Intuition

Some time before I left for my trip to Europe, I was listening to a program on NPR that was speaking about the defining or pivotal moments in the lives of successful people. I was quite surprised to find that a majority of them were almost random or completely arbitrary decisions. I have found this to be a common theme during my travels, in that seemingly, completely uncalculated deciscions turn out to be fundimental and crucial events. I always liked the introduction to Phil Lesh's Searching For The Sound when he makes a metaphor between musical form and the series of events within life itself: "Music can define life itself, and it has indeed defined my life. In life, as in art, there are recurring themes, transpositions, repetitions, unexpected developments, all converging to define a form that’s not necessarily apparent until its ending has come and gone."

So I will share just a handful of certain seemingly inconsequential decicions which could not have been better orchestrated.

1. Im in Munich, and happen to not have hostel accomodations for my next night. With this knowledge I amble down the street to another hostel to inquire about my next night's reservations and while doing so get passed a flier for a free bike tour. I eventually go on the bike tour which does a round of various Beergartens in the area. Theres a pretty cute american girl who works for the US Peace corps in Senegal that I am talking to during the trip but she is being hounded by a bleached blonde Australian dude such that he is physically geting in the way of me talking to her at all. Rather than dealing with this hassle, I sit down next to a bearded guy with a full slab of ribs. Turns out the fellow is from New Zealand and we become fast friends. He in turn introduces me to a team of New Zeland rugby players who take me out drinking and fun is had by all.

2. I'm in Cleveland and feeling thorougly bummed out. I have an offer to go see a concert downtown, and though its late and far I decide its what i need to knock me out of my funk. I go and enjoy myself thorougly and in so doing by chance become re-acquainted with a friend of a friend. This friend of a friend later invites me to a party which I gladly attend and during which I casually meet a girl named Alex. A few days later, an old tree leans into some power lines on my street thus stranding all the residents on the street. My mom happens to be one of the stranded people and ends up talking to the same girl I had met a couple nights beforehand and during the conversation it was revealed that we are both going to be in Florence at the same time. We make plans to meet up and have a great time, climbing the Duomo, eating food drinking wine and all of that wonderful stuff and eventually we decide we should drink a beer. We amble down a series of streets, poking our head inside of different establishments, being underwelmed by a majority of them until we finally settle on a pub with a decent selection of beers on tap. We decide that it makes sense to sit directly in front of the tap and order two Hefeweizens. A friendly looking american starts to make conversation with us. We mention that we are both from the cleveland area, he says that he used to have family in a suburb with a bunch of white, wood panneled houses. I infer that he is talking about Shaker heights, and I am correct. He mentions the name Muprhy. I say "Ben?" which is the correct response. I then tell him that Ben Murphy was my best friend in Junior High and the original rhythm guitarist in my band Aranka Fabian. He is familiar with the band and has one of the lighters in his pocket. I also mention that it happens to be my birthday, he shows us around venice and good times are had by all.

3. I wander down a series of crooked streets and find myself attracted to a collections of very dignified looking violins in a nearby shop. I find out that the place is a local ticket office for concerts in Venice. He mentions that tonight there is a special on a ticket to an Verdi Opera (la Traviata) performed in a converted 16th century Venecian palace. Good times are had by all.

4. I get lost and stuck in the Rain in berlin and arrive tired and defeated. Just as I sit down I am cordially invited to a drum n bass party by a visitor to the hostel. Good times are had by all.


You get the idea.