The Why of Gluttony

Gluttony. Not something I am generally prone to. But today, I went on a splurge. Though my career is looking good (acting and music, it's all a marketable ploy, therefore, there is the constant need to look not only presentable, but also sharp. Your image is your lively hood and sadly, your success for the most part in that industry,) I don't think I have ever gone clothes shopping. And I mean ACTUALLY clothes shopping! I've been there when my mom has picked out pants for me in the past and has brought home things for me "How do you like it?" she would say or, "You'll wear it because I bought it." Things like that. And for the first time today... I bought designer pants... and not designer pants like, I'm going to Ross to get designer pants, like... I went to Buckle and spent some nearly seventy some odd dollars on a pair of pants, an act I was raised to never do, and a feeling that I was raised would never satisfy. I see where they come from, the need to have more and have it all, to shop constantly and never be satisfied. I mean, after all, that's how people become diabetic, (no offense to the diabetics out there, and this isn't always the case, sometimes it's hereditary, but I saw MANY cases where this was the contributing factor,) there is consumption AFTER the fulfilling feeling is reached. We can be full, but not satisfied. And for people who live their lives like this, I am deeply sorry. But to go (personally) from Levi Strauss and Bailey's Point denim jeans (don't get me wrong, I love denim), to my seventy dollar Chadwicks... I just about died. I don't indulge very often, and when I do, rarely is it for my own sake, most of the time it's to make someone else feel comfortable or contribute to the atmosphere for the group... but rarely is the indulgence for myself (I'll treat myself to Sushi once in a while, but that's about it.) But here, for the first time, I indulged! And heaven on high I LOVED IT! And I quickly saw why people get so addicted to it.

There was something that happened. Something in the brain that fired and said, you deserve more, you worked for the money to pay for these things, you deserve them... AND MORE! And for a moment I said to myself Yes! Yes I do! Damn it! I deserve every last boot cut and every final thread of each slim fit on these shelves. Now with that being said... I don't have the money or lifestyle to support the money or lifestyle that I want. I also have nothing against people who DO have the money and lifestyle to support the money and lifestyle as listed above, as a matter of fact, I don't mind having an image as sharp and supportable as listed above. But I was lucky enough to catch myself today. Among my Alfani designer shoes and Chadwick slims, my Fossil belt and Banana Republic supported socks, I realized, enough is enough. Good enough is Good enough. I could have spent more than I had (and I probably did,) but I could have gotten myself into real trouble right there.

I got thinking again (as I always do xD), why can't this be applicable to our lives. Why can't happy be enough. Why can't love be enough. Why can't joy and friendship and relationships and company and sunrises and movies and laughter be enough. Why the drugs, and alcohol, and substitute, and more, and replacements and better and bigger and fuller and tanner and whiter and cleaner and brighter. Why? How terrible are we. That we can endlessly consume, take, feed, crave, want, need, steal, reap, but never sow, work, create, contribute, add, benefit, endorse, grow, behave, control and recognize...? Why? It's not that hard. And I feel sorry for the people that say it is. From the ability that I've had to sit on both sides of the fence, I would rather sit on the grass that I worked my ass off to have, than sit on grass that is full and green and luscious and bountiful and FAKE! Call me crazy, but I'm crazy like that. I think everybody could use a good dose of wake up. Don't get me wrong, I like looking nice, I like indulging once in a while, I enjoy feeling good about myself. But enough is enough people, and I don't think we get that. I think we are loosing our better judgement, or replacing what we couldn't possibly get enough of holistically (friendships, spirituality, joy, laughter, appraisal, creativity, wonder, etc. etc.), with what we CAN get enough of superficially (clothes, boats, houses, things, things, things, things.) Things are nice, I like owning things, things make me happy, and in some cases can appreciate my value. Too many things, becomes too much. They are just things. I ruined an old suit in the rain, just because I wanted to. Things are things. You will have things your whole life, and they can quickly replace the things of importance which WILL go away if you don't temper them nicely, family, friends and even OTHER things.

