Perfect Day

#12

01.12.10

Today was as close to a "perfect day" as any Monday could ever aspire to be.  I had plenty of rest, plenty of time to get ready for the day with my wife and son, enjoyed an unusually uncomplicated work day, and got a Kathy's Godfather hero from Geno & Sal's for dinner tonight.  Did I mention the Zeppolis from Geno & Sal's?  Amazing... like dense little beignets.  Most importantly, I got a break at midday.  Getting time for lunch is often The Thing that affects my end-of-day analysis on whether or not it was a good day.  If I get some time to decompress out of the hospital for 30 minutes or so, well that's a great day.  If I don't, then it's not.  And usually I don't.  But today, this perfect day, I did.

As I left the building to board my silver dog sled, I was greeted by those same evergreen guardians that were bathed in a purple haze just last week (blog #6).  Today, however, they were bathed in the most brilliant blue I can ever recall seeing during the winter months.  We usually get a real hazy powder-blue light on our best days in the winter, and even those are rare.  This was Alaska-in-Summer blue skies; which contrasted with the snow-covered spruce in amazing fashion.  Perhaps the skies have in fact been this blue before, but it's only because I'm looking around myself at all times for potential photos now that I actually noticed today.  {What else am I missing?!}  The temperature was -5 degrees F, which I find refreshing and invigorating.  Especially when I can mount my heated dog sled periodically to warm up. 

Todays photo ends up being a sister-piece to entry #6.  I expected to post a "wide" shot of the spruce under blue skies since the last one under purple skies was close-up and looking upward.  I snapped the featured photo above first to replicate that last shot, though it was a different tree for blog #6.  The tree I shot last week was a little ways away from me today, and it was just a titch too cold to want to make that walk (I wasn't wearing a coat - I find those mute the "refreshing" sensation I crave midday).  By the time I stepped back for the wide shots today I could only get two more photos before: 1) my hands were stiff, and 2) the iPhone crashed in the cold.  This has happened once before, in blog #3 I believe.  I wonder if anyone else has had this occur in very cold conditions?  

Once I checked out the three photos later, I noticed the two "wide" shots got distorted a bit.  Check out those pics below and see the color aberration (yellowing of the snow) on the left of the images, and blurring on the right side.  

Interesting.  A similar thing happened in #3 "Hoar Frost".  I had thought there was grease on my lens that day, but perhaps it really is just a phenomenon of the cold; a "reverse mirage", even.

There has been no digital processing of any of the photos today; I couldn't fake a blue this fake if I wanted to!  And the two wide shots just didn't move me like the first one did, so there you have the daily winner being another upward shot.

I've chosen Perfect Day by Lou Reed for today's song.  Obviously it matches my description of having a good day / seeing the sun / seeing a deep blue sky we don't typically get in Alaska this time of year, etc.  There are other reasons, too.  Though we're only up to blog #12 here I have already mentioned in at least two or three entries to date that the Velvet Underground are, in my mind, an extremely important band in the progression of music.  Yet I haven't featured a song of theirs to date.  This song still isn't a Velvet Underground piece... I'm waiting for the perfect photo / lyric match, and it just hasn't happened yet.  But this was fairly close since Lou Reed is a founding memeber of the Velvet Underground and he was their usual lead vocalist (the german model / actress / singer Nico was occasionally the featured vocalist).  

The Velvet Underground was very experimental, and I think they were way ahead of their time.  It wasn't just their music, but the themes and lyrics were quite controversial too.  That seems prerequisite if you are going to blaze trails for new directions in music.  I don't necessarily celebrate the topics and themes they sang about, mind you; but I do celebrate their bravery in not pretending to be something they weren't.  Honesty will get you a lot of respect and real estate in my world.  This piece by Lou Reed will serve as an attempt to get the Underground closer to my blog soundtrack.

Their are three or more ways to listen to this song Perfect Day.  On first listen it may strike you a very happy and optimistic song.  It's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you, etc.  But on second listen you might pick up a melancholy in the music that doesn't quite jive with the lyrics.  So you listen a third time and pick up other lyrics like You make me forget myself.  I thought I was someone else, someone good.  Hmmm.  So you drop another quarter in the jukebox and on 5th listen you hear about problems all left alone and you think "egads, he's talking about a heroin high!"  It ends with a four line stanza repeating You're going to reap just what you sow, perhaps referencing KJV Galatians 6:7.  

So as one listens repeatedly I think a deeper, more somber or emotional vibe bubbles to the surface.  I've spent a lot of time listening to this song quietly in front of the fireplace wearing Sennheiser cans, pondering the lyrics, melodies, harmonies, and their relation to each other.  I've spent additional time reading online message boards to hear other's opinions.  This is no bubble-gum pop song; it's super deep.  That depth is what makes it, and Lou Reed, genius in my mind.

I go in to all of that because my feeling after countless listens and deep pondering is that  it is a cautionary song about optimism.  What seems perfect make actually be transitory, fleeting, and artificial; and one must be prepared for the difference once the filters over their eyes change colors.  So it could be that a perfect day with his girlfriend wasn't as pure as he thought, and it all fell apart.  Or he was happy to find his next heroin fix, got high for a minute and then crashed hard.  

Today I walked out into the deep blue day of Anchorage with bright sun on white snow-covered trees.  A perfect day?  Talk about transitory! There hasn't been a day like it this winter, and there may not be another until next winter, or the next.  To be truly happy in Alaska I need to find a way to perceive the dark and cloudy days, i.e. routine reality, just as happily as I do the occasional blue-sky days.  On the one hand; celebrate the special moments.  On the other hand, prepare for the more common reality and esteem that, too.

Nah, forget all that.  I think the dude was shooting heroin through a spike in his vein.  Lou has likely reaped more badness than goodness from what he's sown; yet he's still planted much for me to enjoy and reap for myself just the same.  Thanks, Lou.  I'd love to hear any other ideas or comments you might have.  

And I'd like to mention that while I may portray myself as an expert on music in this blog, that could not be further from the truth.  Just as I am an admitted weak amature in photography; I am a poser in philosophy and music.  I happen to enjoy music the way other people might enjoy drugs, or gambling, or sex, or any other thing harboring addictive qualities.  In fact, I think it is fortunate that I found music courtesy of my older bro C.T.E. in 1982 at the ripe age of 13; because if I had not, perhaps I would have become obsessed with one of those other "interests" that can end up destroying more than they create.

So when I spout off here about music and the meaning of life... let's be clear.  I'm writing about my perspective alone, which I expect absolutely no one, anywhere, ever, to agree with. 

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE