Range

just want to share a (kinda related) story:

three years ago i ran 0.5 kilometers - and i was absolutely exhausted, i could not take another step, i was completely devastated (sitting in an office chair for 14 years does such things to your body). three days ago i ran - i think - a little bit more than 22km (on a beach in peru, it was awesome). after that i played with my son and went partying that night.

ignorance is a bliss! i never thought about my range, my limitations, i just focused on running at least one step more with every run. (well this, and i invested in really, really good running shoes).

Heard a beautiful quote related to that on NPR. They had a guitarist who was heavily inspired by Django Reinhard, but does his own thing now.

The way he put it: "At some point, I realized that I could either imitate Django and live in his shadow, or learn from him and live in his light". (Paraphrased)

Forget Ben Gibbard's range, Adele's range is even higher. But then again no one ever complained about Dylan's monotone singing and C-G-F chord progression. Some say that it's a constraint that forces you to be creative, which forced him to focus on songwriting and live performance. Ditto for Chris Martin and Tom Petty whose melodic range is very limited and could produce haunting songs with the simplest chord palette.

I used to (actually still do) fixate how fast someone can play and how many techniques someone is using. But then I realized that I'll never be able to jump taller or run faster than some 18 year-old young buck in some inner-city pickup game - being outrunned and outgunned just made me frustrated. I had to work on cross-over dribble and step-back jumpers that relied on fakes instead of speed to score. More importantly, I had to work on being not being frustrated in-games on being blocked, dunked on, ball being stolen and missing shots; focusing on making the open shots that I have after missing the first five. Music is the same thing for me.

The thing about software and engineering is that it isn't like singing--you aren't stuck in your range. You don't have to grow comfortable and complacent.

The wonderful thing about learning to program and engineer is that you can, on any day, pack up your bags and head to the new frontier and makes friends, and soon you'll be a part of that community too until it's time to move on.

It's liberating.

björk and mike patton are clearly outliers