I'm watching the classical music channel in my apartment and relaxing with a beer. Thank heavens for German beer and Russian composers. The song playing is Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 2, and I'm thinking of how Frank Sinatra borrowed the melody for "I Think of You." I used to love Frank Sinatra's music, before I decided he was an abhorrent human being. But his music must not be that great, if his personality can ruin it for me so easily. If artists are going to be horrible, their art better be good enough to shine and withstand everyone's disgust for the artist. For example, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso were great artists, but terrible men. I don't think my art will ever be good enough to allow me to be rude to others or steal other artists' material, so it is safest just to be nice and original. Another song I recognize in Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 is "All By Myself" from Brigitte Jones' Diary. I wonder how Rachmaninoff would have felt about that song. Would he have cried and played an invisible drumset and lipsynched into a rolled up magazine like Brigitte Jones? That I can't say. But I do know there are true geniuses in this world and there are copycats.
Enough rambling. I need to write about my wonderful day in Gwangju! Today I met Sylvia, my Korean co-teacher from last summer, and we spent the day together. We drank coffee and talked, went to an art supply store, made stickers using photos of ourselves, and then ate delicious food at a restaurant called First Nepal. The food was amazing. All the men in the restaurant kept staring at us. We were the only non-Nepalese people in the whole place. They played traditional music, which was very relaxing. Sylvia and I kept sharing the same sentiment, that we were so glad to be reunited.
Sylvia and I ended our perfect evening by sitting on the rocks at the edge of a pond. Some beautiful paper lanterns were made in honor of Buddha's birthday. I felt so tranquil, until a heavy metal band began playing a song. I couldn't tell if the screaming was in English or Korean. That was also in honor of Buddha's birthday. Just like Rachmaninoff and "All By Myself," I wonder what Buddha would have thought of that song.
