A Gout Out for the Mix Tape Universe

I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone because this is ending up being an even more hectic week and the craziness seems to be expanding at an exponential rate. Anywho I have this wonderful amazing psyc professor hippie lady. She has us write these short essays every week. So I’d figure I’d this week’s as my blog.

In general I feel I remember the most random of things as long as they are emotional and sense driven moments.
For example, the word obsequious was one given to me by my 11th grade English teacher, Ms. Poling. She was this adorable, older, soft spoken lady that had a mane of dirty blond and gray hair. (And no, Mrs. Robinson is not blasting in the back ground as I spend this 10 pm hour reflecting about this sweet sweet woman.) Her glasses sat as a square windshield of a façade that separated her face from the ghetto fabulous kids that attended my high school in A-Town. She had a clumsy elegance as she would fumble through the door, books would plop and pencils rolled off of her desk. Daily she attempted to get the 20 or so teenagers of her class interested in English. (I have to cut her some slack because it’s hard for people to get energized for English when they are still struggling with Ebonics.)
Still to this day I can remember the word obsequious from one of her random vocabulary tests. Perhaps my memory was evoked because this was a happy time in my life. I had friends in the class and was able to laugh. Perhaps, I can remember her class and its content so well because of her easy-at-it approach to teaching. She was slow paced and calm, she seemed to have a glimmer in eye when she taught her subject. Learning is a journey and I felt comfortable with her at the helm.
Obsequious is a word that represents a person who un-genuinely and overly kind to another person in attempt for personal gain. Obsequious is that waiter who will work you over for a good tip and as you are walking away you can hear him talking smack about you behind your back. Obsequious is a word that I conscious and sub-consciously interject into my speech and writing. I think I do this to hold onto a time and onto certain memories which were emotionally tied into learning this word.
In Ms. Poling’s class we had an assignment in which we were given a vocabulary word and we were to act it out in a way in which would help the class remember it. So, this spectacle, sporting, student took her stage in the front of the class. I could see from her nervous rush to the front she had not properly prepared for her presentation. Her word was “levity.” She had candles which she bought during our 15 minute passing period between classes. She grabbed a red colored cylinder with a white wick and lit the head ablaze. She forcefully blew the candle out and alerted the class’ attention to the rising smoke and said, “You have just witnessed my word levity.” After which, Ms. Poling asked the student, “Did you look up your word?” The girl was silent and Ms. Poling said, “Because levity means lack of seriousness.” So, to this day due to the sense driven device of the girl’s presentation along with her mistake, I can still recall the meaning of levity.
The best way for me to remember anything for a long time is to live it. I took physics in high school. I took calculus a couple years ago and I’m sure there’s a couple synapses still connected up in the good ole’ brain of mine but I’d be damned if you through a couple of applied friction problems in front of my face right now. I just don’t use those skills anymore and in time, like a muscle, they atrophy. On the other hand, I play guitar. I am taking lesions from a 60 year old professional Jazz musician. He is pounding the idea of reading music into my head. I have been studying with him now for the last nine months or so and I have been reading a lot of single note melody stuff. I probably average 15 minutes of music reading everyday, I am going at a snails pace but I can’t believe that I am seeing results. This gradual, non-forced, slow paced, interactive learning of music is going to enable me to grown into being a sight reading musician. The everyday reinforcement of these skills will enable me to learn something for the rest of my life.