Now... I do realize that to some extent, we need superficiality. We need a little bit of our fake to show through, it by all means is better than being called ugly. But we shouldn't be so concerned with our superficiality that we start making friends based off shopping trends and jean wash colors, what's the point. I strongly urge a lot of people to make a change, stop worrying what people will think of the natural you. Yes, gluttony is okay, it is okay to splurge, to indulge... but don't make that your lifestyle. Please tell me that you can be more natural and more self sustaining than to live off the appraisal and admiration of others. Our will power and determination (personally) is our most seductive trait we have, why can't we flaunt our power over the fake and undermined... I guess I kind of ran off track here... but I guess my over arching idea is that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought. That spans the scope of all things from superficiality to deep and meaningful friendships, just because someone smiles at you doesn't mean they are your friend. Just because someone tells you their secret doesn't mean you should tell yours, and just because someone is better dressed or more indulgent than you are, doesn't mean you have to up the ante. My best wishes to you all, and only the best of luck for all of your endeavors! With much love till next time. (sorry for how scatter brained this post was... I'll get over... you'll get over it... we'll get over it together...) 

The Loving. The Aged. The Fearful.

I was reading over my previous blog entries when I came across "The Creators." Sometimes I let my fingers and mind do the work, with very little filtering through my mind so that you can get (for the most part) the raw images and ideas that I feel or think at that moment in time. So I was quite surprised to find out some of the things that I had written, markedly was a section in "The Creators" that kind of made me stop and think twice...

"[Think] ... what would this world be like... if we all contributed... just... something. Nothing big, nothing crazy, nothing seeking grandeur or splendor in recognition, but rather... just make a bookshelf. Make a bracelet. Make a song. Make dinner. Make someone happy. Make love. Make peace. Something simple, and it starts within your own heart and conscience, and nobody will benefit from it but you. I cannot image what kind of change that would bring to the world!"

I think the few things that caught me off guard were the make a song, make love, and make peace. For starters making a song is something that anybody can do... it's just a shame that we think that our song is not as good as someone else's. My studies of 21 century western music theory have lead me to believe one thing, and that is that ANYTHING is a song and ANYONE can create a melody. There are finite rules laid before us as to what is pleasing to hear and what is marketable in  the music society, but that is in no way indicative of your creative ability. We can all create, but we are not all bold enough to share our thoughts and creations.
Next is, make peace. I guess I meant that more of a personal creation. I wish we could CREATE inner peace. Not find it, not nourish it, but create it. Some of us have already found it, and it is more than acceptable, and that is our peace... I guess THEN you can nourish and grow it, but I feel like I come in contact with too many people who are trying to come to terms with an inner peace that they don't even know that they have or only THINK they have. We need to create it, finding it would imply that it was at one point lost... I don't think a human would let go of their inner peace once they had found it, it is too precious to those who really know what it is. No. I think create is the perfect word for inner peace, or peace in general, and once you think you are content with the peace that you have with yourself, move on to other, help others gain the strength to create, it is a effect so exponential in its outreaching that you as a single person could affect more lives than you can probably count... not in this lifetime, but surely, your influence will be seen AND applied.

Lastly is love. I don't know why this is so poignant to me, but I feel like there is uneasy settling in a fair amount of people when I say it's important to make love. I assume that (as it was the first thing to pop into my head,) the physical act of making love (coitus... sex) was the first thing that popped into yours. I think delving farther... there is love you can make on a more emotionally and personal based level, not to disregard the beautiful and powerful nature of the physical act of making love. But I was wondering the other day... why are people so afraid to make love? Why are they so afraid to invest in relationships? Or even to start them, or attempt to start them? Is it the fear of pain that drives people away from pleasure? That question stayed so vividly in my mind. Is it fear that controls people, are we a people ruled by fear? Is that why we avoid conversation, or the truth? Is it the reason we never have the guts to ask people on a date? Is it the reason we never pursue our dreams? Fear? How powerful do we really think we are when we're controlled by the idea that the outcome (before we've even made the decision or attempted to make the decision or even THOUGHT about making the decision) might be what we don't want, might be something that could harm us, or make us feel bad, or break our hearts.
Now... I don't mean to sound cynical or degrading, but it sound rather cheap and stupid of us to cheat ourselves of happiness because there is a potential risk of loss or pain involved. Some of my greatest journeys and adventures (which have also been my greatest lessons and loves in life) have involved the greatest loss.
I am astonished every time I think of a loss in my life. I do not regret the actions taken or even the loss itself... yes, it is quite bittersweet, and sometimes more bitter than sweet and sometimes more sweet than bitter, but I think that investments made were worthwhile while they happened. Rarely have I thought This friend was a waste of time or there were few contributions that this person made to my life, and maybe it's just the way I am, but I believe that EVERYONE has something to offer to our lives and something great to give us to add to our collection of knowledge and virtues. Yes... there is loss out there, but better to have loved and lost and lived and experienced, than not loved at all.

There are stories that I hear grownups tell all the time, stories of adventures and childhoods, carelessness and freedom. Though it was a different time, I can't help but marvel at some of these stories, these adventures, ideas, experiences. The mature and knowledgeable are like that simply because they have been there and done that, they have lived, learned and experienced. And though we think that it is a trial far too difficult for anyone to endure (simply because it is happening to US, right then and right there), people have been there before, and their attempts to help us from their experience is their attempt at making love. Even in their old age, there is the chance at rejection, there is the chance they are ignored or averted, misplaced or disregarded. But they are just as much a person as you are (and some of us don't like being told what to do, or who to be, or where to go, or how to handle things), but again... it's because of our fear. Our fear that we are wrong, our fear that we don't know how to admit that we DON'T know what to do, our fear that someone is better than us, or more knowledgeable, more successful or happier than us. Fear plays a very large part in our lives. It is the indicator of what we are capable of. Some of us don't go cliff diving because we fear death, some of us don't love because we are afraid to get hurt, some of us refuse to contribute because we're afraid of getting duped in the end. We live quite vicariously through fear, and that is not a bad thing when tempered correctly, but let fear rule and ruin our lives can be. Some people don't Live, because of fear.

So here's my challenge to you (and many of you won't accept it because of the fear that you will gain nothing from investing your time and efforts, do with this what you will). The challenge is comprised of three sections, do them all in one day or do them one at a time... the challenge is to do them.... period. First! Just for ONE DAY, love without inhibition. Love until you can love no more, give EVERY person you interact with that day a hug or a high five, take five percent more effort than you would on normal interactions. Step up the "Hi," to "I like your dress," or "hair," or "eyes," toss in a compliment on top of that "Hello," toss in a hug on top of that compliment. Part two, treat EVERYONE as though they know more than you (this was the hardest part of the challenge for me to accept,) but you only have to do it for ONE DAY! Act as if EVERYONE as information that you do not, and treat them like they are the one person that day that is going to change your life because of the insight and information they have to offer. Really and truly listen to them, soak in their information and knowledge (whether it's bogus and crap or truly insightful and enlightening...), this only has to be done for ONE DAY! It's not TERRIBLY hard, I've done it... Finally part three. Do one thing that you would not normally do, and do it for no reason. Create an act of deviance (within reason, I am in no way condoning poor living habits, but those boundaries are up to you to decide, I think you know how to make wise choices,) do something just because. I mean it. Wear a pair of underpants on your head to school, say no to a teacher, lay down in the middle of the sidewalk in the crazy traffic of the day and just relax, make farting noises in the stalls at a public restroom, scream at a stop sign, do your laundry on the front lawn... something, ANYTHING! Do something you would not dream of, or dare doing otherwise, use this challenge as an excuse, throw me under the bus, blame it on this blog, take no blame or responsibility for yourself, just do it.

The objective of this challenge is to get you to forget fear. Live just ONE day, where fear is not the contributing factor of your decisions. Don't do your homework (fear that you could get in trouble or receive a bad grade), Show love and appreciation, even affection, to someone you wouldn't normally (fear of being rejected or of being seen by "someone else"). Let go of the fear, let go of the pain, just for one day, be someone other than yourself, do something you wouldn't normally do. There are adventures to be had and a life to live, and you can't do it when you are afraid of the outcome. I hope nothing but good things for you, and wish nothing but blessings and the best of hope for you and your future (and to accept and overcome this challenge.) You get life once, don't waste it.

