoming a more chilled person.
See you when I get back, folks!
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