Where Have You Been?

I’ve been everywhere, man; out in the desert it’s bare, man; I’ve breathed the mountain air, man… Well, okay: I’m still stuck in southwestern PA. My schedule has been shifting a bit lately, and I’m still trying to get settled into it and see where I can fit some time to write. It’s a little more cramped than the old place, but it’s cheaper. I think I found some space in the corner by the bookshelf.

I’m listening to piano classics done by a pianist named John O’Conner, with some other piano works thrown in from video games. I think, of all the instruments I might want to learn to play, the piano is at the top. Maybe a Celtic flute. But the piano is usually up top. I like keys, what can I say. They unlock hidden chests, and open doors that haven’t been opened and weren’t supposed to be opened for decades. They give form to my feeling, and allow me to express subtleties to those who can pick them out. And at ten possible notes at a time, they are a cacophony of sound put under the control of a master who can strike them at just the right time and force to rein those notes into perfect harmony.

Honestly, sometimes, I think it’s what draws me back to the computer to write, sometimes – just to feel the keys under my fingers. I can feel profoundly the difference between keyboard pressures – some are firm, almost solid, and respond only to the mechanical tapping and releasing of a finger; others require actual pressing. Sometimes keys get a little loose, and it feels flat when you strike it. Sometimes a little crumb of something gets wedged underneath a key, just small enough that the key will still press, but big enough that it only just barely presses. I’ve done surgery on those to get them back into working order.

It always takes me a little acclimatization to work a computer keyboard at the speed I average. The spacing and feel is never quite exact, and I’ll find myself striking wobbily on the edge of a key, in danger of spilling over and hitting “y” instead of “t,” or the “=” instead of “backspace.” Then some keyboards treat home, end, delete, and insert as if they don’t have a place – those step-keys that weren’t established on traditional typewriters, and they’re never loved quite as much as the blood-related keys. Like hobos they make their stew where they can, and hop a boxcar when the next laptop series comes along.

So what I’m trying now is writing the week’s blogs on my day off, and squirreling time in the mornings before work and evenings after work for my book and my freelance articles. It’s all about recognizing the time you have and using it, right? I’d give it the old college try, but I’m out of college now and trying to make it in the real world. But I’ll give it my best.

See you around the ether.