Challenge Accepted!

The World's A Stage

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything"

Today I had a reckoning with my past, and shared it with some very special people. It is true, all the world's a stage. But to be ON the stage in the stage of the world is something that very few people get to understand, they are totally oblivious to the power felt behind the proscenium, to depth in words, and the worlds that those very words lend to.
I feel at home and content knowing that there's a stage under my feet and words in my head. That there are worlds that are soon to escape and that I can tens to thousands of people with me on that journey, and they can feel what I feel and see what I see. It is a terrible paradox, the theater. For some reason we are constantly in awe at it. But we all know the stories, we all know the music, we all know the people and actors and cast and crew and even have read the books that these productions are based off of. But when we GO to theater, there is a resolute energy there, a power beyond you or I that extends past the security of our own conscience or realm of personal confidence.

The theater; the one place in the world where the mind can create a new world in the confines of the stage, and the one place where the world believes that it actually exists. This is the trap of the theater, to be sucked into thinking how you would normally not think, to catch yourself and to spite the character by simply thinking the opposite. The theater magically turns apathy to empathy, laughter to tears, and gripping emotion to relief and happiness. I believe happiness comes when we understand that the character has realized what we realize and he has made a better life for himself. I think the tragic feeling is invoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing -- his sense of personal dignity. These are the real life quests that make us question our entire existence and ourselves as human beings, we begin to say: “I would never have thought that. You can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop.” The suffering of this or that person grips me, because there is an escape for him, because I know something this or that character doesn't. That's great art — nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh and in the end we are all better people because of it. The audience brings their input and the actors bring their experience. Now imagine, together we have created a world where anything is possible and we all give and we all take. The Theater! Such a splendid marvel, and such a timeless classic.

I cannot begin to emphasize the powerful relationships that I had forged on that stage, that I visited today. So many "tamings" if you will, so many powerful friendships and wonderful memories. There are people in particular that I think of, every time I walk a certain way, or every time I talk a certain way, listen to a certain song, play a certain game, and all of it is due to the Theater. This is my life, this is my living, my lively hood... what I'm good at. I feel so empowered when I can share my knowledge and experience with those who have not yet come to a full knowledge of the craft that they are practicing. I felt so fatherly, giving the advice to my children whom I had tamed in years past, and who were so eager to hear what I had to say to them. They brought me such a peace, such a wonderful joy and happiness to my heart! I never wanted anything more in that moment than to love those children and let them know how much they are loved, how talented they are, and what good they are doing for the world. I am astounded to think that this is my craft, that this is my joy and my future, and that I have been lucky enough to work and learn and perform FOR and WITH some of the greatest this world has seen. From community theater to international dance, from physical acting to clowning, choir to chamber instrumentalists, my talents have lead me near and far, and I am so excited for what they will bring me in the future. I pray it would be full of rich, wonderful, exciting and fulfilling opportunities, not just my life, but yours as well... yes... you reading! I wish you the greatest joy, just like I have found in the written word, in the sung lyric, in the unspoken song, and in the physical portrayal of the Universe. How wonderfully blessed I am. It is an amazing thing. I don't think I could emphasize that enough. How luck I am. All the world's a stage, and I am ready to touch every living inch of it, and learn from every speck of dust that lies barren on that stage. My love and my wishes to all of you, until next time :D

The Taming of the Smaller Things

There are some days... that are perfect.

Okay, I'm over stating that one. There are some days that come so incredibly near perfect that I just want to roll up in happiness and die on a cloud! Here's the breakdown folks.

I started off sleeping in... something that usually only happens on Sunday's! When I awoke, I was greeted by a cup full of Florida's Natural Orange Juice (a delicacy and breakfast all on it's own.) A cold shower proved invigorating and SO nice, I could have died just then and there! Here's where it starts to get good.

