posted 20 years ago
On my morning drive to work I have one potentially tricky merge. The ramp I'm on comes in from the left and I have to merge right across two lanes quickly in order to get into a stacking lane for an upcoming exit. It's only bad sometimes. Maybe two days a week it's a breeze. Maybe two days a week it's tricky. And about one day a week it's just a royal pain in the neck. I can general see about 10 seconds ahead as I come round the curve this takes place on, so I generally know what's in store. If it's going to be a tricky merge, I often turn off the radio or pause whatever music I'm listening to, so I can pay close attention to the driving.
Today was a royal pain in the neck merge.
I think I've mentioned on JavaRanch before that Stravinsky is my favorite composer. Thing is, though, I haven't felt much like listening to "serious" music in a number of years. But in recent days I've felt like getting back into it. (This is probably related to the fact that I finally got to see Balanchine's ballet Agon performed a month or so ago.) Agon is some rather difficult, yet amazing and rewarding and joyous Stravinsky music.
Today I was listening to Agon in the car and decided *not* to turn it off during the merge.
As I approached the merge Agon was winding down. The last violin solo was over and the screechy violin part as you return to simpler harmonies was screeching along. I *zoomed* across two lanes of traffic and WHAM (no not a wreck!). Just as I slipped into a pocket between other cars and completed the merge, the reprise of the brass fanfare began.
Don't know how much this means to people, but to me, the repeat of the fanfare at the end of Agon is one of the dozen or so truly amazing moments in Stravinky's music. To have that combine with a spectacular merge just sets the tone for this to be a great day.
It's one of those things -- if my life were a movie, some editor would have taken great pains to get those two moments to synch up.
[ November 19, 2003: Message edited by: Michael Matola ]