The Obsessions

My life revolves around many things, and one of these many things are obsessions or just things I love to do. Here is where you will read my passionate rants about two out of many different favorite things: Lord of the Rings, and piano.

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Long ago, when I was still a baby in my mother’s tummy, my parents would always put on A Whole New World from Aladdin and I would start rolling and kicking. So after I was  unleashed into the world, I grew up listening: to birds, to music, and to lots of different things.

I finally started piano at 5 years of age and just kept on going steadily along (in annoyance and occasionally hate and anger) until gr. 9. Then it blew up. It all exploded. (In a good way.) I was suddenly playing piano for myself, and I exploded with love for it. I admit- the love gets smothered by the annoyance of practicing sometimes, but I connect to all my pieces on so many different levels. I pour myself into the music and live within while I play, and I need to worry about the real world. Sometimes it feels like I’m truly alive in beauty for a moment-then I go back to sleep when the piece ends.

But music is clear. I can hear the piano playing through the bars. That instrument is the darkest thing I’ve ever seen – but filled with such light in it’s severe case. It makes me cry all the time – how can people create something that makes life worthwhile? Oh Beethoven, how I love your Pathetique. The second movement trembled with spring greens and stole my heart with golden pale afternoons. Bach’s French suites came calling with their delicate steps and unmovable stability. Watery depths and fluttering reflections submerged Debussy’s Sunken Cathedral. Beauty hurts like a blinding camera flash. I can’t see anything afterwards but little blue dots.

I play lots of Classical music. I’ve found love in Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionists, 20th century, and even modern music. They speak to me in different ways and they help me carry stressfulness of life. I’ve also started fiddling around and working out some of my own harmonies, or improvising with already famous existing ones. (Just for fun.)

My favorite playlist would look like this:

Ingrid Michaelson

2 hours traffic

Regina Spektor

Joel Plaskett

Hey Rosetta

Jason Mraz

Jaymay

Meiko

Kate Nash

Loreena McKennitt

Owl City

Paramore

Taylor Swift

St. Vincent

Theory of a Dead Man

and a bunch of soundtracks from different movies and musicals

Music has been with me every step of the way and I know its going to be there tomorrow and until the day I die.

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In order not to completely scare you away, I will restrain myself. Lord of the Rings is the most sprawling fantasy epic ever created in more modern times. It’s creation is a great feat, and Tolkien shaped a history of thousands and thousands of years, filled it with stuff and made it entertaining and deep. Lastly, the links for my personal interest. I am one of the geekiest geeks of Lord of the Rings. I can give you two million links and another two million paragraphs about his language, poetry, and stories, but I reckon it probably will be ignored. I’ve exhausted the library and book stores of all of Tolkien’s books, including my favorites, The Hobbit, The Three Parts of the Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth, The Children of Hurin and the 12 volume The History of Middle Earth. I am also trying to learn a Sindarin course, but unfortunately am stuck in the first module of grammar. As sensible as I am, I use the slow process of the a Sindarin dictionary and direct translation instead. I