I read The Little Prince . A VERY heartwarming story and a captivating read for ALL audiences. The story warmed my heart, for several reasons. Because of where I am in my life, just period, just because of where I am, and the people I know, and the friends that I choose to interact with on a daily basis, this book struck extremely true. Another is the message it sent. I was deeply touched by the idea of you become responsible FOREVER for what you've tamed! And in some sweet nostalgic ways, it made me want to go out and tame a few things, friendships, hearts, laughter, knowledge. There were things then and there that I wished I could tame so that I could have them FOREVER, and have them be my responsibility and my pride and joy. And paradoxically, I thought... I wish there were some things in life that I HADN'T tamed. I didn't want my name associated with those things, and people, places and situations. You become responsible forever for what you've tamed. Be it in the world or a single heart, the seeing heart. One only sees clearly with the heart, anything essential is invisible to the eyes. Choose wisely what you tame, you heart, emotions, friends, or even other hearts, for you become responsible for them forever. It's the time you spend in taming that makes it so important, not to the rest of the world, but to you. Too many people forget this truth, and far many more WANT to overlook it. You become responsible forever for what you've tamed. In the book, a boy takes care of a single rose, and cherishes it with all his heart. When he comes to earth, he sees rows and rows of BUSHES of roses! He becomes immediately disheartened at the fact that his rose is not THE ONLY rose, and that there are THOUSANDS out there just like it! A fox offers some great words of advice, It's the time that you've spent with your rose that makes it so special. He says, and the boy becomes contemplative of that. How true it is that it is not the NATURE of the rose (person, heart, talent, pursuance) that makes it special, the but the attention and nature of love that you've given it, the heart felt support that you've put behind your rose that makes it special. A wonderful book, if you've not read it, put it in your instant queue, there are some life lessons that need to be gained from the buddy!
Next on the list was a well needed visit with an old friend and good brother. Together we discussed music, made mystic grilled cheese sandwiches (Havarti on wheat... changing things up a bit. Whoa!), and started the second season of Sherlock! And let me tell you, I LOVE SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE!!! His writing style is SO eclectic, and when the spin off's of Sherlock Holmes come around (of which there is many) I can't help but get myself involved. I am often heart broken at their feeble attempts though, and it makes me sad when they miss so horribly the feel that Sherlock Holmes tries to capture. But Sherlock (the BBC series) is magnificently BRILLIANT!!! Mind. Blown. That's just how the series works... that's just how it works... mind blown... that's all... GAH! Anyway, I was surprised at the invitation to go see the American Piano Quartet! How could I pass that up, four of America's best Pianists, eight hands gracing two pianos for just over an hour and half!? SIGN ME UP!!!  (I think it was an hour and a half... it went by sooooo quickly, the music was amazing, though we did get rather caught up in all the critiquing their notes where too heavy, their sound was muddy, too much bass on the second piano's part, more even tone, phrasing was TOO pointed, harsh hammer on's, very few tender resonant moments, felt like there was too much exceeding power in the feel of tender moments, longer key strikes lead to blurry notes, moments of shrill technique almost twinged the string, dissonating the tone and quality... ANYWAY!) They had their quite exquisite moments, and their... less exquisite moments............... but all in all quite a wonderful performance... though I would venture to say that some of the college students performed better than they (especially the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsikov, Flight Of The Bumble Bee was spectacular. And SO CLEAN too! That NEVER happens. Back to the story.) To meet up with another old friend at that concert was a treat, and sit and talk music at the Pita Pit (all three of us) for a few hours, was splendid. To tell theory jokes that no one ever gets, to make fun of appropriately placed solfege, and reminisce about all of our piano performance days (one of these days I'll post some demo tracks for you guys to listen too... just having a hard time getting the right tracks or time to record... sorry : / ) And when all of that was over (I know more right!?) came the icing on the cake.

After the drive home, I was dropped off at a friends house (were my bike resided for the time being, I bike everywhere!) and I rode my bike home in the rain.

I. LOVE. RAIN.

I
LOVE
RAIN

ILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAINILOVERAIN. I don't think I could ever emphasize how much I love the rain. The sound, the smell, the feel, the mood... all of it. I LOVE THE RAIN! To bike home in it was SO euphoric. SO euphoric in fact, that I used it to seize a bucket list opportunity.
For the longest time... I don't know why.... I have wanted to ruin a suit by biking in the rain with it... so I went home and did exactly that... ruined my Alfani! :DDDD I know right!!!??? SO GREAT!!! I could have died, it was amazing! After about five miles in the rain and soaked ruined suit, i headed home... but that wasn't the end... I laid down in the garden... which was now mud, and surrounded by flowers, mud, and rain, I gazed at the gray sky and felt the invisible raindrops attack my skin. And in that moment... life was perfect. ..... Okay, I need to stop saying that... ALMOST perfect, there was just one or two things missing that would have made it PERFECT, but it will be someday ;) I just laid in that front yard for probably forty five minutes... soaked to the bone... in mud... in a suit... panting my heart out after an intense five miler... 

There are rarely moments in life where you can just literally SOAK IN, the moment. So beautiful. It got me thinking... nothing was over the top today (except for maybe the suit.... okay... the suit was over the top...) for the most part, it was just another ordinary day. BUT... here's the deal. There were small things that I had never really appreciated before. Many people would think, PIANO CONCERT FOR TWO HOURS!!! SHOOT ME NOW!!! or something along the lines of RAIN!!! Again!!! But I wanted to go running tonight!!! or more like It took them this long to get Sherlock onto Netflix!? What's people's problems now a days! I realized that, instead of grudging the things that COULD have been taken as poor or annoying... why not save the energy and simply enjoy them. I was baffled at how instantly my life turned around today. Yes, I'm missing people. Yes, I'm sad about certain events in my life. Yes, Yes, Yes. But that's life... face it dude. Life sucks, it just does. But here's the deal. I'm SO excited by what life has to offer me and what I can learn from the "Sucks!" I'm so excited to take what bad is going to come my way and become a better person because of it. There are SO many adventures to be had and SO many wonderful things to do, why waste your time focusing on the poor and negative things. Stop wasting yours and my time, and your energy. This is nobodies plan for success, nothing was ever accomplished by dreading the things that had to be done that day, do them and become a better person. Love what you do, and learn from it for the better. It's amazing what can be done with the simple conservation of energy. Find an excuse for it, be too lazy to get angry or annoyed. Use it as a revelatory paradigm shift. Use it to help others. Use it to help yourself. Invest in only good things. Invest in only what you want to tame and be responsible for for the rest of your life. I'm certain that everyone would ONLY want good things to be tamed and to be responsible for ONLY good things. It's time to tame the smaller things and enjoy the whole process.

If I can love the world, so can you! Tame wisely and love recklessly. Until next time. Au Revoir!

The Score

As many of you know, my life is dedicated to music. Cut the music and you have destroyed my life feed and mortal purpose... so I just figured that I would share with you the music that has most influenced my life, and it can be narrowed down (though the songs that have affected and influenced my life are countless) to just a few... (I say that naively, knowing that there are going to be more songs when I'm done than I bargained for.)

Here we go! (And for those of you who know me, keep these songs close at hand, whenever I get sad or angry (rarely) these songs will instantly put a smile on my face and change my entire paradigm! It's kind of cool actually...)

I'll start with the film Peter Pan. Hand in hand with Nightmare Before Christmas these films single handedly inspired my love of film scores and made me want to compose for film (what I'm studying for right now,) and these two songs from the film stuck out so potently, it was almost as if they were crying for me to change the world, "INSPIRE OTHERS THE WAY WE HAVE INSPIRED YOU!" they would scream, and I had no option but to answer them!

