Having your cake once, eating it another
#109 - movies and music - a mega Sunday to end half term
Hi everyone,
Who knew tea tasted so good? I’m not a regular tea drinker (although savour when Mum makes a cup for me too, along with Dad) but here I am, enjoying a self-brew after a, put bluntly, pretty fun day.
It started with a quickly transpired entry into the calendar of watching a family movie, trying our luck after getting the wrong time last week… and boy was Argylle good! I seem to describe every action film like this but it had more twists than you could think of, properly thrilling and humorous at the same time.
Then onto a change in style, Symphony Hall to watch a percussion superstar piece and a full 72-minute symphony (No 5) by Mahler, all played by people my age. That fact made their playing even more admirable and leaves me excited to perform at the school’s Senior Soloists Concert on Wednesday. Good bonding time for me and my sister as well.
As for a highlight of the week, I’d have to go with the Argylle - it was a family affair and entertaining throughout. I “got lost in a great story” as the preamble instructed me to, but I have regained my senses now and have realised: enough about me, onto this week’s Ray of Sunlight!
I. To top it off, India had a crushing victory over England in a cricket Test match this afternoon, one of their largest wins ever. Rewind 48 hours and this would have been wholly unexpected. After India batted very well to start the game, England played exceptionally for the 2nd half of Day 2, leaving India a bit clueless. Add to that one of our star bowlers heading home to see his ill mother, and England had the upper hand. Then came a capitulation in the morning.
England squandering their chances is widely agreed to have precipitated from Joe Root playing a crazy shot, which has worked for him on some occasions. It was a ghastly spectacle for the eyes, leaving Root looking careless. A senior England cricket writer branded it “the stupidest in English test cricket history”. 😬
However, reading this balanced sensible article on the BBC later reminded me of the saying “live and die by the sword”. Shemilt questioned, “whether we can have one without the other?”, arguing that this new England style of playing cricket is “spectacular when it comes off, horrific when it doesn’t”. It is taking the good with the bad.
II. My soundtrack to today’s post is a YouTube recording of the very symphony I heard today at the concert (you don’t tend to remember much when it’s so long!). Even for a pretty committed fan of classical music, there are times when you feel as though it’s dragging on. No wonder, given it’s 72 minutes long, especially with the shrunken attention spans of our generation (but that’s a topic for another day…)
‘Get to the good stuff: the thrilling dashes through scales, running up and down the instrument. The quick stuff, the loud stuff, crowd-pleasing. Who needs this tranquil melodious gentle rhythm?’
The finales of most symphonies are rousing fanfare-type phrases, that get you on the edge of your seat and waiting for the grand final note, taking on you a pulsating journey till the end. It’s why you go to the concert, to feel that excitement at the end. Interestingly, that is a microcosm of how we pursue goals. We chase after achievements, targets for the joy at the finish line.
However, you can’t have the yin without the yang. It is only because the other parts are smooth and quiet, that the rest of the piece seems entertaining. If it was the same volume, speed and dynamic for the whole piece, you wouldn’t find the special bits special. To enjoy the fruits of the labour in the end, the labour is necessary. ‘Extraordinary’ is a synonym for ‘special’ for a reason - they don’t happen all the time. If they were, they would merely be ‘ordinary’.
III. I think we get the point, but one final example. As I’ve discovered with going to the gym semi-regularly in the past 4 months, there is a real yo-yo between how good your sessions feel. This week was the first time when I had 2 instances back-to-back that felt good, that felt like I was having a good time. That doesn’t mean I was hating my time there on the other occasions, of course not. It was merely less satisfying than other days.
But this has taught me to expect it. When I’m having a great session and feeling on top of the world, the back of my mind knows that it isn’t going to stay this way. Likewise, when I’m sat there a bit down, I remember to push through, looking forward to a better feeling next time.
A quote I’ve referenced many a time here is that of Scott Galloway, “nothing is as good or as bad as it seems”. This seems appropriate here too. Life is made of both good and bad stuff (what an insight), our job is to be ok with both. You can’t have happiness without sadness. You can’t know what being and feeling rich is like, if you’ve never had to yearn for something. So it is wise to prepare ourselves for this seesaw law of nature. ‘The Seesaw Law’, that sounds quite cute and innocent for such a universal concept of “good and bad are both part of life, learn to accept both”.
P.S. There is an argument for the lows and highs being of equal magnitude, relating to the concept of “high risk, high reward”. If you’re going for gold in the Olympics, the peak of human performance, there is the chance that you break your leg and can’t do it ever again, put bluntly. The more daring your goal in life is, the more likely there are to be potential downsides, proportional to the upsides. As goes the phrase “If it were easy, everyone would do it”, “if it was all upside, no downside, everyone would go for it”.
Book of the week 📖
Yay! The holidays, and so some book time. I often pick up books whose titles catch my eye cheaply on my way from school. One of these was How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, which I’ve been getting into. Exploring an unconventional twist on immortality, it’s been a good read so far.
Podcast of the week🎙️
Utterly fascinating insight into the world of gambling and just how seriously messed up it can get mindblown
Thing I’m grateful for this week 🙏
Cheesy alert: to be living in a city where I can enjoy some of the best music that’s every written in one of the best theatres of art in the country. (And to have parents who can drive me and my sister there straight after another treat for the eyes and ears 🙏)
Quote of the week 💬
Determined imagination, thinking from the end, is the beginning of all miracles. Neville Goddard
Back at school tomorrow - and back out in just 24 school days! Whoever designed when Easter arrives and hence how the 2024 school calendar works needs a big hug. Here’s to having fun till then!
Adi