I posted the question meme before leaving the house. I already have several questions. I wrote this one on the way to the office:
What gets you truly excited?
I have to be completely honest; this is not only an awesome question, but it’s even more awesome because it was the first one. Hannibal the Not-So-Great once said “I love it when a plan comes together”. When you put together smething that is complicated, every piece and every one involved works to the best of their ability to hit a common goal. Sometimes in the performance or execution, you hit that perfect moment. It’s that moment where what’s going on is just Right. I’m not sure if that “R” should be capitalized because it represents almost a connection to the divine. And now, an example!
I learned to play the doumbek many years ago in the SCA. After about a year or so I considered myself competent (not good, not bad – but “competent”.) One evening at an event, four of us “competent” players sat down to screw around. We started playing and improvising. One of us would change tempos and the others would follow along. A crowd started to gather while we were playing. The drumming built in intensity, the crowd’s enjoyment as well; the four of us looked at each other after a while and then spontaneously, at what just felt like the right moment, we ended it. We did this together, at the perfect moment, without cuing each other. This was where the drums had to stop. The crowd that had gathered loved it. It was one of those perfect moments.
In college, I asked my theatre advisor “how do you know when you’ve hit that moment for the audience? How do you know when you’re ‘there’?”
He smiled and looked at me, and said “When you’re ON, you know that you’re ON.”
What really gets me excited are those perfect moments when I feel like I have gotten closer to my view of the Divine.