Without a doubt those two songs will be danced to at my wedding, because my wife is my Wendy, and together with her Peter Pan will never grow up! (I've always wanted to say that xD)
And just as a quick note, Peter Pan has always been my favorite everything; movie, soundtrack, play, book, Disney Attraction... there is such a wonderful magic in him that I'm not quite sure the world is aware about... just a note... my absolute favorite :D

Next is the Firebird Suite... now I'm not going to post all six movements up here (it would be several hours long,) but I will tell the story behind it. Years ago, when I was too afraid to amit that I loved music so passionately as I did (a weird frame of mind, but I was unsupported in my love of theater, I figured people would react the same when I told them I loved music) and so for an entire summer I saved up enough money to buy a ticket to the Utah Symphony when they played The Firebird Suite under the direction of conductor David Cho. I sat in the third to last row of the balcony at Abravanel Hall and that was first time I ever cried at music. I was so moved by how overwhelmingly powerful it was, it touched my soul and shook my very core... it was beautiful, and I share now with you the finale of that suite (well Disney's compilation, which consists mostly of the finale...)!

Next in line would be George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, along the lines of being the first full rhapsody I ever learned on the piano, it was also one of the VERY first orchestral pieces I ever heard. It was amazingly bright, but told such a vivid story in my mind that I would never forget how absolutely wonderful the impact that it had on me (for the sake of time I'll give you Disney's Fantasia version as well...)

Nextly comes the song that kick started my love of music... This song is the sole reason that I love music as much as I do.
When I was in the second grade I was wandering around the kitchen aimlessly. My sister was doing the dishes, my father was in his office, my brother was watching a movie and my two other sisters were in the basement (my mother and little brother had gone out... shopping I believe). I was playing with toys and looking at my homework that I didn't want to do, paying no attention to the song that was on the CD player that my sister was listening to. In a moment that would change my life forever she looked at me and said, "C'mon Marsh! What song is this?" My. Heart. Stopped. I had no clue... I was at a loss and the last thing I wanted was to disappoint my sister, so gathering up all my courage I said, "Tom Chapin?" Being the only other musician that I knew of. She lowered her head and shook it defeated over the sink she was doing dishes in, and said, "Marshall..." in such a dreary tone, "This is THE BEATLES!!! While My Guitar Gently Weeps! C'Mon Marsh! You should know that!" I worked hard to make sure that that mistake never came about again.

In February of 2012, I spent a month and a half at DisneyWorld for a Disney Educators High school Internship program, where we worked like real Disney members, played in the parks, visited the sites of Orlando and a great deal of other things. On the first night (The Magic Kingdom) I was high in love with the girl of my dreams (after my fiancee and I had called it quits xD BAHAHAHA!!!) and I was certain she was the one! On top of the magic of DisneyWorld, I spent that entire day with her hand in mine and it was so incredibly magical and perfect that my words will not even come close to giving it the justice it deserves. Long story short, when I finally held her close and kissed her... it happened to be in the middle of this parade, to this theme song (this song can literally cure ANYTHING that I have, from the  common cold, to, I'm sure, Death... play this song and I'm a new man again!)

I totally smiled through that whole thing... brought butterflies to my stomach and everything.

This last one (though I could post FOREVER!) has to do with my most fond memory of childhood. I was walking home from school in the fifth grade and it was snowing outside. It wasn't windy and it wasn't FREEZING but the snow was so WHITE and comforting, it was solace to walk through (but at the time I was miserable, I could only think about how I was the only child that walked to school in the snow...  mine were the only set of footprints going there and back again), but I walked through the door of my house my mother was making chili (which smelled simply devine) and on the kitchen radio my mother had the Polar Express CD in, and Josh Groban was singing Believe. Just a heartwarming song for what was a heartwarming experience in my childhood... this song means a lot.

And on top of that! WHO DOESN'T LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!??? It really just warms my soul and stops my heart every time the Christmas Season rolls around, it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

And to finish off... just some good quotes...

"All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it." ~ Jean Cocteau


"We want to get this good music to as many people as possible because I think it heals, it soothes, I think music is incredibly important, especially in today's chaos." ~ Graham Nash

"Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don't understand the language that you're singing in, they still know good music when they hear it." ~ Lou Rawls

"The end of all good music is to affect the soul." ~ Claudio Monteverdi