An Example of What a Song Not Quite Learned Sounds Like

 

Honesty

Let's say that every history of rock and roll class we have somewhat of an outstanding lesson of the day. They tend not to be so much about music but growing up and accepting the responsibilities of growing up, becoming an adult. Today, that lesson was not honesty. Honesty was, however, a small part of today's lesson and I thought it's pretty relevant to my life.

My parent' raised me expecting honesty and while they haven't always received 100% honest reports, they have at least taught me when it is appropriate to be honest. To me, like most people, lying is acceptable if the benefits outweigh the consequences, true for pretty much most choices. However, I differ from people by my standards of what is considered overall beneficial. I believe that often enough,  people only way the short-term consequences of their decisions and therefore, often avoid confrontation of the truth as they're scared about how the other individual(s) will react. In contrast, I believe that this confrontation is often necessary as by not deceiving the individual(s) at hand, you allow for them to gain insight in the future, although temporary awkwardness may need to be sacrificed. This sounds like a lot of blah, blah, blah so let me put it into context.

Say a female is fat: the big American scenario to not, NOT, NOT, tell the truth. I disagree with this ideology. While it is inappropriate and rude to go out of one's way to tell a female that she's fat, if a female were to ask me directly if she is fat, I would tell her she could benefit from picking up physical activity. Clearly, this is a euphemistic yes, but I believe the short-term emotional detriment that will result due to this incident is beneficial overall. I would proceed to attempt to help this female lose weight due to appropriate exercise, diet etc. until she's comfortable and happy with her own body weight.

The moral of the story: since the female has suspicions about being fat (and is probably self-conscious about it), lying would only extend her self-deception of the problem and incorporate you in the moral culpability of her self-deception. Telling the truth is not heart-warming but can at least provide a beginning to resolving the origin of the "whether-to-tell-the-truth" debacle. Of course, this is assuming that the female is discontent with her current body.

You Belong With Me 1 vs. You Belong With Me 2 Cover of Taylor Swift

I played You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift as warmup for playing piano as I hadn't played it in a while and was wondering how rusty I was in regards to her song. I think its pretty clear between the first and second time I played it, that reacquainting myself with the song showed vast improvement. Also i should have increased the brilliance of the piano.

#1

#2

The Issue with Grade Inflation

The issue with grade inflation can be compared directly to the issue with inflation monetarily. If everyone in the U.S. were to be given more dollar bills, would the whole U.S. become richer. The answer to this question is relatively easy to find if one has studied the pre-WWII economy of Germany instead of dozing off in history class. The value of money is not based on its physical worth but is rather associated with the trust in the economy of that country. Therefore, by simply increasing the amount amount of paper money out there, the value (currency) of the paper money goes down as the trust in the economy has remained unchanged.

The same is true for grades, especially the high school diploma. The difficulty of acquiring a good grade has been severely diminished. In turn this means there is a higher abundance of good grades and good students. Except the second part is not true... or at least not in a significant fashion. Is it true that students nowadays probably have a better opportunity to obtain an education, yes? Hopefully? But even if this is true, it is insignificantly true at large and this is why. When a college or employer looks at the credentials of an individual, the question is not whether the candidate has credentials (hopefully he/she does) but what those credentials signify. Back when a high school diploma was more difficult to obtain (the abundance of paper money), having a high school diploma said more about that individual (currency). Now, high school diplomas are handed out to inadequate "graduates" and since there is a larger abundance with (this is the assumption) a worse on average education, the meaning of a high school diploma has gone down.

Ironically, the school system devalues itself through the incentives given to award students a diploma. A high school, school district, state and country as a whole want to have the best education system possible so that they can, in the future, strengthen their economy. Essentially, current society invests in future society in order to get return later in the form of i.e. tax. If more students are getting a higher quality education, then the educational investment is legitimate and should theoretically payoff. However, the education system is flawed in a manner which simply lowers the standards of graduation and thereby deceptively posts "improving" statistics. However, what these "improving" statistics really mean is that credentials such as a high school diploma or a bachelor's degree have less meaning and that people who have legitimately earned these degrees are more difficult to distinguish from the crowd. Basically, new demographics are required to determine expertise which is a pain-in-the-butt for everybody involved.

Glad You Came by Memory

Rock vs. Pop

When we discussed categorizing in general, and music specifically, in class, our teacher, Mr. Ajjarapu explained that he personally categorizes all music into rock vs. pop. A more appropriate label would be rebellious vs. socially acceptable. I can follow the thematic nature of the classification system but I don't find it useful to my evaluation of music. Rather than thinking about revolutionary vs. conforming, I classify music by how it makes me feel.

The reason I classify music in this manner is because I listen to what intensifies my mood at the time or changes it to one more preferred. If I go on a run, I listen to energizing, rapid, bass-heavy music loudly. If I feel happy, I'll listen to Colbie Caillat, Zac Brown, "Just Another Day in Paradise", The Mowgli's, Bruno Mars et cetera. If I feel passionate, soulful, I might listen to Hunter Hayes, Ed Sheeran, Train, et cetera.

I think the reason we all choose different methods of classifying our music is based on the manner in which music serves us. For example, I utilize music to affect my emotions, manipulate my emotions. I believe that Mr. Ajjarapu classifies his music the way he does because he has become so educated in music and all of its variety that he is seeking out new styles, musical ingenuity, creativity. This is why while he can still appreciate pop, the value of rock is far greater. May he correct me next class on whatever part of my analysis he considers incorrect.

What I Do on a Bad Day

Covering I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz Take 2

So I try to always record the first time I play a song to show the authenticity of my progress. I mixed things up a little bit in comparison to the last cover because I thought it sounded better this way. The early mistakes made at the beginning are made up for at the end, at least in my mind.

Why Dedication Sucks...

So here's the thing, I strongly dislike starting new activities, whether a club, sport, or new TV show and  this is why. When I begin something new, I stick with it until it is done. Whether that is eating a 14-inch  meat-lovers pizza, a spontaneous weekend run or the lovely education I receive at Anderson. If I start something, I dedicate myself to finishing it, plain and simple. Sentimental reasons to quit and even logical reasons to quit are disqualified, solely due to the inner drive to complete. This may sound exaggerated but sometimes this drive actually endangers my health.

I went running the day after Christmas with my new running shoes. At the onset of the run, I was feeling maybe 5-6 miles. As I was approaching my house on the way back, I decided that I wasn't sufficiently tired enough and therefore added another 7 miles. After these 7 miles, not only was I "sufficiently" tired, but also entirely dehydrated, as in I could only see one letter of the newspaper at a time, and had to crawl to the bathroom for water because the arches of my feet were in so much pain. Yes, that was dedication at its finest.

Now this weekend, dedication sucks for completely different reasons. I was hoping to attend ACL with my girlfriend and friends this year until dedication got in the way. We have a football game vs. Del Valle on Friday and I made a commitment to the football team. I have a soccer game on Sunday, which makes a three day pass essentially useless. A Saturday pass would be cool but... monetarily it would just make me feel like an idiot. Anyway, I'll end on the positive note that dedication is saving me around $200 on an ACL ticket this year...

You're Beautiful by James Blunt

I haven't played this song in a while and was interested in how much it would improve if I played it twice. While neither of the two sound nearly as good as the song in a previous life, one can get the gist. Before shedding judgment on the video, if that is what you would like to do, just be thankful for the fact that I did not attempt to sing along to the song...

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