Love/Hate Wednesday

Love:

The Piano Guys

One day, while meandering about the internet as I am occasionally wont to do, I stumbled across this:



(As usual, if the link doesn't work, you can go here .)

And I LOVED it.

So, here's the thing. Seven hundred and twelve years ago, when I was in high school, I was a band geek. You probably could have guessed that about me, but here I am, taking the guesswork right out of it for you. There it is. BAND GEEK. I was a band officer. I LETTERED in band.

Are you getting the hint here?

Not only was I a terminal band nerd, I was a band nerd who played an excessively nerdy instrument:

The bass clarinet.

Now you might be wondering to yourself, Self, what is it like playing the bass clarinet? This is only MY perspective, mind you, but here were the three most challenging things about playing the bass clarinet:

1) explaining to people that you played the bass clarinet.

2) sustaining single notes for a REALLLLLLLLLY long time. Like, forever. Like 112 measures of one note. A REALLY long time.

3) Sitting next to this guy, David Ouellette, for two years in band. Because he was -- and probably still is -- a GENIUS. He played the bassoon (and, like, every other instrument ever. PERFECTLY, I might add), we sat in the odd instrument section (with the french horns and the oboes) and he was brilliant. BRILLIANT. And also terrifying as a result. I sat next to him for two solid years and I don't think he ever learned my name. He certainly didn't ever SAY my name and I was MUCH too afraid of him to ever speak with him. So basically, it was two years of learning to exhale very slowly (but forcefully) while sitting next to someone who I am pretty sure did not know I existed (and this was in high school, when there were days when I wasn't altogether certain that I existed) except for when I played something slightly incorrectly, which would then result in the tiniest whiff of disapproval, which was CRUSHING because ... well, did I mention the brilliant? But then he graduated -- he was two years ahead of me -- and after that, I only had the first two items on this list to contend with.

(Dear David, in the HIGHLY unlikely event that you're reading this -- and why would you be, since you had no idea who I was -- I have since forgiven you for making me feel like an idiot every day for two years. Mostly. Well, okay, kind of no, but I realize that it wasn't ON PURPOSE that you were smarter than everyone else. Hugs, Danielle)

Anyway. Because I am a Band Geek, I love it whenever someone is able to take his or her Band Geekness and turn it into a career.

Which is what the Piano Guys have done. And -- they're SO GOOD. This is the music I listen to when I'm stressed out at work and need a little extra help finding my happy place.You should check them out here.

Hate:

Scraping noises.

Scraping noises of any kind. Not just the usual "nails on a blackboard" (although DEAR GOD, that's the worst) but also --

scraping frost off a windshield
the sound of a shovel against tar or concrete
the sound of utensils scraping across the bottom of a pan

I don't know what it is about that noise that makes me feel like someone is trying to STEAL MY SOUL, I just know that I hate it.

So, to recap:

Love: The Piano Guys
Hate: Scraping Noises

Next week -- Cheezits and overly ridiculous packaging