half-baked thoughts mostly about the beatles

J and I are settling into a new busy routine, although things are going to change next week. J is quitting his job - his last day is tomorrow. We're excited at the new prospects ahead. He has an interview for a new position this Tuesday. This job prospect was completely unexpected, so we're still wrapping our minds around this potential change in plans. But if that opportunity doesn't pan out, then J has other plans for his career. And I have full confidence that he'll be great at whatever path he chooses.

Anyhow, with my new busy schedule, I haven't been able to sit and think as much as I would like to do. I have had a couple of thoughts that keep passing through my head lately, but I haven't been able to flesh them out. I thought I'd jot down a couple of ideas here, perhaps so I can make better sense of things. Prepare yourselves for another bullet-point post, my friends:

• Despite my best efforts, I can not get out of bed early in the morning. Every single night, I ask J what time he is waking up (as if intending to wake up early with him). He thinks that it's hilarious, because I never get up with him. Okay, well, I rarely get up early. I have to have some extreme motivation to get up before Sam (like someone will miss their flight if I don't drive them to the airport). Other than that, I can't seem to get out of bed. I'd like to get up early, because I know I could accomplish more things in the day. But I guess when it comes down to it, I love sleep more than accomplishment. (Gasp! What a pathetic realization!)
  
• I've thought about the Beatles a lot lately, partially because John Lennon would have turned 70 last Saturday. (Some of you may have noticed my Beatles tribute on my art history blog.) Over the past few days, just for fun, I've been trying to ascribe certain percentages to how much Paul and John individually contributed to the Lennon/McCartney compositions. The other night, I kept J awake, trying to make him come up with percentages with me. For example, we determined that "A Day in the Life" seems to be about 50% Paul and 50% John. We think "Two of Us" is 90% Paul. And "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is 90% John. (This is a pretty fun game. If you have percentages to suggest, let me know!)
• This is another John Lennon thought. This may sound strange, but sometimes I acutely miss the presence of John Lennon in the world. Which on one hand is silly: I shouldn't miss John Lennon - he died before I was even born. I guess I miss the potential things that he could have done and the potential music that could have been written. It's strange to listen to Beatles music and feel as if John is still around in one sense (his voice is played all over the world, and it has been playing for decades). Sometimes I feel a musical connection with this person that has long been gone, and I miss the potential connections that I could have had with the music he was unable to write. Does that make sense? Perhaps I'm just sensitive to the issue to loss and unfulfilled potential, because of my mom's death, and that gets translated into my thoughts about music. I don't know.
• I like that Sam scribbled on my lecture notes with yellow crayon. I would never admit this to him (or encourage him to do so again), but it's cute to look at little swirly scribbles while I'm lecturing. It's like a little love note from my buddy.